Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #292 – Posture of Curiosity: A Conversation with GiDeanLeigh Ogilvie

Transcript

Ep #292 – Posture of Curiosity: A Conversation with GiDeanLeigh Ogilvie · Our Community, Our Mission

0:00
SPEAKER_03: Gracious Heavenly Father, we uh just thank you so much for this time, uh Lord, to be together, Lord, to um share and have conversations about the work that you're doing, Lord, not just here in Topeka, but uh across this country, across the globe.
0:12
SPEAKER_03: Lord, we're just thankful for um the partners and uh Lord, just the work that's being done uh through your servants, Lord.
0:18
SPEAKER_03: For your blessing over this conversation and our time together, Lord, and that ears uh that would hear this conversation, Lord, would be blessed and encouraged to action, Father.
0:25
SPEAKER_03: We love you and we praise your name.
0:26
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: It is Tuesday, November 11th, 2025, and this is Lamanda Cunningham, the CEO of the Topeka Rescue Mission.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Excited to bring to all of you our community, our mission podcast, episode 292.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, I usually tease Barry because Barry is normally here as the Maine Coast um host, and I'm usually teasing him about how that's always a mouthful.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm always so proud of him whenever he gets it right.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And um, now when I'm doing it, I'm like, oh, maybe I should be a little bit sweeter to him on that announcement.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: But we are so excited to have all of you as listeners, um, listening to this episode.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, the woman that we're going to be talking to is definitely one of a kind.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, she has um charisma that lights up a room.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: She is passionate for um just serving the Lord and knows that serving the Lord means serving others well.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: And um in my time that I've gotten to know her, uh not only have I just begun to um recognize just how special she is, but also her uh position with the rescue mission that she's at and just all the things that she gets to do.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: So very excited to uh introduce you to our guest in just a moment.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: But before then, um, you know, we talk about every day that Josh and Alec work so hard on being able to let me know what I should be celebrating each day.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Except y'all only do it once a week.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: So I'm a little nervous about all the important stuff I'm missing.
2:11
SPEAKER_03: Would you like a debrief for every day of that?
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes, just let me know.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Are we talking about donuts?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Are we talking about we need sunshine one day?
2:19
SPEAKER_00: What are we celebrating?
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but in all seriousness, um, today is a very special day with it being Veterans Day.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Um and so we do observe that on November 11th.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's definitely a tribute to all the military veterans um who have served our country and um are still um alive and serving as a witness for uh what they were able to do and are definitely um heroes to um not only our past, but what we're able to currently enjoy in freedom and um the freedom that we know takes so many to still uh be in our armed services.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: So the freedom continues.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, it's kind of sweet.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: I have an uncle, Josh, that I'm really close with, and he kind of helped uh raise me, and his name's Uncle Ronnie.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, so I always I don't know why I'm getting emotional, but it's just neat to see um photos of him and to kind of hear what all he did and how he served.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: But um each year, my girls, as we're driving to school, send him a video.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's usually like, Thank you for your service, Uncle Ronnie.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Happy Veterans Day.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because a couple of years ago, um, my youngest, little E could not say veterans.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: And so um, I'm not sure exactly how she said it, but it was the cutest thing.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: And I just thought, man, that's gonna make his day.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: So I have another uh great uncle who also served, um, and uh he is actually living in South Carolina, but uh lived most of his life in Alaska after serving a desert storm.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
3:54
SPEAKER_03: He's like, I'm done with the desert.
3:56
SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm going back to here.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I tease him all the time when I text him, I'm like, can we go back to Alaska for a visit together?
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Because I've never been.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: But we did our video to Uncle Butch as well and got that sent.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: And uh Uncle Butch has already responded, telling us that he he loved us and it had the American flag emoji.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm just impressed he knows how to send the emojis.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Um still waiting to hear from Uncle Ronnie, uh, but he um drives a van for Boys and Girls Club.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, he doesn't know how to retire, did military, was in law enforcement, school bus driver, and continues to um just impact kids.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: And so I just love him.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: So I haven't gotten a response from Uncle Ronnie yet, but he's busy.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: He's busy.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh but a big shout out to Uncle Ronnie and Uncle Butch for their service and many other family members that have left um such a um just sacrificial legacy to all of us to know that.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: So happy Veterans Day to everybody, and we are so grateful uh on not only for the veterans, but the family members of veterans because uh that's a sacrifice too.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: That's huge.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: It is from spouses to kids.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, I can't imagine what it feels like to be a parent to watch a kiddo go off.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, big, big, big thank you for veterans and then the families of them.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how to segue for uh there's not.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna say that I feel like every veteran earns, has earned a um Sunday.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's ice cream, surely everybody loves it.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you see a veteran today, buy them a Sunday.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: That's what I feel like I should say as to segue.
5:34
SPEAKER_03: That's perfect.
5:35
SPEAKER_03: Well, what do you want on your Sunday?
5:36
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, if I get a Sunday, I personally like hot fudge and I like caramel.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what's happened, I guess because I'm getting old.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I have to have nuts on it.
5:48
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: And if you would have asked me that 20 years ago, I'd have been like, don't put nuts on it.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: And now I'm like, go ahead and and top it with the nuts.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: I understand.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:57
SPEAKER_03: I understand.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: What about you?
5:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I'd probably do the same.
6:00
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
6:01
SPEAKER_03: Of course, I don't need like a ton of ice cream, so yeah.
6:04
SPEAKER_03: Got the the tummy doesn't like it.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say the dairy issue, huh?
6:08
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't sure if we're gonna say it on the podcast.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, I like it.
6:13
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't like me.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: That's what I was gonna say.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: I love ice cream.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I love like whipped cream on top and all of that kind of stuff.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: But I am um one week in to no sugar.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh, how's that going?
6:29
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk about it after the podcast.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, that that is no joke.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've just been doing some research on um, honestly, it sounds silly, but trying to understand um different things about the body and not just my own, but the people we serve and looking at the health of our staff and just in general.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: So I've been reading stuff about um just the benefits of running, the benefits of being out in the sun certain parts of the day.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: Um till you hit fall and winter with it.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, great, where's my salt lamp?
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Because I can't be outside.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I had a good friend of mine who does a lot of just kind of holistic care um talk about kind of the detriments of sugar on the body.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: And um started looking into that and I was like, I need to do this.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: So I haven't perfected it yet, but I have for a week no snacks, no candy, no drinks, nothing in my coffee that has the sugar.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: Like all of that's I'm using that's hard to cut cold turkey, like a hundred percent quitting smoking.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: That's hard to quit cold turkey because sugar's in everything.
7:40
SPEAKER_03: It is in every time.
7:41
SPEAKER_03: I mean, like if you really want to cut it out, you have to like really like look at a lot of different things.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: So that's a well done for you.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: Could you?
7:47
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: So um it's kind of like pouring salt in the wound right now to know it's national Sunday.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: You can't have a Sunday but buy a veteran one.
7:53
unknown: That's right.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: But I am going to find a veteran so that I can bless him or her um with a Sunday.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, yeah, Sundays are fun.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And um actually, I think you know, one of the things I like about Sundays too are it's just such a fun thing to do with kids.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: So even before when I was a teacher, a principal, there was at least one event we did that dealt with um ice cream and toppings, but then my own kids, like if I say we're gonna do ice cream, it's golden.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: Oh, my my oldest loves ice cream.
8:24
SPEAKER_03: He's got a tub in the freezer after every meal he said, I have some ice cream.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's right.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: A little bit.
8:30
SPEAKER_03: Eat the Brussels sprouts and then you can have luckily he loves vegetables, so I don't have to, you know, bribe him too much.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: That is helpful.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: That is that is so helpful.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: So, all right.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, now that we know, you know, the most important thing today is that it's Veterans Day.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: The next important thing is we need to be blessing veterans with telling them thank you, but also buying them a Sunday.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: The third coolest thing about today um is our special guest who is on here.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, so yes, we are so excited to have you.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: And um, I she has the most beautiful name, first and last, that I've ever heard of.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: And I call her a friend, and I still have to say you have to help me pronounce it because I want to make sure.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: So we today have Jadeen Lay.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Say it again.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pretty much.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes, say it though.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: Jadeen Lay.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Jadeen Lay.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: I always want to do the pause differently.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Jadeen Lay Olgavi.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: That's okay.
9:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't think my in-laws know how to pronounce that.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: I've been agreeing for like four years.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: I've been meaning to ask my parents how long it took me to figure out my name.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: I know and to spell that in school, you know, being the old educator in me too.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my goodness.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's beautiful.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: It looks like someone just smashed their face against a keyboard and called it good to get my name.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: And I thought mine was difficult.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, I would always tell people like it's Amanda with an L, but then yeah, I have a space after the A and the M is capitalized.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: And so like later on in my life, sometimes I don't even do that.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: If we can just go L A M A N D A, we're gonna call it good.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: So I go to coffee shops, I'll try to shorten it to anything that'll make it easier for them.
10:15
SPEAKER_02: I've tried shortening shortening it all the way down to G, uh-huh, and I still get random names.
10:20
SPEAKER_02: Gene, Dina, just all sorts of things.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm glad that you have Grace um for us with your name, but I also don't want to butcher your name because it's beautiful.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we are so excited to um have you on with us today to um not only talk about the amazing work that you're doing, and specifically um when I talked to you um several months ago back in June at the City Gate annual conference, I was just blown away um by what God had done through really like business organizational type partnerships and how that blended with the work that you all were doing and just the fruit that came from that.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I want to get to that, but I also, I know you don't like talking about yourself, um, but there is just such a special um, just a special aura about you.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: Like you, you just love the Lord.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I know that you and your husband in different capacities just have been kind of so obedient to what God's called you to do.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to start with there.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, just give a little bit about who you are.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh, go ahead and let listeners know where you work at, um, and just a little bit about anything regarding kind of your testimony uh before we pivot into the professional side.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:45
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much for having me on.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, it truly is such an honor to be on this podcast.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: I have loved getting to hear about what the body of Christ is up to through all of the guests that you've had on in the last year or so.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: Um but like Lamanda said, I am Jadeen Lay and I work for Phoenix Rescue Mission.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: I have worked there for just over four years.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I actually started in the human resources sides of things.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: So hiring and getting to know our staff base and um more of the business side of what we did.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: And I moved into the development space about two years ago, and I currently work with organizational partners.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, but before all of that, I would say the reason why I'm just so passionate about what we do at Phoenix Rescue Mission truly is because of the Lord.
12:38
SPEAKER_02: Um I had more of a heart for international missions when I came to know Jesus in what was that, 2016?
12:48
SPEAKER_02: But um I feel like he's really showed me the beauty of local ministry and that missions doesn't start when your feet hit new land or a new place.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: Like there are people in your own backyard that the Lord is seeking and wants to reach.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: And wherever you're at, the Lord can use you.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: So I'd say specifically when it comes to the ministry of what rescue missions do across the nation, um, how there really is a mission to provide hope and Christ-centered support to those on the streets.
13:21
SPEAKER_02: I would say from my own perspective, our camp, um, let me just back it up a little bit.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: So Phoenix Rescue Mission has um a men's campus and a women's and children's campus.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: And when I look at those kiddos, I think there's a small part of me or a little pull that remembers that I was really only one breath away from being like the children on our campuses.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: Um, my family faced financial hardship well through my childhood and into my teen years.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: And if it weren't for the Lord, truly, I give all praise and glory to Jesus because I would be a completely different person and in a completely different situation if the Lord hadn't have scooped me up when he did.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't mean that it was rainbows and butterflies afterwards, but um, the men and women on our campuses, I can resonate with in the sense of the Lord is pursuing them and calling them to a life of of freedom.
14:24
SPEAKER_02: And like I said, it's not always rainbows and butterflies, but um, there's hope to it.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: And I think I think that's why I'm so passionate about what I get to do.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Why, why are you right now, if the listeners could just see you, um, you you're just glowing, you're smiling from left to right.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, yet you're smiling, talking about just kind of your own struggles growing up and just some hardships, but then also realistically seeing the hardships that your people face too, that are in both of those campuses.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you're talking about just this, you know, transformation and you're talking about how the Lord is pursuing these people.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: And so I I get the smile, but how do you really feel that way um with what you do?
15:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, where does that come from?
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: I again have to throw it back to the Lord.
15:19
SPEAKER_02: He is so good.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, I think if there was one banner that I could just put out there for everyone to hear, if you couldn't pronounce my name, I hope you'd remember this.
15:29
SPEAKER_02: Is that you are never too far gone for the Lord to come and find you, to love you deeply, to redeem you out of whatever you're going through, past, present, future.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: And the testimonies of the clients that have come through our program is, I mean, a testament to that.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: It's also, you know, the Lord uses so many people, even yourself or the people at Citigate that I've been able to connect with.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, continue sharing the encouragement that the Lord is good, that He is working.
16:03
SPEAKER_02: And yeah.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: So talk to me a little bit about just kind of the size of Phoenix Rescue Mission.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, you were in HR, so talk about maybe, you know, an estimate of how many employees there are, how many people do you serve, and then we'll kind of get into what you do.
16:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: So, Phoenix Rescue Mission has grown exponentially in the last decade and a half or so.
16:29
SPEAKER_02: So, a little bit more context, Phoenix Rescue Mission has been around for about 73 years.
16:35
SPEAKER_02: It started off with two couples who had a calling on their life to pass out Kool-Aid and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: And it has grown, like I said, um, but the mission has still stayed the same that we provide Christ-centered, life-transforming solutions to people facing hunger, homelessness, addiction, and trauma.
16:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, when I came on about four years ago, we had around 80 or 90 staff members.
17:02
SPEAKER_02: We had eight street outreach um case managers and only two hope coaches.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: So for us, we have a team of street outreach case managers whose whole role it is to go into the streets, meet people where they're at, and um provide services.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: Um now, as of this year, we have over 50 case managers, street outreach case managers.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: We have over 30 um hope coaches, and our staff count, I want to say, is just under 200.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: Maybe we're close to 175.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: So in the last four years, we have almost doubled, even greater than that from the programmatic side, um, who we are and what we've been doing.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: So that is amazing.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: So explain, I want to get back to numbers, but explain what are your hope coaches.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: You explained a little bit about outreach.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: What is a hope coach?
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
18:02
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: So um, the hope coaches are the vehicles in which our street outreach case managers are able to drive and go into um places where we may find individuals that could benefit from our services.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: So those folks um drive our hope coaches, those vehicles up and down the 17, which is one of our major freeways in Arizona.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: They go into the parks, into the canals.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, like I said, meet people where they're at, earn the right to be heard, and um provide services as necessary.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Um do you know, and if you don't know, it's okay, but do you kind of have an estimate of um people experiencing homelessness on your street?
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Like what was your point in time count, your most recent point in time count?
18:51
SPEAKER_02: I was just looking at that.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: And if not, it's okay.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm just um, you know, we also know there are um point in time count is definitely necessary.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: It helps us to have an idea, but we also know it's not an accurate picture because there's always probably more than what's reported on.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm just trying to get an idea of just numbers on the street um and numbers on your campuses.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: And let me double check real quick.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Cause I just had this uh not too long ago.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: I do know that it has um increased from last year.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: And we've definitely seen that with um the amount of individuals that we've been able to serve in our programs over the course of the last year as well.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: Those, I mean, even just to show how much our staff has grown from the programmatic side with our case managers, with our street outreach case managers, um, that comes from a direct need or in current correlation with a direct need from those that are are on the street.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: How many people on average normally stay at the shelters?
20:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so our, like I mentioned, we have um our residential recovery campuses.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: We have a men's campus and a women's and children's campus.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: Were you able to tour either of those when we were at City Gate?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: No.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: Next time, if you're ever in town, we would love to have you on our campus.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: I for sure want to.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it did not work with a couple of things that I presented and then when we were leaving.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely on my radar.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, our men's campus has the capacity to house up to around 360 individuals.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, I believe as of today, we have about 250 on our campus.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: And then our women's and children's campus, we have the capacity to serve around 100 women and up to 60 children or just about.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: We we like to keep those uh families together.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: And as of today, we have about 80 women and about 40 kiddos, so 120 total on our women's campus.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And do you s you know, do you typically see whether it's when it's really hot out or when it's really cold, do your numbers fluctuate?
21:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, they certainly do.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: I would say um, not only do our numbers fluctuate, but I would say the um means of of service changes with the seasons as well based on the needs of our clients.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: So in the summertime, as you can imagine, in Arizona it gets to be 115 to 120 degrees.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: So every year we run a code red campaign.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: And that campaign is specific to um providing heat relief and water to those on the streets.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: This last summer was a record high in how hot it was.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: And so I am really excited to say, thanks to our organizational partnerships, our um faithful community members that rallied around us, we were able to surpass the number of water that water bottles that we collected and distributed.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: Our goal was a million, and we were able to collect and distribute um just around 1.4 million water bottles.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
22:23
SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, that is something that we specifically do in the summertime for Arizona.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure it's a little bit different given where different rusty missions are at.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Um and then in the winter, too, something that people may not consider that I've noticed is when you think Arizona, you think mild climate.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: It's it's still pretty warm here.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: Um but we do have to provide safe refuge for folks on the streets because it does get colder, especially at night in the dark.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: That's what I was gonna say.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: I know oftentimes y'all's overnights can be brutal, but people don't think about it that way, but they really can be.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: That's that's just amazing.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Um so talk to me a little bit about your experience in HR and then how did you find yourself moving from HR to kind of this um real, you know, strategic development position and specifically with organizational partnerships?
23:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: Um at the time, I prior to working at Phoenix Rescue Mission, I was working in a corporate role for logistics.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: And I just knew that the Lord was calling me to something different.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: I just needed to get my foot in the door to um a nonprofit that served my community well.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: So the HR position opened up.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: I had a little bit of a background in human resources.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, but during my time in human resources, I really fell in love with the way that Phoenix Rescue Mission has done business, the ways that they operate, the um ways that leadership stewards staff and um really strategically plans out what moves will um be able to grow the ministry that the Lord has placed in front of us and how surrendered they are to Christ.
24:18
SPEAKER_02: And so it was very easy for me to move into a development space where I got to advocate for those programs and for the people that are working with our clients.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think it also excited me to be able to work with organizations and churches because um I kind of have an idea of how they operate a little bit from my HR background and um able to relate to them in that way, be able to advocate for Phoenix Rescue Mission and really get these organizations, churches, top grant funders um connected with something that they're passionate about and be able to serve the communities that they're already in.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: So, in case I didn't say it, I am the organizational partnerships uh officer at Phoenix Rescue Mission, which means that I get the wonderful job of working with churches and organizations and our grant funders to really partner them with what we're doing at Phoenix Rescue Mission.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: How do you, you know, a strategic development position is so crucial.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Um and really in some business worlds, it's not a new concept.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: But in a lot of rescue mission, like specifically coming up with somebody to have strategy with specific elements of the rescue mission, it is more fairly new.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: Um many of us still are wear many hats, right?
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And so we know that, but I do think it's a direction that rescue missions are going in regards to this strategy piece.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: How do you feel like you balance um the strategy piece, but then also saying staying so directly involved with the frontline um work so that you can gain these partnerships and and stuff?
26:08
SPEAKER_00: How do you kind of um how do you balance that demand of the strategy piece, but then also making sure that you're so direct service still that you understand what the strategy should be?
26:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: Our team, especially um as organizational partnerships, we have to wear many hats.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: We have to know what's going on across our programs because our role, I really look at it as um a position that can advocate for the needs of our program.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
26:43
SPEAKER_02: So we are constantly meeting back or touching back with our um street outreach team, with our residential recovery campus.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: Another aspect of our ministry that I haven't mentioned yet is food distribution.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: So those are the big three that we um cover at Phoenix Rescue Mission is street outreach, our year-long residential recovery program, and food distribution.
27:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we are constantly touching base with those teams to make sure that we understand what is the greatest need and how unique organizations and churches that have a passion to serve are able to come alongside.
27:25
SPEAKER_02: And the cool part about organizational partnerships that I really love is, and you get to do this with individual donors as well, but with organizations, you come in contact with so many um different companies and so many different churches and so many different grant funders that have different passions and purposes, and being able to find the right fit for them specifically to have a unique impact on the mission that still um pushes us towards the goal of where we're headed.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: That is just amazing, and I love your excitement for it.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's so much that I don't even understand, and I'm like, okay, I'm all in.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Just tell me what you do.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna mimic it at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
28:11
SPEAKER_00: And what does that look like?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but talk to us a little bit about, you know, when you say organizational partnerships, what does that look like?
28:18
SPEAKER_00: And then um I know day to day it could look different, but talk to me about when you're talking about these kind of budward buzzwords of you know, strategy and partnerships and corporations and program expansions.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Like what does that really look like in a day-to-day to you?
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you um build relationships?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: How do you recruit?
28:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, how does that even look like in what you do?
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: Well, um, let me tell you a bit more about how organizations can get involved or churches can get involved.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, because I think that will help kind of line us up with um some of those buzzwords of how we go about offering these relationships.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: So organizations can get involved in a number of different ways that we've seen through the years.
29:11
SPEAKER_02: Um there are different, we call them peer-to-peer campaigns, but essentially word-of-mouth fundraising campaigns that um organizations will run internally or externally.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: We've seen a lot of um great success in those, getting your people, your staff, your congregation excited about the cause.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: Um something unique to uh organizational partnerships is the employing employee giving or match programs that some organizations run.
29:43
SPEAKER_02: So, really being able to um connect with those organizations that care deeply about the homeless population in our city or in the US, and being able to partner with them, get them excited about matching with their employees.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, foundation gifts.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: Like I mentioned, my team works with grants as well.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, grants and foundations are pretty similar in um being able to connect with folks that are passionate about their community.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh, drives as well is something that my team handles pretty heavily.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: So different drives throughout the year.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: How I mentioned, we did that water bottle drive for code red.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: We also have holiday specific drives or back to school drives.
30:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, we have something called hope totes as well, which are kits that have basic necessities, um, some hygiene items, water, possibly a snack.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: And our street outreach teams really use that as a conversation starter or a way to engage with people first and foremost on the streets.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: So we're constantly running drives for those items.
30:52
SPEAKER_02: We've also seen a handful of org partners and foundations really provide education and networking for our staff and just to be able to meet with other like-minded nonprofits or connect us with other organizations that um may want to get involved in what we're doing.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh, board involvement is something that I know a lot of rescue missions were were talking about at Citigate, how to get their board more involved.
31:21
SPEAKER_02: And oftentimes, you know, the pool of donors that you already have or the pool of partnerships that you have, probably have your one or two people that are incredibly excited and would love to serve on a board and have the time, talent, treasures, ties to be able to um really speak into what you're doing locally.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: And then there are volunteer opportunities.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: Our team doesn't actually handle um volunteer opportunities specifically, but we really act as the front line of um inquiries that come in when it comes to all of the things that I just mentioned.
32:01
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: So as you were talking about, you know, strategic planning and melding it with, you know, frontline engagement, part of that is knowing where to connect people wherever they best fit and what team can answer the questions that they have, whether it be um with our program team or um with our volunteer engagement.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: There are so many special and unique ways that that partners can connect.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: I think when you're saying growing that relationship, I always want to take a posture of curiosity when people come to our doorstep um to see really what it is that they are most passionate about and connect them to that at Phoenix Rescue Mission.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: I will never forget that posture of curiosity.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not just what we want people to be curious about in regards to TRM, it's what we need to be curious about with others too, to see what meshes and what could help whatever that, whether it's a person, a business, an organization, like what their involvement with TRM, how can that help them grow as well?
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I love that.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: So much good stuff.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: Um when you're talking about these different ideas and just kind of different things that you all oversee, what's kind of your structure?
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Do you have, is there like a strategy team?
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Like you've talked about yours as organizational partnerships, but are there other people that are in this strategic development?
33:35
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
33:36
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: So the way that um Phoenix Rescue Mission has it broken down, we have our development team.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: And within the development team, we have um our mid and major gift officers, so our full entropy team.
33:53
SPEAKER_02: Um we also have our um, like I said, our organizational partnerships team is broken down into our director, myself, and one other individual.
34:07
SPEAKER_02: Our director primarily handles um top grant funders and um major orgs and churches.
34:17
SPEAKER_02: I handle primarily the financial aspect of churches and organizations, and then um my colleague handles drives and gifting kinds and um incoming physical donations.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: We found that it's easiest to kind of break it up like that, but all of us together are are working hand in hand, sure.
34:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, especially the philanthropy team as a whole.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: We um really have to be in step with one another as we're creating marketing pieces that go out to our different partners or donors.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, so the strategy is really from the top down.
34:59
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of collaboration that comes with it, especially from our marketing team as well, um, who is really considering how to best message our pieces to the correct audience.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: How big is your marketing team?
35:14
SPEAKER_02: Our marketing team, let me think, because I know we had a couple new hires.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: I believe one, two, three, I believe we have three individuals on our marketing team, and we do have an external uh partner that assists with some of our marketing pieces as well.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: Yes, makes sense.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: How do you think um, especially having, I think you said it was around 175 employees.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I just think to myself, like, what a blessing that is to have that many people, um, the troops, right?
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I also know sometimes with sizes like that, it can also be difficult to kind of have a family feel, or it could be difficult with um how do we stay on the same page in regards to mission and vision and those kinds of things.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, so talk to me just a little bit about maybe some of the positive things you all do as far as like staff culture goes, but that helps that many bodies work together, you know, as kind of the body of Christ.
36:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
36:31
SPEAKER_02: And I can definitely speak into the fact that our HR team and our leadership um deeply cares about the staff at Phoenix Rescue Mission, that they have gone above and beyond to come up with creative ideas to be able to really bring together our team, um, especially as you said, as it's been growing.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, it can be hard to know one another.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: But one really cool thing that we do that just happened a few weeks ago is called Refresh Week.
37:00
SPEAKER_02: And Refresh Week is a week that we take every year, um, where we're able to come together as a whole body of Christ that is working towards in so many different ways um towards this mission of seeing restoration in the valley.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: And we come together this year.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: We actually were able to go to the Phoenix Zoo for our little attic.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: We took a whole day um to meet with some wonderful guest speakers to get us excited and get to know each other better across the mission.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: They also provided um, you know, a special managerial section for our leaders and managers to be able to come together and and talk through maybe some of the um challenges that they're seeing as leaders and and really identify how to combat those.
37:52
SPEAKER_02: Um then each of the teams get to do a team bonding and all of this time is is uh prioritized from the top down for us to spend this time together.
38:03
SPEAKER_02: But I think that the coolest part about our refresh week is staff are are encouraged to take two to three hours of time in the day to just spend with the Lord, just go and spend some time with Jesus.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: I think it can be so difficult when um your vocation is ministry to lose sight of who we're doing it for.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: When there's all these little details that we need to get done or all of these tasks that are calling our name to really have a merry posture and just be able to sit at the feet of Jesus and be re refreshed and restored by him.
38:43
SPEAKER_02: So that's something really sweet that that Phoenix Rescue Mission does.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: This year, um, you know, I'm just always looking at, so our staff is, I think we're approved for around 74, 75 um full-time employees.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: Some of those are part-time and such, depending on the makeup.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: But, and then if we have uh six different buildings, but people are only spread out really through four of those buildings, our shelters, the children's palace, and then our distribution center.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: And so we do like a monthly newsletter where all department heads um put out their own information so that we can read it and really know the past 30 days or the upcoming 30 days, here are some things that are happening in each department because we do have a very family feel here.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: But I also think that um I have just noticed the level of heaviness um just kind of continue to increase.
39:43
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's just a lot of demands, and I think when you look at it on a national level or local level, um, everybody's trying to find different solutions and and such.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: So one of the things that I implemented at my deputy level, I have five, and um all of them are over two or three different departments here.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: And so it was towards the end of last year that I told them God had just kind of um revealed to me that we all just need solitude.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: And um that sometimes that is coming in the form of, hey, we need to do what Jesus did.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's a lot of self-care that's good for us, but Jesus really modeled the self-care.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: And the self-care was get away from everything that's stressing you out and go be with the father, because that's really where the renewal comes from.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, now the other side of it is so this time last year, I started talking to my five deputies about implementing a solitude day once a month.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and on that day, um, I wanted there to be a focus of them and the Lord, however long that looked like.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wasn't micromanaging it.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna ask you what you're doing on your solitude day.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: But one, you know, how are you going back to the Father the way that Jesus did when whether it was Jesus was overwhelmed or Jesus needed more wisdom or Jesus was hurting for what was hurting people, you know, we we don't truly know what all Jesus was facing.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the other side of it was I said that is also a day that you are off limits to everybody else in this ministry.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: So no one can contact you on your solitude day.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, and really encourage them that that is your day to one, prioritize time with the Father.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: And then two, everything that you feel like you need to get caught up on or you've had some cool ideas, but you've not been able to really spend time on it because there's just so many things that pull us in so many directions once we hit the door.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: And um so that has worked well this year.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, now I have had to have some crucial conversations with uh pretty much all five of my deputies to say, hey, just a reminder, I'm not seeing your solitude day on your schedule.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: And just remember, you're never too busy to take one day a month to get caught up and to be with the father.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think that that has really had merit.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: And so um I've not been public yet.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: So if any of our staff are listening to this, um I'm doing it backwards.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm telling the world before I tell internal staff.
42:23
SPEAKER_00: But I think I'm gonna implement it come January to the director levels, you know.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: Um I know that there's challenges with that, and but I also know that the benefits and the blessings of that reap such a beautiful harvest versus just always trying to seem like robots and doing more.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: So um I love the idea of kind of this retreat and this kind of excursion, right?
42:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that gave me a good idea, but it all just also just reaffirmed for me that I'm gonna expand that idea of the solitude day to the next level of leadership.
43:00
SPEAKER_02: So recently um, I'm trying to think of who said this in one of our meetings, but one of my colleagues said um prayer is not just a part of the plan, it is the plan.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: So much of what we do, everything like some of the most incredible partnerships and what we've been able to accomplish through them could not have just come up drafted.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: It had to have been surrendered to the Lord and through the Lord's inspiration and a constant check-in of God, this is our plan, but what do you want to do with it?
43:36
SPEAKER_02: We surrender all of this to you.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: And I think that is a huge testament to some of the things that our partners have have been able to accomplish, even just by trusting Phoenix Rescue Mission and the support and services that we provide.
43:52
SPEAKER_02: Um it is so, so, so crucial for people to get that time spent with the Lord and be able to be an outpouring of Jesus.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, and it when we're not doing it individually, then I think it impacts everywhere, you know, and not just the Tobeka Rescue Mission, but just in general.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also think that sometimes when we're in ministry, we can kind of have this unrealistic expectation of ourselves.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm guilty of it sometimes, where it's like, well, you should never doubt.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: And if you just pray more, it's gonna be better, or if you just work more, it's gonna be better.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: And what the father has really been just shepherding me and loving me on is daughter, you don't always have to have the answers, just always have me.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, you know, even through the night, last night there were just um some things that just were so heavy on my heart.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: And so I got up and, you know, on a funny note, I told y'all I gave up sugar, right?
44:58
SPEAKER_00: So I can't go and have my Christmas tree, little Debbie.
45:01
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't have that, and I couldn't have my Star Crunch, and I couldn't have all this.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: Um giving up sugar right before the holidays.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: That is able.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: What was I thinking?
45:10
SPEAKER_00: Um that was dumb.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: That was dumb.
45:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but anyway, so I was up and there's, you know, I've got five kiddos and a husband and myself, and so there's always laundry to do.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: So I'm up and I'm doing laundry, and I'm just kind of thanking the Lord for the fact that I have um kids to do laundry for, and was doing work clothes for my husband, and just thankful for like the hard work that he does and and all this stuff.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: And I just got this beautiful sense of peace that everything can be kind of an unknown, whether it's TRM as a whole or personally, and there's still be this beautiful affirmation that if we just keep talking to the father and we keep just um devoting time to him, that it's just so it's so how we're supposed to live life.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: And so uh probably the last three months, I had done this experience, this guided prayer, this week-long guided prayer, never done it before, never heard of it, changed my life.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: And there's not a lot that I truly sound dramatic on like that, like, oh, that's life changing.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: A week of guided prayer changed my life back in in late September, early October.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, one of the things that I learned from that was so often, whether it's um our different departments in the ministry, whether it's my position, uh, maybe personal things, we go to the Father asking for answers.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing wrong with that.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: There isn't.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, but there is something beautiful in sometimes just saying, you know what, Lord, I am devoting this time right now to you, and I'm going to sit here and I'm not gonna ask for anything.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even going to anticipate anything.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to actually say, I can't believe the God of creation um wants to just have me.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: And what I've realized from that, it doesn't always go the way I want it to.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: But that time that I'm spending with the Father, not asking any questions, many of my questions are being answered.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: And so there, when you mentioned this time of also surrender, and that, you know, whether it's your strategic development department, whether it's your leadership teams, whatever the case may be, there is actually beauty in the unknowns, beauty of are we going to get this partnership?
47:54
SPEAKER_00: Are we not going to get this partnership?
47:55
SPEAKER_00: What is God doing?
47:57
SPEAKER_00: What is his timing?
47:58
SPEAKER_00: And so often I think as ministry leaders, there's um a very unrealistic expectation that we should have all the answers and that success.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: When actually I feel like, particularly myself and TRM right now, we need to be seeing beauty in the stuff that we're not certain of, but that the fact that we've given it to the Lord, surrendered it, talked to him about it, sought his his guidance on it, when those things start to happen, we can trust that.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Um and there's beauty in that.
48:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:30
SPEAKER_02: Topeka rescue mission is lucky to have you.
48:34
SPEAKER_02: And I appreciate your vulnerability.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the Holy Spirit is doing, but I feel like everything you just said was exactly what I needed to hear.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: And even thinking about like I have this off to the side here, a bunch of little notes and numbers and all the things that I wanted to talk about, some of the partners that I wanted to highlight, all of that jazz.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: But what it really boils down to is this surrender and saying, Lord, have your way.
49:02
SPEAKER_02: Like my identity is rooted in you, regardless of what happens tomorrow.
49:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
49:06
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm going to trust, like you said, that the Holy Spirit is going to be moving, that God, you have a plan that I can't mess it up.
49:17
SPEAKER_02: Yes, right.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: And so I am going to surrender this to you.
49:20
SPEAKER_02: And that's really how you should do partnerships, how you should do fundraising, how you should do donor engagement is surrendering that time to the Lord, entering into it with this, with a posture of curiosity, like we talked about, and allowing the Lord to do what he's going to do.
49:36
SPEAKER_02: Moving the hearts of the people that are supposed to be a part of your mission and a and supporting what you're doing.
49:43
SPEAKER_00: So and at the right times.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: At the right times.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm guilty on.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: I sometimes I feel like the Lord, um, you know, when he makes it certain to me what we're supposed to do, watch out.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: Because my my problem is not obedience when I know what the Lord's calling us to do.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: My problem is uh that little bitty period of time called waiting.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's when I kind of go from um being uh Simon Peter, like, God, I'll do anything for you, to doubting Thomas.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, uh Lord, are you there?
50:18
SPEAKER_00: What are we supposed to do?
50:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that is really cool because I'm in a just a growing opportunity right now that on one hand wants to stress me out like not eating sugar does.
50:30
SPEAKER_00: And then the other hand is I'm reminded that like God loves me and all of us so much that we are all on this um beautiful like sanctification process, right?
50:43
SPEAKER_00: And we all are experiencing growing pains, but that those growing pains are so beautiful if we just surrender it to him and see it as, hey God, we're we're giving you this department or we're giving you my career, or we're giving you these end-of-the-year finances that we have to hit, you know, whatever the case is.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's just so incredible to know that God wants to look at all of us and take everything that needs to be refined and refine it, but that he does it in such a beautiful and loving and just no condemnation way.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that doesn't mean he doesn't bring course correction to us and all of that, but his way is just so good, and and I'm grateful for that, you know?
51:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh absolutely.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: Well, just as we wrap up, are there any other things that you just kind of final thoughts about the Phoenix Rescue Mission or your department or anything like that?
51:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think um it is so neat, especially during Citigate, to see how vast the rescue mission network is and to be able to connect to the greater body of Christ in that.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
52:04
SPEAKER_02: To know that there are other brothers and sisters spread across the US and beyond that are committed to seeing um hope and restoration for folks that are uh homeless across the U.S.
52:17
SPEAKER_02: So I am just so encouraged to be here.
52:20
SPEAKER_02: It's it's great to hear about what's happening in Topeka.
52:24
SPEAKER_02: And I'm really glad to be a part of this team.
52:27
SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, not to put you on the spot one last time, but in regards to kind of your organizational partnerships, are there any that you want to highlight as we're wrapping up?
52:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and possibly maybe in the next couple of months, have you back on for a part two?
52:45
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I would love a part two.
52:47
SPEAKER_02: I think there is so much more that we could uh get into and talk about when it comes to partnerships, especially when it comes to um partnerships, not just in finances, not just in volunteering, not just in drives, but also partnerships in the ways that we provide program.
53:04
SPEAKER_02: Because that's something that I would love to highlight.
53:06
SPEAKER_02: And I think that um other rescue missions could possibly do similarly.
53:11
SPEAKER_02: This is a scalable model where you're able to bring um for us, it's our street outreach case managers to communities and designated areas to be able to provide services.
53:23
SPEAKER_02: And I know we're we're running low on time, so maybe we'll save some of this for part two.
53:27
SPEAKER_02: But um really wonderful.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh, go ahead.
53:31
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to make sure that you highlight when you say, you know, you've been able to particularly expand street outreach.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: Um that's kind of made possible, we know from the Lord, but also like corporate sponsorships.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
53:44
SPEAKER_02: So I was just about to mention um QT is a great example of a partnership that has grown over the years and has brought so much inspiration to what it could look like to provide street outreach in designated spots where um there's a high congregation of individuals that are homeless or could use our services.
54:06
SPEAKER_02: So the QT partnership looks like um a specific contract with case managers that are designated to QT locations all across the valley.
54:18
SPEAKER_02: And those street outreach case managers, they take those hope coaches and they have a designated route where they're going to QT locations, meeting people where they're at, and providing services.
54:29
SPEAKER_02: So I'll give a little bit of um an impact report now, and I'm sure I'll have a more updated one the next time we talk because this was from April 2024 to March 2025, so the spring of this year.
54:43
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
54:43
SPEAKER_02: Um we, our street outreach team, were able to connect with over 16,000 individuals just from this one QT partnership.
54:55
SPEAKER_02: From going to these different QT relationships, meeting with individuals, they were able to um communicate with folks 16,000 different times.
55:07
SPEAKER_02: We had 320 rescues, which means that we were able to provide housing assistance to 320 individuals just from this partnership alone.
55:18
SPEAKER_02: And since then, this partnership has expanded.
55:21
SPEAKER_02: So that's why I'm saying I'll be able to get some more updated impact numbers.
55:25
SPEAKER_02: But that's just one of our partners who have gotten creative and inspired us new ways of thinking about partnerships.
55:33
SPEAKER_02: So if you can think of a few areas in your community specifically that could benefit from um homeless services, reach out to those folks, reach out to those those business partners and see if you guys can work together to be a part of the solution in your in your community.
55:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's like the cliffhanger, right?
55:58
SPEAKER_00: Um I know.
56:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I'm done.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's exactly right.
56:03
SPEAKER_00: And we know that there's gotta be a sequel and more to come.
56:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think that uh listeners will be so blessed um to hear from you and to listen to this.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: And then um maybe we can look at next spring, you know, when you have the other reports and all of that, the updates.
56:21
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we do a part two to say what does this look like?
56:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, because not only do we want listeners to hear this and learn about the great things that are happening all over, but then also it's good so that local listeners are hearing it and getting ideas about how we can do this.
56:38
SPEAKER_00: Um and we do, we we have incredible partnerships um that have just rallied around us and they use their yes um to really do some great things.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: And we're just so grateful for that.
56:52
SPEAKER_00: And so I think we have the foundation of um support that we need.
56:58
SPEAKER_00: And I think we are just so close to taking it to the next level with a lot of our our partnerships.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: So um thank you for your heart.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving us some of the time and your busy schedule and all of that.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: I know that um your words on a lot of levels will will bless listeners, and I'm just uh thankful for your friendship and thankful for your willingness to be an open book to share.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: So we hope that you all as uh listeners heard today um that it is so beneficial for all of us to have a posture of curiosity.
57:30
SPEAKER_00: If only we could be more curious than maybe even opinionated at times.
57:36
SPEAKER_00: Um if we could just have a heart to really want to get to know and understand things that don't make sense.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think our world could be a lot more um beautiful in a lot of parts.
57:47
SPEAKER_00: So uh just remember if you are listening to this right now and um you are wanting to get involved in the work that the Topeka Rescue Mission does, please go online at trmonline.org.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: TRMonline.org.
58:02
SPEAKER_00: There are volunteer opportunities, there are incredible pages on our website explaining what we do.
58:07
SPEAKER_00: And um just remember that the next steps to servanthood could start all with a posture of curiosity.
58:14
SPEAKER_00: God bless.