Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #243 – Facilities & Security: Behind the Scenes at Topeka Rescue Mission
In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the Topeka Rescue Mission, highlighting the dedication and hard work of our facilities and security team. Join Marcus Molinar, Deputy Director of Facilities and Security, and Marvin Blanchett from the Facilities Team, as they share the challenges of managing six buildings and a fleet of vehicles, all while creating new opportunities for former guests. Discover Marvin's inspiring journey from being a guest at TRM to becoming a key member of the facilities team, and hear Marcus's passion for his role as they work together to ensure safety and cleanliness across the organization.
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Father, you're good to us. God, we're just thankful for this time, thankful for this time to just come to you and learn more about you and the people that you are employing to do your work. God, god, I pray that we just focus on you and everything that we're doing, with our minds and our hearts fully focused on what you have for us. God, we're thankful, we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hello everybody, thank.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, Thank you for joining us for our community, our mission. A podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. This is Wednesday, October 16th, episode number 243. We have kind of a unique opportunity today to have a podcast without the normal folks here, and so I'm Barry Feeke, your host. I'm kind of normal here. Well, maybe not normal, but I'm here today.
Speaker 1:Normal is not what I call you.
Speaker 2:And so we have Isaiah Thurman here, who is a creative communication coordinator. He's also the guy that's got the kill switch on the button up there, in case we get too far off the wrong direction here. Be careful over there, barry. But, yeah, okay, so I'm going to be careful, but I'll tell you what. Normally we have LaManda Burrells, executive Director, and Marion Crable, deputy Director of Supportive Services, here, but you know where they are right now.
Speaker 1:I don't know, probably like in a meeting or out in the field, or on a joyous journey.
Speaker 2:They're out celebrating today because today is the fifth anniversary of our community, our mission. This thing's gone on for five years. Five years, dude. We pushed through COVID, we, we pushed through COVID and some of us had COVID while we were doing this thing. So if you go back, you will find that we were probably not on our game at that time, but we got through it.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I finally showed up, so I had to, just you know, evolve it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:You've really helped a lot. So, Isaiah, we've had you on the podcast before to talk about your story, which was a phenomenal story about you being a child and actually being here at the rescue mission. I'm here today. You're on staff.
Speaker 1:I'm super familiar with this place. You know, these walls are great. Well, actually we just repainted the walls, so in the Hope Center, so I guess I'm not as familiar.
Speaker 2:Well, that's true, they were a different color then and a different floor covering when you were here. That's right. So so what we normally do here if you're a first-time listener to our community, our mission is we unpack the importance of the day before we get to our guests, and so we rely upon our research and development department which is Isaiah, that's you, which would be me.
Speaker 2:That's you, so you had picked out off of your extensive search of the Google app on your phone about what those important days are today, and so one of those things is Global Cat Day. Yeah, global Cat Day. Why would there be a global cat day? I have no idea. Um so you love cats right Funny story.
Speaker 1:No, I don't, I'm actually, I'm allergic to cats. Funny story. Uh, well, you know, I just have such a heart for, uh, the lost cat population that I just, I just read all the time.
Speaker 2:Now we know, okay, all right, so anyway, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Oh no. But so in my extensive list of Google searches there was two things about cats today and it was either Global Cat Day well, I guess I didn't put it, but I guess I'm going to tell it now. I think it was like Feral Cat Day, feral Cat Day, and I was like oh, and I was like, oh well, I'm going to skip that one and just go to normal cat day.
Speaker 2:But we see where that ended us up. Okay, well, good. Anyway. Well, you know, dogs are man's best friend, but they say cats are second runner up, unless you are a cat owner and you love cats.
Speaker 1:And so it's a tie. Or you're like a cat owner that has, like a cat that behaves like a dog.
Speaker 2:Never saw one.
Speaker 1:I've heard of them. I've heard of them. I've never experienced one, but I have experienced them slightly, not the norm Barking and running after cars, maybe not the barking, but friendly and not annoying.
Speaker 2:I had a dog one time that acted like a cat. It just said serve me, worship me. That seems unfortunate. I gave the dog away. Anyway, I love dogs. It's also a very important day. It's called World Food Day, and this is something that was created back in 1945. The United Nations recognized that food is not a privilege but, a right and that we should feed the world and obviously the Topeka Rescue Mission.
Speaker 2:that's a very big, important factor of the ministry here of feeding a lot more people than ever, and if we had Amanda and Miriam here, they would talk more about that. But I think everybody's aware of not only providing shelter and services for those who have no place to go, but also helping people that need to eat, and we often do that every day, don't?
Speaker 1:we. The kitchen is man. The kitchen works hard. I mean, if you think about the mobile access partnership days, tuesdays and Thursdays, they're kind of you know it's a lot of work cut out for them because you know they have the guests to feed and they also have people with the mobile access partnership with breakfast and lunch as well. So they're feeding three meals in the building and they're feeding two for all of our unsheltered friends. And then you know the DC Food baskets.
Speaker 2:Tuesdays and Thursdays for a lot of cars that last almost throughout the day. Yeah, just hundreds and hundreds of people, and so, yeah, it's insane because it was not.
Speaker 1:it wasn't like that all the time, but it's super good to see that you know we have that now and are able to provide for all those people.
Speaker 2:And it's able to be done because of the generosity of listeners and donors of the Topeka Rescue Mission. And it's able to be done because of the generosity of listeners and donors of the Topeka Rescue Mission. Predominantly, those are either cash donations designated for food, or people just bring food here, which is huge, and so it's greatly appreciated. And so if LaManda was here, because she is executive director, we would recognize the next day is National Bosses Day, but apparently she's celebrating ahead of time being this the fifth anniversary and is not able to be here today. No, they are in meetings, very, very important meetings. And so anyway, isaiah, thank you for co-facilitating this with me today and hosting this with me Again. Podcast number 243 here on October 16th of 2024, fifth anniversary starting this thing. First time, five years ago, we actually had Trey George, trey George.
Speaker 1:Was our first interview. Who is the CEO and president of the Topeka Housing Authority, right?
Speaker 2:and still is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he still is.
Speaker 2:So a great guy, great guy, and so he did a great podcast. If you want to go clear back and listen to that very first one, yeah. So anyway, isaiah, what I've often said as a former director of the Rescue Mission is that you can have a ministry, you can have services for the homeless, you can have all of these great things that you want to do, but unless you have a place for people to go, unless you have facilities, it really means nothing. And so today— and security, absolutely Safety, and a place to go, and you have to keep those up all the time. And so today we have Marcus Molinere, who is deputy director here at Topeka Rescue Mission of Facilities and Security, and also one of his team members, marvin Blanchet. Did I get that right? Is it the French, blanchet, who is also on the team? So welcome guys to our community. Good morning, Hello.
Speaker 2:So, marvin, this is your first time on the podcast, and Marcus has been on here a few times. I mean this, guys that a lot of times, when we think about facility is that we just assume that somebody's taking care of it. But there's a lot of moving parts to this. Marcus, talk about how many facilities you and your team are caring for and what does caring for them mean.
Speaker 4:Well, let's start out with the team. We got six plus myself, so that's seven bodies and we are trying to tend to six different buildings which are strewn about North Topeka here and there's a custodial side and there's a maintenance side, and our custodians keep everything clean, they keep things safe, germ wise and all that um, or maintenance guy, which is actually marvin blanche here and, uh, he, um, he has a lot of weight on his shoulders just dealing with breakdowns and things like that. So he's's the mechanical side of facilities, which is quite a big job.
Speaker 2:So you've got five facilities. You have two shelters, you have a distribution center, you have a warehouse. On top of that, you have the Children's Palace here, which is multifaceted in regards to all kinds of things not just kids coming over and also a facility which is the former North Topeka Baptist Church. I think that's five. Do you guys also service the fleet of vehicles?
Speaker 4:Yes, we service the. I couldn't tell you the number of vehicles, but there's quite a few vehicles. We stay on top of that with the oil changes, tire rotations, things like that. Our maintenance requests come in periodically and so, yeah, it's a big job all around.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to put you on the spot here, and it's a wild guess how many square feet of facilities do we have, or do you know?
Speaker 4:I couldn't tell you, I couldn't, I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you a little bit, because the main building is 24,000. Right, the Hope Center is 22,000. The distribution center is 18,000. The children's palace is 18,000. The warehouse is 18,000. The children's palace is 18,000. The warehouse is 11,500.
Speaker 1:And the church? I have no idea.
Speaker 2:How would I know all those things? A little flex from Barry right there. Well, because we got a chance to be involved in the construction or the renovation of all of those things, and so that's the only reason I know those things. But you add those up 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, it's over 100,000 square feet and you've got a team of seven. Seven, yeah, seven.
Speaker 4:That's not a whole lot of folks, including myself, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, marvin, you're the fix-it guy, and so what brought you to the Peak Rescue Mission? Why are you on this team? What does it mean for you to know that you got over?
Speaker 3:100,000 square feet of stuff that could break. Well, it's certainly daunting, to say the least, but I came to the mission because I was experiencing homelessness and I had been a guest over a 25 year period, probably three, maybe four times at the Hope Center with my family or families. I've been through a couple of marriages and so I knew that it took on average of six months to rebuild and there was programs available. I did graduate from care.
Speaker 2:Career readiness and education, job training program, equipping.
Speaker 3:So I came this time with the mindset that I was going to join the care program and I was going to rebuild and start over. I thought my marriage was falling apart, and so the Lord always has a different plan, and his plan is always way better than yours.
Speaker 3:And I think he does that you know, kind of like intentionally to rub it in just a little. It's like look how good my plan is. And so a week after, about a week and a half after I got here, January of 22, my dorm got quarantined due to COVID and then we were quarantined for, I want to say, 15 days.
Speaker 2:And then we had a guy in our dorm come down with COVID.
Speaker 3:So seven, eight days in, we got reset for another 15 days and care started the 29th. And so the 29th I was still quarantined, and so I had been out for one of our small breaks a week. There was guys that smoked, we got to go out for cigarette breaks, and so I had asked Bobby Oppenlander if there was anything to volunteer for other than the kitchen. And so a little bit about me.
Speaker 2:And I would be with you there. I'd just like to go eat there, but not work there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so he had. I've had a lot of kitchen jobs that I didn't like. So anyways, bobby had said that he thought Marcus was looking for somebody for maintenance, and one thing led to another. I had expressed to him let him know, I'll be there after we get unquarantined on this day, and sure enough, 8 am, marcus was on the intercom calling for me and I got up to the front desk and he's like are you ready to work or what?
Speaker 2:So let's roll that back a minute. You came in to this time around to pick rescue mission, to get some help, get on a program and it's during the COVID and you pretty much get isolated with just a handful of other guys in the dormitory. For what? About 20 days or so?
Speaker 3:Yeah, for almost a whole month of January.
Speaker 2:It's a whole month of January. What kept you from just walking out the door?
Speaker 3:I had nowhere else to go, and I was here because I had addiction problems in my past. But I also failed to save money and couldn't live a responsible lifestyle that allowed me to have some security to fall back on when things fell apart, and so I needed this. It was all or nothing.
Speaker 2:You must have been really determined, because that was an unpleasant time. Yeah, uncertain time it was. You came to get services and about all you're getting is a bed to sleep in, a shower and some food, because we couldn't have all the normal classes that we had because of the distancing issues, and so you really had to be very determined to stay with it, and I guess that probably says a lot about what we all need is to have determination, and there may be obstacles in the way that says okay, here was my plan, I'm going to come in, I'm really going to do it this time, and then nope, sorry, can't do it right now because we're just trying to make sure nobody dies, right? Yeah, what a time that was. But anyway, you got through that nearly month in that because it had to be rebooted.
Speaker 2:Back in the days we were following CDC guidelines to the T Right Because we didn't know, they said that the number one population in the country that may experience fatalities due to COVID was going to be the homeless, and so fortunately, that was not the case. As a matter of fact, they had very few deaths amongst the homeless population, but we had to take all the precautions, and maybe that's one of the reasons that people did so well. So once you got out, and here's Marcus over here going where you been, oh yeah. So, marcus, what did you know about this guy? Why was it? You just really looking for somebody, needed somebody.
Speaker 4:I knew nothing about this guy, actually, I just needed some help actually First guy that showed up raised his hand, says I mean I needed, we was in dire need during COVID Just with all the extra cleaning efforts we had to do, just with all the sanitizing and the Guys were.
Speaker 2:Lysoling every door because at that time we thought touch Lysoling and that was every hour.
Speaker 4:That was every hour we were doing, so we had a guy doing that One that was his eight-hour shift All day long, going around door to door to door to door, eight-hour shift.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at that.
Speaker 4:That time we didn't have the um church building but had everything else, and so yeah yeah, that was like full-time job just, yeah, it was, it was um and it was scary, but um, we needed, we needed the help and um, and when I first met him, he just he came off as a that he wanted, with that determination and he wanted to do something, and I don't get that a lot, so I gave him a chance.
Speaker 2:Marvin, had you had mechanical repair experience before? I had Okay, so that you didn't have to learn it from Marcus here.
Speaker 3:You had to well some of the things. So back in the old days you used to could be able to call a construction company on the phone and just tell them uh hey, I've got common sense and I can read a tape measure, and they would be like you're hired, show up Monday with your boots on, ready to work. Now there's the whole vetting process, the internet. Everybody wants a resume and some references and it's what have you done in the past, and so I didn't have a lot of experience with a lot of the things that you guys did. But I had a lot of experience that made it easier to catch on to some of the things you did when I went through the care program.
Speaker 3:Linda Kinney had asked us for an exercise one day of writing down all the jobs you'd worked and I had 50 plus and I hadn't even put them all down and she's like oh my goodness, you can't put all these on a resume and I'm like well, no, of course not.
Speaker 3:And so she's like are you serious? You really worked at these jobs? And I was like yes. And so I didn't even realize until about eight months in that everything that I had did up until this point had been a culmination of this job come into fruition, because this job entails just about everything that I've ever done. I mean we don't know what it's going to be from day to day. I mean there's the things we do know in advance, but then there's the unforeseen, and I mean it runs the gamut.
Speaker 2:So there's massive amounts of plumbing here, there's HVAC systems, there's refrigeration systems, there is vehicles. You guys are going to get the first call when there is something that goes down with anything.
Speaker 2:Some of it's technology that will get over to Isaiah's direction and his team computer-wise and so forth, but a lot of moving parts here. So, Marvin, I'm going to just assume that one of the challenges that you had with all of those different jobs and not being able to stay on one was due to the way life was going for you at that time addiction, those kinds of things and so you got a lot of good experience, but now you're ready to really plug in.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so how long has?
Speaker 2:it been that you've been on the team. Now You're ready to really plug in.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so how long has it been that you've been on the team now? So I started February of 22 and worked till March of 23, where I decided that I didn't want to work for TRM anymore. It was a huge mistake on my part, but I was having some issues unwork-related issues that became work-related issues, and then I came back in October of 23,. By the grace of God and the grace of our wonderful—.
Speaker 3:Marcus and the team here, yeah and there was stipulations, and, you know, part of the appeal of coming back was that some of the things that were missing in my life was the accountability, and that's what I needed. And so I came back running, you know, toward it. And so now I've been here, it's October 24. So this will be two years working for TRM, one year this time, but two years total, and so Thank you.
Speaker 2:So obviously Marcus has a lot of confidence in you to turn a lot of the repair arenas over to you to be able to address those, find the right people to fix them or fix them with you and your team. You mentioned maintenance and repair. I'm not sure that's the right people to fix them, or fix them with you and your team. You mentioned maintenance and repair. I'm not sure that's the right word you used, marcus, but basically those are the two main arenas here. And so, marcus, I know you've gone through a number of educational programs here at Topeka Rescue Mission and this has been an incredible experience for you and the ministry to have you here and your wife here working and so. But that's a lot of responsibilities, guys. I mean, it's not like these buildings are sitting around.
Speaker 2:People come in 9 to 5, leave on the weekends and don't do anything at night. You can come in here and fix everything. It never stops here. There's very few of the facilities. Maybe the warehouse and you know palace over here stops here. There's very few of the facilities, maybe the warehouse and you know palace over here, but especially the shelters. People are coming in and going and not necessarily coming in with the most hygienic, uh, in regards to their, their, their own bodies and some of their supplies that they bring in with them because they've been living in who knows what kind of situation. How do you handle the variables that not only can anything mechanically break at any time, and people need to have lights, they need to have plumbing going, they need to have HVAC, they need to have that kitchen working so they can eat how do you handle that and just keep everything moving forward? It's huge with seven people.
Speaker 2:Me personally After this you're probably going to quit. It's too much.
Speaker 4:Me personally, I look at it through a view of being a firefighter, actually, because you don't know what's going to happen every day, but you have to be prepared for anything to happen, and that's what keeps me moving. It's it actually is exciting at times. It's actually very nerve wracking at times, um, but it's all God's work and we're doing it to support and help others. So that's how I look at it. It's not your basic routine job, which is the exciting aspect of it, but the out of left field stuff can be really stressful.
Speaker 2:That's how me and myself you know, guys, both of you have at one time been on the receiving end only of the facilities team, the kitchen team, to be able to be served. I'm sure that probably you didn't ever realize that one day you'd be in the position you're in, how important and I say you're in the same situation how important it is to you guys for this to be not just a job. But what kind of a motivation do you have, Because you've all been recipients of the help here, and now you're turning around and helping others. What, what is that? What's that motivation like?
Speaker 1:You know Sorry, I'll kick this off I kind of resonate to a lot of what Marvin said, in the sense that it seems like when you get in a position where you end up working at TRM, there seems to be this consistent factor where everything you've done before, like, seems to some in some way prepare you for how things work here, which is strange because things are so sporadic, right, but so for me, for instance, all of the love for film, the love for telling stories, the love for all this, the growing up in a social media age, the IT experience, loving computers and how they work, and, when Chrome stops working, figuring out how to fix it, um, and things like that prepare me to do what I do now.
Speaker 1:Um, but then it also, when you have that base level of skills, um, it, it, it, it helps propel because, um, you kind of gain the sense of significance of what your job is in any case, right, like. It's always overwhelming to me when we share a post and I check in a day and there's 30 shares. Recently we shared about the most recent class of care graduates, the most recent class of care graduates, and I wake up and there's 15, like. So, like too many notifications, there's like 15 comments, there's like all this stuff, so many shares. I'm like, and it's like it's random but it's not really random If that makes sense. But understanding that the when you're on the receiving end you're a little blind to all the work the community does and even what the staff does. And as you become staff you gain this greater understanding for how generous and how much of a blessing the community is to the rescue mission but also the staff. And I think that really reflects in positions like Marcus and positions like Marvin, because no one sees that.
Speaker 1:No one sees that stuff we do because they're the people we call. But when the doors stop working, doors stop working when, um, the front door to the the mission is slamming shut and it's like causing sensory issues, because every single person that walks through the door, the door just clangs like somebody's got to be there to fix it. And when you think about it, it's what you said more. She said seven people plus you. You're the seventh, yeah, so it's really more like six. So that's one.
Speaker 1:That's, in theory, one person per building to take care. Hundreds of people, yeah, well, one facility staff member per building to take care of everything. And so I really hand it off to Marvin, because Marvin is always. He's always running, it's always this, it's always the next, it's always running, it's always this, it's always the next, it's always that. But he's always willing to take a second, take a beat, have a quick little conversation, ground himself and then excel at whatever he's got going on. He's been doing it for so long that he's gotten good at going from one thing to the next and he knows what he needs to do and he gets it done. And that's hard to be the front runner of all the brunt work.
Speaker 1:You know, when you're running from this shelter to this shelter, slamming down pipe chases. You're running over to the warehouse because the freezer might be doing whatever. You're running to the distribution center because the door is not, the doorbell is not working, and you know we're already working on security stuff for that to get it, you know, up to par.
Speaker 1:Um, and just like any custodial or facilities job, it goes unnoticed. Um, but putting in the perspective of the fact that Marvin's basically like taking care of you know, and the whole facilities team, but but Marvin's taking care of six buildings, in all of their issues and any possible like tiny extra thing, um, that happens. And I think, um, the ease for them to be able to do that lies in um process. Um, we've built a process, the process exists. Them to be able to do that lies in process. We've built a process, the process exists and it makes a job that could be exponentially harder than it already is a lot simpler with process and with guys that are willing to, you know, in a sense, suck it up and pull it through.
Speaker 2:You said you mentioned random, but also there is a structure to it and so that helps with the variables. That can happen something breaking down in the middle of the night. We're going to get to the security part of this in a minute. But, isaiah, thank you. You talked about what you saw when you came here and then what you learned now being on staff, and so about the generosity of the community and the incredible Marvin. You're fairly new still comparatively, and so about the generosity of the community and the incredible marvin. What, uh, you fairly knew, still comparatively, and so is isaiah to this. Compared to marcus, what have you learned?
Speaker 3:that's different uh, as far as? When?
Speaker 2:you when you were staying here. Now you're on staff um well.
Speaker 3:So just a little bit of uh. To backtrack, I had also an answer for the last question that as a guest, I used the facilities, I used the bathrooms, I used the showers, and so once I started fixing things, I had guests that would tell me hey man, thank you, I appreciate that you came and you made the shower work again. That sink hasn't worked for a long time and, man, you got it fixed and we just told him about it yesterday. And here you are, and I told him I said, you know, I use these showers.
Speaker 3:That was my shower, that I would point at a specific bathroom and I said you know, at 3 o'clock in the morning, when I got up from my sabbatical in the middle of the night, that was the restroom that I used, and if it was bad, you know, I started out custodial, I was a volunteer and I did a route of bathrooms and floors and the lunchroom and trash, and that's what I did even after I got hired, and so it was quite a while later once I got tools in my hand. But I told them that the love that I put into the cleaning was specifically for them because I lived here too, and so I expect. If it's going to be clean enough for me, it's going to be clean enough for you. That's powerful.
Speaker 2:That's really powerful.
Speaker 3:And so why would I clean it any less? Because I'm not one of you anymore. I was one of you.
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 3:I'm not one of you anymore. You know. I was one of you, I'll always be one of you, you know, and so.
Speaker 2:So part of your motivation is we love. You know what it's like to possibly not have something that works yeah, when you have no place else to go and you really hope that it's working here.
Speaker 3:Well, I believe the core values of this place are, you know, a place of safety and refuge and peace, and part of that refuge and safety is just helping people to be acclimated to the process so that they can receive the love that we give and the help that we offer, so that they could turn their lives around. They are having problems just with the simplest of things, which are unclean facilities and things not working properly, then how can they be open to receive the gifts that we're trying to give them?
Speaker 2:So it's not just talking about it, it's walking it out, including a clean, healthy, safe place for people to be. Yeah, yeah, marcus, you've been in the game here for quite a while now, so to speak. You're the leader of this. You're a deputy director. There's a handful of those here at TRM. You have facilities and security underneath your jurisdiction here.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:And you work directly for the executive director, LaManda Broyles. So what's your big motivation for doing what you do? What's?
Speaker 4:your big motivation for doing what you do. I don't know if my big motivation is work-related per se, but it's. I want what I received from this place for other people and uh, and I just gotta act that out and be the example like jesus I I have to I strive every day for people to see jesus in me and that's and that's loving others, that's helping the wounded and the broken and the castaways. I don't know, it hits pretty deep with me. So I don't know if that's work-related, but that's what brings me motivation to do what I do.
Speaker 2:I guess it's not what we would call facilities and security directly, but it's like Marvin was saying People come here for peace and a refuge and part of that helping them to know is who is their refuge which is Christ, and you've experienced this in your own personal lives, and so you're helping people to have that place where they come in, and it's not a oh, you need to do this, this and this spiritually or any of those kinds of things. Here's what you have as an opportunity to rest here and to be able to see guys who've been on the front line. Is all your team formerly homeless?
Speaker 4:Oh, I would say, I would say Sylvia. Sylvia Velasquez is the only one that's not and that I don't know if it's biased or whatever, but I tend to want I don't know Our guests. I've hired a lot of guests throughout the years. I've hired a lot of guests throughout the years and that's just my. It's just my want. I guess that's how you would say it is. There's a certain. I want them to have a chance.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, identification. There you want to have a chance, but you also can't just hire people that you want to hire. They have to be really ready, or you get them ready to be able to do all this. So I want to get to security in just a second before we close today. But all the square footage, hundreds of people using facilities. Some of these buildings are getting old now, and so what's your biggest challenges with this? What's your biggest obstacles in either maintenance or in repair, or something that's involved in that? What's your biggest challenges?
Speaker 4:Our biggest, my biggest challenges are the unforeseen. You know a boiler could blow. You know a boiler could blow a um. A fire alarm can go off and not want to. You can go for hours and we can't figure out how to turn it off.
Speaker 2:You know, one went for a whole day one time even the fire department couldn't figure out how to get it off. Yeah, that wasn't a place of peace that day, wasn't it? No, no, it wasn't. I remember that.
Speaker 4:But it was exciting, it was exciting, it was exciting, it was exhilarating. But that's my biggest obstacle is the unforeseen Just not knowing what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I didn't hear people in that. I didn't hear mud. I didn't hear people in that. I didn't hear mud, I didn't hear sand, I didn't hear bedbugs, I didn't hear it's just.
Speaker 4:Because it could be all that. It could be all that, it could be a smorgasbord of disaster.
Speaker 2:And wintertime people coming in from camps. Last winter we had in our warming centers which you guys were responsible for taking care of that for the two-week period and all the you know oh my goodness you know going to that.
Speaker 4:And that's a thing coming up, it's coming up.
Speaker 2:Plus the shelters, plus the people coming through for food and those kind of things. You know it was a heavy-duty time, not just the people, but even just keeping things clean. Yeah, I want to jump over to the other piece of what you guys do facilities and security. What does that security piece look like?
Speaker 4:like, if you look at it. I look at it in a like a sense a sensitive manner as keeping the people secure, um, and if that's making them safe by looking up some video that alleged somebody stole from them.
Speaker 2:So there's video cameras here? Yes, there is. Can you guess how many there are? I don't know the answer to that one.
Speaker 1:A lot.
Speaker 2:I don't even know Pages and pages, pages and pages of videos with the facilities. There's only one that doesn't have any video camera on it. That's the church.
Speaker 4:That is the church right now.
Speaker 2:And so the former church building, but it's still. We call it the church, but everything else is, you know, outside of the shelter. I think the shelters are 70, 80 cameras, yeah, and then you have your facilities.
Speaker 4:You have your distribution center and, yeah, your warehouse, and the warehouse, yeah, children's Palace.
Speaker 2:So I'd say 100 plus cameras so those things can break down. But also they need to be monitored so that they're not just sitting up there on the wall because they're recording all the time they're not in private rooms or restrooms.
Speaker 2:They're on the wall because they're recording all the time. They're not in private rooms or restrooms, they're in common areas. But you work a lot with your shelter management teams because they're part of safety and security as well. So you guys are over that period, but you also have to work with people on the front lines.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, and communication is a big deal. Communication is a big deal. Our safety team or our front desk safety team and all that, they keep us in the loop on a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Isaiah, when you were a child, you were here, yeah, and so, as a child, you came in. Did you feel safe here? Take a rescue mission.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's kind of funny. I mean, yeah, for the most part, yeah, I think I think, uh, assuming that, let's say, 90% of the security policies that exist now existed then, then, um, even more than I probably knew back then, um, um, well, one, I mean, we've, we've updated the security system um, which which helps a lot. Um, um, you know, knowing that the front desk, uh safety team um, is doing rounds looking for breaches, um and everything. I mean they're checking doors, they're checking doors of the vehicles.
Speaker 2:So there's a there's a security part of what you guys do, and you just mentioned safety team. Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:Um, you know them, them. You know checking doors for breaches, um stuff like that. You know, one thing that I think and I don't even know if it was intentional in design and you might be able to key me in on this is the Hope Center, interestingly enough, has a very long hallway, the breezeway as we call it.
Speaker 2:It's just this big long fenced-in thing right before you get to the building With the canopy outdoors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Coming from the main gate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, true, right before you get to the building with the canopy outdoors the main gate, yeah, and um, the other day I was looking at it and I was like I, the breezeways is security measure in itself. I mean the, the, the front door is a hundred feet from so even if somebody breached, it's like they have to get all the way down and even then there's a door that stops them from getting in that way. Have to get all the way down and even then there's a door that stops them from getting in that way. And the, the, the, uh, the men's shelter, the main shelter, has a similar situation.
Speaker 1:They don't have a super long hallway, they do have a little hallway, but also the dorms are. It's kind of like a maze, like, unless you know exactly where you're going, you're not, you're not going to find them by chance, like you're going to like turn a corner and you're going to think it's this way, but it's not, it's that way. And so, um, I think, just in the layout of the building, um, and stuff like that, um, the the buildings are are, for the most part, um, with the exception of one, um about as secure as they can be, um, with people watching it. Um, we have our front desk, um, lady nancy, who is constantly monitoring um the cameras. I'm sure there's someone monitoring that I don't even know about. There's a guy I don't even know that's looking at him all the time different people looking at different angles.
Speaker 2:Yes, all the time the uh the front desk staff have.
Speaker 1:I'm a guy what you've seen my office. I have a lot of monitors in my office. Front desk staff have more monitors than I do Looking at cameras, because you know Marcus made a good point that they're kind of on the front lines, you know, as far as making sure that things are safe and being able to communicate that quickly and efficiently. So the codes that exist for communication are it's great, it's really safe. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you have. Technology really helps, Marcus, in this arena. I know during COVID there was a need to change out the way we do door locks here. Yes, you have what's called proximity keys now, and those are all controlled by computer and if one gets lost you can electronically cancel that ability to get in a facility. And all those things take a lot of resources, don't they?
Speaker 4:Yes, they take a lot of resources.
Speaker 2:The why is to keep people safe and to, if there's any bad, nefarious behavior, to make sure that that is dealt with immediately. It's not a free-for-all. There are some shelters around the country that it's just a place to sleep, and, uh, and it doesn't go well. Some people just say, well, why do you have those rules? And so, uh, those rules keep everybody safe? Yes, they do, and that's the number one priority. I'll tell you, uh, isaiah, where this all began, cause, yeah, I did have a little bit of involvement there, so I had not worked in shelter space clear back in 1986. When I was here, I came in the late part of April and I was out on the streets in early June. It was a pretty hot day, didn't have all the facilities we have today, and there was a young woman who was living on the streets and I went up to her one day and I said, hey, why don't you just come on in, we have a place for you now.
Speaker 2:We didn't have a place for families, but we have a place for women now, wasn't much. And she said no, thank you, I'd rather stay in the street. I didn't know why. So I asked her. I said why would you rather? It's hot out here, it's um, you know, you can't get a shower out here and you're thirsty. You really look tired. And she said no, I've been in shelters before. I've never been here before.
Speaker 2:But when she described to me what happened to her in shelters, I thought how in the world would anybody let that happen? And so I understood at that point why she didn't know what we were trying to do at Topeka Rescue Mission. That was going to be common sense to make it a safe place. But I determined at that point if we cannot invite people into shelter and do the very best we can to say you're safer in here than you are outdoors, we should not invite them in. And so I want to say guys, thank you for what you're doing to help keep people safe, and it's been that way for decades now. Very few people have ever reported that they have been harmed. There's always that situation where somebody's going to get in a fight down in the hallway or something like that, and so staff jump on that right away. But it's a technological opportunity and also challenge. Opportunity and also challenge also policies. So what do you think that somebody?
Speaker 1:a long time ago, decided to put facilities and security together. Some random guy, some random guy. We're thankful for that guy.
Speaker 4:And what does that mean to you, marcus, to be having that on your plate? I think it makes sense for the facilities to add the title of security, because we are all over and we're not a mainstay at at a certain building and uh. So that makes total sense. We were at every building, we got our eyes on everybody, and the relationships that we make with everybody in the building contribute to how we can either de-escalate or confront things.
Speaker 2:And also get the other personnel.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:For example, when there's only seven of you Right personnel, for example, when there's only seven of you you're at these five facilities. So you're not the only security here, but you help coordinate or actually coordinate it. But you work with shelter management and everybody else about protocol, about what to do, and if you have a situation then you know who to call. If it's an immense shelter, it's Hope Center, there's certain people to call upon there.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, facilities security staff. They get the all call and if they get an all call, we all go to the spot. We're just there.
Speaker 2:Hands down, that's what we do Right in the middle of something. Sometime you have to drop it and go.
Speaker 3:Facilities. We all wear a radio, and so it makes sense that when the call comes out, the people with radios would come running and so every facilities member has a radio.
Speaker 2:Marvin mentioned that young lady who would not come in shelter because of what had happened to her, and I think she mentioned California. It was where this bad experience a couple of times happened. How she ended up at the peak of Kansas, don't know, she was living on the streets. If you had somebody that you knew was on the streets today because you've lived here more than once, you have come through program, now you're on staff, what would you say to somebody that says I don't know if I'll be safe in there.
Speaker 3:What would you tell them? I really don't know what to say to that, other than I would probably go out of my way to reassure them that they would be safe. I mean, I, I firsthand know that the safety measures are in place and that this place is a safe place for people to come in. Uh, but there's a lot of things that keep people homeless that, uh, we just haven't been able to overcome as a uh organization. And the people that are in here. We try to know them, we see them, we're everywhere, and so we try to engage people and talk to them and know their names and know their stories, and it makes it easier, when they transition sometimes back to homelessness, that we can be like why don't you just come on back in and get?
Speaker 2:it together. Anybody say that to you at one time.
Speaker 3:Uh yeah, so, and you did it. So they they tried to stop me from I had a home, I I, so when I quit, I had a home, but I had a group of friends that had tried to keep me from quitting, and so my coworkers, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to come back. This place is like a family. Through our chapel service on Wednesdays, we've begun to learn things about each other. That has made us even tighter as an organization and a group. But some of the things that Facilities does isn't just guest services, it isn't just building services, it isn't just maintenance. We also do things for people that we work for. Sometimes somebody needs help, and they hey. Sometimes somebody needs help, and they hey, marcus, and he's like hey, marv, and so so it is a family team and uh and
Speaker 2:uh and they do really well working together and guys part of uh, the podcast, our community, our mission is to talk about how we do things together. Talk about to the people who are listening to this as team members that aren't in this room today. They're team members if they're a donor. They're team members if they pray. They're team members if they volunteer. They're team members if they're on staff. All the above, and so talk to the team right now as we close today. Marcus Marvin, isaiah, what would you like for the team that's listening right now to know?
Speaker 3:Volunteers, we love you, anybody who volunteers, anybody who donates, whether it's time, whether it's stuff, whether it's financially, it's stuff, whether it's financially, whatever prayers, we love you, we love you, we love you, we love you. We can't express that enough.
Speaker 2:Couldn't do it without them. Could not do it without them.
Speaker 4:Marcus and then Isaiah will give you the final word. Yeah, I just wanted to concur what Marvin just said, that they're pretty much the heart and soul of this place. We couldn't do what we do without y'all and we just thank you and we do love you.
Speaker 2:Sincere Isaiah, final word.
Speaker 1:You know I could go on for a long time. I think it's hard to surmise Coming into my job, coming into communications, being a part of gathering all the data, distributing the data, a part of the team that works to be as transparent as possible with what goes in, what goes out, um, as far as you know donors and, and you know the money and, uh, even donations, um, I came in close to the beginning of the year and so the annual report was still something that was fresh and around and and something we were still talking about for 23. And, um, I'll never forget sitting in orientation and looking at the annual report and just seeing, um, the amount of volunteers, uh, the collective hours. It is it's like 14,500, 827. Um, I know square footage.
Speaker 1:You know about those, right? Yeah, um, uh, uh, 14,000 hours, yeah, 14,000 hours. You know the almost half a million dollars that saves the mission in cost that it would cost to pay someone. And I always double back on the thought that it's not even just the money, it's people, because it's not even just $400,000 total, it's people, because it's not even just 400,000 dollars total, it's. It's that even if we had one, even if we had the full amount of staff you would consider, that would still be one person like taking over hundreds of things that volunteers help with, and so I can't stress enough how much you know it is our community and this, this, you know it is our community and this is, in a way, their.
Speaker 1:Topeka Rescue Mission and, as much as you know, we have to do what we have to do as an organization on our end, and that's always going to be the way it is. But we um, for decades um have been able to um rely consistently um on the Lord and I think, in um putting our trust and our faith in what the Lord can do and what he's capable of, um have been able to see that and uh see that reflect in what the community um has been gracious enough to do for us Um. And so you know, in wrapping up my long little spiel, um, it will always probably mean more than they know. You know, I really, because all of the volunteer positions are so front forward food distribution, map volunteers, street reach volunteers that there are people within the shelters, people within the community, that know these volunteers better than they know me Um because they've, they've been faithful, they volunteered for years and years.
Speaker 1:Um, there are volunteers that come that some of them recognize me, um, which is kind of funny. Um, their staff that recognize me, um, but you know, being able to have someone and and them not see, uh, or be seen as, as the burden they might think they are um or or um, and any of those things, um, that the some, some people consider the homeless community to be really stands out the faithfulness, the generosity. But I think, above all, above the financial gifts, above the thousands of pounds of food donated, above the amount of time, above the amount of money, it's their hearts. They are willing and eager and desire to serve. And when you have a community that has that desire to serve and the desire to fellowship with TRM staff and with TRM guests or unsheltered folks, it's reflected in the quote-unquote quality of their volunteering. It's not like they come and volunteer and they don't get anything done. They do a lot. They do probably more than I do some days, and you can never truly encapsulate or measure what that means to us as staff.
Speaker 2:Well said, all you guys.
Speaker 2:And I just want to say thank you, men, for saying yes, thank you for doing what you do every single day. Having been pretty involved in this organization, this ministry, for a long time, it's in great hands and I'm very, very proud of you, very honored to be able to say this is the right team. And if you've been listening to this podcast today, you've heard from Marcus, marvin and Isaiah in regards to facility security and communications, in regards to just a piece of what's going on at the rescue mission. But what you also heard from these fellows is how important you are as the team and so they could not do what they do without you. So thank you so much for being a part of this team and whatever facets you are. If you aren't part of the team yet and you're interested in learning about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg and you will find a plethora of information there about what goes on here, ways to plug in, to volunteer, possibly even financially give, to be a part of our community, our mission.