Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #245 – Creating Community and Conversations at TRM's Fall Festival
Join us as we dive into the heartwarming details of the Third Annual TRM Fall Festival, a joyful gathering for unsheltered neighbors, guests, and families. In this episode, Kourtney Barr, Deputy Director of Transformational Services, and Mike Schoettle, Director of Spiritual Wellness & Discipleship, share how the festival has created a safe, inclusive space for everyone—whether they’re enjoying a pie-eating contest or simply finding comfort in being part of a welcoming community.
Hear stories and reflections from guests and unsheltered neighbors who joined in the fun, some experiencing fall festivities like pumpkin bowling and hay rides for the first time. More than just activities, the Fall Festival offers a reminder that everyone deserves a place where they feel seen, heard, and loved. This event opens the door to meaningful conversations, connection, and warmth, even amid life’s toughest seasons.
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Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for this day and your blessings and your provisions. God, we thank you for this time and, lord, just our listeners. Lord, we're so thankful for them. And Lord, we pray that they would go away from this podcast. Lord, just having learned something. And Lord, that they would be encouraged to action as well. Father, bless this conversation in your holy name. We pray. Amen.
Speaker 3:Well, everybody, thank you for joining our community, our mission. A podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. This is your host, barry Feeker. Here on Wednesday, october 30th, 2024, episode number 245. Hello, amanda Broyles, executive Director.
Speaker 4:Hello, it's been a while since we've been together. I know where have you been. I've been working. What are you doing?
Speaker 3:I'm just waiting for you to work. We love people at work.
Speaker 4:Uh-huh, that's right.
Speaker 3:I'm glad you got a job now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think I have too much of one, Barry. You keep trying to retire and then I keep having to do more.
Speaker 3:Somebody needs to hold down the fort for our community, our mission.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 3:Just glad to be here. So we have Courtney Barr here today. She's been on the podcast before a number of times. She is Deputy Director of Transformational Services. Hi, Courtney.
Speaker 2:Hello.
Speaker 3:How are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well.
Speaker 3:Good, you guys just got done in a presentation earlier. We're not going to talk about that one today, but you guys have been on a roll already. You've got Mike Schottel, director of Spiritual Wellness and Discipleship. Yes, sir, wow, mouthful. Yeah, we've talked to you about what that means and we're still not sure. I'm still not even sure. So we're going to talk about something called the Fall Festival today. That occurred last Saturday. Again, this is Wednesday, october 30th, so a few days later. One thing, and this is real time we're recording this today. You're going to hear it today if you're listening. But there's some weather that's coming in. But there's some weather that's coming in Lamanda. Talk about what Topeka Rescue Mission is doing in relationship to the unsheltered and the sheltered, with some pretty significant concerns, with potential storm damage and even tornadoes.
Speaker 4:Sure, you know. First of all I want to just say a big thank you because we have a great partnership with um. You know the weather service, the national weather service here, and so they have actually put us on their um kind of briefing list that they do. So any type of emergency type weather, which could be anything from tornadoes, hailstorms, um, when we enter into the polar vortex time, which that's right around the corner, we're able to get like real time updates from them and it shows the forecast, it's annotated, so kind of what they're trending, what they're watching changes that come out. But then they also do an incredible job because they do webinars and so I have a team member actually he's probably on it right now listening firsthand from the National Weather Service so that we know what to do. So thankful for that because we're able to really stay in real time what people could potentially be facing as far as our street reach team. Anytime there is potential weather that impacts particularly our unsheltered neighbors.
Speaker 4:Our outreach teams deploy and so you know we started watching this about two nights ago. But we can't make a lot of plans that far in advance. It's kind of this balancing act you want it to be, you want to plan for it, but then it changes so much so you don't want to plan the outreaches and then it'd be wrong or times change. So we've been watching it for about two days, texting about it last night, and then I was involved this morning with our teams of hey, can we kind of change some of our plans now that we know, yes, we're going to be hit by something, yes, the timeframe really hasn't changed, it's still kind of fitting into that 3pm to 9pm and so our team split.
Speaker 4:We have an incredible staff that knew that there were needs and paired up, so they're running other areas or doing other jobs at TRM. They've then partnered as an outreach worker today for us. So, taking off one hat, putting on another, and that allowed us to deploy two or three teams all over Shawnee County and the city of Topeka. We have printed off the latest forecast that show times and shows the colors of what to anticipate, what to expect, and then making sure that individuals kind of know hey, this is where you need to be watching, what are you going to do, what is your plan, those kinds of things. So yeah, just another day at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
Speaker 3:Are those teams able to direct people based upon their current location to potential places they could go to get out of the weather if it's severe?
Speaker 4:You know that's a deficit, to be honest with you, barry, and especially if it is at nighttime, um, and so we are trying to inform of, you know, some of the tornado shelters that open up, like with schools or the community places and things like that. Um, but I definitely think that there is a breakdown of what the process is when the tornado sirens do go off, it's not there yet.
Speaker 4:Um, then it also has me reflecting honestly at the rescue mission of well, what do we do? Should we be? We do let people in our shelters in the front area if they're an unsheltered neighbor and they're right there, but that can only go so far, and so it's kind of got me thinking you know what do we do, moving forward. But then now the problem, if I can speak frankly, is the ordinance that was passed. So now, with us passing an ordinance and not having any additional resources or systematic approach to this, what we've done is we've definitely not lessened homelessness, we've definitely not eliminated it. What we have done is we have forced people to scatter all over into neighborhoods, into abandoned buildings, and so outreach looks very different right now it is.
Speaker 4:And then if TRM was able to be a resource, like for tornado shelters and stuff like that, now it's not as doable because now people are everywhere and some are even trying to hide. So a lot more to come to think through. And so now I think you know our step is where the awareness piece, the other step is we will definitely be responding to check on people. Should we have some of the weather that we anticipate? To check on people. Should we have some of the weather that we anticipate. So we have kind of this proactive part and the awareness piece and we definitely will be deploying to check on people afterwards. But in my opinion, both here and kind of community-wide, there's a breakdown and deficit for resources for these individuals.
Speaker 3:There used to be that during the winter as well, and that's been addressed in a much more proactive way the last two winters, especially in regards to proactively going out where people you can find them, telling them about what's coming, getting them prepared for that, whether it's supplies or a direction or a ride to a warming center. And same thing probably, as we're being predicted, weather is going to get stranger and more violent across the globe, and so being prepared in all ways and you know I want to bring up one thing about the warming centers.
Speaker 4:You know that was the first time we'd ever done that in December of 22. And then we needed to do it again in January of 24 of this year and I just appreciate all of the partnerships that came together. You know, we were kind of building a plane as we flew it and then trying to say, hey, here's a template. And then all of these other people that were willing to say, yes, we'll open our church or we'll open our business, we were able to give them this template but say, hey, we're learning too. And so they didn't have to start from scratch, but they still needed to make it their own. And when I look at that I'm just so appreciative of that.
Speaker 4:But this year it's one of those things you know better, you do better. And so we actually started in July internally planning and making changes to warming center templates and how we do. We have also did a debrief last time after the warming center, with as many partners that could come, wrote down strengths, weaknesses, things we need to be changed. We just sent out a survey a couple of weeks ago, again getting some more specific feedback and trying to say what partners still want to be involved, what partners are not at the table that need to be, and we have next week our first external meeting with all of those partners to say who's doing what, what's going to be the team.
Speaker 4:Here's the communication piece so that when we pivot even though I'm proud of the community, we pivoted well for what we did.
Speaker 3:You had a piece of paper that showed what could be done, but you really hadn't tried it out, correct?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and there was just honest feedback of like, hey, can we do this differently? This was great, and so it wasn't all just yes, people, and so we've taken those crucial conversations and I think we've made it better. But I'm very thankful for the partnerships that are going to come together next week to plan those warming centers and anybody that's interested in becoming a partner with that. We will always. We will always take new partnerships.
Speaker 3:Well, and also we. This is an event that may occur, may not. You cannot predict the date that it will occur on. You cannot predict the length of the event, the severity of the event. It's one of those things that's very, very different that if you're going to have partners, it's almost like we're just going to be ready if. And, just like almost today, you're going to try to be ready as best you can hoping and praying that there's a non-event here in the Topeka, shawnee County, northeast Kansas arena but, you don't know, and so it's just very different than anything else we do.
Speaker 3:Well, we want to jump into something that's a little more lighthearted than polar vortexes and tornadoes, about the fall festival, but before that, we know that some of you who are listeners to our community our mission depend upon the research and development department to do the great research they do about what's important on the date that we're talking about, which today is October the 30th, and so we have none other than Josh Turley down here and his team that spent hours and hours and hours, coming with three get this three important parts of today. I have to give you guys a hard time on this.
Speaker 2:I really do.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's fine with me. I just bring the paper. Isaiah is the one who puts it.
Speaker 3:It's about 10 minutes, so you're basically pushing this off on him. What 10 minutes for what? Bringing the piece of paper? Yeah, no, research, research, okay, well, okay.
Speaker 1:So for all of you who are, deflated now in your thoughts about the value? I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, total hours H and your thoughts about the value. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, total hours, hours, hours out. Ten minutes to make the decision on the top three.
Speaker 3:Okay, so today everybody is National Candy Corn Day, which your research and development guy, Isaiah, likes candy corn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're split on that. I hate candy corn Me too.
Speaker 3:Why do you hate candy corn? Why does everybody hate?
Speaker 5:candy corn. Mike, do you hate candy corn? I love candy corn. If you pair it with peanuts, cashews or pistachios, yes, please.
Speaker 1:But then we what? If you don't pair it, then it's trash.
Speaker 5:Thank you Then put a wick in it and light it and you got a candle.
Speaker 4:To me, even trying to make that connection is like saying well, put you know a Brussels sprout with a cupcake and a cake and a bowl of ice cream.
Speaker 1:Actually put Brussels sprouts with with butter and bacon. Yes, butter, bacon some balsamic vinegar.
Speaker 3:I know it's hard to believe, but Halloween's been around a long time, even when I was a kid. And so yeah, it's been a long time, and even back then, when I would go trick-or-treating and people would put candy corn in my little sack, I'd go cheap.
Speaker 5:Those are the ones that get egged for next year, cheap.
Speaker 3:We're getting that out. Where's the Snicker bars?
Speaker 4:Next year. That's what I'm getting you for your birthday. I'm going to keep it from this Halloween until February. I'll light them up.
Speaker 3:I'll give them to Mike or I'll light them up, but anyway, mike discovered today what they really do to your internal system, so it's not as exciting.
Speaker 5:I might not like them anymore, not anymore.
Speaker 4:It's like let's go eat a piece of wax.
Speaker 5:Gross.
Speaker 3:Don't have Mexican food right after you have candy corn.
Speaker 5:That's why I have kidney stones sometimes. Oh jeez.
Speaker 3:They're encased, All right. Moving on National Treat your Pet Day Treat.
Speaker 4:Your Pet Day is what?
Speaker 3:kind of a day is that we always treat our pets, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, like every day, especially with you, she's a little spoiled.
Speaker 3:Oh well, she deserves it. Of course she does. She's going to be four years old next month.
Speaker 4:Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1:You going to get her a birthday cake, so the question is Barry, how are you going to treat your pet today? That's right.
Speaker 3:Just like I did yesterday and like I already did this morning. We have to have our cuddle time before I do anything in the daytime. There you go, she wakes up, I wake up, we go over and we cuddle, you know, and that kind of thing. We look at each other, you know I get the kisses on the ear. Let it be her only Because I'm doing the iPhone in the morning and I will do these things Anyway she tolerates the iPhone and I tolerate the licks in the ear. The dog smell.
Speaker 1:It's all for the cuddles.
Speaker 3:That's right. So National Treat your Pet Day is this is the day of October 30th to indulge your pet in whatever treats that you want to give your pet, and probably the reason for that is, if you don't, the pet's going to eat all the candy that comes into your children's house tomorrow.
Speaker 2:So get that dog full, or the cat.
Speaker 3:I guess cats are pets too, aren't they, courtney? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:I forgot about those Pets. Or, like in my house, bearded dragons and leopard geckos. I forget that there's other pets other than the dogs Leopard geckos I forget that there's other pets other than the dogs.
Speaker 2:But anyway, I guess, they're byproducts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they made the list. So one last thing National Checklist Day. If you pride yourself on your organizational skills, then put a checkmark next to National Checklist Day. October 30th, a cherished holiday which keeps our lives together. The more complex our lives get, the easier it is to make mistakes. Today, we celebrate the humble checklist as the innovative tool that has stood the test of time. Who's got time for a checklist? I?
Speaker 2:do? I have a notebook and I do make a little check mark. It's like you get a little endorphin rush when you're able to like check something off and so even I'll just put on there like drink some water.
Speaker 4:And then just feel good about myself that I've like. I have three check marks. Take a nap yes.
Speaker 2:Check.
Speaker 4:Brush your teeth. Day accomplished, put shoes on. I'm so bad with checklist? That I will. I will put something on my checklist after I've already done it, so I can check it off. Yeah, that's how bad it is. That's how my brain is, mike. What do you think about this?
Speaker 5:Do you make a checklist for your checklist? Yeah, make a checklist. Today Check yeah Now next checklist.
Speaker 4:There's a little pile of paper in my office right now and it has all of this stuff that needs to do, and then I put a post-it note on there and I said follow up on these and gave myself a deadline.
Speaker 1:That's kind of a checklist.
Speaker 3:I have a daughter who emails herself everything she needs to do.
Speaker 5:Hey, I do that, I do that. Yes, I don't do checklists, but I'm like wake up Mike.
Speaker 3:Here's an email.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I do that.
Speaker 1:Do you schedule the email?
Speaker 3:I do I do For all of you who are listening to our community of mission. You can now see how the staff struggles immensely at Topeka.
Speaker 1:Rescue Mission.
Speaker 3:They keep organized, but they're on it because they're checking it off. So, anyway, very good, very good guys. Okay, well, you had a checklist, obviously, that you had to develop for being able to create something called the Topeka Rescue Mission Fall Festival. Mike Courtney, you were both in charge of this thing. This is the first year. I didn't go to it, so I didn't get an invitation, so, anyway, oh, my goodness, it's getting deep in here.
Speaker 4:I know you invited the people who are experiencing homelessness, but not very.
Speaker 3:No, that's OK. But anyway, what is the TRM Fall Festival? Why is it and what did you do this last Saturday?
Speaker 5:You go first.
Speaker 2:Sure. So the TRM Festival this is our third annual one, so it's a fairly new annual festival that we do, but it's a fun way to get our neighbors involved, our unsheltered neighbors involved. A fun way to get our guests involved, families involved. Fun way to get our guests involved, families involved. So we just set up shop out back in the parking lot and have a bunch of different booths and fun ways to interact. That all revolves around fall festivities.
Speaker 3:So when you say involved, involved in what, what's the goal to get them involved?
Speaker 2:The goal would be to make connections and to deepen relationships and to just have fun too. That you know, experiencing homelessness is rough and it's hard and so it's nice to have some of these things where we're not asking you to do a survey and tell us about your struggles or we're not having to dive into here's the checklist of all the things that I still need you to do but just a way to breathe and have fun and enjoy.
Speaker 3:You know, there are festivals during the fall in different places of our community that some of our folks experiencing homelessness may not feel real comfortable going to because they don't feel like they fit in or whatever. They don't feel like they fit in or whatever, and this I would imagine kind of is a replication of that for a place that's safer Not literally safe, but maybe more emotionally safe for people to go to to make that connection and have a good time. So what were some of the events or some of the booths or the different activities that they could come to do?
Speaker 5:So one of the things that I think that several of us are pretty darn good at here at TRM is cornhole Checklists, checklists, yes. No, not to brag, but several of us. I think we could do a league and we could clean house with the cornhole team, but we have with our ministry that Marcus Molinar is doing with Truth and Testimony. He bought a couple cornhole things so we had beanbag toss, but that just explained cornhole Some people call it bags.
Speaker 5:There's big stop there. It is the Michigan accent. Some people call it bags. So you know, it's the big piece of wood with one single hole in it and you get to throw a bean bag and try to sink it in the hole. Or if you get it on the, on the wood, uh, you know, that's one point. If you sink it in the hole, that's three points and teams go back and forth with it. So we had cornhole set up but we also turned it into just a bean bag toss so the kids, the guests, our unsheltered neighbors could come and if they sunk the bag in the hole they got a piece of candy.
Speaker 3:Like one of those corn candies, not candy corn.
Speaker 5:No candy corn.
Speaker 3:It was Snickers, Twix, Whoppers.
Speaker 5:There were Whoppers. There was one guest that was like really these, I was like hey some people like those. I don't yeah.
Speaker 3:So it was game and there was prizes and those kind of things. So there's fun, yep. And so you said you did really good in those, or like did you excel in that or did the team excel in that?
Speaker 5:I mean, it's like Well, we had mostly volunteers, like my wife and my sister volunteered to do it. But yeah, trm staff, I think, excels in cornhole. I will, I'll put, put my name on that one.
Speaker 3:Because the prizes are in advance probably.
Speaker 5:Yes, they want to win. Yes, if there's candy, count me in.
Speaker 3:Oh is this one of those real fast things that you say really quickly that all staff or family members weren't exempt.
Speaker 5:You didn't volunteer you voluntold. That's why my sister and my my wife did it.
Speaker 4:Um yeah, so we need to see, like the hay rack ride yes, um, I think that's always a highlight for me um, and something that many of us just like take for granted, because we're gonna maybe go to a pumpkin patch or we've been able to do it in our childhood and said, well, we're, we're not going to get on it again because it was rough or whatever, but we at least know every year, both years, that we did this with the hay rack ride.
Speaker 4:Um, I had both kids elated and adults, and there is something that speaks to me about that every year and I don't ever want to lose that. And when we talk about privilege or we talk about some of those things, we automatically go to money, socioeconomic status, you know all of these things, but sometimes I think we're looking at it from like a 30,000 foot view and we don't scale down to go. What are some easy things that we can do to create common ground with people? And so this gentleman comes out with his tractor and he did a different tractor this year than last year and he made this little thing that kind of is another protection for the entrance and exit of it and all of that, and he takes them all around here for hay rides and the kids love it, staff love it, unsheltered neighbors love it. It's just neat to be able to sit on that and just have uninterrupted talking time and fellowship.
Speaker 3:Sounds like it's kind of like almost normalizing things for a little bit that people miss out on a lot. What are some of the activities that people were able to do?
Speaker 5:There was pumpkin bowling that went over very well. Probably need to get a couple more pumpkins for next year, because one of the pumpkins literally split right open. Go figure.
Speaker 1:Kids loved that. Picked up the spare though. Yep, go figure. Kids loved that. Picked up the spare though.
Speaker 4:Yep, and I'm starting to see like our staff apparently is competitive, because I had multiple people saying hey, did you just see me? I got a strike with that and I'm like I'm sorry, I was over here visiting. No, I didn't get to see you get a strike with the pumpkin, but it is fun to see that the pumpkin bowling so we did that.
Speaker 5:And then I think the one that went over very well and I just kind of thought, hey, you know what? I did this when I was doing youth ministry. It was a pie eating contest. Oh yeah, and boy howdy, it almost got to the point where I was like I don't think I have enough pies. So I had to tell Andrew, our director of distribution services. I'm like, hey, can you run back to Walmart and get some more pies, because people just wanted to do it.
Speaker 4:And do you know, it was mostly women that wanted to do the pie eating contest.
Speaker 5:So there were only two, two men that did the pie eating contest.
Speaker 3:So were you doing the double pie and double face in the one pie. So guys are a little freaked out by this stuff.
Speaker 5:So what I kind of thought? And I'm like, hey, when I'm, when I was shopping for it and just seeing what I could get for pies, walmart has a pretty good deal on pies and I saw, oh, 87 cents for a pie, all that's all right, let's do it. And I had it delivered and I'm like, oh, come on, it was literally like like the size of a grapefruit.
Speaker 3:I was like what is this? But it worked over perfectly.
Speaker 4:And it was comical because they couldn't get it out of the little tin pan it was in. Oh yeah, so then that was part of the technique that they were trying to work around correct.
Speaker 5:But we did a, we did adults and then we did a kid's one. Um and boy, my daughter went into it and I thought she ain't gonna eat, that she hates apple pie, and she, she devoured it. I'm like what the heck? Who are?
Speaker 3:you at the end of the tunnel it was just a little trophy.
Speaker 5:And then and I said too, I was like you guys get a trophy and you win something even more important you get the respect of lamanda broils and they went after.
Speaker 3:So these were small pies. You didn't have the large pies no, they were. They were literally just because that's where it gets really kind of funny is when you have two faces and one pie trying to eat that together.
Speaker 5:I've never seen that ever.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's great. It's generally good with families.
Speaker 4:But, barry, we're on a budget here at the Rescue. Mission.
Speaker 5:Did you hear him? 87 cent pies, two faces and one pie.
Speaker 3:That's why I did this figure at the Rescue Mission stuff. So Did you have the big barrel close by, just in case afterwards?
Speaker 5:No.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:There were trash cans.
Speaker 3:There were trash cans, trash cans, just in case people had to launch. Sometimes people really go after it and then they sorry they did Too much.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So did you have some different organizations there? I know in the past it's been like fire department, police department. Were they able to join this time?
Speaker 5:Go ahead. So we reached out. Just they opened it up for anybody to come if they wanted to come with their squad cars, but it didn't work out. This weekend we did have Pop and Minnie show up. They'll come by twice a year to donate their supplies for our guests, so we were fortunate enough to have them come and they gave out free donuts for our guests, for our community members, and it was a really good time. Our community members and guests were like this is fantastic.
Speaker 3:Sounds like people ate pretty well.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 2:At least on the sugar end yes. There was a lot of sugar. We had s'mores as well. There was s'mores and hot chocolate and apple cider. So there was a lot.
Speaker 4:We evened it with popcorn.
Speaker 5:Yes, salty Salty, it was salty, sorry, we had a popcorn machine, so we'll bounce around a little bit Something to drink.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Courtney, what feedback were you getting from the guests or the unsheltered neighbors.
Speaker 2:In regards to this, or Mike or LaManda, what were you hearing from them? Yeah, it's funny because I'm an observant person and so I'm kind of just like standing back and seeing people's faces and the hayrack ride, like LaManda mentioned, that is, it's a joy to watch children be excited about a hayrack ride, but I I think there's something really special about seeing adults excited about a hayrack ride. Um, so, genuinely, overall, I think everyone was just yeah, joyful, excited, um enjoying the day and the moment. Um, one of the things that stood out to me the most was a younger woman who is currently staying at our Hope Center. She's a single woman. I do not know her well. I was able to meet her for the first time at the fall festival and we had some live not live music, just DJ music going on and she was just really she did all of the little booth things that she wanted and then she stood off to the side and just really enjoyed the music and so there was a song by Ty Tribbett that was playing.
Speaker 2:That was like it's going to be all right and she was just kind of it's more of an upbeat song and so she's kind of like dancing to it and she's enjoying it. And then it switched to more of a slower song and I want to say it was like Miracles by Brandon Lake or something. It was one of Brandon Lake's songs that was a little bit slower and she sat down on the curb and just started to cry and asked her how she was afterwards and she was just like I'm fine, I'm just like I'm just experiencing something, and that was all that it was. And she didn't expand on it and we didn't pry her for more information, but she, she was experiencing, I feel, the lord um in that moment as through something as simple as as music and other people being around to support her um, when she was ready.
Speaker 3:That was really beautiful I think some people sometimes think about a rescue mission, homeless services.
Speaker 3:It's a bed it's food maybe an off ramp out of homelessness towards housing or jobs or whatever. But this is very relational and that's really a big part of the resting place here Topeka Rescue Mission, ministries place of peace, place that people can find safety, find those basic needs met. But it goes beyond that and this is one not just once a year, but this is unique in regards to the fall festival. So people are still in their homelessness, they're still either sheltered at the mission or living in whatever condition they are outdoors. What do you think the long-term benefit? I mean they go back to the shelter, they go back to the streets. What is? It was a good day, sounds like it was a great day, but what's the long-term ramifications benefits in your, in your, understanding?
Speaker 4:ramifications benefits in your, in your understanding. You know, I think I want to answer that, but before that I want to say Courtney is the observer and I am an in the weeds person, and so when she and Mike are able to do what they're doing and leading this and organizing it, that then allows me to be freed up to really engage. And so I got a whole list of things. People were telling me they loved everything. There was not one thing there that any of the unsheltered neighbors or guests told me they didn't want there, you know, and I said do you think this is? Do we do this? Do we keep all of that? But some additional things they wanted was chili dogs, you know, and I said do you think this is? Do we do this? Do we do? Yep, keep all of that. But some additional things they wanted, um, was chili dogs, and they said that they think that I should be grilling them, the the hot dogs. And so I was like, okay.
Speaker 3:I'll get to work on that checklist on that one.
Speaker 4:Uh, they talked about karaoke and I it was so comical because two of the men said and we will even sing appropriate songs, and I said you would, and he said, yes, it will all be appropriate.
Speaker 2:I said we will, and I said you would, and he said yes it will all be appropriate. I said well, yeah.
Speaker 4:I said thank you for that level of respect, because we have to keep it appropriate. Pumpkin carving, hay rack rides they wanted maybe a bigger one of that, or could it go longer Horseshoes. But as I want to transition into this, one gentleman said and he was very quiet, it was my first time to meet him and he said and maybe dominoes? And I go, oh, I would have never thought about table games like that. And he said, yeah, because some of us don't like to go and do big things. And so I said, yeah, that makes sense. I go, we could have a couple of card game tables, we could have dominoes. I said I would have never thought about that. And so I said um, you know, can I ask why maybe you don't like to do some of the other bigger things? And he said well, there's a lot of reasons. Uh, but one when you're an adult, if you've never had the chance to do those, you don't start doing them. And shoot my heart just was, like you know, just being a past educator, and then looking around my team, it was almost like I had this moment where everything kind of just stopped and I see just my incredible staff encouraging people, hugging people, picking up popcorn that just spilled everywhere all of this stuff. And I just am like Lord, how do I communicate to the team what I just heard? And he wasn't ready to do s'mores then, and he wasn't ready to do the cornhole, but he at least told me he wanted dominoes. And so there were two other men sitting at this table with us and then that provided me an opportunity to. I told the gentleman you know, thanks for telling me that, and that makes sense. We're going to implement some of that next year.
Speaker 4:And and I looked at the two other gentlemen and I said do you have any feedback? And one didn't look at me eye to eye, One did, and he was smiling and he said I'm just thankful to be able to enjoy any of this. And he said but you don't have to participate to enjoy it, are having fun and all of that, because he hadn't gotten the donuts, he hadn't gotten popcorn or anything. And he said, yeah, sometimes it's just having a place to be. And thankfully I didn't do this right, when I'm face to face with them, sometimes I do and they, many of them, know it and they just love me anyways. But I didn't want to make it awkward because I'm face to face with them. Sometimes I do and they many of them know it and they just love me anyways. But I didn't want to make it awkward because I'm the only female there and I love that they're opening up to me. But I try not to make it more awkward because you know I love them so much and I cry. But then that leads me to. I said you know I love that and that's something I always want to remember.
Speaker 4:I said can you tell me a little bit of your story, of why you're here and tying it to why it feels good just to have a place to be? And he said I've worked my entire life. And he said this is my first time that I've had to access the rescue mission. So he was a custodian and started having health issues and doesn't have an education to fall back on. Or even if he did, if you're having health issues, time off is an issue and paid leave is an issue, those kinds of things. And so he's come to the rescue mission and is on a wait list for a pretty massive surgery that will be done in Kansas City. And so he said I don't feel like I should tell you to do anything different or add anything, because I don't know where I would be as a working man if it wasn't for what you all are already doing.
Speaker 4:So then, after he says that, I asked him. You know I knew his name and I, so I called him by name and I said thank you so much for sharing that. I said I don't know how to change your circumstance, but I can tell you we'll be here while that is your circumstance. And then the man sitting next to him said you're probably going to ask me why I'm here too, and I laughed and I said well, yeah, I'm in everybody's business. I said but if you put me out of your business, I'll give you some respect.
Speaker 4:And he laughed and he said I had a stroke. And he said so I've always worked. He said I was doing real good. He said I had my own business. He said it didn't make a lot, but it paid the bills. And he said when you no longer have your eyesight or parts of your body don't work. He said it's shocking how fast you lose it all. And so I asked him well, you know what's next for you? And he looked at me and he said I wish I could tell you.
Speaker 4:And so being able to have those conversations unless it's just God ordained, it's not typical for you to be able to walk up to in this situation, male, I could give you the same things about females, but in this case it was male. I can't just walk up to a male and tell and say why are you at the rescue mission? I can't just go up and expect them to tell me their financial burdens or their hardships or let alone health issues. But because of what the staff did here by creating an environment where, quote unquote, they can just be um, then, as they are being, we're able to have human conversation and connection. Um, and Barry, I wish I could tell you what the next steps are for those individuals. I wish I could tell you well, this is an avenue, and then we connect them to resources and we do all this beautiful stuff.
Speaker 4:Does that happen? Sometimes it does. With two out of three of those men. I don't have the answer. They are facing huge health issues with no insurance, very limited resources, no spouse. They've lost everything, and so sometimes I don't think it's my team's responsibility to know what the outcome is or to have a data point for a success rate for those two Sometimes. I think our role is just that when you see people suffering, you better believe they're not going to suffer alone and that we're going to somehow normalize whether it's 30 minutes or three hours, as often as we can, where we're just seeing them as people, hearing their stories and then covering them in prayer and resources when applicable. But basically our role is to say you didn't feel comfortable going over to Evergy, you didn't feel comfortable going to this trunk or treat. Here's a fall festival where we want you to feel comfortable, regardless of a stroke, regardless of having no bank account or regardless of not knowing what's next. We have a place for you.
Speaker 3:I think for some people who possibly are listening to this podcast and this isn't everybody, but there's some people that refer to the people you've just talked about as those people, and what you have just unpacked is those people are us, and whether it may be somebody who's listening who this is their experience or a family member, may be somebody who's listening, who this is their experience or a family members or close friends experience. Um, you broke it down to they're, not them or those people and also by virtue of a event that created space to do what you did, created space to do what you did those two men don't see themselves as those people.
Speaker 3:they see themselves as somebody cares. People care. They want to hear my story. So I'm not labeled, because I think I've heard and I know we've all heard many times is that people experiencing homelessness oftentimes own the label of homeless and they don't necessarily like it, but they don't know how not to own it. And when we label people in a certain way, what we're doing is we're putting them in a place of lower judgment and really hopelessness. And so, to normalize things whether it's a hayrack ride or pumpkin bowling, cornhole maybe next time around dominoes and so forth it provides that safe place for people to be able to heal even more than what they would get otherwise, in the space of a place called the Topeka Rescue Mission. And so, guys, this was good. Obviously, I'm hearing that it was successful.
Speaker 3:You're probably looking forward to next fall, and there's other things that happen in between, here and there. It's not just a once a year deal, and so, whether you're looking at it through the lens of trauma, you're looking at it through the lens of trauma, you're looking at it through the lens of spiritual, you're looking at it through the lens of human humanity, all of these lens come together and we have three experts in all of these areas here in the room today, and if you are part of volunteering at the Topeka Rescue Mission, you know what this is all about. Volunteering at the Topeka Rescue Mission. You know what this is all about If you are part of the support team. Thank you for supporting the Topeka Rescue Mission in the multiple different efforts that they have to help people to know that they matter.
Speaker 3:If that is not your case yet, there are ways that you can find out more about the Topeka Rescue Mission and the different events that are going on here every single day to help people know they matter and to bring healing and hope to individuals. You can go to the Rescue Mission website at trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg. There you can find a way to volunteer, you can find a way to learn, you can find a way to contribute, because we are our community, our mission. Thank you.