Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #256 – Warming Centers: Lifesaving Sanctuaries in Extreme Weather
In this episode, Barry Feaker and La Manda Cunningham along with Christian Stringfellow, Deputy Director of Shelter Services, and Marcus Molinar, Deputy Director of Facilities & Security, explore the critical role of warming centers in our community.
What exactly is a warming center, and why are they essential? How do we decide when and where to open them? We discuss the challenges of operating these spaces, the difference between low-barrier and no-barrier shelters, and the life-changing impact these centers have on those who walk through their doors.
Our guests share the struggles of balancing team needs while ensuring these centers function effectively. We highlight the importance of a strong continuum of care, the invaluable support from community partners, and the need for increased involvement from governmental leadership who have the power to make both negative and positive decisions that impact those we serve.
Join us for a deep dive into the realities of warming centers and the fight to make sure everyone has access to the right resources at the right time.
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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for your blessings, your provisions, and we thank you for another day to record another podcast. Lord, thank you for our listeners. We pray your blessing over them and, lord, just your blessing over this conversation, lord, that you would guide and lead it and the things that need to be said would be said. Lord, we just love you and we praise your name. Amen.
Speaker 3:Hello everybody listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. This is your host today, Barry Feeker, here on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday, February the 18th of 2025. This is episode number 256. We're pushing out this episode a little bit early this week because of the severe weather that is occurring in this part of the state, maybe this part of the state, maybe this part of the country and especially here in the Topeka Kansas area. I'm going to talk about warming centers. I'm going to really take a deep dive here today, so stay tuned with this.
Speaker 3:We have LaManda Cunningham, Executive Director of the Topeka Rescue Mission, here this morning. Christian Stringfellow, Deputy Director of Supportive excuse me Deputy Director of Shelter Services You're not Miriam and so Marcus Molinaire, who is Deputy Director of Security and Facilities, here today. So you all have not got a whole lot of sleep here recently. I can see it, and so I've been told that my voice puts people to sleep, so if people hear snoring, it's just because they need a little rest. So, Amanda, thank you, and Christian, Marcus, thank you for being here today, and you had to pull away from some very, very important duties because, on this particular day, a warming center is at the Children's Palace. There are a number of people here off the streets palace. There are a number of people here off the streets, a number of people in shelter at the Hope Center and the main facility and doing this too. So, LaManda, give us your thoughts in general. We're going to get into some details here, but give us your thoughts in general. What is a warming center and why?
Speaker 4:Sure. So warming centers in a nutshell, sure. So warming centers, in a nutshell, are additional temporary shelters that we open up for the community, made possible by the community. And the warming centers open not just based on one factor. So it's not just if it's snowing we're going to open a warming center. It's not just if we have only low temperatures we're going to open a warming center in a warming center. It's not just if we have only low temperatures we're going to open a warming center.
Speaker 4:When we're looking at the purpose and the focus of the warming centers, it really is life preservation and or looking at what is extremely hazardous, that's going to prevent our outreach teams from being able to check on people and keep people safe. That's what constitutes warming centers. So when we decide to open them, we are looking at everything from has a state of emergency been declared? We're looking at what are the temperatures. We're looking at what are the windshields going to be. We're looking at precipitation, what type, how much, when is it coming? Because it does make a difference if our neighbors get wet first. So we're looking at all of those factors, in collaboration with emergency personnel and National Weather Service, to really decide. Okay, when we're looking at what options we currently have to help keep people warm. If that's going to be maxed out and we've got to open additional safe refuge places, then we've got to do that, and that's what constitutes a warming center.
Speaker 3:So this is designed predominantly for people who live outdoors, or in a car or maybe in a structure of some kind that has no way to keep warm Right. So what other criteria would be involved in people showing up at the door or getting a ride to a warming center?
Speaker 4:Those are pretty much it. I mean, we're really trying to target anybody who is prevented, for whatever reason, of having safe, warm places to stay. That's really our focus. So in addition to that though what started this was a focus of our unsheltered neighbors on the streets we recognize that there's just a plethora of reasons why people are on the streets without structures and shelters, and realizing that warming centers can do one of two things it can be an immediate place to provide basic needs and keep people from life or death. But in addition to that, there are some people who take the first step of coming to a warming center and saying, man, that wasn't as scary, that wasn't as bad. And we see that because of the warming centers, they're ready to take next steps. And we see that because of the warming centers, they're ready to take next steps. And so you know, eligibility is really one of those things that if we just know people are hurting and they don't have warmth and they don't have any place to be safe, then we take them in at the warming centers. Now, eligibility inside the warming centers we try to keep as straightforward as we can.
Speaker 4:They do operate as a low barrier. That does not mean that there are no expectations. So what is low barrier? Yeah, so in regards to our community warming centers, low barrier are no weapons, no active drug use, and so people cannot use while they are staying in the shelters. They cannot bring drugs into the warming centers.
Speaker 4:But we don't expect for people to not be under the influence, truly taking some pretty massive steps in their healing journey to be clean, to stay clean, to get into programs, to work on job applications, those kinds of things. But our shelters, although an incredible blessing to the community, it's not the next step for everyone, and so that's why we run these low barrier warming centers that just have a little bit less of an expectation coming in. But the main focus is still the same at the warming center and the shelters and that safety. So even if somebody is still under the influence of something, if their conduct is not safe to themselves or others, that would prevent them from coming into a warming center. And so that's when we work on welfare checks and we go to plan B and C and D.
Speaker 3:So not everybody who's outdoors is necessarily going to come even to a warming center even though they could be intoxicated they could be high on drugs coming in. As long as their behavior is okay, they won't come in. Because maybe they won't come in because they're fearful, or or number of reasons.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think there's a number of reasons. I would say the main reason why we see people still say no when we get past the behaviors. So we could have somebody that says no to us on the streets, and it could look like they're self-sufficient in their structure. It could look as though they don't need anybody. It could look as though they're choosing right to stay out there. What we're blessed to be, though, with the rescue mission, is we know those individuals, and they're not the majority, it's the minority of individuals who are choosing to remain on the streets and not access the warming centers. What we see, though, is we are blessed to know their stories, and so you know I'm thinking of a couple of men right now that if we just looked at behaviors, it would look as though they're just choosing to be out there and they don't want to take any help. We, however, know that there is severe amounts of PTSD, and so a couple of those men being around depending on what warming center they're at 15, 20 to 30 other men. It's not doable, and so what we see is kind of this gruffness of no, I'm not going to come in, I'll be fine, all of that, but I know it's really fear, it's PTSD. There are trust issues because of what people have endured. And then there is this other side of that. We do know drug use and we do know alcoholism and especially if it's street drugs, right, we do see where that really harms people's brains and it impacts negatively thinking process from being able to be logical and to be able to operate in that safe part of our brain. And so we do see some people that it doesn't matter what we say because of some of the damage that they're still in the midst of because of the drug and alcohol. They can't see their worth. They can't see that it makes so much sense for them to take that next step. They can't see it yet and so I don't know how much we want to dive in.
Speaker 4:But that's why our outreach teams do multiple what we call sweeps. When we do those sweeps, we do that because you might have somebody at an 8 am outreach on a day in their thinking right In this hey, no, I can't go, no, I'm not going to go, whatever. But when our teams which I couldn't, I can't even sing enough praises for our outreach teams willing to do all this, but when our outreach teams then go and launch out at five or six o'clock at night. You're not sure what all has changed with that individual and that person that may have said no because of either the trust issues, the PTSD, maybe drug use, maybe alcoholism you don't know what's just transpired six, seven, eight hours later and a lot of times those no's turn into yeses. And that's why it's important for us to as much as possible get to know these individuals and their stories and to never give up, because we see it every time we do a warming center.
Speaker 4:We see it every year, with just outreaches in general. Every time we do a warming center, we see it every year, with just outreaches in general. People do change and we see that, and that's why we are so tired, if I can just be vulnerable, because these outreaches are occurring first thing in the morning, they're occurring in the afternoons, they're occurring in the evenings. We have outreaches sometimes at midnight. If we have the volunteers to do them, it just takes a lot. It takes a lot of physical manpower, but brainpower, especially when we don't want to give up on the people that appear to be no's to accessing this.
Speaker 3:I think there's a general positive shift in the community that's going on in regards to who these people are and it's different than just seeing them outdoors but beginning to understand that there's some complexities in their lives that aren't just this or that. It helps to identify, maybe, the why that they don't just immediately come in to any kind of a service. Kristen, I'm going to ask you in a minute about how many people are staying in the shelters, but last Thursday evening I was in a two-hour meeting indoors where there was nice food and there was heat and probably about 150 to 200 people there, and there was a couple of folks who are unsheltered homeless who had been invited to the dinner. Nice guys, they both volunteer at MAP, the Mobile Access Partnership, every week, every time it's open to help out, but they live outdoors and I began to talk to them a little bit in regards to warming center and why they're not coming in.
Speaker 3:And one of the individuals did have housing and he lost his housing and so he's back outdoors again and they have dogs and so on and so forth. But through the two hour process one of the gentlemen you could detect how anxiety ridden he was. It was to the point of me just feeling terrible for him and learning a little bit more story. He's been in and out of Vallejo treatment numerous times. He is currently free from methamphetamines, but the biochemical challenges going on in his body are off the charts. Nicest guy in the world, have a good conversation with him, but when he's confined to that group of people that they're for a very, very long time, it just about kills him.
Speaker 3:And it's so uncomfortable watching him and being around him. All that was on Thursday night. All through the weekend and tonight I've been wondering about him. I started asking where can we find him? How can we get him some help? That's just one. That's just one, and that's. I think what you're describing is your outreach teams and the warming center folks they're encountering right now with people who are so, so broken Christian. You're over shelter services and the outreach teams and that's a pretty big job, and so you know a lot of people say well, you've got a rescue mission, you've got these shelters, you've got a men's shelter, you've got a women and family shelter. Why don't people just come in? How many people are in there right now?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so overall, I'll just talk about where our capacity is and talk about how many people we have within that capacity. So in our men's shelter we have about 120 beds 60 upper, 60 lower bunks. In our women's shelter we have about 28 family rooms and then space for about 50 single women.
Speaker 3:And so overall, like I have to count, you know the Hope Center a little bit differently because I'm catering toward families.
Speaker 5:Families could come in with one child or five, or 12. 12. Yeah, we had that before. Yeah, so you know there's families. Don't come in uniform sizes or units, but so overall, you know, between the 120 on the men's side and the 28 family rooms and 50 single beds in the Hope Center, the Hope Center comes out to about 135 to 140 max capacity on average. So overall we're looking at about 250 total beds If everything just fits right.
Speaker 3:If everything just fits right and you talk about upper bunks, half of your men's shelter beds. Are you got to get up in a bunk, and not everybody?
Speaker 5:can do that, can they? No, no, so you have. You have some mobility issues. Those lower bunks are a hot commodity, they fill up pretty quickly and then I've actually seen, I think, an increase in the level of needs of individuals who are coming to our shelters. Physical challenges Physical challenges it might be related to age as well. I think you've talked about this before in the podcast, but the graying homeless phenomena is something Growing and growing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people 50, 55, 60 plus years old. You've had individuals that have stayed in shelter and on the streets who are 80 plus years old.
Speaker 5:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that speaks to a number of challenges they have. Yeah, so you got these beds. And then, of course, not everybody fits in all, but how many approximately stayed last night?
Speaker 5:So last night I think it was about 244, about the maximum of 245, 250. So you're pretty well at maximum.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we're pretty much there. I think we had about three beds that were available on the men's side, and then there's, you know, some part of that is, you know we have, whenever a bed becomes open, we go ahead and we treat those beds for insects or other things. This is kind of a preventative maintenance, but that slows down some of the process of turning beds over. So there's some of that going on. And then, really, you know the number that is kind of heartbreaking for me, and the one that I look at every day, is the number of children that are staying in the shelter, and so that's 46. 46 kids, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So these are people that may be here one night. They may be here for multiple nights you never know. For multiple nights, you never know. And each one of these individuals to. What LaManda was talking about is that they're more geared towards being in a particular system or a program to help them move forward towards stabilization, help, housing. That's really what the goal is there, and so there's also not just shelter, but there's a lot of things that are wrapped around that to help individuals to get the kind of tools that they need to go in the community. So it's pretty intense, pretty intense. So we've got a full shelter and it's been full and I think here not too long ago it was kicking up around 290 or something like that.
Speaker 4:So we went up to 306.
Speaker 3:306. Okay, yeah, you about broke the record.
Speaker 5:And so no, no, barry, I was here long enough to know the record was much higher than that.
Speaker 3:Okay, so it was about 325.
Speaker 5:I mean, this was under the previous executive director.
Speaker 4:That's right. He has to claim that the one that didn't develop his no button until later.
Speaker 3:I think there were numbers pushing up around 400.
Speaker 5:I don't remember that 350.
Speaker 3:Total, I'll probably go to jail for that.
Speaker 5:I remember the Hope Center, so they went to 100 kids over there one time it was legal, I mean it was approved, right.
Speaker 3:Nobody else wanted them on the streets. We have a growing unsheltered homeless population in our community. We have a predominantly full rescue mission. Be safe. When we had those higher numbers in, it was too packed, it was just two packs. So what you've done, lamanda, in your watch and with your team, is you've spread it out to where we're having warming centers. We used to bring people in in the wintertime, put them in what was the former chapel and those kind of things, and it was. It was. It was chaotic at best, so it's better organized now. This isn't the first warming center this year or this season. This isn't the first one, so this is the second round. This isn't the first one, so this is the second round. This is the third. Third round, third round, okay, so all right. So the first time.
Speaker 4:That's why we're so tired, Barry.
Speaker 3:I must be pretty tired too. I was number two, so this is the third one that you've done. You just haven't done it all winter long. You haven't started? In December, when it started getting cold and all winter long, and you already addressed this. A lot of factors are involved in that. So when do you decide and we're kind of jumping ahead here but when do you decide to say, okay, we've done everything that we need to do? At this point, we're going to close it down, like, I believe, you did last Friday.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm. So those same factors that we look at that I mentioned earlier the wind chills, the temperatures, can we get outreach teams out or not? Is there a state of emergency All of those things we then consider when we're closing as well. I think we're starting to see so many more people speak out on the injustices that are done in regards to homelessness right now, and I hope that decision makers are hearing that there is a cry and an expectation of our community to take care of our neighbors and to do it well, that yes, there are frustrations with people experiencing homelessness and some of the challenges that come across it, but there is a very strong opinion right now from the people in Topeka that we're not just saying get rid of people experiencing homelessness, we're saying let's get the right resources to help them have a continuation of care. So, that being said, I do want to address how we close this, because these same incredible, passionate people that are wanting good stuff done can then also get really extremely passionate when I close warming centers.
Speaker 3:In other words, they don't think it's a good idea, correct?
Speaker 4:And I understand, and so I kind of want to unfold that a little bit. Because, yes, do warming centers sometimes close and it's still in the 20s or 30s? Yes, but when we look at that again, we're looking at all of those factors. So if the wind chills have improved, if the temperatures have improved, if we have sunshine, if there is an increase in our outreach team's ability to get out and to do more checks and all of those kinds of things, then we cannot just keep warming centers open. I mean, warming centers truly are an extreme effort when everything is extreme.
Speaker 3:Some of the reasons why you can't just say, okay, we're in wintertime, we don't know what's going to happen in a few days, let's just keep it open all the time you keep your shelters open all the time.
Speaker 4:Why not the warming centers? Yeah, so on our shelter side we have shelter guests In addition to that. You know, anywhere between 240 to 275 right now is kind of our average. In addition to that, we still have the cold weather exceptions that we operate out of the main shelter, Meaning if someone is unsheltered, we open up a whole different level of options If it gets below 40, and if it gets below 30 or 32, and if it gets below 20, we have three different options. That's been in existence since what? 91, I think you said.
Speaker 3:Long time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I've been joking with him and told him that I was four no-transcript additional that we do at these warming centers are totally dependent on staff and volunteers.
Speaker 3:And not extra staff, not extra staff.
Speaker 4:I'm still operating within right now, 69 staff members that are still operating 24-hour shelters, 24-7 shelters and the distribution center. We've got food pantries going on right now. All of this stuff still continues.
Speaker 3:And these are new temporary locations and shelters and resources needed and a whole lot more volunteers.
Speaker 4:Yes. So just in the first warming center we did this year, okay, that really posed an issue for volunteers to be able to get out. We had so many people that wanted to say yes and help, but we got the ice first and people weren't able to get out of their driveways. So to your question, when you say, well, why can't you just keep them open? Or you know those kinds of things, it is a manpower issue. Um, so those I can't even remember. I think it was six days. Don't quote me. Guess how much that cost trm just in overtime.
Speaker 4:How much five thousand fifty two hundred dollars in six days. I can't.
Speaker 3:In overtime that's just overtime shift and then coming in and by law they're mandated as well. I don't staff volunteer by law department labor. They're not allowed to uh without compensation.
Speaker 4:And none of that includes um, any leadership that worked um because we're not hourly and S, and that doesn't include the staff that just came to us and said look, I really just want to volunteer.
Speaker 3:So why Christian and Marcus's eyes are closed, right?
Speaker 4:now. Yes, that's why we're all three of us right now have radio faces. Let's just say that. So if we want to talk a financial piece that is why simply TRM cannot fit the bill. If we do that and we did, and that was just for six days $5,000 additional. Do the math on that we cannot do that as a nonprofit.
Speaker 3:Limited resources. You need that resource coming in in addition to what's already coming, because you still have to lay out the finances for it. And you have all these volunteers that there's a certain limit to their abilities too, correct. And you'd mentioned the first round with the ice. There was one volunteer, lovely lady, who was in a car wreck going home because of the ice, was stuck in the ice for quite some time in the snow drift and her car got totaled out of this whole thing in the snow drift and her car got totaled out of this whole thing. Yes, and you know there was. There's the practicality. You can't expect everybody just to be there, marcus, I want to come back to you in a minute. Marcus, during that first round, your team in regards to facility security, transportation, those kind of you actually were rescuing an ambulance. Yeah, talk about ambulance.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so AMR was on call by one of my staff members' complexes and he just spent all day helping people and transporting staff, and all that because it was so bad. He was still buzzing from helping people, so he's still awake yeah, he's seen them stuck.
Speaker 2:He had his chain and his toe straps and um hooked up to him and they pulled him. I don't know how many feet he pulled him out of there, but it was drifting, so much it was. They were stuck, stuck, and when they seen it on I forgot which news program broadcasted that, but he got-.
Speaker 3:Somebody had a doorbell camera that caught that or something like that, and of course it went out on the news, not like you were looking for. Hey, look at what we're doing, right, just doing your job, right. But the serious nature of it kind of goes back to. You can't just expect, even when AMR gets stuck or police cars get stuck or plows get stuck, you can't expect volunteers necessarily to come and be a part of this because practically they can't get here or can't get back home.
Speaker 4:Right, well, and you know, our maintenance team has what seven.
Speaker 2:We got six. Six, yeah, has what?
Speaker 4:seven. We got six, six okay, so seven. Um, in addition to taking care of six buildings 60 something staff members because we all have needs um, they also do all of the snow maintenance and safety stuff for Noto. So, like this morning, um, I was driving in and one of our staff members was so bundled operating a snow, a hand snow plow thing, um, that I couldn't even tell who he was. But I knew who he was because I know the staff. I couldn't even tell who he was, but I knew who he was because I know the staff and I just wished that I could have, like taken a snapshot of him, because he's all bundled up. He's doing this physical labor and doing it for our friends in Noto.
Speaker 3:I want to say something on that. If you're driving around today or the next couple of days, I want you to look at the no-toe sidewalks. I want you to look at the other sidewalks in this community around retail. You're going to see no-toes cleared because Topeka Rescue Mission is serving its neighbors. You may go into some other places that are pretty prominent places and unless that operator out of that particular business is out there shoveling snow, you're going to have a hard time getting that business right now, and that's the way it has been. That is a rescue ministry serving not just the homeless but its neighboring businesses. It's huge. I was driving down here this morning. I saw the guys out there and I looked at the sidewalks I go, man, they look great. And so I was driving down here this morning. I saw the guys out there and I looked at the sidewalks I go man they look great, and so I was going to ask you, is TRM still doing that?
Speaker 4:And the answer is yes, that's awesome. And then Pedro, you know the executive director of NODO, he was out and he was bundled up. And so just this level of teamwork right of being able to do that, do that, and so, seeing what all our team already does for our community in so many different ways, it's a balance for me, as the CEO here, to know when to keep walking out in faith and saying yes, because God provides, and also when to be a wise steward of us as a leader, to say we need to pause. And so, in looking at when to close these, in addition to the financial factor, in addition to the manpower, in addition to what we're expecting for volunteers, there's also just the overall safetiness, if that's a word, of being able to do the logistics this team that is pulling ambulances out of ditches and clearing off sidewalks. My shelter teams who are taking additional guests on when they're already at capacity. My leaders who already, on a normal work week, put anywhere between 50 to 65 hours a week. On top of all of that, then, when we go to close these warming centers, it's the logistics of deep cleaning, it's the logistics of getting everything back in order, reusing those rooms for classes. So classes resume, and then it is a.
Speaker 4:Our bodies can only take so much, and so that's not us not walking in faith, it's not us dying to ourselves and not believing in the Lord and all of that.
Speaker 4:There is a physicalness to it, too, that when I look at my staff, that's my first flock and they need a reset, whether it's immune systems, whether it's needing to be with their own families, all of those kinds of things that should be the first ministries in all of their lives.
Speaker 4:I cannot continue doing additional things this community needs at the expenses of that, and so that's why we try to find the balance of. When there are extremes, all of us are going full throttle, depending on the Lord and doing it. But as soon as there's opportunities for a lot less safety hazards and opportunities for everyone to reset and refocus, and all of that to go back to all of our additional duties, right of running this ministry, we have to do that values and recognizes life and recognizes that you're the Topeka Rescue Mission, loves what we get to do and that there's nothing bigger that God can't do. But I do think that we are in a extreme cold. We should be talking extreme heat, these things now and we're only focused on well, the rescue mission shouldn't have closed down warming centers. My challenge to everyone is saying what if we just had the right things in the right places all year long?
Speaker 3:Resourced.
Speaker 4:And that we were doing right by people all the time and that those were being done by the right decision makers.
Speaker 3:One of the things that we wanted to do today is talk about kind of the nitty gritty and the complexities of the warming centers, and we've been doing some of that. Just if you're listening to this and you're thinking, well, this is a feel sorry for Topeka Rescue Mission podcast. That's not what it's about. It's about a willingness of an organization to step up and do more than it has done or does every single day, because if it doesn't and we want to talk about some of the other partners here in a second doing warming centers as well if it doesn't happen, people may die, literally may die, and if they don't die, they may be injured permanently for the rest of their lives to where they are disabled because of the injuries that they suffered. Let me talk just briefly. It's not just a peak rescue mission, but TRM, under your leadership and your team, are helping direct the bigger picture here on coordinated effort here. Who are some of the other partners that are opening up their facilities?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and just forgive me in case I forget somebody, but I always pray like Lord. Please don't let me make that mistake. But when we're looking at warming centers we have Fellowship Highcrest, who I think they've done three out of the four with us besides the first one who have just rallied around us and said we get it, our neighbors deserve it, and what can we say yes to? And they have opened every time we open. And so great communication, great example of them operating within parameters of what we've kind of realized works, but then them making it their own warming center too and us just partnering with what our yeses look like when we put them together.
Speaker 4:Previously we had let's help. We were so thankful for them. They opened up temporarily but did what they could do and that alleviated a big need for that time. They are still heavily involved. Pat, I know their executive director has worked and volunteered at the warming centers even though let's Help isn't open. So we're thankful for that continued support. Currently we have a facility happening or a warming center happening at Ripley Community Center that is under the guidance and direction of Richard Martinez and his main man, sean, with Street Team Ministry, who open up and-.
Speaker 3:And what a champion those guys are to do what they can. I think it's public, because it was out on Facebook that Richard Martinez, from a hospital bed, trying to stay alive himself, is giving direction to try to get that thing going.
Speaker 4:So well, and I was yes, and not only do they open as warming centers, but if there's not a need for a warming center yet to open, like when we first start these, they help us do the transportation. So I was just checking on Richard I had been while he was in the hospital, sending him a text at the end of last week, and I said, hey, just wanted you to know, I'm still praying for you, all that and he said, yeah, well, I'm at the Children's Palace going to do transport. I said, excuse me, you know, but anyways, thankful for that, Another one that is doing great work. They don't necessarily need to partner with us, though, because they run this, these kind of warming centers and cooling centers and just weekly meals. All of that is Central Park Christian Church.
Speaker 4:Uh, we're incredibly thankful for, uh, Chaplain Mary Flynn and John Cantrell and his beautiful wife Taylor. Uh, their new pastor, uh, Pastor Fleming and his wife Michelle. They do a lot of stuff for that central community all year long, and so this is not something new for them. And they do operate completely different, really, because of just how they do ongoing meals and showers and all of that, but you see them doing good stuff for their neighbors and to know that hey, this is worth it. And they see the change happen and so we're thankful for that. In the past we had Vallejo one time help us with the warming center. We were thankful for that. So I mean it just, we see, whether it's churches or individuals come together to say their yes. In the past we had True Vine. That church opened up and they just kept making more space and more space and more space.
Speaker 3:And so it's a coordinated effort to say OK, how many you have over there? How many beds do you have left? What about animals? We have the Street Dog Coalition who stepped up into this and are boarding animals during this time, dr Alison Crowe and her team. It's quite a effort. Anything else you want to say about that? And I want to bring up something a little controversial.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so we have a war board.
Speaker 4:We have a home base hub here at the Children's Palace and then we have a war board. One side of the war board has who our outreach teams are, what vehicles that are, in what area they're going to, who's home base, all of those kinds of things. Who's running the hotline phone. The other side of it is every warming center that's occurring, the number of bed spaces they have, animals, what we're operating from, shelter wise and all of that. So like if I picked up the phone right now and called Miriam, miriam could tell me exactly how many people are at Fellowship Highcrest, how many are at Ripley Community Center, how many is on ours and how many is doing the cold weather exceptions at our shelter. So we have all of that going and while, like Miriam as an example, while Miriam is also closing out the month and doing the books and and and right. But the last thing I wanted to say on this, this partnership, we've got Dr Crow, who is a veterinarian in our community and I'm totally biased because she's my personal one I think she's great.
Speaker 3:But mine too. That's actually my dogs.
Speaker 4:So she's incredible. But in addition to her working right, she's also then juggling all of this street dog coordination. But then you've got Kelly with Vallejo and you've got Matt with the Breakthrough House, who were also doing their quote unquote normal jobs. And then in the midst of it they're also doing outreach for us, and then they're also the coordinators of Street Dog Coalition. So when we have animals that need love, right and care and their pet owner is on the street saying, nope, I'm not separating with them, many times a human life is saved and brought to safety because we have an option to care for their fur baby, whether it's a cat or a dog.
Speaker 4:And so the last warming center we sheltered 31. I'm not sure what our numbers are for this one 31 animals. But you've got Matt and Kelly that are helping our outreach teams going out and doing stuff. Then they come back here to the children's palace when an unsheltered neighbor gets here with their animal. So then my volunteers are taking care of the unsheltered neighbor. They then take care of the animal, transport it to wherever it needs to go. And it's just like this. I don't even know this organized chaos system of everybody just doing what they can.
Speaker 3:It's a beautiful mess it really is, and people's lives are being saved to people who aren't really sure about the animal piece. People may be living in a car, maybe living living in a tent, may be living in some makeshift thing and they've got their only family member and it's a furry four-legger and they're not going to leave that little animal to freeze to death out there, because they love their pet. Their pet is their family and so by having this service thank you, volunteers, street Dog Coalition, and all this to be able to help that individual make a wise decision to come out of the cold and bring their animal with them is huge in this whole effort Okay, I'm thinking counting numbers of people that are helping keep people alive. It's hundreds of people of different entities, time the resources that people are donating. I looked in the chapel here earlier this morning and it's full of food and blankets and different things that people have dropped off to be able to support. So it's hundreds of people involved. I know that we have a great relationship with the behavioral health unit of the Topeka Police Department, with Sergeant Matt Rose, who is just an all-star, and his team that helps out on this. You mentioned a lot of different organizations.
Speaker 3:But where's the city in this? The city of Topeka is very invested in the homeless issue. But from the city council level of passing ordinances to clear homeless camps of where people are, we get that it's not cool to have people sleeping outdoors in tents or trash around and those kind of things. But with their efforts that started some years ago but really kicked into high gear a year ago this month of clearing homeless camps, they're invested in that level. But are they invested in helping people find shelter? Are they invested in creating shelter? Are they invested in creating shelter? Are they invested in warming centers? I know that's controversial, but people are talking about it. This is our community, our mission podcast. We're going to put the cards on the table. Is the city LaManda? I may not know about it. Is the city stepped up and saying what can we do to help? Outside of Topeka Police Department.
Speaker 4:No, we have a lot of opportunity there to grow that partnership and to grow an understanding. There is lots that need to be improved on just the overall involvement, understanding, support, whatever word we want to call it from the city of Topeka and quite honestly I'm not even sure where to take that and how. We have tried relentlessly to continue to involve certain positions from the city in this, to communicate, to be on board, and there continues to be a very surface level and I say surface level in the fact of let us know if you need help and then we do, and it's either no response or a no. There is no public acknowledgement, particularly from the governing body, of the efforts that are done with these kinds of things, and not that anybody, particularly our volunteers or staff or agencies, nobody is looking for accolades but opportunities such as warming centers and the incredible work that's done when people come together and say yes, that should absolutely be acknowledged by the governing body, who has the power to make decisions, the power to make decisions, the financial stewardship and all of that, versus either not addressing it or addressing it because of their own personal opinions that really have very limited factual merit behind it, and I think that it is definitely an opportunity for whether we're talking leadership within the city who are paid, whether it's the governing body of council, or for the city and commissioners for the county, to really say this is an opportunity where we see the people that we talk about all the time, we see them being served.
Speaker 4:Let's go, let's go view it, let's go look at it, let's see what should we be doing. Are we making the right decisions? And I see none of that. That's very that's. Go look at it, let's see what should we be doing. Are we making the right decisions? And I see none of that.
Speaker 3:That's very unfortunate. Other cities around the country that are fairly close to us, in proximity, their city leadership, county leadership have stepped up to the plate, working with nonprofits, working with churches to help resource some of this, but we're not seeing that here in Topeka. Now, that is not saying that city employees are bad people. We have a lot of great relationships in addition to the housing department, with the city of Topeka, code enforcement, different folks that are really doing a great job. But there have been policy decisions that have been made from our governing body that has made it more difficult for the people who are experiencing homelessness, and I understand that is part of what they are tasked to do. But they're also tasked to take care of vulnerable people and to protect our citizens all citizens and if that's not being done, something's missing here. Citizens, all citizens, and if that's not being done, something's missing here. Thankfully, we have Topeka Rescue Mission, these other organizations that were mentioned, a whole lot of great people who care in this community, a staff who is saying okay, we're going to sacrifice sleep all winter if we have to to be able to do this to take care of our neighbors. I mentioned a couple of guys I sat down with last Thursday in the safety of this church dinner that we had talking to them, getting to know them a little bit better, and one gentleman having high anxiety and preferring to go back to his tent because he couldn't be around people. And so I said have you been relocated your camps? And they said once I said, do you feel safe where you are now? They said no. Now, keep in mind these are broken individuals who don't do well around crowds, who have struggling with. The other gentleman has recently recovered from a removal of a brain tumor Through surgery. They thought he was going to die. He had less than 15% chance of living. He is still alive today because people wrapped around him. Thank you to Mobile Access Partnership and Stormont Vale and others that wrapped around him. So here's two, really broken, just two.
Speaker 3:And I said so how secure do you feel where you are? And have you heard about your area that you're sleeping in right now? Is it going to be clean? And they said yeah, we've been told that it's going to be. I said what are you going to do? We don't know. I said have you heard about any plans? And they said yeah, we heard that they're going to move us outside of the county, outside of Shawnee County. I said, where? Well, they kind of told me the area and I don't want to start anything here, but this is the rumor that's out there, where they heard it from, I don't know. I said how do you expect you're going to get services? And they said we have no idea, we're scared. And so they're living moment by moment in fear in the winter, with physical disability, with mental health challenges, with struggling not to be using methamphetamines or something to soothe their pain, and thankfully there are a group of people in the community who are saying we're here for you, come on in, we're going to take care of you.
Speaker 3:But the people who are making decisions at the government level in Topeka, kansas, are making it harder for these individuals and thus harder for those that are trying to help them. I want you to hear this, folks. I've been in this business a long time, so to speak, and I've never seen anything quite like this at the governing level of our city. It's been much better than what we see today and I hope, if you're listening, that you pick up the phone. This is not an activist political platform, but it is a humanitarian, god-conscious podcast. To be able to say this is the facts, here's what we are doing. But LaManda said it earlier it can't not be maintained going forward with the kind of needs that there are, just by one organization and others stepping up to help alongside. So I wanted to share that. That is what it is. Thankfully, things are being done very well. We said we want to kind of unpack warming centers and what we're doing Before we close off today, christian Marcus, anything that you guys would like to share?
Speaker 5:I got one thing Now that I say that, and then, barry, you're looking like oh shoot.
Speaker 3:Christian is a pastor also, so you know.
Speaker 5:Well, what I was wanting to say is you know, when warming centers start, or really when cold weather hits, things don't slow down. So, especially in a shelter environment, actually things escalate. You have a bunch of people that don't want to go outside, and so they end up being stuck inside with a bunch of people that don't really want to be around. So you see an escalation in behaviors and you see those kinds of things in warming centers as well. But really you take something that is probably more difficult in this time of year and then you stack probably 20% more stress on top of that with the same people and volunteers. And that is kind of what our teams are operating at right now is that we're already managing a pretty high level. You know, I can imagine that many of our listeners right now stay pretty busy.
Speaker 3:I used to work in mental health in a state hospital and they closed those yeah so similar behaviors end up coming to homeless shelters and jails.
Speaker 5:So we deal with mental health, we deal with behaviors, we deal with crime, we deal with addiction All those different things but the thing is, nothing slows down, it just escalates, and we have the same people doing both of those things.
Speaker 5:But one thing I want to just put out, a call to our listeners is I know many of you guys are busy.
Speaker 5:You guys have some important jobs, you guys do important jobs in the community, and one we're really grateful that you spend your time listening to us on here, but I want to invite those who are listening if you have the capability, you have an opportunity to come and look behind the curtain.
Speaker 5:There's a lot of people that have ideas and have thoughts about homelessness, that have thoughts about mental health or addiction or all these different things that we talk about on this podcast, but not many people are really willing to look behind the curtain and see the pain where it really is, and so I just want to let you know, with these warming centers, we have an opportunity to become involved, not just with supporting, but to get your hands dirty, to roll up your sleeves and get into the middle of it, and really I think one of the most important things we can do is at least on my end.
Speaker 5:Every time I've had an idea, I've wanted to get involved in it and then see how things actually operate. So you can hear us talking about this on here and some of it might make sense, but until you're actually in the context of it it might not make a whole lot of sense. That's true, and so I just wanted to put that invitation out there. You guys are welcome to look up the needs for volunteers and then with that, you know, to get some skin in the game.
Speaker 3:It's easy to get on a social media post and tell you what you think without knowing what you're talking about and a lot of people doing that today, unfortunately. But this is a good way to say OK, I really have been there, I've seen that and I know what I'm talking about. Thank you, christian Marcus. You've been here, you've been on the streets, you've faced a lot of things that people are facing today. You're a deputy director, topeka Rescue Mission with a big responsibility, with a great team doing great things.
Speaker 2:So what do you say about all this? First of all, I want to say thank you for all the help that you have given me. You've given me the examples and all that. I want to thank volunteers in the community for coming and helping with our warming centers. What I really need, and we truly need, is the city to step up and learn the word help. Sadie just stepped up and learned the word help H-E-L-P. It is an acronym His Example of Loving People. So if they could just learn that, I think we'd be all right. That's good.
Speaker 3:Good, that's great, thank you.
Speaker 4:Amanda, final word. Today I think we have a lot of gratitude to give out to so many people who are making this huge effort possible, from partners to donors, to prayer warriors, staff all of that. There is so much to be thankful for. When we know we have to make these decisions of what's needed, because we see the faces, we have the convictions that it needs to be done, it's easier to step up and say we're going to say yes and we're going to do this because we know we've got so many in our community that are willing to support the efforts, because we see ourselves in these people. We see our own struggles. That might look different and the root reasons might be different, but there's a lot of similarities and the root reasons might be different, but there's a lot of similarities. And then I would say, as the same way as I express the gratitude, I think I also just want to grapple and plead for people to just recognize that we don't have the ability to look at individuals experiencing homelessness who are either talking to themselves or who are dirty and smell bad or are gruff around the edges and cussing and seem to be mean-spirited. We don't have the ability to pause their life film right. We don't have the ability to pause and just rewind to where they were pure, to rewind where their hurt started. We don't. But I do plead that we learn to desire to do that, to desire to do that, and I just am desperately anticipating for the people in our community who love the people and who are doing the good work and are passionate about additional resources and opportunities to open up for people experiencing homelessness. I hope that somehow those people in our community, that those voices start being heard, because it's not just me and my team that care about this, it's not just Fellowship Highcrest, it's not just certain groups of people care about this, it's not just Fellowship Highcrest, it's not just certain groups of people. There are a lot of constituents in Topeka who are truly passionate about getting additional options for people experiencing homelessness and they understand and for some reason I'm going to trust the Lord until it changes.
Speaker 4:But for some reason that is not the narrative that is said, it's not the narrative that's being blasted, it's not the narrative that is influencing decision makers, and I don't understand that.
Speaker 4:And so I just plead that the people who care about people and the cause continue to care the people who care about people and the cause. Continue to care, continue to advocate kindly, and I just anticipate the day that decision makers are convicted about things that are truly damaging people right now and we see it every day. And so, while my heart, as you know, trm CEO, is so full from what we get to do and everybody who makes it possible, my heart also is so broken for the fact that it seems as though, short of a miracle from the Lord, it seems as though there is no relief coming for the people we're serving and that the people that have the power continually listen to squeaky wheels or maybe that's them themselves, and that is difficult, but it's worth it and our team stands firm in doing what we feel is right, even when it might not be the popular opinion, and I anticipate the day we taking care of people and leaders, being bold to do that is actually the popular thing to do.
Speaker 3:Well said. Lamanda, christian, marcus, thank you today for taking time out to join us. When they're just down the hall there's a lot of needy people and across the street there's even more needy people who are surviving today and thriving because of you guys and a whole incredible team. Amanda, thank you for leading this effort. Thank you for sharing your heart today. Thank you for all of you who have participated in helping to love our neighbors. Marcus said it well his example loving people, h-e-l-p. Help. If we do that well and love our neighbors as ourself, as the greatest, second greatest commandment, then we will be a city who can shine that we've talked about. We will be a city who can be there to help people just like you and just like me, to have an opportunity that, if somebody wasn't there in our life, we would not be where we are today. Thank you for being a part of our community, our mission. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 3:Today we took a deep dive into something that is really awesome that's going on in our community these warming centers and the ongoing efforts of Topeka Rescue Mission. We didn't make it look pretty and shiny today, sorry if that wasn't what you were hoping for. It's not pretty shiny, it's just good and the best thing to do is keep a good thing good and let's do it even better. If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg. You can actually help out by volunteering, you can help out by donating right there on the website and, as Christian said, come on down, we'd love to see you. Thanks for listening.