November 20, 2023 • 46 mins
Deb had just lost her own house to foreclosure when she decided to start Elli’s House, which builds relationships with women who are sexually trafficked in Detroit and offers them safe shelter for transitioning to a new life. Their army of volunteers are bringing light to one of the darkest places in our country.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue with part two of our conversation with
Deb Ellinger. Right after these brief messages from our general sponsors,
(00:26):
we now return when I ask Deb how many houses
she now has?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So we have two yep, two at each two women
at each house, and how many women?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Two women in each house and the minute of bed
opens up, you're trying to bring one more in.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, and we usually I mean, I get calls all
the time, do you have bedspace?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Do you have bedspace? Because it's just a big need.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And despite that, you're also every day on the street.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, four days a week, four.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Days a week. Where do where does where do all
these supplies? Where does the money? How does this work? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So by volunteers and donations. So all of our finances
come from private donors, churches, community organizations. All of our
supplies to go on the street are usually packaged up
or donated by different groups of people. We hand out
like over two hundred food packs a week and that's
(01:27):
all donations.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
How how did you get the word out?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So part of it was from our community, my kids
high school, when they were in high school, so we
got the word.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Out that way, no kidding, yeah cool.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Which was really cool. And our church and other churches.
So once our church got involved, I started just having
opportunities to speak at other churches. So we get a
lot of support from different churches and lots of different schools.
But my kids' school has been a tremendous support to us.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And so you're out there hustling it up.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, for sure, you have to be.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So. On the one hand, your houseold it up. On
the other hand, you're in the streets given it away.
On the other hand, you're having houses donated and you're
I guess trying to furnish them and keep them clean, yep,
and create some type of programming for these ladies to
get clean, right. Can do you know the numbers of
(02:21):
women you've had lived with you? So?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Oh gosh, we've had I couldn't tell you the exact number,
but we've had over fifty women come in and out
of our program for various reasons.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We did short term stays.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So if a police agency or law enforcement agency would
do a raid and there was women there who were
exchanging sex for food or anything, they would allow them
an opportunity to come to our program and then help
them get back to So we had some women from China,
for example, and.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So they what do you mean China.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh, this is a whole thing. Yeah, well tell us
about that all.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So I learned that women were coming from China in
exchange to work for somebody who was selling them for sex.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And so just to get to America.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
No, just to make money, You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Did they know that deal coming in?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
They knew the deal coming in. But what happened in
our area was a lot of these women had gone
to high end places to do this. So Vegas was
one I can use as an example. So they were
staying at a really nice hotel, treated very well, given
all the fancy stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well, then they came to the area where we're at
and it wasn't like that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It was a dirty hotel with multiple women in the
same room.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And then it got raided.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And so then these women would come to us, and
then we would help get them back so they could
get their passport and get all that stuff and go
back to their country. What I learned was they would
come in and at my question was how did you
know who was picking you? Up like at the airport
when you got here. And one woman told me it
was the color of her suitcase. So they had a
(04:09):
very specific color of suitcase that they had to bring
and when the ride would pull up, they would know
that's who she was kidding. Uh, it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And these did these girls end up addicted and stuff too?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
No, none of these women, because they weren't here long
enough I see.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
But they still they got stuck.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh they yeah, they were. I mean stop them.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That getting or getting raided was probably the best thing
that happened to them.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Wow, were their passports taken from them? Yes, I've read that. Yeah, yep,
which renders them basically helpless exactly. Unbelievable. Yeah, and so
you've had fifty people come through the homes of all
walks and shape and backgrounds.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And everything everything.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Where are those fifty girls now?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So some of them are doing well and living on
their own. Our goal, our hope is that we would
have a relationship with everybody, and we have for the
most part. Even women that were from China had texted
us in the beginning letting us know like they got
home okay or something they know is.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Really sweet that it was so cool. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And then we have women that have relapsed and are
still navigating the process of healing and we still yeah yeah,
and we're still loving them through that. And then we
have some women who have jobs that are now seeing
their kids. I mean, we have a whole like I
feel like gamut of but.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Those success stories literally.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Safeloves for sure, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And then there's the alternative tell us about Marquita.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Oh yeah, Marquita.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So she was one of the first women that we
met on the street and she would call me. So
the phone number I give you guys, I would give
them on the street, and they call me and text
me and tell me where they're where I'm going to
meet them because it changes. And so she would text
me and call me and I would.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Meet with her.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
She would be like, can you bring me you know,
tell me what she needs. But and so I do
this with the girls. When they walk up to the car,
they're like, I need da da da da, And.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'd be like, oh, how are you today? How is
your day?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
We're going to have a conversation first, and so she
eventually learned to do that.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So we'd walk up to go how are how are you?
I'm like, I'm good, Marquita, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And we would talk and and she would just tell
me about her day. But a man, we loved her,
and then she was brutally murdered, shot and because shooting
someone and killing them is not enough, you got to
run them over too and set them on fire. So
that's yeah, why I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Was it a john or a pimp or.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
They think so, but they don't know. They shot her,
They shot her, they ran her over, and then they
burned her.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
M Do you think that's a statement trying to scare
other girls? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, because it's not the first. Like after that, it's
happened a couple other times, minus the burning. So it's
it's common to hear of a woman who got shot
and then run over, whether that be because it's a
drug deal gone bad or a date gone bad.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
But yeah, you know I'm hearing you. But this is
not supposed to happen in our country. This is not
supposed to happen in our cities. But you say it
almost like it's almost common.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
It is.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I mean, when I go on the streets and I
haven't seen a girl in a couple of weeks or
even a week, I start to worry, like, is something wrong,
I'll ask and the instant I asked, they'll be like,
I hope she's not dead.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Did you check the Morgue.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So now I've gotten into the practice of going on
the Morgue's website and you can look up unidentified or
unclaimed bodies is what it says.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Have you identified any of it?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We've had to do one.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh goodness.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And so I look on there and the hope is that,
like I have their real name, because oftentimes it's a
street name. I have lots of real names. But so
I look through and so we didn't see somebody for
a couple of weeks, and one of our friends was like,
I haven't seen her. Can you just check the Morgue
real quick while you're sitting here talking to me? And
I was like, yeah, do you know a real name?
(08:35):
And she's like yeah, and she's told me, and so
I went and looked. I said, nope, not on here.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm like, okay, hopefully she's okay.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And that's the reality of this world. It is, but
the alternate reality is you're saving offs.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah I think so, and we're loving people really well, how.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Do you balance your obvious faith and your morality as
a result of your fundamental core beliefs with what you
see every day.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's challenging, I bet because you can.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I know you love the center and hate the sin.
I get it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, yeah, and I try.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I try to focus on that, but I'm I mean,
I don't have it all figured out. I struggle going
down there and like wanting to confront the men buying sex.
How many times we've seen that and we pull up
in there, you know it's happen and you're like, man,
I got something to say, Like I want, I got
things I want to say to this person, and and
(09:45):
not get not to think. I don't want to think
that everyone is like that all the time. And I
can start I have to really check myself and make
sure I.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Go, I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I don't want to think that every guy pulling up
in a car everywhere I go, I was buying sex
from somebody, Like I don't want to think that. But
so I have to check myself to make sure that
I don't want I don't bring all that home, so
I don't. I come from the street and whatever happens
on the street. I leave on the street. I can't
bring that home. I mean, I'll tell my husband and
him and I'll talk about it, but then I have
(10:16):
to go to bed and relinquish it and start the
next day again do the.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I would imagine that oftentimes the guys in those cars
are just broken, is broken as the girls on the streets.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And that's what I try to remember too. Like I've
heard a couple of men tell me stories about how
they watch their mom being sold, Like that really impacted me.
I had one guy who said, I'm like, why.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Do you do this? Like what what do you why?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And he said, I watched my mom and my dad
or her boyfriend at the time. It was her boyfriend
sold her. And that's what I learned, and that's why
I do it now. And that actual actually helped me
understand like the pain that everyone was going through, men
(11:06):
and women.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You're bringing light to the darkest of dark places.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah right, yeah, yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
How's your life.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Right now? It's good?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I can say there's been plenty of times it was
not good.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
How do you find it? How do you keep going back?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I think I think for me, it's having a good
community of people and focusing on the good things that
we do, trying to see the good in every little
interact that we do when I go out there, and
then seeing the good in that environment, Like I refuse
to go out to where we serve people. It is
one of the poorest zip codes in the city and
(12:13):
one of the most violent, But when I go out there,
I really just try to see all the good things
going on in that community and the good people and
the good and everyone I interact with. Otherwise I wouldn't
keep going out.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I just wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So does it take a girl finally looking at you
and saying, I don't want to do this anymore? What
is it that makes you click that? Okay, it's more
than given this one a sandwich? She's ready? Yeah, how
do you know?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I just bluntly ask really yeah. And sometimes women will
say I'm ready to go, but they're not always necessarily
ready to go, but I'll still engage in that conversation.
So we have a woman right now who's on the
fence every couple of days about going not going, but
I always engage, like, hey, I'll come pick you up,
like I'll And I went to her house to pick
(13:09):
her up and she wasn't there and.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
She didn't go.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But that's okay. It was like, it just strengthens our relationship.
So I'll keep doing it. I'll keep texting back with her,
and when she's ready, she'll she'll be ready. I ask
women if they're ready. Sometimes they're ready and we take
them and they weren't ready. So oftentimes I like them
to engage that conversation with me. I don't want to
(13:32):
push anyone to do anything they don't want to do,
even treatment even if I know it's what's best for them.
They have enough pressure and things being forced to do
all day, so I won't do that.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Dev you know, admittedly, I don't even suppose to understand
what's going on in between the ears of some of
these folks that you serve, and you know, a lot
of what's what normal rational thinking would be for most
(14:05):
of our listeners. The people you serve sometimes just can't
even think rationally. I would assume. I remember there was
a guy who no longer no longer works here, he's
retired now, but he was making fourteen dollars an hour,
(14:27):
and he was just did everything I asked him to
do on time. Would come to work. I mean, I
don't even know if he ever missed a day or
took sick days. Just a great guy. And in my
mind he earned an opportunity. And I three or four
times tried to advance him, and he would never take
(14:49):
the rais of the advancement. He just wouldn't. He always said,
I appreciate it, this is what I'm going to do.
And before retiring, he finally told me why. And he said,
all I know is lost. All I know are people
without jobs. And he said, I like my life where
(15:13):
it is. And he said I would rather have what
I have now than risk losing what I have to
chase something bigger or chase something better. The fear of
failure crippled him from allowing himself to think out of
his current place. And it taught me such a valuable
(15:36):
lesson about managing people and trying to work with people
that you know the environment and the trauma and everything
people come from. Fear of failure can can cripple someone,
and the fear of the unknown can cripple someone and
prohibit them from being able to advance. And this is
(15:56):
a great guy, and he's retired happily now and he's
got so security and whatever. He could have done so
much more at my company, but he was so afraid
of taking the chance or going to a place. He
didn't understand that. He just was not able to think
outside where he was in that world. And what does
(16:20):
this have to do with you? Well, when you're thinking
of rational thinking, you know, when I hear you say
you've seen and developed relationship with these girls from your
ice cream truck, and you're giving them food and stuff,
and you're starting to tell them and now they're starting
to see themselves as loved and valuable, at least in
the five minutes that around you. Why in the world
(16:43):
wouldn't they just say, Okay, I'll take the treatment. I
hear you, I do want out. They know they're not
going to get beaten anymore. They know they're going to
have hot food, they know they're going to have running water,
they know they're going to have electricity, they're not going
to get raped, they're not going to get pimped. They're
going to be able to get out, and that's what
you're offering them. Why wouldn't every single one of them
(17:05):
say I'll take it?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Because they're scared of the unknown, they're scared of what
a treatment program would look like. They know the rules
on the street, they know the rules at the drug house,
they know the rules on the block. Those rules they
can follow, but giving them a whole new set.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Of rules that they don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I think, in addition to a lot of women have
said the detoxing portion of a treatment program is awful.
It's miserable. So you're detoxing off of a drug and
it can be five days and all you're doing is
throwing up and sick the entire time.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
So that's also scary.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So the unknown of that and just the unknown of
the whole environment is really really scary. And a lot
of women have actually said to me they're addicted to
the lifestyle on the street, like the way they live
their life.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
They're addicted to that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
They're addicted to the lifestyles.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Though, Yeah, what.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What does it say that a woman would prefer rape
and beatings to a clean life. Yeah, that they've been
so conditioned by this environment that they're more afraid of
a clean life than they are the sickness and the
(18:29):
darkness that they're living in.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, I think it shows the sadness of the environment.
But the need of more people to step up and
do things. I just it's it's always been mind boggling
to me when I hear a woman go, I just
kind of like it out here because I know what
to expect. Even even getting beat up, they actually start
(18:53):
to expect that. That's not a big shock to them,
and so they expect that. And then the other thing
I've heard women say is like, when they come to
our program, there's no chaos, and they've only experienced chaos.
Most of them from childhood that has been their life,
has been experiencing some type of chaos. And so what
(19:14):
we notice in our program is when you come, you
start to create chaos because that's the only way you
know how to live. The streets provide that. The streets
provide chaos, and a treatment program does not.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Typically, isn't it ironic in addition to everything else, we
have to simply teach peace.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yes, it is ironic.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Peace, yep, simple peace.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So I'd read that not only do you feed over
you feed over two hundred people each month. But it's
not just girls, it's drug dealers and pips as well.
It is the very people that you despise the most.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, you do that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He didn't want to do it. I didn't want to
do it. I really was like, we're going to do women.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
And that was it. And then.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I met this guy and I was like, oh my gosh,
he's just so broken too.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
He was so broken.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And had just had so much trauma, and he honestly
just changed the way I saw all of all of
the people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Do you think you're changing him at all?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, because he's four years clean and we just had
lunch with him on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
What yeah, the story, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
He's so great. Yeah, yeah, so he was. He would
say both, he would say both.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, okay, and he we there was a girl who
got killed and he was there when it happened.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
What do you mean he was there when it happened.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
They were at a drug house and it was a
drug deal gone bad and she got shot and so
he called nine to one one.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah. Everyone knew him on the street.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I had only met him maybe one time, but like,
I wouldn't have been able to pick him out on
the street. I had only seen him once. And he
calls me like two days after that happened, and he goes,
you don't you don't know me, but I got your
number and I'm done. I'm done with this out here.
And I was like, okay, can you want me come
(21:22):
pick you up? And he was like yep. So I
picked him up in front of an abandoned house, put
him in the car, took him to a treatment program,
and we helped. So, if you're in a treatment program
and we've taken you there, we'll also like drop off
cigarettes to you, drop off some spending money. Those things
are gold and a treatment program to have your cigarettes
and a little bit of spending money. So we do
(21:44):
that and then we're available if you want to call
us and just chat. And so we did that. He
was in that program for thirty eight days, I believe,
and then he got done with the program.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Here's a big gap in our system.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And they're like, okay, well we have transitional like another program,
another level of program for you to go to. But
there's gonna be three to four days of downtime.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
What did they do right?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
They're forced back right.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So he's like, I don't know what I'm gonna do
for three or four days. I was like, okay, we
got to think of a plan. He's like, well, my
cousin has this house, I could stay there. I was like, okay,
is there like anybody there? Does it have running water?
Does it have electricity? It didn't have water, and I
can't remember if it had electricity, but I was like,
(22:33):
all right, I'll pick you up and we'll go there.
So that we did, and it was it was not
like it didn't have furniture. It wasn't like that was
literally where he had there was a table, he had
a toaster oven, and we brought him water and some
clothes and socks and those types of things. And then
we spent the next three or five days doing things
(22:53):
with them. So we took them to meetings. He went
to church with us. Yeah, he went to lunch with us,
He went to breakfast with us. He did all the things,
and then got to his program that opened up. And
now he's four years clean and he's a pure recovery coach.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
What's he doing though, Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
He helps other people struggling with addiction and coaches them, sponsors,
does meetings and he's like people's sponsor.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That one story alone is worth all the work.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Yeah, for sure. He's amazing human being.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And it's not even a woman.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
No, no, how many volunteers do you have?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Gosh, we have about fifty to sixty volunteers. Some are outreached,
some help at the house, some pack up hygiene kits,
some pack up food packs.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So yeah, about fifty that is.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I'm I'm just I've envisioning you running around down here
talking to these people and the changes that the life make.
I mean, do you ever just wake up? And I mean,
are you fully aware of what you're doing? I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
No, I don't think I am. Honestly, Even just sitting
here talking to you, I was like, wow, yeah we
do that. That seems kind of crazy, So no, I don't.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oftentimes we talk to people, we get emails, we get
phone calls, we get everything. Alex Fields a bunch of them.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Oh yeah, I filled a.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Bunch of them. Alex Fields a bunch more of them.
In fact, we're gonna I don't even want to say this,
everybody keep emailing. We're going to keep responding. I don't
care if it's a thousand a day, we'll figure it out.
But I mean, it's it's getting to be a lot.
And it is an absolute honor, okay, And I'm humbled
(24:50):
and privileged that we're reaching and people are reaching out
just like you did, right. So much of what I've
learned is that people's reticence to get out and get involved,
(25:11):
people's reticence to be part of the quote army of
normal folks to actually engage is they have inhibitions, they
have fears, or their timing's not right.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
And the beauty of the stories that we continue to
tell on army of normal folks. To me, one of
the beauties is I haven't found a single person that's
done any work. They didn't have their own struggles. They
weren't doing what they were doing because everything perfect aligned
(25:45):
in the world, and they had all the money they
needed in the perfect world, and everything was found in
their life, and they just went did something. Rather, they
did amazing work in their communities. They engaged their discipline
and passion where they saw opportunities because it was the
perfect time or they had the perfect circumstances. But very
much the opposite, despite the difficulties, you just got over
(26:11):
a difficulty. Yeah, I mean, it cannot be lost on
this story that you started this when you lost your
own home and you were you started just giving hot
chocolate to people at a bus stop when you just
(26:31):
lost your home and you didn't even have enough money
to pay your own bills, and yet you were scrounging
together money to make hot chocolate for people. And that
your first home that was donated to you, you gave
to the girls you were serving when you didn't even
have your own home. Yeah, and you never quit through
(26:52):
another struggle that you just shared with me that you
just got some good news on. Yeah, tell us about
it that.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of
twenty twenty two, and since then I've gone through masectomy, reconstruction, chemotherapy, radiation,
and now I'm cancer free.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So this is all good news.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, and you didn't quit through all this. No.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I still, even in the midst of chemo, if I
was feeling good, I would go and do outreach. And
there was days of course I didn't feel well and
I couldn't go, like literally couldn't go. But if I
was feeling good, I'd get in the van and I'd
go down there.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
And do the people on the streeting of this. Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, Like I was very humbled when people some women
cried when I told them I had cancer.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Some of the hardest women you'd ever be.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, They're like, we can't, like, you can't die. And
I said, well, that's not up to me, that's up
to God. So I don't get to pick that. But
so it was very humbling.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Are Jake and the kids all right, Mom, enough, chill
out right now?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
But honestly, being on the street fills my cup up
so much, Like my love for these women is beyond
what I can even understand sometimes, and so I would
when I go out there, I come home and I
just like, I feel better, like because I've got to
meet with my people that I love. Those are my people,
(28:26):
and I want to be able to see them.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
The other thing we talk about often is the secret sauce.
The payoff is you get so much more out of
it than you put into it.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
So true, talk about it. It's so true.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I mean there was times when I was I mean,
obviously during chemo you're just a hot mess physically and emotionally.
And going down and just seeing how much actually those
women love me as much as I love them has
just been a gift to me, honestly, And I guess
I never realized how much they do love me until that,
(29:04):
until those moments happened and I would go down there
and they would just they would light up. They would
just be so happy, and they were always worried that
I wasn't going to come back because something happened.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So we'll be right back. I may have told this
(29:37):
story once before, but I'm going to do it anyway
because it's so appropriate right now. I like shrimp, okay.
More importantly, Lisa loves shrimp. Okay, So if Lisa loves.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Shrimp, you're eating shrimp.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Got a girl, that's right. So I was on a
business trip some years ago and I was down on
the golf coast and Lisa said, you're coming home, right, Yeah,
I said, go to Walmart, go to a cooler, go
to the gas station, get some bags of ice, go
down the docks and get some fresh shrump and bring
(30:12):
it home. We're gonna have a shrip ball tomorrow. And
I mean, i'd been working. I didn't feel like doing
any of that, but Lisa said, go get shrimp. So
I'm sitting down there. I don't have you ever been
to like seawater docks before? They reek all right, it's
fish as it's stagnant surf water. It's I mean, it's gross,
(30:36):
it really is. I'm sure they have places like that
on Lake Michigan, don't they.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I would think I've never visited. Well, it's stinks, I
believe you.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
All Right. So I'm down there toward the end of
the day. The sun's starting to go down and it
just reeks. There's flies, it's just stagnant, like harbor waters. Gross,
it's revolting. And but I'm there with my cooler ice, right,
and the boats come in and I found the one
(31:05):
thing more vaulting than the dock. The fishermen. They're coming
in on the well. They've been up that they were
out when the sun was down. Yeah, sun came up,
sun went down. They've been twelve hours on the salt
and the surfer and the mist. And you know, a
toothbrush and toothpaste is more of a suggestion than a
daily reality. And they probably smoke a couple of packs
(31:31):
of marble reds, right, And so they're sunburnt, they're sweaty,
they're covered in the sulfur of the sea. And then
fish guts and bait.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
And sounds awful.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It is awful. It's disgusting, and so the whole place
and the people in it, the fish, the fish, they're
just but it didn't matter because I had to get shrump.
So I get my shrimp and I'm gone. And Jackson,
Mississippi is about halfway between in the coast and Memphis.
As I'm driving home, and it dawns on me that
(32:06):
that's exactly who Chris surrounded himself with. Yeah, the stinky,
nasty fisherman. And he washed the feet of prostitutes.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah he did, he did.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It can't be lost on your story as a Christian.
Just how christ like you're being going into this neighborhood
every day. Has that ever dawned on you?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I don't know that it really has. Honestly, I feel
like I just don't think of it. I think of
it like that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with
my own value and worth.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I guess if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
And explain that, I think.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
I don't see myself. We often don't see ourselves as
other people see us. I realize that, But I think.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I just question.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Just who I am sometimes I think, really, yeah, and
so with that can come like I can be I
feel like I have a humble heart because I don't
realize who I am. But then sometimes I don't acknowledge
like all the good that God is doing in my life,
Like all the good things that I do come from Him.
There aren't anything I'm doing. But I feel like I
(33:37):
have a hard time acknowledging.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That I get the humility I do. But it's okay
for me to say it. You're amazing, no thanks, And
you're doing something for people in our world that get
very little from our society and our community, and you're
(33:58):
serving We always talk about what could our world be.
Think of what this country could do if all of
us just saw a place of need and use their
passion or discipline to fill that little place of need
and just do it to serve someone that's not as
advantaged as you are. Yep, Well, you're serving the least
(34:21):
advantaged and make it a difference and saving lives. And
you're doing it in the most humble ways. And I
can't think of a better example of what we're looking
for in an army of normal folk. And the thing
is these streets. Heck, in Detroit, there's probably two or
(34:44):
three other areas of the city that could use this.
In Detroit, Yeah, for sure, you're serving one area in Detroit,
there's got to be more than one. There is, absolutely,
So if there's three or four in Detroit, how many
areas like this are in the United States that desperately
need some to stand up for them say I love you,
here's something you need, and most importantly, you need that
(35:07):
you are worthy of love and you are valuable and
if you're ready to turn your life around, we're here
to help you walk through it.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, what would that do for our country?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Oh my gosh, we would be living in a much
different world that is for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Far less broken than it is today, far less broken.
So what's next?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well, someone just asked me the other day at a
speaking event I was at. They're like, what do you need?
I was like, Oh, I'm glad you asked, because I'm
going to boldly ask for another house. And so now
I'm telling people because I would like to do what's
called a drop in center. I would like to have
a house or a small apartment complex in our outreach
area and have it be a place where women can
(35:52):
come and get a shower, a hot meal, a place
where we could help them get an ID. So a
lot of times I help women get their ID while
we're sitting on an abandoned porch on my computer, you know,
trying to get them an ID, because no one has
an ID, and its gold to have an ID that
says your name on.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It, who you are.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
And you can't go to many treatment centers without an ID.
So Salvation Army will take you without an ID, but
most places won't, so you have to have it. So
it be a place where we could get that. We
could just be a place for them to relax and
not have any pressure or stress in a couple hours.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yes, so you want a small apartment complex, So anybody
in Detroit listens, This is really simple.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
What's the area called seven and Chalmers.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That area there has got to be some dilapidated, empty
apartment complex that has very little value that could change
people's lives. And dev is married to a guy who
can fix it up. So as long as the bones work, yep,
deb can make it work.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Or anyone listing wants to donate, yeah, oh, or if
someone wants to stroke a check.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
We will accept that graciously.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
How's your house now great?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
My personal house great? It's so it's so great. We
now have a house.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
We've been there for five years, so yes, it's very good.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
And we tell me about what the kids are doing.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
So my oldest lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and she's
twenty five and has a big girl job in marketing,
and I know that's what we call it, big girl job.
My other daughter just got married and is looking for
a job in teaching or social work.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Are your grandma yet?
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Not yet, but man I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I'm not. But Lisa wants to be so.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Bad to me too.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
We were hard on our kids, like we were the
parents that our kids are like, why can't you just
be like, yeah, no, you're cutting the grass. Yeah, we're
not going to know you're going to do this, you're
going to So we fought. I mean we had four
and four years, right, So for twenty six years we
fought children. Right, I want grandchildren because I'm ready to
(38:16):
spoil children.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I know our kids are going to hate when their
children come home after hanging out with me because I
was spoiled a.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Crap out of It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Chocolate cake for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yes, ice cream too, yes.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Absolutely right. So the second we just got.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Married, Yes, second just got married, living not far from us,
like ten minutes cool. And then I have a daughter
at U of M Dearborn, she's a senior. And then
my son just graduated high school and he is working
at Starbucks, trying to figure out what he's going to do.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
What's next.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Give me that house and I'm going to make a
drop in center and hopefully just keep loving on the
community and hopefully get my husband to say we can
move there too.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Do the Well, that's the second time you've mentioned it.
I think better pay attention.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I think so too.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Do you have a corporate sponsor? Do you have it? Don't?
It's literally normal folks, high school parents, local people just
donating a little bit. It is what could a big
sponsor do for you?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Oh my gosh. I feel like we could change that
whole seven and Chalmers area. I really do.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I mean, I would be open to buying more places
and just being I just think there's so much power
by living in the community that you serve and being
there all the time. Like I don't want to be
the person that just comes and goes right. I want
to be there for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
We always talk about what can we do to fix
the proverbial it. We also understand that each of our
communities are only as strong as the weakest link. We
also talk about what can we do to clean up blight?
What can we do to clean up rampant theft and
murder and all of the things that we're talking about
(40:06):
we need to fix and make our country better. How
many deab ellingers are there out there that are willing
to immerse themselves in those communities to fix them. And
it shouldn't be about the money or the property. It's
about the army, it's about the foot soldiers. It's about
the people willing to do the work. And there you
(40:28):
are with how many volunteers that you've gotten around fifty,
We've got a fifty person strong army in Detroit working
where we need the work to be done the very most,
and all they need is support.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Yes, that is correct.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
You're going to quit it. Nope, this is it?
Speaker 3 (40:48):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Maybe if you could get some of that money to
really do some of those things, we could get Jake
to move there too.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Poor Jake, he just said it. Maybe we'll persuade them.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
That is phenomenal. Tell me. Now I'm gonna ask tell
me your favorite success story. Let's end on a real positive,
hy redemptive note.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
So, I mean I would say, even though it wasn't
a female, it was Sarge, the person I talked about. Really, yes,
and I think.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
His name Sar that's how appropriate. I know.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
You know, he's definitely he inspires me and his enthusiasm
and passion for serving and loving people. And he would say, well,
that came from all the love you gave me, and
it showed me how to love other people. That's what
he said to me on Saturday when I saw him.
That's just inspiring to me.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Do you need any more verification for what you're doing
in your life than.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
You're Probably not? Probably not one thing too.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
Sarge goes over to her house for Christmas and things.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Yeah, like he's been to our house for graduation parties,
and he's like family. He is like he is like family.
If you were to ask him, he'd be like, yeah,
you're my family, You're my people.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
That is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So someone's sitting around in another city thinking this is
hard work, but I want to do it, and they
want to hear more. How do they reach you.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
They can email me at Ellie's house three one three
spell that E L L I S H O U
S E three to one three at yahoo dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Great and uh, I am certain that you would be
more than willing to tell everybody how they could do
this in their own community.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I would love to tell all of people how to
do this in their community, because they can do it.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
You need a bigger voice, you need more people need
to know this story, and I hope somebody is listening
that record is the depth of the work you're doing
and the lives that you are truly changing and saving of,
I mean the most desperate situations in our country. I mean,
(43:14):
we can't be to sensitized to what this is. Are
you hearing that we have twenty year old women selling
their bodies for food or a twenty dollars bill, living
in dilapidated, vacant homes that don't even have water or electricity.
Therefore they can't bathe, they can't take care of their
(43:35):
basic hygiene. And it's worse than a third world country
for sure. Yep, in the shadows of amazing wealth all around,
and it's happening right under our nose and it's unacceptable
that we allow it to happen.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
I agree it is.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
And you're doing all you can to fix it. I
am with an ice cream truck and fifty volunteers.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Yeap, ice cream truck and fifty volunteers.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I love that it has been my distinct honor to
meet you and to help tell your story. And you
know you couldn't. You're the daughter of a bus driver
and a JC Penny's worker who grew up in a
blue collar Detroit area, who married a carpenter and had
(44:30):
four kids and lost their house during the housing crisis
to foreclosure, and has fat breast cancer and in the
meantime been a light in a very dark place. You
are an amazing human being and I just can't tell
you how much I appreciate you coming to visit with
us and tell your story.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
Thank you so much for having me. I feel privileged
to be here, and.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Thank you for joining us this week. If deb or
another guest has inspired you in general, or better yet,
to take action by starting something like Ellie's House in
your own city, by donating Dellie's House or something else entirely,
please let me know. I'd love to hear about it.
You can write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot
(45:16):
us and I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode,
please share it with friends and on social Subscribe to
the podcast, rate and review it. Become a Premium member
at normal Folks dot us. All these things that will
help us grow an army of normal folks. For our
premium members, we'll have bonus content from this episode, and
(45:37):
it's Deb and I talking about going deep versus going
broad and philanthropic work. If you don't want to miss it,
become a Premium member today thanks to our producer, iron
Light Labs. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue with part two of our conversation with
Deb Ellinger. Right after these brief messages from our general sponsors,
(00:26):
we now return when I ask Deb how many houses
she now has?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So we have two yep, two at each two women
at each house, and how many women?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Two women in each house and the minute of bed
opens up, you're trying to bring one more in.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, and we usually I mean, I get calls all
the time, do you have bedspace?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Do you have bedspace? Because it's just a big need.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And despite that, you're also every day on the street.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Yeah, four days a week, four.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Days a week. Where do where does where do all
these supplies? Where does the money? How does this work? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So by volunteers and donations. So all of our finances
come from private donors, churches, community organizations. All of our
supplies to go on the street are usually packaged up
or donated by different groups of people. We hand out
like over two hundred food packs a week and that's
(01:27):
all donations.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
How how did you get the word out?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So part of it was from our community, my kids
high school, when they were in high school, so we
got the word.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Out that way, no kidding, yeah cool.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Which was really cool. And our church and other churches.
So once our church got involved, I started just having
opportunities to speak at other churches. So we get a
lot of support from different churches and lots of different schools.
But my kids' school has been a tremendous support to us.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And so you're out there hustling it up.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Yeah, for sure, you have to be.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So. On the one hand, your houseold it up. On
the other hand, you're in the streets given it away.
On the other hand, you're having houses donated and you're
I guess trying to furnish them and keep them clean, yep,
and create some type of programming for these ladies to
get clean, right. Can do you know the numbers of
(02:21):
women you've had lived with you? So?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Oh gosh, we've had I couldn't tell you the exact number,
but we've had over fifty women come in and out
of our program for various reasons.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We did short term stays.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So if a police agency or law enforcement agency would
do a raid and there was women there who were
exchanging sex for food or anything, they would allow them
an opportunity to come to our program and then help
them get back to So we had some women from China,
for example, and.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So they what do you mean China.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh, this is a whole thing. Yeah, well tell us
about that all.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
So I learned that women were coming from China in
exchange to work for somebody who was selling them for sex.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And so just to get to America.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
No, just to make money, You're kidding.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Did they know that deal coming in?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
They knew the deal coming in. But what happened in
our area was a lot of these women had gone
to high end places to do this. So Vegas was
one I can use as an example. So they were
staying at a really nice hotel, treated very well, given
all the fancy stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well, then they came to the area where we're at
and it wasn't like that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
It was a dirty hotel with multiple women in the
same room.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
And then it got raided.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And so then these women would come to us, and
then we would help get them back so they could
get their passport and get all that stuff and go
back to their country. What I learned was they would
come in and at my question was how did you
know who was picking you? Up like at the airport
when you got here. And one woman told me it
was the color of her suitcase. So they had a
(04:09):
very specific color of suitcase that they had to bring
and when the ride would pull up, they would know
that's who she was kidding. Uh, it's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And these did these girls end up addicted and stuff too?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
No, none of these women, because they weren't here long
enough I see.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
But they still they got stuck.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh they yeah, they were. I mean stop them.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That getting or getting raided was probably the best thing
that happened to them.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Wow, were their passports taken from them? Yes, I've read that. Yeah, yep,
which renders them basically helpless exactly. Unbelievable. Yeah, and so
you've had fifty people come through the homes of all
walks and shape and backgrounds.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And everything everything.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Where are those fifty girls now?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So some of them are doing well and living on
their own. Our goal, our hope is that we would
have a relationship with everybody, and we have for the
most part. Even women that were from China had texted
us in the beginning letting us know like they got
home okay or something they know is.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Really sweet that it was so cool. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
And then we have women that have relapsed and are
still navigating the process of healing and we still yeah yeah,
and we're still loving them through that. And then we
have some women who have jobs that are now seeing
their kids. I mean, we have a whole like I
feel like gamut of but.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Those success stories literally.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Safeloves for sure, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And then there's the alternative tell us about Marquita.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Oh yeah, Marquita.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So she was one of the first women that we
met on the street and she would call me. So
the phone number I give you guys, I would give
them on the street, and they call me and text
me and tell me where they're where I'm going to
meet them because it changes. And so she would text
me and call me and I would.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Meet with her.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
She would be like, can you bring me you know,
tell me what she needs. But and so I do
this with the girls. When they walk up to the car,
they're like, I need da da da da, And.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'd be like, oh, how are you today? How is
your day?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
We're going to have a conversation first, and so she
eventually learned to do that.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So we'd walk up to go how are how are you?
I'm like, I'm good, Marquita, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
And we would talk and and she would just tell
me about her day. But a man, we loved her,
and then she was brutally murdered, shot and because shooting
someone and killing them is not enough, you got to
run them over too and set them on fire. So
that's yeah, why I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Was it a john or a pimp or.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
They think so, but they don't know. They shot her,
They shot her, they ran her over, and then they
burned her.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
M Do you think that's a statement trying to scare
other girls? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, because it's not the first. Like after that, it's
happened a couple other times, minus the burning. So it's
it's common to hear of a woman who got shot
and then run over, whether that be because it's a
drug deal gone bad or a date gone bad.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
But yeah, you know I'm hearing you. But this is
not supposed to happen in our country. This is not
supposed to happen in our cities. But you say it
almost like it's almost common.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
It is.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I mean, when I go on the streets and I
haven't seen a girl in a couple of weeks or
even a week, I start to worry, like, is something wrong,
I'll ask and the instant I asked, they'll be like,
I hope she's not dead.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Did you check the Morgue.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So now I've gotten into the practice of going on
the Morgue's website and you can look up unidentified or
unclaimed bodies is what it says.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Have you identified any of it?
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We've had to do one.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh goodness.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And so I look on there and the hope is that,
like I have their real name, because oftentimes it's a
street name. I have lots of real names. But so
I look through and so we didn't see somebody for
a couple of weeks, and one of our friends was like,
I haven't seen her. Can you just check the Morgue
real quick while you're sitting here talking to me? And
I was like, yeah, do you know a real name?
(08:35):
And she's like yeah, and she's told me, and so
I went and looked. I said, nope, not on here.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
I'm like, okay, hopefully she's okay.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
And that's the reality of this world. It is, but
the alternate reality is you're saving offs.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah I think so, and we're loving people really well, how.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Do you balance your obvious faith and your morality as
a result of your fundamental core beliefs with what you
see every day.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
It's challenging, I bet because you can.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I know you love the center and hate the sin.
I get it.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, yeah, and I try.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I try to focus on that, but I'm I mean,
I don't have it all figured out. I struggle going
down there and like wanting to confront the men buying sex.
How many times we've seen that and we pull up
in there, you know it's happen and you're like, man,
I got something to say, Like I want, I got
things I want to say to this person, and and
(09:45):
not get not to think. I don't want to think
that everyone is like that all the time. And I
can start I have to really check myself and make
sure I.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Go, I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I don't want to think that every guy pulling up
in a car everywhere I go, I was buying sex
from somebody, Like I don't want to think that. But
so I have to check myself to make sure that
I don't want I don't bring all that home, so
I don't. I come from the street and whatever happens
on the street. I leave on the street. I can't
bring that home. I mean, I'll tell my husband and
him and I'll talk about it, but then I have
(10:16):
to go to bed and relinquish it and start the
next day again do the.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I would imagine that oftentimes the guys in those cars
are just broken, is broken as the girls on the streets.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
And that's what I try to remember too. Like I've
heard a couple of men tell me stories about how
they watch their mom being sold, Like that really impacted me.
I had one guy who said, I'm like, why.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Do you do this? Like what what do you why?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And he said, I watched my mom and my dad
or her boyfriend at the time. It was her boyfriend
sold her. And that's what I learned, and that's why
I do it now. And that actual actually helped me
understand like the pain that everyone was going through, men
(11:06):
and women.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You're bringing light to the darkest of dark places.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah right, yeah, yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
How's your life.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Right now? It's good?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I can say there's been plenty of times it was
not good.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
How do you find it? How do you keep going back?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I think I think for me, it's having a good
community of people and focusing on the good things that
we do, trying to see the good in every little
interact that we do when I go out there, and
then seeing the good in that environment, Like I refuse
to go out to where we serve people. It is
one of the poorest zip codes in the city and
(12:13):
one of the most violent, But when I go out there,
I really just try to see all the good things
going on in that community and the good people and
the good and everyone I interact with. Otherwise I wouldn't
keep going out.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I just wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So does it take a girl finally looking at you
and saying, I don't want to do this anymore? What
is it that makes you click that? Okay, it's more
than given this one a sandwich? She's ready? Yeah, how
do you know?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I just bluntly ask really yeah. And sometimes women will
say I'm ready to go, but they're not always necessarily
ready to go, but I'll still engage in that conversation.
So we have a woman right now who's on the
fence every couple of days about going not going, but
I always engage, like, hey, I'll come pick you up,
like I'll And I went to her house to pick
(13:09):
her up and she wasn't there and.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
She didn't go.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
But that's okay. It was like, it just strengthens our relationship.
So I'll keep doing it. I'll keep texting back with her,
and when she's ready, she'll she'll be ready. I ask
women if they're ready. Sometimes they're ready and we take
them and they weren't ready. So oftentimes I like them
to engage that conversation with me. I don't want to
(13:32):
push anyone to do anything they don't want to do,
even treatment even if I know it's what's best for them.
They have enough pressure and things being forced to do
all day, so I won't do that.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Dev you know, admittedly, I don't even suppose to understand
what's going on in between the ears of some of
these folks that you serve, and you know, a lot
of what's what normal rational thinking would be for most
(14:05):
of our listeners. The people you serve sometimes just can't
even think rationally. I would assume. I remember there was
a guy who no longer no longer works here, he's
retired now, but he was making fourteen dollars an hour,
(14:27):
and he was just did everything I asked him to
do on time. Would come to work. I mean, I
don't even know if he ever missed a day or
took sick days. Just a great guy. And in my
mind he earned an opportunity. And I three or four
times tried to advance him, and he would never take
(14:49):
the rais of the advancement. He just wouldn't. He always said,
I appreciate it, this is what I'm going to do.
And before retiring, he finally told me why. And he said,
all I know is lost. All I know are people
without jobs. And he said, I like my life where
(15:13):
it is. And he said I would rather have what
I have now than risk losing what I have to
chase something bigger or chase something better. The fear of
failure crippled him from allowing himself to think out of
his current place. And it taught me such a valuable
(15:36):
lesson about managing people and trying to work with people
that you know the environment and the trauma and everything
people come from. Fear of failure can can cripple someone,
and the fear of the unknown can cripple someone and
prohibit them from being able to advance. And this is
(15:56):
a great guy, and he's retired happily now and he's
got so security and whatever. He could have done so
much more at my company, but he was so afraid
of taking the chance or going to a place. He
didn't understand that. He just was not able to think
outside where he was in that world. And what does
(16:20):
this have to do with you? Well, when you're thinking
of rational thinking, you know, when I hear you say
you've seen and developed relationship with these girls from your
ice cream truck, and you're giving them food and stuff,
and you're starting to tell them and now they're starting
to see themselves as loved and valuable, at least in
the five minutes that around you. Why in the world
(16:43):
wouldn't they just say, Okay, I'll take the treatment. I
hear you, I do want out. They know they're not
going to get beaten anymore. They know they're going to
have hot food, they know they're going to have running water,
they know they're going to have electricity, they're not going
to get raped, they're not going to get pimped. They're
going to be able to get out, and that's what
you're offering them. Why wouldn't every single one of them
(17:05):
say I'll take it?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Because they're scared of the unknown, they're scared of what
a treatment program would look like. They know the rules
on the street, they know the rules at the drug house,
they know the rules on the block. Those rules they
can follow, but giving them a whole new set.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Of rules that they don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
I think, in addition to a lot of women have
said the detoxing portion of a treatment program is awful.
It's miserable. So you're detoxing off of a drug and
it can be five days and all you're doing is
throwing up and sick the entire time.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
So that's also scary.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So the unknown of that and just the unknown of
the whole environment is really really scary. And a lot
of women have actually said to me they're addicted to
the lifestyle on the street, like the way they live
their life.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
They're addicted to that.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
They're addicted to the lifestyles.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Though, Yeah, what.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
What does it say that a woman would prefer rape
and beatings to a clean life. Yeah, that they've been
so conditioned by this environment that they're more afraid of
a clean life than they are the sickness and the
(18:29):
darkness that they're living in.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, I think it shows the sadness of the environment.
But the need of more people to step up and
do things. I just it's it's always been mind boggling
to me when I hear a woman go, I just
kind of like it out here because I know what
to expect. Even even getting beat up, they actually start
(18:53):
to expect that. That's not a big shock to them,
and so they expect that. And then the other thing
I've heard women say is like, when they come to
our program, there's no chaos, and they've only experienced chaos.
Most of them from childhood that has been their life,
has been experiencing some type of chaos. And so what
(19:14):
we notice in our program is when you come, you
start to create chaos because that's the only way you
know how to live. The streets provide that. The streets
provide chaos, and a treatment program does not.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Typically, isn't it ironic in addition to everything else, we
have to simply teach peace.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yes, it is ironic.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Peace, yep, simple peace.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
So I'd read that not only do you feed over
you feed over two hundred people each month. But it's
not just girls, it's drug dealers and pips as well.
It is the very people that you despise the most.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, you do that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
He didn't want to do it. I didn't want to
do it. I really was like, we're going to do women.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
And that was it. And then.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I met this guy and I was like, oh my gosh,
he's just so broken too.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
He was so broken.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And had just had so much trauma, and he honestly
just changed the way I saw all of all of
the people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Do you think you're changing him at all?
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, because he's four years clean and we just had
lunch with him on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
What yeah, the story, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
He's so great. Yeah, yeah, so he was. He would
say both, he would say both.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, okay, and he we there was a girl who
got killed and he was there when it happened.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
What do you mean he was there when it happened.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
They were at a drug house and it was a
drug deal gone bad and she got shot and so
he called nine to one one.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah. Everyone knew him on the street.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I had only met him maybe one time, but like,
I wouldn't have been able to pick him out on
the street. I had only seen him once. And he
calls me like two days after that happened, and he goes,
you don't you don't know me, but I got your
number and I'm done. I'm done with this out here.
And I was like, okay, can you want me come
(21:22):
pick you up? And he was like yep. So I
picked him up in front of an abandoned house, put
him in the car, took him to a treatment program,
and we helped. So, if you're in a treatment program
and we've taken you there, we'll also like drop off
cigarettes to you, drop off some spending money. Those things
are gold and a treatment program to have your cigarettes
and a little bit of spending money. So we do
(21:44):
that and then we're available if you want to call
us and just chat. And so we did that. He
was in that program for thirty eight days, I believe,
and then he got done with the program.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Here's a big gap in our system.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And they're like, okay, well we have transitional like another program,
another level of program for you to go to. But
there's gonna be three to four days of downtime.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
What did they do right?
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
They're forced back right.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So he's like, I don't know what I'm gonna do
for three or four days. I was like, okay, we
got to think of a plan. He's like, well, my
cousin has this house, I could stay there. I was like, okay,
is there like anybody there? Does it have running water?
Does it have electricity? It didn't have water, and I
can't remember if it had electricity, but I was like,
(22:33):
all right, I'll pick you up and we'll go there.
So that we did, and it was it was not
like it didn't have furniture. It wasn't like that was
literally where he had there was a table, he had
a toaster oven, and we brought him water and some
clothes and socks and those types of things. And then
we spent the next three or five days doing things
(22:53):
with them. So we took them to meetings. He went
to church with us. Yeah, he went to lunch with us,
He went to breakfast with us. He did all the things,
and then got to his program that opened up. And
now he's four years clean and he's a pure recovery coach.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
What's he doing though, Yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
He helps other people struggling with addiction and coaches them, sponsors,
does meetings and he's like people's sponsor.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That one story alone is worth all the work.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Yeah, for sure. He's amazing human being.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And it's not even a woman.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
No, no, how many volunteers do you have?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Gosh, we have about fifty to sixty volunteers. Some are outreached,
some help at the house, some pack up hygiene kits,
some pack up food packs.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
So yeah, about fifty that is.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I'm I'm just I've envisioning you running around down here
talking to these people and the changes that the life make.
I mean, do you ever just wake up? And I mean,
are you fully aware of what you're doing? I don't.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
No, I don't think I am. Honestly, Even just sitting
here talking to you, I was like, wow, yeah we
do that. That seems kind of crazy, So no, I don't.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Oftentimes we talk to people, we get emails, we get
phone calls, we get everything. Alex Fields a bunch of them.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Oh yeah, I filled a.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Bunch of them. Alex Fields a bunch more of them.
In fact, we're gonna I don't even want to say this,
everybody keep emailing. We're going to keep responding. I don't
care if it's a thousand a day, we'll figure it out.
But I mean, it's it's getting to be a lot.
And it is an absolute honor, okay, And I'm humbled
(24:50):
and privileged that we're reaching and people are reaching out
just like you did, right. So much of what I've
learned is that people's reticence to get out and get involved,
(25:11):
people's reticence to be part of the quote army of
normal folks to actually engage is they have inhibitions, they
have fears, or their timing's not right.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yea.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
And the beauty of the stories that we continue to
tell on army of normal folks. To me, one of
the beauties is I haven't found a single person that's
done any work. They didn't have their own struggles. They
weren't doing what they were doing because everything perfect aligned
(25:45):
in the world, and they had all the money they
needed in the perfect world, and everything was found in
their life, and they just went did something. Rather, they
did amazing work in their communities. They engaged their discipline
and passion where they saw opportunities because it was the
perfect time or they had the perfect circumstances. But very
much the opposite, despite the difficulties, you just got over
(26:11):
a difficulty. Yeah, I mean, it cannot be lost on
this story that you started this when you lost your
own home and you were you started just giving hot
chocolate to people at a bus stop when you just
(26:31):
lost your home and you didn't even have enough money
to pay your own bills, and yet you were scrounging
together money to make hot chocolate for people. And that
your first home that was donated to you, you gave
to the girls you were serving when you didn't even
have your own home. Yeah, and you never quit through
(26:52):
another struggle that you just shared with me that you
just got some good news on. Yeah, tell us about
it that.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
So I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of
twenty twenty two, and since then I've gone through masectomy, reconstruction, chemotherapy, radiation,
and now I'm cancer free.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
So this is all good news.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, and you didn't quit through all this. No.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I still, even in the midst of chemo, if I
was feeling good, I would go and do outreach. And
there was days of course I didn't feel well and
I couldn't go, like literally couldn't go. But if I
was feeling good, I'd get in the van and I'd
go down there.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
And do the people on the streeting of this. Oh.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yeah, Like I was very humbled when people some women
cried when I told them I had cancer.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Some of the hardest women you'd ever be.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, They're like, we can't, like, you can't die. And
I said, well, that's not up to me, that's up
to God. So I don't get to pick that. But
so it was very humbling.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Are Jake and the kids all right, Mom, enough, chill
out right now?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
But honestly, being on the street fills my cup up
so much, Like my love for these women is beyond
what I can even understand sometimes, and so I would
when I go out there, I come home and I
just like, I feel better, like because I've got to
meet with my people that I love. Those are my people,
(28:26):
and I want to be able to see them.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
The other thing we talk about often is the secret sauce.
The payoff is you get so much more out of
it than you put into it.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
So true, talk about it. It's so true.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
I mean there was times when I was I mean,
obviously during chemo you're just a hot mess physically and emotionally.
And going down and just seeing how much actually those
women love me as much as I love them has
just been a gift to me, honestly, And I guess
I never realized how much they do love me until that,
(29:04):
until those moments happened and I would go down there
and they would just they would light up. They would
just be so happy, and they were always worried that
I wasn't going to come back because something happened.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So we'll be right back. I may have told this
(29:37):
story once before, but I'm going to do it anyway
because it's so appropriate right now. I like shrimp, okay.
More importantly, Lisa loves shrimp. Okay, So if Lisa loves.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Shrimp, you're eating shrimp.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Got a girl, that's right. So I was on a
business trip some years ago and I was down on
the golf coast and Lisa said, you're coming home, right, Yeah,
I said, go to Walmart, go to a cooler, go
to the gas station, get some bags of ice, go
down the docks and get some fresh shrump and bring
(30:12):
it home. We're gonna have a shrip ball tomorrow. And
I mean, i'd been working. I didn't feel like doing
any of that, but Lisa said, go get shrimp. So
I'm sitting down there. I don't have you ever been
to like seawater docks before? They reek all right, it's
fish as it's stagnant surf water. It's I mean, it's gross,
(30:36):
it really is. I'm sure they have places like that
on Lake Michigan, don't they.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I would think I've never visited. Well, it's stinks, I
believe you.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
All Right. So I'm down there toward the end of
the day. The sun's starting to go down and it
just reeks. There's flies, it's just stagnant, like harbor waters. Gross,
it's revolting. And but I'm there with my cooler ice, right,
and the boats come in and I found the one
(31:05):
thing more vaulting than the dock. The fishermen. They're coming
in on the well. They've been up that they were
out when the sun was down. Yeah, sun came up,
sun went down. They've been twelve hours on the salt
and the surfer and the mist. And you know, a
toothbrush and toothpaste is more of a suggestion than a
daily reality. And they probably smoke a couple of packs
(31:31):
of marble reds, right, And so they're sunburnt, they're sweaty,
they're covered in the sulfur of the sea. And then
fish guts and bait.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
And sounds awful.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
It is awful. It's disgusting, and so the whole place
and the people in it, the fish, the fish, they're
just but it didn't matter because I had to get shrump.
So I get my shrimp and I'm gone. And Jackson,
Mississippi is about halfway between in the coast and Memphis.
As I'm driving home, and it dawns on me that
(32:06):
that's exactly who Chris surrounded himself with. Yeah, the stinky,
nasty fisherman. And he washed the feet of prostitutes.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah he did, he did.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It can't be lost on your story as a Christian.
Just how christ like you're being going into this neighborhood
every day. Has that ever dawned on you?
Speaker 2 (32:40):
I don't know that it really has. Honestly, I feel
like I just don't think of it. I think of
it like that. I feel like sometimes I struggle with
my own value and worth.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I guess if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
And explain that, I think.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
I don't see myself. We often don't see ourselves as
other people see us. I realize that, But I think.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
I just question.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Just who I am sometimes I think, really, yeah, and
so with that can come like I can be I
feel like I have a humble heart because I don't
realize who I am. But then sometimes I don't acknowledge
like all the good that God is doing in my life,
Like all the good things that I do come from Him.
There aren't anything I'm doing. But I feel like I
(33:37):
have a hard time acknowledging.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That I get the humility I do. But it's okay
for me to say it. You're amazing, no thanks, And
you're doing something for people in our world that get
very little from our society and our community, and you're
(33:58):
serving We always talk about what could our world be.
Think of what this country could do if all of
us just saw a place of need and use their
passion or discipline to fill that little place of need
and just do it to serve someone that's not as
advantaged as you are. Yep, Well, you're serving the least
(34:21):
advantaged and make it a difference and saving lives. And
you're doing it in the most humble ways. And I
can't think of a better example of what we're looking
for in an army of normal folk. And the thing
is these streets. Heck, in Detroit, there's probably two or
(34:44):
three other areas of the city that could use this.
In Detroit, Yeah, for sure, you're serving one area in Detroit,
there's got to be more than one. There is, absolutely,
So if there's three or four in Detroit, how many
areas like this are in the United States that desperately
need some to stand up for them say I love you,
here's something you need, and most importantly, you need that
(35:07):
you are worthy of love and you are valuable and
if you're ready to turn your life around, we're here
to help you walk through it.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Yeah, what would that do for our country?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Oh my gosh, we would be living in a much
different world that is for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Far less broken than it is today, far less broken.
So what's next?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well, someone just asked me the other day at a
speaking event I was at. They're like, what do you need?
I was like, Oh, I'm glad you asked, because I'm
going to boldly ask for another house. And so now
I'm telling people because I would like to do what's
called a drop in center. I would like to have
a house or a small apartment complex in our outreach
area and have it be a place where women can
(35:52):
come and get a shower, a hot meal, a place
where we could help them get an ID. So a
lot of times I help women get their ID while
we're sitting on an abandoned porch on my computer, you know,
trying to get them an ID, because no one has
an ID, and its gold to have an ID that
says your name on.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
It, who you are.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
And you can't go to many treatment centers without an ID.
So Salvation Army will take you without an ID, but
most places won't, so you have to have it. So
it be a place where we could get that. We
could just be a place for them to relax and
not have any pressure or stress in a couple hours.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Yes, so you want a small apartment complex, So anybody
in Detroit listens, This is really simple.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
What's the area called seven and Chalmers.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
That area there has got to be some dilapidated, empty
apartment complex that has very little value that could change
people's lives. And dev is married to a guy who
can fix it up. So as long as the bones work, yep,
deb can make it work.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Or anyone listing wants to donate, yeah, oh, or if
someone wants to stroke a check.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
We will accept that graciously.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
How's your house now great?
Speaker 3 (37:15):
My personal house great? It's so it's so great. We
now have a house.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
We've been there for five years, so yes, it's very good.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
And we tell me about what the kids are doing.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
So my oldest lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and she's
twenty five and has a big girl job in marketing,
and I know that's what we call it, big girl job.
My other daughter just got married and is looking for
a job in teaching or social work.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Are your grandma yet?
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Not yet, but man I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I'm not. But Lisa wants to be so.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Bad to me too.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
We were hard on our kids, like we were the
parents that our kids are like, why can't you just
be like, yeah, no, you're cutting the grass. Yeah, we're
not going to know you're going to do this, you're
going to So we fought. I mean we had four
and four years, right, So for twenty six years we
fought children. Right, I want grandchildren because I'm ready to
(38:16):
spoil children.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I know our kids are going to hate when their
children come home after hanging out with me because I
was spoiled a.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Crap out of It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Chocolate cake for breakfast.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yes, ice cream too, yes.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Absolutely right. So the second we just got.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Married, Yes, second just got married, living not far from us,
like ten minutes cool. And then I have a daughter
at U of M Dearborn, she's a senior. And then
my son just graduated high school and he is working
at Starbucks, trying to figure out what he's going to do.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
What's next.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Give me that house and I'm going to make a
drop in center and hopefully just keep loving on the
community and hopefully get my husband to say we can
move there too.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Do the Well, that's the second time you've mentioned it.
I think better pay attention.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
I think so too.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Do you have a corporate sponsor? Do you have it? Don't?
It's literally normal folks, high school parents, local people just
donating a little bit. It is what could a big
sponsor do for you?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Oh my gosh. I feel like we could change that
whole seven and Chalmers area. I really do.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I mean, I would be open to buying more places
and just being I just think there's so much power
by living in the community that you serve and being
there all the time. Like I don't want to be
the person that just comes and goes right. I want
to be there for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
We always talk about what can we do to fix
the proverbial it. We also understand that each of our
communities are only as strong as the weakest link. We
also talk about what can we do to clean up blight?
What can we do to clean up rampant theft and
murder and all of the things that we're talking about
(40:06):
we need to fix and make our country better. How
many deab ellingers are there out there that are willing
to immerse themselves in those communities to fix them. And
it shouldn't be about the money or the property. It's
about the army, it's about the foot soldiers. It's about
the people willing to do the work. And there you
(40:28):
are with how many volunteers that you've gotten around fifty,
We've got a fifty person strong army in Detroit working
where we need the work to be done the very most,
and all they need is support.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Yes, that is correct.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
You're going to quit it. Nope, this is it?
Speaker 3 (40:48):
This is it.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Maybe if you could get some of that money to
really do some of those things, we could get Jake
to move there too.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Poor Jake, he just said it. Maybe we'll persuade them.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
That is phenomenal. Tell me. Now I'm gonna ask tell
me your favorite success story. Let's end on a real positive,
hy redemptive note.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
So, I mean I would say, even though it wasn't
a female, it was Sarge, the person I talked about. Really, yes,
and I think.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
His name Sar that's how appropriate. I know.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
You know, he's definitely he inspires me and his enthusiasm
and passion for serving and loving people. And he would say, well,
that came from all the love you gave me, and
it showed me how to love other people. That's what
he said to me on Saturday when I saw him.
That's just inspiring to me.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Do you need any more verification for what you're doing
in your life than.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
You're Probably not? Probably not one thing too.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
Sarge goes over to her house for Christmas and things.
Speaker 2 (42:04):
Yeah, like he's been to our house for graduation parties,
and he's like family. He is like he is like family.
If you were to ask him, he'd be like, yeah,
you're my family, You're my people.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
That is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
So someone's sitting around in another city thinking this is
hard work, but I want to do it, and they
want to hear more. How do they reach you.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
They can email me at Ellie's house three one three
spell that E L L I S H O U
S E three to one three at yahoo dot com.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Great and uh, I am certain that you would be
more than willing to tell everybody how they could do
this in their own community.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
I would love to tell all of people how to
do this in their community, because they can do it.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
You need a bigger voice, you need more people need
to know this story, and I hope somebody is listening
that record is the depth of the work you're doing
and the lives that you are truly changing and saving of,
I mean the most desperate situations in our country. I mean,
(43:14):
we can't be to sensitized to what this is. Are
you hearing that we have twenty year old women selling
their bodies for food or a twenty dollars bill, living
in dilapidated, vacant homes that don't even have water or electricity.
Therefore they can't bathe, they can't take care of their
(43:35):
basic hygiene. And it's worse than a third world country
for sure. Yep, in the shadows of amazing wealth all around,
and it's happening right under our nose and it's unacceptable
that we allow it to happen.
Speaker 3 (43:55):
I agree it is.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
And you're doing all you can to fix it. I
am with an ice cream truck and fifty volunteers.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Yeap, ice cream truck and fifty volunteers.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I love that it has been my distinct honor to
meet you and to help tell your story. And you
know you couldn't. You're the daughter of a bus driver
and a JC Penny's worker who grew up in a
blue collar Detroit area, who married a carpenter and had
(44:30):
four kids and lost their house during the housing crisis
to foreclosure, and has fat breast cancer and in the
meantime been a light in a very dark place. You
are an amazing human being and I just can't tell
you how much I appreciate you coming to visit with
us and tell your story.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
Thank you so much for having me. I feel privileged
to be here, and.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Thank you for joining us this week. If deb or
another guest has inspired you in general, or better yet,
to take action by starting something like Ellie's House in
your own city, by donating Dellie's House or something else entirely,
please let me know. I'd love to hear about it.
You can write me anytime at Bill at Normalfolks dot
(45:16):
us and I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode,
please share it with friends and on social Subscribe to
the podcast, rate and review it. Become a Premium member
at normal Folks dot us. All these things that will
help us grow an army of normal folks. For our
premium members, we'll have bonus content from this episode, and
(45:37):
it's Deb and I talking about going deep versus going
broad and philanthropic work. If you don't want to miss it,
become a Premium member today thanks to our producer, iron
Light Labs. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week.
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