January 19, 2025 • 30 mins
DARIN DISCUSSES THE MANY SERVICES GRACE CENTERS OF HOPE BRINGS TO THE COMMUNITY TO HELP INDIVIDUALS RECOVER FROM ADDICTION, ABUSE AND HOMELESSNESS.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, and welcome to another episode of Light of
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, and today I'm
joined by Darren Weiss. He serves as CEO at Grace
Centers of Hope, a faith based nonprofit in Pontiac helping
individuals recover from addiction, abuse, and homelessness. He became the
CEO just this January twenty twenty five, replacing the nonprofit's
(00:35):
longtime leader, Pastor Ken Clark. Darren has many years of
experience working in the substance abuse field, and he is
working to expand the services Grace Centers of Hope provides
to the community. Darren also serves as a pastor at
Grace Gospel Fellowship Church in Pontiac. Welcome Darren, So glad
(00:55):
to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Today, Glad to be here. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, thanks for joining us. Start with Grace Centers of Hope.
The services that you provide. What do you do in
the community.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
So Grace Centers of Hope has existed since nineteen forty two.
Was actually the original Pontiac Rescue Mission changed its name
probably twenty five years ago or whatnot. But we are
one of the leading faith based organizations reaching the homeless, addicted, abused.
Grace Centers of Hope is what I like to call
it's a safe place where people can heal and grow
(01:26):
when when life is broken. In order to help restore
people back to their purpose in life, restore their lives,
get them back into the community as productive members of society.
We have a few essential programs. We have a one
year life skills program and a two year aftercare program
(01:46):
so that a person really can somebody who's struggling with
addiction homelessness. We like to attack, go after like the
core issues of homelessness and addiction and whatnot, and so
we have long term pros that are really getting at
those core issues and providing services, not just food. We
provide food, clothing, shelter right over their head.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So those are your saying, are the core issues often?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
No, the core issues usually are it has to do
with addiction. Okay, the majority of people that we see,
you know, there's some substance abuse problem, a lot of
mental health problems going on, a lot of broken relationships,
just a lot of dysfunction, Like we all have to
one degree or another, and people can fall on hard times.
But it's not just as simple as like handing out houses.
(02:36):
You know, there's a lot going on in people's lives
that often need to be restored, and so rather than
just sort of handing out things, we try to provide
a hand up, like let's get let's get this whole
life back together and get you back on track and
all those services. Obviously we do food, clothing, shelter, things
(02:56):
like that, but you're also going to get one on
one counseling group counts. We have a career center. We
have a licensed childcare center for moms and kids that
come into our program so that mom can get help
and their child can get help. I think it's about
thirty six percent of all kids that end up in
a place like Gray Centers of Hope will become homeless
(03:19):
themselves as adults.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Truly heart wrenching it is. Why is that?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Because I think when a person is raised in a
situation where there's just a lot of brokenness and not
a lot of opportunity, they tend to find themselves in
really difficult situations as they grow older, maybe not having
the mentorship, not having just a lot of the opportunities
that many others are provided with. So Gray Centers of
(03:44):
Hope is not just helping the mom right or the
dad when they're coming in with their kids, but really reaching.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Out to those kids when they're coming.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
In right and hopefully breaking that cycle.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Absolutely, I'd I'd like to say, I'd like to put
Gray Centers of Hope out of business, no kidding.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You know that especially amongst the kids.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
And I think that people don't fully understand what's happening
in our community, particularly when it comes to substance abuse
and human trafficking. Like I could tell you story after
story of the women who come to Grace Centers of
Hope on a daily basis that you would be completely
blown away. Is actually happening like right around this building
(04:28):
in the streets here, Like women who are being like
literally held captive and being really enslaved given drugs, kept
their trafficked, And it's just an amazing thing to see,
you know, some of the women that come to Grace
Centers of Hope that are so broken and then get
(04:49):
their life back just completely see their whole life turn
around and opportunity that so many people that come to us,
they think their life is completely over, there's no hope,
there's a place of hopelessness, and so being able to
provide that on a daily basis through our programs is
something that it's very life giving, not just to them
but to us as staff and volunteers.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So if somebody's in that place of hopelessness, like you said,
how do you generally find that they come to you.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Well, we don't have to really do, unfortunately, too much
advertising about our programs. It's much of its word of mouth.
We the best referral is word of mouth. People that
have seen family members or friends get their life back
and they refer you know, hey, they end up knowing somebody.
Everybody is impacted by the epidemic of addiction and things
(05:43):
like that. It's very rare that I meet anybody that
doesn't have a family member or a friend or somebody
who's struggling and so, but there's also community organizations around
that are you know, helping people on different levels or
in different ways that they know about and they need
a long term program. That really is one of our distinctives.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The long term program part.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Many of the programs are out there. There might be
a couple of weeks or help you with one month's
rent or something like that, which can be very helpful,
but a lot of the people that we're seeing, the
long term nature of it is something that is really needed.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Well, yeah, because you said you brought up as examples
the one year life Skills program and the two year
aftercare programs, So I mean that's not a small period
of time to consistently help someone and try to change
the trajectory of what's taking place. Are those the two
that are most of your long term programs? You have
other things that you do long term as well.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
All of our other programs are they're part of those programs.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Really.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
The life skills program is up to a year. Our
aftercare program is where once they graduate out of that
life Skills program are able to move into what we
call Little Grace of Village, which is our literal community
that has been built. We've renovated about sixty homes and Wow, Pontiac,
it's an amazing thing. Wow, and so all of our
(07:13):
graduates live there. We have a church right in downtown Pontiac,
which is right next to our administrative building and our
men's center, and any given day we've got about three
hundred and fifty men, women and kids that are part
of our programs, anything from the life skills program, aftercare program.
We also have what you would call like independent living,
(07:37):
so once a person graduates out of aftercare, they can
still rent from us and in one of our homes
that's been renovated, and they become part of the community.
What we have found is that even in starting Little
Grace Village, which was about twenty twenty five years ago,
many of the people that come to us at Grace,
(08:00):
they really don't have anywhere to.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Go back to. Yeah, and those.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That do, many times it's not a positive thing that
they would want to go back.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
There or should go back there.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
So great centers of hope and in many ways becomes
their family. The community that we have not necessarily the organization,
but all the people who have graduated through it, and
so then they in turn provide this great foundation for
others because we have people that have been living in
(08:33):
one of our homes or i should just say part
of our community that are graduates that have been there
for literally twenty years or ten years or five years
and so you know, they help mentor others and help
provide a foundation, you know, for others to really grow.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, they're a true example of the change that can
happen in your own life.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
M sure.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That's really important for people to see.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Absolutely, you know we see that every single day. People
are you know, sharing their stories and gives other people hope.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, and I love I love what you're talking about
because just the whole shift from our conversation to you know,
the challenges that people are facing to the hope that
you're providing, especially when we talk about you said three
hundred and fifty people a day.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Is that so within all of our programs.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, I know, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, it is. It's a it's a lot, it's a
lot less.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, So, what are some of the most urgent
needs that you see in your scope for the coming year.
What are some of the biggest concerns that you have?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Well, I'd be missed on to say that financially, it's
always you know, we take no government funding at all.
We like to say we believe in a big G,
but it's not a big government passing.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Out checks, right, it's the big G Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
He's able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that
we ask or think, and God provides and he does
it through his people, and it's amazing the generosity that
people have.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
But we we.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Don't spend money that we do not have, and so
if money doesn't come in, then we don't spend it.
In fact, all those homes that we've bought and renovated,
all of our buildings that we have, we don't owe
a penny.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
On any of them. We own them all.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
You know, being good stewards of what people give us
is very important to us. And so so God is providing,
but you know, there's always a need for us to
expand and to do more. There's there's a lot more
things that I'd like to do, particularly in the areas
of prevention and things like that. But so like monthly givers,
quite honestly, people who are recurring givers are always important
(10:47):
because it helps us budget, It helps us plan to
know what's going to be there and what we can
you know, plan to spend.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So that's always there.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But you know, volunteers, we we believe in people helping people.
That really is the answer is you know, people embracing
and taking ownership of their community and getting involved, and
so that you know, that's one of the reasons. That's
another reason why I would say that we don't take
(11:17):
government funding, because I think there's this tendency to like, hey,
they're taking care of it. You know, it's something I
already took care of in my taxes or whatnot, and
it sort.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Of undermines the ownership. And that's just in my view.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
But that we all take care of each other.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, yeah, And and so volunteering is it's not just
cutting expenses, it's not just helping the bottom line, which
in some cases it does. If I'm in fact, if
I'm if I'm totally honest, sometimes volunteers are difficult.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They are. I mean, it's just the truth.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
You know, you gotta you know, somebody's not necessarily trained
and whatnot. But it's so foundational to who are right
and it really communicates to our residence, you know, the
people that are seeking help there. It communicates to them
their worth and their dignity and value and significance that
(12:13):
even at this place in their life, that there are
people that care enough to give of their time, their talent,
and their treasure that really communicates to them that, hey,
my time it's valuable, but your life is worth even
way more than that.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And at the same time they get I mean, while
you said it helps with your budget, the volunteerers enriched
too because by giving their time. I mean, there's just
no doubt that by giving your time and helping somebody else,
you just feel so much value for the relationship you
have with the person that you just helped. There's just
no question about it.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yeah, I meet people on a daily basis who will
communicate virtually the same exact thing that they really come
to Grace Centers to volunteer and to help somebody else
and to bless somebody else. But in turn they realized
they were the ones that really were blest, you know,
they were you know, I had a guy say to
(13:14):
me yesterday at church. He said, you know, Darren, I've
been blessed. God has been so good to me. And
I know that, you know, we're supposed to help the
poor and the addicted, people who are hurting and broken,
and I just don't know how, you know, I'm not
sure if just handing out money on the corner and things.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Like that, whether or not that's that's helpful.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
And you know, Grace Centers of Hope becomes this vehicle
really for people in the community who want to help
to get involved in a way that really makes a difference.
And we've got men and women who volunteer all the
time in our kitchens, at our thrift stores, in our
career center, counseling, i mean, answering phone. There's countless different
(14:02):
ways that people can get involved and do and become
part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Well, you just mentioned a thrift store. Why don't we
talk a little bit about that. Where are your thrift
stores located? What do they offer? How important are they?
Who are to supporting your operation?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
So the thrift stores are crucial to our operation in
several ways. We have four of them.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There's one in Warren, one in Waterford, one in Sterling Heights,
and one in Oak Park.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
They make up.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
About i'd say probably forty percent of our overall budget, every.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Single dollar, so they're super important.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
They are, yeah, absolutely, and even beyond that. So every
dollar of profit that comes into our our thrift stores
goes towards our programming. And so there's obviously that it's
raising money to provide the services, but it also provides
a foundational aspect to our programs because virtually all of
(14:59):
the staff in our thrift stores are graduates of our programs,
so it becomes this stepping stone to help them get
back into the workforce. We have people that come to
us that have never actually gotten a paycheck in their life.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
In fact, I was talking to a woman the other
day in.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
She's got to be in her late thirties, maybe probably
maybe even a little older than that. She said, Darren,
you know, I've never even had.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
An ID in my life. Can you believe that.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Never had a driver's license? Just her story is pretty
unique and crazy, really been through just some really difficult things.
But I mean that's typical in the sense that somebody
comes to us they've never really had a job, and
so the thrift stores are also providing that this place
to help them get back into the workforce, get a paycheck,
(15:46):
begin to pay rent, and things of that nature. It
really is a blessing to the community too. I mean,
we've got some incredible stuff at our stores. And in fact,
I always I tell our thrift store staff often I'm like,
my biggest fear has always been that we're gonna you know,
somebody's gonna donate us the Declaration of Independence and we're
(16:07):
going to sell it for a book.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You know, which I think it literally happened like down south.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I read a story about it, like it was behind
some picture, you know, because there there's treasures in there,
there's antiques. Sure, we believe that everybody really has something
to give, if you're anything like me. If I keep
it real, I can open up my closet that's full
of clothes and actually say out loud, I have nothing
(16:34):
to wear, and it's just getting around to like a
lot of this stuff in my house I'm not using,
but I can repurpose it.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To change somebody's life. Literally. The first stores are crucial.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And is it correct that they can take their belongings
to directly to the Warren Waterford Sterling Hearts.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Location then or where can we do this.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
So you can drop them off at any of the stores,
our website at Grace Centersohope dot org.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Or we do pickups.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Now there are too many organizations still doing pickups, believe
it or not. Yeah, Now, we're not going to just
come out there for like a one bag of clothes. Okay,
but you know, you might have gently use furniture or
you know, several bags of clothes things like that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
In fact, I was I was talking to this guy
the other day. He said that there's all like ten
billion dollars worth.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Of Christmas gifts that are actually unwanted Christmas gift. That
that's in America ten billion dollars and so that means it.
So when he told me, I thought that means there's
a lot of things in people's homes.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You're like, what's forty yes of ten billion because exactly,
we'll take the toward my thrift store.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Yeah, so we'll come out there and we'll pick it up.
We've got trucks you know that come out and they'll
move the furniture and bring it out. Those items that
are too big and things like that. Always call eight
five to five help gch one more time.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Eight five five help G.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I love that. That's great. No, you're right. I mean
I haven't heard of anybody picking things up at people's
houses in a long time. And people do have like
good furniture that they their kid grew out of or
whatever it is, and that would be a wonderful thing
to to regift to somebody else.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, there are always people shopping our stores looking for
children's clothes.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Baby clothes. That's a big thing, you know.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
I mean that stuff can be expensive, especially for some
young families that aren't making a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And I know that there.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Are people with stuff laying around their house they can
so it kind of goes, It goes both ways.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Let's circle back to the people that you're helping. What
are some of the biggest challenges faced by the residents
that you're supporting at Grace Centers of Hope.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
That's a really good question. Addiction is a difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Many of them are are strung out and need a
lot of help, you know, to detach from that way
of life, and that has exacerbated a lot of other
problems in their life most of the time, you know,
whether it's just coming from a really difficult just crazy situations.
There's a woman that's with us right now and I
(19:18):
just love her to death. She's got so much joy
and stuff, this woman. And this might be hard for
some people to hear, but this is the stuff that
we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
There comes like.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Oh no, so at nine years old, she was pregnant
with her grandfather's child.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
They made her abort that child. At eleven, she was
pregnant again.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
By her grandfather. That child she had. By the time
she was thirteen, she was in a gang and was
made to shoot her best friend by the gang leader.
She got sentenced to fifty years plus life and did
about I think fourteen or fifteen years of.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
That starting at what age then like it?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Oh, I think she was in by like fifteen eighteen
around there.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
I think it was thirteen, and it actually happens overund there,
but I think she did about fifteen years and got
it overturned.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
She actually got out because she was forced.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Into She kept appealing it because she was forced into
shooting her friend. But then you know, as soon as
she so, she did get out and lived on the
streets for years, years on end, and has never had
any real help. In fact, when I talked to her,
I you know's she just embraces the community so much.
(20:42):
I think she's just so amazed that there are people
there that love her and care for her. She's left
and come back, and you know, my wife is also
the women's director, and my wife and I were tracking
her down, but when she came back, she was blown away.
That somebody cared enough to call and to be looking for.
(21:02):
And so that's just one example of the types of
things you know that people are really struggling with, Like
this isn't you know. There are some people that they
began drinking too much in college or something and yeah,
just never.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Put it down.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yeah, and now they can't. So we see that, but
it's just all over the spectrum. A lot of mental
illness comes with it, you know, people have used that
much or just living on the streets. It's psychologically just crippling,
you know. But the good news is that you can
be restored from that. There's a lot of people that
(21:37):
like that woman, who have been in crazy situations and
now they're living a life now and.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Look like you would never dreamed that they have been there.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It's not amazing, it is. It's good, it really is.
It's really just heart wrenching. And then to hear that
you said she's a joyful person, it's like, wow, the transformation.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
There's a woman with us right now. Love her that.
She won't mind me saying her name. Her name's Jonie.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
She's a recent graduate of our program. She was telling
me her story and she literally drank herself basically to death.
She just had struggled with alcoholism and drugs and just
so entirely depressed. She kept drinking, drinking, drinking until literally
literally she drank herself into a coma. She had to
(22:24):
be intubated because when she was in the in the coma,
her her organs began shutting down, to the point where
the doctor actually said to her parents, like, she's gonna die.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
This is this is not good.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And they had to make a decision to actually pull
the plug.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And they pulled.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
They you know, made that decision to pull the plug,
and she was dead for eight minutes.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
And then popped back up and pop back up alive.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
And if you saw the gratitude in this woman's life
and her willingness to share that story and just her
new outlook and hope in life. She works at one
of our rest stores and Sterling Heights, and I just
love her to death. I just, you know, look at
somebody like her, and I just I think I got
(23:17):
problems in my life right now. And the real happiness
is gratefulness is really what it is. It's you know,
it gives you a bigger perspective on life. And so
you know, those are just some of the struggles you
know that we face on a daily basis with helping people,
and that's why you know that long term nature of
(23:38):
it is so crucial. The community aspect is I would say,
one of the uniquenesses of Grace centers of hope. I believe,
as I mentioned to you or you mentioned that, I'm
a pastor, so I really believe that everybody, no matter
where you're at, if you're a human being, you have
(23:59):
this desire to be fully known and fully loved. I
think that that's what we all truly desire. And the
problem with that is is that I think we all believe,
on one level or another, if you fully knew me,
you wouldn't fully love me. That there's parts about me
that I really can you know, there's walls that begin
(24:20):
to come up. And so people especially that come to
Grace who have been living on the streets, shooting dope,
doing a whole lot of things they swore they'd never do,
finding themselves in prison jail, they have a lot of shame.
There's a lot of guilt associated with it, and they
definitely don't think that they can be fully known and
(24:42):
fully loved when they come to grace. There's a community
of people who have really experienced what they've experienced. Like
that woman I was telling you about, to just be
cared for and to be pursued and to be loved
is something that she's really never experienced, even though we
know all this about her, and that becomes life changing.
(25:05):
It's something that community people helping people is really foundational too.
And it's not like we have I mean, we have
an incredible staff, but it's not like we have our
success based upon you know, the skill.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Of our counselors or something like that.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
It really has to do with this community of people
helping one another.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, and it sounds like faith plays a big role
in what you do.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Like I said, we believe in a big God who's
who's able to do it where I can't. He can,
and you know, looking to him really are What I
tell people is our whole program isn't about looking to
your past and trying to fix all that. It's actually
looking to the future and to God, away from yourself.
It's very I tell people all the time, you're not
(25:55):
terminally unique. You know, you're not the only person that's
experiencing hardship. It's not just those who are on the
streets are addicted. I have friends that are my neighbors
that there's a whole lot of brokenness and a whole
lot of hurt and pain and trauma. With one wrong move,
they could be in the same place. But nobody there's
(26:17):
really in a situation that can't ultimately be overcome.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I love that it's just such a message of hope.
Don't ever think it can't be overcome, right, yeah, because
it can. What are some of the most important projects
you're working on in the future.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I have my eyes on a few different things. So
all of our programs are residential right now. Okay, you've
got your life Skills program, the aftercare program, which provides
housing in both situations. I really am in the process
of developing some programming that is more preventive in nature.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
We'll be able to reach out to the.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Community, to kids as well, some recovery based things, some
church based things, some ministries of being able to help
that you know, a person may not need residential services
at the time, but a way that we can help
prevent them them needing to come in in the first place.
We are in the process of drawing up a new
(27:12):
childcare center. As I mentioned to you that we have
a licensed daycare childcare so that moms or dad's families.
We have a lot of people that actually get married
at Grace's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Families.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
There are some really, really great stories of that the
childcare provides the ability for that mom or dad to
to not just while they're in the life skills program,
but all through the aftercare program, begin working, go to
the career center. We got a lot of people who
just registered for college, you know, for the first time,
or going back to school with it being the beginning
(27:49):
of the year, we provide childcare for that free, you know,
in which is oh, it really is. I mean anybody
who has you know, especially like a single mom trying
to raise kids.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I mean it almost is like why should I even work?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, for how much all my money is going right
through my pocket to childcare. I'm not Yeah, it's not
fulfilling any basic fundamental you know, opportunity to thrive, right.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
We need a larger childcare and so we've begun to
draw that up, and so my hope is that we
can begin to kind of announce our plans for that
in the coming year. I hate to put myself up
against the wall, but with a timeline.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
But you know that's going to be.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Something that we really want to want to start to
get done in twenty five.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Well, somebody's listening who wants to yes, yes, So let's
hope that that's what's happening. So let's stick with that timeline.
And if somebody's listening and they're like this sounds like
my kind of place I really want to help, where
would they reach you?
Speaker 4 (28:51):
So you can go to Grace Centers of Hope dot
org and there's a ton of information on there. You
can you know, scroll through our you know, all the
different things that are happening, and of course you can
call eight five five help gch and.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We would love to tour you through.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
I would love to be able to just show people
a little bit about what is happening there. And it's amazing.
I think you'll be somebody that people have. We have
like a whole campus setting there. The same people who
were I would argue, were kind of what they would
say were once tearing down the community are actually the
very people that are helping rebuild it and restore it.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
It's a very cool thing.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
That's amazing. What's your favorite part about what you do.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Oh, watching people watching the Really, what I would say
is the gospel just change somebody's heart and watching shame
and guilt just sort of melt away under the love
of God. When you begin to see your worth by
the one who really matters and how much you matter
(29:53):
to him, that's what becomes life changing. It actually leads
me to not care so much. But everybody else thanks
if I know what he thinks.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
So well, that's a great way to end our program today.
I love it so beautiful. Our guest today has been
Darren Wise. He's the CEO of Grace Centers of Hope.
And if you're interested in finding out more, maybe you
want to volunteer, maybe you want to help out, or
maybe you need you know, maybe there's somebody you know
who has an addiction of homelessness or abuse issue and
(30:23):
you want to refer them to someone who can help.
You can reach out to them at eight five five
help GCH eight five five help GCH or The website
again is.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Grace Centers of Hope dot org.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
There it is Thank you Darren for joining us today,
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This has been light up the d A community. Affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning, and welcome to another episode of Light of
the D. I'm your host, Colleen Grant, and today I'm
joined by Darren Weiss. He serves as CEO at Grace
Centers of Hope, a faith based nonprofit in Pontiac helping
individuals recover from addiction, abuse, and homelessness. He became the
CEO just this January twenty twenty five, replacing the nonprofit's
(00:35):
longtime leader, Pastor Ken Clark. Darren has many years of
experience working in the substance abuse field, and he is
working to expand the services Grace Centers of Hope provides
to the community. Darren also serves as a pastor at
Grace Gospel Fellowship Church in Pontiac. Welcome Darren, So glad
(00:55):
to have you here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Today, Glad to be here. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, thanks for joining us. Start with Grace Centers of Hope.
The services that you provide. What do you do in
the community.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
So Grace Centers of Hope has existed since nineteen forty two.
Was actually the original Pontiac Rescue Mission changed its name
probably twenty five years ago or whatnot. But we are
one of the leading faith based organizations reaching the homeless, addicted, abused.
Grace Centers of Hope is what I like to call
it's a safe place where people can heal and grow
(01:26):
when when life is broken. In order to help restore
people back to their purpose in life, restore their lives,
get them back into the community as productive members of society.
We have a few essential programs. We have a one
year life skills program and a two year aftercare program
(01:46):
so that a person really can somebody who's struggling with
addiction homelessness. We like to attack, go after like the
core issues of homelessness and addiction and whatnot, and so
we have long term pros that are really getting at
those core issues and providing services, not just food. We
provide food, clothing, shelter right over their head.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So those are your saying, are the core issues often?
Speaker 4 (02:13):
No, the core issues usually are it has to do
with addiction. Okay, the majority of people that we see,
you know, there's some substance abuse problem, a lot of
mental health problems going on, a lot of broken relationships,
just a lot of dysfunction, Like we all have to
one degree or another, and people can fall on hard times.
But it's not just as simple as like handing out houses.
(02:36):
You know, there's a lot going on in people's lives
that often need to be restored, and so rather than
just sort of handing out things, we try to provide
a hand up, like let's get let's get this whole
life back together and get you back on track and
all those services. Obviously we do food, clothing, shelter, things
(02:56):
like that, but you're also going to get one on
one counseling group counts. We have a career center. We
have a licensed childcare center for moms and kids that
come into our program so that mom can get help
and their child can get help. I think it's about
thirty six percent of all kids that end up in
a place like Gray Centers of Hope will become homeless
(03:19):
themselves as adults.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Truly heart wrenching it is. Why is that?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Because I think when a person is raised in a
situation where there's just a lot of brokenness and not
a lot of opportunity, they tend to find themselves in
really difficult situations as they grow older, maybe not having
the mentorship, not having just a lot of the opportunities
that many others are provided with. So Gray Centers of
(03:44):
Hope is not just helping the mom right or the
dad when they're coming in with their kids, but really reaching.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Out to those kids when they're coming.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
In right and hopefully breaking that cycle.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Absolutely, I'd I'd like to say, I'd like to put
Gray Centers of Hope out of business, no kidding.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
You know that especially amongst the kids.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
And I think that people don't fully understand what's happening
in our community, particularly when it comes to substance abuse
and human trafficking. Like I could tell you story after
story of the women who come to Grace Centers of
Hope on a daily basis that you would be completely
blown away. Is actually happening like right around this building
(04:28):
in the streets here, Like women who are being like
literally held captive and being really enslaved given drugs, kept
their trafficked, And it's just an amazing thing to see,
you know, some of the women that come to Grace
Centers of Hope that are so broken and then get
(04:49):
their life back just completely see their whole life turn
around and opportunity that so many people that come to us,
they think their life is completely over, there's no hope,
there's a place of hopelessness, and so being able to
provide that on a daily basis through our programs is
something that it's very life giving, not just to them
but to us as staff and volunteers.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
So if somebody's in that place of hopelessness, like you said,
how do you generally find that they come to you.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Well, we don't have to really do, unfortunately, too much
advertising about our programs. It's much of its word of mouth.
We the best referral is word of mouth. People that
have seen family members or friends get their life back
and they refer you know, hey, they end up knowing somebody.
Everybody is impacted by the epidemic of addiction and things
(05:43):
like that. It's very rare that I meet anybody that
doesn't have a family member or a friend or somebody
who's struggling and so, but there's also community organizations around
that are you know, helping people on different levels or
in different ways that they know about and they need
a long term program. That really is one of our distinctives.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The long term program part.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Many of the programs are out there. There might be
a couple of weeks or help you with one month's
rent or something like that, which can be very helpful,
but a lot of the people that we're seeing, the
long term nature of it is something that is really needed.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Well, yeah, because you said you brought up as examples
the one year life Skills program and the two year
aftercare programs, So I mean that's not a small period
of time to consistently help someone and try to change
the trajectory of what's taking place. Are those the two
that are most of your long term programs? You have
other things that you do long term as well.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
All of our other programs are they're part of those programs.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Really.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
The life skills program is up to a year. Our
aftercare program is where once they graduate out of that
life Skills program are able to move into what we
call Little Grace of Village, which is our literal community
that has been built. We've renovated about sixty homes and Wow, Pontiac,
it's an amazing thing. Wow, and so all of our
(07:13):
graduates live there. We have a church right in downtown Pontiac,
which is right next to our administrative building and our
men's center, and any given day we've got about three
hundred and fifty men, women and kids that are part
of our programs, anything from the life skills program, aftercare program.
We also have what you would call like independent living,
(07:37):
so once a person graduates out of aftercare, they can
still rent from us and in one of our homes
that's been renovated, and they become part of the community.
What we have found is that even in starting Little
Grace Village, which was about twenty twenty five years ago,
many of the people that come to us at Grace,
(08:00):
they really don't have anywhere to.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Go back to. Yeah, and those.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
That do, many times it's not a positive thing that
they would want to go back.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
There or should go back there.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
So great centers of hope and in many ways becomes
their family. The community that we have not necessarily the organization,
but all the people who have graduated through it, and
so then they in turn provide this great foundation for
others because we have people that have been living in
(08:33):
one of our homes or i should just say part
of our community that are graduates that have been there
for literally twenty years or ten years or five years
and so you know, they help mentor others and help
provide a foundation, you know, for others to really grow.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, they're a true example of the change that can
happen in your own life.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
M sure.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That's really important for people to see.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Absolutely, you know we see that every single day. People
are you know, sharing their stories and gives other people hope.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, and I love I love what you're talking about
because just the whole shift from our conversation to you know,
the challenges that people are facing to the hope that
you're providing, especially when we talk about you said three
hundred and fifty people a day.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Is that so within all of our programs.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, I know, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, it is. It's a it's a lot, it's a
lot less.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I mean, So, what are some of the most urgent
needs that you see in your scope for the coming year.
What are some of the biggest concerns that you have?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Well, I'd be missed on to say that financially, it's
always you know, we take no government funding at all.
We like to say we believe in a big G,
but it's not a big government passing.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Out checks, right, it's the big G Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
He's able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that
we ask or think, and God provides and he does
it through his people, and it's amazing the generosity that
people have.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
But we we.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Don't spend money that we do not have, and so
if money doesn't come in, then we don't spend it.
In fact, all those homes that we've bought and renovated,
all of our buildings that we have, we don't owe
a penny.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
On any of them. We own them all.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
You know, being good stewards of what people give us
is very important to us. And so so God is providing,
but you know, there's always a need for us to
expand and to do more. There's there's a lot more
things that I'd like to do, particularly in the areas
of prevention and things like that. But so like monthly givers,
quite honestly, people who are recurring givers are always important
(10:47):
because it helps us budget, It helps us plan to
know what's going to be there and what we can
you know, plan to spend.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
So that's always there.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
But you know, volunteers, we we believe in people helping people.
That really is the answer is you know, people embracing
and taking ownership of their community and getting involved, and
so that you know, that's one of the reasons. That's
another reason why I would say that we don't take
(11:17):
government funding, because I think there's this tendency to like, hey,
they're taking care of it. You know, it's something I
already took care of in my taxes or whatnot, and
it sort.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Of undermines the ownership. And that's just in my view.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
But that we all take care of each other.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Yeah, yeah, And and so volunteering is it's not just
cutting expenses, it's not just helping the bottom line, which
in some cases it does. If I'm in fact, if
I'm if I'm totally honest, sometimes volunteers are difficult.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They are. I mean, it's just the truth.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
You know, you gotta you know, somebody's not necessarily trained
and whatnot. But it's so foundational to who are right
and it really communicates to our residence, you know, the
people that are seeking help there. It communicates to them
their worth and their dignity and value and significance that
(12:13):
even at this place in their life, that there are
people that care enough to give of their time, their talent,
and their treasure that really communicates to them that, hey,
my time it's valuable, but your life is worth even
way more than that.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And at the same time they get I mean, while
you said it helps with your budget, the volunteerers enriched
too because by giving their time. I mean, there's just
no doubt that by giving your time and helping somebody else,
you just feel so much value for the relationship you
have with the person that you just helped. There's just
no question about it.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yeah, I meet people on a daily basis who will
communicate virtually the same exact thing that they really come
to Grace Centers to volunteer and to help somebody else
and to bless somebody else. But in turn they realized
they were the ones that really were blest, you know,
they were you know, I had a guy say to
(13:14):
me yesterday at church. He said, you know, Darren, I've
been blessed. God has been so good to me. And
I know that, you know, we're supposed to help the
poor and the addicted, people who are hurting and broken,
and I just don't know how, you know, I'm not
sure if just handing out money on the corner and things.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Like that, whether or not that's that's helpful.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
And you know, Grace Centers of Hope becomes this vehicle
really for people in the community who want to help
to get involved in a way that really makes a difference.
And we've got men and women who volunteer all the
time in our kitchens, at our thrift stores, in our
career center, counseling, i mean, answering phone. There's countless different
(14:02):
ways that people can get involved and do and become
part of it.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Well, you just mentioned a thrift store. Why don't we
talk a little bit about that. Where are your thrift
stores located? What do they offer? How important are they?
Who are to supporting your operation?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
So the thrift stores are crucial to our operation in
several ways. We have four of them.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
There's one in Warren, one in Waterford, one in Sterling Heights,
and one in Oak Park.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
They make up.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
About i'd say probably forty percent of our overall budget, every.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Single dollar, so they're super important.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
They are, yeah, absolutely, and even beyond that. So every
dollar of profit that comes into our our thrift stores
goes towards our programming. And so there's obviously that it's
raising money to provide the services, but it also provides
a foundational aspect to our programs because virtually all of
(14:59):
the staff in our thrift stores are graduates of our programs,
so it becomes this stepping stone to help them get
back into the workforce. We have people that come to
us that have never actually gotten a paycheck in their life.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
In fact, I was talking to a woman the other
day in.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
She's got to be in her late thirties, maybe probably
maybe even a little older than that. She said, Darren,
you know, I've never even had.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
An ID in my life. Can you believe that.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Never had a driver's license? Just her story is pretty
unique and crazy, really been through just some really difficult things.
But I mean that's typical in the sense that somebody
comes to us they've never really had a job, and
so the thrift stores are also providing that this place
to help them get back into the workforce, get a paycheck,
(15:46):
begin to pay rent, and things of that nature. It
really is a blessing to the community too. I mean,
we've got some incredible stuff at our stores. And in fact,
I always I tell our thrift store staff often I'm like,
my biggest fear has always been that we're gonna you know,
somebody's gonna donate us the Declaration of Independence and we're
(16:07):
going to sell it for a book.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
You know, which I think it literally happened like down south.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I read a story about it, like it was behind
some picture, you know, because there there's treasures in there,
there's antiques. Sure, we believe that everybody really has something
to give, if you're anything like me. If I keep
it real, I can open up my closet that's full
of clothes and actually say out loud, I have nothing
(16:34):
to wear, and it's just getting around to like a
lot of this stuff in my house I'm not using,
but I can repurpose it.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
To change somebody's life. Literally. The first stores are crucial.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And is it correct that they can take their belongings
to directly to the Warren Waterford Sterling Hearts.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Location then or where can we do this.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
So you can drop them off at any of the stores,
our website at Grace Centersohope dot org.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Or we do pickups.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Now there are too many organizations still doing pickups, believe
it or not. Yeah, Now, we're not going to just
come out there for like a one bag of clothes. Okay,
but you know, you might have gently use furniture or
you know, several bags of clothes things like that.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
In fact, I was I was talking to this guy
the other day. He said that there's all like ten
billion dollars worth.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Of Christmas gifts that are actually unwanted Christmas gift. That
that's in America ten billion dollars and so that means it.
So when he told me, I thought that means there's
a lot of things in people's homes.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You're like, what's forty yes of ten billion because exactly,
we'll take the toward my thrift store.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Yeah, so we'll come out there and we'll pick it up.
We've got trucks you know that come out and they'll
move the furniture and bring it out. Those items that
are too big and things like that. Always call eight
five to five help gch one more time.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Eight five five help G.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I love that. That's great. No, you're right. I mean
I haven't heard of anybody picking things up at people's
houses in a long time. And people do have like
good furniture that they their kid grew out of or
whatever it is, and that would be a wonderful thing
to to regift to somebody else.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, there are always people shopping our stores looking for
children's clothes.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Baby clothes. That's a big thing, you know.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
I mean that stuff can be expensive, especially for some
young families that aren't making a ton of money.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And I know that there.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Are people with stuff laying around their house they can
so it kind of goes, It goes both ways.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Let's circle back to the people that you're helping. What
are some of the biggest challenges faced by the residents
that you're supporting at Grace Centers of Hope.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
That's a really good question. Addiction is a difficult thing.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Many of them are are strung out and need a
lot of help, you know, to detach from that way
of life, and that has exacerbated a lot of other
problems in their life most of the time, you know,
whether it's just coming from a really difficult just crazy situations.
There's a woman that's with us right now and I
(19:18):
just love her to death. She's got so much joy
and stuff, this woman. And this might be hard for
some people to hear, but this is the stuff that
we'll see.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
There comes like.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Oh no, so at nine years old, she was pregnant
with her grandfather's child.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
They made her abort that child. At eleven, she was
pregnant again.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
By her grandfather. That child she had. By the time
she was thirteen, she was in a gang and was
made to shoot her best friend by the gang leader.
She got sentenced to fifty years plus life and did
about I think fourteen or fifteen years of.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
That starting at what age then like it?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Oh, I think she was in by like fifteen eighteen
around there.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
I think it was thirteen, and it actually happens overund there,
but I think she did about fifteen years and got
it overturned.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
She actually got out because she was forced.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
Into She kept appealing it because she was forced into
shooting her friend. But then you know, as soon as
she so, she did get out and lived on the
streets for years, years on end, and has never had
any real help. In fact, when I talked to her,
I you know's she just embraces the community so much.
(20:42):
I think she's just so amazed that there are people
there that love her and care for her. She's left
and come back, and you know, my wife is also
the women's director, and my wife and I were tracking
her down, but when she came back, she was blown away.
That somebody cared enough to call and to be looking for.
(21:02):
And so that's just one example of the types of
things you know that people are really struggling with, Like
this isn't you know. There are some people that they
began drinking too much in college or something and yeah,
just never.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Put it down.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
Yeah, and now they can't. So we see that, but
it's just all over the spectrum. A lot of mental
illness comes with it, you know, people have used that
much or just living on the streets. It's psychologically just crippling,
you know. But the good news is that you can
be restored from that. There's a lot of people that
(21:37):
like that woman, who have been in crazy situations and
now they're living a life now and.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Look like you would never dreamed that they have been there.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
It's not amazing, it is. It's good, it really is.
It's really just heart wrenching. And then to hear that
you said she's a joyful person, it's like, wow, the transformation.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
There's a woman with us right now. Love her that.
She won't mind me saying her name. Her name's Jonie.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
She's a recent graduate of our program. She was telling
me her story and she literally drank herself basically to death.
She just had struggled with alcoholism and drugs and just
so entirely depressed. She kept drinking, drinking, drinking until literally
literally she drank herself into a coma. She had to
(22:24):
be intubated because when she was in the in the coma,
her her organs began shutting down, to the point where
the doctor actually said to her parents, like, she's gonna die.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
This is this is not good.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
And they had to make a decision to actually pull
the plug.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And they pulled.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
They you know, made that decision to pull the plug,
and she was dead for eight minutes.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
And then popped back up and pop back up alive.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
And if you saw the gratitude in this woman's life
and her willingness to share that story and just her
new outlook and hope in life. She works at one
of our rest stores and Sterling Heights, and I just
love her to death. I just, you know, look at
somebody like her, and I just I think I got
(23:17):
problems in my life right now. And the real happiness
is gratefulness is really what it is. It's you know,
it gives you a bigger perspective on life. And so
you know, those are just some of the struggles you
know that we face on a daily basis with helping people,
and that's why you know that long term nature of
(23:38):
it is so crucial. The community aspect is I would say,
one of the uniquenesses of Grace centers of hope. I believe,
as I mentioned to you or you mentioned that, I'm
a pastor, so I really believe that everybody, no matter
where you're at, if you're a human being, you have
(23:59):
this desire to be fully known and fully loved. I
think that that's what we all truly desire. And the
problem with that is is that I think we all believe,
on one level or another, if you fully knew me,
you wouldn't fully love me. That there's parts about me
that I really can you know, there's walls that begin
(24:20):
to come up. And so people especially that come to
Grace who have been living on the streets, shooting dope,
doing a whole lot of things they swore they'd never do,
finding themselves in prison jail, they have a lot of shame.
There's a lot of guilt associated with it, and they
definitely don't think that they can be fully known and
(24:42):
fully loved when they come to grace. There's a community
of people who have really experienced what they've experienced. Like
that woman I was telling you about, to just be
cared for and to be pursued and to be loved
is something that she's really never experienced, even though we
know all this about her, and that becomes life changing.
(25:05):
It's something that community people helping people is really foundational too.
And it's not like we have I mean, we have
an incredible staff, but it's not like we have our
success based upon you know, the skill.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Of our counselors or something like that.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
It really has to do with this community of people
helping one another.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, and it sounds like faith plays a big role
in what you do.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Like I said, we believe in a big God who's
who's able to do it where I can't. He can,
and you know, looking to him really are What I
tell people is our whole program isn't about looking to
your past and trying to fix all that. It's actually
looking to the future and to God, away from yourself.
It's very I tell people all the time, you're not
(25:55):
terminally unique. You know, you're not the only person that's
experiencing hardship. It's not just those who are on the
streets are addicted. I have friends that are my neighbors
that there's a whole lot of brokenness and a whole
lot of hurt and pain and trauma. With one wrong move,
they could be in the same place. But nobody there's
(26:17):
really in a situation that can't ultimately be overcome.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
I love that it's just such a message of hope.
Don't ever think it can't be overcome, right, yeah, because
it can. What are some of the most important projects
you're working on in the future.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
I have my eyes on a few different things. So
all of our programs are residential right now. Okay, you've
got your life Skills program, the aftercare program, which provides
housing in both situations. I really am in the process
of developing some programming that is more preventive in nature.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
We'll be able to reach out to the.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
Community, to kids as well, some recovery based things, some
church based things, some ministries of being able to help
that you know, a person may not need residential services
at the time, but a way that we can help
prevent them them needing to come in in the first place.
We are in the process of drawing up a new
(27:12):
childcare center. As I mentioned to you that we have
a licensed daycare childcare so that moms or dad's families.
We have a lot of people that actually get married
at Grace's.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Families.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
There are some really, really great stories of that the
childcare provides the ability for that mom or dad to
to not just while they're in the life skills program,
but all through the aftercare program, begin working, go to
the career center. We got a lot of people who
just registered for college, you know, for the first time,
or going back to school with it being the beginning
(27:49):
of the year, we provide childcare for that free, you know,
in which is oh, it really is. I mean anybody
who has you know, especially like a single mom trying
to raise kids.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I mean it almost is like why should I even work?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, for how much all my money is going right
through my pocket to childcare. I'm not Yeah, it's not
fulfilling any basic fundamental you know, opportunity to thrive, right.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
We need a larger childcare and so we've begun to
draw that up, and so my hope is that we
can begin to kind of announce our plans for that
in the coming year. I hate to put myself up
against the wall, but with a timeline.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
But you know that's going to be.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Something that we really want to want to start to
get done in twenty five.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Well, somebody's listening who wants to yes, yes, So let's
hope that that's what's happening. So let's stick with that timeline.
And if somebody's listening and they're like this sounds like
my kind of place I really want to help, where
would they reach you?
Speaker 4 (28:51):
So you can go to Grace Centers of Hope dot
org and there's a ton of information on there. You
can you know, scroll through our you know, all the
different things that are happening, and of course you can
call eight five five help gch and.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
We would love to tour you through.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
I would love to be able to just show people
a little bit about what is happening there. And it's amazing.
I think you'll be somebody that people have. We have
like a whole campus setting there. The same people who
were I would argue, were kind of what they would
say were once tearing down the community are actually the
very people that are helping rebuild it and restore it.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
It's a very cool thing.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
That's amazing. What's your favorite part about what you do.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
Oh, watching people watching the Really, what I would say
is the gospel just change somebody's heart and watching shame
and guilt just sort of melt away under the love
of God. When you begin to see your worth by
the one who really matters and how much you matter
(29:53):
to him, that's what becomes life changing. It actually leads
me to not care so much. But everybody else thanks
if I know what he thinks.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
So well, that's a great way to end our program today.
I love it so beautiful. Our guest today has been
Darren Wise. He's the CEO of Grace Centers of Hope.
And if you're interested in finding out more, maybe you
want to volunteer, maybe you want to help out, or
maybe you need you know, maybe there's somebody you know
who has an addiction of homelessness or abuse issue and
(30:23):
you want to refer them to someone who can help.
You can reach out to them at eight five five
help GCH eight five five help GCH or The website
again is.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Grace Centers of Hope dot org.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
There it is Thank you Darren for joining us today,
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
This has been light up the d A community. Affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
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