December 16, 2025 • 43 mins
Healing families and supporting young children!
In Studio - Josh Meadows - leader of Neighborhood Hope along with Dee John, City of Hope Campaign Chair, along with David discuss the need.
Heartfelt stories from Josh and how he and his team are changing lives.
https://neighborhoodhope.life/
https://www.cltdc.org/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Usa.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O
seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great
to have you with me today. This is a faith
in values program in case you don't know, and the
purpose of this program is to intersect faith and values
with what's going on locally and globally. I've been doing
the show now for twenty six years or so. It's
(01:50):
been a joy doing the show. And thank you listeners
for joining me on a weekly basis. Many thanks to
Perry's Find Jewelry for your sponsorship of the show. It's
been a joy to do these shows all these years. Well,
we're continuing our theme in the month of December regarding
a wonderful fundraiser that we are doing in order to
(02:10):
help kids in our community. In our community, this shining,
bright new South city that's growing exponentially. Some say it
may be the second fastest growing city in America, behind
maybe Austin, Texas or Phoenix, Arizona. But we're right there.
I think it's estimated one hundred and ten new people
(02:31):
moved to Charlotte every single day. Well, with that growth,
it makes us very famous around the country. But it
also brings all kinds of difficulties as well. People who
come here looking for jobs, looking for help, looking for hope.
They hear this is a church filled city where churches
will care for them and love them, so they come
for that reason as well. But it also allows them
(02:53):
to congregate together in places throughout our city that are
hidden and underserved. And so what we want to do
during this Christmas city is care for the kids in
those places, because they're there, folks, whether you like it
or not, they're there and they're hungry, they're not reading well,
they're not on grade level reading capabilities, and we've got
to do something to help them. So we are doing
(03:14):
a fundraiser. My church that I pastor, Moments of Hope Church,
is given one hundred thousand dollars matching gift for you,
the listeners. And if you go to cityof hoopeclt dot org,
you're one dollar becomes two, you're five to ten your
one hundred and two hundred dollars. We want to give
two different communities in this city some money to help
them thieve kids, to help kids be able to read better,
(03:37):
to give them better health. And I've had on the
program over the last couple of weeks different people who
represent those communities. The person who's overseeing the entire ministry
is named d John, former Officer d John of CMPD.
It's called the City of Hope and cause we want
to give this city hope. D is in studio with me.
It's almost like you're becoming my co host. D have
(04:00):
you regularly with me. Good morning, It's good to have you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Good morning. Thank you for having me again.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah. And Josh Meadows is in the studio with me
as well. Josh overseas neighborhood Hope on the East side
of town in Charlotte, and he has been on the
show before, but is a dear, dear friend. Love him,
love what he does, love his heart for Jesus. Josh
is great to have you on the show as well.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Thanks for having me, David, good to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, d It's real in it. Charlotte has pockets of poverty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It does. I think that the city of Charlotte does
a really good job of hiding the poverty with its beautification.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, they really do. And these pockets of poverty exist
for a lot of different reasons, gentrification, but some because
the numbers of people who live here, who attract others
who are like them, who come here, and just talk
for a second about the kind of needs that people
in these pockets of poverty are facing, especially the kids.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
You know, I like to talk about the the number
of people. We have a homeless population in the city
of Charlotte, and oftentimes when we look at the homeless population,
chronic homelessness is not as many people as you would think.
But the people that are on the scale of one
paycheck away from being homeless is about two hundred and
(05:18):
fifty thousand people in the Charlotte metro area. And so
if you look at the scale of that number in
compared to homeless, it's great that our city's growing and
we're growing so fast, but with growth also comes increase in.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Cost and all the different needs that that brings as well,
which include food and other things as well. So what
do we do begin to begin to address these issues?
As people faith, people who really care, who want to
serve other people, how do we begin to help that happen?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
You know, I think we start with a relationship, and
it's recognizing that everybody's need may look different. It's very
similar when it comes to the basics, that's what we do,
but it's also saying, let's look at the individual situation
and understand that situation so that we can help them,
not give a handout, but a hand up.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So what we've tried to do is identify several neighborhoods
throughout the city of Charlotte that we know are underserved,
and they exist on the west side of town, North
side of town, and the East side of town, and
we've tried to connect them together called the City of Hope.
They meet regularly, these different leaders of organizations in those
pockets of poverty. They talk together and we've tried to
(06:30):
get them to share resources together so that they all
know they're not doing this alone and together they are better.
And we have those communities represented all throughout the community.
Several have already been on the show, and the east
side of town is one that sometimes gets overlooked and
it's being served by several wonderful organizations, one of which
is Neighborhood Hope. Josh Meadows, good morning, it's great to
(06:52):
have you on the show as well and tell us
about the East side of town.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah, we have several I call marginalized underserved communities on
the east side of town that unless you take a
wrong turn, you won't see it, you won't know about it.
We are sandwiched in between Independence Highway Monroe Road Corridor,
and obviously there's a lot of growth happening in that
(07:16):
in that area and a lot of times when you
think about marginalized communities, you know, you think about the
west side down South Boulevard, but in the pocket of
the Independence Corridor there are i mean, just come to
my mind, fifteen or twenty different low income marginalized apartment
complexes in our area alone.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, have you guys attracted a lot of the Latino
population that's come to Charlotte On the east side of town.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
There are pockets that are mainly made up of the
Latino population, and then there's also other pockets that are
you know fully Black American, but so there are some.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And I know Asian as well that is a part
of the community on the east side of town too.
But the bottom line is there's poverty, there are kids
who need help, and we're going to talk about neighborhood
hope in your ministry when we come back. I'm David Chadwick.
This is one seven point nine FM WBT Charlotte's FM
News Talk. We will be back in just a moment.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Looked down from a broken sky traced out by the
city lights, my world from a mile high. Best seed
in the house tonight, touchdown in the cow black tie,
hold on for the sudden star, breathing the familiar shock
of confusion and chaos. Are those people gooding? Some with Wvid?
(10:05):
Never care?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Jimmy. Can we all have the eyes of the Lord
to go into those broken places that are surrounding us
and have the compassion of God toward them? Howeveryone? I'm
David Chadwick and this is one O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great to be with you today.
I have with me in studio d John who oversees
(10:30):
the City of Hope, this organization of bringing together several
different organizations and vulnerable communities to work together to try
to have upward mobility to give people hope today. Also
Josh Meadows, a friend for a long time, but overseas
neighborhood Hope on the east side of town, a hidden
pocket of poverty that we don't often know about. Dear friends,
(10:51):
We're gonna know about it today. Josh, let me turn
to you. We talked a little bit about the east
side of town, multi ethnic, multicultural, the colored in a
lot of way, but the bottom line is there's a
lot of hidden poverty there. Tell me about your ministry
called Neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Absolutely so. Neighborhood Hope we work in three marginalized communities
on the east side of Charlotte. We've been at it
for thirteen years now. It's crazy for me to even
think about that. We started off in one community, and
we grew to two, and now we're in three. Two
of those communities are primarily like Black American communities, and
then the newest community that we're in is a mixture
(11:31):
a lot of women that are getting back on their
feet who have either coming out of substance abuse or
physical abuse. And so we're in those three communities and
kind of our deal is that there are a lot
of people in Charlotte who they're barely surviving. I always
say that they're not living the story that God has
(11:52):
intended them to live.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
They've made some bad choices. We acknowledge that, but that
doesn't mean they're beyond the grace of God.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Exactly exactly that's always say grace is either for everybody
or if it's nobody, right. And so so our mission
a neighborhood hope is to try to be a village
of hope and opportunity through the love and life of Jesus.
And so we want to surround these communities with with love,
with grace. And like you said earlier, how we start,
(12:20):
As we start with relationships. It is very easy in
the city to throw together a good program that you,
for intents and purposes, have to qualify the qualified to
even get into these programs. And our heart is that
we don't have qualifications. Our heart is that we go
to these people. We go to the kids and the
(12:40):
families who aren't qualified, who are in the gutter of life,
the very bottom, the struggle, the mess. And to me,
that's the gospel, right, it was it was Jesus he
gave us his greatest gift and our worst mess, you know,
corner Romans five. And so if we receive that that gift,
if Jesus comes into our mess, then it should be
an honor to go into the mess of others. And
(13:01):
so we want to go in there. And there's a
term if we earn their respect if we come in
and if we show up over and over and over again,
there's nothing fancy about that. For us, it started with
basketball and pizza, and we showed up again and again
with basketball and pizza, over and over again. And David,
(13:21):
early on there was there was this one story of
a dad who pulled me aside and he goes, hey,
I owe you an apology, and I'm you know what for.
He goes, well, I saw you and your wife eating
pizza with some kids the other day on Central Avenue
and my son saw you, and he goes, Dad, you
got to stop that Stratriangenny, and he goes I kept
going and my son started crying, and I realized that
(13:42):
he loved y'all. And I realized that when you come
into the neighborhood, all the moms go back inside and
they trust you with their kids. And he said, from
now and I'm going to treat you like family. And
that was a big thing for me, is that if
we really get to know them, we can understand why
they are where they are, what they want, what they
(14:03):
want to do about it, and then we can partner
with them to help them, you know, live the story
that God has intended them to live.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So during this Christmas time period that we celebrate as Christians,
that God became one of us, that God put on
human flesh and was incarnated, the incarnation as it's called.
You're talking about incarnational ministry. You're talking about putting on
human flesh and going and touching people who have real
needs and just may plug it right now. The City
(14:30):
of Hope campaign is for the purpose of helping Josh
Meadows and other communities here in Charlotte help these kids especially.
Go to CITYOHOPECLT dot org again, City of Help CLT
dot org. Your money given will immediately be matched, be
doubled by Moments of Hope Church, the church I pastor.
We're trying to raise one hundred thousand dollars to help
you in other organizations and communities as well. So CITYHOPECLT
(14:53):
dot org is where you go, and there you can
also see, by the way, a video of our success
in Barnardsville, North Carolina, when we raised over five hundred
thousand dollars to help rebuild a community destroyed by the hurricane.
And that was just the part of your initiative and oversight.
Congratulations on that success as well, you can see that video.
It's ten minutes sends us very compelling and moving, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's incredible. I expected an outcome when we originally started,
but the outcome that I've seen in such a short
period of time is it blows me away still to
this day.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah. And for people who have trouble with government, and
they had trouble with government, they couldn't get government to respond.
So the church stepped in. And the church, not just
moments I hope church, but churches around the area stepped
in into that vacuum, and the church is what made
the difference. I know I'm a little bit biblical here,
but I think that's the responsibility primarily of the church,
not the government, to care for people Christians. It's our
(15:46):
responsibility the Big c Church. All of you who are
listening right now, maybe a part of the church I pastor,
you may not be, probably not, but all of us
together are the Big Sea Church trying to raise money
to help people in our community. And Josh, when we
come to to your community on the east side of town,
did you get affected by the ice raids at all
(16:07):
recently that happened in the city.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
So in our particular communities, No, but around us in
like I live personally, I live not far off like
Central Avenue, which you know is a really big hub
for businesses restaurants that are that are ethnic and so
I remember waking up, was that a week and a
(16:31):
half ago, and there was no traffic, no stores were open.
So we were affected in our area, just not particularly
in our three communities.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, but that was a real issue for our city,
and it just kind of underscores the point we're trying
to make today that there are vulnerable, hurting communities and
a lot of these people lived in fear of being arrested,
wouldn't even go to church, wouldn't go to restaurants because
they were fearful of something happening, because they live on
the edge. Again, talk about that the people in our
community who live do you mentioned it, but just right
on the edge, one paycheck away from poverty. Well.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
You know something that I've seen as I get to
know these mothers is sometimes the choices that they have
to make are choices that you and I might not
have to make. Do I pay rent or do I
pay my car note? If I don't pay my car note,
I can't get to work and continue to make money.
If I don't pay my rent, I'll get evicted and
(17:23):
live in a motel. And so we have families that
are choosing, having to choose between a car note and rent,
and they're that far on the edge. Then I've seen
it to where if you do get a car, the
moment that something goes wrong, you don't have the money.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To fix it, and so the car just stay.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
The car just sits there. The car that sits there, wow.
And so these are things that you know growing up.
I mean, I was raised by a single mom, but
I had a good support system to where if something happened,
I had help. And a lot of these families don't
have that support system in that village, you know. Thus
(18:04):
the reason why Neighborhood Hope wants to be the village
that surrounds them. So even to the point where if
something bad happens, they call us first. They don't call
the police, they don't call any kind of government official.
They call us, because where you know, we have the
relationships and we're in the community.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And so a gift of you know, twenty five thousand
dollars to Neighborhood Hope literally makes the difference in dozens
of lives living just being able to get away from
the edge of that cliff and be able to live
the way that all of us live without thinking about
those kind of things.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Absolutely, I mean I'm thinking right now. You know, growing up,
it was my grandparents who provided that support system for me,
where it was money while I was in college or
certain things that they would help out. So for me,
it's like I want to duplicate that I don't Again,
it's not a handout, it's a hand up so that
when they hit rock bottom, they know that they people
(19:00):
who love them that can help them out.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
In your heart beat for the City of Hope, all
of these different neighborhoods that we're having on the show
during this month of December, is for them all to
get that hand up as well.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yes, And I think that's our strategy. We don't want
people to become dependent on our programs or what we've created.
We want them to become independent and thrive in the
calling that God has given them.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and everybody that I've most experienced aren't living indolent lives, lazy,
trying to mooch off with the welfare system. They all
have dignity. They want to move away from the edge,
they want to live well, they just don't have that
hand up that's giving them that chance, and that's what
we're supposed to provide. City of Hope CLT dot org
is the website. Go there. You can watch the Barnersville
video about ten minutes. It's really powerful. But also see
(19:47):
how you can give your five dollars becomes ten you're
twenty forty or one hundred or two hundred. And it's
for the purpose of helping kids in vulnerable neighborhoods like
we're talking about with Neighborhood Hope today. I'm David Chadwick
and we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Us usshuss us h.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
But I lived to a ship field on my life.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I offer you simple, many sad.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Till I had.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Moping there, noping hard. You you please as much as might.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
One of the most dangerous prayers to pray is God
break my heart for what breaks your heart, and He
will answer that prayer. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and
this is one oh seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM
(22:27):
news talk Radio. It's great to be back with you.
If you'd like to hear this program in its entirety.
Scroll down to WBT dot com look for the David
Chadwick Show on the weekends and you can hear the
program from beginning to end. I think you're gonna want
to just to know what Charlotte is like, and it's
underbelly some of the unseen places that we're trying to
(22:48):
help right now. Through WBT Moments of O Church is
given one hundred thousand dollars matching gift. You can match
it listeners by going to CITYOFOPECLT dot org and your
ten dollars becomes twenty or a thousand and becomes two
thousand dollars. Last year, someone actually gave us twenty five
thousand dollars. We were so grateful. Please give us something
so that we can meet this goal and help underserved kids.
(23:10):
I have in the studio with me, d John, who
oversees the City of Hope, this whole organization of vulnerable
neighborhoods coming together regularly to help one another. Josh Meadows,
who oversees one of those neighborhoods, Neighborhood Hope on the
east side of Charlotte. And Josh, during the break, you
were telling us about women, for example, who have to
choose between you know, paying off their car loan or
(23:34):
paying off a food debt or whatever that might be,
and they live right on the edge. And you gave
us some other insights about the women and their families
as well. Talk about that and paint the picture of
what you deal with.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Absolutely. I was thinking, you know, during the break, about
the scripture or the parable with the tax collector and
the Pharisee. You know where the pharisee, you know, list
all his accomplishments and he points out to tax players
like God, I thank you. I'm not like him. And
I think it's easy sometimes when you see these families
(24:08):
that are in struggle, just to realize like, hey, I've
you know, got a little savings, I got a house,
I'm blessed, and we don't realize we're doing it. But
you know, sometimes when we choose not to help or
be a blessing with our resources, it can be easy
to be like, man, I'm thankful. I'm not like that.
And what I've realized is that as we get closer
(24:29):
to these families and we start to unpack the stories
of how they got there, it's really hard and you know,
just these this past couple months, we have dealt with
some really horrific stories. I mean, there was a mom
that we that's lived in our community since twenty seventeen
and we have walked with her and her kids and
(24:49):
just called me crying last week because she is months
behind on rent. And as I began to unpack it,
she had a family member steal some money and she
had to choose whether she was going to pay for
her car note which gets her to work to make money,
or she was gonna like pay her rent. And she
(25:10):
had to choose between the two because there was no
savings because she's living paycheck to paycheck, and on top
of that has three kids who who eat pretty well, David,
and it gets to be expensive.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And when you say pretty well, you're talking about a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
They eat a lot, a lot, they eat a lot.
And this in this this system, it's I call it
a fear based system. Where the more money you make,
the less help you get. And so as you're trying
to advance, the less food stamps you get, the less
help you get on your rent, and it causes fear.
It's like an oxygen mask. And as we begin to
(25:46):
remove the mask that's always been on. It's like, well,
I can't do it, So they put the mask back on.
Let's go get a lower paying job, and it keeps
them stuck.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And so they actually would leave a higher paying job
to get a lower paying job so that they can
have more actions to government Act.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
EXA accessibilities exactly one percent. And it's not because that's
where they want to be. I mean, I don't think
anybody would love to go shop and be told you
can only buy these items, right, So it's humiliating on
one standpoint, but on the other standpoint, it's it's a
safety net of like, because I don't have a support system,
this has become my support system.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And the truth is they then go to the grocery
store of food stamps and they have to choose oftentimes
not very healthy food to eat just because that's what
they can forward. And they give that to their children,
which doesn't help their brain development, which allows them not
to succeed in school, which only repeats the cycle over
and over again as the kids grow up and have
that same kind of poverty. D Am, I right on
that you've been in the community a long time and
(26:43):
served underserved communities.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
You are so right in that and thinking about that's
just not when we talk about feeding, healing and reading
healing is not just about food, like we can provide
all of these nutritious things. But think about the family
that Josh was just talking about. Think about the trauma
that this family experiences and how it impacts their mental
(27:07):
health state being in this constant state of fear. I mean,
I don't know if you've ever been fearful of something,
but imagine living every single day in a state of fear,
chronic chronic fear, and you're living in survival and how
that impacts your judgment and decision making, and then over
the course of time, think about it, how it impacts
(27:27):
your internal psychology, your physical health, all of those things.
And we expect these people to just make the right
decision and just go through upward mobility like it's that easy.
The reality is it's not that easy. And so when
we think about our City of Hope partners, they're really
dedicated to come in and say we're not just a program.
(27:48):
Because we're not a program. We're here to be a
hand up and walk with you through life and to
help you get into a better state of living.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
We know the incarnation. I love this joke because I
love Mexiking food, but you know the incarnation chili concarne
is meet with flesh on well, the incarnation of Jesus
coming into this world is God concarnate, and he put
on human flesh because he knew the relational aspect of
us being able to be drawn near to by God himself.
And Josh back to your ministry. It's incarnational. You've put
(28:19):
on human flesh to go be with these people, build
relationships with them so that you can help teach them
the things of the Lord, which are eternal. But you've
also got to meet their basic physical needs, which is feeding,
healing and reading. And tell us some of the things
you do in order to help them, for example with
food insecurity, what are some of the.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Things you do absolutely so you know there have been
times like for example, during COVID, we formed a food
bank and we fed any of the community that needed food.
Food's a big deal for us when you know we
have three kids now. But my wife ran a program
where she was teaching mothers how to go shop and
buy healthier options and nourish their bodies better and even
(29:00):
getting to the point where we tell people for us
at Neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
We'll get into the tutoring and the programs here in
a minute, but to us, it's a worth issue. You
either make decisions out of your worth or you make
decisions out of your lack of worth. And so we
really want to everything we do want to teach these
kids you are loved by God. We have we have
a little thing we read a little macho We read
to them, You're special, You're you're worthy to be loved,
You're forgiven, and you know you have gifts and abilities
(29:28):
to add to the world. And we teach these kids
this so that they begin to make decisions out of
their worth and realize they're worthy through the love of God.
And so out of that, we have a tutoring program
where we tutor the kids. We do a program called
I Ready and it's focuses on reading literacy.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
And the results of that are just astounding. I understand.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah, it's great. So they're they're doing the I Ready
and we test them in the beginning of the year
and then we test them afterwards and these kids are
jumping up grade levels in literacy. But not only that
they have a tutor, one to one tutor that when
they get done with their already they're reading books together.
And these tutors are building relationships and we call this
(30:08):
life on life. They're being love, they're being poured into,
which is great. Another thing that we do is if
we lose our footprint in the community, we lose everything.
And so every Thursday night we go into the community.
We call it our connect Night. We bring food, games,
bubble machines, and we literally just spend time with the people.
The moms will come outside and we use it as
(30:30):
an opportunity for relationship teachable moments, to pray for people,
laugh with people, and continue to get to know. We
also have a high turnover, right, so we have new
residents coming in, new residents going out, and you know,
obviously the trust that we've earned, we want that to
continue to go into the new families and so.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
And it takes time, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
It does, But once you have it so powerful.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
And because they're looking for people they can trust, they
know they need that as well. So again, folks Cityfope
CLT dot org go there. Money is immediately doubled and
it'll go too. Ministries like Josh Meadow on the east
side of town for the purpose of helping kids who
are vulnerable and d Again, let me just emphasize this
as the overseer of City of Hope, that this is
a city wide problem. This isn't just the east side.
(31:14):
It is all over our city in hidden pockets of poverty.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
This is correct.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Nothing more you're going to say, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Think when we look at the corridors of opportunity, if
you're curious where those pockets of poverty are, I would
go and look on our website, Cityofope clt dot orgs website,
and then the city did an entire research on where
these pockets of poverty are. And I said earlier that
beautification in the City of Charlotte is incredible, and I'm
(31:44):
thankful for that, but also it doesn't allow you to
see the poverty in the communities.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
So Josh, when we come back, could we talk more
about reading. Because I know the statistic I quote all
the time. I learned it some years ago being a
part of the Charlott Opportunity Task Force, but that if
you can't read by the end of third grade, it
is the greatest predictor of going to prison. That's true.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
It's just unbelievable. So to help kids be able to
be on grade reading by the end of third grade,
we can see them moving forward. And we need to
talk about Seeds of Hope as well, another part of
City of Hope, which is a scholarship program to get
these kids to go to college. And we now have
over sixty five kids in college because they've come out
of that poverty program and have now hope with true
(32:31):
upward mobility to get jobs and be self sustaining. So
let's talk about that when we come back. I'm David Chadwick.
This is one oh seven point nine FMWBT will be
right back.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Four.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful,
where your streams of abundance.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Flow, Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
When I'm found in the desert place from a walk
through the wilderness, Blessed be your name. Every blessing you.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Poor ouda turn back to prayers.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
When the darkness closes in still will sir, Blessed be.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
The name of the Lord.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Blessed be the name.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, go Josh, Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
Blessed be your.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, good singing, because God blesses us to be a
blessing to other people.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O seven
point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great being
with you. My guest d John, who's been a regular
here for the last several weeks, who is a former
CMPD officer but now oversees City of Hope, a well
run organization of vulnerable communities in Charlotte brought together for
(35:37):
the purpose off upward mobility. One of those communities is
Neighborhood Hope on the east side of town, overseen by
Josh Meadows, who's also in the community with me. Josh,
I heard you lost your granddad recently. I'm so sorry
for that because I know he was significant in your life.
He was that safety net that caught you to allow
you not to fall into the abyss and keep moving
upward towards success.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
And the cool story about it was is that my
real grandfather actually passed away before I was born, and
my grandmother married him three years before I was born.
So not only was he my grandfather, he didn't have
to be you know, I wasn't blood to him. So
the fact that he everything he did I did. I
remember harvesting tobacco with him. We lived in Leicestern, North Carolina.
(36:24):
We had no stoplights. He taught me how to paint.
Anything he did, I did. And the thing is is
he gave me the opportunity to work, make mistakes and learn,
taught me how to mow grass every like. Literally I
was with him everywhere, and so he was such a
blessing to me. And he was one of the men
that God placed in my life to teach me work ethic.
(36:47):
He served at the same church for thirty five years, David.
He was a deacon, He worked for the Gideons. He
passed out the word of God to people. And that's
the man that I had the opportunity to look up to.
And so what a blessing.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Well, we all need mentors. I mean that my dad
and in my college basketball coach was that mentor for me.
We all need them as well. But when you get
down to the guts of living, you really need that
mentor who cannot only help you learn how to make
wise choices, but to stay in health and wholeness and
keep making wise choices. You're trying to do that for
the kids on the east side of town called neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Yes, excuse me. I always tell people opportunity who opened
up opportunity for you, and you're thankful for that person,
But then you have a responsibility to go open up
opportunity for other people. And so because I've had people
open up opportunities for me in my life, I am
(37:40):
I am, it's an obligation by God to go pay
that forward to other people and open up opportunity for
them with the same love and grace that my grandfather
showed me.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well, we just came out of Thanksgiving and we tell
people be thankful for all God has given you. But
the truth is, as you identify God's blessings in your life,
what that should do is stir within you a need
to go give those kind of blessings away to other people. Again,
it's from Genesis chapter twelve where God called Abraham and said,
I'm blessing you, but to be a blessing to other people.
So many Christians just want to be blessed and blessed
(38:11):
and blessed and blessed and hoard the blessing inside and
d it is truly. Isn't it more blessed to give
than to receive?
Speaker 1 (38:18):
It is?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And you've heard me say this before. We all have time, talent,
and treasure, and so the time, talent, and treasure, we
have something to give. And if you're sitting here today
saying I don't really know what I can give, if
you're breathing and you have life, you have something to
give this world. And so as we move into next year,
(38:40):
I think that going on our website, looking to see
all the different organizations that serve every day, they have
something that you can plug into. If you don't give
your funding or your money, show up. You don't have
to have any skills, but you just have to be
able to just show up. I've had the opportunity to
really just see what Neighborhood Hope does every day along
(39:03):
with the other partners we have, and every day I'm
blown away in the difference that Neighborhood Hope sets for
the community than most of the other nonprofits that I've
worked with in the city of Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
So be incarnational, show up, but we will take your money.
So if you'd be willing to give your money, folks,
it's easy just go to cityof hoopeclt dot org Again,
cityohopeclt dot org. Moments of Hope Church, the church I
pastor that just wants to give hope to people wants
to give them Moments of Hope has given one hundred
thousand dollars matching gift. If you'll go on right now,
(39:34):
your gift will immediately be doubled. One dollar becomes two,
to ten becomes twenty, one hundred becomes two hundred. And
we want to reach this one hundred thousand dollars goal
and give communities like Neighborhood Hope a large gift so
that they can continue to help feed people, especially kids,
teach them how to read better, but also be healed
in the name of Jesus, not only with good food,
(39:56):
but also by incarnational ministries where folks come alongside them
and give them hope. Josh, did I describe your ministry? Well?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
You did, you did? And I meant to say something
a second ago. When we feed our kids, we do
so with a level of dignity. We're not having and listen,
I know this helps, but we're not having canned food drives.
At Neighborhood Hope. We actually pay a lady to come
to our tutoring programs and she cooks freshly home cooked
(40:25):
meals for the kids, and we send them home with
a fresh cooked meal every time they come to tutoring,
and it's a level of dignity. You are worthy of
the same meal that my grandmother slapped together for me
in the kitchen. You're worthy of that. And so we
give them good food and we do it out of
a place of dignity.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
So just see, folks, the overall wholeness ministry that we
try to have. We try to feed them well so
that that's good brain development, which then helps them learn
how to read better, which by the end of the
third grade they can read at that level, won't go
to prison. They can then continue to move up the ladder.
Seeds of Hope is a ministry deal we talk about
this real quickly. That is a scholarship program that helps
(41:03):
these kids out of these neighborhoods like Josh's be able
to go to college.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
So Seeds of Hope is an incredible and it was
founded by your.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Wife, my wife, Marilyn yep Which.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
When you think about what we do, we want to
create pathways forward for these families and Oftentimes we can
go in and teach them how to read, we can
teach them how to eat well, we can help them
with mental health. But what is the next step? And
so Seeds of Hope has come alongside of all of
our City of Hope partners to say, once we get
(41:32):
kids to a certain level, let's help take them to
that next because education is so so important to everything
that we do and everything that Neighborhood Hope does. And
this year we had the highest application rate for City
of Hope partners in the Seeds of Hope application process.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
It's wonderful to see some sixty five kids are now
in college, some of them coming from these vulnerable communities
of City of Hope. And if you talk about upward
mobil you give kids a college education in today's environment,
most likely they'll have upper mobility, have success and not
live on the cliff, not live on the edge of poverty.
That is the how there's a holistic design to this ministry.
(42:13):
Call City of Hope, so could I plug it one
more time? City of hopesclt dot org match our matching
gift folks, Let's raise one hundred thousand dollars to help
communities like Josh Meadows and others as well. City of
Hope CLT dot org. Your gifts are immediately doubled. People
are impacted for life. We can cause upper mobility to
occur in this community holistically and in every possible way.
(42:36):
And when you do so, Jesus is honored, your neighbor
is loved, and Charlotte is made a better place in
which to live. D John, thanks for being with me today,
Josh Meadows as well. We'll have another guest next week,
Brent Marris from another vulnerable community. I look forward to
talking with you with him next week, and always remember
this is Charlotte's News Talk one oh seven point nine
(42:59):
wbt f M. Talk with you all next week
Usa.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O
seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great
to have you with me today. This is a faith
in values program in case you don't know, and the
purpose of this program is to intersect faith and values
with what's going on locally and globally. I've been doing
the show now for twenty six years or so. It's
(01:50):
been a joy doing the show. And thank you listeners
for joining me on a weekly basis. Many thanks to
Perry's Find Jewelry for your sponsorship of the show. It's
been a joy to do these shows all these years. Well,
we're continuing our theme in the month of December regarding
a wonderful fundraiser that we are doing in order to
(02:10):
help kids in our community. In our community, this shining,
bright new South city that's growing exponentially. Some say it
may be the second fastest growing city in America, behind
maybe Austin, Texas or Phoenix, Arizona. But we're right there.
I think it's estimated one hundred and ten new people
(02:31):
moved to Charlotte every single day. Well, with that growth,
it makes us very famous around the country. But it
also brings all kinds of difficulties as well. People who
come here looking for jobs, looking for help, looking for hope.
They hear this is a church filled city where churches
will care for them and love them, so they come
for that reason as well. But it also allows them
(02:53):
to congregate together in places throughout our city that are
hidden and underserved. And so what we want to do
during this Christmas city is care for the kids in
those places, because they're there, folks, whether you like it
or not, they're there and they're hungry, they're not reading well,
they're not on grade level reading capabilities, and we've got
to do something to help them. So we are doing
(03:14):
a fundraiser. My church that I pastor, Moments of Hope Church,
is given one hundred thousand dollars matching gift for you,
the listeners. And if you go to cityof hoopeclt dot org,
you're one dollar becomes two, you're five to ten your
one hundred and two hundred dollars. We want to give
two different communities in this city some money to help
them thieve kids, to help kids be able to read better,
(03:37):
to give them better health. And I've had on the
program over the last couple of weeks different people who
represent those communities. The person who's overseeing the entire ministry
is named d John, former Officer d John of CMPD.
It's called the City of Hope and cause we want
to give this city hope. D is in studio with me.
It's almost like you're becoming my co host. D have
(04:00):
you regularly with me. Good morning, It's good to have you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Good morning. Thank you for having me again.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah. And Josh Meadows is in the studio with me
as well. Josh overseas neighborhood Hope on the East side
of town in Charlotte, and he has been on the
show before, but is a dear, dear friend. Love him,
love what he does, love his heart for Jesus. Josh
is great to have you on the show as well.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Thanks for having me, David, good to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, d It's real in it. Charlotte has pockets of poverty.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It does. I think that the city of Charlotte does
a really good job of hiding the poverty with its beautification.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Yeah, they really do. And these pockets of poverty exist
for a lot of different reasons, gentrification, but some because
the numbers of people who live here, who attract others
who are like them, who come here, and just talk
for a second about the kind of needs that people
in these pockets of poverty are facing, especially the kids.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
You know, I like to talk about the the number
of people. We have a homeless population in the city
of Charlotte, and oftentimes when we look at the homeless population,
chronic homelessness is not as many people as you would think.
But the people that are on the scale of one
paycheck away from being homeless is about two hundred and
(05:18):
fifty thousand people in the Charlotte metro area. And so
if you look at the scale of that number in
compared to homeless, it's great that our city's growing and
we're growing so fast, but with growth also comes increase in.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Cost and all the different needs that that brings as well,
which include food and other things as well. So what
do we do begin to begin to address these issues?
As people faith, people who really care, who want to
serve other people, how do we begin to help that happen?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
You know, I think we start with a relationship, and
it's recognizing that everybody's need may look different. It's very
similar when it comes to the basics, that's what we do,
but it's also saying, let's look at the individual situation
and understand that situation so that we can help them,
not give a handout, but a hand up.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So what we've tried to do is identify several neighborhoods
throughout the city of Charlotte that we know are underserved,
and they exist on the west side of town, North
side of town, and the East side of town, and
we've tried to connect them together called the City of Hope.
They meet regularly, these different leaders of organizations in those
pockets of poverty. They talk together and we've tried to
(06:30):
get them to share resources together so that they all
know they're not doing this alone and together they are better.
And we have those communities represented all throughout the community.
Several have already been on the show, and the east
side of town is one that sometimes gets overlooked and
it's being served by several wonderful organizations, one of which
is Neighborhood Hope. Josh Meadows, good morning, it's great to
(06:52):
have you on the show as well and tell us
about the East side of town.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah, we have several I call marginalized underserved communities on
the east side of town that unless you take a
wrong turn, you won't see it, you won't know about it.
We are sandwiched in between Independence Highway Monroe Road Corridor,
and obviously there's a lot of growth happening in that
(07:16):
in that area and a lot of times when you
think about marginalized communities, you know, you think about the
west side down South Boulevard, but in the pocket of
the Independence Corridor there are i mean, just come to
my mind, fifteen or twenty different low income marginalized apartment
complexes in our area alone.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, have you guys attracted a lot of the Latino
population that's come to Charlotte On the east side of town.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
There are pockets that are mainly made up of the
Latino population, and then there's also other pockets that are
you know fully Black American, but so there are some.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
And I know Asian as well that is a part
of the community on the east side of town too.
But the bottom line is there's poverty, there are kids
who need help, and we're going to talk about neighborhood
hope in your ministry when we come back. I'm David Chadwick.
This is one seven point nine FM WBT Charlotte's FM
News Talk. We will be back in just a moment.
Speaker 5 (09:36):
Looked down from a broken sky traced out by the
city lights, my world from a mile high. Best seed
in the house tonight, touchdown in the cow black tie,
hold on for the sudden star, breathing the familiar shock
of confusion and chaos. Are those people gooding? Some with Wvid?
(10:05):
Never care?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Jimmy. Can we all have the eyes of the Lord
to go into those broken places that are surrounding us
and have the compassion of God toward them? Howeveryone? I'm
David Chadwick and this is one O seven point nine FMWBT,
Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great to be with you today.
I have with me in studio d John who oversees
(10:30):
the City of Hope, this organization of bringing together several
different organizations and vulnerable communities to work together to try
to have upward mobility to give people hope today. Also
Josh Meadows, a friend for a long time, but overseas
neighborhood Hope on the east side of town, a hidden
pocket of poverty that we don't often know about. Dear friends,
(10:51):
We're gonna know about it today. Josh, let me turn
to you. We talked a little bit about the east
side of town, multi ethnic, multicultural, the colored in a
lot of way, but the bottom line is there's a
lot of hidden poverty there. Tell me about your ministry
called Neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Absolutely so. Neighborhood Hope we work in three marginalized communities
on the east side of Charlotte. We've been at it
for thirteen years now. It's crazy for me to even
think about that. We started off in one community, and
we grew to two, and now we're in three. Two
of those communities are primarily like Black American communities, and
then the newest community that we're in is a mixture
(11:31):
a lot of women that are getting back on their
feet who have either coming out of substance abuse or
physical abuse. And so we're in those three communities and
kind of our deal is that there are a lot
of people in Charlotte who they're barely surviving. I always
say that they're not living the story that God has
(11:52):
intended them to live.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
They've made some bad choices. We acknowledge that, but that
doesn't mean they're beyond the grace of God.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Exactly exactly that's always say grace is either for everybody
or if it's nobody, right. And so so our mission
a neighborhood hope is to try to be a village
of hope and opportunity through the love and life of Jesus.
And so we want to surround these communities with with love,
with grace. And like you said earlier, how we start,
(12:20):
As we start with relationships. It is very easy in
the city to throw together a good program that you,
for intents and purposes, have to qualify the qualified to
even get into these programs. And our heart is that
we don't have qualifications. Our heart is that we go
to these people. We go to the kids and the
(12:40):
families who aren't qualified, who are in the gutter of life,
the very bottom, the struggle, the mess. And to me,
that's the gospel, right, it was it was Jesus he
gave us his greatest gift and our worst mess, you know,
corner Romans five. And so if we receive that that gift,
if Jesus comes into our mess, then it should be
an honor to go into the mess of others. And
(13:01):
so we want to go in there. And there's a
term if we earn their respect if we come in
and if we show up over and over and over again,
there's nothing fancy about that. For us, it started with
basketball and pizza, and we showed up again and again
with basketball and pizza, over and over again. And David,
(13:21):
early on there was there was this one story of
a dad who pulled me aside and he goes, hey,
I owe you an apology, and I'm you know what for.
He goes, well, I saw you and your wife eating
pizza with some kids the other day on Central Avenue
and my son saw you, and he goes, Dad, you
got to stop that Stratriangenny, and he goes I kept
going and my son started crying, and I realized that
(13:42):
he loved y'all. And I realized that when you come
into the neighborhood, all the moms go back inside and
they trust you with their kids. And he said, from
now and I'm going to treat you like family. And
that was a big thing for me, is that if
we really get to know them, we can understand why
they are where they are, what they want, what they
(14:03):
want to do about it, and then we can partner
with them to help them, you know, live the story
that God has intended them to live.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So during this Christmas time period that we celebrate as Christians,
that God became one of us, that God put on
human flesh and was incarnated, the incarnation as it's called.
You're talking about incarnational ministry. You're talking about putting on
human flesh and going and touching people who have real
needs and just may plug it right now. The City
(14:30):
of Hope campaign is for the purpose of helping Josh
Meadows and other communities here in Charlotte help these kids especially.
Go to CITYOHOPECLT dot org again, City of Help CLT
dot org. Your money given will immediately be matched, be
doubled by Moments of Hope Church, the church I pastor.
We're trying to raise one hundred thousand dollars to help
you in other organizations and communities as well. So CITYHOPECLT
(14:53):
dot org is where you go, and there you can
also see, by the way, a video of our success
in Barnardsville, North Carolina, when we raised over five hundred
thousand dollars to help rebuild a community destroyed by the hurricane.
And that was just the part of your initiative and oversight.
Congratulations on that success as well, you can see that video.
It's ten minutes sends us very compelling and moving, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's incredible. I expected an outcome when we originally started,
but the outcome that I've seen in such a short
period of time is it blows me away still to
this day.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah. And for people who have trouble with government, and
they had trouble with government, they couldn't get government to respond.
So the church stepped in. And the church, not just
moments I hope church, but churches around the area stepped
in into that vacuum, and the church is what made
the difference. I know I'm a little bit biblical here,
but I think that's the responsibility primarily of the church,
not the government, to care for people Christians. It's our
(15:46):
responsibility the Big c Church. All of you who are
listening right now, maybe a part of the church I pastor,
you may not be, probably not, but all of us
together are the Big Sea Church trying to raise money
to help people in our community. And Josh, when we
come to to your community on the east side of town,
did you get affected by the ice raids at all
(16:07):
recently that happened in the city.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
So in our particular communities, No, but around us in
like I live personally, I live not far off like
Central Avenue, which you know is a really big hub
for businesses restaurants that are that are ethnic and so
I remember waking up, was that a week and a
(16:31):
half ago, and there was no traffic, no stores were open.
So we were affected in our area, just not particularly
in our three communities.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, but that was a real issue for our city,
and it just kind of underscores the point we're trying
to make today that there are vulnerable, hurting communities and
a lot of these people lived in fear of being arrested,
wouldn't even go to church, wouldn't go to restaurants because
they were fearful of something happening, because they live on
the edge. Again, talk about that the people in our
community who live do you mentioned it, but just right
on the edge, one paycheck away from poverty. Well.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
You know something that I've seen as I get to
know these mothers is sometimes the choices that they have
to make are choices that you and I might not
have to make. Do I pay rent or do I
pay my car note? If I don't pay my car note,
I can't get to work and continue to make money.
If I don't pay my rent, I'll get evicted and
(17:23):
live in a motel. And so we have families that
are choosing, having to choose between a car note and rent,
and they're that far on the edge. Then I've seen
it to where if you do get a car, the
moment that something goes wrong, you don't have the money.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To fix it, and so the car just stay.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
The car just sits there. The car that sits there, wow.
And so these are things that you know growing up.
I mean, I was raised by a single mom, but
I had a good support system to where if something happened,
I had help. And a lot of these families don't
have that support system in that village, you know. Thus
(18:04):
the reason why Neighborhood Hope wants to be the village
that surrounds them. So even to the point where if
something bad happens, they call us first. They don't call
the police, they don't call any kind of government official.
They call us, because where you know, we have the
relationships and we're in the community.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And so a gift of you know, twenty five thousand
dollars to Neighborhood Hope literally makes the difference in dozens
of lives living just being able to get away from
the edge of that cliff and be able to live
the way that all of us live without thinking about
those kind of things.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Absolutely, I mean I'm thinking right now. You know, growing up,
it was my grandparents who provided that support system for me,
where it was money while I was in college or
certain things that they would help out. So for me,
it's like I want to duplicate that I don't Again,
it's not a handout, it's a hand up so that
when they hit rock bottom, they know that they people
(19:00):
who love them that can help them out.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
In your heart beat for the City of Hope, all
of these different neighborhoods that we're having on the show
during this month of December, is for them all to
get that hand up as well.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yes, And I think that's our strategy. We don't want
people to become dependent on our programs or what we've created.
We want them to become independent and thrive in the
calling that God has given them.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, and everybody that I've most experienced aren't living indolent lives, lazy,
trying to mooch off with the welfare system. They all
have dignity. They want to move away from the edge,
they want to live well, they just don't have that
hand up that's giving them that chance, and that's what
we're supposed to provide. City of Hope CLT dot org
is the website. Go there. You can watch the Barnersville
video about ten minutes. It's really powerful. But also see
(19:47):
how you can give your five dollars becomes ten you're
twenty forty or one hundred or two hundred. And it's
for the purpose of helping kids in vulnerable neighborhoods like
we're talking about with Neighborhood Hope today. I'm David Chadwick
and we will be right back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Us usshuss us h.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
But I lived to a ship field on my life.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I offer you simple, many sad.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Till I had.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Moping there, noping hard. You you please as much as might.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
One of the most dangerous prayers to pray is God
break my heart for what breaks your heart, and He
will answer that prayer. Hi everyone, I'm David Chadwick and
this is one oh seven point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM
(22:27):
news talk Radio. It's great to be back with you.
If you'd like to hear this program in its entirety.
Scroll down to WBT dot com look for the David
Chadwick Show on the weekends and you can hear the
program from beginning to end. I think you're gonna want
to just to know what Charlotte is like, and it's
underbelly some of the unseen places that we're trying to
(22:48):
help right now. Through WBT Moments of O Church is
given one hundred thousand dollars matching gift. You can match
it listeners by going to CITYOFOPECLT dot org and your
ten dollars becomes twenty or a thousand and becomes two
thousand dollars. Last year, someone actually gave us twenty five
thousand dollars. We were so grateful. Please give us something
so that we can meet this goal and help underserved kids.
(23:10):
I have in the studio with me, d John, who
oversees the City of Hope, this whole organization of vulnerable
neighborhoods coming together regularly to help one another. Josh Meadows,
who oversees one of those neighborhoods, Neighborhood Hope on the
east side of Charlotte. And Josh, during the break, you
were telling us about women, for example, who have to
choose between you know, paying off their car loan or
(23:34):
paying off a food debt or whatever that might be,
and they live right on the edge. And you gave
us some other insights about the women and their families
as well. Talk about that and paint the picture of
what you deal with.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Absolutely. I was thinking, you know, during the break, about
the scripture or the parable with the tax collector and
the Pharisee. You know where the pharisee, you know, list
all his accomplishments and he points out to tax players
like God, I thank you. I'm not like him. And
I think it's easy sometimes when you see these families
(24:08):
that are in struggle, just to realize like, hey, I've
you know, got a little savings, I got a house,
I'm blessed, and we don't realize we're doing it. But
you know, sometimes when we choose not to help or
be a blessing with our resources, it can be easy
to be like, man, I'm thankful. I'm not like that.
And what I've realized is that as we get closer
(24:29):
to these families and we start to unpack the stories
of how they got there, it's really hard and you know,
just these this past couple months, we have dealt with
some really horrific stories. I mean, there was a mom
that we that's lived in our community since twenty seventeen
and we have walked with her and her kids and
(24:49):
just called me crying last week because she is months
behind on rent. And as I began to unpack it,
she had a family member steal some money and she
had to choose whether she was going to pay for
her car note which gets her to work to make money,
or she was gonna like pay her rent. And she
(25:10):
had to choose between the two because there was no
savings because she's living paycheck to paycheck, and on top
of that has three kids who who eat pretty well, David,
and it gets to be expensive.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
And when you say pretty well, you're talking about a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
They eat a lot, a lot, they eat a lot.
And this in this this system, it's I call it
a fear based system. Where the more money you make,
the less help you get. And so as you're trying
to advance, the less food stamps you get, the less
help you get on your rent, and it causes fear.
It's like an oxygen mask. And as we begin to
(25:46):
remove the mask that's always been on. It's like, well,
I can't do it, So they put the mask back on.
Let's go get a lower paying job, and it keeps
them stuck.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
And so they actually would leave a higher paying job
to get a lower paying job so that they can
have more actions to government Act.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
EXA accessibilities exactly one percent. And it's not because that's
where they want to be. I mean, I don't think
anybody would love to go shop and be told you
can only buy these items, right, So it's humiliating on
one standpoint, but on the other standpoint, it's it's a
safety net of like, because I don't have a support system,
this has become my support system.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
And the truth is they then go to the grocery
store of food stamps and they have to choose oftentimes
not very healthy food to eat just because that's what
they can forward. And they give that to their children,
which doesn't help their brain development, which allows them not
to succeed in school, which only repeats the cycle over
and over again as the kids grow up and have
that same kind of poverty. D Am, I right on
that you've been in the community a long time and
(26:43):
served underserved communities.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
You are so right in that and thinking about that's
just not when we talk about feeding, healing and reading
healing is not just about food, like we can provide
all of these nutritious things. But think about the family
that Josh was just talking about. Think about the trauma
that this family experiences and how it impacts their mental
(27:07):
health state being in this constant state of fear. I mean,
I don't know if you've ever been fearful of something,
but imagine living every single day in a state of fear,
chronic chronic fear, and you're living in survival and how
that impacts your judgment and decision making, and then over
the course of time, think about it, how it impacts
(27:27):
your internal psychology, your physical health, all of those things.
And we expect these people to just make the right
decision and just go through upward mobility like it's that easy.
The reality is it's not that easy. And so when
we think about our City of Hope partners, they're really
dedicated to come in and say we're not just a program.
(27:48):
Because we're not a program. We're here to be a
hand up and walk with you through life and to
help you get into a better state of living.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
We know the incarnation. I love this joke because I
love Mexiking food, but you know the incarnation chili concarne
is meet with flesh on well, the incarnation of Jesus
coming into this world is God concarnate, and he put
on human flesh because he knew the relational aspect of
us being able to be drawn near to by God himself.
And Josh back to your ministry. It's incarnational. You've put
(28:19):
on human flesh to go be with these people, build
relationships with them so that you can help teach them
the things of the Lord, which are eternal. But you've
also got to meet their basic physical needs, which is feeding,
healing and reading. And tell us some of the things
you do in order to help them, for example with
food insecurity, what are some of the.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Things you do absolutely so you know there have been
times like for example, during COVID, we formed a food
bank and we fed any of the community that needed food.
Food's a big deal for us when you know we
have three kids now. But my wife ran a program
where she was teaching mothers how to go shop and
buy healthier options and nourish their bodies better and even
(29:00):
getting to the point where we tell people for us
at Neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
We'll get into the tutoring and the programs here in
a minute, but to us, it's a worth issue. You
either make decisions out of your worth or you make
decisions out of your lack of worth. And so we
really want to everything we do want to teach these
kids you are loved by God. We have we have
a little thing we read a little macho We read
to them, You're special, You're you're worthy to be loved,
You're forgiven, and you know you have gifts and abilities
(29:28):
to add to the world. And we teach these kids
this so that they begin to make decisions out of
their worth and realize they're worthy through the love of God.
And so out of that, we have a tutoring program
where we tutor the kids. We do a program called
I Ready and it's focuses on reading literacy.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
And the results of that are just astounding. I understand.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Yeah, it's great. So they're they're doing the I Ready
and we test them in the beginning of the year
and then we test them afterwards and these kids are
jumping up grade levels in literacy. But not only that
they have a tutor, one to one tutor that when
they get done with their already they're reading books together.
And these tutors are building relationships and we call this
(30:08):
life on life. They're being love, they're being poured into,
which is great. Another thing that we do is if
we lose our footprint in the community, we lose everything.
And so every Thursday night we go into the community.
We call it our connect Night. We bring food, games,
bubble machines, and we literally just spend time with the people.
The moms will come outside and we use it as
(30:30):
an opportunity for relationship teachable moments, to pray for people,
laugh with people, and continue to get to know. We
also have a high turnover, right, so we have new
residents coming in, new residents going out, and you know,
obviously the trust that we've earned, we want that to
continue to go into the new families and so.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
And it takes time, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (30:49):
It does, But once you have it so powerful.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
And because they're looking for people they can trust, they
know they need that as well. So again, folks Cityfope
CLT dot org go there. Money is immediately doubled and
it'll go too. Ministries like Josh Meadow on the east
side of town for the purpose of helping kids who
are vulnerable and d Again, let me just emphasize this
as the overseer of City of Hope, that this is
a city wide problem. This isn't just the east side.
(31:14):
It is all over our city in hidden pockets of poverty.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
This is correct.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Nothing more you're going to say, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Think when we look at the corridors of opportunity, if
you're curious where those pockets of poverty are, I would
go and look on our website, Cityofope clt dot orgs website,
and then the city did an entire research on where
these pockets of poverty are. And I said earlier that
beautification in the City of Charlotte is incredible, and I'm
(31:44):
thankful for that, but also it doesn't allow you to
see the poverty in the communities.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
So Josh, when we come back, could we talk more
about reading. Because I know the statistic I quote all
the time. I learned it some years ago being a
part of the Charlott Opportunity Task Force, but that if
you can't read by the end of third grade, it
is the greatest predictor of going to prison. That's true.
Speaker 4 (32:07):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
It's just unbelievable. So to help kids be able to
be on grade reading by the end of third grade,
we can see them moving forward. And we need to
talk about Seeds of Hope as well, another part of
City of Hope, which is a scholarship program to get
these kids to go to college. And we now have
over sixty five kids in college because they've come out
of that poverty program and have now hope with true
(32:31):
upward mobility to get jobs and be self sustaining. So
let's talk about that when we come back. I'm David Chadwick.
This is one oh seven point nine FMWBT will be
right back.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Four.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful,
where your streams of abundance.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Flow, Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
When I'm found in the desert place from a walk
through the wilderness, Blessed be your name. Every blessing you.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Poor ouda turn back to prayers.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
When the darkness closes in still will sir, Blessed be.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
The name of the Lord.
Speaker 5 (34:56):
Blessed be the name.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, go Josh, Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4 (35:04):
Blessed be your.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, good singing, because God blesses us to be a
blessing to other people.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Everyone, I'm David Chadwick and this is one O seven
point nine FMWBT, Charlotte's FM News Talk. It's great being
with you. My guest d John, who's been a regular
here for the last several weeks, who is a former
CMPD officer but now oversees City of Hope, a well
run organization of vulnerable communities in Charlotte brought together for
(35:37):
the purpose off upward mobility. One of those communities is
Neighborhood Hope on the east side of town, overseen by
Josh Meadows, who's also in the community with me. Josh,
I heard you lost your granddad recently. I'm so sorry
for that because I know he was significant in your life.
He was that safety net that caught you to allow
you not to fall into the abyss and keep moving
upward towards success.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
And the cool story about it was is that my
real grandfather actually passed away before I was born, and
my grandmother married him three years before I was born.
So not only was he my grandfather, he didn't have
to be you know, I wasn't blood to him. So
the fact that he everything he did I did. I
remember harvesting tobacco with him. We lived in Leicestern, North Carolina.
(36:24):
We had no stoplights. He taught me how to paint.
Anything he did, I did. And the thing is is
he gave me the opportunity to work, make mistakes and learn,
taught me how to mow grass every like. Literally I
was with him everywhere, and so he was such a
blessing to me. And he was one of the men
that God placed in my life to teach me work ethic.
(36:47):
He served at the same church for thirty five years, David.
He was a deacon, He worked for the Gideons. He
passed out the word of God to people. And that's
the man that I had the opportunity to look up to.
And so what a blessing.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
Well, we all need mentors. I mean that my dad
and in my college basketball coach was that mentor for me.
We all need them as well. But when you get
down to the guts of living, you really need that
mentor who cannot only help you learn how to make
wise choices, but to stay in health and wholeness and
keep making wise choices. You're trying to do that for
the kids on the east side of town called neighborhood Hope.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Yes, excuse me. I always tell people opportunity who opened
up opportunity for you, and you're thankful for that person,
But then you have a responsibility to go open up
opportunity for other people. And so because I've had people
open up opportunities for me in my life, I am
(37:40):
I am, it's an obligation by God to go pay
that forward to other people and open up opportunity for
them with the same love and grace that my grandfather
showed me.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Well, we just came out of Thanksgiving and we tell
people be thankful for all God has given you. But
the truth is, as you identify God's blessings in your life,
what that should do is stir within you a need
to go give those kind of blessings away to other people. Again,
it's from Genesis chapter twelve where God called Abraham and said,
I'm blessing you, but to be a blessing to other people.
So many Christians just want to be blessed and blessed
(38:11):
and blessed and blessed and hoard the blessing inside and
d it is truly. Isn't it more blessed to give
than to receive?
Speaker 1 (38:18):
It is?
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And you've heard me say this before. We all have time, talent,
and treasure, and so the time, talent, and treasure, we
have something to give. And if you're sitting here today
saying I don't really know what I can give, if
you're breathing and you have life, you have something to
give this world. And so as we move into next year,
(38:40):
I think that going on our website, looking to see
all the different organizations that serve every day, they have
something that you can plug into. If you don't give
your funding or your money, show up. You don't have
to have any skills, but you just have to be
able to just show up. I've had the opportunity to
really just see what Neighborhood Hope does every day along
(39:03):
with the other partners we have, and every day I'm
blown away in the difference that Neighborhood Hope sets for
the community than most of the other nonprofits that I've
worked with in the city of Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
So be incarnational, show up, but we will take your money.
So if you'd be willing to give your money, folks,
it's easy just go to cityof hoopeclt dot org Again,
cityohopeclt dot org. Moments of Hope Church, the church I
pastor that just wants to give hope to people wants
to give them Moments of Hope has given one hundred
thousand dollars matching gift. If you'll go on right now,
(39:34):
your gift will immediately be doubled. One dollar becomes two,
to ten becomes twenty, one hundred becomes two hundred. And
we want to reach this one hundred thousand dollars goal
and give communities like Neighborhood Hope a large gift so
that they can continue to help feed people, especially kids,
teach them how to read better, but also be healed
in the name of Jesus, not only with good food,
(39:56):
but also by incarnational ministries where folks come alongside them
and give them hope. Josh, did I describe your ministry? Well?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
You did, you did? And I meant to say something
a second ago. When we feed our kids, we do
so with a level of dignity. We're not having and listen,
I know this helps, but we're not having canned food drives.
At Neighborhood Hope. We actually pay a lady to come
to our tutoring programs and she cooks freshly home cooked
(40:25):
meals for the kids, and we send them home with
a fresh cooked meal every time they come to tutoring,
and it's a level of dignity. You are worthy of
the same meal that my grandmother slapped together for me
in the kitchen. You're worthy of that. And so we
give them good food and we do it out of
a place of dignity.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
So just see, folks, the overall wholeness ministry that we
try to have. We try to feed them well so
that that's good brain development, which then helps them learn
how to read better, which by the end of the
third grade they can read at that level, won't go
to prison. They can then continue to move up the ladder.
Seeds of Hope is a ministry deal we talk about
this real quickly. That is a scholarship program that helps
(41:03):
these kids out of these neighborhoods like Josh's be able
to go to college.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
So Seeds of Hope is an incredible and it was
founded by your.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Wife, my wife, Marilyn yep Which.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
When you think about what we do, we want to
create pathways forward for these families and Oftentimes we can
go in and teach them how to read, we can
teach them how to eat well, we can help them
with mental health. But what is the next step? And
so Seeds of Hope has come alongside of all of
our City of Hope partners to say, once we get
(41:32):
kids to a certain level, let's help take them to
that next because education is so so important to everything
that we do and everything that Neighborhood Hope does. And
this year we had the highest application rate for City
of Hope partners in the Seeds of Hope application process.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
It's wonderful to see some sixty five kids are now
in college, some of them coming from these vulnerable communities
of City of Hope. And if you talk about upward
mobil you give kids a college education in today's environment,
most likely they'll have upper mobility, have success and not
live on the cliff, not live on the edge of poverty.
That is the how there's a holistic design to this ministry.
(42:13):
Call City of Hope, so could I plug it one
more time? City of hopesclt dot org match our matching
gift folks, Let's raise one hundred thousand dollars to help
communities like Josh Meadows and others as well. City of
Hope CLT dot org. Your gifts are immediately doubled. People
are impacted for life. We can cause upper mobility to
occur in this community holistically and in every possible way.
(42:36):
And when you do so, Jesus is honored, your neighbor
is loved, and Charlotte is made a better place in
which to live. D John, thanks for being with me today,
Josh Meadows as well. We'll have another guest next week,
Brent Marris from another vulnerable community. I look forward to
talking with you with him next week, and always remember
this is Charlotte's News Talk one oh seven point nine
(42:59):
wbt f M. Talk with you all next week
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