The WellHouse

The WellHouse is a safe haven for Women and Children who have been victims of human trafficking in Alabama. We talk with director Leah Sanderson and Junior board president Slade Smith about the services offered by Well house and about their upcoming fund raising initiatives.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
This is Viewpoint Alabama, a publicservice of the Alabama Radio Network where we
talk about the people, places andthings making a difference in Alabama. I'm
John Mounts and I'm joined today byLeah Sanderson and Slade Smith with the Wellhouse.
Guys, a welcome to Viewpoint Alabama. Thanks so much for having me.
So let's talk about the well Housewhat it is for those people who
are not familiar because it's been aroundfor a while, but know a lot

(00:24):
of people aren't familiar. What isthe well House? So the Whalehouse was
founded in twenty ten and we startedright here in downtown Birmingham. Actually took
our first resident in twenty eleven,and now we're located on a sixty three
acre campus out in Odinville, Alabama. And we are a residential program for
women and children who have experienced sexualexploitation and sex trafficking. And so you

(00:48):
provide a home for these people whothese women who have been trafficked, because
once you get into that situation,it can be difficult to get out and
you need a place to go.Yeah, and many of them are experiencing
psychological and emotional manipulation that is hardto fathom. But it makes it difficult
to leave, like you said,and so when they do, the whalehouse

(01:10):
is a safe place for them tocome. And also it's important that the
person who is likely abusing them doesn'tknow where they've gone, correct, So
the whreehouse provides that as well.So what sort of thing specifically is the
whehouse involved in when it comes tohelping, Because this is more than just
providing them with a house, right, They need food, they need clothing,

(01:30):
They need pretty much everything, don'tthey. Yeah, many of them
are coming with little to nothing ontheir backs and to their names, and
so we are providing a holistic environmentthat is meeting their physical, emotional,
mental, and spiritual needs on ourcampus. So we're providing everything from life
skills classes how to cook a wellbalanced meal all the way to financial literacy

(01:53):
and job skills training. And that'ssomething that's lacking, well, it's actually
lacking in our high schools in general. There's a lot of are not being
taught to kids that they really doneed in order to get their life going.
So these people that you're servicing andthey're they're at the house, in
addition to having material needs, theyalso have emotional needs. Too, don't

(02:13):
they. Yeah, so we're providingsome pretty robust trauma therapy on our campus.
We use methods like EMDR and microcurrent neurofeedback. Well use a lot
of letters there. What's E MD R. So it's I movement desensitation
and it's a way to help integratetrauma in the brain. And micro current
nero feedback is one of the morerecent additions to the therapy world and it

(02:38):
goes for I mean hundreds of dollarsper treatment and we're providing all of this
care for no charge to our residents. And so micro current neurofeedback actually maps
brain wave activity, and so it'shelping residents who are struggling with insomnia,
anxiety, depression, suicide ideation andreally integrating their stories into their brain where

(03:00):
they can then talk and live outtheir stories without it being so traumatizing in
the body. And these therapists arethey do they live on campus or do
you bring them in? Yeah?So they're on staff, So they come
in about the same as like ouradmin staff do. So they're every day,
they're there around eight to five andseeing each client weekly if not more.

(03:22):
So this is a pretty big operation. How many people. Do you
have on staff? We have averagearound twenty five full time staff, and
then we have some contracted work aswell. And do some of them spend
the night there because I imagine notall the needs happen nine to five,
right, So we have home coordinatorsat each home. We have two homes
for two homes for women, andeach home holds twelve women, and so

(03:45):
we have home coordinators who are sevendays on and seven days off for the
women's homes and then for our children'shome, we have behavioral support specialists,
eight of them and they have twentyseven twenty four to seven hour care,
so they actually do not ever goto bed. And so the children are
modern twenty four to seven. They'remuch higher flight risk and suicide risk.
And so that's why when you saychildren, how young are we talking?

(04:06):
Yeah? So our children's program whileHouse Child opened in twenty twenty one,
we took our first resident in twentytwenty one, and we have ten children
on campus. That's our max capacityand we've been at max capacity really since
we opened. And do you educatethe kids as well? Yeah, so
they receive education through Saint Clair CountySchools. We have two tutors who come

(04:26):
to our campus, and we havea mobile classroom there on campus for those
residents who've been there, who've beenthere with us a little bit longer.
They can have the choice to goto school in person, and some do,
but most of them are receiving onlineeducation on our campus. And I
would imagine that Wellhouse is a wonderfulplace, but it's not meant to be
the final destination for these people.You're meant to come there, get better,
and then move on to settle toa more permanent life outside. How

(04:51):
long does it usually take for somebodyto go through the program from they're there
with nothing to they're ready to goon and establish themselves and you know,
find an apartment, find a job, and that sort of thing. How
long does it usually take? Yeah, so it's different for women and children.
Obviously the kids aren't getting a jobyet, right, So for our
women's program, they begin their timewith us in the immediate shelter and that's

(05:13):
about a three months day. They'rereally gaining a lot of important documents like
social Security cards, birth certificates.Those are some of the first things that
traffickers going to take from them.And so without those things you can't get
a job, a driver's license,those important documents we need, and so
they're gaining that and so for thefirst three months they're really just kind of
getting back up on their feet andalso receiving trauma therapy like I mentioned.

(05:35):
And then they move on to thelongest phase in our program, which is
Next Steps to Freedom, and that'sabout a year long program, and they're
again trauma therapy, case management,and they're learning, Okay, what do
I want to go do? DoI want to be a cosmetologist? Do
I want to go to nursing school? Like what does it look like for
me next? And so they're alsoforming a good exit plan and so they're

(05:56):
deciding, Okay, is home safe? Do I want to get an apartment
and move to Birmingham? Do Iwant to stay in Odinville. They're discovering
what is a good option and whatchoice do I want to make? They've
rarely had choice, and so it'sreally important that they have all the options
that they that they know of andthat they get to make the choice for
themselves. A really good choice isa program we've actually built on campus in

(06:17):
twenty nineteen called Next Steps to Independenceand it is transitional living on our campus.
So we noticed a gap was theywere graduating from our program, which
is about a year and three monthsat most, and then they weren't yet
ready to be fully independent. Manyof them begin their sobriety journey with us,
and so it's very difficult after onlya year to go and be independent

(06:40):
and have a job and succeed inthat. And so our transitional living apartments
gives them kind of some buffer timethey start paying rent. They have full
time job and a car, sothey really are completely independent, but living
on our campus, so support andthe people they know are just right around
the corner. The best part aboutthis program is they pay two hundred dollars
in rent a month and then wegive it all back to them when they

(07:00):
decide to leave, So they've gota really good kind of starting saving fund.
And then again they have longer supportand so we're seeing residents stay about
two years on average in that program. Do you have any people who have
gone through the program and actually comeback to say, serve at the well
House. Yeah, so we currentlyactually have one graduate on our staff full

(07:21):
time, and that has happened hereand there. We love to employ our
graduates because they do want to giveback. And we have actually a speaker's
Bureau of graduates who have gone througha program who now go to different events
to speak about their experiences and tellmore people about what's happening in Alabama with

(07:41):
human trafficking and talk about what hashappened in their life and how they are
now doing really well. And Iimagine that's a very helpful thing to be
able to work with some of thewomen who are there, because they're able
to look across the table from themand say, hey, I was there
once. I know how it is. As opposed to reading something out of
a book, you're working with firsthandknowledge. Yeah. Yeah. And we
also employ our residents who have notyet graduated through a program called shop Well,

(08:07):
and so they're making bracelets, necklaces, earrings, jewelry, leather goods,
and so they're actually on our payrollwhile they're in our program, and
so they're able to save up somemoney that way too. And so in
that our full time staff who aresome graduates, are able to really connect
with a lot of our residents.Do you have any women there who are
mothers who brought their children with them? Yes, so the well House does

(08:28):
not allow children who are the childrenof our residents. Obviously we have children
who have been trafficked themselves, butthat children's program is not their children,
and so when that's the case,they do have somebody take care of that
child if they have custody. Manyof the women coming to our program already
don't have custody of their children.That's usually the case. If it's not

(08:50):
the case, they have someone takecare of their children for the year that
they'll be there. And a lotof these women coming from situations where they
have been trafficked by very bad people. I'm wondering, does Wellhouse get involved
in any sort of advascacy or prosecutionor anything in terms of trying to find
the people who have done this thingput them behind bars. Yes, so,
I mean obviously the goal is prosecution. However, prosecution can be really

(09:15):
difficult when you don't have good testimony, and it's really difficult, as you
can imagine, for our residents whohave been through such horrendous experiences to go
sit in a courtroom and look attheir trafficker and testify against them. And
so if it's ever going to hindertheir healing, journey. It's not something
we're interested in because our focus isthis survivor right, and so we want

(09:37):
them to heal, and if it'sever going to interact with that, then
we won't. But we have seensome really successful prosecutions happen. Our program
director of Wellhouse Child said the otherday that Well's Child has put almost six
traffickers behind bars just because of thedifferent testimonies that those girls have given.
And they obviously there miners, andso it's much easier to prosecute when they're

(10:00):
minor because there is no consent,they do not have any choice per federal
law, and so prosecution with minorsis a bit easier than our women.
And I would imagine when you're you, when a miner has to testify,
probably the courtroom situation is a littlebit different. The cross examination is different.
There's not it's not an adversarial situationlike what goes through, uh,
you know with adults, And it'sprobably not quite like what you see on

(10:22):
TV either, right, And alot of times they might not even have
to testify because they are minors andso it's just illegal all the time.
Whereas with the women, you're reallytrying to having to prove a lot of
coercion and force and whether or notthere is consent and that sort of thing
exactly. So well, house,of course, you guys need money,
like everything needs money to operate,and so you're always looking for ways to

(10:43):
support the organization. And so youhave events like I understand there's going to
be a gala. Is a galaor gala? How do you say that?
What's go back and forth? Icall it a gala just because it
kind of goes with Grace galas andthen yeah, yeah, ascidance however you
want to it. Yeah, Sothe Grace Gala. So there's this a

(11:05):
Grace Scala. It's coming up inJanuary. This is already it's already almost
Christmas time right now. I meanthe Christmas Us is playing on Magic ninety
six. So people are already makingplans. So to attend the the the
gala or gala. What do peopleneed to do? How do they how
do they go about getting a ticket? How much do the tickets cost?
All that kind of stuff. Yeah, So we have a website that we

(11:26):
put together for the gala through Idonate. So there's a website to go
there. You can buy your ticket. Through there you can sponsor donate a
certain amount for the event we have. We're very fortunate we have a lot
of financial sponsors and donors through theWellhouse that the partner with us. And
so this gala is our annual JuniorBoard fundraiser. It's all right, it's

(11:46):
our largest fundraiser for the Junior Board. It's a chance for us to partner
with the Wellhouse and spread awareness.And while this is such a dark topic,
it's it's an opportunity for us tocelebrate with the well House has done
to so many of our survivors andgraduates well. And the topic is dark,
but it doesn't but I don't thinkthat the result is dark, because

(12:07):
the result is a great thing,and these women come out and they go
on to lead a full and richlife after this. So this is just
the beginning. Yes, the OurLord does great work and turning dark things
into good things, and the Wharehouseis a prime example of that. And
so this is an opportunity for usto to obviously fundraise and bring in more

(12:31):
awareness, but at the same timecelebrate the lives that are coming through our
program and going on to live fulfillinglives. Is the is the Gala of
the primary fundraising mechanism. How manymechanisms do you have to make money that
you utilize throughout the year. TheGala is the largest for the For the
Junior board, we also have asenior board that does a lot and is

(12:52):
very well connected with spreading awareness andreaching out to organizations and communities for fundraising,
but the Gala is the largest forthe Junior Board. Yeah, for
the well House as a whole,we have another fundraising event that actually just
happened this past week and it's ourannual luncheon. So those are kind of
the two events, the Gala andthe luncheon. But then throughout the year

(13:13):
we get funding from grants, foundations, corporations, individuals, churches, just
about any avenue you can think ofwe probably get funding. So there is
on your website. What is yourwebsite? Yes, it's www dot v
dash Wellhouse two l'shou Se dot organd there's a donate button there. There's
also like gala button there where youcan click there and it'll send you straight

(13:37):
to our page to buy tickets orsponsor and if people want to do like
a church group wants to get involvedin help but there are also opportunities to
volunteer in addition to just support youmonetarily. Yes, we love volunteers.
They're really an extension of our staff. We can do what we do without
volunteers coming literally every day to ourcampus. So churches individuals who even just
feel a tug on their heart todo something with the Wellhouse can visit that

(14:01):
website and there's a volunteer tab aswell where you can learn more. Well
Slave Smith and Lisa Anderson, thankyou so much for joining me this week
on Viewpoint Alabama. Thank you,John, Thanks v and Now, as
Viewpoint Alabama continues, we turn ourattention to the issue of childhood hunger,
and joining me now with more aboutthis is Ryan Gorman. Ryan, this
issue goes by another name, doesn'tit, The issue of food insecurity.

(14:24):
One organization working to meet that needyear round making sure children here in the
US don't go hungry is Share ourStrength. Right now to talk more about
the vital mission they're on along withtheir No Kid Hungry campaign, I'm joined
by Elliott Gaskins, acting Chief ResourceDevelopment and Growth Officer at Share Our Strength,
the organization behind the No Kid Hungrycampaign. You can learn more about

(14:48):
Share our Strength at Shareourstrength dot Org. Elliott, thank you so much for
ticket a few minutes to come onthe show, and let's start with a
general overview of the work your organizationdoes and how this all got started.
Sure, and Brian, thank youso much for giving me the opportunity to
speak with you and your listeners today. So very much appreciate how you are

(15:09):
highlighting people in organizations and the communitymaking a positive difference. I f there
were many more individuals like you havingthese conversations, So thank you so much
for the opportunity. Was deeply,deeply grateful. So Share our Strength was
founded nearly forty years ago under thevery simple premise that no matter who you

(15:30):
are, no matter what station inlife, that you have a strength to
share and we found that to bea very powerful thing as we engage the
whole host of partners in our workover the last almost forty years. In
that time, it was founded bya brother it's sister Pandem Billy and Debbie
Shore, who in the early eightieswere moved very much by the famine and

(15:52):
what they were seeing in Africa interms of hunger and poverty there and decided
they wanted to create an organization toaddress those issues here in the United States.
And so out of that spirit andout of that inspiration basically on their
credit card and the basement based foundedthan creative division to what Share is today

(16:14):
an organizations committed to ensuring that childrenhave the mails they need to be successful,
whether that is breakfast launch, summerafter school, three hundred and fifty
five days a year, seven daysa week, we want to make sure
the kids have the food they needto be successful. And the growth of
this organization over the past forty years, just looking at the numbers, it's

(16:36):
been incredible, it has been absolutelyincredible. We've going from an organization to
that has been serving a handful ofhundreds and maybe thousands of kids for an
organization that are now serving millions,you know, ensuring that millions of more
kids to have access to the healthymails they need to be successful. And

(16:57):
so it's been extraordinary progress in termsof the children that we are helping and
families that we are helping, butalso progress in terms of the policy change
that we do through our advocacy efforts, and so that is also a huge
part of what we do. Youknow, we know that lasting change in
the country can happen through legislation,and so we are very committed to advancing

(17:21):
policy chains with lawmakers across the aisleto make sure that the kids have the
food that they need. In additionto that, we are also very committed
to ensuring that families have access toall those social benefits programs like snaps and
which SNAP is the one of themost effective ways to feed children and families

(17:44):
in this country. Yet there aremany families school for many reasons are not
accessing that, whether that is throughbarriers, whether that is not enough information
and awareness about programs, or whetherthat is through stigma. A huge part
of what we do is making surethat them are connected to these programs so
they can have Within me, we'regoing to focus a lot on your work

(18:06):
attempting to end hunger and more specificallythe No Kid Hungry campaign. But on
that note, when you were justtalking about your work and helping families,
can you tell us about some ofthe different programs that you have family economic
mobility, food skills, education,and then also something that we've had to
see far too often in recent years, disaster relief efforts. Yeah, appreciate

(18:33):
the question and those are all areasthat we focus on, and so one
of our core efforts is to tryto institute programs is that have the opportunity
to be long lasting and sustainable.And so only the life of a No
Kid Hungry campaign, which was launchedin twenty ten, which was our simular
all efforts to address childhood hungary inthe country, we realize that one of

(18:57):
the ways that we can do thatwas so to get more kids had breakfast.
We know though that there was alarge percentage of kids who are eligible
for free, reduced and reduced priceand everyone sees you and is a really
powerful thing in terms of a barrierfor pysos and vanis And so one of

(19:18):
the programs we help implement across thecountry that has allowed millions of more kids
to have breakfast is something called Breakfastafter the Bail where breakfast is integrated into
the school day for kids and sothey don't have to show up early.
It is integrated in the first periodand it is breakfast that is available to
all students. As you might imaginea kid that doesn't have breakfast and it's

(19:44):
not ready to want, it's notready to engage for its not ready to
be socially active in your school.So one of the levers that we person
is is just a great example thatonce these programs are implemented, that they
can exist and perpetuity in terms ofmaking sure that kids have access to the
nails they need. And I wouldjust say, you know, we're talking

(20:07):
about hunger, and we're fulfilling theneed of addressing hunger in this country,
but when you see the kid,it's so much more than that. When
you feed the kid and unlocks prinkleand unlocks of possibility, and the unlocks
the ability to change the trajectory ofa life when you feel healthy, when
you feel ready to engage in schooland athletics. Are any facets sort of

(20:30):
of the world, you know,I would say from my own personal perspective
and experience, I grew up ina situation where we didn't have all the
time access to sort of all thethings that we needed, and sometimes we
needed help with specific programs, Andfor me, it was access to those
programs that allowed me to be agreat student, to allow me to be

(20:53):
a great athlete, which in factchanged the entire trajectory of my life.
And have three chicks today or incollege or thriving all because of the foundational
pieces that were set and so that'sthe power of the programs that we're trying
to implement. We want to seekids, and we want to end the

(21:15):
hunger crisis in this country, butwe also want to make a generational impact
in the life of children. Let'stalk about your disaster relief efforts for a
moment. We're joined by Elliott Gaskin'sacting Chief Resource Development and Growth Officer at
Share Our Strength, the organization behindthe No Kid Hungry campaign. You can

(21:36):
learn more about Share Our Strength atShareourstrength dot org, and of course you
can find out all about No KidHungry at No Kid Hungry dot org.
When disaster strikes issues involving food,access to food that can become a real
problem in communities all across the country. No matter the disaster, whether it's

(21:57):
a hurricane, a flood, awildfire, fire, how do you step
in and help support those communities inthe aftermath of these disasters. Yeah,
you know, our hope, experour strength is no matter the condition,
no matter the circumstance of which childrenare not having a reliable access to who

(22:18):
we want to help mitigate That isthe same for disaster relief, and it
goes from whether ed it is somethinglike Hurricane Katrina where we showed up in
a powerful way, or other disastersthat happened throughout our country. And so
our goal is to go into communitiesand make sure the local food bank,

(22:41):
the local community agency, the resources, the gold, the funds, and
the flexibility to feed kids in anenvironment that is unusual. It's very similar
in the way that we showed upover the course of the pandemic. So
all of these things wire resources,require support, and that sort of is

(23:03):
sort of the baseline and how weshow our whether it's they're not natural disaster,
whether it's something like the COVID nineteenpandemic. One of the things that
we hang our hat on is ourability to be creative. Our a gap
may be flexible, the search giseno matter what the circumstance is. Again,
I'm Ryan Borman, joined by ElliottGaskin's acting Chief Resource Development and Growth

(23:26):
Officer at Share Our Strength, theorganization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign,
which you can learn more about andhelp support at No Kid Hungry dot org.
I talked to so many different organizationshelping feed Americans at the height of
the pandemic and then afterwards, andmany of them were telling me at the

(23:47):
time, you know, these arenew people who are coming to us.
These are people never thought they wouldneed help with food insecurity. But things
happen in life, and for manyAmericans, unfortunately, it's one incident that
could throw them into that place wherethey do need some kind of help.

(24:07):
And I think it's important to pointthat out because you know this all too
well. And this is also whyif there are those listening who are in
a position right now to help others, you know, you just never know
when it could be you in thatposition. And I'm sure there were so
many people who needed that support overthe past couple of years were thankful that

(24:33):
organizations like yours are around doing thework that you're doing exactly. And that's
the thing, you know, thereare so many people who are barely getting
by, and these are individuals whoare working hard, who may have multiple
jobs and are just not making enough. We feel a deep responsibility to help

(24:56):
all of those families in this countryor in those circumstances, to give them
a better opportunity, to give theirchildren a better opportunity to experience the fullness
and richness of what society has tooffer. So what are some of the
different ways that everyone listening can supportthe work you're doing at share our strength

(25:22):
and specifically the No Kid Hungry campaignfor sure, I mean obviously always,
you know, at the top ofthe list is financial support, whether it
is supporting community mails, whether it'sour advocacy efforts, whether it is our
education and driving awareness. That requiresinvestments, and that is the only way

(25:48):
that this work gets accomplished. Andso we love for any individuals who are
fill inspired and moved by this issueto support us in terms of financial donation,
and you can go to No KidHungry dot org to be able to
do that. And we'll call outvery specifically that on given Tuesday, the
national day, given that I'm suremany of your listeners know about November twenty

(26:11):
eighth, those who are interested inmaking the donation for our Not Kid Hungry
campaign can double their impact. Andso we have a great partner of City
who on that day are making alldonations five hundred thousand dollars. Well,
that's great. That will be anextraordinary way for folks who want to double

(26:34):
their impact to give On Giving Tuesday, November twenty eight, and it's easy
to make an impact. One dollarcan help provide a challenge and he femails
and so that would be one exampleof something that folks can do. Yes
piece, As I mentioned, advocacyis always a huge part of our efforts

(26:56):
in our work, and so asspokes are engaging writing letters to the local
representatives, to our local and nationalpolicy makers. When there are things like
snaps and other policy programs that canmake a difference, those letters, those
communications to your representatives will make ahuge difference. And the final thing that

(27:22):
I would say is spread the message. There are so many people in this
country, for whatever reason, arenot aware of the depth of this problems.
We talk a lot at Sare ofStrength about building movements. If we
are truly to end childhood hunger inthis country, we need more people engaged.

(27:44):
We need more people contributing, Weneed more people sharing our message,
We need more people getting involved inadvocacy. The more people that are involved
and engage, the better chances thatwe're going to have to make progress.
And if it's going to end hunger, truly wants and then final thing I
want to touch on, you havesome really great resources on the website No
kid hungry dot Org, including forfamilies who are food insecure. You have

(28:10):
a way for them to find freemeals. Yeah, there's a there's a
free meal finder, So you cango on our website and put your zip
code in and find all of themail site sort of in your community,
so real time data, real timeupdates to find out where to get resources

(28:34):
and how to get connected to mealsin your community. In addition to that,
you know there's educational materials, statisticsresources, things that you can share.
You can go to any of oursocial media platforms on our Instagram at
no Kid Hungry, are through ourwebsite at not hungry dot org to find

(28:56):
out more about how you cant engeed, how you can be in formed,
and how hopefully you can join usand challenging people to action. There really
is a lot of great information.Again, the website is no kid hungry
dot org. That's no kid hungrydot Org. Elliot Gaskins, acting Chief
Resource Development and Growth Officer at ShareOur Strength, the organization behind the No

(29:22):
Kid Hungry campaign. Elliott, Iwant to thank you so much for taking
some time to come on this showand share all of that really important information
with us, and for the workyou're doing at your organization helping to deal
with this incredible problem of child hungerin this country, we really appreciate it.
You've been listening to Viewpoint Alabama,a public affairs program from the Alabama
Radio Network. The opinions expressed onViewpoint Alabama are not necessarily those of the

(29:47):
staff, management, or advertisers ofthis station.