Empowering Hope: Place of Hope's Impact on 25,000+ Children in South Florida

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and thank you for tuning in to Ambassadors of
Hope.
I'm your host, charles Bender.
We're so excited that you'vetuned in to hear from local
South Florida leaders who aremaking a difference in our
community and region through ourcharity Place of Hope.
Who are we?
We're the largest, most diversechildren and families
organization spanning Palm BeachCounty and the entire Treasure
Coast.
Our goal is to help those weserve find healing and

(00:25):
restoration, leading to abrighter future.
Since 2001, place of Hope hasserved over 25,000 children and
youth in South Florida.
Place of Hope is a faith-based,state-licensed organization
providing programs and servicesto children, youth and families
to end cycles of abuse, neglect,homelessness and human

(00:47):
trafficking in our localcommunities.
None of this would be possiblewithout our Ambassadors of Hope,
the people in this communityand throughout South Florida who
use their leadership, influence, time, talent and resources to
help others.
Many have inspiring stories oftheir own that tie them
intrinsically to our mission,and we hope that their stories

(01:07):
will challenge you to get outand make a difference where you
live, work and play.
So much can grow from even justone small seed of hope.
Welcome to Ambassadors of Hope,our podcast that highlights the
inspiring stories of localleaders who are making a

(01:29):
positive impact in theircommunities.
This week, we're thrilled tobring you an episode dedicated
to the transformative power ofhope, featuring two remarkable
guests who have been with theorganization since its early
days.
Joining us today are Gina Fazioand Teresa Peake, two of the
most dedicated members of Placeof Hope, the largest and most
diverse children and familiesorganization serving Palm Beach

(01:50):
County and the Treasure Coast.
As they share their insightsand experiences, they will offer
a behind-the-scenes look at theinnovative programs, policies
and services developed by Placeof Hope over the years, which
have transformed the lives ofover 25,000 children, youth and
families in South Florida.
In this episode, we'll explorethe importance of hope in the

(02:13):
lives of those they serve andhow it has inspired them to
develop life-changing programssuch as life skills training,
educational support andcounseling, through the support
of committed staff, volunteersand our community partners.
Gina and Teresa have witnessedfirsthand the transformative
power of hope and how it canhelp us all make a positive

(02:35):
impact in our communities.
So sit back, relax and getready to be inspired by the
stories of Gina Fazio and TeresaPeake and learn how hope has
transformed the lives of thosein need in our community.
It's hard to believe that20-something years have gone by
already.
But I was present when PastorTom and Miss Donna of Christ

(02:59):
Fellowship Church announced on aWednesday night at church to
the congregation and basicallyto the world at that point, what
they were going to do to createand launch the mission of Place
of Hope, and the excitement wasapparent immediately, but also
the realization that the hardwork was about to come.

(03:20):
And I'll never forget, as weformed the committee to start
looking at how we would do, whatthe vision was, how we would
lay out the vision that God hadgiven specifically to Donna on
taking care of the widow and theorphan and those that need us
the most specifically right herein our community.
I'll never forget that weimmediately started to see how

(03:41):
we were going to do thingsdifferently and how the focus
became how do we care for thesekids that have been in multiple
placement disruptions over theyears, oftentimes no fault of
their own.
How do we take and create amodel that would be there for
the large sibling groups, andhow we would build out this
community on Northlake and startto meet immediate needs in a

(04:03):
big way.
Fast forward it's just so hardto believe that how we've become
one of the largest in all ofFlorida, at what we do and how
that mission has just taken inmore and more age categories and
groups of need, and how we runa maternity home now and an
emergency shelter and so muchhousing for the aged out and

(04:23):
homeless mothers with children.
It's just amazing.
But as God gave Donna thatvision originally, I don't think
any of us knew that it wouldgrow to the degree that it has
and to the impact level that ithas.
But it sure is a blessing, andit's been a blessing all along,
to watch God provide for thismission and this ministry.
But also one of the greatestthings has been to see how the

(04:46):
community has rallied behind it.
And that was always theoriginal idea we would be
community based, faith based,but out in the community and
bring it in the entire communityto be a part of it.
And to look now, 23, 24 yearslater, to see how many members
of our community andorganizations and foundations
and companies and civic groupsand churches and synagogues and

(05:09):
so forth that have gotten behindthis mission, it's just
absolutely amazing and so it isa blessing and I think what
makes it different is that wecan show the outcomes for our
children.
We can show the community ourstories of hope and our young
people come back and tell theirown stories of hope, and I think
, sort of the proofs in thepudding, if you will.
God's at work, he's doing atremendous thing, he's providing

(05:31):
for it and people just want tobe a part of it, and so it's
different because of theoutcomes.
It's different because we'reseeing changed hearts and
changed lives and we're seeingkids shatter statistics all over
the region at every agecategory, and especially at this
time of the season when we seethese kids graduating from high
school and our statistics arenear perfect in terms of those

(05:55):
that are supposed to graduateare and they're doing it a lot
of them with shining stars.
And so we're just grateful tothis community and what God has
birthed here and how we'realmost 25 years in total, almost
and just seeing what he's goingto do for the future, as we
just dedicated another campus,even this week, all right, well,

(06:17):
we are excited.
I'm really excited that thefirst podcast that we are
recording Ambassadors of Hopefor Place of Hope has two of the
greatest possible guests wecould have when talking about
Place of Hope and hearingtremendous stories about our
kids, and so today our guestsare part of our executive team

(06:39):
at Place of Hope also for manyyears, and so we have with us
today Gina Fazio, our directorof clinical services, and Teresa
Peake, our director of Villagesof Hope, two of our most
critical parts of what we do andthe people who represent and
work so hard at what they do tolead the organization every

(07:00):
single day.
So I'm going to look over atGina first and say Gina, tell us
a little bit about you and howlong you've been at Place of
Hope and some other things youthink our listeners might want
to hear.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Sure, well, I actually started at Place of
Hope over 25 years ago when Iheard them announce that we were
going to do something like thisin our community and I was
super excited because I was atherapist for DCF at the time
and many of the children that Isaw I would go see them and then
they next week I would go tovisit them again and they would
be removed from their home andthey had disrupted and they

(07:36):
would be at another home andthen another home.
So when I heard we were openingin our community this type of
facility and this type of agency, I was super excited and I
wrote Charles Bender a letterand asked if I could volunteer.
So I started volunteeringputting this program together
and just couldn't have beenhappier because I could see all

(07:57):
of the barriers and all of theissues in our community with
foster care.
So I was the therapist for thefirst few years at Place of Hope
.
I would start seeing thechildren as they came in and
then I transitioned to thedirector of clinical services
almost 18 years ago.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
How many organizations can say that?
And you have a really tough job.
Everything has titles,everybody has a title, wherever
they are.
But the reality is it's likeyou're in a big washing machine
every single day and you've gotso many responsibilities placed
on you there's nobody better, bythe way, at what you do, and
you're taking on essentially allof the issues with the kids and

(08:35):
primarily, the staff that areworking with and loving our kids
on a daily basis.
That right, that about rightthe washing machine that's about
right.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
That's what it feels like sometimes.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Well, we're definitely going to get into
more here in details.
But, teresa Peake, how manyyears have you been with Place
of Hope?

Speaker 3 (08:53):
So I have been here a total of come July 20 years.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
And how many can say that about an organization,
right?

Speaker 3 (09:00):
So tell us a little bit about your title and what
you do, and so I am the directorof Villages, a Whole, which is
our 18 and over program.
We used to could say 18 or 25,but 18 and over program.
I enjoy what I do here.
I actually came to Place ofHope as a relief parent.
What good friend was workingand said you need to come and

(09:23):
see about what we're doing overhere.
And he knew my love for kidsand just working with them and
so I decided to come and, likehe said, I loved it.
Once I came in for a tour andrealized, wow, this is impacting
the lives of young people.
And working at Harman SchubertNow Detention Center for over 11

(09:46):
years, I said I wanted toimpact the kids life prior to
coming into a facility such asthe detention center.
So being able to come intoPlace of Hope, do a tour, it
just my heart was already there.
And so I remember interviewingand still going back to the
detention center and so for awhole year I was there and

(10:10):
decided I'm going back to workfor Place of Hope.
So I've been here ever since.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Well, I'll say that you have both been here for a
very long time and it is exactlywhy and there are a few others
in that, in that matrix as wellit's exactly why we have the
success that we do at Place ofHope, because God blesses Place
of Hope and he uses people to doit, and consistency matters,
especially in the lives of ourkids, and that trickles down to
all the people that work on theteam and under your leadership.

(10:38):
And so the other thing I'll sayto that real quick is that we
started Place of Hope as onething and it's completely
something different now and it'sregional and it's big impact
thousands a year helped andsupported and lifted up in big
ways.
And so that's.
You all have both been therefor every single one of those
things.
I know we joke around everytime.
I say there could possibly beanother program to talk about,

(11:02):
if it's going to have the nameHope in it or not, but you guys
have been there for every bit ofit, and so let's dive in a
little bit.
I'll just start with.
You know, it's amazing to lookback over the years and I've
been here 24 now coming up onand you know, from the very
beginning of launching with thechurch, with Christ's worship
church and Pastor Tom and Donna,and God gave Donna the vision

(11:24):
for Place of Hope, as you know,and Tom's role was to kind of
take and run with it and try toget it launched.
And you know, again, I alwayslook back at we become something
so different than from thelaunch.
However, we would not have evenlaunched if it wasn't for God
putting that word on Donna andthe church taking action and
even the church outside of thetwo of them, just you know,

(11:48):
taking it on and saying we'regoing to do this.
And you know, and one of thefirst things we're going to talk
about is what's now calledneighborhood foster care or
family style foster care that wedo for the hard to place youth.
But you know, that is where itall started, right, it was.
I remember them saying you know,we have got to do the best
possible job of taking care ofthese young people while they're
in the state system and wealready know what the statistics

(12:09):
look like, we know what theirlives can look like, we know
about re-abuse rates and fostercare.
How are we going to dosomething different?
How is the church going to makea difference and have the
ability to shatter thesestatistics, and that's exactly
what we did.
So let's get into a little bitabout, maybe, some of the
different programs, withobviously the best two people on
the planet that could tell youabout them.
So, jean, I'll look to youfirst and talk a little bit

(12:30):
about what our neighborhoodfoster care is, maybe how it's
different from some of the othertraditional foster care models
and why it's such, why is theresuch a need and where we do that
at Sure, it's actually one ofthe original reasons I wanted to
come to Place of Hope, becausewhen I was a therapist in the
community, I would go out todifferent homes and that's what
I said.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
So many children were disrupting from their homes and
when we opened well, we havecampuses, which I think is the
most unique thing about Place ofHope is we have campuses and
all of our families are in thesame community.
But what that means is whenchildren, our kids, have a lot
of I don't want to say issues,but a lot of wounds.

(13:10):
They've had a lot of trauma,they've been through a lot, and
so, because they've been througha lot, the way that manifests
itself.
It comes out in behaviorsometimes and struggles and
different things, and it's notalways easy, and many families
do it, and many families do agreat job of it.
They're in the community, theytake kids into their home, but
when you have a lot of kids, itis sometimes difficult.

(13:33):
My husband and I were fosterparents for six years and it was
not easy.
It was not easy at all, and Ican see why people aren't able
to do it for a long period oftime or only able to take one or
two children and so I thinkwith our family, file stairs,
homes, being able to have 24hour on call support, being able
to have neighbors with, are allin the same situation.
So we can all help each other,call on one another, we can help

(13:55):
each other just pour into theirlives so they have a whole
community of people.
So not only when they come in dowe give them, obviously, a
place to stay and we make surethat they have food and clothing
and shelter, but then we reallyget to wrap around them and
they can be paired with a tutorand a mentor and a therapist and
a counselor, and we have achurch next door and we get to
take care of all of their needsin a community and so when they

(14:18):
do have struggles or they actout, they can lean on one
another as part of the communityto move forward and help
support each other.
And I think that's why we havesuch the least amount of
disruptions where kids.
Kids get disrupted a lot, sothey have what that means.
Their behavior was verydifficult and they had to move
from a home and we don't have alot of disruptions because of

(14:40):
the support that we are able toprovide them and I think that's
what makes us truly unique isthe support surrounding us.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, isn't that interesting too that you say
that and at the same time, we'retaking in the harder to place
kids that's actually almost atechnical term, right, hard to
place by the federal government.
I mean, we're taking the kidsthat have bounced out of
multiple foster homes, correct?

Speaker 2 (15:03):
we're taking a lot of those children that are not
being accepted to other homes,and a lot of people are scared
to take teenagers.
I mean To be honest, somepeople don't want their own
teenagers in their home.
They don't want somebody else's,they don't want somebody else's
with issues and so having teens, and then also we're able to
take a lot of large siblinggroups and keep them together.
So one of the main things a lotof siblings get separated when

(15:26):
they come into care, because alot of people don't always have
the ability to take two kids,three kids, four kids, and so
not only are childrentraumatized by it being removed
from their home, so they've beentraumatized by abuse, they've
been traumatized by neglect.
Now they're being removed fromtheir home and now they have to
be separated from a sibling.
So, being able to take oursibling groups and the majority

(15:46):
of our children on campus orcampus are in a sibling group
right now so that's an amazingthing and a big thing that makes
us unique in the campus styleis being able to take and keep
our siblings together.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
And I think the antithesis, which is proven if
you look at the stats.
A lot of people you know lookat the stats of kids who, for
instance, age out of foster careand you know what happened to
them and a lot of times it's notgreat.
The results are not greatBecause they are, but if you
look back you know those are twoof the big things that get
measured when the siblingsactually able to stay together
right, I mean, even the AMA saysthat they should be able to, if

(16:19):
possible, be together, becausethe traumas that even come with
removal already are enough.
And then you get separated fromsiblings.
And then you look at the factthat we've taken in kids and you
know we don't need to even makethese kinds of things up, but
we've had kids that have been innine and 10 foster homes.
We've had kids that have beenin 40 foster homes before
they've gotten to us.
And so to see those kinds ofresults that we talk about with
those, you know, knowing whatthat in the foster care side of

(16:41):
what Place of Hope does,neighborhood foster care, that's
even that much more amazing.
So glory to God for that andjust so grateful for the model
of our cottage parents and theconsistency and all the little
things that we even sometimesforget to talk about, like
family vacations in the summerand after school activities.
I just took a picture with oneof our kids today that's

(17:01):
graduating and he just turned 18over the weekend and he's
staying with us.
He's just an amazing young manand his life's been transformed
with us in so many differentways.
But you know, it's reallybecause what you all do and you
support our foster families todo what they do and simply not
rocket science, right, but justcreating a home like face filled

(17:22):
environment where they canthrive, and that's exactly
what's happening.
So maybe throw a story orsomething at me that are us and
our listeners about.
You know how we bring that hopeand how that gets ushered in in
that setting.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Well, that particular child that you're talking about
, I actually remember seeing hisprofile and I actually I didn't
accept him when I first saw itbecause I didn't think we could
meet his needs and I actuallythought he would need a higher
level of care because, to bevery honest, he didn't look so
good on paper.
He had all these diagnoses, hewas on four different type of
medications, he had a DJJbackground or, if you don't know

(17:56):
, juvenile justice, and he hadan assault charge on him and I
thought, okay, I think he mightneed something more restrictive
than what we can provide.
They called me and just beggedme to give him a chance and so,
of course, I said okay and hehas been with us for almost four
years.
This child is no longer onmedication, he's graduating, he

(18:18):
just got bright futures, he'sgot straight A's and he's doing.
He has a job.
He's had a job for almost twoyears and he's doing so well.
His foster parents actuallywant to keep him a little bit
longer to help with thetransition into independent
living and it's just an amazingtransformation.
He doesn't even look like thesame child I forget when he

(18:38):
first came in, because he lostmaybe 50, 60 pounds.
He's been playing sports, andjust doing so well, you don't
even recognize him as that samechild anymore.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, and I was just in an event with him and just
watching him look people in theeye and shake their hands.
He's dressed up with a tie onand just a different person and
we know that that's the power oftransformation and God just
helping like he does with all ofus.
But just to see that happen inthis setting is just so
rewarding.
T, I'm not letting you off thehook here.
You got to give us a little bitabout, maybe when you were,

(19:10):
relief parenting and what yourecall about this side of, even
though you're running somethingalmost completely different.
But you also get a lot of ourkids.
If they're not adopted, theydon't go home through permanency
that way they end up in yourprogram that you run at villages
.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Absolutely.
I just think it's a lot ofthings that Gina was definitely
talking about and having theopportunity of actually working
into the home itself and seeingthe kids transition from being
whether they're 15 and then nowturning 18 and see that what
that transition looks like.
I think prior to leaving one ofthe campuses under 18 and now

(19:49):
being able to transition into afacility such as Place of Hope
now villages of Hope at thefirst, I could really say seeing
our first young lady transition.
Of course she didn't go intoPlace of Hope at the first
because we didn't have villagesof Hope at the time and to just
see her transition, yes, sheknew she had the love of all of

(20:10):
the staff from villages I'msorry, from Place of Hope.
However, when we were able toactually have our own villages
of Hope, she was able to comeand still feel the same love.
But to be able to put a youngadult that's been getting all of
the love and going through thetrauma that they've actually

(20:31):
went through to say, okay,you're going to be out on your
own.
She wasn't ready and so we wereable to see that and say you
know what?
We have to do somethingdifferent.
And, charles, you mightremember, you were like, huh, we
got to do something better thanthis.
You got to be able to have ourown, where we could just kind of
continue to give them that loveand support right here together

(20:52):
, and so we were able to do that.
Maybe a year or two after ouryoung lady first aged out, we
were able to now have a villageas a hope of our own to say you
know what we want you to notonly transition from Place of
Hope, but now you're going intoVillage of Hope, and with that,
we've been able to see a lot ofour young adults be impacted by

(21:13):
mentors, tutors, gettingaccountability.
You know they still need theaccountability 18, but still
want accountability.
Some don't, of course, but somedo, and they still know that I
have not only a helping hand upbut a helping hand out, and so I
just think to see an 18 yearold depending on where that

(21:33):
trauma affected them at, they'restuck, they might be 18 and age
.
However, when we see them inaction, you want to know that
they might be 15, because that'swhere the trauma took place at.
The great part about Village ofHope, though, we're able to
meet them where they are, youknow, and get them to where they
need to go.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Bridge to success.
I think that's one of myfavorite things about, and one
of the things I'm most gratefulfor about Place of Hope, our
board of directors and how Godblesses us to be able to go do
the next thing.
Because what if we couldn't?
Or what if we didn't orcouldn't have created Place of
Hope on our own?
It would be a completelydifferent landscape.
Imagine being one of thoseyoung people who is, you know,

(22:16):
now finding some consistency,like the young man that we were
just talking about four yearswith us, and then, all of a
sudden, he's faced with nowwhere do I go?
At 18, I'm going to literallyalmost fall off the cliff,
because everybody, everybodyneeds a smoother transition and
a bridge to get to that nextlevel.
And that's one of my favoritethings about our board and the
mission and all the people whosow in to support Place of Hope

(22:37):
over these years is that they'renot just okay with it, they're
excited about the next thing.
They're right behind and wefind the people to step up the
volunteers, the tutors, thementors, the funders, all of it.
And, by the way, I also want tosay we could probably sit here
for hours.
I know for a fact we could, andwe're probably going to, like
kick ourselves after to say, whydon't we talk about that story
or this story?
Because there are so many and,for those that are listening,

(23:00):
they want to look atPlaceHopecom and see our stories
of hope.
That's a great place to look,because those are young people
that have come back and toldtheir stories willingly about
how that they were impacted here, and there's probably a
thousand more of those right,and so that's just such a
blessing.
One of the things that alsopresented itself after years of
operating and trying to do ourbest at what we do is that we
were finding and we were gettingreferrals.

(23:21):
We were getting calls from theschool district, from the child
welfare system, from the judges,from other places about
pregnant teenagers who hadnowhere to go, and so, as a
result of having this kind ofenvironment where we felt we
could go to our board and say,hey, we've got to do something
about this, let's pray about it,let's see what we need to do to
structure it, let's find outwho would be interested in

(23:41):
helping us do it financially,and once those hurdles were by
us, okay, jeannie, now you gotto put a program together, and T
you've always been a big partof helping with that program as
well.
And so let's talk to you alittle bit about our maternity
care, our Joann's College, which.
What exactly does it do?
How does it interrelate withthe child welfare system and

(24:01):
otherwise, and even humantrafficking survivors?
Let's talk about that a littlebit.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Well, at the time, there was only one bed in Palm
Beach County for a girl whofound themselves pregnant in
foster care, and it was alwaysfull.
It was always full.
So if there was a child whofound themselves pregnant in
foster care, they had to leavethe county, which meant they had
to leave their school, leaveanybody they ever knew that was
close to, and they had to goeither to Tampa or North Florida

(24:26):
or Tallahassee or out of thestate.
So when we opened Joann's andwe opened a six bed maternity
home, what a blessing for thesekids.
So we have the same model,house parent model.
We also, though, have a lot ofextra support because there are
teenagers and they don't havefamilies.
So imagine yourself you're infoster care, you're a teenager

(24:47):
and now you have found yourselfpregnant.
So in that program we have afull time family support worker,
a full time case coordinator,we have parents and staff that
love on them, but really, ourgoal in there is the same thing
we want to love them, we putthem in, they go to school, we
have parents in classes,independent living classes, we
give them education, and I meantalk about transformations.

(25:07):
I remember one girl again.
I actually didn't accept her atfirst because she had, like you
were saying, 47 placements fromage 14 to 16.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Wait, say that one more time, just in case somebody
didn't hear that.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
She had 47 placements from age 14 to 16.
So I looked at her paperworkand it literally said disruption
, disruption, runaway,disruption, disruption.
So I was like I don't think wecan meet her needs, I don't
think we can take care of her.
So the dependencies casemanager calls me and says can
you just interview her?
Will you just give her a chance?
So I talked to her and I saidtell me why you want to come

(25:45):
here and what would be differentfrom 47 other placements.
And she said to me well,pregnancy changes a lot.
Please give me a chance.
Okay, well, now I have to takeher because, like, you can't say
no to that.
So we took her in and I willnever forget.
Like two weeks later she stoodup from the table and she said

(26:05):
this place is a gold mine.
This place is a gold mine.
And she also said how come noone's ever told me about God
before?
Why didn't anyone ever tell me?
And it was such an interestingtransition to watch because she
had been in a lot of otherplaces.
So, to her being in this place,she knew the difference.
And I always say that, like ifwe didn't make a huge difference

(26:27):
in a child's life or our placedidn't feel different.
We did something wrong.
So that's always my goal is forour kids to feel loved and safe
and feel like they didsomething.
This child actually ended up.
She graduated from high school,she got her degree, she had her
baby, she got a job.
She even got a.
She got promoted because shehad her jobs along for a manager

(26:47):
.
She got baptized.
She just she dedicated her babyat church, at Christ Fellowship
and just talk about it, andstayed with us for over two
years before transitioning out.
And it was.
It was quite something to watch.
It was such a blessing to be apart of watching that transition
.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
It's amazing because we, you know, for a lot of
reasons we're not confidentiallyout at such a.
We can't always tell the fourpart of the story of like the
details where a lot of our youngpeople have come from.
But thankfully we can stilltell the story.
But I think it's hard even fora lot of listeners to understand
how dire the situations are forsome of our young people when
they get here.
I've always said like, if youknow, if you read the Palm Beach

(27:23):
post and it's flattered on thefront page or some other big
newspaper in Florida, like inMiami or wherever there's a good
chance, a lot of those kids areplaced with place.
So you get a good idea of whatour kids have been through.
And there's just so muchcriminal activity surrounding
them, there's so muchpornography, there's so much
just dysfunction as a whole insome of these home environments
that they're coming from and youcan imagine then it's like

(27:43):
starting at zero and then youthen you can then get a young
lady who might be 12.
She might be 14 and she'spregnant and a lot of times her
parents have just kind of almostdisowned them and just said
whether they're in the system ornot.
And now what we're saying isit's kind of like villages too,
and in ways there's a villagesof hope sort of program aspect
to our Joanne's Cottage,maternial, because we always say
to them, or if we say to eachother like hey, you're not only

(28:07):
going to have to figure out away to bridge successfully for
yourself and become an adultright away, but you're also now
responsible for someone else,and that you know it's a
blessing, but it's also a reallydifficult thing to make happen.
Any input on that one there T,because you've been a big part
of it over the years.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
I mean it goes along with what Gina was saying even
when you start looking at theirbackground and I always like to
say this, and I say it all thetime, that we, when we get calls
we get various calls we don'tdiscriminate.
And so I like to say thatbecause we don't.
And so if we looked at abackground, of course we might

(28:45):
say no, you're not coming, oryou just not a fit for the
program.
But we try to give as manypeople as possible, or young
adults as possible, maybe asingle mom, maybe those that are
coming from the maternity home.
We knew what their backgroundwas, but because of the love,
the support that they're getting, they can transition from the

(29:06):
maternity home and come over tothe villages and receive the
same love that they're getting.
So it's not like a break inwhat they've already received.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
I love that too, because maybe people don't
realize that, wow, you could bein the maternity home one day at
various ages, and then all of asudden, you've done the program
, you've learned how to parent,you're doing a great job and
it's time to move to the nextlevel.
Well, we have that next level atPlace of Hope and that is
Villages of Hope.
But it's also a very specificpart of it and we're probably
going to talk about that alittle bit here soon too.

(29:37):
But, like with our mommy and mecottages, just knowing, like
again what we said about thatyoung kid that aged out, had all
this trauma and now he'sworried, or she's worried again
about where am I going now whenI'm 18?
But they don't have to worrylike that at Place of Hope
because, again, God's allowed usand our support bases allowed
us and our borders allowed us tokind of touch all those
different areas where we hadthis seamless continuum of care.

(29:59):
The other thing I love aboutthis maternity home and Joanne's
cottage and what we do overthere and Villages of Hope is
that we're teaching the nextgeneration to not repeat so.
We're teaching them how toparent because we don't want
them to lose their children tothe foster care system.
There's no upside whatsoever,whether it's short term, long
term, none of it.
We want to teach them how to doa great job to where they have

(30:21):
success in their lives and theirkids have success as well.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think one of the other things that's really
important to note and peopleprobably don't understand this
unless they have lived it thelevel of anxiety that our kids
have when they have beenhomeless or they don't know
what's going to happen next orwhere they're going to go, or
where they're going to get theirnext meal or how they're going
to provide that stays with themfor so long so to be able to

(30:46):
transition to I'm safe, I havefood, and I know it's not
something most of us think abouton a daily basis, but we take
in a lot of homeless kids.
So when we take them in and wefind they're hoarding food in
their rooms or they're eatingsuch a large amount of food at
first they don't actually knowwhere their next meal is coming
from.
That's the experience thatthey've had, so it takes a long

(31:08):
time for them to get used to.
Ok, I actually have a meal, I'mgoing to have another meal Now,
I'm pregnant or I'm going tohave a baby on top of it.
So when we start with them, westart early when they first get
there, showing them villages ofhope.
For most of them that don't, andright now our maternity home is
full.
We have six girls in there andnone of them actually have

(31:29):
families that they could returnto.
So we start with showing themvillages of hope.
Look, this is what you can lookforward to.
It takes that anxiety away.
So when you graduate, we wantyou to graduate from high school
, we want you to go to the nextthing, like a trade college.
We want to lay all that out foryou and this is where you can
live and this is what your homewill be, and your baby can come

(31:51):
with you.
And again, we don't want torepeat the cycle.
So we're constantly withclasses, with teaching.
But it also takes when you takethat anxiety away which, again,
most of us don't have, so wewouldn't understand it they're
not actually able to get to thenext level of thinking about
what they want to do, havingyour basic needs not being met

(32:11):
or knowing where you're going togo or next meal.
So when we take that away, thenthey're really able to focus on
OK, that part of my life istaking care of.
Now I can do the next thing.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Right, absolutely, because I mean, think about it
just so the kids that come intofoster care.
We've seen so many cases ofkids hoarding food, because they
come in and they realize, wow,this is awesome, we're eating
dinner as a family and I've gotbreakfast, lunch, dinner snacks,
but not knowing that tomorrow'sgoing to look the same way and
they don't know where they mightbe tomorrow because they've
seen otherwise.

(32:42):
And so the consistency, whichis one of the things we started
talking about, is so key and socritical to showing them not
just telling them that they'regoing to be successful, but
showing them by having abeautiful place to live, being
surrounded by great people,having the consistency of simple
things, like you said, we don'teven think about, like meals
and clothing to wear to schooland all those things, and
someone to work with you to makesure you're getting the best

(33:03):
grades you possibly can, becausethat's where your part of where
your future is tied.
You know, one of the things Iforgot to even talk about is
that we've been blessed withover the years, too is that our
seven stars, which at one pointwas an emergency shelter and is
now just a very longer term homefor a lot of really hard to
place boys.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthat because it exists on our

(33:23):
packs and campus along with theneighborhood foster homes, but
it's a little bit of a differentthing A lot of people don't
even realize.
You know we have so manylong-term supporters, which is
another blessing to play, so ourdonors stay with us for years
and because we can prove to themwhat we're doing with their
money and the outcomes and soforth.
But still a lot of those peopledon't even know what's seven
stars.
What is that?
And maybe talk a little bitabout why that's different, who

(33:45):
that population is.
And one of the things I don'twant to forget is that
throughout all of our differentprograms and locations you know
we're serving anywhere, I think,and you can talk to this, speak
to this Gina about, and you cantoo, teresa about how many of
these young people have beentrafficked.
You know whether that's sextrafficking or labor trafficking

(34:06):
, and because we had this widebase of programs and supports,
we're able to serve, I think,daily now anywhere between eight
to 12 of them in these variousprograms.
So maybe wind that in a littlediscussion quickly about what is
seven stars and why we need tohave that.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
So seven stars did start as an emergency shelter
for boys because all of them atthe time had closed in the
county and they came to us andsaid we need you to open a
shelter.
And so we were like, okay, wewere gonna open a group home.
And we ended up opening anemergency shelter.
Emergency shelter's supposed tobe 30 days.
What happened was our kidsstarted to stabilize and stay so
much longer that we actuallychanged it to a group home where

(34:43):
they could stay long-term.
It's recently changed againinto an at-risk group home for
trafficking.
Like you were talking abouttrafficking.
It's such a.
You know Florida ranks third inthe nation.
We're actually right nowserving in different in all of
our different programs acrossthe board, seven victims of
human trafficking in differentprograms and that's a whole
nother ballgame that we have towrap around them and provide

(35:04):
different services for them.
But with seven stars it didturn into an eight bed group
home and it does run a littlebit different because the boys
that we take are definitelyharder to place.
They may have DJJ, they allhave had multiple placements and
I know this is gonna soundterrible, but no one else has
wanted to take them in, so theyhave not been able to be placed
anywhere.
But what has happened is a lotof our boys have come and

(35:26):
they've been able to becausewe've had the same staff Some of
our staff have been there forover 10, 15 years and the
consistency with the staff andthey're so good, so they've done
so well and they've stabilized.
We could actually move them intoa family foster home, but they
don't want to.
They wanna stay at seven stars.
They want to continue becausethey've grown to love the staff
and they feel like I'm safe here.

(35:47):
I'm not gonna be able to gohome, I'm not gonna be able to.
I might not get adopted, so Imight as well just stay because
here there's structure, I'mloved, I'm taken care of, and
they do have.
Some of them have backgroundsand are more difficult to place,
like I said.
So we've really wrapped aroundthem too and done the same thing
.
You go to school, you have ajob, you go to tutoring, you go

(36:10):
to mentoring, you have atherapist.
But a lot of them have beenplaying sports and we've just
like in the community, some playfootball for their high school
and soccer and some we've hadthis amazing athletes that have
turned out or someone did theband and was great at it, and
they've been able to actuallystabilize at seven stars and
they've stayed there longer thanthey have any other placement
that they've been.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
That's such an amazing testimony to the staff
down there to being able to doall those other things while
you're in this sort of holdingpattern.
That's the essence of the wordshelter Short term.
It's not meant to be long term,but yet we've been able to
stabilize these boys as a teamin so many instances to where
they haven't had to and maybethey can't on paper, as you
always say, some of these kidslook like they're really tough

(36:53):
and they're gonna be tough inthe house, and so a lot of
places, other places andfamilies won't take them in and
so they end up.
Although you never want anyyoung person in foster care for
a long period of time, right,but we know the reality is, even
though that's the case, a lotof them there is no, there are
no options.
So to be able to put them insuch an environment with staff,
do what they do and have themengaged in the community and

(37:14):
stabilize and with a future, isabsolutely amazing.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
We took a boy the other day there and I did his
interview and he was homelessand he was actually living with
his mom in a hotel.
He had not been to schoolbecause he worked at a local
fast food to pay for the hoteland then his mom abandoned him
and left him in the hotel.
He was a teenager and so hekept working and tried to eat at
work all the fast food that hecould and tried to make enough

(37:41):
money to pay for the hotel, buthe couldn't.
So he did get arrested forstealing and he was very
embarrassed to tell me that, buthe was stealing food because he
was hungry and most of us can't.
Most of us could look at a paperand see DJ J.
They got arrested.
He was hungry so he stole food.
He called the police himselfand asked to be taken into
foster care, and so now we'vebeen able to get him back in

(38:03):
school.
He said I wanna get a job.
He's been going to our gym andworking out with our fitness
center.
He's already lost 19 poundsbecause eating all fast food and
junk and gained some weight andhe's just, he's like, so
excited and again, he's one ofthose kids who didn't look good
on paper, however.
Great kid so happy to be ableto take him and he's going to be

(38:24):
moving to our villages of hopethis month.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
That's awesome.
To the transition I was gonnasay T you mentioned earlier DJ J
in that term was anotherjuvenile justice and you have a
big background in that and youcan speak to the model of like
kind of who were taken in thereat seven stars and how that
makes a big difference because,boy, it takes a heck of a staff
down there to.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
Absolutely, and I think why Gina was talking.
It just really shows who,villages, what place of hope as
a whole organization, what we do.
And just to why she was talking, I was thinking of a young man
who's actually graduating.
But then the next week and hecalled me prior to coming here
and said where are you?

(39:05):
I have your ticket for mygraduation.
And he too came through theseven star shelter.
But to know that he'sgraduating, and not only
graduating but already lookingat colleges, you know.
And so I'm really excited to saythat it shows the longevity of
the staff that's there, thatshows the love that they put

(39:27):
into those young men, eventhough they might have a wrap
sheet that just won't, it don'tmatch up with that individual.
But because of the love andbecause of all of the things
that we put into all of ourresidents that come into our
care, they feel it and they knowthat they're getting that love.
And so, like you said earlier,coming in from the DJJ

(39:49):
background, the Department ofJuvenile Justice background, you
just see a lot that youpossibly have to look with a
different lens, and not onlyfrom our lens but from God's
lens.
And when we look from God'slens you're like, wow, this
paperwork says one thing, but ifwe're looking through the lens
of God, it actually says I haveto see this kid as a different
person, and so that's why wewere able to see these young men

(40:13):
become successful.
And so it's a great thing whenwe can look at the lives that
we're touching on a daily basisand again, just to see this
young man go from seven starshelters to now graduating and
looking to be a chef one day.
We're really excited about whatwe do.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Redemption is real, right, absolutely, and we're
just so grateful to have allthese different pieces creating
this seamless continuum likewe've talked about over the
years, because they're just suchtremendous needs.
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(41:16):
Venture.
One of the things I want to jumpinto now is our aging out of
foster care, otherwise homelessuse, which, even that, has grown
exponentially.
It's probably one of ourbiggest areas of growth.
A lot of people don't know thatPlace of Hope is leading this
region in the development of new, affordable, transitional

(41:37):
housing.
I know we say it's important tosay both those words, because
it's not just affordable andit's not just transitional.
It's affordable, transitional,it's a hand up program.
The idea is we're going toprovide high quality housing
with dignity, with a lot ofrequirements and personal
responsibility and we always saywe're going to be in your
business and so that's part ofthat bridge that makes it even

(41:59):
possible for whether they werewith us and they aged out of
care because nobody's reallyready to just typically just
make it, especially if you havetrauma in your past at 18.
But then there's these otherpeople that we've over time
realized we needed to help thesesingle moms with kids that are
dependent children, whetherthere's domestic violence or
drug abuse in the background,whatever it is.
All of a sudden they're tryingto make it on one limited income

(42:19):
and now we see a lot of thosekids get removed, thrown in the
foster care system.
Mom can spiral after that andthat's not the answer.
And the answer is qualityhousing with programs and
wraparounds, and so let's talk alittle bit about that program,
village of Hope, and the whothat we get to serve there.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Absolutely so.
The who are the ones that wewere previously talking about
that might find themselveshomeless or being a couch potato
with some friends, or they justdidn't have what the average
person would have with theparents in the home, and so they
might have the grandparentsthat are raising them and they

(43:00):
still need some assistance.
And so those are the who's thatwe actually serve, those young
adults that just need a littlebit more support, and so we've
been able to actually serve.
We started off again.
It's been over 20 years, so westarted off just serving the 18
to 25 year old population, andso with that, our first priority

(43:20):
were those that were aging outof foster care.
And then we begin to open it upfor a mother with maybe one
child, and then possibly two,depending on space and
availability at the time, andthen also we open it up again to
those that were in thecommunity that found themselves
18 or a little older but theyneeded more assistance, and so
with that we were able to openit up.

(43:42):
And so I think that's why Ilove Village as a Hope so much,
because we're able to give thewraparound services to those
that say, hey, I am a littleolder but I still need help.
I still need the support, andone of the things is I think we
kind of learned this early on isthat you always get someone
when you come in, bring a youngadult in to do an interview.

(44:04):
They're asking about the rules,and so we learned early on that
it's not rules.
We do have expectations, as awonderful program that we are,
and so we always tell them yeah,there are expectations.
You're expected to go to work.
You're expected to.
If you have not obtained yourhigh school diploma, we want to
come around you to make surethat if you can get your diploma

(44:25):
, we want to help you get yourGED.
We want to make sure that ifyou want to do a trade or do
post-secondary education, wewant to be able to help you out
with that as much as possible sothey're able to get these
services.
So it's not just giving themthe affordable housing, but want
to make sure that they'retransitioning into adulthood as
much as possible with all thesupport that they can possibly

(44:48):
need and have readily accessible.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, I mean it's amazing.
It compounded by the fact thatpost-COVID and we saw all these
folks move into the great stateof Florida paradise.
And what did that do?
That jacked the fair marketrent standards through the roof.
It made less places available,forget about ownership.
In some ways, for some of theyoung people, this is something
that affects all of middle classand under that right.

(45:15):
So how much more for our youngpeople that are aging out and
they need a place to live.
They don't want to have toleave here.
They've got family, they've gotties, they've got play, soap,
friendships, they've got allthat.
And they want to live here inparadise too.
And it's gotten harder andharder, compounded by the fact
that again, with the traumas intheir backgrounds and the
placement disruptions, et cetera, a lot of them aren't ready to

(45:36):
just make it at 18.
Nor should we expect them to.
So what a blessing that we'vehad people step up to now.
We have affordable transitionalhousing for these populations
in Boca, we'll soon have some inWest Palm, we're building some
right now in Stewart and we havesome just down the street from
here in Lake Park Gardens.
I mean, it's amazing.
We're the largest provider ofthat by far now, and a lot more

(45:56):
coming as a result of ourcampaign in this generous
community.
Gina, what do you want to sayabout that?

Speaker 2 (46:01):
real quick, Well, I think it's really important and
I think about it from adifferent perspective now
because I have an 18-year-oldand I think what my 18-year-old,
who doesn't have trauma, whogrew up with parents, he would
not be ready to turn 18 one dayand be on his own the next day,
and he had none of that.
And I think about that a lotbecause I'm so thankful to
villages.
So when we have teenagers inthe family foster homes and we

(46:23):
realize they're not going to getadopted and they're not going
to go home, we start reallytalking about education, getting
your degree, getting yourdiploma, doing something
different.
And if any of you have seenstatistics for kids who age out
of foster care, they're not good.
The majority don't graduatehigh school and only 2%
nationwide go to college.
We are killing our statistics.

(46:44):
So we have had every senior isgraduating the last, I don't
know the last few years, five,six years.
Every senior that we've had hasgraduated from high school,
which doesn't sound like a superbig deal If you go.
Yeah, my kid's graduating highschool.
That's the expectation, but forour kids it's a huge deal
Because they were never.
Some of them.
It's the first person in theirfamily to have graduated high

(47:06):
school.
It's the first time that theyhad a job and then all of these
things, so it actually is areally big deal and we've got
kids go into college and kids goand do trade schools and it's
just been an amazingtransformation for them that
they would not have necessarilyhad, nor was it expected, like
they didn't ever even think thatthey would graduate from high
school.
That wasn't even on their radar.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
And I just think too you think of these moms with
these children and for us it'syeah, it's an affordable
transitional housing program.
It's also a child abuseprevention model.
It's a way to keep these kidsout of the system, because we
can keep the state and othersthat are responsible for making
sure the welfare of a child.
But if we can get them intostable housing and, by the way,

(47:48):
everybody knows they pay aprogram for you they have to
have skin in the game.
They've got a lot ofaccountability.
But what we're doing is just thestructural part of this is
we're providing this model ofsafe, stable, dignity-filled,
beautiful, quite honestlyhousing that we've been able to
provide for them.
But, as you know, we'rechecking on how they're taking
care of it.
We're training them on how toclean and how to keep up and why
that's important and how peoplehave made this available for

(48:11):
them, and it's, at a way,reduced rent level that that's
what makes it even possible forthem to actually go and focus on
the things that will get themto a living wage and better,
because we see the moms or eventhe young people that come in
and all of a sudden they'reworking two and three minimum
wage jobs just to make ends meet.
Well, where are you going tofind time for school?

(48:31):
And so that is part of ourrequirement.
Right, we have the educationalrequirements, but then the whole
idea is to get them to thatnext level so that they can
successfully move on and makeroom for the next young person.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
Absolutely, you were going to say something I think
it's good to know too for allour listeners that we don't just
give.
We want to make sure that theyunderstand that all of our
residents, when they come in,they are required, they have
requirements that they have todo and, like you said, charles,
it's one of those things thatthey know, that these things are

(49:06):
here for you.
But we want you to understandthat we are not.
I might not, I probablyshouldn't say it, but I do tell
them the things that you'repaying us.
We want you to just learn theethics of how to pay, what a
program fee would look like or,when you go out, when you have
to pay rent, what that wouldreally look like.

(49:27):
So we want to come alongsidethem to let them know.
We've had young people thatactually come into the program
that do not know how to paytheir rent or program fee.
They don't know what that lookslike A budget, all of it
Exactly and so we have to dobudgeting with them.
We have to do those certainlife skill things with them to

(49:47):
bring them to a place where theyfeel confident enough to know
that when I leave Village as aHope, I'm able to actually live
on my own, I'm able to pay mybills.
I'm able.
So, and then I like to thinkwhich is really good that we
have young people that actuallycome in, might be walking, but
they leave with their own carbecause they save their money,

(50:08):
they put their money, theyfollowed the budget that they
were actually put on and theysaid you know what I want?
A car.
And so they work towards it.
They meet their goals.
They come in with short termand long term goals that we're
coming alongside them To makesure that they actually meet the
goals while they're there, andso I think it's important that
we all come around them, and itreally does take a village.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
And one of my favorite things, too, is our
leadership and career days,which ties into our independent
living, skills trainings and soforth.
But it's the exposure to what'sout there, to what they can
become if they decide to.
And we have these volunteers,business leaders that come in.
Some are entrepreneurs, someare running construction
companies, some are plumbers,some are bankers, some are
lawyers, whatever it is.
They come in and the kids getto see and meet these people

(50:50):
organically and they're there,they're not paid to be there,
they're all volunteers and we'vejust seen some amazing things
Because we're broadening thehorizons.
And one of the things we'regoing to talk about in a minute
is our education and enrichmentoverlay and what that really
means to place open, how, in mymind, everything we do at Place
of Open Village kind of fallsunder the umbrella of, in some
ways, education and enrichment,because that's like the overlay

(51:11):
of all the good stuff.
It's all the things that we doby bringing in the community to
feed into their lives.
One of the things that alwaysdrove me nuts before Place of
Open some of the places I workedand did social services and so
forth was just this idea thatyou say to a kid you can become
anything you want Johnny orAlice, you can be.
But if you don't show them,what do you got?

(51:33):
So it's so easy.
Words are free, so it's so easyto do that, but the reality is
we show them, we give them theopportunities with the
accountability and that hand up,and then we see them take
advantage of it.
It's awesome Gita talk a littlebit real quick about human
trafficking survivors.
Like, how does that even happen?
People think, well, I mean, weknow we have a pretty porous

(51:53):
border and so forth and peopleare coming and there's
trafficking that's going on atprobably the most alarming rates
ever in this nation.
But we don't even see mainlythat what we see is more of a
domestic scenario that's takingplace in these young girls and
boys' lives.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
We see both.
We definitely see both and it'sbeen, I think.
We've always served traffickingvictims.
We just never caught ittrafficking, and we've had it
for the entire time.
But then when trafficking kindof the word became on the scene
and we became more aware, Iwould say we realized the rate
that it was going.
And now, like I said before, wehave seven kiddos that we take

(52:30):
care of that have been victimsof human trafficking, whether it
be sex trafficking or labortrafficking, and it's really
what they have been through.
I mean, I've been a therapistand a clinician for almost 25
years.
Reading what I read in theirshelter orders, you almost can't
read it.
It's that difficult to read,it's that difficult to even look

(52:53):
at and imagine what they'velived through.
So we really wrap around themin a different way.
We don't label them in any wayso that other people know, oh,
this child has been through this, but we definitely provide them
a trauma therapist, a certainmentor, a different type of case
management and wrap around themin a different way Because

(53:14):
their trauma not that one traumais more significant than
another, but the way they havelived and what they have been
through it's just been a lotdifferent and pretty horrific
circumstances.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
I think I like what you said, that we've always been
serving, for these 20-somethingyears, these human trafficking
survivors.
But until somebody at somelevel somewhere started calling
it, that nobody really realizedit right.
But we just knew that there wasrape, that there was all kinds
of really, really bad scenariosfor our kids and they would come
into our care.
Of course we would try to dealwith all the therapeutic needs

(53:45):
that they have and have, but itwas always different because it
was so traumatic at such a highlevel.
But now you look now and youread the same sort of case file
about a kid and then it'scodified differently but it's
always existed, it's always beenout there.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
And it is different.
Some definitely have come fromanother, have been trafficked
from another country, andthey're here and, to be honest
with you, they don't want to behere.
They didn't like the way theygot over here.
They didn't ask to come here,they want to go back home.
Some of our kiddos don't speakEnglish, so they're not only in
a different country, they'rehaving to learn a different
language, they're having to goto school where they weren't in

(54:18):
school before.
And then some are domestic.
I mean, I remember getting agirl.
She was 12 years old and shecame in and she had specifically
asked I need to see thedirector.
So she came in to see me andshe said look, lady, you have a
very nice place here, but Idon't belong here.
She said I know that paper saysI'm 12, but I'm not 12.
I have a husband, who's 37, whopays the bills in the house and

(54:42):
I need to get home.
And I remember looking at herand I said to her you do belong
here and we're happy to have youhere.
And she said I don't belonghere, lady.
I'm telling you I'm not 12.
And I said well, you are 12 andI'm sorry that you haven't been
treated like a 12 year old andI'm sorry that you missed your
childhood and I'm sorry that youdidn't have parents that

(55:03):
treated you that you were 12.
But while you're here, you're12 and you're gonna experience a
childhood that you didn't getto experience.
Because I will never forget hercoming in and you know, her mom
sold her to this man who paidtheir bills and this, and that
was a Domestic situation.
She was from Palm Beach County.
But I will tell you, two yearslater I saw, because she she

(55:23):
also told me she didn't belongat Place of Hope because she
worshiped the devil.
She said I worshiped the devil,lady, I don't belong here.
And I'm thinking sister, thisis exactly where you belong.
And I remember seeing her inchurch two years later and she
had her hand raised in the airand she was singing and she got
baptized and she decided to goto one of the local we have some
scholarships at some privateschools.

(55:45):
It's just been a huge blessingthat people provide.
And they called me and said shecan play the guitar and she was
playing in chapel, singing, andI thought what a blessing.
And if someone I think that'sthe blessing of being at Place
of Hope for so long is when yousee kids, when they first come
in and then you get to fastforward.
Even though it took that,wasn't easy and that did that
transition didn't happenovernight, but a couple years
later fast forward to watch it.

(56:06):
It was just a complete blessingto be a part of, because it
really was like a watching amiracle happen.

Speaker 1 (56:12):
Oh, there's so many stories like that I don't think
the average person out in thecommunity realizes this even
goes on, and Not to mention whatit's what it's like and what
they've been through and wherethey end up, and those those
kinds of stories.
I'll never forget when the thesecretary of the whole
Department of Children andFamilies, call me on my cell
phone about a very particulargirl, if you remember who at the
time we were running a safehouse, a Confidentially located

(56:34):
safe house which we, you know,as we know, we do a different
model now that even has us withdouble that capacity of the
Young people in our care.
But he called and said you haveto please we heard about the,
the progress it's taking placein these kids lives and the, the
hurdles that they're jumpingover through your care.
Can you take this one younglady?
I'll leave her nameless, but wedid remember that and she was.

(56:54):
She was on the run when hecalled me and they found her and
they placed her in our care.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
I remember her because her she was actually
kidnapped and her pimp Tattooedhis name on her eyelids.
She was 13 years old.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
I will never forget her she actually did very well
for a long time, but the moststable placement.
That same secretary of DCFcalled me back I think it was
well over a year in and thatthanked us and the team for for
taking her in, because it wasthe only Consistency had ever
seen.
One of the things we've beenable to do over the years,
whether it's foster care,whether it's aging out and what,

(57:31):
and even in the humantrafficking realm, if you will,
and discussions up inTallahassee in the legislative
cycles, place of hopes been ableto go up there and speak on
behalf of policies, things thatwork, things that we see that
work and things we see thatdon't work.
And we've been blessed over theyears to speak on the issue of
human trafficking and take akind of a leadership role, not
just from someone who's talkingabout the subject area, but from

(57:52):
an organization that to thisday has you said seven right now
it's fluid, sometimes it's asmany as 12, but we're talking
about young people who have beentrafficked and the trauma that
goes with that and theretraining of the brain that's
necessary to get them to eventhink about becoming successful
in days.
So you know we're excited to beable to to do that as well Over
time.
One of the areas I want to talkabout real quick, as I always

(58:13):
like to say that you know thegood stuff about the place I
hope, model right, it's thethings you've heard talked about
today.
It's the mentoring.
It's the tutoring, it's thepeople that sew into the own
kids lives.
It's the ability to take afamily vacation, to be involved
in sports and playing aninstrument or whatever those
different things.
Are that so many people?
We've talked about those things.
It's not.
Well, that's what's what'sabnormal about that.
I do that, my kids do that, or Isend my kids to this and that

(58:35):
and you know away camps in thesummer or whatever it is.
Well, it is really different fora lot of kids in care and some
of our kids come in they'venever even had a birthday party,
they've never celebrated when,they've never had a birthday
cake and all that stuff is avery big deal for us.
And so, prior to having ourregional enrichment centers that
we have, the Berlin family'sbuilt one for us, the Lane
family's built one for us, theFrankino family's built one for

(58:56):
us and now the Boswell family'shelped build one up in Stewart
which we're launching very soon.
It's, it's so critical in thatand you know, explain where
those buildings are, really,kind of, you know, undergirds
that, because you know thatthat's how critical it is to
what we do.
But prior to those centers, weused to just say this is the
cool stuff we do in the homes,you know, and we have on-site
visitation which we might havehad, like you know, for people

(59:16):
visiting each child in the houseon an average day, and we were
able to move all that and reallyput a focus on futures and a
photo focus on what you can becommon, how you, how you take
the steps to get there, why thatis so critical and the support
that people give us for it.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
So that's actually one of my favorite parts about
our program is our enrichmentprogram, because, besides the
like, we do the career days andwe do the mentoring.
We do that, but the communityhas wrapped around us.
So most people probably don'tknow this.
But, like, medicaid doesn't payfor braces, so we have an
orthodontist in the communitywho puts braces on our kids for
free and it just, it changestheir whole Self-image.

(59:52):
And then our sports programs,like our local Recreation
department gives us scholarships, so our kids have been able to
play basketball and football andflag football and soccer.
Our girls, our boys, they'reall playing.
And I will tell you, most ofthem have never played an
organized sport.
And I get what you're saying.
Like, yeah, my kids grew upplaying.
What's the big deal?
Well, they've never been ableto do it because they've never

(01:00:12):
been able to afford it or haveequipment.
So when we have people who giveus scholarships or donors who
wrap around and provide cleatsand equipment, and a little boy
the other day and I know,charles, I sent you the video he
scored his first goal and, ifyou this joy on his face and
immediately he looked over tohis foster parents who were
there Cheering him on.
Well, he's never had thatexperience right for it.

(01:00:33):
It's a big deal in a child'slife to be able to do those kind
of things and so.
And then birthday Most of ourkids have never had a birthday
party I've never and so we havesomeone bake these cakes for
these kids.
And we had a group of ladiesget together the other day and
they made these beautifulbaskets for our girls at
Joanne's for Mother's Day.
So on Mother's Day morning whenthey woke up, they have these

(01:00:54):
beautiful baskets that theseladies put together for them and
they started to cry.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
They were, they were so excited because no one had
ever blessed them like thatbefore and they got to celebrate
and it was just we had anothergroup of ladies that came in
recently with the quilts and soforth and took a tour and you
think that that's that becomespart of our blessings bags, that
we do an animals cove Pays fora lot of those blessings bags
for us each year in the contents.
And think about that your kidwho comes and remember Remember

(01:01:20):
we were told this was gonnahappen all those years and we
didn't believe it and the kidswould show up with a garbage bag
over their shoulder with maybea change of clothing, and that
was their suitcase.
We always said no kid everleaves here with that.
But when they get here they'regonna get everything that they
need, you know, to be able to goto school that next day with
dignity and a smile on theirface.
You know, while they'renavigating these circumstances

(01:01:41):
and so forth, but you know theblessings bag even not inside
the bag, but alongside of itcomes a bicycle.
Every kid that comes into careGets a bicycle.
They're all gonna have birthdayparties, keen seniors, whatever
.
It is right we're getting readyto go into the end of the year.
We do our own Graduationceremonies, that speakers, we
make a big deal out of ustalking to Rebecca today about
how we're gonna really amp it upthis year even more.

(01:02:03):
You know we do the street signs, the yard signs, all that fun
stuff, because we want them tounderstand that they shattered
the statistics.
They made it significant.
It's a big deal for any kidgraduating and and a family
coming around them to celebratethose milestones.
Man, how much more for ouryoung people when they haven't
experienced that most of thetime.
And that's kind of like in anutshell what that whole

(01:02:25):
enrichment thing is.
Right, I mean, you know, tea atvillages if that's a big key
part, it's independent living,skills training, but it's all
the other good stuff that peoplethat get involved and and come
help, whether it might even be avolunteer day right when
they're just helping to keep thehousing looking nice.

Speaker 3 (01:02:39):
Absolutely, and I'm just so excited, even, like you
said, enrichment even for thatage.
You know, sometimes people think, okay, 18, they're good there,
you know.
But we've been able to haveenrichment, step in to give them
, like Gina said, birthdays, anyholiday, not just for our
mothers, but even for our youngadults, the young male, the

(01:03:00):
young females.
They're able to come aroundScholarships.
We've been able to offer themscholarships because of the
different ones that have steppedup and said you know what, if
they want to further theeducation, we want to come
alongside them, and so we'vebeen able to get all of that for
that population is it's a greatthing to just see how
enrichment come in, step in andsaid you know what, if someone

(01:03:21):
needs a car and they're willingto come alongside them to help
them get a car, those things areimportant because once we've
been able to do the budgetingwith them and now they're seeing
the results of why I Needed tosave my money, why I needed to,
you know, go back to school ortrade school, you know we've
been able to have the differentones to say you know what, if
they want to go to trade school,how can we look into helping

(01:03:43):
them out, you know, and so they.
It's been wonderful just to seeEveryone's happened to
Everything that enrichment haveprovided for even village love.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
The all our village are hopeers, yeah and a
component of that, whetherthey're in care or whether
they've aged out of care.
What is there in our care if,so to speak, at place of hope of
the maternity home you name it?
One of the things that's sobeautiful is we've had families
step up over the years to createthis scholarship endowment
funds with us to, whereas youknow, like a lot of people don't
know if the age out of fostercare in Florida you can get
tuition reimbursement or tuitionwaiver, basically where you

(01:04:14):
know you in a some ways you getto go for free.
We've had people step up tocreate these funds because
there's all this gap stuff thattakes place where you know you
got books and you got fees andyou got.
You know sometimes it's housingand you got all these different
things that you need and thatstill becomes a barrier to our
young people.
Go into school, whether it'stech school or university or
community, whatever it is.
Now we have these funds thatpeople have given to.

(01:04:35):
There's just so many coolthings.
We just have 50 somethingpeople from a big real estate
firm that we're out here theother day mulching and cleaning
windows and picking weeds andhelping.
That Just bring you know in thecharity world.
You know, saved money is mademoney.
You know, right, that's.
The only thing we can do iscontrol expenses, but we get to
continue expanding this withthese campuses that we've taken
over.
But enrichment is just gonnaalways be a big part of

(01:04:56):
everything we do, because I lookat that as kind of like the
fuel that gets them to the nextlevel.
There's accountability in there, but it's also a great way to
engage the community.
I get so excited when moregroups step up to do these kinds
of things with us, especiallyas it relates to enrichment.
One of the things we got to dorecently was to literally Take a
group of young people and havebrunch with the former first

(01:05:18):
lady of the United States,marnia Trump, and she invited
them in and and a few of us wentover there and to see these
young people Engage with her andengage in that environment,
which would be pretty dauntingin a lot of ways.
Right, and to just enjoy thattime with her and to be made
feel special and order off themenu.
Whatever that, whatever theywanted and they did, by the way,
it was awesome and and justhave someone at that level to

(01:05:41):
pour into them and and they'vemet so many amazing People over
the years that it just makes itsuper, super special.
Well, the last things I want totalk about real quick is how,
you know, we deal with a rapidlychanging system, whether it's,
you know, child welfare for kidsunder 18 and the judicial
system that oversees that in thestate of Florida, and the
changing policies and thingsthat happen legislatively that

(01:06:02):
impact the system.
And when I always say that I'mso grateful that we have done
such a good job of creating asupport-based through
community-based care where we,you know, we, partner with the
government but we have theprivate sector who just does all
the additional and makes it, so, you know, possible to have a
high quality of care.
But one of those changes we'veseen in the system is where a

(01:06:22):
lot of these young people arebeing placed with relatives and
what they call non-relative caregiving status, which is people
in their families basically areclose to their families, who
have stepped up to take them inso they don't land in licensed
foster care.
Well, those numbers are huge,right, and so we started seeing
the derivation in the placementtypes and what was really taking
place out there in our network,which you know goes all the way

(01:06:43):
from North Broward all the wayup into the treasure coast.
Pretty big area, a lot of bedcapacity, and we started seeing
where they were moving thesekids in with relatives and not
that that's a bad thing in anyway, right.
But what we found is that a lotof these people didn't have the
resources and don't have theresources, and so we've been so
grateful with our Shade TreeFamily Outreach Program, which
in some ways is related in withour the overlay for enrichment

(01:07:04):
and so forth, but another greatway to engage the community.
Right, you guys see it all thetime where they'll do these
drives for us corporate drives,civic drives, church drives,
kids at schools doing drives forthe necessities of these
families taking these young kidsin.
Because imagine, rightovernight, all of a sudden, you
find out your grandchildren aregoing into the system and

(01:07:24):
there's two of them I'm justmaking this up, but this is very
real and overnight you take afour and a two-year-old in
because you don't want to seethem lost to the child welfare
system or possibly placed out ofcounty.
In a community like right now,where we're seeing a spike of
the number of kids going intolicensed foster care, there's no
, there might not even be anybeds for them so they might get
placed out of county.
And so grandma say, takes themin and all of a sudden, you know

(01:07:44):
she needs help overnight.
And so our that program rightnow we've only really, you know,
brought it to the newest levelof where it's at in the you know
the last year and right nowwe're serving anywhere from 100
to 140 families a month and theyou know, the cool thing about
that is that most of that isdriven by the community directly
helping us with these communitydrives for diapers and formula

(01:08:08):
and car seats and packing, playsand clothing and shoes and all
the things that those kids needovernight.
Because, as you guys know, alot of times they're pulled from
domestic violence situationswhere the police don't even want
to go remove them from thehouse, they remove them from
school, they have nothing withthem and they come with nothing.
We see that in foster care, wesee it post 18, but but it's
also with these family members.
So grandma steps up to dowhat's right and what everybody

(01:08:30):
would want to try to do butdoesn't have the resources.
And so that's a new area for usthat we're just blessed to be a
part of and people can step upand also just knowing that the
people that come to our events,the people that that, the
foundations that supports them,the corporate groups and the
sponsorships of events and justall the things you guys see in
the programs, the mentors, thetutors this is truly community

(01:08:51):
based care.
It's community driven and it isa blessing to be a part of it
over all these years.
And I just I don't know if youall have one closing statement.
You want to.
Yeah, come on, you gotsomething.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
I was thinking about, because this will reach the
community, our donors.
I don't know that they realizewhat a blessing they are.
Like you mentioned bikes theother day, what you probably
didn't mention all the very kidsget bikes.
Most of them have never had abike, so they don't actually
know how to ride a bike.
So it is so sweet to see theother kids in the house teach
them how to ride a bike up anddown the street.
And 17 year old a little girlnot a little girl, but little

(01:09:25):
girl to me because I will shethe other girls in the house
teaching her to ride up and down.
And the bike had a bell and shewas ringing her bell and she
was so excited and the othergirls were cheering her on and
it's something like oh it's,it's a bike.
Of course, your kids had a bikesince they were three, but our
kids haven't.
Our kids have never had a bike.
So, having donors like I'll getthem a bike and I'll bake them
a birthday cake and I'll getthem closed.

(01:09:47):
And you mentioned garbage bagsthe other day.
Well, our kids haven't evenbeen coming in with garbage bags
.
They've been coming with like alittle Winn Dixie bag with,
because they've been coming.
Almost a lot of them have beencoming homeless, so they've been
coming with nothing shoes,socks, nothing.
And so being able to go to our,you know, get all these
donations with, and to be ableto put clothes on them and have
something to wear with dignityand not, you know, gently used

(01:10:07):
or new, to be able to put themon and have nice and see them
participate in all these things,it's just such a blessing.
And I'm not sure because itmight not seem like a big deal
to a donor to donate, but itmakes a huge difference to the
child.

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
Oh yeah, and you know all those volunteers that help
with our clothing closets on ourvarious campuses and you know
that stuff comes in.
We got a weed through it, wegot to.
Sometimes we got to clean somecertain things, but we got to
put it on the shelves and foldit and all that goes into that,
that the community engages in,is a blessing to T what you got
to say.

Speaker 3 (01:10:35):
And I just think it's important.
I'm just having a volunteergroup on Thursday and it's been
wonderful to just have volunteergroups like we had on Thursday
just to come out to say you knowwhat?
We not only want to come andvolunteer for you all, but we
want to adopt you all for aChristmas in July and then we
want to turn around and adoptyou all for Christmas in

(01:10:56):
December.
So I think that's important and, like Gina said, for our donors
to know how much we appreciatethem and even for our volunteers
, for those that just say youknow what, we want to bring you
items to make a welcome basketfor those residents that are
actually coming in.
It's important.
Just, it might seem very small,but to us is very huge.

(01:11:16):
It's a big gift that we'regiving into the lives of our
young people.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
And we see the results.
We see how these kids make itto a whole nother level, just
like the young man that was inmy office today, just seeing
where he was and where he is nowrecognizing how important it is
that the accomplishments thathe's made with the help of
others.
And I think that's probably oneof our favorite things is when
you see these young people whoare truly grateful in their
hearts because they know what itwas like and they know what it

(01:11:40):
is now, and we always remindthem that that's God that
delivered that, but it's alsowho he uses on this earth, the
people who step up to make itall possible.
It is truly a blessing.
We're pumped about the future.
You know we've got this campaignwe've launched to build out all
of our campuses more to come onall that.
But we're definitely going tohave you both back, whether it's
together, individually.
Be prepared.
People want to hear the stories, people want to know what's

(01:12:02):
going on at Place Ope, butnobody, nobody has more
experience, nobody has biggerhearts for what we do at Place
Ope than you guys, and I'mpersonally grateful for you in
your leadership roles.
And many more to come, manymore years to come and a lot to
still do, but we're justthankful and grateful to this
community for making it evenpossible.
Thank you, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
For today's Hope in Action segment, I want to talk
about something great that justtook place.
Recently we had our formaldedication of our Stuart campus,
which was literally given to usover a year and a half ago by
another charity.
It's now hours, has been hoursnow for a little bit, and we got

(01:12:47):
to the point where we coulddedicate the land and prepare
for the future growth section ofthat campus which is going to
be called our village, andthat's where a lot of the new
transitional, affordable housingis going to go up Nothing like
it in Stuart at all, and we hadwe held that event and we had

(01:13:09):
well over a hundred people inattendance.
We were able to dedicate theBender family village and the
Snyder family complex, the firstbuilding to go up.
Thanks to John and Bobby Irby,the generous donors who made
that all possible.
It was a great time of thefriendship, the collective

(01:13:30):
energy of people excited to seewhat's coming and the impact
that's going to be had for somany years to come, with
affordable transitional housingfor the young people aging out
of foster care that need it themost and our young single moms
with dependent children wholiterally just have nowhere else
to go, and so it was a huge dayfor Place of Hope as a whole,

(01:13:53):
but a huge day for Place of Hopein Stuart Martin County, and we
just had such a great time.
The staff put together anamazing celebratory time and we
had, I think, every local newsstation showed up and we're just
.
We set the stage for what's tocome and as soon as we get those
permits in hand, we'll bebuilding and that landscape up

(01:14:14):
there will be forever changed,and that's today's Hope in
Action.
So much can grow from even justone small seed of hope.
Thank you for becoming a partof our community, helping us
grow and become an ambassador ofHope yourself.
Please be sure to subscribe soyou don't miss a single

(01:14:34):
uplifting moment.
For further details andinformation on how you can
connect with us, please go toplaceofhopecom slash podcast.
That's placeofhopecom forwardslash podcast and we'd love to
hear from you anytime.
Please email us at pohpodcastat placeofhopecom, or find us on
social media.
Ambassadors of Hope PlacingHope in a Child's Future.

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