September 15, 2025 • 27 mins
At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is part three.
What happens when dedicated individuals refuse to accept a broken system? In this powerful episode, we journey across Mississippi to witness extraordinary transformations born from crisis. We explore Mississippi's commitment to its youth, a lawyer/CPA who runs a summer program for kids in an abandoned YMCA building, and a bank's blind acts of faith in humanity after Katrina.
Attorney and Youth Court Judge Renee Porter takes us inside Marion County's remarkable youth court revolution. After three preventable child deaths revealed critical gaps in the system, Porter and her colleagues implemented new protocols that evaluate every child abuse hotline call. The results speak volumes—children in state custody reduced from 350 to just 20 through prevention plans, family reunification, and community partnerships. "It's not a shame to be poor," Porter emphasizes, "but we cannot afford to lose another child when solutions exist."
The inspiration continues with James L. Henley Jr., who transformed an abandoned 27-acre YMCA into Fresh Start Christian Church, now a vibrant youth center serving the inner-city community of Jackson. For 18 years, his programs have provided structure, education, and opportunity to children with nowhere else to go during school breaks. Henley shares touching success stories, including a former participant who, now a Walmart manager, donated hundreds of food items because "they kept me out of trouble when I was young."
Finally, Joy Phillips recounts the extraordinary innovations that emerged during Hurricane Katrina while she served as general counsel for Hancock Whitney Bank. When disaster wiped out infrastructure, the bank established makeshift branches within 48 hours, even literally "laundering" contaminated cash to meet community needs. Their compassionate approach to emergency loans and cash advances resulted in minimal losses and the acquisition of thousands of new customers.
These stories highlight Mississippi's greatest resource: its resilient and creative people, who refuse to surrender to circumstances.
What challenges in your community could be transformed through similar collaboration and determination?
Hope Mississippi's Mission: The sobering reality remains: one in four Mississippi children lives in poverty, and one in five experiences food insecurity. These statistics aren't just numbers—they're our collective challenge. Through these conversations, we discover that Mississippi's transformation occurs through individual commitments to mentor, encourage, and be present for others. The small acts of hope accumulate into the broader "miracles" we celebrate.
Join us for new episodes on the 1st and 15th of each month as we continue sharing stories of transformation from across Mississippi. Each story reminds us that when we contribute our unique gifts, Mississippi rises together
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Soundtrack (00:01):
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
One in four kids live in poverty.
One in five are food deprived.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
(00:24):
struggling.
Dawn Beam (00:29):
Hope Mississippi.
Hello and welcome back to theMississippi Bar Convention in
Sandestin, to the MississippiBar Convention in Sandestin.
And today I have a dear friend,renee Porter, who is a youth
(00:50):
court judge in our area, butjust a phenomenal person.
Rene Porter (00:56):
Thank you, Dawn, for letting me be here today and
it's strange to say, Dawn,Thank you, Justice Beam.
Judge Beam, because we didn'twork together when you were on
the Supreme Court, but workedtogether certainly when you were
a chancery judge, Judge Beam,but most of all a friend, as you
say.
Well, you know, friends are agift from the Lord.
The Bible says that and I trulybelieve that about you.
(01:16):
Now we met in law school.
Just tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
Did you grow up in Summerall?
I lived in Summerall when it wasvery small, like first grade,
but I grew up in Columbia,marion County.
I was born in Germany becausemy dad was taking a little stint
in the army, came back and wasraised in Marion County.
I had a lot of Lamar Countyties so I went to Lamar County
(01:38):
every Sunday to eat Sunday lunchWays, for the most part in
Marion County.
I went to University ofSouthern Mississippi Southern
Miss, to the top for myundergrad and then went to law
school where I met you.
I married my high schoolsweetheart and we came back to
Columbia and opened up a lawfirm in a 1935 gas station and
God was so good to us and hasbeen so good to us and blessed
(02:00):
us and blessed me and mypractice kind of developed to be
in one of family law.
I practiced family law andenjoyed that for many years and
still do to a small extent, butfor the most part.
Now I'm in the youth court.
In 2020, I was appointed asguardian ad litem in Marion
County and that is a positionthat I took very seriously and I
(02:20):
was able to serve there until Iwas appointed as youth court
judge in 2021.
While I was in Garden and Lime.
That's where you and I reallybegan to work on problems and
you may want to address some ofthose problems, and now, as
youth court judge, I continue totry to work on problems, but
I'm also hopefully I'm part ofthe solution and I just thank
God for letting me work in thisarea and I just thank God for
(02:43):
letting me work in this area.
James L. Henley, Jr. (02:44):
Well, you know, I reflect back to those
early days when I was a chanceryjudge.
We saw that we were having somechallenges in Marion County.
Can you just walk us throughsome of that and how God issues
churches and people thinkingoutside the box to really change
the trajectory of children inMarion County?
Hill Kane (03:04):
Well, in Marion County we were kind of wakened
to that by shock.
We had three deaths that werenot children in custody, not
children in custody.
But when we went back andlooked, maybe there are children
that should have been incustody.
There were calls that weremissed, calls that were not
followed up on, and so underyour leadership, judge Beam, we
immediately began a practice I'mgoing to call it a practice
(03:26):
which we still do to this daywhere we evaluate as a court,
every call that comes into thehotline.
We say, okay, should this?
You know?
Should we do something?
Should we not do something?
We also started encouragingpeople to call into the hotline.
And what we found out?
We had missed some kids.
We had missed some kids and sowe began to look into things and
(03:47):
before long we knew we hadabout 350 kids, children in
custody.
Now I'm proud to say that nowwe have we have around 20 in
Marion County in custody.
That is wonderful.
Now that is through theimplementation of of practices
and procedures that keepchildren out of custody, that is
through the implementation of alot of safety plans and
(04:08):
prevention plans, but it's alsothrough us working with those
over 350 children in custody,working those cases, to get
those cases resolved, eitherthrough reunification, which is
always our goal, and I'm soproud of some of our families
that have reunified and familiesthat have had problems and
they've worked through thoseproblems but then we have
(04:29):
situations where reunificationis not possible.
So we have adoptions and I cansee some of those kids.
I get graduation invitationsfrom some of those kids and it
just makes me tear up.
So a lot of good come out ofthose 350 kids being in custody.
Rene Porter (04:43):
We have a system in place to protect children, and
when the system is broken andthat's what we found out several
years ago when we had thosethree deaths is people were not
following up with tips, withcalls from teachers about
possible neglect or abuse.
And so, when we let problemsfester, children suffer even
(05:07):
more and parents spiral evenfurther downward.
And so it's important for thoselistening out there that if you
see something, say something.
It's very important.
You know we say sometimes well,I'm not, that's not on me to do
.
Basically, if you look at thelaw, almost everybody's a
mandatory reporter.
But it doesn't matter about thelaw.
If you see something wrong,call it in, call it to the
(05:28):
hotline.
Now I'll be honest with you.
It may take you.
It's not going to be a veryquick.
You're not going to be able tocall and say I see this child,
this child's in danger.
They're going to ask you a lotof questions.
Just be patient.
It'll get through quicker thanyou think and it can be.
It can still be confidential.
There's always a push to makeit non-confidential.
I certainly believe it needs tobe confidential because I
(05:49):
believe the most important thingwe can do is protect children
and if one child dies because ofsomebody being afraid to call
something in, because of notbeing confidential, then we
failed.
So please call it in.
All of our teachers, lawenforcement, our daycare workers
, things that y'all see, pleaseknow that in Marion County those
(06:10):
are all looked at.
We take them seriously.
That doesn't mean that we maybetake the action that you think
we should take, but we do takeit seriously.
We do look into it.
Dawn Beam (06:19):
So many of our reports deal with neglect and
not actual physical abuse.
I think sometimes people think,oh well, they don't have a
bruise, they don't have brokenbones, but that saying, sticks
and stones will break my bones,but words will never hurt me.
There's a lot of neglect thatgoes on out there, where their
(06:40):
children are not fed properly,children are not adequately
cared for, and that can be justas traumatic and just as
difficult for the child.
Rene Porter (06:49):
Well, as we saw in those three cases that we had
with deaths, when you have gotnot proper sleep situations and
you lose a child because of asleep situation, and that's when
you have too many people in thehouse and folks, it's not a
shame to be poor.
It's not a shame to be unableto afford housing.
It is a shame to not have yourchild where their child can
(07:10):
receive safe sleep.
We can take care of buying beds, we can take care of getting
housing.
We can take care of thosethings.
Put it on us, let us take careof it, but we can't take care of
a dead child.
Dawn Beam (07:22):
Let's talk about the folks that stepped up in Marion
County because nobody can do italone.
I say God doesn't calleverybody to be a foster parent,
but he calls everybody to dosomething.
Tell how the churches and thecommunity rallied.
You are so right.
Rene Porter (07:37):
Judge.
First of all, you created acollaboration, a community, a
coalition, and we operated underthat for a long time.
Basically, covid kind of took alittle bit of the sting off
that, but we operated under thatand we still operate under that
.
You know, we have so manychurches it's hard to even call
out one, but we have so manychurches and people that just
(07:58):
stepped up and to this day, if Ineed something, I needed
something.
Last week at a ballgame I saw agentleman that I looked at a
house last week that needs somework and I went talking with the
lady.
She says well, I said where doyou go to church?
She told me the name of herchurch and I knew the gentleman
who went to that church.
I saw him at the ballgame.
I said I got to talk to youabout something.
(08:18):
I said I need your men's group.
Oh, we'll be glad to do that.
We're looking for projects andthat's the way I'm always
received when I ask anything.
Occasionally they'll say, well,I don't know if I can do that,
but call so-and-so.
I have never had a no.
I'm so thankful to God's people, god's people for doing that.
Dawn Beam (08:38):
This is Hope, mississippi, but the idea that
tomorrow can be better thantoday and you can make it.
So.
When we empower people, theyget hope, but we also experience
hope when we help give and be apart of that.
So one last statement orchallenge to the folks that are
listening, about how they canprovide that hope.
Rene Porter (09:00):
I think, how you can provide that hope.
Number one if you seesomething's wrong, you think
it's wrong, call it in, Letsomebody know.
And number two just be ready.
God's going to give you thatopportunity and that chance to
provide hope.
And when we ask, be ready, Justtell somebody.
Look, I want to be involved, Iwant to help.
I will put you in the back ofmy mind and put you on a list
and I'll be calling youAbsolutely and I'll be calling
(09:21):
you Absolutely.
Dawn Beam (09:22):
Thank you so much, renee, for joining me and thanks
for your friendship.
Rene Porter (09:26):
Thank you, Dawn.
Soundtrack (09:29):
Hope, mississippi is your salvation.
Hill Kane (09:34):
Good afternoon everybody.
This is Hill Cain from theMississippi State Bar Convention
and I am sitting here with theincredible James.
I'm not going to mess up yourname because it's on your name
tag wrong, so please introduceyourself.
James L. Henley, Jr. (09:45):
It's James L Henley Jr.
Hill Kane (09:47):
James L Henley Jr.
Okay, and if you're notfamiliar with my voice, I am the
producer of Hope Mississippiand I sent the beams out for a
little breaky, so I have thehonor and pleasure of
interviewing James Henley, sowelcome.
James L. Henley, Jr. (10:01):
Thank you.
Hill Kane (10:01):
We're going to chat for about 10 minutes and I want
you to tell me what you justkind of told me in the hallway
about your summer program andhow that got started.
James L. Henley, Jr. (10:09):
I'm a lawyer, but I'm also a pastor,
bivocational past 20 years.
We run two programs.
We run a summer program and aspring break program from 730 in
the morning to 530 in theevening.
We take the first 45 familiesand we usually are single
mothers with two or three kidsand we literally give them the
environment of a camp that theypay for.
(10:29):
We go on field trips, we do aneducational component in the
mornings.
We have career week.
We teach them about finances,we'll take them to museums,
we'll have doctors, lawyers,different people come in to
expose them to other fields andopportunities that they're
unaware of.
We're in inner city Jackson.
We bought a former YMCA, 27.3acres in the middle of Jackson,
(10:51):
that had been abandoned 25 yearsago.
So 20 years ago when we boughtit, we came into a neighborhood
where there are literally 2,400apartment units within a two
mile radius of us.
A lot of single parents withkids there.
One day, my wife and I, after ayear or two, we saw some kids
just hanging out during springbreak and they looked to be
(11:11):
about six or seven, and wenoticed they were there all day,
and so we did an investigationbecause these parents were
working, they had nobody to keeptheir kids.
And we said well, we'll figuresomething out.
And literally that's how we gotstarted.
Hill Kane (11:22):
That's amazing.
So you saw a need and then youcreated a program around that
need.
How many years ago was that?
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:29):
18 years ago.
Hill Kane (11:29):
Wow.
So for 18 years you have beenproviding this spring and summer
program for these kids.
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:35):
Yes, and we never know who the kids are
going to be, and that's thething.
We accept any kid.
So let's say you had achallenged child.
We'd find a teacher who dealswith challenged children.
That's amazing.
We've never turned the kid awaybecause of an issue.
Hill Kane (11:48):
I love that.
Do you have any fun storiesabout kids that kind of came
through your program and maybeyou're still in touch with, or
you have a success story youcould share with us?
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:56):
This may be one of the better.
We've got a lot of good stories, but one of the stories is we
also do a big back-to-schoolfestival where we'll have rock
climbing.
We'll have everything, give outschool supplies.
Last year one of our membersdecided she was going to go to
Walmart and ask for donations,which we never have sort of done
.
She shows up at the Walmart outon County Line Road.
(12:17):
She's asking for donations.
She's gone two or three timesand she said they turned her
away.
She shows up the fourth time.
They've gotten the newestsystem manager at the store.
He hears them say the name FreshStart and she said Fresh Start.
He says hold up, hold up, she'sfrom Fresh Start.
She says yeah.
She says it's a Fresh StartChristian church on Manhattan
where they let us come playbasketball when I was a kid
(12:39):
every Friday night.
So he talked and he said no,y'all heard me talk about when I
was growing up.
We didn't have anything to do,but we could go to this church
on Friday nights.
They'd give us pizza, they'dlet us play basketball, they'd
make us sit and listen to themfor 20 minutes, but then they'd
let us play basketball again.
He says that's the church.
He literally gave us 300 hotdogs, 300 hamburgers, 300 sets
(13:01):
of buns for each one of them andload up, because he said we
kept him out of trouble, becausehe had somewhere to go on
Friday nights.
Hill Kane (13:10):
Absolutely Off those streets, right.
James L. Henley, Jr. (13:12):
Yeah.
Hill Kane (13:13):
That's incredible, amazing how God put certain
things in our path and luckilyyou were smart enough to pick up
on it and fix that needimmediately in your own
community.
James L. Henley, Jr. (13:26):
And we have been blessed.
Like I said, my wife and I areboth attorneys and we're both
CPAs, and so we have beenblessed enough that we could
well we didn't have, we couldprovide.
You know, God gave us theresources and we used those, and
over time, other people sawwhat we were doing and so they
started just donating moneybecause they knew we were using
it for kids.
Hill Kane (13:43):
I love everything about this and I am also
intrigued because I'm from Texasand we do have a lot of
abandoned hotels and abandonedbuildings, and it's incredible
that you took something that wasjust thrown away, basically,
and made it into an incrediblefacility, and more people need
to do that.
James L. Henley, Jr. (14:03):
I've told people.
I said, if you see an oldwarehouse, that's a gym, that's
a church, that's a place kidscan hang out at.
But it just takes thecommitment of someone willing to
give their time, give them theresources, but you see the kids
my funny story, the good storythen, sort of not a good story.
Hill Kane (14:21):
We'll take all the stories.
James L. Henley, Jr. (14:22):
Had two kids who got in trouble.
And so the public defender inHines County said was there
anybody who will say somethingnice about you?
And he thought about it.
They said well, you can callthe guy at the church.
And he said what church?
They said it's called FreshStart.
And so the lawyer, who I happento know, ray said James Henley.
They said James Henley.
They said yeah, that's his name, he's the pastor, he's a lawyer
(14:45):
.
Ray started laughing.
He said well, yeah, he actuallyis a lawyer.
He said well, he'll saysomething nice about us.
And so literally he called me.
He said well, james, these twokids are here.
Crime's pretty serious.
But they say they actually cometo the church on Friday nights.
And I said I don't alwaysremember all their names.
I said can you show me theirpicture?
So when he showed me theirpicture I said yeah, they're
(15:05):
right, they do come by.
They ended up both gettingreduced sentences, went on
probation, but literally the dayone of them got out of church,
he said he got out that Friday.
He came to church that Sundaymorning to say thank you,
because he said I've probablybeen in worse trouble than come
a Friday night.
But he actually knew somebodyand he said he turned his life
over to Christ while he was injail because he realized that he
(15:25):
had gotten a reduced sentencebecause he used to come to the
church and it made him startreading his Bible for himself.
Hill Kane (15:30):
And he did it in earnest, not just to get a get
out of jail ticket.
Like this is very sincere.
James L. Henley, Jr. (15:35):
Yes.
Hill Kane (15:36):
I bet you have shown a lot of children that the
faith-based and the way out ofyour situation is through Christ
and God, not that mischief outin the streets.
James L. Henley, Jr. (15:48):
It's a change of mindset, realizing
that there's hope in Christ.
But until somebody shows themthat, explains it to them, they
come there.
And this is what always getsthem.
They come there, they playbasketball, they do things.
We feed them pizza, we takethem on field trips, we buy them
t-shirts in camp, and theyfigure out it doesn't cost
anything.
So eventually they will say whydo you do this?
(16:10):
And we'll say because we'remaking Christ visible to you,
we're showing you the love ofGod, that he cares enough about
you, that he started a wholeprogram just for you because he
wants you to see another way.
Hill Kane (16:21):
I love that.
So then they know that youbelieve in them Right?
And then also that God believesin them, and that's really all
they need to just take aslightly different path, Like a
different path.
I love that and you know.
Dawn.
Dawn Beam (16:33):
Beam.
I'm sitting in for Justice Beamright now.
Do you have a little messagefor her?
Do you want to say hello?
James L. Henley, Jr. (16:38):
I say hello.
But I'm also excited about thefact that she's bridging over to
another way of helping peoplesee the light, to see that
there's hope.
Because I just know from beingin front of judges they see a
lot, they see a whole lot andit's a lot more than other
people and they have to sort ofbring it all together.
But I think with the knowledgeshe's gained from there, she
(16:58):
also saw the need for someonegoing out there and being a beam
, someone being a light, a beamof light.
Hill Kane (17:03):
A beam of light.
I see what you did there.
I see what you did there.
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:07):
Yes, what she's doing is incredible and
it's all about bringing hope toMississippi as part of the Hope
Rising Mississippi nonprofit,but it was absolutely generated
by what she saw as a judge andas a lawyer and in the
children's courts and all of theon the state Supreme Court, and
this is her way of bridging andbranching out, and she's had
(17:29):
all different kinds of people onthe podcast, so I want to thank
you so much for being one ofthem.
Well, thank you.
Hill Kane (17:35):
It was great getting to know you and learn about your
program.
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:37):
And feel free to come by any day.
We're 5210 Manhattan Road,Jackson Mississippi, 39206.
Hill Kane (17:43):
Do you have a website .
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:44):
We do freshstartchristiancom.
There we go.
Hill Kane (17:50):
Thank you so much and we'll see you in the next
episode.
Dawn Beam (17:57):
Hello and welcome back to the Mississippi Bar
Convention.
I am here with Joy Phillipsfrom Gulfport, mississippi.
Welcome, joy.
Thank you, judge, good to seeyou, great to see you.
We're here, and we just heardformer Governor Haley Barber
talk about Katrina.
(18:17):
That was just so inspiring,wasn't it.
Joy Phillips (18:18):
Oh my gosh, it just brought back such memories.
He is such a great speaker, butto listen to it just kind of
brought it all back to meAbsolutely.
Dawn Beam (18:27):
And you know, one thing that we celebrate when we
think about Katrina is we cameout of that with such hope
because we all came together.
Joy Phillips (18:36):
I'm telling you, it really renews your faith in
humanity.
But Mississippians were soresilient, but we had people
from all over the country well,actually internationally, but
mostly across the country, thefaith-based groups.
I don't know what would havehappened to Mississippi had we
not had such support.
Tell the audience a little bitabout you.
(18:58):
You're an attorney, but aboutwhere you're from, how long
you've lived there and then whatyou were doing at the time of
Katrina.
Rene Porter (19:05):
I've been practicing law since 1980.
At that time was generalcounsel for Hancock, a bank
which is now called HancockWhitney.
So in 2005, at that point I hadalso been elected president of
the Mississippi Bar.
So about a month before KatrinaI had taken over as president
(19:26):
of the Mississippi Bar.
I live in Gulfport.
My home is there.
My company that I worked forwas located there, so when
Katrina came through it waslife-altering.
But again, I've been practicinglaw since 1980, both in private
practice as well as in-house,with two different banks.
Dawn Beam (19:46):
So you were working with a bank on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast when Katrina camethrough and wiped everything out
and the governor talked abouthow we quickly turned into a
cash economy.
Joy Phillips (19:58):
I heard George Slogel, who then was the
president of Hancock I'll sayHancock, Whitney, because that's
what it's known now.
I had heard him say before andthen right after Katrina cash is
king.
When you're in that kind of aneconomy, a disaster like that,
you've got to get cash inpeople's hands.
Governor Barber talked aboutthe fact you can't use a credit
(20:20):
card if you don't have phonelines, you can't pump gas if you
don't have electricity, and allthose things were true, and so
the bank that I worked for hadbranches all across the
Mississippi coast as well as farnorth as Hattiesburg, and so it
was so inspiring when I thinkback about what the leaders of
(20:41):
the bank I mean I'm not going totake credit for it, but they
knew what needed to happen andthey knew they had to get cash
out so they opened up branches.
This happened on Monday, and onTuesday afternoon we had a
branch open, no power.
We just set up a folding table.
We had most of our branchesopen within 48 hours with no
(21:03):
power in most cases, some withgenerators.
We had our folks inside and wewould let one person in at a
time just to try to maintain.
We would find kind of thebiggest person and go today
you're the security guard atthis branch to just let one
person in at a time for safetypurposes.
We knew we had to get cash topeople.
(21:24):
One of the things that we had aproblem with and stop me if I'm
saying too much, but you'redoing great we couldn't get cash
from the Federal Reservebecause they couldn't get into
New Orleans to get us cash,which is where they would get it
.
Our cash that we had had hadgotten washed through in our
vault.
It had all kinds of chemicalsand everything in it.
(21:46):
So we managed to find again.
I give our leaders credit.
They went and got washers anddryers, brought them in.
We had generators and weliterally laundered money.
That is amazing.
We did, and so we had to rinseit.
Then we had people iron it andbundle it back up, and we also
(22:09):
opened an area we were workingin.
We opened, I guess, a littlebranch for first responders, so
we had all the people that aredown there from police, firemen,
National Guard.
We opened up a branch,basically with a cash box and
would cash checks for them sothat they had money then again,
(22:29):
because cash was king.
Dawn Beam (22:30):
You don't think about all the immediate needs when a
hurricane comes through, andcertainly money is necessary for
everything from fresh water togasoline to food and just the
basic needs unless somebody isgiving it away, and a lot of
people did that during Katrina.
You've served at the bankHancock Whitney, and the
(22:52):
governor talked about the amountof money that y'all gave out
during those days.
Could you tell a little bitabout the investment that the
bank did and how it paid off?
Joy Phillips (23:04):
Well it did.
We probably loaned over $5million out and I think it was
probably $400,000 or $500,000that ended up.
We didn't recover that.
People didn't pay back and itcould have been because they
left town and really didn't knowhow.
If you had an ID even if youdidn't have an ID, if somebody
knew you we would make a loan oflike $200.
We also, if you had an accountwith us and didn't have your
(23:26):
checkbook, we would go ahead andget money out of your account.
We didn't know if you had moneyin your account because we
couldn't check the balance.
We just took it word.
We lost so little money afterdoing that and people thanked us
and because of that our companyactually grew.
I think it was something like20, 25,000 new customers.
Our company grew a couplebillion dollars because of the
(23:49):
goodwill.
We didn't do it for that reason, but because of the goodwill
that we got out of what we did.
The other thing is we hadpeople who needed to get in safe
deposit boxes because that'swhere their IDs were, their
passports were, but ourbuildings were damaged.
Some were totally destroyed,but almost all of them were
(24:10):
damaged to some extent.
So we would have to arrange toput a hard hat on and get them
in there, let them into there,but our employees were.
They did it because they wantedto.
Dawn Beam (24:22):
When we talk about Hope Mississippi, we talk about
what Mississippi, that ourbiggest resources are people,
and people in Mississippi worktogether to create positive
change, and I think that's onegreat thing about being a
resident here.
Joy Phillips (24:38):
Oh, it is.
I mean we had some of ouremployees who lost their homes,
but we're still finding a way toget to work.
And our company knew I know youwere in there and heard
Governor Barber talk about itbut we were able to get gas and
we told if somebody would bringa gas, can we would fill their
(24:59):
gas up so that they could eitherget to work, get home, you know
, do what they needed to do.
So it was pretty incrediblePeople who had pretty much lost
everything were still showing upfor work because that's what
they wanted to do and theywanted to help other people.
Okay, I'm going to shift gearsjust a minute because we're here
to celebrate you today.
You are being recognized.
(25:22):
We're going to the Suzy BlueBuchanan thing, but you were
recognized last night for allthat you have done for the
Mississippi Bar and forMississippi in general the
Mississippi Bar and forMississippi in general.
You were the first female to bepresident of the bar and you
were that in the midst ofKatrina.
(25:42):
So talk just a minute aboutwhat you did there, how we
thought outside the box aslawyers.
Well, I mean, I live on thecoast and I stayed in my home.
I'm very fortunate, I'mprobably one of the luckiest
people on the coast.
On the coast and I stayed in myhome, I'm very fortunate, I'm
probably one of the luckiestpeople on the coast.
I still had a job.
My house had damage but I couldlive in it.
So, you know, we immediatelystarted getting in touch with
(26:03):
the state bar, of course, youknow, and they were being
contacted by other barassociations, both Mississippi
lawyers, but bar associationsfrom across the country donated
money, gift cards, furniture.
We actually had attorneys fromMinnesota who came down and
visited us and then broughtfurniture, but the attorneys who
(26:26):
came and volunteered at theFEMA centers to help people, to
answer questions, legalquestions, we had people come
from.
You know, I'll never forget Iwent to one of the FEMA centers
and an attorney from Georgia hecame to Manit.
He had gone to high school buthad you know they're in Biloxi,
just wanted to volunteer, and hesaid I said so where are you
(26:46):
staying tonight?
And he said I'll find someplace.
I said well, you probably won't.
And I walked away and I cameback and I said here's my
telephone number.
If you can't find a place.
You're welcome to call me andyou're welcome to stay at my
home.
And he called and I missed thecall.
So he called my house, talkedto my husband and when I got
home he and my husband werehaving a glass of wine in my
(27:07):
living room.
Dawn Beam (27:08):
That is a wonderful story and Joy.
You and I both married up.
You're married to St Frank andhe is a wonderful blessing.
He is.
Thank you for joining me andwhoop, whoop, we celebrate the
great things that have happenedin Mississippi, but I can't wait
to see how this next generationmoves us forward.
Joy Phillips (27:28):
I agree, I agree.
Thank you so much for invitingme to be on this.
You know I'm a big fan of yours.
Thank you, thank you.
Dawn Beam (27:35):
Thank you when you need some hope and inspiration
To build collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
Hope Mississippi.
When you need some hope and inspiration to build
collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
One in four kids live in poverty.
One in five are food deprived.
Build collaborations and buildhope with those who are
(00:24):
struggling.
Dawn Beam (00:29):
Hope Mississippi.
Hello and welcome back to theMississippi Bar Convention in
Sandestin, to the MississippiBar Convention in Sandestin.
And today I have a dear friend,renee Porter, who is a youth
(00:50):
court judge in our area, butjust a phenomenal person.
Rene Porter (00:56):
Thank you, Dawn, for letting me be here today and
it's strange to say, Dawn,Thank you, Justice Beam.
Judge Beam, because we didn'twork together when you were on
the Supreme Court, but workedtogether certainly when you were
a chancery judge, Judge Beam,but most of all a friend, as you
say.
Well, you know, friends are agift from the Lord.
The Bible says that and I trulybelieve that about you.
(01:16):
Now we met in law school.
Just tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
Did you grow up in Summerall?
I lived in Summerall when it wasvery small, like first grade,
but I grew up in Columbia,marion County.
I was born in Germany becausemy dad was taking a little stint
in the army, came back and wasraised in Marion County.
I had a lot of Lamar Countyties so I went to Lamar County
(01:38):
every Sunday to eat Sunday lunchWays, for the most part in
Marion County.
I went to University ofSouthern Mississippi Southern
Miss, to the top for myundergrad and then went to law
school where I met you.
I married my high schoolsweetheart and we came back to
Columbia and opened up a lawfirm in a 1935 gas station and
God was so good to us and hasbeen so good to us and blessed
(02:00):
us and blessed me and mypractice kind of developed to be
in one of family law.
I practiced family law andenjoyed that for many years and
still do to a small extent, butfor the most part.
Now I'm in the youth court.
In 2020, I was appointed asguardian ad litem in Marion
County and that is a positionthat I took very seriously and I
(02:20):
was able to serve there until Iwas appointed as youth court
judge in 2021.
While I was in Garden and Lime.
That's where you and I reallybegan to work on problems and
you may want to address some ofthose problems, and now, as
youth court judge, I continue totry to work on problems, but
I'm also hopefully I'm part ofthe solution and I just thank
God for letting me work in thisarea and I just thank God for
(02:43):
letting me work in this area.
James L. Henley, Jr. (02:44):
Well, you know, I reflect back to those
early days when I was a chanceryjudge.
We saw that we were having somechallenges in Marion County.
Can you just walk us throughsome of that and how God issues
churches and people thinkingoutside the box to really change
the trajectory of children inMarion County?
Hill Kane (03:04):
Well, in Marion County we were kind of wakened
to that by shock.
We had three deaths that werenot children in custody, not
children in custody.
But when we went back andlooked, maybe there are children
that should have been incustody.
There were calls that weremissed, calls that were not
followed up on, and so underyour leadership, judge Beam, we
immediately began a practice I'mgoing to call it a practice
(03:26):
which we still do to this daywhere we evaluate as a court,
every call that comes into thehotline.
We say, okay, should this?
You know?
Should we do something?
Should we not do something?
We also started encouragingpeople to call into the hotline.
And what we found out?
We had missed some kids.
We had missed some kids and sowe began to look into things and
(03:47):
before long we knew we hadabout 350 kids, children in
custody.
Now I'm proud to say that nowwe have we have around 20 in
Marion County in custody.
That is wonderful.
Now that is through theimplementation of of practices
and procedures that keepchildren out of custody, that is
through the implementation of alot of safety plans and
(04:08):
prevention plans, but it's alsothrough us working with those
over 350 children in custody,working those cases, to get
those cases resolved, eitherthrough reunification, which is
always our goal, and I'm soproud of some of our families
that have reunified and familiesthat have had problems and
they've worked through thoseproblems but then we have
(04:29):
situations where reunificationis not possible.
So we have adoptions and I cansee some of those kids.
I get graduation invitationsfrom some of those kids and it
just makes me tear up.
So a lot of good come out ofthose 350 kids being in custody.
Rene Porter (04:43):
We have a system in place to protect children, and
when the system is broken andthat's what we found out several
years ago when we had thosethree deaths is people were not
following up with tips, withcalls from teachers about
possible neglect or abuse.
And so, when we let problemsfester, children suffer even
(05:07):
more and parents spiral evenfurther downward.
And so it's important for thoselistening out there that if you
see something, say something.
It's very important.
You know we say sometimes well,I'm not, that's not on me to do
.
Basically, if you look at thelaw, almost everybody's a
mandatory reporter.
But it doesn't matter about thelaw.
If you see something wrong,call it in, call it to the
(05:28):
hotline.
Now I'll be honest with you.
It may take you.
It's not going to be a veryquick.
You're not going to be able tocall and say I see this child,
this child's in danger.
They're going to ask you a lotof questions.
Just be patient.
It'll get through quicker thanyou think and it can be.
It can still be confidential.
There's always a push to makeit non-confidential.
I certainly believe it needs tobe confidential because I
(05:49):
believe the most important thingwe can do is protect children
and if one child dies because ofsomebody being afraid to call
something in, because of notbeing confidential, then we
failed.
So please call it in.
All of our teachers, lawenforcement, our daycare workers
, things that y'all see, pleaseknow that in Marion County those
(06:10):
are all looked at.
We take them seriously.
That doesn't mean that we maybetake the action that you think
we should take, but we do takeit seriously.
We do look into it.
Dawn Beam (06:19):
So many of our reports deal with neglect and
not actual physical abuse.
I think sometimes people think,oh well, they don't have a
bruise, they don't have brokenbones, but that saying, sticks
and stones will break my bones,but words will never hurt me.
There's a lot of neglect thatgoes on out there, where their
(06:40):
children are not fed properly,children are not adequately
cared for, and that can be justas traumatic and just as
difficult for the child.
Rene Porter (06:49):
Well, as we saw in those three cases that we had
with deaths, when you have gotnot proper sleep situations and
you lose a child because of asleep situation, and that's when
you have too many people in thehouse and folks, it's not a
shame to be poor.
It's not a shame to be unableto afford housing.
It is a shame to not have yourchild where their child can
(07:10):
receive safe sleep.
We can take care of buying beds, we can take care of getting
housing.
We can take care of thosethings.
Put it on us, let us take careof it, but we can't take care of
a dead child.
Dawn Beam (07:22):
Let's talk about the folks that stepped up in Marion
County because nobody can do italone.
I say God doesn't calleverybody to be a foster parent,
but he calls everybody to dosomething.
Tell how the churches and thecommunity rallied.
You are so right.
Rene Porter (07:37):
Judge.
First of all, you created acollaboration, a community, a
coalition, and we operated underthat for a long time.
Basically, covid kind of took alittle bit of the sting off
that, but we operated under thatand we still operate under that
.
You know, we have so manychurches it's hard to even call
out one, but we have so manychurches and people that just
(07:58):
stepped up and to this day, if Ineed something, I needed
something.
Last week at a ballgame I saw agentleman that I looked at a
house last week that needs somework and I went talking with the
lady.
She says well, I said where doyou go to church?
She told me the name of herchurch and I knew the gentleman
who went to that church.
I saw him at the ballgame.
I said I got to talk to youabout something.
(08:18):
I said I need your men's group.
Oh, we'll be glad to do that.
We're looking for projects andthat's the way I'm always
received when I ask anything.
Occasionally they'll say, well,I don't know if I can do that,
but call so-and-so.
I have never had a no.
I'm so thankful to God's people, god's people for doing that.
Dawn Beam (08:38):
This is Hope, mississippi, but the idea that
tomorrow can be better thantoday and you can make it.
So.
When we empower people, theyget hope, but we also experience
hope when we help give and be apart of that.
So one last statement orchallenge to the folks that are
listening, about how they canprovide that hope.
Rene Porter (09:00):
I think, how you can provide that hope.
Number one if you seesomething's wrong, you think
it's wrong, call it in, Letsomebody know.
And number two just be ready.
God's going to give you thatopportunity and that chance to
provide hope.
And when we ask, be ready, Justtell somebody.
Look, I want to be involved, Iwant to help.
I will put you in the back ofmy mind and put you on a list
and I'll be calling youAbsolutely and I'll be calling
(09:21):
you Absolutely.
Dawn Beam (09:22):
Thank you so much, renee, for joining me and thanks
for your friendship.
Rene Porter (09:26):
Thank you, Dawn.
Soundtrack (09:29):
Hope, mississippi is your salvation.
Hill Kane (09:34):
Good afternoon everybody.
This is Hill Cain from theMississippi State Bar Convention
and I am sitting here with theincredible James.
I'm not going to mess up yourname because it's on your name
tag wrong, so please introduceyourself.
James L. Henley, Jr. (09:45):
It's James L Henley Jr.
Hill Kane (09:47):
James L Henley Jr.
Okay, and if you're notfamiliar with my voice, I am the
producer of Hope Mississippiand I sent the beams out for a
little breaky, so I have thehonor and pleasure of
interviewing James Henley, sowelcome.
James L. Henley, Jr. (10:01):
Thank you.
Hill Kane (10:01):
We're going to chat for about 10 minutes and I want
you to tell me what you justkind of told me in the hallway
about your summer program andhow that got started.
James L. Henley, Jr. (10:09):
I'm a lawyer, but I'm also a pastor,
bivocational past 20 years.
We run two programs.
We run a summer program and aspring break program from 730 in
the morning to 530 in theevening.
We take the first 45 familiesand we usually are single
mothers with two or three kidsand we literally give them the
environment of a camp that theypay for.
(10:29):
We go on field trips, we do aneducational component in the
mornings.
We have career week.
We teach them about finances,we'll take them to museums,
we'll have doctors, lawyers,different people come in to
expose them to other fields andopportunities that they're
unaware of.
We're in inner city Jackson.
We bought a former YMCA, 27.3acres in the middle of Jackson,
(10:51):
that had been abandoned 25 yearsago.
So 20 years ago when we boughtit, we came into a neighborhood
where there are literally 2,400apartment units within a two
mile radius of us.
A lot of single parents withkids there.
One day, my wife and I, after ayear or two, we saw some kids
just hanging out during springbreak and they looked to be
(11:11):
about six or seven, and wenoticed they were there all day,
and so we did an investigationbecause these parents were
working, they had nobody to keeptheir kids.
And we said well, we'll figuresomething out.
And literally that's how we gotstarted.
Hill Kane (11:22):
That's amazing.
So you saw a need and then youcreated a program around that
need.
How many years ago was that?
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:29):
18 years ago.
Hill Kane (11:29):
Wow.
So for 18 years you have beenproviding this spring and summer
program for these kids.
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:35):
Yes, and we never know who the kids are
going to be, and that's thething.
We accept any kid.
So let's say you had achallenged child.
We'd find a teacher who dealswith challenged children.
That's amazing.
We've never turned the kid awaybecause of an issue.
Hill Kane (11:48):
I love that.
Do you have any fun storiesabout kids that kind of came
through your program and maybeyou're still in touch with, or
you have a success story youcould share with us?
James L. Henley, Jr. (11:56):
This may be one of the better.
We've got a lot of good stories, but one of the stories is we
also do a big back-to-schoolfestival where we'll have rock
climbing.
We'll have everything, give outschool supplies.
Last year one of our membersdecided she was going to go to
Walmart and ask for donations,which we never have sort of done
.
She shows up at the Walmart outon County Line Road.
(12:17):
She's asking for donations.
She's gone two or three timesand she said they turned her
away.
She shows up the fourth time.
They've gotten the newestsystem manager at the store.
He hears them say the name FreshStart and she said Fresh Start.
He says hold up, hold up, she'sfrom Fresh Start.
She says yeah.
She says it's a Fresh StartChristian church on Manhattan
where they let us come playbasketball when I was a kid
(12:39):
every Friday night.
So he talked and he said no,y'all heard me talk about when I
was growing up.
We didn't have anything to do,but we could go to this church
on Friday nights.
They'd give us pizza, they'dlet us play basketball, they'd
make us sit and listen to themfor 20 minutes, but then they'd
let us play basketball again.
He says that's the church.
He literally gave us 300 hotdogs, 300 hamburgers, 300 sets
(13:01):
of buns for each one of them andload up, because he said we
kept him out of trouble, becausehe had somewhere to go on
Friday nights.
Hill Kane (13:10):
Absolutely Off those streets, right.
James L. Henley, Jr. (13:12):
Yeah.
Hill Kane (13:13):
That's incredible, amazing how God put certain
things in our path and luckilyyou were smart enough to pick up
on it and fix that needimmediately in your own
community.
James L. Henley, Jr. (13:26):
And we have been blessed.
Like I said, my wife and I areboth attorneys and we're both
CPAs, and so we have beenblessed enough that we could
well we didn't have, we couldprovide.
You know, God gave us theresources and we used those, and
over time, other people sawwhat we were doing and so they
started just donating moneybecause they knew we were using
it for kids.
Hill Kane (13:43):
I love everything about this and I am also
intrigued because I'm from Texasand we do have a lot of
abandoned hotels and abandonedbuildings, and it's incredible
that you took something that wasjust thrown away, basically,
and made it into an incrediblefacility, and more people need
to do that.
James L. Henley, Jr. (14:03):
I've told people.
I said, if you see an oldwarehouse, that's a gym, that's
a church, that's a place kidscan hang out at.
But it just takes thecommitment of someone willing to
give their time, give them theresources, but you see the kids
my funny story, the good storythen, sort of not a good story.
Hill Kane (14:21):
We'll take all the stories.
James L. Henley, Jr. (14:22):
Had two kids who got in trouble.
And so the public defender inHines County said was there
anybody who will say somethingnice about you?
And he thought about it.
They said well, you can callthe guy at the church.
And he said what church?
They said it's called FreshStart.
And so the lawyer, who I happento know, ray said James Henley.
They said James Henley.
They said yeah, that's his name, he's the pastor, he's a lawyer
(14:45):
.
Ray started laughing.
He said well, yeah, he actuallyis a lawyer.
He said well, he'll saysomething nice about us.
And so literally he called me.
He said well, james, these twokids are here.
Crime's pretty serious.
But they say they actually cometo the church on Friday nights.
And I said I don't alwaysremember all their names.
I said can you show me theirpicture?
So when he showed me theirpicture I said yeah, they're
(15:05):
right, they do come by.
They ended up both gettingreduced sentences, went on
probation, but literally the dayone of them got out of church,
he said he got out that Friday.
He came to church that Sundaymorning to say thank you,
because he said I've probablybeen in worse trouble than come
a Friday night.
But he actually knew somebodyand he said he turned his life
over to Christ while he was injail because he realized that he
(15:25):
had gotten a reduced sentencebecause he used to come to the
church and it made him startreading his Bible for himself.
Hill Kane (15:30):
And he did it in earnest, not just to get a get
out of jail ticket.
Like this is very sincere.
James L. Henley, Jr. (15:35):
Yes.
Hill Kane (15:36):
I bet you have shown a lot of children that the
faith-based and the way out ofyour situation is through Christ
and God, not that mischief outin the streets.
James L. Henley, Jr. (15:48):
It's a change of mindset, realizing
that there's hope in Christ.
But until somebody shows themthat, explains it to them, they
come there.
And this is what always getsthem.
They come there, they playbasketball, they do things.
We feed them pizza, we takethem on field trips, we buy them
t-shirts in camp, and theyfigure out it doesn't cost
anything.
So eventually they will say whydo you do this?
(16:10):
And we'll say because we'remaking Christ visible to you,
we're showing you the love ofGod, that he cares enough about
you, that he started a wholeprogram just for you because he
wants you to see another way.
Hill Kane (16:21):
I love that.
So then they know that youbelieve in them Right?
And then also that God believesin them, and that's really all
they need to just take aslightly different path, Like a
different path.
I love that and you know.
Dawn.
Dawn Beam (16:33):
Beam.
I'm sitting in for Justice Beamright now.
Do you have a little messagefor her?
Do you want to say hello?
James L. Henley, Jr. (16:38):
I say hello.
But I'm also excited about thefact that she's bridging over to
another way of helping peoplesee the light, to see that
there's hope.
Because I just know from beingin front of judges they see a
lot, they see a whole lot andit's a lot more than other
people and they have to sort ofbring it all together.
But I think with the knowledgeshe's gained from there, she
(16:58):
also saw the need for someonegoing out there and being a beam
, someone being a light, a beamof light.
Hill Kane (17:03):
A beam of light.
I see what you did there.
I see what you did there.
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:07):
Yes, what she's doing is incredible and
it's all about bringing hope toMississippi as part of the Hope
Rising Mississippi nonprofit,but it was absolutely generated
by what she saw as a judge andas a lawyer and in the
children's courts and all of theon the state Supreme Court, and
this is her way of bridging andbranching out, and she's had
(17:29):
all different kinds of people onthe podcast, so I want to thank
you so much for being one ofthem.
Well, thank you.
Hill Kane (17:35):
It was great getting to know you and learn about your
program.
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:37):
And feel free to come by any day.
We're 5210 Manhattan Road,Jackson Mississippi, 39206.
Hill Kane (17:43):
Do you have a website .
James L. Henley, Jr. (17:44):
We do freshstartchristiancom.
There we go.
Hill Kane (17:50):
Thank you so much and we'll see you in the next
episode.
Dawn Beam (17:57):
Hello and welcome back to the Mississippi Bar
Convention.
I am here with Joy Phillipsfrom Gulfport, mississippi.
Welcome, joy.
Thank you, judge, good to seeyou, great to see you.
We're here, and we just heardformer Governor Haley Barber
talk about Katrina.
(18:17):
That was just so inspiring,wasn't it.
Joy Phillips (18:18):
Oh my gosh, it just brought back such memories.
He is such a great speaker, butto listen to it just kind of
brought it all back to meAbsolutely.
Dawn Beam (18:27):
And you know, one thing that we celebrate when we
think about Katrina is we cameout of that with such hope
because we all came together.
Joy Phillips (18:36):
I'm telling you, it really renews your faith in
humanity.
But Mississippians were soresilient, but we had people
from all over the country well,actually internationally, but
mostly across the country, thefaith-based groups.
I don't know what would havehappened to Mississippi had we
not had such support.
Tell the audience a little bitabout you.
(18:58):
You're an attorney, but aboutwhere you're from, how long
you've lived there and then whatyou were doing at the time of
Katrina.
Rene Porter (19:05):
I've been practicing law since 1980.
At that time was generalcounsel for Hancock, a bank
which is now called HancockWhitney.
So in 2005, at that point I hadalso been elected president of
the Mississippi Bar.
So about a month before KatrinaI had taken over as president
(19:26):
of the Mississippi Bar.
I live in Gulfport.
My home is there.
My company that I worked forwas located there, so when
Katrina came through it waslife-altering.
But again, I've been practicinglaw since 1980, both in private
practice as well as in-house,with two different banks.
Dawn Beam (19:46):
So you were working with a bank on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast when Katrina camethrough and wiped everything out
and the governor talked abouthow we quickly turned into a
cash economy.
Joy Phillips (19:58):
I heard George Slogel, who then was the
president of Hancock I'll sayHancock, Whitney, because that's
what it's known now.
I had heard him say before andthen right after Katrina cash is
king.
When you're in that kind of aneconomy, a disaster like that,
you've got to get cash inpeople's hands.
Governor Barber talked aboutthe fact you can't use a credit
(20:20):
card if you don't have phonelines, you can't pump gas if you
don't have electricity, and allthose things were true, and so
the bank that I worked for hadbranches all across the
Mississippi coast as well as farnorth as Hattiesburg, and so it
was so inspiring when I thinkback about what the leaders of
(20:41):
the bank I mean I'm not going totake credit for it, but they
knew what needed to happen andthey knew they had to get cash
out so they opened up branches.
This happened on Monday, and onTuesday afternoon we had a
branch open, no power.
We just set up a folding table.
We had most of our branchesopen within 48 hours with no
(21:03):
power in most cases, some withgenerators.
We had our folks inside and wewould let one person in at a
time just to try to maintain.
We would find kind of thebiggest person and go today
you're the security guard atthis branch to just let one
person in at a time for safetypurposes.
We knew we had to get cash topeople.
(21:24):
One of the things that we had aproblem with and stop me if I'm
saying too much, but you'redoing great we couldn't get cash
from the Federal Reservebecause they couldn't get into
New Orleans to get us cash,which is where they would get it
.
Our cash that we had had hadgotten washed through in our
vault.
It had all kinds of chemicalsand everything in it.
(21:46):
So we managed to find again.
I give our leaders credit.
They went and got washers anddryers, brought them in.
We had generators and weliterally laundered money.
That is amazing.
We did, and so we had to rinseit.
Then we had people iron it andbundle it back up, and we also
(22:09):
opened an area we were workingin.
We opened, I guess, a littlebranch for first responders, so
we had all the people that aredown there from police, firemen,
National Guard.
We opened up a branch,basically with a cash box and
would cash checks for them sothat they had money then again,
(22:29):
because cash was king.
Dawn Beam (22:30):
You don't think about all the immediate needs when a
hurricane comes through, andcertainly money is necessary for
everything from fresh water togasoline to food and just the
basic needs unless somebody isgiving it away, and a lot of
people did that during Katrina.
You've served at the bankHancock Whitney, and the
(22:52):
governor talked about the amountof money that y'all gave out
during those days.
Could you tell a little bitabout the investment that the
bank did and how it paid off?
Joy Phillips (23:04):
Well it did.
We probably loaned over $5million out and I think it was
probably $400,000 or $500,000that ended up.
We didn't recover that.
People didn't pay back and itcould have been because they
left town and really didn't knowhow.
If you had an ID even if youdidn't have an ID, if somebody
knew you we would make a loan oflike $200.
We also, if you had an accountwith us and didn't have your
(23:26):
checkbook, we would go ahead andget money out of your account.
We didn't know if you had moneyin your account because we
couldn't check the balance.
We just took it word.
We lost so little money afterdoing that and people thanked us
and because of that our companyactually grew.
I think it was something like20, 25,000 new customers.
Our company grew a couplebillion dollars because of the
(23:49):
goodwill.
We didn't do it for that reason, but because of the goodwill
that we got out of what we did.
The other thing is we hadpeople who needed to get in safe
deposit boxes because that'swhere their IDs were, their
passports were, but ourbuildings were damaged.
Some were totally destroyed,but almost all of them were
(24:10):
damaged to some extent.
So we would have to arrange toput a hard hat on and get them
in there, let them into there,but our employees were.
They did it because they wantedto.
Dawn Beam (24:22):
When we talk about Hope Mississippi, we talk about
what Mississippi, that ourbiggest resources are people,
and people in Mississippi worktogether to create positive
change, and I think that's onegreat thing about being a
resident here.
Joy Phillips (24:38):
Oh, it is.
I mean we had some of ouremployees who lost their homes,
but we're still finding a way toget to work.
And our company knew I know youwere in there and heard
Governor Barber talk about itbut we were able to get gas and
we told if somebody would bringa gas, can we would fill their
(24:59):
gas up so that they could eitherget to work, get home, you know
, do what they needed to do.
So it was pretty incrediblePeople who had pretty much lost
everything were still showing upfor work because that's what
they wanted to do and theywanted to help other people.
Okay, I'm going to shift gearsjust a minute because we're here
to celebrate you today.
You are being recognized.
(25:22):
We're going to the Suzy BlueBuchanan thing, but you were
recognized last night for allthat you have done for the
Mississippi Bar and forMississippi in general the
Mississippi Bar and forMississippi in general.
You were the first female to bepresident of the bar and you
were that in the midst ofKatrina.
(25:42):
So talk just a minute aboutwhat you did there, how we
thought outside the box aslawyers.
Well, I mean, I live on thecoast and I stayed in my home.
I'm very fortunate, I'mprobably one of the luckiest
people on the coast.
On the coast and I stayed in myhome, I'm very fortunate, I'm
probably one of the luckiestpeople on the coast.
I still had a job.
My house had damage but I couldlive in it.
So, you know, we immediatelystarted getting in touch with
(26:03):
the state bar, of course, youknow, and they were being
contacted by other barassociations, both Mississippi
lawyers, but bar associationsfrom across the country donated
money, gift cards, furniture.
We actually had attorneys fromMinnesota who came down and
visited us and then broughtfurniture, but the attorneys who
(26:26):
came and volunteered at theFEMA centers to help people, to
answer questions, legalquestions, we had people come
from.
You know, I'll never forget Iwent to one of the FEMA centers
and an attorney from Georgia hecame to Manit.
He had gone to high school buthad you know they're in Biloxi,
just wanted to volunteer, and hesaid I said so where are you
(26:46):
staying tonight?
And he said I'll find someplace.
I said well, you probably won't.
And I walked away and I cameback and I said here's my
telephone number.
If you can't find a place.
You're welcome to call me andyou're welcome to stay at my
home.
And he called and I missed thecall.
So he called my house, talkedto my husband and when I got
home he and my husband werehaving a glass of wine in my
(27:07):
living room.
Dawn Beam (27:08):
That is a wonderful story and Joy.
You and I both married up.
You're married to St Frank andhe is a wonderful blessing.
He is.
Thank you for joining me andwhoop, whoop, we celebrate the
great things that have happenedin Mississippi, but I can't wait
to see how this next generationmoves us forward.
Joy Phillips (27:28):
I agree, I agree.
Thank you so much for invitingme to be on this.
You know I'm a big fan of yours.
Thank you, thank you.
Dawn Beam (27:35):
Thank you when you need some hope and inspiration
To build collaboration.
Hope Mississippi is yoursalvation.
Hope Mississippi.
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