July 1, 2025 • 57 mins
Back-to-school season means more than pencils and backpacks—it’s about restoring dignity, structure, and hope for children facing difficult circumstances. In this episode, the TRM team shares the heartfelt stories and behind-the-scenes work of preparing students for the classroom, from organizing supplies to creating moments of joy and normalcy. La Manda Cunningham, TRM CEO, reflects on what it means when a child has what they need, not just physically, but emotionally—because for every child, school is their job.
You’ll also hear from John Roberts, Deputy Director of Community Needs and Services, and Andrew Lucas, Director of Distribution Services, as they talk about the logistics, heart, and community effort behind this mission. From Minecraft backpacks to last-minute miracles, it’s clear that God is at work—sometimes immediately, sometimes months later—but always faithfully. Join the conversation and learn how you can be part of not just planting seeds, but orchards of hope in the lives of kids and families who need it most.
To check out our Needs List, Click Here!
To support TRM, Click Here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dear Heavenly Father, we just come humbly before you
and thank you for this day, yourblessings and your provisions,
God.
We thank you for God, just thistime to record this podcast,
Lord, and just all that you'redoing within the community,
within TRM, Lord, and thank youthat we get to communicate it,
and thank you for our listeners.
Lord, pray that they would beblessed by it today and, Lord,
that you'd be glorified andhonored In your holy name.
We pray, amen.
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Amen.
Hello everybody, thank you forjoining us with our community,
our mission, a podcast of theTopeka Rescue Mission.
Today is Tuesday, july 1st 2025.
This is episode number 273.
I'm your host today, barryFeaker, here with Lamanda
Cunningham, ceo of Topeka RescueMission.
Good morning Lamanda, goodmorning July already.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I know, and you know, barry, I'm kind of torn because
on one hand I'm like how is itJuly?
That means we're officiallyhalfway through the year, all
the to-dos.
The other side, you know,having five kids, I'm like we're
closer to school starting.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
We've almost survived .
Which is panic city or can't?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
wait.
No, mama needs structure and Ineed people out the door and
learning for eight hours a day.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Plus, not to mention all the kids at Hope Center,
correct, who would be reallynice if they were back in school
.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yes, yes, um, you know it's just so good and it's
so funny because you think likebreaks are good and they are Um.
But honestly, kids and adults,we all thrive from like
predictability and structure andall of that we really do.
So for the first, even coupleof weeks, it's like OK, it's
good.
And then all of a sudden Istart looking around even my
(01:35):
staff that have kids and stuff.
I'm like man, there's no tiredlike one Christmas tired around
TRM, and then two when it's allthe breaks for the parents and
the parents are juggling workand kids.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So we're making it, it's the same thing every year.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
It is All the time.
You just put your kids in likeas many camps as you can.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yes, but then you're tired with that.
Taxi driving, and does the campstart at nine?
Does it start at eight?
Is it three day or four days?
Five, days.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Does it go till noon?
Yes, till 2.30.
Do I?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
send a lunch, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So we're juggling the struggle, barry, and then, of
course, in your situation, whenwe have a snow day and kids get
to come home, you don't get tocome home because you're dealing
with snow days at the rescuemission.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Correct Yep, and I'm loading them all up saying we're
going to serve.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
We're going to and something special coming up, but
we want to jump into.
What we always enjoy is theresearch and development
department, which is down at theend of the table here.
Josh Turley, you're welcome,josh.
Thank you for all of theseincredible things that are
important, but we're going toinvite our two guests here today
, which are kind of not guests,but they are guests because
they're staff and they've beenon the podcast a thousand times.
(02:40):
John Roberts, deputy Directorof Community Services.
Good morning, good morning,good morning.
And we have Andrew here.
Lucas, who is Director ofDistribution Services, you've
been on the podcast as well.
Good, morning.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I have Good morning.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Okay, are you guys ready for this?
Let's do it.
Okay, this is what's specialabout July the 1st.
Now, if you have a cheat sheetin front of you, turn it over
the other way, don't look at it.
Okay, hey, you really followthe rules there and that's
pretty good.
So today is International JokeDay.
Did you know that, lamanda?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
No, I didn't, you didn't, but I kind of think you
have a joke, I do Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All right, so you're ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
How do you make a tissue dance?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You in it.
Well, thanks for listeningeverybody, that's right.
Thank you all very much.
I mean, how could you not lovethat one?
Yeah, okay, all right.
What about you, john, got anydad jokes or anything?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
oh, um, john is a walking dad, joke we hear them
thanks I think, sounds kindlylike a jab a little bit, uh huh
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
I have a lot of pirate jokes, but they're mostly
rated R.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Save that for a different podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's good, that's really good.
Hey, I got where do.
Or what happens to bad rainbows?
They go to prism.
Don't worry though.
It's a light sentence.
It's just to give them time toreflect.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Oh, my word, that takes the cheese right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Sure, all of you are much more enlightened today,
here, on July the 1st.
Andrew, one more, do you have ajoke?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Why did the cowboy get a wiener dog?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm afraid to know.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
He was told to get a long little doggy.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Get a long little doggy, all right Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
All right, none of us should quit our jobs.
We should keep our day jobs.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So International Joke Day.
I thought would be on April 1st, but that's April Fool's, not
Joke Day, so anyway.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
It does say that's important because April Fool's
Day is just to you know, eitherprank people, the jokes to make
people smile.
So that's the differentiation.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
We did Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Now this is really an important one.
This is only in the UK, but itprobably could apply to a lot of
places.
It is national UK wrongtrousers day.
Wrong trousers day.
What does that even mean?
Well, it means that you'rewearing the wrong pair of pants.
Wrong trousers day.
Have you ever?
We're not going to ask you thisone, guys have you ever gone to
(05:02):
work or gone out and you justknew you had the wrong trousers
on?
I don't know how to answer thisquestion.
Has anybody important in yourlife ever told you you're
wearing the wrong pair of pants?
Speaker 5 (05:15):
I guess I have worn pants backwards before.
How do you wear pants backwards?
Like sweatpants or something?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh, okay, you realize , your pocket, your hands in
your pockets and they're goingbackwards.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How did you know they were backwards?
Yes, how did you know they werebackwards?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I get you know, I just get mixed up.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It was wrong trousers day, that should be my excuse I
took my daughter to the dollartree in my fuzzy puppy dog
pajama pants one time uh,backwards, oh no, okay, you just
did just weren't appropriatesee, it's always when you wear
like the sweatpants that you seepeople.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Like you go to the store, you're like I won't see
anybody.
It's like either early in themorning or late at night, so
you're just like grunged out.
It's like when you see the mostpeople you know.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The month of July is my wedding anniversary.
I think it was about 200 yearsago, and so the day of my
wedding we had our tuxes, exceptmy pants didn't show up, and so
I am at 10 o'clock and we'regetting married at one o'clock
in the afternoon.
I am at the tux place on aSaturday going.
I need my pants and they go.
Well, we're really sorry.
(06:14):
And so all my groomsmen were intheir tuxes and everything.
I had my tux on and blue jeans.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yes, and I wasn't really excited about that and I
knew that my bride-to-be wasprobably not going to be too
pleased when you know, back inthe day you couldn't see each
other.
The day of the wedding you know,and so when he came out it was
a big surprise or it was badluck, or whatever.
Yes, so I'm sweating it out,and about five minutes until one
, here comes this car justbarreling up into the parking
lot.
(06:40):
The guy ran out and he gave methe trousers that go with the
tux.
The only problem is that theywere three sizes too big, and so
I am completely holding mypants up during that.
That was wrong.
Trouser day at its worst.
Oh, that's hilarious yeah.
So one more thing it'sInternational Chicken Wing Day
for those of you that likechickens, so, and their wings
(07:03):
especially.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
LaMand do you have chickens still?
I do, yeah, and can you believe?
I just started letting them outto free range, and it is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Do you guys like chicken wings?
Well, do the chickens know thisShh?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
they don't know it.
Yes, and my favorite chickenwing is garlic Parmesan.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, that's right here on the list Buffalo wings,
different sauce varieties suchas barbecue, ranch, garlic or
Parmesan.
The list is endless.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
When I'm around them, though, I just tell them I eat
beef.
Well, I guess that's a lie.
We just started letting themwalk around, and yesterday I was
literally laying on my stomachin the grass videotaping them,
because it was the greatestthing ever.
And then I thought how do I dothis and love them so much, and
yet, at least five times a week,I'm eating chicken.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
This seems so morbid, but anyways when you come home
with your Chick-fil-A cups andeverything, chickens are going
here she comes again.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
All right, enough of that, you all.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We talked about said we're going to talk about kids
today LaManda Hope Centerstaying pretty full most of the
time with families and childrenand give us a little bit of an
update on that, and then we'regoing to talk about what we're
preparing for now for kids goingback to school.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, you know, we have averaged, for about two and
a half years now, 50 kids anight.
Sometimes that increases.
We definitely see an increaseoften when the weather is so
cold.
We sometimes see an increasewhen it's really hot, because I
(08:36):
think sometimes when familiesare doubled up, living with
people, multiple families, forwhatever reason, sometimes
issues can arise or maybe theylose electricity.
Just there's different reasons.
But on average we are averaging50 kids a day.
(08:56):
And you know, on one hand, I'mso thankful that we've had the
Hope Center, you know for overtwo decades now, and it's so
great to know that the kids havea place that's safe, they have
a place where there are, there'stoys outside, there's a
playhouse, there'spredictability, they get snacked
(09:18):
before bed.
You know all of these things.
The other side of it is I don't.
I I can't say.
I know how people feel, but Ican only empathize how it feels
to be a parent, to know that youlove your children so much and
that in this moment you can'tprovide a safe place.
(09:39):
So our Hope Center is soanointed in a way where
hopefully there is neverembarrassment and that parents
can always feel, hey, this isthe place that you go, because
we not only want to love yourkids, we want to love you while
(10:00):
you're still trying to love them.
But the heartache about it toois I would love to live in a
world where no child has to stayat a rescue mission.
You know, and I would love toknow that every kid is taken
care of every day and loved andtucked into bed and sweet dreams
, and it's just not the case.
(10:21):
So we're really watchingnumbers, always trying to make
sure that we take care of kidsthe best way that we can.
It's a challenge Sometimes.
You know it could be achallenge if you have one or two
kids in your household.
If you think about it, ourstaff puts 50.
So it's not always easy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And those kids will be babies all the way to kids in
high school.
Yes, and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah, kids will be babies all the way to kids in
high school and everything inbetween.
Yeah, last, I believe it waslast summer, going into last
fall, we had eight under the ageof one.
So and particularly those weresingle moms we did have some
families and we had one singledad.
But you know you've got babiesjuggling off times with
scheduling, with sleep andcrying and tummy aches and
(11:08):
you've got that and next dooryou could have another family
and all of that.
So it's definitely a beautifulmess and it's definitely
something that our staff isconstantly juggling, but those
kids are worth it.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You know, amanda, one of the things that you've kind
of alluded to is you try tonormalize life for these
families, even though they're ina homeless shelter, try to make
it as normal as possible, eventhough it's not normal.
As a former educator yourself,how important was it for kids to
show up at the classroom firstday of school and have the
(11:43):
supplies that the other kids had.
Maybe they couldn't, theirparents couldn't afford the
supplies.
I know you worked in the lowerincome areas of school as a
principal and so did you havekids sometimes that showed up
and didn't have all the rightsupplies, and what was that like
for the kid?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, every year you know, every year, barry we had
kids that didn't have what theyneeded.
I want to backtrack real quickand then dive into that.
When you talk about how we aretrying to normalize children,
stay while they're here.
The team, our leadership, doesa great job at really analyzing.
(12:22):
What do we see other kidsgetting to do and what can we?
What are our kids at the HopeBecause we call them our kids
what do our kids at the HopeCenter get to do?
And so just a couple of things,you know.
I want to give kudos toCourtney and our trauma team and
volunteers.
They put on a kids camp everyyear, because camps yes, there's
(12:43):
a lot of camps around Topekaall summer and many of them are
free, but it's still atransportation issue or a timing
issue or or maybe even beingcomfortable going somewhere
outside of the rescue mission,which is their home now.
Correct, and so it's just a bigstep sometimes for our people to
even access that, and so acouple of weeks ago we did our
(13:04):
kids camp, and there's photos onour Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I just saw one of the staff today and they're still
tired.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yes, they are.
I think, you know, when we dokids camp it might be equivalent
of the tired we get withwarming centers.
Those might be equal.
But those kids, they get topaint and they're out there
playing and they get a snack andthey get to do crafts, and so
that's a great thing.
You know, we every year, acouple years ago, started a fall
festival and we do that forthat, so that we can still
(13:30):
celebrate around the time thatsome people are celebrating
Halloween.
We try to do it, as how do wefall for Jesus?
How do we do what he wants usto do?
And there's games and it trulyis all hands on deck Staff sign
up and that's all volunteertruly is all hands on deck,
staff sign up and that's allvolunteer.
So those are just a couple ofthings in addition to the
holidays and all of this that wedo.
And why do we do it?
We do it one because that's howwe're serving them.
(13:54):
You know, the Bible didn't tellus serve the one in front of us
or serve the least of these,and that excludes kids.
They're still a being and wewant to pour into them.
Kids, they're still a being andwe want to pour into them.
You know, as a previous educator, it was extremely important for
(14:15):
kids to have pencils andcrayons and binders, because
that is a part of their identityas a student.
You know, I know people thinkI'm crazy when I say this, but I
will say it every year.
A doctor would not show up andnot have his or her scrubs, or
wouldn't go in to perform asurgery and not have utensils.
If so, that identity isstripped, that doctor can no
longer be a doctor.
(14:35):
And sometimes I think we asadults, we think through things
from our lens and ourunderstanding and we don't
realize that, from the age ofthree to four, to five to 18,
that kiddo's job is school.
That's what they're showing upfor, and so what we try to do
and I know many other amazinggroups in this community we
(14:59):
don't look at this back toschool drive and trying to
provide items and all of this as, oh, we have to do this or oh,
this is just for fun.
There's a very serious componentin equipping kids with what
they need for school.
Um, I also equip equivalentthis too.
If I was going to a speakingevent, I probably wouldn't feel
(15:22):
great about doing it If I was inPJs.
No shoes, holy socks wrongtrousers wrong trousers, wrong
trouser day.
There's just something aboutwhen you're not prepared to do
what's needed, you already feeldefeated.
And so, as an educator, um, wewere so blessed.
Depending on what school I wasat, that depends on what
(15:42):
community partner you had.
But community partners reallyunderstood the why.
It wasn't just to say, cliche,oh, kids need this.
They understood that whathappened that first day could
potentially set the trajectoryof that child's schooling for
that next nine months.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Research has shown that kids thrive when they feel
safe, and safety is not justsafe from violence, it's safe in
regards to how their kids treatthem or how they're looking in
the mirror looking at themselves.
When kids don't feel safe atschool or going to and from
school, they don't learn becausethey're focused on things, and
so a lot of the children cominginto Hope Center have come from
(16:23):
unsafe places.
Their families have come fromunsafe places and tried to make
this as safe as possible, notjust physically, which it is,
but also emotionally for them aswell.
And those basic things and wecan't take them for granted.
They're really, reallyimportant to not only the child
but also the family to know thattheir kids aren't going to
(16:46):
stand out when they go to thatfirst day of school.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And you know kiddos that aren't that don't have what
they need.
I just don't want us to havethis knee jerk as adults.
I don't want us to have thisknee jerk reaction where we
condemn the parents, becausevery seldom have I ever, if I
even have, met a parent thatlooked at me as their child's
(17:09):
principal or their child'steacher or now CEO of TRM, and
said I don't care about my child, I don't care about their needs
, and I, you know I have fivekids and it is expensive.
Looking at school supplies, andespecially the older they get,
(17:37):
it's hard.
That is definitely a budgeteditem.
It's not something that I canjust wait in August and go buy
everything.
We couldn't do it.
And so when you look at peoplewho are living on a fixed income
, if you're looking at peoplewho are, what I say working to
live, that's hard, and so that'sreally our stance on what we're
(17:59):
going to talk about today isit's really not our place to
know what should be being doneor why it's not being done.
We see a need and we want tomeet it, and we want to meet it
with the dignity of the child,and we also want the parent to
not have to be embarrassed orashamed.
We want them to know this issomething we do gladly, because
(18:22):
we too have needed the helpbefore.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So these kids staying in the Hope Center and it's not
just the same 50.
They're coming, leaving andother ones coming in, so that's
kind of the average.
There's a need to prepare notonly for that first day of
school but every day thereafterbecause new kids are coming in
who maybe have lived in theircar, maybe have dropped out of
school for a while, who maybehave lived in their car, maybe
(18:45):
have dropped out of school for awhile.
We've seen situations beforewhere we've got older kids who
are coming in, have notliterally not been in school for
up to five years Correct, andso having to work with the
school district to get themcaught back up and deal with all
the trauma that went on of thembeing pulled out.
And we weren't talking abouthomeschooling, we're talking
about no schooling, living invery difficult situations and
(19:06):
helping to get them to a placewhere they're stable, safe and
basic supplies is a veryimportant part of that.
So the school districts put outto the parents supplies list
and those parents can fill themsometimes and sometimes they
can't maybe none at all orpartially, because they don't
have income.
The rescue mission gets thatsupply list as well.
So John, andrew and Andrew, notJohn Andrew, john and.
(19:30):
Andrew, this is a big deal fordistribution services and
community services and needsthat we have here, because it's
not just kids at the Hope Centerwe're talking about, it's also
for others in the community thatare not being taken care of
with another agency ororganization.
So, john, this isn't your firstrodeo on this one, andrew,
(19:50):
yours as well.
So what are you doing toprepare for what will be early
August of starting adistribution of these school
supplies now, first of all tothe children guests of the
rescue mission and then to thecommunity?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Yeah, we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row
so that this event can go offwithout a hitch and so just
preparing to be able to againbless many people in our
community.
Like you said, both our HopeCenter guests as well as folks
in the community we definitelyview this as an issue.
That is one of those upstreamissues.
(20:23):
When you say upstream meaningtrying to do prevention from
families falling intohomelessness, we don't want any
families, those that are outthere that are not in the rescue
mission.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
in this regard, this can be one of those tools to
help.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Absolutely.
We don't want a family to youknow, when school starts, um
kind of like Lamanda was saying,if you have a family with with
multiple, with multiple childrenand they're getting these lists
and we have four or five kidsall needing things, we don't
want a parent having to choosedo I get them their school stuff
or put food on the table, or doI pay the light bill or get
them their things.
(20:57):
So that's why we kind of dothese drives every year to
gather school supplies, makesure we take care of our Hope
Center kiddos first, but thenalso go out to the community,
and so we're preparing this yearto hopefully help around 400
children.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Oh, that's more than they're staying in the Hope
Center, that's correct.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yep, yep, and so already, I mean, it's July 1st.
I know a lot of people are insummer mode, but we are just
trying to already get the ballrolling on getting supplies in
and just a little over a monthyou start distributing these
supplies, so you need them now,correct?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Um so, andrew, uh, being in charge of distribution
services, um, it's not just abunch of stuff that shows up.
You have to organize this stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Correct and we've been reviewing the school needs
list and seeing if anything'schanged on that.
Um, and as John said, it'speople are in summer mode and so
they're not always thinkingschool supplies 1st of July and
so we want to make sure that wetake opportunities like this to
remind people that you know, ifyou can think about it now and
(22:04):
start donating, then it helps usin our preparation.
So we've updated our Amazonlist, we've updated our needs
list on our website variousthings to try and inform people
where our needs are, what wehave.
We're starting our inventoryprocess.
We've got our planning meetingsgoing where we know who's doing
what and where and how many.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So how can somebody, if they want to help, find out
how to help?
You talked about thesedifferent lists.
Where are those lists located?
How can somebody do something?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
The primary list is on our website, trmonlineorg,
and it goes to theback-to-school list.
It's on the needs list, on theneeds list down at
back-to-school.
And you can see everything thatwe are looking for, you know
kind of prioritized there.
Is it on the Facebook page aswell?
I think there's some.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, there's been some posts too, but we'll keep
doing those.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And that will increase as we get closer.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Josh will blast it Sure and his new psychic, alex,
will be there blasting it withhim.
Right, right right.
Yeah, so somebody can find outdifferent needs that are there
and they can actually go toAmazon and have an order sent
here.
That's one way.
Can somebody write in adesignated gift to send a check
(23:16):
in and say school supplies?
Yes the answer.
I see nodding heads.
That's great for podcast guys.
So, Josh, I'm asking thisquestion Is there a special box
that somebody can do onlinegiving and check for school
supplies at this point?
I'm going to double check thatthere will be.
There will be.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Okay, there will be now, but right now, even when
they donate, there's like a memoor something that they can put
in the notes.
They can put it back to school.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
They can go there.
What if somebody Andrew wantsto go out and do the shopping?
They really like to do that,and some people do.
They just love to go out andshop and a little more of that
personal touch bring them to you.
How can they do that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, they just simply show up at 401 Northwest
Norse and my staff there willhelp them unload, and we'd be
grateful to and what time shouldthey try to make that happen
Anytime?
Between eight and three 45weekdays.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Weekdays eight and three 45.
So if it's a, you're gettingreally the urge to go and shop
at midnight.
I guess nothing's open atmidnight anymore.
I think they're all closed youknow the pandemic really did a
number on us, but anyway.
So those are the times andagain those will be listed on
the website when you can dropsupplies off.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
While we're talking about this part, another neat
thing is you know if peoplebelong to small groups or they
work in offices or whatever.
This is a fun way to kind of doa drive together, you know, and
it doesn't have to be big, youdon't have to have a goal of
bringing us a hundred items.
But you know, if you meet witha small group once or twice a
month and there's five familiesin it, if everybody could just
(24:45):
bring three or four things ofcrayons, you put that together,
you instantly have 15 to 20things of crayons.
Businesses, offices, thingslike that.
Just kind of spreading the wordtoo is so helpful, especially
with the need of the suppliesbut also backpacks to put them
in, and pencil boxes and justthings like that.
(25:06):
So we've seen some groups dothat and when they do it's such
a blessing.
But I really would like to seethat increase, because it's just
good when you're doing good andwe don't always have to do that
within our own families we cankind of spark that interest and
ignite and inspire some othersaround us to do the same.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So if you're in an office or your church group,
social community service group,whatever, you can go and do the
same thing as a group to be ableto collect and say, adopt 10
kids or whatever, and that's apretty easy thing to do.
So Rescue Mission kids andfamilies are going to be
attended to with the guestservices here to be able to get
(25:47):
them connected with thedistribution for their kids.
So if somebody is in thecommunity right now, some parent
finds out about the TopekaRescue Mission and this isn't
the first time.
There's some that know aboutthis already.
But if they don't, how can theyfind out where to sign up?
Because it's not just show up,it's sign up and you're
targeting, as John you said,over 400 this year and so that's
(26:08):
a large number, which means alot of supplies.
But how do I find out if I havechildren, if I can take
advantage of this?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
We will have a JOT form thatgoes live on July 21st for
people to sign up and registertheir family or their different
children.
We'll be able to put a littleinformation about what age are
they in so that we know kind ofwhat specific school supplies
are they need Are they going toneed?
You know, sometimes a highschooler needs different school
(26:37):
supplies than a first grader.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I'm going to represent old school here.
What in the world is a JotForm,and where do you find it?
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Yeah, a JotForm is just an online fillable form
that will be going out on ourwebsite.
It'll be going out on Facebook.
Basically anywhere that you caninteract with TRM Online's
presence, you will be able tofind that Again, that's going to
go live July 1st and people canLike today July 21st, 21st.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
July 21st, 21st, okay , so hang on y'all.
Correction correction 19 days.
So you go to the trmonlineorgthat's the website and then
there'll be this very clearly ifyou need help for school, and
it's called a jot form, so youdon't really need to know that,
you just need to just fill itout, right?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Okay, yep, good for me.
And it will also be on ourFacebook page, and the neat
thing about that is there willbe a share option at the bottom
of that, and so people that areon Facebook can also share it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
To kind of spread the word on that.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So I fill the form out.
I've got two or three kids.
I filled it out, and then howam I going to know that I've
been selected?
And then I want to talk aboutonce I'm selected, then what's
next?
So how am I going?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
to know that it worked.
When you fill out that form,you will get a confirmation that
the form was received and,essentially, if you fill it out
and get that confirmation, thenwe will be prepared to serve you
on our distribution date.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
That confirmation comes via an email.
Correct, because we're assumingat this point, if somebody's
online, they've already got somekind of access to the tech here
.
So, even if you're at thelibrary filling this out or
somewhere else, if you have anemail address and anybody can
get one of those, then that'show you're going to get
confirmed, correct, okay?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Correct, and so just some other important dates and
I'll make sure I get these right, since I rushed past the date
of the form earlier.
But our community distributionfor community members will be on
August 6th and that's going tobe from 10 am to 6 pm.
Again, there's going to be alot more notes going out about
that, but on August 6th, from 10am to 6 pm, people can come and
(28:46):
pick up their school suppliesif they're registered with us
that one day.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Correct, so that could be like 300 or so.
That one day.
There will be Will there belike times that I'm scheduled
for, or is it just that day I'mnotified to come?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
They'll just be able to come.
During that time We'll beprepared, and so that's our plan
of action this year is that weare going to be prepared for the
amount of people that we havesigned up and that will have
their stuff if they show up.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
So that means a lot of supplies all organized, ready
to hand out to people who havealready signed up.
So those kids have and, by name, you're going to hand them
their bag, because high schoolis going to have a different
need than somebody who's inkindergarten.
So, Andrew, that means like alot of volunteers.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Exactly where I was thinking.
We can't do this alone, likemost of what we do at TRM.
We can't do this without ourcommunity partners, without our
volunteers Staff is know just totry and fill some of those
needs ahead of time, so that wecan be prepared for a flood of
(29:56):
three to 400 people.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I imagine it's going to be like it's been in
years past, that some volunteersalways come back every year to
do this.
So they're kind of seasoned,trained and they can help train
others.
Okay, so a lot of people comingon the 6th from the community,
a lot of people sometimes withtheir kids in tow right, because
they can't go park themsomewhere or they bring them in.
So kids come into this room andthere's all this cool stuff
(30:20):
around.
So how do you manage that?
Because you know, as kids,sometimes I want this, I want
that.
How do you deal with that?
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Well, we have volunteers that will assist when
they're there to shop or staffmembers that will assist them
shopping, because, like we said,we look for what they need,
right, if they're, you know, ayoung child, they need different
things than a high schoolstudent, and so we make sure
that we meet those needs.
We have some extra goodies thatwe can provide, sometimes maybe
a snack or some clothes.
It's called bribes.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, it's a little bit of something.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Okay, good To help them you know.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Incentives, barry, incentives.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
That's a principle in me coming out and the other fun
thing about having the kidsthere on site is they can pick
their backpack and you can see akid who may or may not have a
lot of choices dig through andfind a Minecraft backpack or
whatever, and he's all excitedand his buddies come and they
try to find their own to matchand it becomes a an opportunity
(31:15):
for them to really get excitedabout back to school, which not
all the kids are excited aboutback to school.
So, right, well, it just kindof sets it so describe just a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I mean, this is kind of the system, how it's going to
work and uh, and there's a lotof moving parts yet to come into
play, a lot of supply stillneeded.
I'm guessing you don't have italready.
You have 400 that you're goingto try to take care of and so
people can go and find out howto participate in this.
We've talked about the system,how people can get there and
taken care of a little bit abouthow it looks the day of Talk
(31:48):
about the experience.
What is the experience that youguys are aware of?
It's really hard sometimes toenjoy the journey or the
experience because you're in theweeds of trying to make sure
all the parts are connected.
But what do you hear?
What do you remember from?
Like last year, previous timeshere, lamanda jump in on this
too about the children, and youmentioned about the Minecraft
(32:10):
backpack.
You know I think that'sprobably every boy that I know
wants the Minecraft thing, soplease donate a lot of Minecraft
backpacks.
I still haven't figured outwhat that game is, but I've
tried.
I really have got a couple ofkids that I'm doing some
mentoring with that are juniorhigh and I've done Minecraft
with them twice.
They say I do pretty good, Istill don't have any idea what I
(32:30):
did.
But anyway and actually I gotfor Christmas they gave me a
Minecraft for dummies book, andso that's how big Minecraft is
and I don't understand the bookeither.
So but anyway, the experience.
Kids come in, they get to pickout their backpack, which is
awesome.
You have these incentives.
You have different things.
(32:50):
What do what do you?
What do you hear from theparents?
What do you hear from the kids?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
I hear relief, this, this.
I didn't know if this was goingto happen.
Sometimes it's last minute.
I missed an opportunity beforeand I couldn't you know and they
come in and they find somethingor I'm so glad you're available
to do this.
I wasn't sure my kids weregoing to start with a level
playing field or have you knowthe clothes that they needed.
(33:13):
It's not always about theschool supply.
Sometimes it's clothes.
Sometimes I hear volunteerssaying this is the highlight of
my year because I get to seekids get excited about school
and so we can remove somebarriers that they had before
them.
Beforehand.
It might have been financial orjust opportunity with their
supplies.
Here it yeah, and we can serveChrist in that way.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
You know, I was going to say it's also not just a
blessing for those we serve,it's a blessing for us that are
doing it and it's also sometimes, uh, growing for our staff,
myself included.
So one of the issues and I'vetalked about this before on the
(34:00):
podcast one of the things thatchallenges me every day, not
every other day, not once a week, every single day in this role,
is to find the balance ofhaving faith, full faith in the
Lord to provide, but then alsobeing a doer, and because God
gives us the wisdom and the mindand all of that to do his work,
(34:20):
but then we don't do it on ourown like he provides.
And so I chuckled because Idon't remember what year it was,
but we did not have enoughpaper, we didn't have enough
pencils.
There was one other item, andso I was in 206 and I was
(34:41):
praying and I was like, lord,we're doing this tomorrow
morning and it was like eighto'clock at night, okay, Did he
listen to the podcast?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Did he not know?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Apparently I just needed him and you know it's so
funny because I know the Lord isnot in heaven going shoot.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I forgot to go get the supplies for the back to
school yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
But that's where I'm growing, right.
So I'm by myself and I'm in 206and I'm looking around and I'm
like we need paper pencils andfor the life of me I can't
remember remember what the thirdone was.
And I'm praying and I'm likeLord, what do we do?
Because right now I really justwant to go take my own personal
credit card and go buy it,bring it back so that I know at
9 PM everything's ready for this830, nine o'clock distribution.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
It's been responsible , right?
You don't want the kidsdisappointed the next day.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Correct.
And then I was like God, likethey're coming, we're going to
be lifting this door and they'rethere, we don't have this.
So surely this is I'm supposedto go and do this, right?
So, anyways, some other staffmembers I'm wrestling with them
because I try.
Part of my leadership is when Iknow the answer.
Great, I know the answer and Itry to do it, but I'm very
(35:46):
vulnerable with my leadership tobe like I don't have an answer
to this.
So we're going to go to theLord and pray.
Anyways, I took the controllingway and so we went and we
bought supplies.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So keep your receipt.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
No, that was another thing, but anyways, 845 at night
, people aren't shopping for thesupplies, and I am not kidding.
Next morning it was either 830,nine o'clock we open.
It is not the first personthere to give us or to get their
stuff, it is someone in a car,and the back of the car, when
(36:24):
they pop the back open, wasliterally three boxes of paper.
I don't know how many boxes ofpencils and whatever this other
item was.
I'm wanting to say rulers, butthat that may be a fib and I
wasn't there.
And so the team text me andthey said well, one of them.
It said wrong and it was justthe word wrong across the screen
(36:46):
and I was like what's wrong?
They were like we were wrong,we shouldn't have been shopping.
Last night at eight 30, theLord provided and showed me the
table and literally everythingon the table was what we didn't
have.
So that will stick with meforever because I am type A and
OCD yes, and then I struggleagain.
(37:06):
So there's those moments.
There's another moment, Barry,that the staff called me and
said, hey, we're over our quotaand we anticipate another 15 or
20 that haven't come.
They will come.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
So you've done everybody you were intended to
do.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Everyone.
More people are coming becausethey need to sign up or
something Correct, and then theyhear about it or stuff fell
through last minute.
Now they realize they need thiswhen they thought they had the
money to do it.
And so we had a family that had11 kids and I.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Five is a lot, uh-huh .
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Try 11.
11.
And so the team.
You know, our default is alwayscompassion, right, and
sometimes that's hard, becausethen it's well, what are we
going to do now?
Um, so team calls me andthey're like you know, I've
spoken to this parent there's 11kids, um, but we don't have the
(38:05):
supplies.
And I said what do you mean?
We don't have the supplies,like we don't have the backpacks
.
We can probably put togethersome other things, um, and we've
already spent this part of ourbudget.
And I just sighed and they werelike but we cannot turn away 11
kids.
And I'm like you're right, wecan't.
And I said so, the Lord's goingto provide, and he's either
(38:26):
going to provide someone todonate extra money for something
else, or we're going to get thesupplies, extra money for
something else, or we're goingto get the supplies.
And then I'm sitting there andthen the staff member goes do
you believe that or are you liketrying to convince yourself of
it?
Right, and I was like maybe alittle bit of both, because
we're also going to have otherpeople show up and all of that.
So, um, we had told the parentwe'd call them the next day, um,
(38:49):
to confirm.
And I told the team.
I said we're going to say yes,but I don't know what this looks
like.
Kid, you not?
The team is at Norris nextmorning, somehow.
We get another donation andit's 11 backpacks 11, not 10,
not 12, 11.
And all 11 were filled withsupplies.
(39:12):
And so the team called me backagain and was like he did it
again.
I'm like, who did what?
It's silly, right, they're likethe Lord.
And I'm like, okay, let's startwith that Um.
And so it's almost comicalbecause we pour so much of our
heart into this, whether it's um, us as donors, us as staff, us
(39:33):
as prayer warriors, like TRM issuch an incredible family and
it's amazing, but we have tonever forget that we have a
father that cares for all of hischildren and that we as staff
are not exempt from that.
He cares about us too, andwe're on our own journey as we
try to serve others.
That he's teaching us how totrust on him, how to lean on him
(39:54):
and to provide, and that hecares more than we ever could,
and I could go on and on withstuff that I personally have
been taught through this part ofour ministry, just in full
transparency.
It's definitely a growingopportunity for me every year.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Well, you know, I think it's there's a lot that we
could say about all that and wehave at different times.
But you know, just to highlightthat piece, you do everything
you can and then you can't do itall.
So you have a choice Either saywe're done, we can't do anymore
, or something special has tocome about.
To get 11 backpacks alone wouldhave been quite a deal.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
The very next day.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
But filled with supplies, is a whole nother
level and that is.
That's just that kind of aspecial.
Okay, you did everything youcan.
I got this, I'm going to bringit and use a human agent to do
it.
They didn't drop out of the sky.
Somebody went out and did it.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
And that person also was from out of town.
Yeah, how far out of town 45minutes, okay, and knew a couple
of places where they coulddonate.
Didn't feel right about it.
I don't know if the person's abeliever or not.
I wasn't involved in that partof it, but didn't feel right.
And so the person looked upback to school giveaways or
(41:15):
something online, found ours,drove here 45 minutes and
dropped it off and had no clue.
We were waiting on 11 sets ofthis for this family.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
That's the other part of the story.
I mean that goes on.
I mean there's so many times.
You know, what comes to my mindone time is the guys were
serving dinner in the kitchenone time and they'd been having
the normal stuff but one guycame off the streets.
He says man, you got any friedchicken?
No, we don't have fried chicken.
Man, I just had this cravingfor fried chicken.
Well, I'm sorry, we're going tohave what we're going to have,
(41:46):
right?
There's a knock on the doorright about dinner time.
It was a Catholic priest herein town and he said we had a big
dinner plan and we got itcanceled.
We have a whole bunch of friedchicken, would you guys like it?
And so this guy's watching thishappen.
You know that's coming off thestreets and he goes no, how did
you guys know, could you, didyou?
No, that was just one of thosespecial little winks from God.
(42:08):
Hey, you're not alone in this,even if it's something that
simple.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
And you know, barry, I think so.
These are great examples.
The other thing, though, thatI'm not sure I do a good enough
job communicating.
I don't know how you feel aboutwhen you were ED, but sometimes
God provides, but doesn'tprovide in that moment, like
immediately, which are coolmoments, right Stuff that just
(42:34):
etched on your heart.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
You can't presume it's always going to happen the
same way.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Correct.
And that is this challenge ofthe rescue mission I guess I
could say is sometimes the Lordprovides and he provides months
out and you, you're walking infaith, going well.
I don't want to be dumb withfinances, I want to be a wise
(42:57):
steward.
But we've got this need.
I know the Lord didn't forgetto do it, but we need to do it.
So, for instance, this year um,and then I'll hush I just feel
led to say this this year, inthe four years I have been here
unplanned expenses.
(43:19):
And when we do the budget, webudget for inflation, we budget
for just normal increases.
We give 10% buffers.
We look at it literally.
We don't just look at it and gowhat are we spending at the
shelter?
It is down to supplies, that'show specific it is, and it's
months of processes, right, butyou just can't plan for a dish
(43:42):
dryer is going to mess up and inthe same kitchen, in addition
to the dish dryer, our tiltskillet goes out and the same
thing with the tilt skillet.
It's this, this and this,multiple different things, Box
trucks I mean just all of thisstuff.
Water heaters.
Yes, showers being messed up inthe shelter, I mean, I could go
on and on, and so probably fouror five months in I'm wrestling
(44:06):
with the Lord going God.
I'm nervous because thecommunity needs to know and
wants to know when we're facingchallenges they can donate and
support.
We're seeing the need of foodrise, food costs are increasing,
all this stuff.
But then we have to balance itbecause I have to be careful
(44:27):
with what we say, with ourexpense needs and all of that,
to not sound the alarm that TRMis shutting down right.
So somewhere in the middle istruly communicating when we have
needs, doing it in a way that'snot alarming but it's honest,
but then also knowing when we'renot supposed to communicate
because God's going to comethrough.
So we have all of this and fora couple of months, even
(44:48):
conversations with my boardpresident and the board like,
yep, we're having a lot ofopportunities this year to fix
things.
We're going to look at it thatway and nothing Right.
And the board then also iswalking in faith saying, well,
those are the things we need toserve people in a very dignified
way.
We're going to do it, we'regoing to do it this way and
(45:11):
we're going to trust.
We've done that now three timesthis year.
We've had the money.
We can pay for things I'm notsaying that, but it's stuff that
was not in our budget, right,and we would rather be spending
money on other things.
However, the board's like, nope, we're going to do this, I'm
going to do this, we're going tocommit it to prayer.
There have been three times nowthat we've done that and within
(45:31):
the next seven days, we geteither an estate that we weren't
planning on or we have a donorthat says, hey, I just felt led
to give an additional $500 thismonth, those kinds of things,
and we give God glory for all ofthat.
Now, it would have been nicethat, as soon as we had to spend
(45:52):
that money on the tilt skillet,to have money to pay for the
tilt skillet, right, but thatwas months later, and so now our
team is looking at thosecapital projects and other
expenses and, yes, it looks likethose are expenses, are high,
but God is also blessed in otherways months later, yeah, so you
know, I'm just as much in agrowing stage, even at the CEO
(46:15):
level of my faith and walking inknowing the Lord will provide.
And how do we balance.
We're still doing and we'restaying the course, even when
it's hard and it's challengingand it's murky, and but yet not
being embarrassed to ask thecommunity to support, whether
it's school supplies or money orfood or volunteering time or
(46:35):
prayer warriors.
So it's it's so amazing to be apart of this, but it's also.
There are so many unknowns andI just know the father's like
but I've got it all, I've got itall and uh, just a bit of
advice.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
You're always going to be in that place for the rest
of your life, whether it's hereat the rescue mission or
anywhere you go.
Is that what is the balancebetween faith and action?
Yes and um, it's not always thesame.
And so, yes, talking about whatwe're talking about today,
letting people know how they canhelp, being involved in this
I'm going to hit that one moretime before we go.
(47:11):
But one last thing you allrepresenting volunteers, other
staff who are investing in this,donors investing in this, what
is your understanding of thevalue, not only of a kid walking
into school the first dayhaving the supplies that the
(47:35):
other kids have, not feelinglike they stand out as a
homeless kid from the rescuemission or an impoverished
neighborhood that doesn't haveenough.
Their families don't haveenough.
Beyond that, helping them tofeel safe when they're here at
the rescue mission.
Speaker 5 (47:52):
What is the value 10, 20 years from now in what
you're doing?
Yeah, I think there'simmeasurable value.
I think a tangible value thatcomes immediately is just to
have we want our young people tohave that sense of confidence
right, that's so important intheir development and just
feeling the dignity that theyhave.
And so if you're walking intoschool and you don't have it,
(48:15):
you know many of the folks thatwe're serving there's already
barriers there that maybe someof their peers from more
affluent backgrounds might nothave.
And so just to add one more ofand I don't have my stuff, or
maybe I got some.
You know, I don't like mybackpack design and that's why
it's so special to see someonecome in and pick out a backpack
(48:36):
that they like it's a color thatthey like or they you know the
design that they like and theyhave their things and they can
come in and be prepared.
And also just to see thosevolunteers as they're serving,
to know that there are peoplewho took time out of their day
and money out of their wallet toget these supplies and to smile
(48:56):
and interact with them and giveit to them for their parents to
know that the community iswrapping around and supporting
them.
And so maybe that high schooleror that middle schooler might
not fully appreciate it in themoment, right, but going back
and looking back later in lifejust to see that there were
people there who gathered around, who helped support and seeing
(49:17):
a community do that for oneanother, that not to have the
attitude of, well, those aren'tmy kids, so it's not my problem,
but to rally around each otherto support each other, to just
treat each other with dignity,help build one another up, build
up the confidence for the youngpeople in our community and
just exemplify that dignity thatthey have and to show the love
(49:41):
of Christ through these littleactions that add up.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
That's really well said.
The universal question that weall have, wherever we are on the
planet, from day one till thelast day, is do I matter?
And a lot of folks that findthemselves in need kind of
wonder sometimes do I matter?
And even a small thing like atoy, like a place to live, some
(50:09):
food to eat during a reallyrough time, school supplies, the
Minecraft backpack or whateverSomebody said I mattered, and
that sticks with these kids andit sticks with their parents and
I can tell you, being in theposition I was for as long as I
was, there were kids that cameback and reflected back about
the time that they were at therescue mission, really tough
time in their lives, but theyknew that something was special
there.
They can't define itnecessarily, but it was a
(50:31):
springboard to yeah, I mattered.
And because of that and otheropportunities in their life,
they are out in our communitytoday and around the country
being very successful becausepeople let them know they
mattered.
Speaker 4 (50:45):
And I think that's an outreach of evangelism.
I mean St Francis said you know, preach the gospel at all times
, when necessary use words Usewords when necessary.
And these are sermons.
That's right, as we're able toreach out and meet a need and we
have crosses on our stuff.
We're representing Christ.
People know that and they knowI matter.
And I don't just matter tothese people, I matter to this
God they represent.
(51:05):
It's not a religion.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
It's a relation.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
And you're not just particularly with some of the
bigger things we do, like theback to school, christmas time,
thanksgiving needs things likethat.
What I really want people tounderstand is you're not just
planting a seed, you're plantingan orchard.
An orchard.
And what I mean by that is ifyou think about, let's say, we
(51:30):
do have 400 kids that areequipped.
We have no idea what those 400kids are doing with those
supplies.
You've got kids who are drawingpictures and maybe they're
going to be an artist.
You've got kids who are doingmathematical problems and they
might be an engineer.
You have kids who are usingcalculators to end up being
(51:54):
architects.
I mean, there's just you don'tknow.
What I do know is that itequips them for, in that moment,
to know that they've got apurpose, and that might not even
make sense to them at five or15.
But these are not just one offthings, because it's consistency
(52:15):
has been here since 1953.
And we talk about planting theseeds, we talk about serving the
one in front of us, and all ofthat is so true and so beautiful
(52:35):
.
But if only, if only we had theto see, from God's view, what
TRM has done.
I bet it's just incredible whenyou see the thousands who have
been sheltered, the thousandswho have been fed, the thousands
of kids who have had schoolsupplies, and sometimes those
(52:58):
ways we help turn into whatcommunity deems successful.
We've got people now who arerealtors, we've got people who
are in law enforcement.
We've got people now who havebeautiful homes.
All of this stuff because ofTRM and those things are
incredible.
But there's also beautiful stuffthat happened.
That's really not beautiful.
You know, I was in visiting thewomen's prison a couple of
(53:22):
months ago and had severalpeople come up to me and say man
, trm helped me with this, trmhelped me with that approaching
(53:42):
in the next two to three yearspossibly getting out, and all
three women wanted to be able tosomehow give back.
And those three women weretaking classes.
A couple of them were takingspiritual classes and then one
of them was taking some otherthings.
All this being said, one womancame up to me and she said she
(54:05):
remembered being able to be fedas a kid here, and then her
struggle didn't turn beautiful,it didn't, it didn't become
successful.
The struggle continued when shewas in early, early adulthood
and she had her own kids and shesaid I remembered the place
(54:28):
that fed me.
So when she got out of a badrelationship, she came here with
one of her daughters I believeit was a daughter and she said I
just knew I could because theyhad already helped me before.
And then she said right now mymom has my daughter until I can
(54:53):
get out and my mom utilizes TRMto help my daughter.
And so to me I could look ateverything that's hard there,
right Multi-generational poverty, prison, incarceration, all
this stuff and those things arehard and I empathize with that
whole family.
(55:14):
But then there is also beautythat a mother who is now a
grandmother, a mother who wasonce a daughter and now a
daughter all three of them havebeen able to count on TRM.
Staff come and go, volunteerscome and go, donors come and go.
But regardless of what you'redoing in that season, I can
(55:36):
assure you, if you're a prayerwarrior, donor, staff member,
volunteer, you are helping somuch in the moment.
But then, when that remainsconsistent, and we constantly
have donors and we constantlyhave volunteers and we
constantly have staff memberswilling to be in the trenches to
do this that it is ongoingsupport in ways that we are not
(56:00):
sure.
I don't think we'll ever knowthe impact.
We can't see it the way thefather sees it, but it's not
just planting seeds.
Trm has extremely done a goodjob, extremely of planning
orchards all over.
If we could just see it thatway.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Life is messy and it gets really messy for some folks
, and TRM and its supporters,its volunteers, its staff have
been called and decided to getinvolved in the mess and so
being there and being a light.
Not everything has the sameoutcome, the same way, but yet
(56:38):
there is still light in people'sdarkness, in the mess, and so
thank you all for being here,thank you for what you're doing.
This is really all hands on deck.
Time now to get those schoolsupplies in.
You can go to trmonlineorg finda needs list on there.
Also, if you are in need, the21st of July is going to be that
(56:59):
time that you can go to thatsame website and be able to sign
up and then, on the 5th, takingcare of kids at the Hope Center
and then, on the 6th, the300-plus people coming through
those doors 350 maybe comingthrough the doors of the
distribution center that day tobe able to get a little bit of
light in their life and helpkids, not only for now and for
(57:19):
that first day of school, butalso potentially a great impact
in their lives.
Thank you all for listening toour community, our mission, a
podcast of the Topeka RescueMission.
Again, if you'd like moreinformation, you could go to
trmonlineorg.
That's trmonlineorg.
Thank you for being a part ofour community, our mission.
Dear Heavenly Father, we just come humbly before you
and thank you for this day, yourblessings and your provisions,
God.
We thank you for God, just thistime to record this podcast,
Lord, and just all that you'redoing within the community,
within TRM, Lord, and thank youthat we get to communicate it,
and thank you for our listeners.
Lord, pray that they would beblessed by it today and, Lord,
that you'd be glorified andhonored In your holy name.
We pray, amen.
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Amen.
Hello everybody, thank you forjoining us with our community,
our mission, a podcast of theTopeka Rescue Mission.
Today is Tuesday, july 1st 2025.
This is episode number 273.
I'm your host today, barryFeaker, here with Lamanda
Cunningham, ceo of Topeka RescueMission.
Good morning Lamanda, goodmorning July already.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I know, and you know, barry, I'm kind of torn because
on one hand I'm like how is itJuly?
That means we're officiallyhalfway through the year, all
the to-dos.
The other side, you know,having five kids, I'm like we're
closer to school starting.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
We've almost survived .
Which is panic city or can't?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
wait.
No, mama needs structure and Ineed people out the door and
learning for eight hours a day.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Plus, not to mention all the kids at Hope Center,
correct, who would be reallynice if they were back in school
.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yes, yes, um, you know it's just so good and it's
so funny because you think likebreaks are good and they are Um.
But honestly, kids and adults,we all thrive from like
predictability and structure andall of that we really do.
So for the first, even coupleof weeks, it's like OK, it's
good.
And then all of a sudden Istart looking around even my
(01:35):
staff that have kids and stuff.
I'm like man, there's no tiredlike one Christmas tired around
TRM, and then two when it's allthe breaks for the parents and
the parents are juggling workand kids.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So we're making it, it's the same thing every year.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
It is All the time.
You just put your kids in likeas many camps as you can.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yes, but then you're tired with that.
Taxi driving, and does the campstart at nine?
Does it start at eight?
Is it three day or four days?
Five, days.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Does it go till noon?
Yes, till 2.30.
Do I?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
send a lunch, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So we're juggling the struggle, barry, and then, of
course, in your situation, whenwe have a snow day and kids get
to come home, you don't get tocome home because you're dealing
with snow days at the rescuemission.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Correct Yep, and I'm loading them all up saying we're
going to serve.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
We're going to and something special coming up, but
we want to jump into.
What we always enjoy is theresearch and development
department, which is down at theend of the table here.
Josh Turley, you're welcome,josh.
Thank you for all of theseincredible things that are
important, but we're going toinvite our two guests here today
, which are kind of not guests,but they are guests because
they're staff and they've beenon the podcast a thousand times.
(02:40):
John Roberts, deputy Directorof Community Services.
Good morning, good morning,good morning.
And we have Andrew here.
Lucas, who is Director ofDistribution Services, you've
been on the podcast as well.
Good, morning.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I have Good morning.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Okay, are you guys ready for this?
Let's do it.
Okay, this is what's specialabout July the 1st.
Now, if you have a cheat sheetin front of you, turn it over
the other way, don't look at it.
Okay, hey, you really followthe rules there and that's
pretty good.
So today is International JokeDay.
Did you know that, lamanda?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
No, I didn't, you didn't, but I kind of think you
have a joke, I do Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All right, so you're ready, I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
How do you make a tissue dance?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You in it.
Well, thanks for listeningeverybody, that's right.
Thank you all very much.
I mean, how could you not lovethat one?
Yeah, okay, all right.
What about you, john, got anydad jokes or anything?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
oh, um, john is a walking dad, joke we hear them
thanks I think, sounds kindlylike a jab a little bit, uh huh
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
I have a lot of pirate jokes, but they're mostly
rated R.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Save that for a different podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's good, that's really good.
Hey, I got where do.
Or what happens to bad rainbows?
They go to prism.
Don't worry though.
It's a light sentence.
It's just to give them time toreflect.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Oh, my word, that takes the cheese right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Sure, all of you are much more enlightened today,
here, on July the 1st.
Andrew, one more, do you have ajoke?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Why did the cowboy get a wiener dog?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I'm afraid to know.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
He was told to get a long little doggy.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Get a long little doggy, all right Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
All right, none of us should quit our jobs.
We should keep our day jobs.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So International Joke Day.
I thought would be on April 1st, but that's April Fool's, not
Joke Day, so anyway.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
It does say that's important because April Fool's
Day is just to you know, eitherprank people, the jokes to make
people smile.
So that's the differentiation.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
We did Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Now this is really an important one.
This is only in the UK, but itprobably could apply to a lot of
places.
It is national UK wrongtrousers day.
Wrong trousers day.
What does that even mean?
Well, it means that you'rewearing the wrong pair of pants.
Wrong trousers day.
Have you ever?
We're not going to ask you thisone, guys have you ever gone to
(05:02):
work or gone out and you justknew you had the wrong trousers
on?
I don't know how to answer thisquestion.
Has anybody important in yourlife ever told you you're
wearing the wrong pair of pants?
Speaker 5 (05:15):
I guess I have worn pants backwards before.
How do you wear pants backwards?
Like sweatpants or something?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh, okay, you realize , your pocket, your hands in
your pockets and they're goingbackwards.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
How did you know they were backwards?
Yes, how did you know they werebackwards?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I get you know, I just get mixed up.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It was wrong trousers day, that should be my excuse I
took my daughter to the dollartree in my fuzzy puppy dog
pajama pants one time uh,backwards, oh no, okay, you just
did just weren't appropriatesee, it's always when you wear
like the sweatpants that you seepeople.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Like you go to the store, you're like I won't see
anybody.
It's like either early in themorning or late at night, so
you're just like grunged out.
It's like when you see the mostpeople you know.
Hey.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
The month of July is my wedding anniversary.
I think it was about 200 yearsago, and so the day of my
wedding we had our tuxes, exceptmy pants didn't show up, and so
I am at 10 o'clock and we'regetting married at one o'clock
in the afternoon.
I am at the tux place on aSaturday going.
I need my pants and they go.
Well, we're really sorry.
(06:14):
And so all my groomsmen were intheir tuxes and everything.
I had my tux on and blue jeans.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yes, and I wasn't really excited about that and I
knew that my bride-to-be wasprobably not going to be too
pleased when you know, back inthe day you couldn't see each
other.
The day of the wedding you know,and so when he came out it was
a big surprise or it was badluck, or whatever.
Yes, so I'm sweating it out,and about five minutes until one
, here comes this car justbarreling up into the parking
lot.
(06:40):
The guy ran out and he gave methe trousers that go with the
tux.
The only problem is that theywere three sizes too big, and so
I am completely holding mypants up during that.
That was wrong.
Trouser day at its worst.
Oh, that's hilarious yeah.
So one more thing it'sInternational Chicken Wing Day
for those of you that likechickens, so, and their wings
(07:03):
especially.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
LaMand do you have chickens still?
I do, yeah, and can you believe?
I just started letting them outto free range, and it is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Do you guys like chicken wings?
Well, do the chickens know thisShh?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
they don't know it.
Yes, and my favorite chickenwing is garlic Parmesan.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, that's right here on the list Buffalo wings,
different sauce varieties suchas barbecue, ranch, garlic or
Parmesan.
The list is endless.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
When I'm around them, though, I just tell them I eat
beef.
Well, I guess that's a lie.
We just started letting themwalk around, and yesterday I was
literally laying on my stomachin the grass videotaping them,
because it was the greatestthing ever.
And then I thought how do I dothis and love them so much, and
yet, at least five times a week,I'm eating chicken.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
This seems so morbid, but anyways when you come home
with your Chick-fil-A cups andeverything, chickens are going
here she comes again.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
All right, enough of that, you all.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We talked about said we're going to talk about kids
today LaManda Hope Centerstaying pretty full most of the
time with families and childrenand give us a little bit of an
update on that, and then we'regoing to talk about what we're
preparing for now for kids goingback to school.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, you know, we have averaged, for about two and
a half years now, 50 kids anight.
Sometimes that increases.
We definitely see an increaseoften when the weather is so
cold.
We sometimes see an increasewhen it's really hot, because I
(08:36):
think sometimes when familiesare doubled up, living with
people, multiple families, forwhatever reason, sometimes
issues can arise or maybe theylose electricity.
Just there's different reasons.
But on average we are averaging50 kids a day.
(08:56):
And you know, on one hand, I'mso thankful that we've had the
Hope Center, you know for overtwo decades now, and it's so
great to know that the kids havea place that's safe, they have
a place where there are, there'stoys outside, there's a
playhouse, there'spredictability, they get snacked
(09:18):
before bed.
You know all of these things.
The other side of it is I don't.
I I can't say.
I know how people feel, but Ican only empathize how it feels
to be a parent, to know that youlove your children so much and
that in this moment you can'tprovide a safe place.
(09:39):
So our Hope Center is soanointed in a way where
hopefully there is neverembarrassment and that parents
can always feel, hey, this isthe place that you go, because
we not only want to love yourkids, we want to love you while
(10:00):
you're still trying to love them.
But the heartache about it toois I would love to live in a
world where no child has to stayat a rescue mission.
You know, and I would love toknow that every kid is taken
care of every day and loved andtucked into bed and sweet dreams
, and it's just not the case.
(10:21):
So we're really watchingnumbers, always trying to make
sure that we take care of kidsthe best way that we can.
It's a challenge Sometimes.
You know it could be achallenge if you have one or two
kids in your household.
If you think about it, ourstaff puts 50.
So it's not always easy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And those kids will be babies all the way to kids in
high school.
Yes, and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Yeah, kids will be babies all the way to kids in
high school and everything inbetween.
Yeah, last, I believe it waslast summer, going into last
fall, we had eight under the ageof one.
So and particularly those weresingle moms we did have some
families and we had one singledad.
But you know you've got babiesjuggling off times with
scheduling, with sleep andcrying and tummy aches and
(11:08):
you've got that and next dooryou could have another family
and all of that.
So it's definitely a beautifulmess and it's definitely
something that our staff isconstantly juggling, but those
kids are worth it.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
You know, amanda, one of the things that you've kind
of alluded to is you try tonormalize life for these
families, even though they're ina homeless shelter, try to make
it as normal as possible, eventhough it's not normal.
As a former educator yourself,how important was it for kids to
show up at the classroom firstday of school and have the
(11:43):
supplies that the other kids had.
Maybe they couldn't, theirparents couldn't afford the
supplies.
I know you worked in the lowerincome areas of school as a
principal and so did you havekids sometimes that showed up
and didn't have all the rightsupplies, and what was that like
for the kid?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, every year you know, every year, barry we had
kids that didn't have what theyneeded.
I want to backtrack real quickand then dive into that.
When you talk about how we aretrying to normalize children,
stay while they're here.
The team, our leadership, doesa great job at really analyzing.
(12:22):
What do we see other kidsgetting to do and what can we?
What are our kids at the HopeBecause we call them our kids
what do our kids at the HopeCenter get to do?
And so just a couple of things,you know.
I want to give kudos toCourtney and our trauma team and
volunteers.
They put on a kids camp everyyear, because camps yes, there's
(12:43):
a lot of camps around Topekaall summer and many of them are
free, but it's still atransportation issue or a timing
issue or or maybe even beingcomfortable going somewhere
outside of the rescue mission,which is their home now.
Correct, and so it's just a bigstep sometimes for our people to
even access that, and so acouple of weeks ago we did our
(13:04):
kids camp, and there's photos onour Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
I just saw one of the staff today and they're still
tired.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Yes, they are.
I think, you know, when we dokids camp it might be equivalent
of the tired we get withwarming centers.
Those might be equal.
But those kids, they get topaint and they're out there
playing and they get a snack andthey get to do crafts, and so
that's a great thing.
You know, we every year, acouple years ago, started a fall
festival and we do that forthat, so that we can still
(13:30):
celebrate around the time thatsome people are celebrating
Halloween.
We try to do it, as how do wefall for Jesus?
How do we do what he wants usto do?
And there's games and it trulyis all hands on deck Staff sign
up and that's all volunteertruly is all hands on deck,
staff sign up and that's allvolunteer.
So those are just a couple ofthings in addition to the
holidays and all of this that wedo.
And why do we do it?
We do it one because that's howwe're serving them.
(13:54):
You know, the Bible didn't tellus serve the one in front of us
or serve the least of these,and that excludes kids.
They're still a being and wewant to pour into them.
Kids, they're still a being andwe want to pour into them.
You know, as a previous educator, it was extremely important for
(14:15):
kids to have pencils andcrayons and binders, because
that is a part of their identityas a student.
You know, I know people thinkI'm crazy when I say this, but I
will say it every year.
A doctor would not show up andnot have his or her scrubs, or
wouldn't go in to perform asurgery and not have utensils.
If so, that identity isstripped, that doctor can no
longer be a doctor.
(14:35):
And sometimes I think we asadults, we think through things
from our lens and ourunderstanding and we don't
realize that, from the age ofthree to four, to five to 18,
that kiddo's job is school.
That's what they're showing upfor, and so what we try to do
and I know many other amazinggroups in this community we
(14:59):
don't look at this back toschool drive and trying to
provide items and all of this as, oh, we have to do this or oh,
this is just for fun.
There's a very serious componentin equipping kids with what
they need for school.
Um, I also equip equivalentthis too.
If I was going to a speakingevent, I probably wouldn't feel
(15:22):
great about doing it If I was inPJs.
No shoes, holy socks wrongtrousers wrong trousers, wrong
trouser day.
There's just something aboutwhen you're not prepared to do
what's needed, you already feeldefeated.
And so, as an educator, um, wewere so blessed.
Depending on what school I wasat, that depends on what
(15:42):
community partner you had.
But community partners reallyunderstood the why.
It wasn't just to say, cliche,oh, kids need this.
They understood that whathappened that first day could
potentially set the trajectoryof that child's schooling for
that next nine months.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Research has shown that kids thrive when they feel
safe, and safety is not justsafe from violence, it's safe in
regards to how their kids treatthem or how they're looking in
the mirror looking at themselves.
When kids don't feel safe atschool or going to and from
school, they don't learn becausethey're focused on things, and
so a lot of the children cominginto Hope Center have come from
(16:23):
unsafe places.
Their families have come fromunsafe places and tried to make
this as safe as possible, notjust physically, which it is,
but also emotionally for them aswell.
And those basic things and wecan't take them for granted.
They're really, reallyimportant to not only the child
but also the family to know thattheir kids aren't going to
(16:46):
stand out when they go to thatfirst day of school.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And you know kiddos that aren't that don't have what
they need.
I just don't want us to havethis knee jerk as adults.
I don't want us to have thisknee jerk reaction where we
condemn the parents, becausevery seldom have I ever, if I
even have, met a parent thatlooked at me as their child's
(17:09):
principal or their child'steacher or now CEO of TRM, and
said I don't care about my child, I don't care about their needs
, and I, you know I have fivekids and it is expensive.
Looking at school supplies, andespecially the older they get,
(17:37):
it's hard.
That is definitely a budgeteditem.
It's not something that I canjust wait in August and go buy
everything.
We couldn't do it.
And so when you look at peoplewho are living on a fixed income
, if you're looking at peoplewho are, what I say working to
live, that's hard, and so that'sreally our stance on what we're
(17:59):
going to talk about today isit's really not our place to
know what should be being doneor why it's not being done.
We see a need and we want tomeet it, and we want to meet it
with the dignity of the child,and we also want the parent to
not have to be embarrassed orashamed.
We want them to know this issomething we do gladly, because
(18:22):
we too have needed the helpbefore.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So these kids staying in the Hope Center and it's not
just the same 50.
They're coming, leaving andother ones coming in, so that's
kind of the average.
There's a need to prepare notonly for that first day of
school but every day thereafterbecause new kids are coming in
who maybe have lived in theircar, maybe have dropped out of
school for a while, who maybehave lived in their car, maybe
(18:45):
have dropped out of school for awhile.
We've seen situations beforewhere we've got older kids who
are coming in, have notliterally not been in school for
up to five years Correct, andso having to work with the
school district to get themcaught back up and deal with all
the trauma that went on of thembeing pulled out.
And we weren't talking abouthomeschooling, we're talking
about no schooling, living invery difficult situations and
(19:06):
helping to get them to a placewhere they're stable, safe and
basic supplies is a veryimportant part of that.
So the school districts put outto the parents supplies list
and those parents can fill themsometimes and sometimes they
can't maybe none at all orpartially, because they don't
have income.
The rescue mission gets thatsupply list as well.
So John, andrew and Andrew, notJohn Andrew, john and.
(19:30):
Andrew, this is a big deal fordistribution services and
community services and needsthat we have here, because it's
not just kids at the Hope Centerwe're talking about, it's also
for others in the community thatare not being taken care of
with another agency ororganization.
So, john, this isn't your firstrodeo on this one, andrew,
(19:50):
yours as well.
So what are you doing toprepare for what will be early
August of starting adistribution of these school
supplies now, first of all tothe children guests of the
rescue mission and then to thecommunity?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Yeah, we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row
so that this event can go offwithout a hitch and so just
preparing to be able to againbless many people in our
community.
Like you said, both our HopeCenter guests as well as folks
in the community we definitelyview this as an issue.
That is one of those upstreamissues.
(20:23):
When you say upstream meaningtrying to do prevention from
families falling intohomelessness, we don't want any
families, those that are outthere that are not in the rescue
mission.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
in this regard, this can be one of those tools to
help.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Absolutely.
We don't want a family to youknow, when school starts, um
kind of like Lamanda was saying,if you have a family with with
multiple, with multiple childrenand they're getting these lists
and we have four or five kidsall needing things, we don't
want a parent having to choosedo I get them their school stuff
or put food on the table, or doI pay the light bill or get
them their things.
(20:57):
So that's why we kind of dothese drives every year to
gather school supplies, makesure we take care of our Hope
Center kiddos first, but thenalso go out to the community,
and so we're preparing this yearto hopefully help around 400
children.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Oh, that's more than they're staying in the Hope
Center, that's correct.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yep, yep, and so already, I mean, it's July 1st.
I know a lot of people are insummer mode, but we are just
trying to already get the ballrolling on getting supplies in
and just a little over a monthyou start distributing these
supplies, so you need them now,correct?
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Um so, andrew, uh, being in charge of distribution
services, um, it's not just abunch of stuff that shows up.
You have to organize this stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Correct and we've been reviewing the school needs
list and seeing if anything'schanged on that.
Um, and as John said, it'speople are in summer mode and so
they're not always thinkingschool supplies 1st of July and
so we want to make sure that wetake opportunities like this to
remind people that you know, ifyou can think about it now and
(22:04):
start donating, then it helps usin our preparation.
So we've updated our Amazonlist, we've updated our needs
list on our website variousthings to try and inform people
where our needs are, what wehave.
We're starting our inventoryprocess.
We've got our planning meetingsgoing where we know who's doing
what and where and how many.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
So how can somebody, if they want to help, find out
how to help?
You talked about thesedifferent lists.
Where are those lists located?
How can somebody do something?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
The primary list is on our website, trmonlineorg,
and it goes to theback-to-school list.
It's on the needs list, on theneeds list down at
back-to-school.
And you can see everything thatwe are looking for, you know
kind of prioritized there.
Is it on the Facebook page aswell?
I think there's some.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, there's been some posts too, but we'll keep
doing those.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And that will increase as we get closer.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Josh will blast it Sure and his new psychic, alex,
will be there blasting it withhim.
Right, right right.
Yeah, so somebody can find outdifferent needs that are there
and they can actually go toAmazon and have an order sent
here.
That's one way.
Can somebody write in adesignated gift to send a check
(23:16):
in and say school supplies?
Yes the answer.
I see nodding heads.
That's great for podcast guys.
So, Josh, I'm asking thisquestion Is there a special box
that somebody can do onlinegiving and check for school
supplies at this point?
I'm going to double check thatthere will be.
There will be.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Okay, there will be now, but right now, even when
they donate, there's like a memoor something that they can put
in the notes.
They can put it back to school.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
They can go there.
What if somebody Andrew wantsto go out and do the shopping?
They really like to do that,and some people do.
They just love to go out andshop and a little more of that
personal touch bring them to you.
How can they do that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, they just simply show up at 401 Northwest
Norse and my staff there willhelp them unload, and we'd be
grateful to and what time shouldthey try to make that happen
Anytime?
Between eight and three 45weekdays.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Weekdays eight and three 45.
So if it's a, you're gettingreally the urge to go and shop
at midnight.
I guess nothing's open atmidnight anymore.
I think they're all closed youknow the pandemic really did a
number on us, but anyway.
So those are the times andagain those will be listed on
the website when you can dropsupplies off.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
While we're talking about this part, another neat
thing is you know if peoplebelong to small groups or they
work in offices or whatever.
This is a fun way to kind of doa drive together, you know, and
it doesn't have to be big, youdon't have to have a goal of
bringing us a hundred items.
But you know, if you meet witha small group once or twice a
month and there's five familiesin it, if everybody could just
(24:45):
bring three or four things ofcrayons, you put that together,
you instantly have 15 to 20things of crayons.
Businesses, offices, thingslike that.
Just kind of spreading the wordtoo is so helpful, especially
with the need of the suppliesbut also backpacks to put them
in, and pencil boxes and justthings like that.
(25:06):
So we've seen some groups dothat and when they do it's such
a blessing.
But I really would like to seethat increase, because it's just
good when you're doing good andwe don't always have to do that
within our own families we cankind of spark that interest and
ignite and inspire some othersaround us to do the same.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So if you're in an office or your church group,
social community service group,whatever, you can go and do the
same thing as a group to be ableto collect and say, adopt 10
kids or whatever, and that's apretty easy thing to do.
So Rescue Mission kids andfamilies are going to be
attended to with the guestservices here to be able to get
(25:47):
them connected with thedistribution for their kids.
So if somebody is in thecommunity right now, some parent
finds out about the TopekaRescue Mission and this isn't
the first time.
There's some that know aboutthis already.
But if they don't, how can theyfind out where to sign up?
Because it's not just show up,it's sign up and you're
targeting, as John you said,over 400 this year and so that's
(26:08):
a large number, which means alot of supplies.
But how do I find out if I havechildren, if I can take
advantage of this?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
We will have a JOT form thatgoes live on July 21st for
people to sign up and registertheir family or their different
children.
We'll be able to put a littleinformation about what age are
they in so that we know kind ofwhat specific school supplies
are they need Are they going toneed?
You know, sometimes a highschooler needs different school
(26:37):
supplies than a first grader.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I'm going to represent old school here.
What in the world is a JotForm,and where do you find it?
Speaker 5 (26:43):
Yeah, a JotForm is just an online fillable form
that will be going out on ourwebsite.
It'll be going out on Facebook.
Basically anywhere that you caninteract with TRM Online's
presence, you will be able tofind that Again, that's going to
go live July 1st and people canLike today July 21st, 21st.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
July 21st, 21st, okay , so hang on y'all.
Correction correction 19 days.
So you go to the trmonlineorgthat's the website and then
there'll be this very clearly ifyou need help for school, and
it's called a jot form, so youdon't really need to know that,
you just need to just fill itout, right?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Okay, yep, good for me.
And it will also be on ourFacebook page, and the neat
thing about that is there willbe a share option at the bottom
of that, and so people that areon Facebook can also share it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
To kind of spread the word on that.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So I fill the form out.
I've got two or three kids.
I filled it out, and then howam I going to know that I've
been selected?
And then I want to talk aboutonce I'm selected, then what's
next?
So how am I going?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
to know that it worked.
When you fill out that form,you will get a confirmation that
the form was received and,essentially, if you fill it out
and get that confirmation, thenwe will be prepared to serve you
on our distribution date.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
That confirmation comes via an email.
Correct, because we're assumingat this point, if somebody's
online, they've already got somekind of access to the tech here
.
So, even if you're at thelibrary filling this out or
somewhere else, if you have anemail address and anybody can
get one of those, then that'show you're going to get
confirmed, correct, okay?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Correct, and so just some other important dates and
I'll make sure I get these right, since I rushed past the date
of the form earlier.
But our community distributionfor community members will be on
August 6th and that's going tobe from 10 am to 6 pm.
Again, there's going to be alot more notes going out about
that, but on August 6th, from 10am to 6 pm, people can come and
(28:46):
pick up their school suppliesif they're registered with us
that one day.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Correct, so that could be like 300 or so.
That one day.
There will be Will there belike times that I'm scheduled
for, or is it just that day I'mnotified to come?
Speaker 5 (29:00):
They'll just be able to come.
During that time We'll beprepared, and so that's our plan
of action this year is that weare going to be prepared for the
amount of people that we havesigned up and that will have
their stuff if they show up.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
So that means a lot of supplies all organized, ready
to hand out to people who havealready signed up.
So those kids have and, by name, you're going to hand them
their bag, because high schoolis going to have a different
need than somebody who's inkindergarten.
So, Andrew, that means like alot of volunteers.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Exactly where I was thinking.
We can't do this alone, likemost of what we do at TRM.
We can't do this without ourcommunity partners, without our
volunteers Staff is know just totry and fill some of those
needs ahead of time, so that wecan be prepared for a flood of
(29:56):
three to 400 people.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
And I imagine it's going to be like it's been in
years past, that some volunteersalways come back every year to
do this.
So they're kind of seasoned,trained and they can help train
others.
Okay, so a lot of people comingon the 6th from the community,
a lot of people sometimes withtheir kids in tow right, because
they can't go park themsomewhere or they bring them in.
So kids come into this room andthere's all this cool stuff
(30:20):
around.
So how do you manage that?
Because you know, as kids,sometimes I want this, I want
that.
How do you deal with that?
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Well, we have volunteers that will assist when
they're there to shop or staffmembers that will assist them
shopping, because, like we said,we look for what they need,
right, if they're, you know, ayoung child, they need different
things than a high schoolstudent, and so we make sure
that we meet those needs.
We have some extra goodies thatwe can provide, sometimes maybe
a snack or some clothes.
It's called bribes.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, it's a little bit of something.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Okay, good To help them you know.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Incentives, barry, incentives.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
That's a principle in me coming out and the other fun
thing about having the kidsthere on site is they can pick
their backpack and you can see akid who may or may not have a
lot of choices dig through andfind a Minecraft backpack or
whatever, and he's all excitedand his buddies come and they
try to find their own to matchand it becomes a an opportunity
(31:15):
for them to really get excitedabout back to school, which not
all the kids are excited aboutback to school.
So, right, well, it just kindof sets it so describe just a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
I mean, this is kind of the system, how it's going to
work and uh, and there's a lotof moving parts yet to come into
play, a lot of supply stillneeded.
I'm guessing you don't have italready.
You have 400 that you're goingto try to take care of and so
people can go and find out howto participate in this.
We've talked about the system,how people can get there and
taken care of a little bit abouthow it looks the day of Talk
(31:48):
about the experience.
What is the experience that youguys are aware of?
It's really hard sometimes toenjoy the journey or the
experience because you're in theweeds of trying to make sure
all the parts are connected.
But what do you hear?
What do you remember from?
Like last year, previous timeshere, lamanda jump in on this
too about the children, and youmentioned about the Minecraft
(32:10):
backpack.
You know I think that'sprobably every boy that I know
wants the Minecraft thing, soplease donate a lot of Minecraft
backpacks.
I still haven't figured outwhat that game is, but I've
tried.
I really have got a couple ofkids that I'm doing some
mentoring with that are juniorhigh and I've done Minecraft
with them twice.
They say I do pretty good, Istill don't have any idea what I
(32:30):
did.
But anyway and actually I gotfor Christmas they gave me a
Minecraft for dummies book, andso that's how big Minecraft is
and I don't understand the bookeither.
So but anyway, the experience.
Kids come in, they get to pickout their backpack, which is
awesome.
You have these incentives.
You have different things.
(32:50):
What do what do you?
What do you hear from theparents?
What do you hear from the kids?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
I hear relief, this, this.
I didn't know if this was goingto happen.
Sometimes it's last minute.
I missed an opportunity beforeand I couldn't you know and they
come in and they find somethingor I'm so glad you're available
to do this.
I wasn't sure my kids weregoing to start with a level
playing field or have you knowthe clothes that they needed.
(33:13):
It's not always about theschool supply.
Sometimes it's clothes.
Sometimes I hear volunteerssaying this is the highlight of
my year because I get to seekids get excited about school
and so we can remove somebarriers that they had before
them.
Beforehand.
It might have been financial orjust opportunity with their
supplies.
Here it yeah, and we can serveChrist in that way.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
You know, I was going to say it's also not just a
blessing for those we serve,it's a blessing for us that are
doing it and it's also sometimes, uh, growing for our staff,
myself included.
So one of the issues and I'vetalked about this before on the
(34:00):
podcast one of the things thatchallenges me every day, not
every other day, not once a week, every single day in this role,
is to find the balance ofhaving faith, full faith in the
Lord to provide, but then alsobeing a doer, and because God
gives us the wisdom and the mindand all of that to do his work,
(34:20):
but then we don't do it on ourown like he provides.
And so I chuckled because Idon't remember what year it was,
but we did not have enoughpaper, we didn't have enough
pencils.
There was one other item, andso I was in 206 and I was
(34:41):
praying and I was like, lord,we're doing this tomorrow
morning and it was like eighto'clock at night, okay, Did he
listen to the podcast?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Did he not know?
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Apparently I just needed him and you know it's so
funny because I know the Lord isnot in heaven going shoot.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I forgot to go get the supplies for the back to
school yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
But that's where I'm growing, right.
So I'm by myself and I'm in 206and I'm looking around and I'm
like we need paper pencils andfor the life of me I can't
remember remember what the thirdone was.
And I'm praying and I'm likeLord, what do we do?
Because right now I really justwant to go take my own personal
credit card and go buy it,bring it back so that I know at
9 PM everything's ready for this830, nine o'clock distribution.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
It's been responsible , right?
You don't want the kidsdisappointed the next day.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Correct.
And then I was like God, likethey're coming, we're going to
be lifting this door and they'rethere, we don't have this.
So surely this is I'm supposedto go and do this, right?
So, anyways, some other staffmembers I'm wrestling with them
because I try.
Part of my leadership is when Iknow the answer.
Great, I know the answer and Itry to do it, but I'm very
(35:46):
vulnerable with my leadership tobe like I don't have an answer
to this.
So we're going to go to theLord and pray.
Anyways, I took the controllingway and so we went and we
bought supplies.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
So keep your receipt.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
No, that was another thing, but anyways, 845 at night
, people aren't shopping for thesupplies, and I am not kidding.
Next morning it was either 830,nine o'clock we open.
It is not the first personthere to give us or to get their
stuff, it is someone in a car,and the back of the car, when
(36:24):
they pop the back open, wasliterally three boxes of paper.
I don't know how many boxes ofpencils and whatever this other
item was.
I'm wanting to say rulers, butthat that may be a fib and I
wasn't there.
And so the team text me andthey said well, one of them.
It said wrong and it was justthe word wrong across the screen
(36:46):
and I was like what's wrong?
They were like we were wrong,we shouldn't have been shopping.
Last night at eight 30, theLord provided and showed me the
table and literally everythingon the table was what we didn't
have.
So that will stick with meforever because I am type A and
OCD yes, and then I struggleagain.
(37:06):
So there's those moments.
There's another moment, Barry,that the staff called me and
said, hey, we're over our quotaand we anticipate another 15 or
20 that haven't come.
They will come.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
So you've done everybody you were intended to
do.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
Everyone.
More people are coming becausethey need to sign up or
something Correct, and then theyhear about it or stuff fell
through last minute.
Now they realize they need thiswhen they thought they had the
money to do it.
And so we had a family that had11 kids and I.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Five is a lot, uh-huh .
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Try 11.
11.
And so the team.
You know, our default is alwayscompassion, right, and
sometimes that's hard, becausethen it's well, what are we
going to do now?
Um, so team calls me andthey're like you know, I've
spoken to this parent there's 11kids, um, but we don't have the
(38:05):
supplies.
And I said what do you mean?
We don't have the supplies,like we don't have the backpacks
.
We can probably put togethersome other things, um, and we've
already spent this part of ourbudget.
And I just sighed and they werelike but we cannot turn away 11
kids.
And I'm like you're right, wecan't.
And I said so, the Lord's goingto provide, and he's either
(38:26):
going to provide someone todonate extra money for something
else, or we're going to get thesupplies, extra money for
something else, or we're goingto get the supplies.
And then I'm sitting there andthen the staff member goes do
you believe that or are you liketrying to convince yourself of
it?
Right, and I was like maybe alittle bit of both, because
we're also going to have otherpeople show up and all of that.
So, um, we had told the parentwe'd call them the next day, um,
(38:49):
to confirm.
And I told the team.
I said we're going to say yes,but I don't know what this looks
like.
Kid, you not?
The team is at Norris nextmorning, somehow.
We get another donation andit's 11 backpacks 11, not 10,
not 12, 11.
And all 11 were filled withsupplies.
(39:12):
And so the team called me backagain and was like he did it
again.
I'm like, who did what?
It's silly, right, they're likethe Lord.
And I'm like, okay, let's startwith that Um.
And so it's almost comicalbecause we pour so much of our
heart into this, whether it's um, us as donors, us as staff, us
(39:33):
as prayer warriors, like TRM issuch an incredible family and
it's amazing, but we have tonever forget that we have a
father that cares for all of hischildren and that we as staff
are not exempt from that.
He cares about us too, andwe're on our own journey as we
try to serve others.
That he's teaching us how totrust on him, how to lean on him
(39:54):
and to provide, and that hecares more than we ever could,
and I could go on and on withstuff that I personally have
been taught through this part ofour ministry, just in full
transparency.
It's definitely a growingopportunity for me every year.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Well, you know, I think it's there's a lot that we
could say about all that and wehave at different times.
But you know, just to highlightthat piece, you do everything
you can and then you can't do itall.
So you have a choice Either saywe're done, we can't do anymore
, or something special has tocome about.
To get 11 backpacks alone wouldhave been quite a deal.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
The very next day.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
But filled with supplies, is a whole nother
level and that is.
That's just that kind of aspecial.
Okay, you did everything youcan.
I got this, I'm going to bringit and use a human agent to do
it.
They didn't drop out of the sky.
Somebody went out and did it.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
And that person also was from out of town.
Yeah, how far out of town 45minutes, okay, and knew a couple
of places where they coulddonate.
Didn't feel right about it.
I don't know if the person's abeliever or not.
I wasn't involved in that partof it, but didn't feel right.
And so the person looked upback to school giveaways or
(41:15):
something online, found ours,drove here 45 minutes and
dropped it off and had no clue.
We were waiting on 11 sets ofthis for this family.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
That's the other part of the story.
I mean that goes on.
I mean there's so many times.
You know, what comes to my mindone time is the guys were
serving dinner in the kitchenone time and they'd been having
the normal stuff but one guycame off the streets.
He says man, you got any friedchicken?
No, we don't have fried chicken.
Man, I just had this cravingfor fried chicken.
Well, I'm sorry, we're going tohave what we're going to have,
(41:46):
right?
There's a knock on the doorright about dinner time.
It was a Catholic priest herein town and he said we had a big
dinner plan and we got itcanceled.
We have a whole bunch of friedchicken, would you guys like it?
And so this guy's watching thishappen.
You know that's coming off thestreets and he goes no, how did
you guys know, could you, didyou?
No, that was just one of thosespecial little winks from God.
(42:08):
Hey, you're not alone in this,even if it's something that
simple.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
And you know, barry, I think so.
These are great examples.
The other thing, though, thatI'm not sure I do a good enough
job communicating.
I don't know how you feel aboutwhen you were ED, but sometimes
God provides, but doesn'tprovide in that moment, like
immediately, which are coolmoments, right Stuff that just
(42:34):
etched on your heart.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
You can't presume it's always going to happen the
same way.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Correct.
And that is this challenge ofthe rescue mission I guess I
could say is sometimes the Lordprovides and he provides months
out and you, you're walking infaith, going well.
I don't want to be dumb withfinances, I want to be a wise
(42:57):
steward.
But we've got this need.
I know the Lord didn't forgetto do it, but we need to do it.
So, for instance, this year um,and then I'll hush I just feel
led to say this this year, inthe four years I have been here
unplanned expenses.
(43:19):
And when we do the budget, webudget for inflation, we budget
for just normal increases.
We give 10% buffers.
We look at it literally.
We don't just look at it and gowhat are we spending at the
shelter?
It is down to supplies, that'show specific it is, and it's
months of processes, right, butyou just can't plan for a dish
(43:42):
dryer is going to mess up and inthe same kitchen, in addition
to the dish dryer, our tiltskillet goes out and the same
thing with the tilt skillet.
It's this, this and this,multiple different things, Box
trucks I mean just all of thisstuff.
Water heaters.
Yes, showers being messed up inthe shelter, I mean, I could go
on and on, and so probably fouror five months in I'm wrestling
(44:06):
with the Lord going God.
I'm nervous because thecommunity needs to know and
wants to know when we're facingchallenges they can donate and
support.
We're seeing the need of foodrise, food costs are increasing,
all this stuff.
But then we have to balance itbecause I have to be careful
(44:27):
with what we say, with ourexpense needs and all of that,
to not sound the alarm that TRMis shutting down right.
So somewhere in the middle istruly communicating when we have
needs, doing it in a way that'snot alarming but it's honest,
but then also knowing when we'renot supposed to communicate
because God's going to comethrough.
So we have all of this and fora couple of months, even
(44:48):
conversations with my boardpresident and the board like,
yep, we're having a lot ofopportunities this year to fix
things.
We're going to look at it thatway and nothing Right.
And the board then also iswalking in faith saying, well,
those are the things we need toserve people in a very dignified
way.
We're going to do it, we'regoing to do it this way and
(45:11):
we're going to trust.
We've done that now three timesthis year.
We've had the money.
We can pay for things I'm notsaying that, but it's stuff that
was not in our budget, right,and we would rather be spending
money on other things.
However, the board's like, nope, we're going to do this, I'm
going to do this, we're going tocommit it to prayer.
There have been three times nowthat we've done that and within
(45:31):
the next seven days, we geteither an estate that we weren't
planning on or we have a donorthat says, hey, I just felt led
to give an additional $500 thismonth, those kinds of things,
and we give God glory for all ofthat.
Now, it would have been nicethat, as soon as we had to spend
(45:52):
that money on the tilt skillet,to have money to pay for the
tilt skillet, right, but thatwas months later, and so now our
team is looking at thosecapital projects and other
expenses and, yes, it looks likethose are expenses, are high,
but God is also blessed in otherways months later, yeah, so you
know, I'm just as much in agrowing stage, even at the CEO
(46:15):
level of my faith and walking inknowing the Lord will provide.
And how do we balance.
We're still doing and we'restaying the course, even when
it's hard and it's challengingand it's murky, and but yet not
being embarrassed to ask thecommunity to support, whether
it's school supplies or money orfood or volunteering time or
(46:35):
prayer warriors.
So it's it's so amazing to be apart of this, but it's also.
There are so many unknowns andI just know the father's like
but I've got it all, I've got itall and uh, just a bit of
advice.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
You're always going to be in that place for the rest
of your life, whether it's hereat the rescue mission or
anywhere you go.
Is that what is the balancebetween faith and action?
Yes and um, it's not always thesame.
And so, yes, talking about whatwe're talking about today,
letting people know how they canhelp, being involved in this
I'm going to hit that one moretime before we go.
(47:11):
But one last thing you allrepresenting volunteers, other
staff who are investing in this,donors investing in this, what
is your understanding of thevalue, not only of a kid walking
into school the first dayhaving the supplies that the
(47:35):
other kids have, not feelinglike they stand out as a
homeless kid from the rescuemission or an impoverished
neighborhood that doesn't haveenough.
Their families don't haveenough.
Beyond that, helping them tofeel safe when they're here at
the rescue mission.
Speaker 5 (47:52):
What is the value 10, 20 years from now in what
you're doing?
Yeah, I think there'simmeasurable value.
I think a tangible value thatcomes immediately is just to
have we want our young people tohave that sense of confidence
right, that's so important intheir development and just
feeling the dignity that theyhave.
And so if you're walking intoschool and you don't have it,
(48:15):
you know many of the folks thatwe're serving there's already
barriers there that maybe someof their peers from more
affluent backgrounds might nothave.
And so just to add one more ofand I don't have my stuff, or
maybe I got some.
You know, I don't like mybackpack design and that's why
it's so special to see someonecome in and pick out a backpack
(48:36):
that they like it's a color thatthey like or they you know the
design that they like and theyhave their things and they can
come in and be prepared.
And also just to see thosevolunteers as they're serving,
to know that there are peoplewho took time out of their day
and money out of their wallet toget these supplies and to smile
(48:56):
and interact with them and giveit to them for their parents to
know that the community iswrapping around and supporting
them.
And so maybe that high schooleror that middle schooler might
not fully appreciate it in themoment, right, but going back
and looking back later in lifejust to see that there were
people there who gathered around, who helped support and seeing
(49:17):
a community do that for oneanother, that not to have the
attitude of, well, those aren'tmy kids, so it's not my problem,
but to rally around each otherto support each other, to just
treat each other with dignity,help build one another up, build
up the confidence for the youngpeople in our community and
just exemplify that dignity thatthey have and to show the love
(49:41):
of Christ through these littleactions that add up.
Speaker 2 (49:44):
That's really well said.
The universal question that weall have, wherever we are on the
planet, from day one till thelast day, is do I matter?
And a lot of folks that findthemselves in need kind of
wonder sometimes do I matter?
And even a small thing like atoy, like a place to live, some
(50:09):
food to eat during a reallyrough time, school supplies, the
Minecraft backpack or whateverSomebody said I mattered, and
that sticks with these kids andit sticks with their parents and
I can tell you, being in theposition I was for as long as I
was, there were kids that cameback and reflected back about
the time that they were at therescue mission, really tough
time in their lives, but theyknew that something was special
there.
They can't define itnecessarily, but it was a
(50:31):
springboard to yeah, I mattered.
And because of that and otheropportunities in their life,
they are out in our communitytoday and around the country
being very successful becausepeople let them know they
mattered.
Speaker 4 (50:45):
And I think that's an outreach of evangelism.
I mean St Francis said you know, preach the gospel at all times
, when necessary use words Usewords when necessary.
And these are sermons.
That's right, as we're able toreach out and meet a need and we
have crosses on our stuff.
We're representing Christ.
People know that and they knowI matter.
And I don't just matter tothese people, I matter to this
God they represent.
(51:05):
It's not a religion.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
It's a relation.
Speaker 3 (51:08):
And you're not just particularly with some of the
bigger things we do, like theback to school, christmas time,
thanksgiving needs things likethat.
What I really want people tounderstand is you're not just
planting a seed, you're plantingan orchard.
An orchard.
And what I mean by that is ifyou think about, let's say, we
(51:30):
do have 400 kids that areequipped.
We have no idea what those 400kids are doing with those
supplies.
You've got kids who are drawingpictures and maybe they're
going to be an artist.
You've got kids who are doingmathematical problems and they
might be an engineer.
You have kids who are usingcalculators to end up being
(51:54):
architects.
I mean, there's just you don'tknow.
What I do know is that itequips them for, in that moment,
to know that they've got apurpose, and that might not even
make sense to them at five or15.
But these are not just one offthings, because it's consistency
(52:15):
has been here since 1953.
And we talk about planting theseeds, we talk about serving the
one in front of us, and all ofthat is so true and so beautiful
(52:35):
.
But if only, if only we had theto see, from God's view, what
TRM has done.
I bet it's just incredible whenyou see the thousands who have
been sheltered, the thousandswho have been fed, the thousands
of kids who have had schoolsupplies, and sometimes those
(52:58):
ways we help turn into whatcommunity deems successful.
We've got people now who arerealtors, we've got people who
are in law enforcement.
We've got people now who havebeautiful homes.
All of this stuff because ofTRM and those things are
incredible.
But there's also beautiful stuffthat happened.
That's really not beautiful.
You know, I was in visiting thewomen's prison a couple of
(53:22):
months ago and had severalpeople come up to me and say man
, trm helped me with this, trmhelped me with that approaching
(53:42):
in the next two to three yearspossibly getting out, and all
three women wanted to be able tosomehow give back.
And those three women weretaking classes.
A couple of them were takingspiritual classes and then one
of them was taking some otherthings.
All this being said, one womancame up to me and she said she
(54:05):
remembered being able to be fedas a kid here, and then her
struggle didn't turn beautiful,it didn't, it didn't become
successful.
The struggle continued when shewas in early, early adulthood
and she had her own kids and shesaid I remembered the place
(54:28):
that fed me.
So when she got out of a badrelationship, she came here with
one of her daughters I believeit was a daughter and she said I
just knew I could because theyhad already helped me before.
And then she said right now mymom has my daughter until I can
(54:53):
get out and my mom utilizes TRMto help my daughter.
And so to me I could look ateverything that's hard there,
right Multi-generational poverty, prison, incarceration, all
this stuff and those things arehard and I empathize with that
whole family.
(55:14):
But then there is also beautythat a mother who is now a
grandmother, a mother who wasonce a daughter and now a
daughter all three of them havebeen able to count on TRM.
Staff come and go, volunteerscome and go, donors come and go.
But regardless of what you'redoing in that season, I can
(55:36):
assure you, if you're a prayerwarrior, donor, staff member,
volunteer, you are helping somuch in the moment.
But then, when that remainsconsistent, and we constantly
have donors and we constantlyhave volunteers and we
constantly have staff memberswilling to be in the trenches to
do this that it is ongoingsupport in ways that we are not
(56:00):
sure.
I don't think we'll ever knowthe impact.
We can't see it the way thefather sees it, but it's not
just planting seeds.
Trm has extremely done a goodjob, extremely of planning
orchards all over.
If we could just see it thatway.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Life is messy and it gets really messy for some folks
, and TRM and its supporters,its volunteers, its staff have
been called and decided to getinvolved in the mess and so
being there and being a light.
Not everything has the sameoutcome, the same way, but yet
(56:38):
there is still light in people'sdarkness, in the mess, and so
thank you all for being here,thank you for what you're doing.
This is really all hands on deck.
Time now to get those schoolsupplies in.
You can go to trmonlineorg finda needs list on there.
Also, if you are in need, the21st of July is going to be that
(56:59):
time that you can go to thatsame website and be able to sign
up and then, on the 5th, takingcare of kids at the Hope Center
and then, on the 6th, the300-plus people coming through
those doors 350 maybe comingthrough the doors of the
distribution center that day tobe able to get a little bit of
light in their life and helpkids, not only for now and for
(57:19):
that first day of school, butalso potentially a great impact
in their lives.
Thank you all for listening toour community, our mission, a
podcast of the Topeka RescueMission.
Again, if you'd like moreinformation, you could go to
trmonlineorg.
That's trmonlineorg.
Thank you for being a part ofour community, our mission.
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