A powerhouse of an episode with the Mayor of Columbus, GA, Skip Henderson! Mayor Henderson shares great insight into what it will really take for us to overcome the challenges of homelessness and addiction in our communities. The discussion covers crime, the economy, and the roles of City Government, Businesses, Churches, and Citizens. This is an episode you'll want to save/bookmark to go back and listen to a second time!
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Skip (00:00):
I personally think that the homelessness issue, because
it's so diverse and sowidespread It is a community
issue and it impacts everybodyin the community.
The entire community needs toget involved.
And I'll tell you, I've told mypastor too, I mean, there are
300 plus churches in Columbus,Georgia.
If we could get everybody on thesame page, all the clergy, all
(00:22):
the different religions, if youreally are here to serve God's
children, then everybody needsto work on that.
I mean, people say, what can Ido man?
Just call Safe House.
You know, say, Hey, what can Ido to volunteer to help out a
little bit?
There is something that each ofus can do, and I stand by my
statement that we have way toomany churches who do way too
(00:44):
good a job for way too manypeople to not be able to lick
this problem.
the one thing you can't do isjust sit on the sidelines and
say, I wish I knew what to do.
There's too many people to ask.
There's too many organizationsout there.
It's hard sometimes to make acommitment, to step out there
and, um, and try to make adifference in not just
(01:05):
holistically the community, butmaking a difference in that one
individual.
I mean, it could be that one guythat, shows up at Freedom House
the next day.
And you know, it may be thatthat person that you talk to
every day for two months andthey don't give you the time of
day, and in one day you catch'emwhen they're a little bit more
(01:25):
willing to talk.
And you're able to try to learna little bit about'em and point
'em in, in a direction that'sgonna change their lives
forever.
Phil Shuler (01:33):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
(01:55):
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
(02:16):
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
(02:37):
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
Thank you for being here with ustoday on the podcast.
This is going to be part two ofthe conversation I had with
Mayor Skip Henderson, and it isso, so good.
We really do dive deeper intothe areas of crime and.
(03:01):
The economy and how homelessnessand addiction impact those
things.
We talk about businesses, wetalk about what can citizens in
the community do.
We talk about the role of, ofthe city government and the best
way to approach tackling thisvery, very challenging and
complex issue.
So I hope you enjoy thisepisode.
It really is probably one of myfavorite.
(03:24):
I think it's so insightful, it'sso helpful, And we would love to
hear what you think.
We would love for your feedback.
If you want to just leave us areview, give us some comments of
what you feel like the valuethat you gained from listening
to this episode and share it,please share it and just spread
the word because we really needto work together if we're going
(03:49):
to be able to.
Truly tackle the challenges thatcome with trying to help people
go from being homeless to beinghoused and having their own
homes.
To go from being in the bondageof drug addiction to being free
So that they can get to theplace where they recognize that
they have value, they haveworth, and can become a
(04:11):
contributing member of societyand give value to others.
Phil (04:17):
thinking about the, the results that have been able to
been, to be accomplished of thepast 18 months, safe House
Ministries have been able tohelp almost 300 people go from
being on the streets to nowbeing in their, their own
housing.
That's a big number, but there'sstill so many more.
Skip (04:35):
There are.
And, uh, and I think that, um,one of the things we have, have,
I believe we need to do is weneed to update our resource, our
resources in our toolbox, right?
So, I think I've talked withsome individuals with United Way
and some others, and they're.
Kinda reconvening.
Uh, years ago, about 10 yearsago, there was a, uh, 10 year
(04:59):
plan to end homelessness.
Well, we knew that was agrandiose plan and it was very
likely to fail if that was yourtrue goal, but it really wasn't.
The idea was just to get peoplefocused on Yeah.
On the, on the issue.
And I, I, right now, there's anorganization of folks that are
pulling together and have a verysmall working task force, and
(05:19):
then they have sort of ancillarygroups that are feeding into
these individuals and givingthem some, uh, real life stories
of what's going on in thecommunity.
So I think as, as you pointedout, whether it's post COVID or
whether it's just a shift in theeconomy, a lack of affordable
housing the scope and the shapeof the issue has changed, and I
(05:42):
think it makes really good senseto go back and reevaluate and
see, all right, are we stilldoing the things that are making
positive change?
300 people, getting them intohousing is incredible.
The scary thing is there's stilla lot of people out.
There's a lot, a lot of vouchersthat are available through these
organizations through the CHAColumbus Housing Authority with
(06:03):
these individuals andorganizations being the conduit,
there's so many availablebecause there's, it's not enough
to, to take care of the cost ofthe housing.
Yeah.
So, but it, it's all connected.
We, we, we haven't talked aboutjobs, we haven't talked about
some of the training.
We haven't talked abouteducation.
We haven't talked aboutdelinquency.
We, all of those things feedinto this because if you don't,
(06:24):
if you don't develop, if youdon't develop the skills that
are gonna put you in a positionwhere you can be employed then
it's gonna be really hard.
It
Phil (06:31):
is.
And you're right.
You're so right that.
The importance of case managerswithin the, the structure of
organizations like Valley RescueMission, safe House Ministries
to just really help partneringwith Goodwill for job training
and collaboration and workingtogether is, I think it's done
pretty well in Columbus.
Obviously it can always be donebetter but we have a, a pretty
(06:53):
good system.
You know, I know we use SafeHouse Ministries, uses Goodwill
and partners with them andeverybody that comes into our
shelters to go through, I thinkit's eight classes of just job
training.
Mm-hmm.
Foundational classes partneringwith healthcare organizations
like Mercy Med and ValleyHealthcare mental health
organizations American Works,new Horizon, and I think that's
(07:15):
important and that, that is partof the secret to success is
working together.
'cause you one organizationcan't do everything.
No.
And there are others that aredoing things well.
And so if you can work.
Effectively together.
And it makes a big difference.
The
Skip (07:29):
collaboration is the difficult piece, right?
Because everybody is havingsuccess in their own lane, and
so they, they tend to stay thereand just stay focused on what
they do well, uh, which can be avery, very good thing.
But I, as you pointed out I'mjust proud of this community
because yes, we've got problemsand some of these problems are
significant to the point that itdoes take patience and
(07:52):
consistency and time to, tosolve them.
Our poverty rate is too high.
Well, you don't change thatovernight.
Uh, and, and the poverty ratebeing high is what leads to a
lot of these people who losetheir homes and they're now on
the streets.
So I think that as we continueto try to look for ways to
modify our approach, I think thesuccess that we are having is
(08:13):
gonna continue to growexponentially.
Uh, safe House does anincredible job and Safe House
has done this.
Safe House has Eva reevaluatedtheir numbers.
And try to put a finer point onthe services they deliver so
that they could have more impactwith some of the things that you
guys got have going on at someof your, your shelters.
(08:33):
Yeah.
And um, so I think as wecontinue to do that and look at
what is really making adifference because y'all
experienced that, where you, youhad so many folks coming in and
you were helping so many people,and then you started looking at
the numbers and determined that,you know, a lot of these folks
are not wanting to be housed.
And so could the effort of SafeHouse be brought to bear in a
(08:57):
different area that's gonnareally make a positive impact
and lead to those 300 peoplefinding, finding shelter?
Phil (09:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kind of a related but differentquestion.
Columbus I think has a widerreputation of just being
effective.
At helping people go from beinghomeless, being in the midst of
substance abuse and just gettingback on their feet.
So much so that I hear fromother individuals that I work
(09:25):
with all the time about countiesacross Alabama and Georgia and,
and just other places, othercities that are essentially
dumping individuals in Columbus.
I'm sure you're familiar withthat, help us to understand what
that looks like and why that is,and just maybe some more truth
and understanding about that.
Skip (09:45):
Yeah.
I mean, there, there are, Imean, look, the, you, you have
successes with some of theinitiatives that are put in
place by organizations and youhave some that aren't gonna
succeed, and the questionbecomes, what happens to those
folks that aren't part of thesuccess?
Side of the ledger and ifthey've been brought here under
(10:06):
the understanding that they weregonna receive treatment and try
to receive some assistance andthen it didn't work.
Some of them ended up right herein Columbus.
And I have heard the rumorswhere people in cities
throughout Georgia will put'emon a bus and send'em to
Columbus.
And I don't think that happensmuch, but it absolutely does
happen.
You'll meet people whose homeis, uh, on the other side of the
(10:29):
state who said, yep, they gaveme a bus ticket and let me go.
But we do something similar in,in Columbus.
We do have folks who will askthem do you have family say,
yes, they're in Wisconsin.
Do you want to get back to them?
I do.
Well, then we'll give them a busticket to try to get home, not
just to go to another community.
(10:50):
So if we have an opportunity toreunite them and get them off
the streets and get some helpfrom the family.
We, we, we do that.
Uh, that leads to anotherchallenge because we'll have
people say, well, we need tobuild a village, tiny home
village transitional housing.
Okay, well here's the problem.
Where, where do you wanna putit?
Because you have to put it nearresources.
(11:12):
If you just stick it out therein a field somewhere, these
folks have no access to feedingthemselves and getting some of
the other basic needs that thatall of the state for granted.
So it goes back to what I saidright at the beginning that we
want to rush to help.
First we have to make sure thatwe are in fact helping and we're
(11:33):
not just doing something, uh,and I hate to say, to make us
feel good, but it does.
If the gentleman that I talkedto that went to Freedom House,
man, I.
I felt good about that.
I didn't do anything.
All I did was put him in touchwith people who could perhaps
change his life.
Phil (11:50):
Yeah.
Thinking about homelessness andthe related, and often, almost
always, not quite always, but sooften connected issue of
addiction, substance abuse, howdo homelessness and addiction
issues impact crime in the city?
Skip (12:07):
You know, we've, we've been very, very fortunate in
that respect too.
We, we had just like mostcommunities and it was around
the time that COVID was at itspeak, and then you had the
defund police movement.
You had the lack of respect forpolice officers.
Police officers leaving theforce in droves.
And, and, um, a lot of thatcreated sort of a perfect storm
(12:31):
because you also had thehomeless constituency that, were
self-medicating, right?
They, they, if they did not havemental illness, they knew they
were on the streets, so they'dstart self-medicating with some
of the, the drugs and alcohol.
Uh, and when you get dependenton those, you, you're gonna go
out there and try to do whateveryou need to do to have access.
(12:52):
So it does lead to some crime.
But we have beefed our policedepartment up almost to full
capacity.
And our crime numbers havedropped dramatically by overall
by about 24% this year and about12% last year.
But going back to what I saidearlier, you, you can't enforce
your way out of this issue.
(13:12):
You've got to, you have toenforce the law, but you also
have to try to find ways to getalternative sentencing where
people can get some assistanceand some help.
the challenges and this is thepart that we don't like to talk
about with regards to some ofthe individuals that are, are
living in the woods and livingin encampments, uh, but there
are some economic issues thatresult from that.
(13:35):
If you have, if you come inright on one of our main
thoroughfares coming into town,there's a private property that
we haven't been able to get intouch with the owner where folks
have just sort of camped out.
And there's unfortunately a lotof these individuals that are
involved with any, some type ofdrug or substance abuse.
There's, there's a, a lot ofdebris around and it, it makes a
(13:59):
difference to people coming intoour community when that's one of
the first things they see.
Yeah.
And people aren't gonna wannashop at shopping centers where
there are people sleeping onbenches and, um.
Creating an impediment forpeople who are going there to
spend money and to shop.
So it's, it's a very difficultissue to balance because as a
(14:22):
government, we care about bothgroups.
So we have to try to find a wayto provide positive
opportunities for the group thatis sleeping on the bench, and at
the same time try to encouragepeople who want to go shop at
those places as well.
Phil (14:37):
Yeah.
It's
Skip (14:38):
a challenge.
It's, it sounds heartless to putit that way.
Well, I mean, it's, but it, butit is a, it is a fact.
It is that it causes challenges.
You
Phil (14:45):
have to, you have a right to, I mean, you have a
responsibility to, to try tokeep the peace and take care of
everybody in the city, not justcertain people in the city.
I mean, I, I can relate justworking at Chick-fil-A in the
drive-through, you know, being amanager at Chick-fil-A and.
We can't have homeless peoplecoming on the property just
asking our, the customers formoney, even standing sometimes
(15:06):
in, in the parking lot as carsare trying to get into the drive
through.
I mean, just obstructing things.
It just, and so, yeah, you just,you have to find the right way
to, to try to keep the balance.
And I mean, you have to respectthe businesses and also whatever
you can do to help those who arestruggling.
Well, but, you
Skip (15:25):
know, some of those locations, and I'll use
Chick-fil-A because you broughtit up.
Uh, but, uh, I'm so encouragedby the people who want to help.
My wife and I were driving down,uh, Bradley Park Drive, saw a
gentleman holding a sign,homeless standing by the side of
the road.
So we went in to get, she wanteda milkshake milkshake machine
(15:46):
was broken, but what, it put usthere for a reason, we thought.
So I said, well, gimme a.
Gimme a sandwich and some friesand a drink.
And so we pulled around to giveit to this guy in a short period
of time.
It took us to pull around on theother side of Chick-fil-A.
He already had a sandwich.
Somebody in front of us had beatus to it, and of course we gave
it to him anyway and encouragedhim to share it with anybody
that he was headed back to.
(16:07):
But people want to help.
Yeah.
It goes back to people want tohelp.
Yeah.
And, um, I'm no expert on thebest way to do that.
I've always taken the approachthat I'm going, I'm gonna give
them, I'm gonna give them the,the food, but I'm not gonna give
them cash.
Because I worry that it wouldfurther force them to sink into
(16:27):
a some type of, of, um,addiction.
Phil (16:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And in most cases, they probablyalready are aware of the 2 1 1
line that they could call, but.
Maybe in some cases not, so,just even a mention of, hey, you
know, there's a resource inColumbus, you can call 2 1 1 and
they can connect you withorganizations that can support
you.
And
Skip (16:47):
yeah, and you learn by trial and error.
I mean, I, and everybody looksat their own personal
experiences.
I we were, um, taking a, ourfamily was going outta town for
a while, for a few days.
It's a blood oath I swore to mywife that I would do once a year
as mayor.
And you've kept that promise?
I said yes if come close tomessing it up a few times, but,
um, getting some gas in the car.
(17:09):
Young man came up and asked fora dollar.
So anyway, I started engaginghim in a conversation, got his
name and I did it wrong becausewhat I did is I told him, I gave
him my card.
I said, look, I'm headed out oftown, but if you call this
lady's name on my card, tell herthat you and I talked and and
she'll help you.
'cause he said he is recentlyhomeless.
(17:32):
And then I gave him five bucks.
I broke my rule'cause I was, butum, he didn't call.
So, in my opinion, what I shouldhave done is offered to take him
right there, right then, andmaybe just bought him something
to eat and, and encouraged himto contact 3 1 2, 1 1.
But, you know, we all, we try tohelp the best way we can.
(17:54):
We just need to talk to yourorganization at Safe House
Ministries, talk to some of theothers that, uh, work day in and
day out and trying to providethe, the appropriate type of
help.
But, and, and back to what yousaid, just encourage people to
get involved.
Yeah.
I mean, people say, what can Ido man?
Just call Safe House.
(18:14):
You know, say, Hey, what can Ido to volunteer to help out a
little bit?
There is something that each ofus can do, and I stand by my
statement that we have way toomany churches who do way too
good a job for way too manypeople to not be able to lick
this problem.
Phil (18:30):
Yeah, you're right.
And we haven't talked a lotabout it, but the issue of
mental health and mentalillness, which really is growing
just across the country, but aswell in Columbus, what are your
thoughts around, obviously itconnects deeply with
homelessness and substanceabuse, but how to maybe tackle
that challenge?
Skip (18:50):
I mentioned the, um, community cares program that our
fire department is puttingtogether in conjunction with our
police chief and, uh, andprivate, counselors, uh, to try
to keep them out of lockup.
Maybe if the paramedics there,if they need to administer
medication, if they just haven'ttaken their medications, uh,
maybe help'em with that.
(19:10):
But that, that is a, just myopinion, that is a, a tougher
nut to crack because you've, alot of these individuals when
they're growing up, they have,they have guardians, they have
their mom and their dad orsomebody that helps assist them.
Well, when they hit 18, 20, 21years old, they're grown.
Maybe that caretaker's notaround anymore.
(19:31):
And now there's no one to remindthem to take the medication.
There's no one to remind them togo see and check in with a
counselor.
Uh, so you, if it forces us, Ithink it's incumbent upon us to
be a little bit moreunderstanding, a little bit more
patient, try to understandwhat's going on.
'cause if somebody's on theautism spectrum.
One of the worst things you cando if they're an adult is put
(19:51):
your hands on them.
You've got police officers whodo a fantastic job, but they're
going from call to call to call.
So sometimes it puts them in aposition where they've gotta
make a decision, and fortunatelyour folks are so good that
they'll make the right decisionand involve some clinician or
somebody from department ofPublic Health or an organization
(20:12):
that will take a look at whatthe real root of the problem is.
But it's, I mean, we, we talkedabout drug addiction, but the
mental health crisis, what onegood thing, I think if you call
it a good thing that came outtaCOVID, is I think people talk
more now about mental health.
They recognize that, um, youknow, sometimes the activity
(20:33):
that somebody engages in doesn'tnecessarily mean we need to take
'em right to jail.
It means, wait a minute, let meask a few questions.
Let me see if we can help'em.
Our community policing folksdon't go out and arrest people.
They don't do that.
They ho homelessness is not a, acrime.
Unfortunately, some of theactivities engaged in by a small
(20:54):
group of, of the homelesspopulation results in criminal
activity.
Now, they're not gonna getarrested for being in an
encampment, but if it escalates,and that's always the danger
with mental illness then, um,then the officers have to react
in a way to protect the public.
But, uh, but their first theirfirst thought is to try to
(21:15):
identify what's going on.
See if there's an alternative totaking these folks in.
Phil (21:19):
Yeah.
I think, um, you've had a lot ofsuccesses in your two terms as
mayor, but I think one, to me,one of the ones that, that I
think stands out is the, the,just how we, we struggled for so
long with staffing the policeforce, and we are in a, in a
good place right now.
So much better.
And I think that's a huge winjust for the whole city.
Skip (21:38):
Well, and I, I appreciate it, but I, I think a lot of that
credit goes to the council who,agreed to raise some of the pay
pay level.
And it also goes to theleadership in our public safety
departments.
We have been blessed with peoplewho are leading our police
department, fire department, MCPsheriff, all of them that, um.
(22:02):
That really care about folksthat are very good leaders and
have had a lot of success inbuilding back up the numbers.
Phil (22:09):
Yeah.
You mentioned something about,uh, when we were talking about
mental health isolationism andthe fact that after COVID,
people are more likely to kindof share.
I think that's important.
I've, I've had many individualswho've come on to share their
stories.
A part of many of those storieswas that isolationism and
feeling alone and, and, uh,recognizing that they had to get
(22:32):
past that if they're gonna gethelp.
And the reality is you don'thave to be alone.
There, there are, even if, asoften is the case when you're in
the midst of drug addiction andthe way that you behave often
alienates you from your familyand, and so many times.
Families write them off.
Um, but there are people inColumbus that, that are here to
(22:54):
help and love.
And you don't have to be alone.
You know, you can go toorganizations like Safe House
Ministries, valley RescueMission, salvation Army.
There are places that want tohelp and have the resources
with, to help with substanceabuse or any other thing.
And I, that's, that is somethingthat I think when people realize
(23:14):
that they don't have to be aloneand they, they don't need to be
alone and they shouldn't bealone, that turns the tide.
Skip (23:21):
Yeah, I agree.
I, and, and that, you know, wewere talking about how it was an
eyeopener for me and going tovisit some of these encampments.
That's one of the things thatstruck me.
I don't know why I made theassumption.
You, you just touched on itabout, I made the assumption
these folks are alone.
They don't have anybody thatreally wakes up in the morning
and says, Hey man, I care aboutyou and I just want you to be
happy.
(23:41):
Every encampment we went to, atleast 50% of the folks there are
from this area.
I said, you have any family?
Yeah.
Where do they live?
Well, they live right across theriver in Phoenix City.
Or they live right over there inclo And not judging the parents,
because as you pointed out, thatsometimes it, it reaches a point
where there there is nothingthey can do except to just pray
(24:02):
and pray as hard as they can.
But to your point about theisolationism, that's where the 2
1 1 comes in, I think.
'cause they can get them intouch with somebody.
Look, we, we care very, verydeeply about the people that
work for the ColumbusConsolidated Government.
Used to years ago, you worriedabout their physical health?
Right.
Make sure they're okay on thejob and things are going smooth.
(24:23):
But we have really been focusingon their mental health.
We have seen, just in the timeI've been mayor, I think there's
been three individuals that havetaken their life because they
felt in some way isolated.
So we're working, have beenworking for the last month or so
on, really focusing in on how dowe take good care of the mental
(24:44):
health of the people that areemployed.
When I think about folks who areliving in encampment, there's
nobody really thinking about howthey need to be taking care of
their mental health.
So it's, um, it, it is a bigchallenge and the only thing you
can hope for is that when thereis an encounter in, in some of
our community policing or someof the Safe House staff or one
(25:07):
of the other resource centerscan interact with them.
They can talk them into comingin for an evaluation and.
Try to get them involved in sometype of program that will help
them deal with some of thechallenges they're facing.
Phil (25:19):
Yeah.
What are your thoughts on whatjust the average citizen in
Columbus maybe can think aboutas a way that they can help?
Just with the challenge ofhomelessness and people
struggling with addiction in ourcommunity,
Skip (25:32):
you know, the easiest way, at least in my opinion, is to
identify, to contact the folkswho already have, as part of
their identity, dealing withthose organizations call Safe
House.
Uh, there's a new building goingup on Second Avenue for, um,
salvation Army that's gonna bedorms for people who are
homeless, uh, for temporaryhousing.
You know, you've, you've gotchurches that are, are trying
(25:55):
or, or go to your pastor andsay, Hey, I wanna start up some
type of homeless task force herewithin the church.
Then you can contact thecommunity policing folks.
You can contact Safe House, youcan contact all these people.
But the one thing you can't dois just sit on the sidelines and
say, I wish I knew what to do.
There's too many people to ask.
(26:16):
There's too many organizationsout there.
It's hard sometimes to make acommitment, to step out there
and, um, and try to make adifference in not just
holistically the community, butmaking a difference in that one
individual.
I mean, it could be that one guythat, shows up at Freedom House
the next day.
And you know, it may be thatthat person that you talk to
(26:38):
every day for two months andthey don't give you the time of
day, and in one day you catch'emwhen they're a little bit more
willing to talk.
And you're able to try to learna little bit about'em and point
'em in, in a direction that'sgonna change their lives
forever.
Phil (26:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You mentioned, uh, I think a, aproject in the works, some
funding for police officer orsocial worker.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and someone else to go outand help with some of the
challenges.
How do you feel about just a, anelement of funding going to
organizations in the communitythat are on the front lines?
(27:15):
Do you feel like that would be ahelp?
Or do you feel like, just whatare your thoughts on that?
Skip (27:19):
Yeah.
Phil (27:20):
I'm
Skip (27:21):
not sure I understand you.
'cause you're talking about if,if there are resources or
organizations, so like
Phil (27:26):
a, just a, and I'm not as familiar with the structure of
city budgets and how they, theywork entirely, but is there a
possibility of just a part ofthe budget going to.
Organizations like Safe HouseValley Rescue, mission, United
Way, who just to say, Hey, thisis, this is a money that the
(27:46):
city wants to put intopreventative efforts.
You know,'cause the cityobviously has to deal with
backend issues.
Right.
But is there, is there a thoughtor a discussion maybe of, of
money in a preventative way justgoing to some of those
organizations to maybe try tominimize or reduce the cost
that's gonna be on the backend?
Skip (28:06):
Yeah.
You know, that's always such a,a challenge because the, for
city to, to give funding to a 50 1 C3, now you're giving tax
dollars, taxpayer dollars tocharitable organizations that
conceivably could be somethingoutside what somebody would've
spent their tax dollars on.
So what we prefer to do, andwhat we've seen work modeled
(28:28):
through other communities isthat you try to create that.
Atmosphere where you maybe inkind services or you have some
other level of involvement otherthan financial and then help
them get the fundraising aspectgoing.
'cause quite frankly, when westarted the 10 year plan to end
homelessness and out of thatkind of came home for good,
(28:51):
which was part of the continuumof care.
'cause we had a number ofdifferent organizations that all
connected.
The idea was that the city wouldpay for the, that organization
to be up and running.
I think we three or four years.
Uh, it wasn't a significantamount of money, but it was, it
was a good chunk of money.
And then at the end of that timeperiod that would give, that
(29:13):
time period would've given theorganization the opportunity to
build their philanthropic piece,to build their givers and to
make it self-sustaining.
Because in, in something that isthat broad throughout the
community.
No one funding source is gonnabe able to, to really fix what's
going on.
So the city typically does notget involved in funding that
(29:37):
directly, uh, just becausethere's so many other
organizations that we would feelobligated to try to provide
funding to as well.
But if we can put together someorganizations that serve as a
connector with the otherresources, then uh, then we've,
I think that that they have donepretty much what they need to do
(29:59):
to try to, to try to lessen the,the challenges that we're
facing.
Phil (30:03):
Yeah.
Being a connector is a bit, isa, is an important piece to
helping.
Yep.
what are your, just, I don'tknow, maybe key lessons that,
that you have found.
Have really worked well whentackling hard issues, like
helping with homelessness,addiction, just, you know, from,
from a city governmentperspective,
Skip (30:24):
First and foremost, it's find individuals who feel
similarly in collaborating.
There's power in numbers.
We've got a giving community.
The, um, you know, we've beenblessed with private companies
and organizations that havestepped up and, uh, really done
a good job at trying to helpfill the gaps.
(30:46):
And I think that first andforemost is to try to gather the
information and I, not tobelittle it, but oftentimes we
do have sort of a knee-jerkreaction to a situation and we
see something, well, I'm gonnafix that.
You may fix.
For that one person, but it mayhave not improved the
opportunities for a wholeconstituency that's in a similar
(31:09):
situation or may even haveunintentionally and
inadvertently caused it asteeper hill to climb.
So I think you've got tounderstand the issue.
You've got to figure out, as youpointed out, you've got to go
back to those root causes.
You can't just, homelessness isa situation that people find
themselves in that is just not,that's not a, it's not
(31:31):
necessarily just a symptom, itcan lead, or the genesis of
homelessness starts in areasthat you might completely
overlook.
And that, that to me is the, isthe challenge.
I've always been a, a bigbeliever in identify people who
know a lot more about thesubject than I do, like safe
out.
And, uh, and ask them, what areyou doing?
(31:54):
Where, where are your gaps?
What are your weak points?
Maybe there's something we cando from an in-kind standpoint or
a participation level at some,at some other level.
But I, I think you just look,look to partner and you look for
people who are subject matterexperts.
Phil (32:08):
Yeah.
You mentioned that, that rootunderlying causes that are often
overlooked.
And that's another one of thethings that I've learned a lot
about just in doing interviewsand the podcast every week, the
root causes that, uh, you know,they, they begin substance abuse
and the substance abuse leads tohomelessness, but the cause down
(32:29):
deep in their life maybe was anunmet need that they just had
this desire for companionshipand.
Ladies that were looking forcompanionship in the wrong
places and it led to badsituations, and then they start
taking drugs and try to escapeand it just, it's a, an
escalating cycle or, or adownward cycle.
But there's those root causesthat, and that are underlying
(32:50):
that if you can't figure out andaddress those root causes,
you're not gonna be effective athelping with the symptoms that
result.
Skip (32:57):
Yeah, and you know, you touched on a really good point.
You know, you see people startat an early age, you have no
idea what drove them to my, tomaybe want to get involved in
some type of self medicationthrough alcohol or drugs.
But if they do that when they'rein their early teens or in their
teens, then by the time they're25 or 30, if they live to that
age maybe they've realized,yeah, I shouldn't have done
(33:17):
that, but I'm in pretty deep.
I don't really know where to go.
So those are the folks that youreally have to, I think, start
talking to start thatconversation.
Because you can't just say, Hey,you gotta get off this, or you
gotta stop doing that.
You really need to say, tell me,tell me about what's going on.
And I mean, are you, are youhappy with where you are?
And if you're not, how did youget there?
(33:38):
Do you, was there one triggeringevent or was it living in a, an
environment that was most kidsfortunately don't have to live
in.
Yeah.
So those are the kind of thingsI think that, um, has to happen.
And that's why it is, I soundlike I'm a commercial for Safe
House, but that, but that's whyit's so important to have
organizations like Safe House,like Valley Rescue Mission like
(34:00):
Open Door, all of theseresources because you have to
have, if not a case manager, youhave to have somebody who the
individual begins to trust andwho feels like really does have
their best interest at at heart.
Phil (34:15):
Yeah.
Any last.
Important things you wanna bringout, or last thoughts or
comments you wanna make aroundhomelessness, addiction, mental
health, any of the things thatwe've talked about.
Skip (34:27):
You know, you've, you already mentioned it.
That is find a way to getinvolved.
And, and it, and it, look, thereare all different levels of
involvement.
I mean, if, if you, uh, uh, youjust want to go work at Safe
House and try to help preparemeals or if you wanna, uh, make
a, a financial donation to anyone of these private
organizations, that allows themto do the kinda work that's
(34:49):
necessary to get this number togo down.
And, and then, you know, theother piece is, is, uh, job
opportunities.
Trying to make sure that folkshave the same kind of
opportunities as other folks.
The last thing I'll leave withis this is it's like the world's
biggest Rubik's cube, right?
It's solvable.
It's solvable, but it's going totake a lot of commitment.
(35:12):
It's gonna take a very broadbase of interest in seeing this,
this challenge addressed.
And it's, uh, it's gonna take,it's gonna take collaboration
and, and, and yes, some fundingas well.
So I would just urge peoplethat, uh, when you see people on
the side of the street holdingthe sign up, and I know it can
be aggravating, but try not tolet your first thought be.
(35:35):
We need to get those folks offthe street and have that first
thought be all right.
Is there an organization that Ican get involved with?
Tell'em about this guy and seeif they can come help
Phil (35:44):
him.
Yeah.
That's so good.
That's very good.
I think I know myself, I've beenguilty of this and many of us,
we tend to judge too quickly,and when I hear, when I take the
time to listen and hearsomeone's story, I have to
recognize that.
Where I to have started in theplace that they started, I might
be worse than what, where theyare now.
And then when you look atsomeone, and from where I think
(36:07):
I might think they need to be somuch farther ahead, but where
they are now compared to wherethey used to be, is so much
farther ahead than where theyused to be.
And, and I need to shift myperspective oftentimes,
Skip (36:19):
and I, and I will remind people that, um, that there are,
we, we've talked a lot about theorganizations that are available
to provide assistance.
The individuals have to wantthat assistance.
You can't just descend on them,you know, like, like, like a, a
herd of locusts and just we'regonna fix everybody.
That's not how it works.
(36:39):
Yeah.
But we, we have to be, we haveto be mindful that it's going
to.
Take a while.
Yeah.
With some of the individuals,simply because they've enjoyed
living off the grid, they'veenjoyed the, no obligation
lifestyle and nobody has hassledthem about some of the
substances that they're, theymight be involved with.
Phil (36:59):
Yeah.
Skip (37:00):
So yeah, just cause I, we do get a lot of people say, why
don't you help this individual?
We, we've tried, we, our folksknow'em by first name basis.
But some of those individualsaren't ready yet.
Yeah.
So all we can do is keep, keepdoing the best we can to be
available with those resourceswhen they are ready and, uh,
keep praying.
Phil (37:19):
You're right.
Yeah.
So often it, it comes down toloving people over a long period
of time and just staying there,letting'em know.
And when they hit that point,you know, it, it makes me think
of the story in the Bible of theson who had.
Mouthed off at his father, tookhis inheritance and ran away and
found himself with nothing.
'cause all his money was gone,eaten out of a pig trough.
(37:40):
And he's, the Bible says that hecame to himself and he's like,
what am I doing?
Yeah.
The servants at my dad's houselive better.
So he had that, he came to thatplace where he wanted to get
better.
And, but you
Skip (37:52):
know that, the interesting thing is there's another
character in that parable, andthat's the son that stayed
there, did the right things, andthen can't help but be
frustrated and upset that all ofthat energy, all of that,
another robe in a ring and afatted calf went to the sun.
That in his mind, betrayed,betrayed the, the guy.
So you have to balance.
(38:12):
Yeah.
It's a big community and we, uh,we want everybody to have the
same opportunity.
Phil (38:18):
Yeah.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for being here thismorning.
Well, thank you.
I appreciate it.
Good to see you again.
Yeah.
You mind if I close this in aword of prayer?
Please do.
Father, thank you for yourgrace.
Thank you for just yourblessings.
Thank you that you've placed meand my family here in Columbus.
Thank you for Mayor Hendersonand the, the work that he has
done just to, to invest andserve this community.
(38:39):
I pray you bless him and blessour other city leaders.
State leaders.
Give them wisdom, give themguidance.
Help them with the challengesthat they face in the work that
they do, but also just in theirpersonal lives.
Lord.
We know that the enemy tends towant to attack those who are in
leadership very toughly.
Sometimes I pray that you'd justbless Skip and his family and
(39:02):
his path going forward.
In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Skip (39:07):
Thank you, Phil.
Phil Shuler (39:08):
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
(39:31):
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (39:46):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
for a new episode.
I personally think that the homelessness issue, because
it's so diverse and sowidespread It is a community
issue and it impacts everybodyin the community.
The entire community needs toget involved.
And I'll tell you, I've told mypastor too, I mean, there are
300 plus churches in Columbus,Georgia.
If we could get everybody on thesame page, all the clergy, all
(00:22):
the different religions, if youreally are here to serve God's
children, then everybody needsto work on that.
I mean, people say, what can Ido man?
Just call Safe House.
You know, say, Hey, what can Ido to volunteer to help out a
little bit?
There is something that each ofus can do, and I stand by my
statement that we have way toomany churches who do way too
(00:44):
good a job for way too manypeople to not be able to lick
this problem.
the one thing you can't do isjust sit on the sidelines and
say, I wish I knew what to do.
There's too many people to ask.
There's too many organizationsout there.
It's hard sometimes to make acommitment, to step out there
and, um, and try to make adifference in not just
(01:05):
holistically the community, butmaking a difference in that one
individual.
I mean, it could be that one guythat, shows up at Freedom House
the next day.
And you know, it may be thatthat person that you talk to
every day for two months andthey don't give you the time of
day, and in one day you catch'emwhen they're a little bit more
(01:25):
willing to talk.
And you're able to try to learna little bit about'em and point
'em in, in a direction that'sgonna change their lives
forever.
Phil Shuler (01:33):
HellO, and welcome to Renew, Restore, Rejoice, the
Safe House Ministries podcast,where we share stories of the
power of God to change livesthrough Safe House Ministries.
Safe House Ministries is basedout of Columbus, Georgia, and we
are a ministry that exists tolove and serve people who have
been affected by addiction,homelessness, and incarceration.
I'm your host, Phil Shuler, theDirector of Development for Safe
(01:55):
House Ministries here inColumbus, Georgia.
Safe House serves over 1, 100people each month as they
transition back into ourcommunity.
Safe House provides an abundanceof services including 213 beds
for homeless individuals andfamilies, case management for
obtaining job skills and longterm employment.
Over 300 hot meals every day,free clothing, and so much more.
(02:16):
One of the most incredibleservices that Safe House
provides is our free 9 12 monthintensive outpatient substance
abuse program, which is statelicensed, CARF accredited, and
has no wait list.
Almost 100 percent ofindividuals staying in our
shelters who follow our threephase program become fully
employed within a few months.
And 68 percent of individualswho stay at least one night with
(02:37):
us End up finding work andmoving into their own home.
Thank you for being with ustoday and listening to our
podcast.
We hope you enjoy this week'sepisode.
Thank you for being here with ustoday on the podcast.
This is going to be part two ofthe conversation I had with
Mayor Skip Henderson, and it isso, so good.
We really do dive deeper intothe areas of crime and.
(03:01):
The economy and how homelessnessand addiction impact those
things.
We talk about businesses, wetalk about what can citizens in
the community do.
We talk about the role of, ofthe city government and the best
way to approach tackling thisvery, very challenging and
complex issue.
So I hope you enjoy thisepisode.
It really is probably one of myfavorite.
(03:24):
I think it's so insightful, it'sso helpful, And we would love to
hear what you think.
We would love for your feedback.
If you want to just leave us areview, give us some comments of
what you feel like the valuethat you gained from listening
to this episode and share it,please share it and just spread
the word because we really needto work together if we're going
(03:49):
to be able to.
Truly tackle the challenges thatcome with trying to help people
go from being homeless to beinghoused and having their own
homes.
To go from being in the bondageof drug addiction to being free
So that they can get to theplace where they recognize that
they have value, they haveworth, and can become a
(04:11):
contributing member of societyand give value to others.
Phil (04:17):
thinking about the, the results that have been able to
been, to be accomplished of thepast 18 months, safe House
Ministries have been able tohelp almost 300 people go from
being on the streets to nowbeing in their, their own
housing.
That's a big number, but there'sstill so many more.
Skip (04:35):
There are.
And, uh, and I think that, um,one of the things we have, have,
I believe we need to do is weneed to update our resource, our
resources in our toolbox, right?
So, I think I've talked withsome individuals with United Way
and some others, and they're.
Kinda reconvening.
Uh, years ago, about 10 yearsago, there was a, uh, 10 year
(04:59):
plan to end homelessness.
Well, we knew that was agrandiose plan and it was very
likely to fail if that was yourtrue goal, but it really wasn't.
The idea was just to get peoplefocused on Yeah.
On the, on the issue.
And I, I, right now, there's anorganization of folks that are
pulling together and have a verysmall working task force, and
(05:19):
then they have sort of ancillarygroups that are feeding into
these individuals and givingthem some, uh, real life stories
of what's going on in thecommunity.
So I think as, as you pointedout, whether it's post COVID or
whether it's just a shift in theeconomy, a lack of affordable
housing the scope and the shapeof the issue has changed, and I
(05:42):
think it makes really good senseto go back and reevaluate and
see, all right, are we stilldoing the things that are making
positive change?
300 people, getting them intohousing is incredible.
The scary thing is there's stilla lot of people out.
There's a lot, a lot of vouchersthat are available through these
organizations through the CHAColumbus Housing Authority with
(06:03):
these individuals andorganizations being the conduit,
there's so many availablebecause there's, it's not enough
to, to take care of the cost ofthe housing.
Yeah.
So, but it, it's all connected.
We, we, we haven't talked aboutjobs, we haven't talked about
some of the training.
We haven't talked abouteducation.
We haven't talked aboutdelinquency.
We, all of those things feedinto this because if you don't,
(06:24):
if you don't develop, if youdon't develop the skills that
are gonna put you in a positionwhere you can be employed then
it's gonna be really hard.
It
Phil (06:31):
is.
And you're right.
You're so right that.
The importance of case managerswithin the, the structure of
organizations like Valley RescueMission, safe House Ministries
to just really help partneringwith Goodwill for job training
and collaboration and workingtogether is, I think it's done
pretty well in Columbus.
Obviously it can always be donebetter but we have a, a pretty
(06:53):
good system.
You know, I know we use SafeHouse Ministries, uses Goodwill
and partners with them andeverybody that comes into our
shelters to go through, I thinkit's eight classes of just job
training.
Mm-hmm.
Foundational classes partneringwith healthcare organizations
like Mercy Med and ValleyHealthcare mental health
organizations American Works,new Horizon, and I think that's
(07:15):
important and that, that is partof the secret to success is
working together.
'cause you one organizationcan't do everything.
No.
And there are others that aredoing things well.
And so if you can work.
Effectively together.
And it makes a big difference.
The
Skip (07:29):
collaboration is the difficult piece, right?
Because everybody is havingsuccess in their own lane, and
so they, they tend to stay thereand just stay focused on what
they do well, uh, which can be avery, very good thing.
But I, as you pointed out I'mjust proud of this community
because yes, we've got problemsand some of these problems are
significant to the point that itdoes take patience and
(07:52):
consistency and time to, tosolve them.
Our poverty rate is too high.
Well, you don't change thatovernight.
Uh, and, and the poverty ratebeing high is what leads to a
lot of these people who losetheir homes and they're now on
the streets.
So I think that as we continueto try to look for ways to
modify our approach, I think thesuccess that we are having is
(08:13):
gonna continue to growexponentially.
Uh, safe House does anincredible job and Safe House
has done this.
Safe House has Eva reevaluatedtheir numbers.
And try to put a finer point onthe services they deliver so
that they could have more impactwith some of the things that you
guys got have going on at someof your, your shelters.
(08:33):
Yeah.
And um, so I think as wecontinue to do that and look at
what is really making adifference because y'all
experienced that, where you, youhad so many folks coming in and
you were helping so many people,and then you started looking at
the numbers and determined that,you know, a lot of these folks
are not wanting to be housed.
And so could the effort of SafeHouse be brought to bear in a
(08:57):
different area that's gonnareally make a positive impact
and lead to those 300 peoplefinding, finding shelter?
Phil (09:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kind of a related but differentquestion.
Columbus I think has a widerreputation of just being
effective.
At helping people go from beinghomeless, being in the midst of
substance abuse and just gettingback on their feet.
So much so that I hear fromother individuals that I work
(09:25):
with all the time about countiesacross Alabama and Georgia and,
and just other places, othercities that are essentially
dumping individuals in Columbus.
I'm sure you're familiar withthat, help us to understand what
that looks like and why that is,and just maybe some more truth
and understanding about that.
Skip (09:45):
Yeah.
I mean, there, there are, Imean, look, the, you, you have
successes with some of theinitiatives that are put in
place by organizations and youhave some that aren't gonna
succeed, and the questionbecomes, what happens to those
folks that aren't part of thesuccess?
Side of the ledger and ifthey've been brought here under
(10:06):
the understanding that they weregonna receive treatment and try
to receive some assistance andthen it didn't work.
Some of them ended up right herein Columbus.
And I have heard the rumorswhere people in cities
throughout Georgia will put'emon a bus and send'em to
Columbus.
And I don't think that happensmuch, but it absolutely does
happen.
You'll meet people whose homeis, uh, on the other side of the
(10:29):
state who said, yep, they gaveme a bus ticket and let me go.
But we do something similar in,in Columbus.
We do have folks who will askthem do you have family say,
yes, they're in Wisconsin.
Do you want to get back to them?
I do.
Well, then we'll give them a busticket to try to get home, not
just to go to another community.
(10:50):
So if we have an opportunity toreunite them and get them off
the streets and get some helpfrom the family.
We, we, we do that.
Uh, that leads to anotherchallenge because we'll have
people say, well, we need tobuild a village, tiny home
village transitional housing.
Okay, well here's the problem.
Where, where do you wanna putit?
Because you have to put it nearresources.
(11:12):
If you just stick it out therein a field somewhere, these
folks have no access to feedingthemselves and getting some of
the other basic needs that thatall of the state for granted.
So it goes back to what I saidright at the beginning that we
want to rush to help.
First we have to make sure thatwe are in fact helping and we're
(11:33):
not just doing something, uh,and I hate to say, to make us
feel good, but it does.
If the gentleman that I talkedto that went to Freedom House,
man, I.
I felt good about that.
I didn't do anything.
All I did was put him in touchwith people who could perhaps
change his life.
Phil (11:50):
Yeah.
Thinking about homelessness andthe related, and often, almost
always, not quite always, but sooften connected issue of
addiction, substance abuse, howdo homelessness and addiction
issues impact crime in the city?
Skip (12:07):
You know, we've, we've been very, very fortunate in
that respect too.
We, we had just like mostcommunities and it was around
the time that COVID was at itspeak, and then you had the
defund police movement.
You had the lack of respect forpolice officers.
Police officers leaving theforce in droves.
And, and, um, a lot of thatcreated sort of a perfect storm
(12:31):
because you also had thehomeless constituency that, were
self-medicating, right?
They, they, if they did not havemental illness, they knew they
were on the streets, so they'dstart self-medicating with some
of the, the drugs and alcohol.
Uh, and when you get dependenton those, you, you're gonna go
out there and try to do whateveryou need to do to have access.
(12:52):
So it does lead to some crime.
But we have beefed our policedepartment up almost to full
capacity.
And our crime numbers havedropped dramatically by overall
by about 24% this year and about12% last year.
But going back to what I saidearlier, you, you can't enforce
your way out of this issue.
(13:12):
You've got to, you have toenforce the law, but you also
have to try to find ways to getalternative sentencing where
people can get some assistanceand some help.
the challenges and this is thepart that we don't like to talk
about with regards to some ofthe individuals that are, are
living in the woods and livingin encampments, uh, but there
are some economic issues thatresult from that.
(13:35):
If you have, if you come inright on one of our main
thoroughfares coming into town,there's a private property that
we haven't been able to get intouch with the owner where folks
have just sort of camped out.
And there's unfortunately a lotof these individuals that are
involved with any, some type ofdrug or substance abuse.
There's, there's a, a lot ofdebris around and it, it makes a
(13:59):
difference to people coming intoour community when that's one of
the first things they see.
Yeah.
And people aren't gonna wannashop at shopping centers where
there are people sleeping onbenches and, um.
Creating an impediment forpeople who are going there to
spend money and to shop.
So it's, it's a very difficultissue to balance because as a
(14:22):
government, we care about bothgroups.
So we have to try to find a wayto provide positive
opportunities for the group thatis sleeping on the bench, and at
the same time try to encouragepeople who want to go shop at
those places as well.
Phil (14:37):
Yeah.
It's
Skip (14:38):
a challenge.
It's, it sounds heartless to putit that way.
Well, I mean, it's, but it, butit is a, it is a fact.
It is that it causes challenges.
You
Phil (14:45):
have to, you have a right to, I mean, you have a
responsibility to, to try tokeep the peace and take care of
everybody in the city, not justcertain people in the city.
I mean, I, I can relate justworking at Chick-fil-A in the
drive-through, you know, being amanager at Chick-fil-A and.
We can't have homeless peoplecoming on the property just
asking our, the customers formoney, even standing sometimes
(15:06):
in, in the parking lot as carsare trying to get into the drive
through.
I mean, just obstructing things.
It just, and so, yeah, you just,you have to find the right way
to, to try to keep the balance.
And I mean, you have to respectthe businesses and also whatever
you can do to help those who arestruggling.
Well, but, you
Skip (15:25):
know, some of those locations, and I'll use
Chick-fil-A because you broughtit up.
Uh, but, uh, I'm so encouragedby the people who want to help.
My wife and I were driving down,uh, Bradley Park Drive, saw a
gentleman holding a sign,homeless standing by the side of
the road.
So we went in to get, she wanteda milkshake milkshake machine
(15:46):
was broken, but what, it put usthere for a reason, we thought.
So I said, well, gimme a.
Gimme a sandwich and some friesand a drink.
And so we pulled around to giveit to this guy in a short period
of time.
It took us to pull around on theother side of Chick-fil-A.
He already had a sandwich.
Somebody in front of us had beatus to it, and of course we gave
it to him anyway and encouragedhim to share it with anybody
that he was headed back to.
(16:07):
But people want to help.
Yeah.
It goes back to people want tohelp.
Yeah.
And, um, I'm no expert on thebest way to do that.
I've always taken the approachthat I'm going, I'm gonna give
them, I'm gonna give them the,the food, but I'm not gonna give
them cash.
Because I worry that it wouldfurther force them to sink into
(16:27):
a some type of, of, um,addiction.
Phil (16:30):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And in most cases, they probablyalready are aware of the 2 1 1
line that they could call, but.
Maybe in some cases not, so,just even a mention of, hey, you
know, there's a resource inColumbus, you can call 2 1 1 and
they can connect you withorganizations that can support
you.
And
Skip (16:47):
yeah, and you learn by trial and error.
I mean, I, and everybody looksat their own personal
experiences.
I we were, um, taking a, ourfamily was going outta town for
a while, for a few days.
It's a blood oath I swore to mywife that I would do once a year
as mayor.
And you've kept that promise?
I said yes if come close tomessing it up a few times, but,
um, getting some gas in the car.
(17:09):
Young man came up and asked fora dollar.
So anyway, I started engaginghim in a conversation, got his
name and I did it wrong becausewhat I did is I told him, I gave
him my card.
I said, look, I'm headed out oftown, but if you call this
lady's name on my card, tell herthat you and I talked and and
she'll help you.
'cause he said he is recentlyhomeless.
(17:32):
And then I gave him five bucks.
I broke my rule'cause I was, butum, he didn't call.
So, in my opinion, what I shouldhave done is offered to take him
right there, right then, andmaybe just bought him something
to eat and, and encouraged himto contact 3 1 2, 1 1.
But, you know, we all, we try tohelp the best way we can.
(17:54):
We just need to talk to yourorganization at Safe House
Ministries, talk to some of theothers that, uh, work day in and
day out and trying to providethe, the appropriate type of
help.
But, and, and back to what yousaid, just encourage people to
get involved.
Yeah.
I mean, people say, what can Ido man?
Just call Safe House.
(18:14):
You know, say, Hey, what can Ido to volunteer to help out a
little bit?
There is something that each ofus can do, and I stand by my
statement that we have way toomany churches who do way too
good a job for way too manypeople to not be able to lick
this problem.
Phil (18:30):
Yeah, you're right.
And we haven't talked a lotabout it, but the issue of
mental health and mentalillness, which really is growing
just across the country, but aswell in Columbus, what are your
thoughts around, obviously itconnects deeply with
homelessness and substanceabuse, but how to maybe tackle
that challenge?
Skip (18:50):
I mentioned the, um, community cares program that our
fire department is puttingtogether in conjunction with our
police chief and, uh, andprivate, counselors, uh, to try
to keep them out of lockup.
Maybe if the paramedics there,if they need to administer
medication, if they just haven'ttaken their medications, uh,
maybe help'em with that.
(19:10):
But that, that is a, just myopinion, that is a, a tougher
nut to crack because you've, alot of these individuals when
they're growing up, they have,they have guardians, they have
their mom and their dad orsomebody that helps assist them.
Well, when they hit 18, 20, 21years old, they're grown.
Maybe that caretaker's notaround anymore.
(19:31):
And now there's no one to remindthem to take the medication.
There's no one to remind them togo see and check in with a
counselor.
Uh, so you, if it forces us, Ithink it's incumbent upon us to
be a little bit moreunderstanding, a little bit more
patient, try to understandwhat's going on.
'cause if somebody's on theautism spectrum.
One of the worst things you cando if they're an adult is put
(19:51):
your hands on them.
You've got police officers whodo a fantastic job, but they're
going from call to call to call.
So sometimes it puts them in aposition where they've gotta
make a decision, and fortunatelyour folks are so good that
they'll make the right decisionand involve some clinician or
somebody from department ofPublic Health or an organization
(20:12):
that will take a look at whatthe real root of the problem is.
But it's, I mean, we, we talkedabout drug addiction, but the
mental health crisis, what onegood thing, I think if you call
it a good thing that came outtaCOVID, is I think people talk
more now about mental health.
They recognize that, um, youknow, sometimes the activity
(20:33):
that somebody engages in doesn'tnecessarily mean we need to take
'em right to jail.
It means, wait a minute, let meask a few questions.
Let me see if we can help'em.
Our community policing folksdon't go out and arrest people.
They don't do that.
They ho homelessness is not a, acrime.
Unfortunately, some of theactivities engaged in by a small
(20:54):
group of, of the homelesspopulation results in criminal
activity.
Now, they're not gonna getarrested for being in an
encampment, but if it escalates,and that's always the danger
with mental illness then, um,then the officers have to react
in a way to protect the public.
But, uh, but their first theirfirst thought is to try to
(21:15):
identify what's going on.
See if there's an alternative totaking these folks in.
Phil (21:19):
Yeah.
I think, um, you've had a lot ofsuccesses in your two terms as
mayor, but I think one, to me,one of the ones that, that I
think stands out is the, the,just how we, we struggled for so
long with staffing the policeforce, and we are in a, in a
good place right now.
So much better.
And I think that's a huge winjust for the whole city.
Skip (21:38):
Well, and I, I appreciate it, but I, I think a lot of that
credit goes to the council who,agreed to raise some of the pay
pay level.
And it also goes to theleadership in our public safety
departments.
We have been blessed with peoplewho are leading our police
department, fire department, MCPsheriff, all of them that, um.
(22:02):
That really care about folksthat are very good leaders and
have had a lot of success inbuilding back up the numbers.
Phil (22:09):
Yeah.
You mentioned something about,uh, when we were talking about
mental health isolationism andthe fact that after COVID,
people are more likely to kindof share.
I think that's important.
I've, I've had many individualswho've come on to share their
stories.
A part of many of those storieswas that isolationism and
feeling alone and, and, uh,recognizing that they had to get
(22:32):
past that if they're gonna gethelp.
And the reality is you don'thave to be alone.
There, there are, even if, asoften is the case when you're in
the midst of drug addiction andthe way that you behave often
alienates you from your familyand, and so many times.
Families write them off.
Um, but there are people inColumbus that, that are here to
(22:54):
help and love.
And you don't have to be alone.
You know, you can go toorganizations like Safe House
Ministries, valley RescueMission, salvation Army.
There are places that want tohelp and have the resources
with, to help with substanceabuse or any other thing.
And I, that's, that is somethingthat I think when people realize
(23:14):
that they don't have to be aloneand they, they don't need to be
alone and they shouldn't bealone, that turns the tide.
Skip (23:21):
Yeah, I agree.
I, and, and that, you know, wewere talking about how it was an
eyeopener for me and going tovisit some of these encampments.
That's one of the things thatstruck me.
I don't know why I made theassumption.
You, you just touched on itabout, I made the assumption
these folks are alone.
They don't have anybody thatreally wakes up in the morning
and says, Hey man, I care aboutyou and I just want you to be
happy.
(23:41):
Every encampment we went to, atleast 50% of the folks there are
from this area.
I said, you have any family?
Yeah.
Where do they live?
Well, they live right across theriver in Phoenix City.
Or they live right over there inclo And not judging the parents,
because as you pointed out, thatsometimes it, it reaches a point
where there there is nothingthey can do except to just pray
(24:02):
and pray as hard as they can.
But to your point about theisolationism, that's where the 2
1 1 comes in, I think.
'cause they can get them intouch with somebody.
Look, we, we care very, verydeeply about the people that
work for the ColumbusConsolidated Government.
Used to years ago, you worriedabout their physical health?
Right.
Make sure they're okay on thejob and things are going smooth.
(24:23):
But we have really been focusingon their mental health.
We have seen, just in the timeI've been mayor, I think there's
been three individuals that havetaken their life because they
felt in some way isolated.
So we're working, have beenworking for the last month or so
on, really focusing in on how dowe take good care of the mental
(24:44):
health of the people that areemployed.
When I think about folks who areliving in encampment, there's
nobody really thinking about howthey need to be taking care of
their mental health.
So it's, um, it, it is a bigchallenge and the only thing you
can hope for is that when thereis an encounter in, in some of
our community policing or someof the Safe House staff or one
(25:07):
of the other resource centerscan interact with them.
They can talk them into comingin for an evaluation and.
Try to get them involved in sometype of program that will help
them deal with some of thechallenges they're facing.
Phil (25:19):
Yeah.
What are your thoughts on whatjust the average citizen in
Columbus maybe can think aboutas a way that they can help?
Just with the challenge ofhomelessness and people
struggling with addiction in ourcommunity,
Skip (25:32):
you know, the easiest way, at least in my opinion, is to
identify, to contact the folkswho already have, as part of
their identity, dealing withthose organizations call Safe
House.
Uh, there's a new building goingup on Second Avenue for, um,
salvation Army that's gonna bedorms for people who are
homeless, uh, for temporaryhousing.
You know, you've, you've gotchurches that are, are trying
(25:55):
or, or go to your pastor andsay, Hey, I wanna start up some
type of homeless task force herewithin the church.
Then you can contact thecommunity policing folks.
You can contact Safe House, youcan contact all these people.
But the one thing you can't dois just sit on the sidelines and
say, I wish I knew what to do.
There's too many people to ask.
(26:16):
There's too many organizationsout there.
It's hard sometimes to make acommitment, to step out there
and, um, and try to make adifference in not just
holistically the community, butmaking a difference in that one
individual.
I mean, it could be that one guythat, shows up at Freedom House
the next day.
And you know, it may be thatthat person that you talk to
(26:38):
every day for two months andthey don't give you the time of
day, and in one day you catch'emwhen they're a little bit more
willing to talk.
And you're able to try to learna little bit about'em and point
'em in, in a direction that'sgonna change their lives
forever.
Phil (26:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You mentioned, uh, I think a, aproject in the works, some
funding for police officer orsocial worker.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and someone else to go outand help with some of the
challenges.
How do you feel about just a, anelement of funding going to
organizations in the communitythat are on the front lines?
(27:15):
Do you feel like that would be ahelp?
Or do you feel like, just whatare your thoughts on that?
Skip (27:19):
Yeah.
Phil (27:20):
I'm
Skip (27:21):
not sure I understand you.
'cause you're talking about if,if there are resources or
organizations, so like
Phil (27:26):
a, just a, and I'm not as familiar with the structure of
city budgets and how they, theywork entirely, but is there a
possibility of just a part ofthe budget going to.
Organizations like Safe HouseValley Rescue, mission, United
Way, who just to say, Hey, thisis, this is a money that the
(27:46):
city wants to put intopreventative efforts.
You know,'cause the cityobviously has to deal with
backend issues.
Right.
But is there, is there a thoughtor a discussion maybe of, of
money in a preventative way justgoing to some of those
organizations to maybe try tominimize or reduce the cost
that's gonna be on the backend?
Skip (28:06):
Yeah.
You know, that's always such a,a challenge because the, for
city to, to give funding to a 50 1 C3, now you're giving tax
dollars, taxpayer dollars tocharitable organizations that
conceivably could be somethingoutside what somebody would've
spent their tax dollars on.
So what we prefer to do, andwhat we've seen work modeled
(28:28):
through other communities isthat you try to create that.
Atmosphere where you maybe inkind services or you have some
other level of involvement otherthan financial and then help
them get the fundraising aspectgoing.
'cause quite frankly, when westarted the 10 year plan to end
homelessness and out of thatkind of came home for good,
(28:51):
which was part of the continuumof care.
'cause we had a number ofdifferent organizations that all
connected.
The idea was that the city wouldpay for the, that organization
to be up and running.
I think we three or four years.
Uh, it wasn't a significantamount of money, but it was, it
was a good chunk of money.
And then at the end of that timeperiod that would give, that
(29:13):
time period would've given theorganization the opportunity to
build their philanthropic piece,to build their givers and to
make it self-sustaining.
Because in, in something that isthat broad throughout the
community.
No one funding source is gonnabe able to, to really fix what's
going on.
So the city typically does notget involved in funding that
(29:37):
directly, uh, just becausethere's so many other
organizations that we would feelobligated to try to provide
funding to as well.
But if we can put together someorganizations that serve as a
connector with the otherresources, then uh, then we've,
I think that that they have donepretty much what they need to do
(29:59):
to try to, to try to lessen the,the challenges that we're
facing.
Phil (30:03):
Yeah.
Being a connector is a bit, isa, is an important piece to
helping.
Yep.
what are your, just, I don'tknow, maybe key lessons that,
that you have found.
Have really worked well whentackling hard issues, like
helping with homelessness,addiction, just, you know, from,
from a city governmentperspective,
Skip (30:24):
First and foremost, it's find individuals who feel
similarly in collaborating.
There's power in numbers.
We've got a giving community.
The, um, you know, we've beenblessed with private companies
and organizations that havestepped up and, uh, really done
a good job at trying to helpfill the gaps.
(30:46):
And I think that first andforemost is to try to gather the
information and I, not tobelittle it, but oftentimes we
do have sort of a knee-jerkreaction to a situation and we
see something, well, I'm gonnafix that.
You may fix.
For that one person, but it mayhave not improved the
opportunities for a wholeconstituency that's in a similar
(31:09):
situation or may even haveunintentionally and
inadvertently caused it asteeper hill to climb.
So I think you've got tounderstand the issue.
You've got to figure out, as youpointed out, you've got to go
back to those root causes.
You can't just, homelessness isa situation that people find
themselves in that is just not,that's not a, it's not
(31:31):
necessarily just a symptom, itcan lead, or the genesis of
homelessness starts in areasthat you might completely
overlook.
And that, that to me is the, isthe challenge.
I've always been a, a bigbeliever in identify people who
know a lot more about thesubject than I do, like safe
out.
And, uh, and ask them, what areyou doing?
(31:54):
Where, where are your gaps?
What are your weak points?
Maybe there's something we cando from an in-kind standpoint or
a participation level at some,at some other level.
But I, I think you just look,look to partner and you look for
people who are subject matterexperts.
Phil (32:08):
Yeah.
You mentioned that, that rootunderlying causes that are often
overlooked.
And that's another one of thethings that I've learned a lot
about just in doing interviewsand the podcast every week, the
root causes that, uh, you know,they, they begin substance abuse
and the substance abuse leads tohomelessness, but the cause down
(32:29):
deep in their life maybe was anunmet need that they just had
this desire for companionshipand.
Ladies that were looking forcompanionship in the wrong
places and it led to badsituations, and then they start
taking drugs and try to escapeand it just, it's a, an
escalating cycle or, or adownward cycle.
But there's those root causesthat, and that are underlying
(32:50):
that if you can't figure out andaddress those root causes,
you're not gonna be effective athelping with the symptoms that
result.
Skip (32:57):
Yeah, and you know, you touched on a really good point.
You know, you see people startat an early age, you have no
idea what drove them to my, tomaybe want to get involved in
some type of self medicationthrough alcohol or drugs.
But if they do that when they'rein their early teens or in their
teens, then by the time they're25 or 30, if they live to that
age maybe they've realized,yeah, I shouldn't have done
(33:17):
that, but I'm in pretty deep.
I don't really know where to go.
So those are the folks that youreally have to, I think, start
talking to start thatconversation.
Because you can't just say, Hey,you gotta get off this, or you
gotta stop doing that.
You really need to say, tell me,tell me about what's going on.
And I mean, are you, are youhappy with where you are?
And if you're not, how did youget there?
(33:38):
Do you, was there one triggeringevent or was it living in a, an
environment that was most kidsfortunately don't have to live
in.
Yeah.
So those are the kind of thingsI think that, um, has to happen.
And that's why it is, I soundlike I'm a commercial for Safe
House, but that, but that's whyit's so important to have
organizations like Safe House,like Valley Rescue Mission like
(34:00):
Open Door, all of theseresources because you have to
have, if not a case manager, youhave to have somebody who the
individual begins to trust andwho feels like really does have
their best interest at at heart.
Phil (34:15):
Yeah.
Any last.
Important things you wanna bringout, or last thoughts or
comments you wanna make aroundhomelessness, addiction, mental
health, any of the things thatwe've talked about.
Skip (34:27):
You know, you've, you already mentioned it.
That is find a way to getinvolved.
And, and it, and it, look, thereare all different levels of
involvement.
I mean, if, if you, uh, uh, youjust want to go work at Safe
House and try to help preparemeals or if you wanna, uh, make
a, a financial donation to anyone of these private
organizations, that allows themto do the kinda work that's
(34:49):
necessary to get this number togo down.
And, and then, you know, theother piece is, is, uh, job
opportunities.
Trying to make sure that folkshave the same kind of
opportunities as other folks.
The last thing I'll leave withis this is it's like the world's
biggest Rubik's cube, right?
It's solvable.
It's solvable, but it's going totake a lot of commitment.
(35:12):
It's gonna take a very broadbase of interest in seeing this,
this challenge addressed.
And it's, uh, it's gonna take,it's gonna take collaboration
and, and, and yes, some fundingas well.
So I would just urge peoplethat, uh, when you see people on
the side of the street holdingthe sign up, and I know it can
be aggravating, but try not tolet your first thought be.
(35:35):
We need to get those folks offthe street and have that first
thought be all right.
Is there an organization that Ican get involved with?
Tell'em about this guy and seeif they can come help
Phil (35:44):
him.
Yeah.
That's so good.
That's very good.
I think I know myself, I've beenguilty of this and many of us,
we tend to judge too quickly,and when I hear, when I take the
time to listen and hearsomeone's story, I have to
recognize that.
Where I to have started in theplace that they started, I might
be worse than what, where theyare now.
And then when you look atsomeone, and from where I think
(36:07):
I might think they need to be somuch farther ahead, but where
they are now compared to wherethey used to be, is so much
farther ahead than where theyused to be.
And, and I need to shift myperspective oftentimes,
Skip (36:19):
and I, and I will remind people that, um, that there are,
we, we've talked a lot about theorganizations that are available
to provide assistance.
The individuals have to wantthat assistance.
You can't just descend on them,you know, like, like, like a, a
herd of locusts and just we'regonna fix everybody.
That's not how it works.
(36:39):
Yeah.
But we, we have to be, we haveto be mindful that it's going
to.
Take a while.
Yeah.
With some of the individuals,simply because they've enjoyed
living off the grid, they'veenjoyed the, no obligation
lifestyle and nobody has hassledthem about some of the
substances that they're, theymight be involved with.
Phil (36:59):
Yeah.
Skip (37:00):
So yeah, just cause I, we do get a lot of people say, why
don't you help this individual?
We, we've tried, we, our folksknow'em by first name basis.
But some of those individualsaren't ready yet.
Yeah.
So all we can do is keep, keepdoing the best we can to be
available with those resourceswhen they are ready and, uh,
keep praying.
Phil (37:19):
You're right.
Yeah.
So often it, it comes down toloving people over a long period
of time and just staying there,letting'em know.
And when they hit that point,you know, it, it makes me think
of the story in the Bible of theson who had.
Mouthed off at his father, tookhis inheritance and ran away and
found himself with nothing.
'cause all his money was gone,eaten out of a pig trough.
(37:40):
And he's, the Bible says that hecame to himself and he's like,
what am I doing?
Yeah.
The servants at my dad's houselive better.
So he had that, he came to thatplace where he wanted to get
better.
And, but you
Skip (37:52):
know that, the interesting thing is there's another
character in that parable, andthat's the son that stayed
there, did the right things, andthen can't help but be
frustrated and upset that all ofthat energy, all of that,
another robe in a ring and afatted calf went to the sun.
That in his mind, betrayed,betrayed the, the guy.
So you have to balance.
(38:12):
Yeah.
It's a big community and we, uh,we want everybody to have the
same opportunity.
Phil (38:18):
Yeah.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for being here thismorning.
Well, thank you.
I appreciate it.
Good to see you again.
Yeah.
You mind if I close this in aword of prayer?
Please do.
Father, thank you for yourgrace.
Thank you for just yourblessings.
Thank you that you've placed meand my family here in Columbus.
Thank you for Mayor Hendersonand the, the work that he has
done just to, to invest andserve this community.
(38:39):
I pray you bless him and blessour other city leaders.
State leaders.
Give them wisdom, give themguidance.
Help them with the challengesthat they face in the work that
they do, but also just in theirpersonal lives.
Lord.
We know that the enemy tends towant to attack those who are in
leadership very toughly.
Sometimes I pray that you'd justbless Skip and his family and
(39:02):
his path going forward.
In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Skip (39:07):
Thank you, Phil.
Phil Shuler (39:08):
We look forward to being with you again next week
as we share another testimonyabout the power and the goodness
of God to change lives throughSafe House Ministries.
if you are someone listening tothis podcast that loves to hear
these stories of the greatthings that God is doing in
changing people's lives for thebetter, and if you would like to
be a part of that work, pleasereach out to us You can reach us
(39:31):
at 2101 Hamilton Road, Columbus,Georgia, 31,904.
You can call us at seven oh sixthree two two.
3 7, 7 3, or you can email us atinfo@safehouse-ministries.com.
Microphone (Samson Q2U Mi (39:46):
Thank you so much for being with us
this week for the renew restoreand rejoice podcast of safe
house ministries, we pray thatGod will bless you this week.
And we look forward to havingyou back with us again next week
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.