From Vegas Tunnels to The Stage: Rob Banghart’s Journey from Addiction to Inspiration

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What does it mean to lose everything and find your way back? Rob Banghart's journey from addiction to redemption takes us through the darkest corners of Las Vegas—literally beneath the glittering city where few tourists ever venture.

Rob shares his raw, unflinching story of how alcoholism and addiction led him from working in prestigious restaurants under Wolfgang Puck to living in the vast tunnel system beneath Las Vegas. For five years, homelessness was his reality, with two and a half of those years spent in what he calls "a physical representation of a mental state"—the darkness of the tunnels mirroring his internal struggles. The details are haunting: tunnel hierarchies, survival tactics, and the moment-to-moment existence of addiction.

The turning point came through violence and near-death. After being attacked, left for dead on train tracks, and experiencing multiple clinical deaths, Rob found an unexpected spiritual awakening that catalyzed his recovery. What followed was not just personal healing but a calling to return to those same tunnels—this time as an outreach worker with Shine a Light Foundation.

Now as VP of Communication Integration, Rob leads teams into the tunnels every Saturday, offering not just supplies but genuine human connection. He explains the foundation's innovative iPath program that provides an 18-month continuous support system for those ready to leave homelessness behind. His perspective challenges our assumptions: "70% of Americans live one critical incident away from homelessness," he notes, reminding us this crisis touches every demographic.

Rob's most powerful message comes wrapped in humility: "The bravest thing I ever did was ask for help." His story isn't just about personal redemption but about building community through servant leadership and creating pathways for others to find their way home. Listen and discover how connection, compassion, and continuous support are transforming lives beneath Vegas.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Vegas Circle Podcast with your hosts,
paki and Chris.
We are people who arepassionate about business,
success and culture, and this isour platform to showcase people
in our city who are making ithappen.
Today's guest is just that.
I've been following this guyfor a while, man.
It's just an amazing story,from the Vegas tunnels to
leading the change, with theimpact with homeless becoming a
recovery addict from myunderstanding, and so let's

(00:21):
welcome to the circle.
We just want to jump right inmy understanding, and so let's
welcome to the circle.
We just want to jump right in.
He's a true voice of impact.
Let's welcome to the circle theVP of Communication Integration
at Shine a Light Foundation, mrRob Banghart.
Thanks for having me.
Welcome, welcome, yeah.
So, man, you've been on myradar for a while, man.
Where are you originally from,man?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
You from Vegas or no, I was born in Northern New
Jersey.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, okay, East Coast yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I grew up there until I was about 23, then I came out
this way what led you to cometo Vegas?
I had a long line of alcoholicsin my family, you know, and a
lot of chaos.
But I also had a lot of goodsupport and for me it was just,
you know, my addiction.
That's just the bottom line,right.
I went to prison for a coupleyears.
I got out, and when I got outthe last last couple years, my

(01:02):
early 20s, it was just like alot of you know, the cops were
pulling me out, all the thingsright, and they were really
trying to help me out though,let's be fair, right, like they
were doing their job, as they'resupposed to.
But they would always try tokind of talk to me and say, hey,
listen, like what are you doing?
Like we know what you're up to.
All that so you know, I can seethat now in retrospect.
Right at the time I was like,oh man, why don't these?
guys leave me alone.
You know what I mean.

(01:22):
And uh, so I did what we callin recovery a geographical right
.
I said I'm gonna, it's got tobe the town change.
You gotta move to a new location, but unfortunately, like
anywhere I go there, I am right,like that's me, I was the
problem, right and uh.
So I came here and I wasworking in restaurants for a
while.
I had, uh, I worked for somereally nice restaurants.
It was kind of the part of myjourney where it seemed on the

(01:43):
outside like maybe things wereokay, like I was working for
Wolfgang Puck.
I worked for Wolfgang Puck fora couple years and then at the
end of that I get a call andit's the chef and he says, hey,
wolfgang wants to talk to you.
And that's what I heard, right.
The reality was he was comingto town to talk to a lot of
people.
He had a couple restaurants intown, but restaurants in town.
But you know, my ego was reallyout of control at the time.

(02:03):
And when the time came to sitdown with him, really what he
told me was all about myalcoholism, right.
He told me about my behaviors,my actions, right, about how I
was like wasted talent.
You know what I mean Like I was.
I was good at what I did, but Iwas.
I was a miserable person, I was.
I'd be a little bit late, Idon't want to leave early.
I was always angry, like allthe things, and you know, again
somebody trying to help me,right.

(02:24):
But in that moment what I heardwas why are you picking on me?
I mean, you don't understand me, you don't value me, right,
like my perception was so often.
So I did another geographicaland I went to work for Emma
Lavasi.
So I worked for Emma.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Lavasi Heavy hitters, man yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
It was amazing opportunities, right.
And same thing happens there.
You know he proceeds to tell meabout my alcoholism and my
behaviors and, uh, you know Istart bouncing around a little
bit.
I end up working at divination.
I was assistant banker chef fora couple years there.
The guy that hired me therewent down in mississippi for a
little while to open a hotel ortake over a hotel after katrina.

(02:59):
So I went down to run one ofthe restaurants and at that time
it was like National Guard.
I mean there's tons ofconstruction workers.
Chaos yeah, a lot of chaos goingon, yeah, and it was pill mills
, so it was like lines outsideof the doctor's office for
everybody to get their painmedication.
So I fell off.
I ended up getting fired there,came back home and I spent
about two years on MATmedication.

(03:21):
I don't know if you're familiar, but what?

Speaker 1 (03:24):
is that Methadone?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh, it's an opiate, a tool to use to get off opiates
Right, and I I'm a hugeproponent of it.
It's very successful whenyou're trying to do it the right
way.
But I wasn't.
I mean, I wasn't even ready tostop yet.
So for the next two years all Iwould do is lay in bed, get up

(03:46):
every morning to get my dosemaybe army, crawl through my
in-laws bedroom to steal somejewelry or money right to get a,
maybe something to fix in themiddle, right and you were back
in jersey at this time, right,oh, no, no, oh, you were back in
.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Oh, you were vegas okay, vegas, okay, yeah I had
been.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
I had gotten married.
I was married.
I'm sorry I missed that becauseI was married for about 10
years.
We had a daughter and, uh, so wecame back to live with her
parents, you know.
And then for the next two years, I, you know, she wasn't even
sleeping in the same room as meanymore, you know.
And eventually she, like, shewas a saint, and she kicked me
out and eventually, and then Igot arrested shortly after that
and then when I got out, I hadnowhere to go, you know, and I

(04:19):
had had some things happen in mylife.
I, like we all did, I hadexperiences.
You know, my father was analcoholic.
He was abusive, he left veryearly when I was a kid, you know
.
But I always had a safe home.
My stepfather, who is my dad,who raised me, he earned that
title.
They were good people.
They are good people, right,they gave me a safe home, I had
meals, right like so.
But for me, I understand, like Iwas born an addict or an

(04:41):
alcoholic, right Like I was bornwith that mental piece, right
Like I was always restless andirritable and discontent.
I was always uncomfortable.
You ask my mom, she says, oh,you're a happy kid.
Yeah, externally I was.
I knew how to act, right, likethat's it.
But internally, like I canremember having suicidal
thoughts at like eight nine.
You know what I mean.
I can remember getting in awhole bunch of trouble.

(05:02):
I was very incorrigible, right.
I was very like the first drugof choice for me was acting out.
It was bad behavior To get theattention.
Yeah, the attention, the reliefthat I got from that.
Right, I was always seekingrelief my entire life and you
know.
So I get arrested, I get out,I've got nowhere to go.

(05:23):
I go to a place called theSamaritan House it's like a last
house on the blocks over livingand at the time the manager was
a very what's the right word?
Very straightforward guy.
He said you're going to do thisor you're going to get out.
And at the time I needed that,you know, and so I did.
I did everything they asked meto do.
I for me that you know, I havea certain pathway in recovery
and I did everything they askedme to do.
And but things came back veryquickly, you know, very quickly.

(05:47):
And uh, I just I just startedto think like I, I got this,
like I figured it out.
Maybe I, maybe I made too big adeal out of this, you know, I
mean maybe like this is that bigbreak, because that was always
my thing, right, I was alwaystrying to do something right, I
was always trying to get overthis hump, like if I could just
do this, if this would just workout, and really what it was is
like I was living off my own ego, right, my own pride.

(06:09):
I couldn't.
I couldn't just humble myselfand accept help and just it was
just a lot of chaos.
And so, fast forward, I stoppeddoing all the things they told
me to do.
And it's about two years laterand I got asked to speak at a
meeting I have no idea why and Iwent, went home that night and
my head was so loud that I put aneedle in my arm and within a

(06:29):
month I was homeless.
I had remarried, we had adaughter, we had, you know, two
cars, apartment, all the things,and it wasn't enough to keep me
sober.
You know, I was homeless withina month and my homelessness was
very progressive, a lot like myaddiction.
I.
You know, at first I washomeless within a month and my
homelessness was veryprogressive, a lot like my
addiction.
I.
You know, at first I was scared.
You know, I was very scared.
I went out and I didn't knowhow to hustle out there.

(06:51):
I didn't know how to survive.
Really, that's really what itcomes down to, you know.
And so at first I was kind ofhanging out with other people
and then I went to CatholicCharities for a little bit and I
kind of at the time it wasbefore all the services that
were down there, it was justCatholic Charities and it was,
like you know, 1,000, 1,500people out there all the time
and it was like a jungle.
You know, it was just crazy.
And when I started to makefriends, I started to, you know,

(07:14):
learn the procedures and allthat, and then I lived on
Foremaster for about a year.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
What's Foremaster?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Foremaster is the street that runs right along
Catholic charities.
Okay, okay, so it's like theheart of it.
Yeah, it's tough.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahand you know, I saw all kinds of
things right, All kinds ofthings stabbing, shoot.
I mean all of it.
It was all out there, andtriangle is catholic charity,
salvation army and the rescuemission that's right, okay, so

(07:44):
catholic charity servesbreakfast, salvation army serves
lunch and rescue mission servesdinner.
So there's this constant kind oflike flow of people kind of
going throughout the day.
So I started to learn, learnthis and, you know, get to know
some other people.
And I said, you know, let me gotry over there.
So I went over by the uh, therescue mission, the historical
west side, and, uh, I uh wasliving under the bridge for a

(08:06):
while, you know, in that area.
And then eventually I wasliving in a wonderful
establishment called the moulinrouge.
It's been closed for about 60years.
I was there as they wereblowing it up.
That's my claim to fame, youknow.
And I was so lost in myaddiction, I'll tell you the
story I was.
One day I came to my the moulinrouge was like two stories, all

(08:27):
these little two stories.
And my home was a second floorapartment, well, on the far left
.
I came home one day and a buddyof mine was outside and he says
, hey, this guy tried to breakinto your place or whatever.
And what it was was hisapartment was on the bottom
right, he had gone upstairs andthere was holes through all the
walls and he was like smokingcrack in my apartment the
apartment next to mine and litsome stuff on fire.

(08:49):
So he almost burnt the wholething down.
So my response in that momentwas to go over there with my
buddy, kick his door in andlight his apartment on fire.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
That's how your mindset was at.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
That's where the insanity is right that, like I,
I saw your mind, what yourmindset was that.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
That's where the insanity is right, that, like
I'm lighting his thing on firebut you don't realize it can
burn the whole building.
And it did.
Wait a minute, it did burn thebuilding.
Yeah, it was vacant building,thankfully.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
But for the next three days I thought I killed
somebody.
For the next three days.
You know, I'm on a runner, I'mout there and I think for sure I
killed somebody.
So every car, every helicopter,you know, I mean I'm on one,
yeah so, and then finally thatpassed, thankfully.
And then, you know, a little bit, after that, once they were
blowing up, blowing it all up, I, another buddy that I knew out

(09:33):
there, just said, hey, come withme.
And I went with them and uh,not too far from the moulin
rouge was, uh, his tunnel, whichwould become my tunnel.
And I remember seeing thattunnel and him introducing it to
me and just thinking like and Iremember seeing that tunnel and
him introducing it to me andjust thinking like, finally, you
know, and for a lot ofdifferent reasons, right, like,
first it was a roof, right, itwas off the beaten path.
You know, when you're homelessin the streets, like you know,

(09:54):
the cops are moving you, city,city workers are moving you.
It's the randomness of otherhomeless people, the randomness
of people driving by in thatarea.
There was a lot of gangs anddifferent.
I mean, it was just like younever knew, you never knew and
it gave me that illusion.
Right, I always use the analogy,lord of the flies right, it was
our island, right, everybodyfrom the outside was kind of

(10:15):
suspect very, you were verycautious with and hey, you're
not welcome here.
But also, internally, there wasa lot of chaos too.
Right, we're all in differentlevels of crisis and all this
stuff.
So I lived in that tunnel forabout two and a half years, you
know, and it's a very physicalrepresentation of a mental state
right At that point.
I've been an addict for most ofmy life.
The last five years it's likethe worst it's ever been,

(10:39):
obviously, and but it was aphysical representation of that
dark spot that I'm in my mind,right, where I'm just completely
lost.
And I was living in the samecity as you, but not in the same
society.
So I saw you, but you, like, itwas like you were.
You were flying a hundred feethigher than me.
You know what I mean.
We weren't in the same placeand, uh, you know my hustle when

(11:00):
I was out there was like realbasic stuff.
You know what I mean Basiccrimes of opportunity like
stealing, you know what I mean,and dumpster diving, and the
last day that I was out there.
I was out dumpster diving andthere must have been an eviction
and I found a suitcase and thesuitcase had a whole bunch of
jewelry and electronics and allthese different things.
And I thought, oh my God, I hitthe mother load right.

(11:21):
So I throw it on my bike and Ipedal back and I get to my
neighborhood and at that timethe Cubans ran that area.
They had all the dope, so Iwould always go to them and like
give them something if I foundsomething right, because they
were always watching out for me,because I was always up to
something stupid and I think Iflashed too much because it was

(11:42):
daylight.
I don't know what happened and Ithink I flashed too much
because it was daylight.
I don't know what happened, butI went back to my tunnel and
along my tunnel was the traintracks that cut through the
middle of the city.
So I went down the train tracksand there's just four
businesses, and the fourthbusiness was the guy that I
would go to and trade stuff fordope, for money, whatever, and
because it was so much, he'slike come back in an hour.
I don't know if he was settingme up hour.

(12:06):
I don't know if he was settingme up, I have no idea, right,
but I said, okay, I left, wentand got high, came back an hour
later it's dark now and uh,there's three guys waiting for
me.
There were other homeless guysthat I knew and uh, we kind of
had the same hustles.
There was like some animositybetween us, but whatever, right,
nothing, no big deal.
And uh, but like the truestdefinition of what I am as an
addict is that one had a pipe,one had a knife, one had a
hatchet and on the other side ofthem is what I needed to get my

(12:29):
next fix right.
I'm not a brave guy by nature.
I'm not like some tough guy.
I don't care about any of thatstuff.
I just want to be happy andhealthy and all that stuff.
But in that moment they werewhat stood between me and
getting my next fix.
So I had to go right.
Like inside my head I was likeI knew exactly.
I was walking, you know,working through the scenario in
my head.
My feet were already going, youknow, and they hit me in the

(12:52):
head with a hatchet a couple oftimes, the pipe, the knife.
They stabbed me in the leg,they broke my jaw, they
lacerated my liver, they draggedme onto the train tracks and
they left me for dead and I diedon those train tracks.
But what I didn't know was inthe first business there was an
overnight security guard that Ihad made friends with over the
years passing through and I hadno idea he was there that night.
But he was there and he hadcalled the ambulance, called the

(13:15):
police and all that.
They came, pulled me off thetrain tracks and revived me.
So when I wake up I've got aknife sticking out of my leg.
I still think I'm fighting formy life.
I got blood all over me.
You know, my jaws were all thethings and uh, they're trying to
help me.
I think I'm fighting for mylife.
Fight the same people, yeah,yeah 100 and the train's coming,
so it's loud.

(13:36):
I mean it's just like sensoryoverload.
And then, uh, they hit me withanother shot of morphine.
I died again, and then I wokeup in the hospital three days
later in life support.
When I woke up three days later, I still thought I was fighting
for my life.
This nurse was like trying tocalm me down, right, and I think
she hit the morphine buttonagain.
And then I felt a hand touch myforehead and I heard the words

(13:59):
calm down and I felt theoverwhelming presence of what I
choose to call my God.
It was just so peaceful and sobeautiful and I spent the next
whatever it was a couple days inlife support and then
eventually they transitioned meinto a hospital for physical
rehabilitation.
I had been hit so many times inthe head that the swelling of
my brain, they couldn't wire myjaw shut.

(14:21):
So my equilibrium was off, mymemory was off.
You would ask me a question, Iwould answer it three minutes
later and to me it was in realtime.
I would stand up and just fallover, but I couldn't tell I was
falling over, if that makessense, and tons of acid reflux,
you know staples, stitches, amassive headache for the first

(14:43):
three months of my journey andthis ringing that sounded like
the train was like in the centerof my brain for the first three
months.
I got so many questions.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, that's a wild story, man.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
How long total were you homeless?
About five years?
About five years, yeah.
And so how did you so?
You said your friend.
I want to back up and talkabout the tunnels.
I know that's a big piece ofyour story, what you help with
right now.
You weren't scared to go tothese tunnels and everything,
because that's a seriousscenario.
From what I'm understanding, Iknow you know more than I do,
but to go to a tunnel and be inthat area, like what would make

(15:15):
you want to do that?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
I mean, you got to remember.
It wasn't like I woke up oneday.
I was sitting on my couchpetting my cats and I said let's
go to the tunnels.
There was a progression thereover time and like I had lost
hope.
You know the the last year thatI was out there every day I
woke up.
I was mad that I woke up.
I wanted it to end Like, and asit goes back to, I didn't value

(15:38):
myself.
I didn't value myself as a kid.
You know now, you know I'm 40,I think I was 41, 42.
You know what I mean.
Like I thought, like this isjust who I'm going to be for the
rest of my life.
This is how I was meant to be.
Like so much anger, resentment,guilt and shame, and like I'm
addicted, like I'm going to gowherever the dope is.

(15:58):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Yeah, and how long, like during that process that
you're going through this, thatit becomes normal, like it
starts to feel normal Becauseobviously you mentioned when I
first went there, you'd have acertain sense of like this is
different.
But then at what point do youstart to feel comfortable in
your home right?
You start to feel comfortablein this area where it becomes
more consistent.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
It took a little little time.
You know what I mean.
I think, obviously, being ondrugs, I was running all over
the place and I was meetingpeople and just you know, I just
inserted myself.
You know it's.
It's almost funny, if you know,if it wasn't so tragic out
there.
But like a lot of the toolsthat I use out there I use today
, you know what I meannetworking that type of stuff.
Yeah, you know meeting people,like, just so moving around,

(16:39):
always, always going yeah.
Yeah.
So I don't know if that's atrauma response or something, I
don't know, but like there's alot of similarities, you know,
but it's probably probably sixmonths, honestly until I felt
like I had a handle on it Like Iwas doing.
I was okay, like I didn't needother people around me.
You know what I mean.
Like I in Like in the beginningI kind of stayed around people
and like learned and watchedlike you would with anything

(17:00):
else.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Sure, yeah, I guess let's say, with the tunnels
right, there's 15 to 2,000people underneath.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
So I think the number we're comfortable with is like
1,200 to 1,500.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
So in that ballpark oh, I know that Every night,
like every night I mean you gotto remember there's 600 miles of
tunnels in Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
So like 600 miles.
If I showed you the map you'dbe like, wow, there's a lot.
You know what I mean.
And they're long and all ofthem have their own personality.
All of them are.
You know, the tunnels on thehistorical west side don't look
the same to me as the tunnelsover by South Point.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
A lot of similarities right, yeah, yeah, yeah but
there's some differences in likeeven my tunnel was.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
You know, when I first started, there was I don't
want to say hierarchy, butthere was like somebody who was
kind of in charge.
You know what I mean?
That's some real basic rules,right.
And then what would those rulesbe?
Oh, like, in my tunnel, youcouldn't, I couldn't do heroin.
Like heroin is my drug ofchoice.
I couldn't do heroin in mytunnel.
Everybody there did meth andthat's because that's what he

(18:06):
right got it.
But I would have to disappearfor a couple days when I got an
itch and go do it and come back.
But can't steal from each other.
I mean, I don't know, a lot ofthat stuff wasn't superly
enforced.
It was really like, no,outsiders, don't bring trouble
here.
You know, don't bring attentionhere.
Where my tunnel was was not, itwas not very visible, like you
couldn't see it from the street.
You had to know where it wasand you couldn't get into it.
Like it wasn't like a tunnelyou could just walk up to.
Like I never saw a singleservice ever come to my tunnel
in two and a half years that Iwas there.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
That's my next question.
They don't patrol the tunnelslike the tunnels from the
outside, from the policedepartment or anybody.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
It's kind of go in if they have special need.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like that's what's going on
right now with the.
I don't know if you've seen itdown in Cambridge what they're
doing with the paving it over,blocking it off.
They cleared it all out becausethere's a lot of crime.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Got it, yeah, cambridge, I'm thinking like
Flamingo, Palos Verdes, thatarea, Okay, okay okay, so one of
the things that I was going toask is 5,000 degrees outside.
Yeah, how can people remainover years dealing with the heat
in vegas?
Man, like, how do you gothrough that for five years in a
city like las vegas when it'sso hot?

(19:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (19:10):
I think whenever anybody ever asked me that
question, I asked, I asked themto think about something in
their life that they neverthought they'd be doing, but
they're doing today.
It doesn't have to be bad, it'dbe good, good.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
I like how you flipped that.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, I mean, because that's just human nature.
You know what I mean you justget you, just do it.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
You got to get through it.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
We're resilient by nature, like I have to, you know
.
I mean I think there was sometricks that like we weren't
moving around a lot during theday if we didn't have to.
You know it's more nighttimeactivity, right, and uh, the
tunnel's a little bit cooler,not much, but a little bit
cooler and a little bit warmerin the winter.
In the tunnel you're notgetting that direct sunlight,
which is the killer, right goodpoint, yeah, windy days, cold

(19:49):
windy days.
You're not getting that directcold wind.
You know what I mean.
So you know you start, justlike anybody, right?
Like you, you start to learnyour environment.
You start to learn what you canmake those adjustments.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yep, yeah, yep.
What about just like themisunderstanding right?
Like there's people every daythat are going homeless.
You don't know, they might bebusiness guy, gambler, whatever.
What do you think is like thebiggest misunderstanding for,
for people that are homelesstoday?

Speaker 2 (20:14):
So I think the the issue is that we don't even
understand homelessness, firstand foremost, right.
If you have an issue, you haveto get deep and understand it,
right.
So what does it mean to behomeless, right?
If it?
What I know homeless to be isyour name's not on the lease.
That means if you have an adultchild living in your house,
that's not not going to school.
They're homeless by, bydefinition, family members.

(20:34):
They're homeless by nature,almost by definition.
Apologize, but so the issue ismuch larger than we give it Then
we we even understand it rightnow.
On top of that, anywhere fromsix to seven out of 10 Americans
live one critical incident awayfrom being homeless.
You said six, six out of seven,six to seven out of 10,

(20:54):
depending on the fluctuation, Ibelieve that, yeah, one critical
incident.
away from being homeless, youcan definitely see that.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
It doesn't take a whole lot 70%.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
COVID affected how many people in our country?
By a percentage?
20?
, maybe 30?
, 70% Shut the entire countrydown.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
I think you say one thing, like you said something
that registered me.
It was like my neighborhood,like I'm going to my
neighborhood.
So when you're saying that itdoesn't feel like you're
homeless, right In that momentthat's how you, how I
interpreted it right Like whenyou're in that moment, do you
feel like that's the case for alot of people that are living in
that environment?
Like I don't feel like that.
This is my home, this is myneighborhood.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
It becomes your home and it's again your room.
When you remove hope very smallright, like I I step into

(21:50):
recovery and my world gets verybig.
You know what I mean?
Is that any different thantheir world?
It's the same, right?
That's their world.
So, yeah, it's just changingour perception, right?
These are these people live inour city.
These people are our brothersand sisters and our people.
That's what I love what you'resaying yeah, one of my best
stories is that it hits home.

(22:11):
For me is because it hit homeso close to my home.
Right, we all have that gasstation that we go to right when
we're going to work.
Whatever, it is right get ourdrinks?
yeah, well, I have one.
And there's always this guy outthere and I see him all the
time and he's asked me for money.
I don't give out money, it'sjust not my thing.
I'm not telling anybody elsewhat to do, it's just not my
thing.
But I always make sure hey youwant to drink, hey, you want to
go get some food?

(22:31):
I'll take you inside.
Never, never bites.
Right.
The last time I went there,maybe like three months ago,
four months ago, he bites, comesinside and I had one of the
most beautiful interactions I'vehad with a human being.
Like we were laughing, joking.
It was like I was in there withmy best friend, giddy.
I mean, he was even liketalking a little shit to me.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
You know what I mean.
It was good.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry Get him everything he
needs.
And then I go to the register, Ibuy him a pack of cigarettes, I
take the bag, I hand it to him.
He starts to walk towards thedoor and I turn around to finish
up what I was doing and hestarts yelling and he runs out
of the door and the guy behindthe register starts like
giggling.
He's like why'd you do that?
And I was like I don't want tolive in a society where that man

(23:19):
has probably not had aconscious interaction with a
human being, just that caredenough about him to make contact
and make him feel seen andheard, that he is so
uncomfortable with it, like thenarrative.
And our responsibility is to gothe other way, to make it so
that they're not so separatefrom us, to make them feel a
part of, regardless of wherethey're at.

(23:39):
You know what I meanHomelessness is in our city.
It's's in every city, but it'sin our city.
How do we, how do we addressthose issues?
Not by separating, not bytreating them differently, by
treating them the same do wehave the?

Speaker 1 (23:51):
I didn't look up the number do we have the largest in
vegas?

Speaker 3 (23:54):
it's got to be really high right, it's high, it's
high, it has to be probably likea New York or San Francisco.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Just because of a bigger market, bigger market,
cost of living is way higher.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
LA, LA.
I bet you by percentage.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
I'm sure it's probably up there Like I was
reading about Finland.
Have you heard about Finland?
It's like they're like near,like almost zero what they've
been able to do.
Do you think that's somethingthat we can do in Vegas?
I mean, or just let's just sayVegas, maybe not United States,
but just Vegas in general youthink that's something we could
do?
Because I know there's a lot ofpots there's a lot of layers to

(24:27):
this that we can go, but I'mjust curious what your
perspective is, becauseeverybody speaks a philosophy in
there, but you've lived it andyou deal with this and really
help do it.
But what, like?
I guess what I'm getting at islike what can we do?
You know what I mean Is there?
Is there something that we canreally do to really make a
change, like a Finland?
Yeah, there's.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
You know, I believe in the work that we do obviously
.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
I think we're making a big difference.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
I think that there's some some things going on around
.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
And I know it's not cut and dry.
By the way, and I know you knowwhat I'm saying there's a lot
of layers to this, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
I think that it's first and foremost as a
community we got to cometogether, right like this is a
community issue that we all needto address together.
Yep, it can't be just this orjust that, and I think that's
kind of the issue, like that'sreally what I like about you
know, with shine, what we did ishow we connected the community,
right like that's why it was soimportant to us.
Right like connecting all thesepieces, because when we started

(25:19):
creating ipath and workingthrough our, why it was so
important to us.
Right Like connecting all thesepieces because when we started
creating iPath and workingthrough our program, it was like
all the pieces are already here.
They're just not workingtogether.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Stay there for a second.
So for our listeners that don'twhat is Shine, the Light
Foundation?
Like, what exactly do you guysdo?
Like how did it come togetherin the whole nine?

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Okay, so Shine the Light was founded by a gentleman
named Matt O'Brien.
He was an author.
He was writing a book about agentleman named TJ Weber.
This was a long time ago.
Tj Weber had killed his familyand escaped the dragnet through
the tunnels In Vegas obviouslyIn Vegas, yeah.
He goes into the tunnels as partof his story, meets our friends
, starts to build relationshipswith them he was shining a light

(25:57):
on the issue of their fact thatthere was people there and
what's going on?
I follow you now and then fastforward.
He's writing a second book in,like 2016, 17.
And he interviews our director,paul, and then after two weeks,
he goes I'm leaving.
I'm going to El Salvador.
Do you want this?
And at the time, paul isworking with one of our dear

(26:19):
friends and mentors, jeffIverson.
They are.
Jeff owns Freedom House.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Jeff sounds very familiar.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Oh yeah, Okay, and then Paul is running Freedom
House.
So Paul goes to him and says,listen, I want to do this and I
want to create something, but Iwant to be able to actually do
something when they reach outfor help.
I want to be able to stay withthem.
I don't want to just pick themup and drop them off somewhere
and good luck, I hope it worksout.
You know what I mean.
So he started to formulate whatis ipath, which is instant

(26:47):
placement with access totreatment and housing.
So we deal with substance usedisorder, which is the main
driver, right.
A lot of other things aresecondary and third, but
substance yeah.
So that's the instant placementthey call.
We're there within an hour.
That's our goal, that's thatwindow of time is fleeting,
right, the willingness.
So we send them to a triagedetox where they're clinically

(27:10):
and medically assessed, fromthere to go to detox three to
five days while in detox.
I'm a visual learner, so thetriangle is engaged One points
to participant, one point's ourcase manager and one point is
that whatever facility they'reat, whatever level of care
they're at, that representativeor case manager.
So there's always a triangleworking.
So if they're in detox and theycall us and they say hey,

(27:31):
listen, the food really suckshere, I can go listen, buddy,
that ain't your problem today.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
You're trying to get clean.
Yeah, you know what I?

Speaker 2 (27:36):
mean, but then vice versa if there is a problem, we
can go call and talk andintrinsically we're both working
together to help theparticipant to the next step.
And then from there they can gointo either residential
treatment or housing withtreatment Treatment is always a
part of the programming or todeal with the underlying issues.
Housing is a PHP, iop, op, casemanagement, all your vital

(27:58):
documents.
Residential is the same exactthing but in a more constrained
environment.
And then from there into soberliving where we pay for the
first three months.
Our program is 18 months long,so that's 18 months we're going
to be with you, 18 months we'regoing to walk with you.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
That's a long time.
That's almost two years.
Yeah, that's a long time.
I realize that's not long, andif you think about it, though,
it's not Well it seems like.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I'm.
I get what you're saying, butlike you know, what.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I mean, yeah, the change of life path, the change
of life path in 18 months, yeah,18 months.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
But it's called continuity case management.
It's the unbroken chain of casemanagement.
So, instead of you going frompoint A to point B, point C,
point D, point E, point F,you've got one fluid constant
throughout the whole thing.
That's been there, walk throughthe system, knows the options,
knows the tools.
Now he knows you pretty well,he's built a relationship with

(28:45):
you and he can walk you throughthis, and probably a trust too.
There's a relatability inanything, right.
If I, you know, if I was a veryfamous podcaster, we would have
something to talk about on alevel you know what I mean, that
maybe me and you couldn't talkabout right now.
There's just something, and it'svery much the same way with
this right, that livedexperience.
We've been through that and nowwe're here and we can help you

(29:06):
get there yeah, how much of thatyou know being involved in this
side of the experience.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
How much does that help you, like being able to
navigate right, because I feellike that would give you, be an
empowering part of that recoverymy own, my own sense?
How?
I'd feel yeah, you're not wrong.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
I mean, I've been doing outreach.
That's the set, that's theother part of it.
Is the outreach actually goinginto the tunnels and the washes?

Speaker 1 (29:24):
yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you about.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yep but for me, I healed, you know, and
everybody's journey in withhealing is completely different
and equally beautiful.
I just for me it was.
I was called to go back rightaway, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
And I went back right away and I, when you say went
back, meaning go back to thetunnels and and help yeah with
people, with friends, yeah, Imean yeah, but with shine you
mean, and at the time it waslike three or four of us.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
You know what I mean.
And I think the first year wegot 12 people out, so you know,
56 weeks we got 12 people, youknow I mean, and that's pretty
quick after you're kind ofreleasing that experience, oh
wow like uh, probably from.
My last day of homelessness wasprobably about three, three and
a half months, oh wow Well.
I went through residentialtreatment for two months and

(30:07):
then yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
So how long total have you been not homeless and
doing all of this?

Speaker 2 (30:14):
August 10th 2018.
Wow, so that's seven yearscoming up?

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So how often are you in thetunnels?
Is this every week or everycouple?

Speaker 2 (30:23):
of weeks, every Saturday.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Every Saturday.
Yeah, wow, so you actually takefolks there that want to be
part of and walk through and dothe whole nine.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, we're lucky now .
I mean, we've been building atthis for a long time because of
you know we talked about thisearlier like all the connections
, right, like now we haveprobably, I think last Saturday
we had 55 volunteers, 55.
That's a lot of folks.
So five different teams coverdifferent areas of the city.
You know, and it's reallybeautiful man Like my, we call
them paper routes, right, so theroute that I always go is they

(30:55):
know me so well, Like they knowthat I'm sarcastic, they know I
like to joke around, so I'llcall out hey, shine a light.
They're like is that Rob?
I'm gonna kick his ass.
And I'll come out joking aroundand we're hugging and, like you
know what I mean.
It's completely.
We recently we had our gala andone of the guys and one of my
routes, his name is Dave he.

(31:15):
He's an artist, right, so hesits in the tunnel.
He draws with Sharpies and he'sreally good.
He wrote he, he drew a long,long, long big piece and it was
like kind of like the history ofhis tunnel and he drew us in
there as part of the history ofthat tunnel, that's pretty
powerful yeah so it's like theydon't see it as they shouldn't.

(31:37):
We are them, right, we do careabout them because we're
authentic.
Right, you want to go to thehospital?
I'll take you to the hospital,I'll bring you back.
I just want to make sure you'reokay.
You know what I mean.
So many interactions like that,Even the ones that maybe aren't
ready to come out, they becomelike almost advocates for us.
They're like hey, go check onthat girl over there.
Hey, go behind that building.
Maybe you didn't see them.

(31:57):
You're like and now we have,you know, the office for the
past two years the drop-incenter.
So they're coming by, they'regetting clothes, you know.
They come, sit in my office andhang listen, you're there when
they're, when they're ready.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Yeah, that's the important part it was up to me.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Believe me, I go out there and hit them over the head
and kidnap them everybody getssober, but that's not realistic
yeah, that's not real yeah Ialways.
I always say like if, if I gavethis three of us the same
paintbrush, the same canvas andthe same colors, we'd all paint
different pictures.
That's the point, not theproblem.
So how do we help you to paintyour picture so you'll take
ownership of it?
You're not gonna stay out basedon my picture, trust me, you're

(32:37):
not.
But you know, I mean, you getthe no it's got to be personal
and nobody knows when thatmoment's gonna come.
Because outside, looking in,I'm like, oh my god, this is
horrible, you should be ready.
But it's something internal,it's not.
It's not.
It's not that sometimes it canhappen like that, but for the
most part there's something thathappens inside each one of us,
right, that breaks like I, I'mtrying to think, like I try to

(32:59):
bring it into today.
Right, it's like I made acommitment a while ago to go to
the gym like last year.
It went like three times right.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
But then everybody, though that's everybody, I get
it, but like it's the same thing, right, like something happened
and it forced me to go to thegym, and then I can't but that
was like that's a lot ofpeople's journey with us.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Sometimes not a lot, but some, like they come in,
they go back out.
Yeah, we still love them, we'restill there for them.
They'll we'll re-engage themwhen they're ready, right like
that's that approach that wehave, that kind of keeps us
connected to them that's a greatpoint, because, right, because
you do that.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
I've done that a million times.
Sometimes I've done it, I'veworked out for years, other
times I've lasted two days.
So you just never know aboutthat experience, it's that
repetition.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
If you stay repetition it's so much easier
to go back.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
It's harder to go back after you start hurting.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
I was curious, because this is a serious
situation, right?
Like, do you guys have to dealwith a lot of that?
No, okay, so you guys don'teven touch that?
No, okay, I've been.
And the reason why I'm sayingthat is because of what I've
understood is that you know,child trafficking, prostitution,
things like that.
Then people end up becominghomeless.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, yep, there's one piece of it I've seen some
prostitution, of course, yep,you know, but nothing.
I, and I think with my entiretime of being homeless, I saw
one family, one kid, two kids,I'm sorry, one family, but the
way they move was very differentbecause they knew if they got
seen Especially with kids, copsit's coming.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's all going to happen.
That's what I was getting attoo.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
They're a very different move, Like where I was
just out and walking around, nobig deal For them.
It was like very hidden.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
I even felt that energy, yeah, because I had
heard.
What was it about?
A homeless youth, right withthe teens?

Speaker 3 (34:39):
oh, yeah, they're out on 24 hours.
Yeah, it was 24 hours.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
They were mentioning that, like they have 24 hours
before their child traffic.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
It's like a surface, it's like so organized with,
with everything, or they, youknow, become homeless that's why
I said the homeless youth isthe homeless youth is very
important because if they're outon the streets for longer than
24 hours, their risk of beingchild trafficked is like way up.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, it's extremely high.
So interesting man, but I'm notinterested at all.
It's horrible.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was another great eventthat we participated in with the
homeless youth.
That was really positive andthey were doing really big
things in the city too similarto what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yep, I love those kind of work, like I'm on the
advisory board for saint jude'sranch for children and it's like
I I call those like up riverthings, right where it's like a
lot of what the work that I dois down river.
I'm getting them at 35, 40, youknow mix, but in that
wheelhouse, right where it'sreally important to get them up
river that makes a lot of sensedoesn't mean that we're going to

(35:33):
stop.
It doesn't mean.
But at least they know right,Like at least there's options
and opportunities, Like theydidn't get a chance.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yeah, so how long have you been working with shine
, like for for seven years total.
You also work with apologizethe other company, crossroads.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Crossroads Indigent Detox and Treatment Center in
the state of Nevada.
So it's like for your unhoused,your underinsured, your
uninsured, your Medicaidspecialty courts and then
everything else.
So it's detox triage, detox,residential treatment, housing
with treatment and thenoutpatient.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
Okay, what's most of the stories that you've seen
over the last seven years ofpeople that you've helped?
What's their background?
I know it's a lot of layers toit, but I'm just curious.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
I think that a lot of times, what I've come to
understand is this we want to dothat right, we want to put that
in a box, but the reality isit's not in a box.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
I'm glad you said it, because you said 70% yeah,
they're everywhere, every walkof life.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I mean everything.
They're everywhere, every walkof life, I mean everything.
There's.
No, you know, usually there'strauma, Usually there's
something, but in a detailed way.
No, they're all varied.
They're all so varied.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
And I'm asking that on purpose, because I want our
listeners to understand thatit's 70% of the people, that
it's all 100% off walks of lifeit touches everybody.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
It touches every single person, every family.
It's touched by mental healthaddiction.
You know there's somethinggoing on.
It's just, yeah, every layer ofthe community.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Some of the stigma is too because, like they always,
people say like a lot of this iscaused by the vaguest
temptation.
Right, we have the gambling, wehave the ability, accessibility
to alcohol, you can gamble, youcan drink all at the same time.
You can gamble, you can drinkall at the same time.
They put a lot of stigma onthat being a leading cause.
But to your point we talkedabout earlier, like New York has
the same problem, LA does.
They don't have those sametemptations that maybe it's
accessible here but really it'sinternal in a lot of these

(37:22):
situations.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, I mean for alcoholism addiction is a
disease that centers in the mind.
It starts in the mind.
It means that I am bodily andmentally different than you when
it comes to alcohol.
You know what I mean.
That's it.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
It's a disease.
I've never heard people put itthat way 100% Like my younger
brothers drink, they put it down, they walk away.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
And that's just not my story, you know, and that's
it Like Vegas is all thosethings you said, but on the flip
side, the recovery is also asequally powerful.
Like this is like a major hubfor recovery.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
Oh, that's yeah and it's massive.
I can see that.
Yeah, I never think about thatway.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
It's turning, turning Well, cause they have a lot of
treatment centers a lot ofthings to help keep you on that
path, like, like treatmentcenters, isn't recovery.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Oh, like I'm saying, like different fellowships,
right Yep, the activity, the waythey are, it's beautiful Yep.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
I heard you say that your perspective is not to give
money.
And why is that?

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Why, wouldn't you want to give money?
That's just a personal thing.
Okay, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
And believe me every time I say that the next person
I see I have to give my dollars.
Well, because that.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
And, like I said, I don't say that to tell anybody
what to do.
It's none of my business, butwhat's the most important thing
is the connection Make them feelseen and heard.
However you go about that,that's your business.
But like a hello, you know,there's a girl outside that same
gas station two days ago.
I'm bringing my stepdaughterhome from school and we stopped

(38:54):
and I saw her sitting by thedumpster and I just kind of
walked over.
I didn't want to get all up inher space but I said, hey, you
want a drink?
And she just gave me the finger, okay, and I walked inside the
store.
Yeah, you know that's it.
Like I don't.
I always look at this like theboy scouts or the girl scouts,
those vests they wear with allthe badges.
Right, like if I was to tellyou if I was to get a badge for

(39:16):
every single person that helpedme was nice to me, then you know
, I mean I and that's how it'ssupposed to be right, I even do
an outreach.
Right like I don't know howmany times we made contact with
that person before they.
Finally, I don't know how manyof our volunteers spoke to them.
I don't know if our volunteersfollowed up with them during the
week.
Like so many things happen,other organizations right, like

(39:38):
that wraparound effect and whoknows?
Right, and I don't try not toeven think about it.
Right, I just try to thinkabout what's in front of me.
What can I do?
What can I do, cause I think alot of issues we get overwhelmed
, right?
We?
think oh, we can't do nothingabout it Because it's so big.
Yeah, like it's just so bigyeah yeah, yeah, but that
scholarship that I got to thattreatment center was $8,000.

(39:59):
I don't know how many $20donations, $50 donations, I have
no idea what.
If one person had said I can'tdo it make a difference, I
wouldn't be here right nowno-transcript to the same

(40:39):
questions.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
But with the tunnel, right, you mentioned, I think it
was like last week it was like55 people volunteers, yeah, what
does that look like forsomebody Like, say, they wanted
to participate in China Lightand they wanted to be on there
on a Saturday?
What does that actually looklike?
I know it's dangerous, right?
Obviously too.
No, isn't that dangerous?
Okay?

Speaker 2 (40:57):
well, you're a big guy.
No, I, I've been doing it forseven years and never been
touched.
You know, I mean I think theworst things ever happened.
I've been told to fuck off acouple times, but that happens
on the streets, we're good, youknow, I mean like no big deal,
like that happened to me today.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
No, I mean, you're dealing with people in crisis,
right like let's be fair andthey'll just say, hey, not today
or whatever, but we're acommunity project.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
We welcome all volunteers.
We do, uh, our bag building onwednesdays at 4 15.
It's at our office 23, 30highland drive, and then every
saturday we meet 7 45 foroutreach and then every sunday
we have a specific team thatgoes out.
I think it's like 7, 7, 30,same okay in the morning.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
I'm assuming this is okay.
Yeah, got it okay.
Yeah now when you say bags, soyou're giving these out, right,
what's in these bags?
We?

Speaker 2 (41:37):
don't.
We don't give out anything thatmakes it easier to be homeless
long term.
Right, got it.
We're not so rigid that if youguys donated some tents we
wouldn't give them out.
But I'm not seeking thosethings out.
I'm looking for water, granolabars, socks, you know some wipes
, things, basic stuff,flashlight batteries like dollar
store flashlights.
It's a key to a conversation.
You know what I mean If I walkup to you and we're a mile

(42:00):
underground.
Your feet are wet, you haven'thad a drink in a while and I go
hey here you go, I've gone outwith a pack of cigarettes.
You know, it's like atransference of something right.
Here I'm thinking of you, youknow what I mean.
And, uh, it creates a bubblewhere we can have a conversation
.
You know, and sometimes you doit and you know like I think
about something.
Like you'll be with a group offive or six or ten people and

(42:20):
maybe they're not vibing with me.
Okay, I just kind of slide away, let the other guys do it,
right, like you never know.
You know what I mean.
The best day I ever had outthere, statistically, was that
same guy, jeff, right, my mentor.
He calls and he says meet myfriends over here.
And I was like a year and ahalf into it.
So I was like gung ho, right, Iwas like ahead of everybody, I
was running and gunning, I'mgoing to save everybody, right,

(42:43):
and I go to meet his friends atthis tunnel.
And they pull up and they gotlike Gucci belts and Beamer, you
know all the things, right.
And I was like like oh my god,but that's how blocked I am,
right at that moment.
That's, that's my truth.
Right, we walk into this tunnel, I sit down, start talking to
the first person and then forthe next hour, all my name was
called.
We got 10 people out that day,10 people out of one tunnel.

(43:06):
It just doesn't matter, right?
Like they're human beings, theymay see something in you that
reminds them of a friend the way, way you talk, the voice.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
I don't know your energy Something connects.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Something.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
You know what I mean?
Yeah and boom, and that day wasa great lesson, right.
But that's like the same thingI try to tell people, like
almost like telling on myself tohelp people understand that
like you can make a differenceand you can connect with people.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
So what's next for you as far as like speaking and
stuff, too right, that's thenext piece you want to get into,
man, because people got tocontinue to keep.
I can talk to you for hours,man, just listening to how calm
you are and being able toconnect with people, but when
you're doing the public speaking, is that something that you
really want to take advantage of?

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, I think it's the next step for me.
I do a lot of it, obviously,locally, but like I for me, I
just know that, like God's gotbig plans, man, you know what I
mean.
Like I don't know what they are, it's not my job to figure it
out, but I just got to keep myfeet moving and started that
website and I'm just showing upand doing everything I can.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (44:04):
yeah, yeah it's gonna connect, it's gonna, it's gonna
connect for sure.
Man, just for for business orjust life advice in general, man
, I mean, I think this is likeyou said before, this is the
craziest thing we deal with, man.
But what would you say to ourlisteners, people that might
have hit rock bottom or arelistening to this, or maybe in a
dark place or whatever thescenario is?

(44:24):
What would be something thatyou could share, maybe from your
perspective, or that could helpthem, that can get them out of
that space, if they've got adream or goal or something they
want to accomplish?

Speaker 2 (44:38):
I think, for people in a dark place, I would say
that recovery is real.
You know you're never too fargone, you know I mean you're not
alone, that's for sure.
You just got to reach out.
That's the.
The bravest thing I ever did inmy life was ask for help.
You know, and once you get onyour feet, it's servant servant
leadership, servant leadership,100%.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
And ask for help.
Yeah, yeah, you know what Imean.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
I love that I am surrounded by great people.
I've been able to help build areally great team, but they're
all leaders.
If I don't come in tomorrow,nothing changes at work.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (45:06):
That's awesome, yeah, and they have some great and
I'm trying to help them achievethose, and how can I lift them
up?
You know what I mean.
So I work for them.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
That's awesome.
Yeah, All right, I'm going tochange this for one second man,
because we always ask peopleabout food.
Man, because I'm a big foodie.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
But what's your favorite restaurant in Vegas?
You've been here for a while.
You had to go to.
So I'm not saying I'm going tofor me, I'm a sushi guy.
Oh, okay, okay, sushi fever,sushi fever.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
We were just talking about that.
We just passed by that, yeah,so I'm going to tell you
something real quick, I think,uh, somebody else mentioned that
I think it was like a one MaziMazi, one of the first places I
kept going to.
That's like one of my favoritespots.
It's excellent.
I grew up back home.

(45:56):
It's pizzerias, right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
And every pizzeria was a little bit different, and
I think for me, I think everysushi place is a little
different.
That's true.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
And they got good service there too.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Man, 100% yeah they got great service there.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Sushi fever is Excellent.
That's good.
That's good stuff.
I'm glad you said that wealigned.
Is there anything that weforgot to ask you that you want
to leave us out on?
I don't think so.
I think we covered a lot ofstuff.
How can people reach out to youguys?
I don't know if donations,things like that.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
What would you like them to do?
What's the best direction?
We're on social media websiteshine, check us out, follow,
like, share, support.
Every little bit helps, andwe're always looking for granola
bars, socks, waters, the thingsI talked about earlier.
And just if you'd like to makea donation, of course, we're
always welcome to that too.
Awesome, yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Come check it out.
Yeah, I got to come check youout.
Man, for sure I got to come.
It's been on my gut for a longtime and I remember Angel and
Letitia.
I don't know if you know them.
I think they've been out a fewtimes to check you guys out in
the tunnel.
I got to do that.
Are you allowed to bring kidsto do that or you cannot?
10 and eight Too young, Tooyoung, Okay.
What age do you allow?

(47:05):
16.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
Grown Okay so you have teenagers.
I mean, you got an but we tryto keep it because you're going
to see some things.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
No, I guess, real.
Yeah, that's real.
Okay.
Well, rob, absolute pleasure,my man.
Thank you, I keep tabs on you,man.
We have to keep having you comeback every year.
Man, just drop some dimes on us, man.
Keep us posted on what'shappening, how we can help.
So appreciate your time, man,check us out at TheVegasServecom
.
We'll see you next time.