May 22, 2023 • 44 mins
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Good afternoon, Southeast Texas. You'relistening to the Roy West Show and I
haven't been on the air for severalmonths, so I'm just excited to be
back and newly elected mayor of Bomont. Who whoop so, and I have
with me as my first guest back, Bishop David Tups of the Bomont Diocese
(00:24):
diocese that is over nine counties.Welcome back to the radio show with me,
Mayor Roy West. I'm happy tobe on the air with you.
And gosh, I don't know whatyou've been doing the last couple of months,
Roy, I mean campaigning or somethinghaving to do. Yes, a
little bit of that. But nowall that it has been put to bed
and I get to I get toget back on the radio show and get
(00:46):
back talking about what's happening in thecommunity and certainly the Catholic Church. The
Bomont Diocese always has a lot goingon. Y'all got a big event coming
up around the corner that's already soldout, which is a good problem to
have. But we've got lots goingon, so let's talk about that.
Well. We're very excited about thefor the Good Galen. If you're wondering
(01:08):
where that name comes from Romans,Chapter eight, verse twenty eight is for
those who love God, all thingswork together for the good. So for
the past twenty almost twenty five years, Bishop Guillory, before me and now
myself, we had the same mottofor our time as bishop, which in
(01:32):
and of itself is a very unusualthing. Bishops don't hand down their mottos.
It happened to be Bishop Guillories,and it happened to be my own
family's life's scripture, scripture that meantthe world to my family. So when
I saw it was Bishop Guillories,I said, Bishop, I am gonna
follow suit and do something unusual andkeep your motto, which is beautiful because
(01:53):
it's the name of our ninety secondshow every morning on TV, where I
offer a little word of inspiration thatgoes all the way back. Bishop Guillery
did it for twenty plus years,and Bishop Gallante started it. And so
it's it's for the good. Everythingworks together for the good. It's trusting
in God's divine providence. So ourgala is called the for the Good,
(02:16):
emphasizing and helping to support all thegood that the Church is able to do
here in Southeast Texas across are ninecounties here well, and for people that
aren't Catholic, they may not.And I've had I've had the privilege of
(02:39):
getting that well acquainted with all theministry that the Catholic Church does through Catholic
charities and through their local congregation congregations. But many times people don't understand that
so much of the work I'll doit's ecumenical. It is, it is
not, it's for all the everybodyin the community. Yeah, Cardinal Dolan
(03:01):
has a great line. He says, we don't help people because they're Catholic.
We help people because we're Catholic.It's part of who we are as
Christians is we reach across denominational boundariesand we help people because there are simply
needs in our world. And I'mso blessed to be the bishop not only
(03:24):
of this Catholic community here in thesenine counties, but to be a part
of the greater faith community. Royyou and I are certainly brothers in the
Lord, and I feel so connectedto my brother pastors in the area and
the different congregations, and our Jewishand our Muslim communities. I've gotten to
(03:46):
be closer. So there's this greatsense of we are all believers, we're
all in it together, and wewant to build up and strengthen our community.
And I see that in a veryunique way in Southeast Texas, and
I'm so proud and grateful to bea part of it. I know you
feel that way, or you wouldn'thave run from mayor well. And and
(04:10):
then, I mean, what you'resaying just hits home with me, because
certainly we are all better together andworking together, we can just be so
much more effective, uh, inin uniting our community but also reaching those
that are in need that together beingeffective doing that because it's all far the
(04:34):
good. Yeah, amen, andpeople good well and and and this far
the Good Gala one of the reasonsy'all have that, and I know I've
got I was there last year,looking forward to this year. And because
it supports, uh, it supportsthe ministries of the Catholic Church. Yeah,
(04:57):
that's right. So people certainly arevery from the with Catholic charities and
the outreach it does to people poststorms and hurricane victims, people struggling to
make ends, meet people who don'tknow how to pay their own taxes and
helping them with that in mortgage relief, and all these wonderful things are able
to do, not to mention counselingprograms and ministry to children who have lost
(05:23):
loved ones, so so many differentthings that are all a part of Catholic
charities which which we support so well. The Daily ninety second for the Good
experience on TV every morning, andagain some of the things I love about
our community roy as people will comeup to me at HB and let's say,
hey, Bishop, I'm not Catholic, but I listened to you every
(05:46):
day. I was at a BetterBusiness Bureau brunch. That's a lot of
bees just this morning, and Ican't tell you how many people come up
to me and said, hey,I'm not Catholic, I don't know you,
but I start my day. Infact, I know i'm running late.
If I start hearing you and I'mnot out the door, I'm like,
boy, you're getting out that prettyearly. And so it's I'm so
(06:10):
grateful that the diocese is able tosponsor something like that, which is a
word of faith, a word ofencouragement, a word of hope to really
our whole community as we start ourwork day every morning. And so the
outreach of the diocese and certainly itsupports our individual parishes. We have forty
six communities that I'm in charge ofhere throughout Southeast Texas, and we just
(06:36):
love being a part of this localcommunity here in Boumont. And so the
four the Good Gala, I'm gratefulit's sold out. For those who are
listening who would like to go,I'm just gonna say, sign up early
next year because we want to haveit really tons of fun and for me,
that's one of the most important things, coming together and enjoying and celebrating
(07:00):
our life and our common faith inthis community. And certainly the fundraising is
a big part of it. Butfor me, I want people to have
fun and I want us to enjoylife and uh and and do some good
in the process. Well. Andin that y'all, just y'all, things
are always happening, Things are alwaysnew. Uh. Christ Central Camp is
(07:25):
one of the newest additions to SoutheastTexas. And tell people a little bit
about that. For people that havebeen driving in that area, they've they've
got the sea change is happening.But for those that aren't what that what
that means for Southeast Texas, SureSo for those who don't know, we
have a retreat house already here inthe Diocese of Beaumont, right on Major
(07:49):
Drive. As you're approaching what's mycorner there, Roy Tramp, Tramp,
thank you, Major and Tram calledHoly Family Retreat Center. Diocese built it
forty years ago. Our own communitiesuse it all the time. Many people
in the Christian community familiar with ACTS. We have ACTS retreats there all the
(08:13):
time, and other denominations we'll rentit out. It's a wonderful facility,
beautiful gardens and paths to walk,etc. Adjacent to that is another forty
four acres literally on the corner ofTram and Major that was always envisioned one
day to be a camp dedicated specificallyto youth, and so you know,
(08:39):
between storms and economically difficult times,you name it. We've never been able
to move forward until about a yearago a single family here who has been
involved in our own diocese for many, many years stepped forward and said,
Bishop, we want to build thatcamp for our young people. The youth
(09:05):
are the future of our church.We need them. We need them to
know Jesus, we need them toknow their faith. Who want them to
know that faith is fun, andso they have completely sponsored this entire project
that all of us here in SoutheastSexas will benefit from the Campbell House about
(09:26):
a hundred kids at a time,boys cabins, girls cabins. They've dug
a lake, a new beautiful pool, a pavilion with outdoor basketball, a
beautiful chapel for praise and worship andprayer, multi purpose building. It is
exquisite and extraordinary. So if you'rea youth minister at one of our local
(09:50):
churches, I'd encourage you to goto our website Christ Central camp and find
a weekend or find some week daysthat you want to bring your kids out
there. We'd love to have you. It's really going to serve our community
well and a lot of people havecome together to make this really something beautiful
and unique for our area. Sothis is something that y'all will be offering
(10:13):
programs through through local Catholic churches obviouslythere, but it is something that also
can be rented out to the othercommunity across and UH and what a great
location and it's UH and we're gonnahave an open house, oh between our
(10:33):
two. It opens in July andthere'll be an open house on I'm looking
on my phone July the fifteenth,between three and six pm. That's a
Saturday. We figured that's a goodtime for families to pop in. We'll
have free hot dogs flying off thegrill, beautiful big grass gas grill on
(10:54):
by the pool side. So comeon Saturday, July fifteenth for the grand
opening and the fortieth anniversary of thediocese running summer camp. So it's kind
of fun that we're in our newnew digs to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of
having a summer camp. Well,Bishop, I just want to thank you
again for coming on the show andalways being so available, and like you
(11:16):
say, you're familiar face to SoutheastTexas. Every morning everybody sees you on
TV that's up that early, butalso your present throughout the community regularly,
and you you know, you showup everywhere. And I just thank you
because I think it's so important tothe community that all of us in the
(11:39):
community are connected and work together andhelp to solve the challenges that aren't just
unique to Southeast Texas but are presenthere. And I see you as a
great partner in that, and Ijust want to thank you for that and
blessings on you as you start yourterm as our mayor. God bless you.
(12:00):
Thank you so much and talk toyou soon. We are back with
the Roy West Show here on NewsTalk five sixty k LV, and I
have with me Chris Robertson and heis the executive director of some other place
here in Beaumont, Texas. Welcomeback to the show, Chris. Hey,
thank you for having me Roy.I appreciate it, my pleasure.
(12:24):
And for you know, if peoplehave been in Beaumont in any length of
time, they're gonna probably be awareof some other place. But I always
like to assume for those that arenew to the area, you know,
they may not know what some otherplace is. And for even the people
that have heard of it, theyoften don't fully understand what it is that
some other place does. So I'dlove for you to share that for a
(12:46):
minute. Yeah. Absolutely, AndI you know, I think I was
probably included in that in that box. I'd always heard about some other place,
and I worked with the former director, you know, in partnerships in
my last job, and it wasn'tuntil I got over here and accepted the
job and kind of dove in headfirst that I realize to what all it
entails. And so just a briefoverview, we have three children programs.
(13:09):
You know, it's it's not exclusiveto homeless, which I think is a
big misconception a lot of people.I low it because some other places kind
of synonymous with homelessness because it's oneof the few places that have homeless services.
But the majority of services in someother place are not intended directly or
specifically exclusively to homeless. So wehave three children programs. We have a
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back to school event that we holdevery year. There's the Giving Tree for
Christmas time where churches and volunteers canget you know, the Giving Tree cards,
and it has a list a wishlist of a kind of low to
modern income children who cups families can'tafford to do Christmas. It has their
wish list that we can provide giftsfor them. And then we have a
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Thanksgiving Day store where a lot ofthose same folks from Christmas their families can
come in and we to store environmentwhere they can shop to to get the
stuff that provides all the necessities tomake a Thanksgiving their meal, where otherwise
they may not have had an opportunityto and then jump over to the next
building. It's a rent and utilities, and so we've got the regular you
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know, you call and if you'rebehind on your rent, we'll help you
out there. We'll catch you upwith utilities. That that same location has
three clothing stores. It's completely free, but they're set up like little boutiques.
There's a children's clothing, women's clothingin a men's clothing store. And
that's where I was right now.I just got a partnership with Goodwill where
they donate forty men's clothes like topsand bottoms for job trainings and stuff like
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that to our clothing store, becausemen clothing was one of the things we
had the least off. But thenthere's also a food pantry in that building,
and then you jump to the nextbuilding over and it's the Nutrition Center,
which is our soup kitchen where mealsare provided here. And it's not
just homeless people who eat there.I think it was sixty percent of the
people who wait there last year.We're not homeless, and so it's it's
just a way for low income familiesto kind of help their budget and get
(15:00):
ahead with some of their expenses,not even to pay for that meal is.
It is very helpful. It alsokind of provides a family dynamic where
people can still come and have asit down experience where we serve hot food
and is. It's kind of likegoing to a restaurant and it doesn't break
the budget and it's free. Andthen the next place over with Henry's Place,
which is the Homeless Service. It'sa day center where we provide showers
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and laundry. And there's a newaddition to Henry's Place I'm very proud of
starting in January. But it's showersand laundry. They can use our address
for signing up for benefits, andthat's pretty much what I had stepped into.
That's the structure I had stepped into. And we've done little tweaks here
and there. I don't want tochange the foundation of what's worked so well
for so many years here. Butone of the biggest things that it's come
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to fruition since I got here wasan idea I had that really kind of
just excelled in. It's going incrediblywell is case management into Henry's Place.
So starting in January, I tookthe lady her name is Janice Hope and
She kind of was on fire whenI told or about the idea. She
said me, I'll do it,and so I thought, why not.
He was in house talent, youknow it. We'll just kind of give
her a shot. She's familiar withthe population that's here, and so I
(16:08):
put her in on January to bekind of a benefits navigator case manager for
Henry's place to work on. Formerly, with laundry and shout whers, people
could come in and get clean andget their basic necessities meet or met.
But now they have an opportunity whereif they're trying to transition, we've got
that door had it now, sothey can go in there and see Janis.
(16:30):
She'll sign them up for their benefits. She'll work with benefits dot Com
like your Texas Benefits to see whatthey're eligible for. And in the month
of January alone, she transitioned twentypeople out of homeless thefts. And so
it was because it was a blessing. I mean, yeah, she was
ready to go, and then sheshe share has proved it and so she's
really got the heart for it.And I don't know that anyone of the
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nation is putting up numbers like thatyet. I mean, she's doing really
well, and it's a variety ofall different things. You know, she's
getting people back to their families ifthey have a support system outside of the
state. She's getting people a coupleof them have gone to rehab and now
we're back upon their feet. Andsome is just the good old help them
apply for benefits, money management trainingand seal up to get their own apartment,
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and that's gone. That's been goingwell through this year, so since
January. I don't have a totalyet, but I know the first month
was twenty people transitioned along. Sothat's kind of the new look of some
other place, even if they hadheard about it before. Well. And
that's certainly a challenge that many citiesface in terms of being, you know,
dealing with it effectively because you know, obviously, you know, when
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you deal with the homeless population,and from early talks with you, I
mean, they're you know, tryingto put anybody in a box becomes really
difficult, and certainly when it comesto homelessness, the same applies because you
get people from all different walks oflife and why why and how they ended
up there. But but but somany of your services also or before that
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to avoid perhaps homelessness. That's right, that's that's my answer is it's kind
of what's the best way to assistwith homelessness, And I still gotta go
even though this program's going really well. My definite answer is still prevention,
you know, making sure that wecan trust the people before the eviction and
it's snowballs. You know, thereare a lot of people the point in
time count. Jane Janielle White wasjust given a recap at the Homeless Coalition
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on the point in Time count,and she said that there's a year where
a lot of people are homeless intransition. It doesn't become even in their
minds, she said, it doesn'tbecome permanent that they're homeless within the first
year, so you know, beforethey get evicted or before you know,
whatever life circumstances are that lead themdown that path, if we can get
them an intervene, that's still thebest way to attack homelesness. I think
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in the area, well, Iknow, you do a great job,
and y'all got a great heart forthat, and you're meeting the needs in
so many ways, and oftentimes people, churches, you know, organizations want
to get involved in some way,and you know, rather than recreating the
wheel, oftentimes it's best to fitin with an organization that is already ministering
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serving people that people have an interest, you know, because sometimes people's interest
is kind of specific, but y'allhave a pretty broad brush that y'all deal
with absolutely. Yeah, thank youfor mentioning that. There's that's been a
conversation a lot when people come inand say, how can we help?
Or you know, a lot ofpeople will come by and they'll pass out
food, and I keep trying toencourage them to work from the same vantage
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point. We have a lot ofpartnerships right now with Spindletop, MH and
more. We have the Food Bankcoming to do snap benefits, we have
Cricket Waterless coming to issue out cellphones, Papa John's Jefferson County engagin Care
for medical services. And the reasonfor that is because I think that,
you know, everybody working independently tosolve the problem is tough. But if
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we all work from the same vantagepoint and I'll give you the office space,
you know, it really kind ofprovides that, you know, we
can all do it from here kindof thing. And and so we've got
the trust in the community of thehomeless, and we already have the workers,
we've got templates, but we're alsoopen to learning. So if somebody
has something that they're doing that's working, I really want them to come in.
And that's you know, all theway from boots on the ground some
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monetary donations. I started this casemanagement program and I'm starting it on a
leap of faith that it goes wellbecause it wasn't. There's not just funding
built in for these things. There'sno way to predict what is that going
to cost at the end of theyear to make sure that we keep transitioning
the homeless population. And we've seenpeople come in from other counties, other
cities, and that's kind of thecaveats it works well. So it does
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it give more people the opportunity tocome. So there's a lot that goes
into it that we really need torely on the churches and the individuals to
kind of support us, both bootson the ground and monetarily. Well,
you know, we're getting close tothe last minute, but I know that
Chris, you know you have donean incredible job, but it is there
(21:00):
are so many challenges and as youpoint out. You know, here we
are coming out of COVID, butthere's always new challenges that you know,
you you plan your year on andthen there the challenges exist and you just
have to deal with them and meetingthose needs. So you know, as
a church, as an organization,or as an individual, you know,
(21:22):
reach out because some other places isthere, there their boots on the ground
and sometimes they might be able toalso change your understanding about what is happening
locally, because it's just having anunderstanding is huge. I couldn't have said
it better myself. Absolutely, Iagree. And and what's y'all phone number
and contact? We're wrapping things upin fifteen seconds, all right, so
(21:47):
are and we have all the informationyou'll be found on our website and we're
starting to put the new volunteer opportunitieswe have with the transition up on there
as well. But you can alwayscall us at four zero nine eight three
two seven nine seven six. Andthe website that has all the additional information
with programs and hours and explanations iswww dot some other place Beaumont dot com.
(22:11):
Thank you so much, Chris.I'll say, let's get to see
we are back with the roy WestShow here on News Talk five sixty k
LV, and we are talking aboutsummer activities for kids, and certainly we
(22:32):
have a I'm well welcome Rebecca Woodland, welcome to the show. Thank you
so much. I appreciate the opportunity. And you are out at the Tarot
Park Nature Center, which many peoplemay still be a little bit unfamiliar because
it's been there for decades. Butit got it got redone, it got
(22:52):
a facelift, and now we havea great presence out there. That's right.
It's the historic white brick building thatwas built in the late nineteen thirties
by the Spin Conservation Corps, andof course it was damaged in all the
hurricanes and we, as the Conventionof Visitors Bureau, needed to expand our
tourism and educational offerings and help bringmore overnight birders and travelers. So we
(23:18):
took the COVID time to tart itinto the Terrell Park Nature Center. We're
located in the middle of the parkand we've started adding interactive, hands on
educational program Right now, we're focusedmostly for the elementary school age and homeschool
groups and we're doing all sorts offun interactive nature focused items to do and
(23:41):
Carol Park for those that. Youknow, if you're not a golfer and
you hadn't been into bird watching,you might have not been out there in
recent years. But you know,it's it's a tremendous park right here within
our city, and it's got stables, it's got and then Cattell Marsh is
obviously become a huge draw. Andso just in that process, because we
(24:03):
are getting people from you know,we probably have as many people from out
of town visiting Carol Park as wedo local people. And that's not technical.
I'm just guessing because I know weget a lot of that is correct.
In fact, I've been surprised sinceI've been here at the Nature Center
how many families are traveling on Byten and they're using their GPS and Google
(24:26):
Maps and so forth, and arelooking for a part because I have little
ones in the car that are gettingrestless. You know, that's a different
way of traveling with these young familiesversus when we were growing up. You
know, we didn't have all that. And they look, they find us,
and they want to playground, theywant a bathroom break, and lo
and behold, they find me hereat the Nature Center, and here we
have a scavenger hunt. We havea craft for them to do, so
(24:48):
they're getting some educational interactive and thekids are able to throw off Steve.
Interestingly, we are the seventh attractionalthoughwe're the oldest building on the park,
and besides the stables and so youhave the botanical garden of the golf course.
We're in the beginning and end ofthe disc golf course here, which
is from the disc golfers. ApparentlyTarrel Park is very premier in that area
(25:12):
and they start and stop right here. At the Nature Center. You have
our sister facility, the cat TellMarsh with the boardwalk and the burners.
And the reason we took over thisbuildings because we were running out of room
at Cattail. We didn't have roomfor the gift shop. We couldn't do
our programming. So we and wehave burners coming in. They wanted more
gift shop items, they wanted tohear the histories, and then we want
(25:36):
to educate. So we're excited thatwe're in the seventh botanical garden and the
stables and everything that goes on outhere. There's an archery range. I
can't even We're seven things going onin one park alone in the city of
Oma, right and it is incredible. And I even think there's a new
trail that's being completed right now aswe speak. Right they've got the tractors
(25:59):
out. As something that we asthe CVB, had worked together. We
wanted to link our building here inthe middle of the park or over to
kat till Mar so you wouldn't haveto drive the loop every time. And
so we got some grant money andsome seed money and worked with the city
and they it's like a hike andbike trail. It's a cement Ada accessible
so people can walk at wheelchairs eventuallybike and it begander suit. The park
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avoids the disc golf course and theother features, but it allows them to
start with us, wander over toCattail, go over there and you can
walk back. There's gonna be somewhat I call pullout stations, and I
know some initial conversations with Mandola GardenClub and others to have a pullout station
off the paths so you can sitand watch the birding and have the birding
(26:47):
plants and features, and then alsopollinator pollinator's station, so it's a walking
nature trail that's ada accessible and we'llbe keeping you out of the muck and
mud that's in the are there inthe middle of the box, So that's
there. They've got tractors setting thatup right now, so that's in progress
as well. But that's incredible.And I know I have the privilege of
(27:11):
having served on the CVB board Conventionand Visitors Bureau Board for an advisory board
for a while now, so I'vegotten to see a lot of this happened
behind the scenes with the CVB,which just does an incredible job of marketing
our area and reminding people, youknow, and even local people because we
(27:34):
have such a you know, withHouston being so close away, and in
Louisiana, some you know, oftentimespeople like day trips and and we just
have so many different opportunities to dothat, and this was a this was
a big step forward for CVB.But it's also because it y'all do an
incredible job of marketing and in reachingout in which is just so important because
(28:02):
in today's world, there's just somuch information out there sometimes it's kind of
hard to cut through it. ButCBB does an excellent job of doing that.
So I'm so excited, but let'stalk. We got about four minutes
left. Let's talk about the summerprogram. Right. We have partnered with
the Texas the local chapter Sabine NaturesChapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, and
(28:22):
we are doing six Tuesday mornings startingin mid June through July, and it's
a nine thirty two eleven heared forelementary school students here at the Nature Center.
It's a free program. We'll havestations set up throughout the building,
all interactive, hands on so we'redoing a program on native bees. We're
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doing another Tuesday on frogs and reptiles, one on Texas critters which means wildlife,
and they're gonna talk about wildlife trackingin prints and things, creepy crawleys,
which is insects, butterflies and pollinators, and then we end with the
utical life. It's all free.You just need to sign up because these
particulars Tuesdays June twentieth, twenty seventh, July eleventh, twenty fifth, and
(29:08):
August one. And if they wantto reach me at the Nature Center,
I've got all the information to passout, email whatever. It's mostly children
for grades one through five, fivesix years old to eleven to twelve year
old, and it's all interactive.They're going to be making tracks or they're
going to be making everything's project andhands on interactive. So there's experiments that
(29:32):
are related to that nature games likehow did the birds eat? You know
what beaks? Make them eat thoseparticular types of foods and use the tools
for that. So it's all designedto get them excited about nature. It's
all nature based, but we're excitedto offer that, and that's basically the
end of June through July and thefirst of August. In addition to that,
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we partnered with the Beaumont Public Libraryto offer on those same Tuesday afternoons
at two clock in the afternoon afamily story time and the library librarians are
coming here. They're going to havea storybook that's a nature based and a
craft that is all going on freeonce again. That's a come in family
(30:14):
homeschool. Come in with your littleone, enjoy that. And then we've
already started our continuing our once amonth program on Saturday mornings, a drop
in family and it's on different naturetopics. We've done Earth Day, We've
done flowers. I have a wholeseries of those. Those are drop ins.
(30:36):
You don't need to sign up,just come geared for all ages.
Everything's predominantly for that elementary school ageand sort of our target, primary target.
We're including everyone homeschoolers, daycares andso forth, and that's just what
we have on the calendar now.More will be coming, So reach out
to me here at the Taroal ParkNature Center and I'll be certainly glad to
(30:59):
send whatever information. Get kids signedup for those that need advance reservations otherwise,
get the dates and just come onout to the Nature Center morning,
noon or night money Friday. AndI know y'all have a robust website for
the CVB. Is this information youable to sign up online as well?
We're not at that point yet becauseI want to make sure i'm talking to
(31:22):
students. The information is on ourFacebook page as far as a calendar of
events that's being posted. Just callme and then I can or come by.
And I've got to sign up listfor those that need to sign up,
so we're working on that to havethe social media post to share that
information well, and I'll be sharingthat as well on my page and certainly
Rebecca, I know you're doing atremendous job. I've known you for decades.
(31:47):
You bring passion and you know toeverything that you do and we are
so fortunate to have this here inBeaumont. And again, thank you for
all that you do and we're goingto continue to get the word out about
it. Thank you so much.I appreciate it. All right, see
you again soon. Welcome back tothe Roy West Show. I'm your host,
(32:12):
Zach Styles. We've had a greatshow so far and we're gonna keep
it going. We always have thebest guests, and today is a day
like no other. We've got theone and only April Tolbert with Farmers Insurance
Agency. April Welcome to the show. Hi, Zach, thank you so
much for having me. I reallyI always enjoy that and I can't say
thank you enough to you and toRoy for this show. I love listening
(32:36):
to this show. You guys reallydo always have the best guests. And
yeah, I keep I keep upwith what's happening in in Southeast Texas through
you guys. That's right, andthat's what we aim to do. We
want to make sure that people understandsome of the best businesses that they can
go to for services such as yourselffor insurance, but also what's going on
in our community with nonprofits and thingslike that. April, Man, I
(32:59):
tell you, this spring has beena wild spring. We've had some crazy
weather. We had a hailstorm aboutfour weeks ago that was kind of nuts
and wild. And you know,people I don't think understand the benefit of
always having an insurance agent right righthere locally that understands the coverages that we
need and things like that. Andone thing that I get a lot of
times is, you know, coverageis changing and people not understanding those changes.
(33:22):
April. So in your you knowbusiness and your business model, you
know, what are some things thatyou're seeing and doing, you know,
to help make sure your clients understandthe different insurances available to them in coverages.
Well, that is a very goodquestion. I appreciate that very much
because I know, you know fromexperience, not only are on personal experience,
(33:43):
but helping people with their mortgages.You know, the experience is not
always good with insurance. And sowhat we try to do in my agency
is, yes, we are alocal agency. We're all local people.
We know insurance in Southeast Texas andwe have multiple insurance carriers. I know
everyone knows me as April Tolbert,the Farmer's agent, but what they don't
(34:07):
usually know until they get to meis that we actually have multiple carriers outside
of Farmers that we placed people throughas well. So we do a lot
of research on the policies, onthe companies, on the available coverages,
to compare one policy to another,so that you're not when you're shopping for
(34:27):
your insurance, you're not just gettingoh, here's the cheapest price. You're
getting Okay, this one might bethe cheapest, this one's the most expensive,
here's one that's in the middle.But let me explain to you the
differences, so that way you're makingan educated decision. You're making a choice
that's best for you. Sometimes theleast expensive might be the absolute best.
(34:51):
Sometimes it's the middle of the road. Sometimes it's the more expensive that people
want because of the extra coverages thatare involved. So what I say all
the time is don't wait till it'stoo late. We're coming into hurricane season
here coming up in a couple ofweeks June first, as the start of
hurricane season, So educate yourself aboutyour insurance. Please know who you're gonna
(35:14):
call if that worst case scenario happens, if we have another hill storm come
through that pounds your roof, orif we have a tropical storm, a
hurricane of flood you know, makesure you know who you're going to call,
and make sure that they are talkingto you about your options for deductibles,
for coverages, for extras that youmight not necessarily know that you need.
(35:37):
If your agent is not asking youquestions like do you have expensive pieces
of jewelry, do you own agolf carter or an ATV? You know,
those kind of things may need extracoverage. They may not be covered
by your homeowners policy the way youwould like them to be. So just
make sure you've got a good relationshipwith your insurance agent, because in Southeast
Texas, unfortunately, we have touse our insurance a lot more than people
(36:01):
in other parts of the country do. That's right, and I'm glad you
mentioned that because I think some peopleeven moving to this area, you know,
they may have been in an areain North Texas or even another state
where they're not familiar with the windstormcoverages, flood coverages and things like that,
and all of a sudden they startshopping insurance down here, and they're
not understanding. Well, if they'refrom another area, they're not understanding that,
(36:23):
no, you really need good insurancedown here because you actually will use
it, unlike the area that youcame from. And I have that conversation
a lot of times with people whenthey're wanting to know about their monthly note
and things like that. It's like, no, look, I promise you
whatever X Y and Z mortgage companyor whatever they said your insurance. Because
they're from out of state. Theysaid it was going to be one hundred
dollars a month. I was likethat, they don't get the game here,
(36:45):
you know. And you know,kind of back to your point.
You know, you could get insurancefrom from anywhere, right, but having
somebody that you can sit down andtalk to and that answers the phone,
you know, that goes a longways. And I think that people need
to understand that the April Holber team, they're going to answer their phone.
They're going to be accessible to youso that you can get those answers that
(37:07):
you need in a fast and quicktimely manner. I really appreciate you saying
that, because we'll go back tothat hail storm, you know, that
happened four weeks ago or so.You know, a perfect example. It
happened on a Saturday afternoon to Saturday, you know, late afternoon, early
evening. And guess what April wasdoing. Guess what my team was doing.
We were answering our phones. Wewere returning calls from our office.
(37:29):
We were answering texts on our cellphones, texts that were being sent to
the office, you know, aspeople cars were being damaged, people afraid
that their roofs might be damaged,you know, and giving those people advice
and kind of sucking them through whatthe next steps are and determining and filing
claims if we need to, youknow, if that warrants. So you
(37:49):
know, that's the kind of servicethat we want to provide to our friends
and neighbors in Southeast Texas. SoI know, having you know, I
hate to say cheap insurance, butthe lead expensive insurance. It comes to
mind when you're just having to payfor it, but boy, whenever you
have to use it, having someonethat you can call, even on a
Saturday afternoon, you know, aSaturday evening, when that worst case scenario
(38:13):
is happening to you that will helpyou and be there forward you. We
find extreme value and our customers reallydo value that service. They really do.
And it's not just me, youknow, blowing smoke here, I
promise, because one of my employeeskind of will shout out to her.
I won't mention her name, butshe had an issue in Houston one time
and she was in a bind andwith her family and April, you and
(38:37):
your team, you know, gother taken care of Lify split and she
had nothing but amazing things to continueto say about you. And she had
been a long time customer, youknow. So I guess that's the other
thing. Just because you may bea long term customer with somebody, April's
gonna treat you the same way whetheryou're a long term customer or a first
time you know. Quiet, Sothank you for that. Yeah, absolutely
(38:57):
no, I appreciate that. Thankyou so much. And we do we
try to give that special attention,that extra attention because we know we're not
always the cheapest insurance, right,I mean, Farmers isn't always the cheapest.
Some of our other companies aren't alwaysthe cheapest option. But our goal
is to make sure that you havethe right coverage so that when you do
make that phone call because something badhas happened, that we don't have to
(39:21):
say, oh, I'm sorry,that's not covered by your insurance. You
know, we want to make surethat you don't get that that answer that
you actually, you know, areable to file a claim and you've got
a company that's going to take careof you. Yeah. And the other
thing that a lot of people don'tunderstand about your agency it's a little bit
different, is everybody on your teamunderstands or is in the process of understanding
(39:42):
the whole ball of wacks. Soit's neat to be able to Hey,
you want to talk to April,or she may be in a meeting,
but you can talk to one ofyour team members in nine times out of
ten, unless it's just some wackything like a monkey broke into your house
and started destroying things like that personon the other end the phone is going
to understand and be able to getthe answers that you need. That's right.
(40:02):
All of my team are all licensedUM a matter of fact, they
carry the same licensing that I doUM, and they've all been trained and
mentored by me, and so theyknow you know they have been through some
of those odd experiences like you seeon the Farmers commercials, you know,
or you know the dogs are swimmingin the water in the living room,
(40:22):
you know, and things like that. We really do have crazy things like
that happen. And so you know, they've all worked for me, you
know, mentored under me, andso we you know, we've we've dealt
with those things together and and wedo work together as a team. And
again they all are licensed, um, and so they can answer those questions
and basically take care of you thesame way I could. Um. So
(40:44):
I have to give them a shoutout. Gabby and Ashley and ash Lynn
and Lisa, you know, andTommy and Larry. I mean, they're
fantastic, um, they really are, and they have hearts of gold and
they want to help just you know, help anybody who needs help with their
insurance and whether you're a customer ofours or not. Yeah, and that's
another cool thing. We got abouta minute left, April. But you
(41:07):
know, I know that you lookat other insurances and competitors and you're able
to break those down for people onhelp them with those. But April,
how can people reach you? Wherecan they find you give us all that
good information. Yeah, if youif you've you've seen your mortgagees scrow lately
and you've seen that increase most ofthe time. As of right now,
it's probably due to your insurance becausethe insurance rates are going sky high crazy
(41:30):
in Southeast Texas. So if that'shappening to you and you want to shop
options, please call the team atApril Tilbert Insurance Agency. We're located at
sixteen forty North Major Drive here inBeaumont and you can reach us by phone
four oh nine eight six six,one two three three. Find us on
Facebook April Tilbert Insurance, Google,April tilberd Insurance. We're all over social
(41:53):
media. Reach out to us anywhich way. We'd love to help you.
Fantastic April, Thank you so muchfor being on the show. We
always appreciate your insight and your knowledge. Folks, reach out to April today.
She'll get you taken care of morecoming up on the Royal West Show.
Thanks again, April. We areback and we are wrapping up another
awesome show and folks, has beenso good to get back with you on
(42:14):
the radio. Here we are Sunday, May twenty first, I am now
the mayor of the City of Boumont, and in my first segment, I
just kind of gave you all thereport about having been gone. And then
I spoke with Bishop David Tups andhe was talking about their upcoming event,
Far the Good, which is Saturday, June tenth, keenth. It's a
gala at the Civic Center and it'spretty much sold out, which means next
(42:37):
year you need to sign up earlier. But we were talking about Catholic ministries
and all the different ministries that theCatholic Church does throughout the nine county Boumont
Diocese, and also their new christCentral Camp that is just opening up this
summer, the youth Camp. Andthen spoke with Chris Robertson and he is
(43:00):
the new executive director with Some OtherPlace and Some Other Place is a place
here in Southeast Texas that serves thosethat are underserved, are that maybe not
having enough money for a mortgage,are a light bill, or need food,
(43:22):
have run into hard times, andthey serve people that you know before
they've become homeless. And they alsodo have a food kitchen and they and
they serve people which you don't haveto be homeless to eat, but homeless
do eat there as well as theyhave Henry's Place, which is a ministry
to the homeless. So check themout some other place if you have more
(43:42):
information. Rebecca Woodland with the Conventionand Visitors Bureau. She works out at
the Nature Center out at Terrell Parkthat's opened up really in the last year.
It's really cool. It's an oldbuilding that was resurrected and they have
a lot of summer programs. Besure to check that out. There's a
link in my page. And untilwe talk again, God bless you all.
Good afternoon, Southeast Texas. You'relistening to the Roy West Show and I
haven't been on the air for severalmonths, so I'm just excited to be
back and newly elected mayor of Bomont. Who whoop so, and I have
with me as my first guest back, Bishop David Tups of the Bomont Diocese
(00:24):
diocese that is over nine counties.Welcome back to the radio show with me,
Mayor Roy West. I'm happy tobe on the air with you.
And gosh, I don't know whatyou've been doing the last couple of months,
Roy, I mean campaigning or somethinghaving to do. Yes, a
little bit of that. But nowall that it has been put to bed
and I get to I get toget back on the radio show and get
(00:46):
back talking about what's happening in thecommunity and certainly the Catholic Church. The
Bomont Diocese always has a lot goingon. Y'all got a big event coming
up around the corner that's already soldout, which is a good problem to
have. But we've got lots goingon, so let's talk about that.
Well. We're very excited about thefor the Good Galen. If you're wondering
(01:08):
where that name comes from Romans,Chapter eight, verse twenty eight is for
those who love God, all thingswork together for the good. So for
the past twenty almost twenty five years, Bishop Guillory, before me and now
myself, we had the same mottofor our time as bishop, which in
(01:32):
and of itself is a very unusualthing. Bishops don't hand down their mottos.
It happened to be Bishop Guillories,and it happened to be my own
family's life's scripture, scripture that meantthe world to my family. So when
I saw it was Bishop Guillories,I said, Bishop, I am gonna
follow suit and do something unusual andkeep your motto, which is beautiful because
(01:53):
it's the name of our ninety secondshow every morning on TV, where I
offer a little word of inspiration thatgoes all the way back. Bishop Guillery
did it for twenty plus years,and Bishop Gallante started it. And so
it's it's for the good. Everythingworks together for the good. It's trusting
in God's divine providence. So ourgala is called the for the Good,
(02:16):
emphasizing and helping to support all thegood that the Church is able to do
here in Southeast Texas across are ninecounties here well, and for people that
aren't Catholic, they may not.And I've had I've had the privilege of
(02:39):
getting that well acquainted with all theministry that the Catholic Church does through Catholic
charities and through their local congregation congregations. But many times people don't understand that
so much of the work I'll doit's ecumenical. It is, it is
not, it's for all the everybodyin the community. Yeah, Cardinal Dolan
(03:01):
has a great line. He says, we don't help people because they're Catholic.
We help people because we're Catholic.It's part of who we are as
Christians is we reach across denominational boundariesand we help people because there are simply
needs in our world. And I'mso blessed to be the bishop not only
(03:24):
of this Catholic community here in thesenine counties, but to be a part
of the greater faith community. Royyou and I are certainly brothers in the
Lord, and I feel so connectedto my brother pastors in the area and
the different congregations, and our Jewishand our Muslim communities. I've gotten to
(03:46):
be closer. So there's this greatsense of we are all believers, we're
all in it together, and wewant to build up and strengthen our community.
And I see that in a veryunique way in Southeast Texas, and
I'm so proud and grateful to bea part of it. I know you
feel that way, or you wouldn'thave run from mayor well. And and
(04:10):
then, I mean, what you'resaying just hits home with me, because
certainly we are all better together andworking together, we can just be so
much more effective, uh, inin uniting our community but also reaching those
that are in need that together beingeffective doing that because it's all far the
(04:34):
good. Yeah, amen, andpeople good well and and and this far
the Good Gala one of the reasonsy'all have that, and I know I've
got I was there last year,looking forward to this year. And because
it supports, uh, it supportsthe ministries of the Catholic Church. Yeah,
(04:57):
that's right. So people certainly arevery from the with Catholic charities and
the outreach it does to people poststorms and hurricane victims, people struggling to
make ends, meet people who don'tknow how to pay their own taxes and
helping them with that in mortgage relief, and all these wonderful things are able
to do, not to mention counselingprograms and ministry to children who have lost
(05:23):
loved ones, so so many differentthings that are all a part of Catholic
charities which which we support so well. The Daily ninety second for the Good
experience on TV every morning, andagain some of the things I love about
our community roy as people will comeup to me at HB and let's say,
hey, Bishop, I'm not Catholic, but I listened to you every
(05:46):
day. I was at a BetterBusiness Bureau brunch. That's a lot of
bees just this morning, and Ican't tell you how many people come up
to me and said, hey,I'm not Catholic, I don't know you,
but I start my day. Infact, I know i'm running late.
If I start hearing you and I'mnot out the door, I'm like,
boy, you're getting out that prettyearly. And so it's I'm so
(06:10):
grateful that the diocese is able tosponsor something like that, which is a
word of faith, a word ofencouragement, a word of hope to really
our whole community as we start ourwork day every morning. And so the
outreach of the diocese and certainly itsupports our individual parishes. We have forty
six communities that I'm in charge ofhere throughout Southeast Texas, and we just
(06:36):
love being a part of this localcommunity here in Boumont. And so the
four the Good Gala, I'm gratefulit's sold out. For those who are
listening who would like to go,I'm just gonna say, sign up early
next year because we want to haveit really tons of fun and for me,
that's one of the most important things, coming together and enjoying and celebrating
(07:00):
our life and our common faith inthis community. And certainly the fundraising is
a big part of it. Butfor me, I want people to have
fun and I want us to enjoylife and uh and and do some good
in the process. Well. Andin that y'all, just y'all, things
are always happening, Things are alwaysnew. Uh. Christ Central Camp is
(07:25):
one of the newest additions to SoutheastTexas. And tell people a little bit
about that. For people that havebeen driving in that area, they've they've
got the sea change is happening.But for those that aren't what that what
that means for Southeast Texas, SureSo for those who don't know, we
have a retreat house already here inthe Diocese of Beaumont, right on Major
(07:49):
Drive. As you're approaching what's mycorner there, Roy Tramp, Tramp,
thank you, Major and Tram calledHoly Family Retreat Center. Diocese built it
forty years ago. Our own communitiesuse it all the time. Many people
in the Christian community familiar with ACTS. We have ACTS retreats there all the
(08:13):
time, and other denominations we'll rentit out. It's a wonderful facility,
beautiful gardens and paths to walk,etc. Adjacent to that is another forty
four acres literally on the corner ofTram and Major that was always envisioned one
day to be a camp dedicated specificallyto youth, and so you know,
(08:39):
between storms and economically difficult times,you name it. We've never been able
to move forward until about a yearago a single family here who has been
involved in our own diocese for many, many years stepped forward and said,
Bishop, we want to build thatcamp for our young people. The youth
(09:05):
are the future of our church.We need them. We need them to
know Jesus, we need them toknow their faith. Who want them to
know that faith is fun, andso they have completely sponsored this entire project
that all of us here in SoutheastSexas will benefit from the Campbell House about
(09:26):
a hundred kids at a time,boys cabins, girls cabins. They've dug
a lake, a new beautiful pool, a pavilion with outdoor basketball, a
beautiful chapel for praise and worship andprayer, multi purpose building. It is
exquisite and extraordinary. So if you'rea youth minister at one of our local
(09:50):
churches, I'd encourage you to goto our website Christ Central camp and find
a weekend or find some week daysthat you want to bring your kids out
there. We'd love to have you. It's really going to serve our community
well and a lot of people havecome together to make this really something beautiful
and unique for our area. Sothis is something that y'all will be offering
(10:13):
programs through through local Catholic churches obviouslythere, but it is something that also
can be rented out to the othercommunity across and UH and what a great
location and it's UH and we're gonnahave an open house, oh between our
(10:33):
two. It opens in July andthere'll be an open house on I'm looking
on my phone July the fifteenth,between three and six pm. That's a
Saturday. We figured that's a goodtime for families to pop in. We'll
have free hot dogs flying off thegrill, beautiful big grass gas grill on
(10:54):
by the pool side. So comeon Saturday, July fifteenth for the grand
opening and the fortieth anniversary of thediocese running summer camp. So it's kind
of fun that we're in our newnew digs to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of
having a summer camp. Well,Bishop, I just want to thank you
again for coming on the show andalways being so available, and like you
(11:16):
say, you're familiar face to SoutheastTexas. Every morning everybody sees you on
TV that's up that early, butalso your present throughout the community regularly,
and you you know, you showup everywhere. And I just thank you
because I think it's so important tothe community that all of us in the
(11:39):
community are connected and work together andhelp to solve the challenges that aren't just
unique to Southeast Texas but are presenthere. And I see you as a
great partner in that, and Ijust want to thank you for that and
blessings on you as you start yourterm as our mayor. God bless you.
(12:00):
Thank you so much and talk toyou soon. We are back with
the Roy West Show here on NewsTalk five sixty k LV, and I
have with me Chris Robertson and heis the executive director of some other place
here in Beaumont, Texas. Welcomeback to the show, Chris. Hey,
thank you for having me Roy.I appreciate it, my pleasure.
(12:24):
And for you know, if peoplehave been in Beaumont in any length of
time, they're gonna probably be awareof some other place. But I always
like to assume for those that arenew to the area, you know,
they may not know what some otherplace is. And for even the people
that have heard of it, theyoften don't fully understand what it is that
some other place does. So I'dlove for you to share that for a
(12:46):
minute. Yeah. Absolutely, AndI you know, I think I was
probably included in that in that box. I'd always heard about some other place,
and I worked with the former director, you know, in partnerships in
my last job, and it wasn'tuntil I got over here and accepted the
job and kind of dove in headfirst that I realize to what all it
entails. And so just a briefoverview, we have three children programs.
(13:09):
You know, it's it's not exclusiveto homeless, which I think is a
big misconception a lot of people.I low it because some other places kind
of synonymous with homelessness because it's oneof the few places that have homeless services.
But the majority of services in someother place are not intended directly or
specifically exclusively to homeless. So wehave three children programs. We have a
(13:31):
back to school event that we holdevery year. There's the Giving Tree for
Christmas time where churches and volunteers canget you know, the Giving Tree cards,
and it has a list a wishlist of a kind of low to
modern income children who cups families can'tafford to do Christmas. It has their
wish list that we can provide giftsfor them. And then we have a
(13:52):
Thanksgiving Day store where a lot ofthose same folks from Christmas their families can
come in and we to store environmentwhere they can shop to to get the
stuff that provides all the necessities tomake a Thanksgiving their meal, where otherwise
they may not have had an opportunityto and then jump over to the next
building. It's a rent and utilities, and so we've got the regular you
(14:13):
know, you call and if you'rebehind on your rent, we'll help you
out there. We'll catch you upwith utilities. That that same location has
three clothing stores. It's completely free, but they're set up like little boutiques.
There's a children's clothing, women's clothingin a men's clothing store. And
that's where I was right now.I just got a partnership with Goodwill where
they donate forty men's clothes like topsand bottoms for job trainings and stuff like
(14:37):
that to our clothing store, becausemen clothing was one of the things we
had the least off. But thenthere's also a food pantry in that building,
and then you jump to the nextbuilding over and it's the Nutrition Center,
which is our soup kitchen where mealsare provided here. And it's not
just homeless people who eat there.I think it was sixty percent of the
people who wait there last year.We're not homeless, and so it's it's
just a way for low income familiesto kind of help their budget and get
(15:00):
ahead with some of their expenses,not even to pay for that meal is.
It is very helpful. It alsokind of provides a family dynamic where
people can still come and have asit down experience where we serve hot food
and is. It's kind of likegoing to a restaurant and it doesn't break
the budget and it's free. Andthen the next place over with Henry's Place,
which is the Homeless Service. It'sa day center where we provide showers
(15:22):
and laundry. And there's a newaddition to Henry's Place I'm very proud of
starting in January. But it's showersand laundry. They can use our address
for signing up for benefits, andthat's pretty much what I had stepped into.
That's the structure I had stepped into. And we've done little tweaks here
and there. I don't want tochange the foundation of what's worked so well
for so many years here. Butone of the biggest things that it's come
(15:46):
to fruition since I got here wasan idea I had that really kind of
just excelled in. It's going incrediblywell is case management into Henry's Place.
So starting in January, I tookthe lady her name is Janice Hope and
She kind of was on fire whenI told or about the idea. She
said me, I'll do it,and so I thought, why not.
He was in house talent, youknow it. We'll just kind of give
her a shot. She's familiar withthe population that's here, and so I
(16:08):
put her in on January to bekind of a benefits navigator case manager for
Henry's place to work on. Formerly, with laundry and shout whers, people
could come in and get clean andget their basic necessities meet or met.
But now they have an opportunity whereif they're trying to transition, we've got
that door had it now, sothey can go in there and see Janis.
(16:30):
She'll sign them up for their benefits. She'll work with benefits dot Com
like your Texas Benefits to see whatthey're eligible for. And in the month
of January alone, she transitioned twentypeople out of homeless thefts. And so
it was because it was a blessing. I mean, yeah, she was
ready to go, and then sheshe share has proved it and so she's
really got the heart for it.And I don't know that anyone of the
(16:52):
nation is putting up numbers like thatyet. I mean, she's doing really
well, and it's a variety ofall different things. You know, she's
getting people back to their families ifthey have a support system outside of the
state. She's getting people a coupleof them have gone to rehab and now
we're back upon their feet. Andsome is just the good old help them
apply for benefits, money management trainingand seal up to get their own apartment,
(17:12):
and that's gone. That's been goingwell through this year, so since
January. I don't have a totalyet, but I know the first month
was twenty people transitioned along. Sothat's kind of the new look of some
other place, even if they hadheard about it before. Well. And
that's certainly a challenge that many citiesface in terms of being, you know,
dealing with it effectively because you know, obviously, you know, when
(17:36):
you deal with the homeless population,and from early talks with you, I
mean, they're you know, tryingto put anybody in a box becomes really
difficult, and certainly when it comesto homelessness, the same applies because you
get people from all different walks oflife and why why and how they ended
up there. But but but somany of your services also or before that
(18:02):
to avoid perhaps homelessness. That's right, that's that's my answer is it's kind
of what's the best way to assistwith homelessness, And I still gotta go
even though this program's going really well. My definite answer is still prevention,
you know, making sure that wecan trust the people before the eviction and
it's snowballs. You know, thereare a lot of people the point in
time count. Jane Janielle White wasjust given a recap at the Homeless Coalition
(18:25):
on the point in Time count,and she said that there's a year where
a lot of people are homeless intransition. It doesn't become even in their
minds, she said, it doesn'tbecome permanent that they're homeless within the first
year, so you know, beforethey get evicted or before you know,
whatever life circumstances are that lead themdown that path, if we can get
them an intervene, that's still thebest way to attack homelesness. I think
(18:48):
in the area, well, Iknow, you do a great job,
and y'all got a great heart forthat, and you're meeting the needs in
so many ways, and oftentimes people, churches, you know, organizations want
to get involved in some way,and you know, rather than recreating the
wheel, oftentimes it's best to fitin with an organization that is already ministering
(19:12):
serving people that people have an interest, you know, because sometimes people's interest
is kind of specific, but y'allhave a pretty broad brush that y'all deal
with absolutely. Yeah, thank youfor mentioning that. There's that's been a
conversation a lot when people come inand say, how can we help?
Or you know, a lot ofpeople will come by and they'll pass out
food, and I keep trying toencourage them to work from the same vantage
(19:33):
point. We have a lot ofpartnerships right now with Spindletop, MH and
more. We have the Food Bankcoming to do snap benefits, we have
Cricket Waterless coming to issue out cellphones, Papa John's Jefferson County engagin Care
for medical services. And the reasonfor that is because I think that,
you know, everybody working independently tosolve the problem is tough. But if
(19:55):
we all work from the same vantagepoint and I'll give you the office space,
you know, it really kind ofprovides that, you know, we
can all do it from here kindof thing. And and so we've got
the trust in the community of thehomeless, and we already have the workers,
we've got templates, but we're alsoopen to learning. So if somebody
has something that they're doing that's working, I really want them to come in.
And that's you know, all theway from boots on the ground some
(20:17):
monetary donations. I started this casemanagement program and I'm starting it on a
leap of faith that it goes wellbecause it wasn't. There's not just funding
built in for these things. There'sno way to predict what is that going
to cost at the end of theyear to make sure that we keep transitioning
the homeless population. And we've seenpeople come in from other counties, other
cities, and that's kind of thecaveats it works well. So it does
(20:38):
it give more people the opportunity tocome. So there's a lot that goes
into it that we really need torely on the churches and the individuals to
kind of support us, both bootson the ground and monetarily. Well,
you know, we're getting close tothe last minute, but I know that
Chris, you know you have donean incredible job, but it is there
(21:00):
are so many challenges and as youpoint out. You know, here we
are coming out of COVID, butthere's always new challenges that you know,
you you plan your year on andthen there the challenges exist and you just
have to deal with them and meetingthose needs. So you know, as
a church, as an organization,or as an individual, you know,
(21:22):
reach out because some other places isthere, there their boots on the ground
and sometimes they might be able toalso change your understanding about what is happening
locally, because it's just having anunderstanding is huge. I couldn't have said
it better myself. Absolutely, Iagree. And and what's y'all phone number
and contact? We're wrapping things upin fifteen seconds, all right, so
(21:47):
are and we have all the informationyou'll be found on our website and we're
starting to put the new volunteer opportunitieswe have with the transition up on there
as well. But you can alwayscall us at four zero nine eight three
two seven nine seven six. Andthe website that has all the additional information
with programs and hours and explanations iswww dot some other place Beaumont dot com.
(22:11):
Thank you so much, Chris.I'll say, let's get to see
we are back with the roy WestShow here on News Talk five sixty k
LV, and we are talking aboutsummer activities for kids, and certainly we
(22:32):
have a I'm well welcome Rebecca Woodland, welcome to the show. Thank you
so much. I appreciate the opportunity. And you are out at the Tarot
Park Nature Center, which many peoplemay still be a little bit unfamiliar because
it's been there for decades. Butit got it got redone, it got
(22:52):
a facelift, and now we havea great presence out there. That's right.
It's the historic white brick building thatwas built in the late nineteen thirties
by the Spin Conservation Corps, andof course it was damaged in all the
hurricanes and we, as the Conventionof Visitors Bureau, needed to expand our
tourism and educational offerings and help bringmore overnight birders and travelers. So we
(23:18):
took the COVID time to tart itinto the Terrell Park Nature Center. We're
located in the middle of the parkand we've started adding interactive, hands on
educational program Right now, we're focusedmostly for the elementary school age and homeschool
groups and we're doing all sorts offun interactive nature focused items to do and
(23:41):
Carol Park for those that. Youknow, if you're not a golfer and
you hadn't been into bird watching,you might have not been out there in
recent years. But you know,it's it's a tremendous park right here within
our city, and it's got stables, it's got and then Cattell Marsh is
obviously become a huge draw. Andso just in that process, because we
(24:03):
are getting people from you know,we probably have as many people from out
of town visiting Carol Park as wedo local people. And that's not technical.
I'm just guessing because I know weget a lot of that is correct.
In fact, I've been surprised sinceI've been here at the Nature Center
how many families are traveling on Byten and they're using their GPS and Google
(24:26):
Maps and so forth, and arelooking for a part because I have little
ones in the car that are gettingrestless. You know, that's a different
way of traveling with these young familiesversus when we were growing up. You
know, we didn't have all that. And they look, they find us,
and they want to playground, theywant a bathroom break, and lo
and behold, they find me hereat the Nature Center, and here we
have a scavenger hunt. We havea craft for them to do, so
(24:48):
they're getting some educational interactive and thekids are able to throw off Steve.
Interestingly, we are the seventh attractionalthoughwe're the oldest building on the park,
and besides the stables and so youhave the botanical garden of the golf course.
We're in the beginning and end ofthe disc golf course here, which
is from the disc golfers. ApparentlyTarrel Park is very premier in that area
(25:12):
and they start and stop right here. At the Nature Center. You have
our sister facility, the cat TellMarsh with the boardwalk and the burners.
And the reason we took over thisbuildings because we were running out of room
at Cattail. We didn't have roomfor the gift shop. We couldn't do
our programming. So we and wehave burners coming in. They wanted more
gift shop items, they wanted tohear the histories, and then we want
(25:36):
to educate. So we're excited thatwe're in the seventh botanical garden and the
stables and everything that goes on outhere. There's an archery range. I
can't even We're seven things going onin one park alone in the city of
Oma, right and it is incredible. And I even think there's a new
trail that's being completed right now aswe speak. Right they've got the tractors
(25:59):
out. As something that we asthe CVB, had worked together. We
wanted to link our building here inthe middle of the park or over to
kat till Mar so you wouldn't haveto drive the loop every time. And
so we got some grant money andsome seed money and worked with the city
and they it's like a hike andbike trail. It's a cement Ada accessible
so people can walk at wheelchairs eventuallybike and it begander suit. The park
(26:23):
avoids the disc golf course and theother features, but it allows them to
start with us, wander over toCattail, go over there and you can
walk back. There's gonna be somewhat I call pullout stations, and I
know some initial conversations with Mandola GardenClub and others to have a pullout station
off the paths so you can sitand watch the birding and have the birding
(26:47):
plants and features, and then alsopollinator pollinator's station, so it's a walking
nature trail that's ada accessible and we'llbe keeping you out of the muck and
mud that's in the are there inthe middle of the box, So that's
there. They've got tractors setting thatup right now, so that's in progress
as well. But that's incredible.And I know I have the privilege of
(27:11):
having served on the CVB board Conventionand Visitors Bureau Board for an advisory board
for a while now, so I'vegotten to see a lot of this happened
behind the scenes with the CVB,which just does an incredible job of marketing
our area and reminding people, youknow, and even local people because we
(27:34):
have such a you know, withHouston being so close away, and in
Louisiana, some you know, oftentimespeople like day trips and and we just
have so many different opportunities to dothat, and this was a this was
a big step forward for CVB.But it's also because it y'all do an
incredible job of marketing and in reachingout in which is just so important because
(28:02):
in today's world, there's just somuch information out there sometimes it's kind of
hard to cut through it. ButCBB does an excellent job of doing that.
So I'm so excited, but let'stalk. We got about four minutes
left. Let's talk about the summerprogram. Right. We have partnered with
the Texas the local chapter Sabine NaturesChapter of the Texas Master Naturalists, and
(28:22):
we are doing six Tuesday mornings startingin mid June through July, and it's
a nine thirty two eleven heared forelementary school students here at the Nature Center.
It's a free program. We'll havestations set up throughout the building,
all interactive, hands on so we'redoing a program on native bees. We're
(28:45):
doing another Tuesday on frogs and reptiles, one on Texas critters which means wildlife,
and they're gonna talk about wildlife trackingin prints and things, creepy crawleys,
which is insects, butterflies and pollinators, and then we end with the
utical life. It's all free.You just need to sign up because these
particulars Tuesdays June twentieth, twenty seventh, July eleventh, twenty fifth, and
(29:08):
August one. And if they wantto reach me at the Nature Center,
I've got all the information to passout, email whatever. It's mostly children
for grades one through five, fivesix years old to eleven to twelve year
old, and it's all interactive.They're going to be making tracks or they're
going to be making everything's project andhands on interactive. So there's experiments that
(29:32):
are related to that nature games likehow did the birds eat? You know
what beaks? Make them eat thoseparticular types of foods and use the tools
for that. So it's all designedto get them excited about nature. It's
all nature based, but we're excitedto offer that, and that's basically the
end of June through July and thefirst of August. In addition to that,
(29:53):
we partnered with the Beaumont Public Libraryto offer on those same Tuesday afternoons
at two clock in the afternoon afamily story time and the library librarians are
coming here. They're going to havea storybook that's a nature based and a
craft that is all going on freeonce again. That's a come in family
(30:14):
homeschool. Come in with your littleone, enjoy that. And then we've
already started our continuing our once amonth program on Saturday mornings, a drop
in family and it's on different naturetopics. We've done Earth Day, We've
done flowers. I have a wholeseries of those. Those are drop ins.
(30:36):
You don't need to sign up,just come geared for all ages.
Everything's predominantly for that elementary school ageand sort of our target, primary target.
We're including everyone homeschoolers, daycares andso forth, and that's just what
we have on the calendar now.More will be coming, So reach out
to me here at the Taroal ParkNature Center and I'll be certainly glad to
(30:59):
send whatever information. Get kids signedup for those that need advance reservations otherwise,
get the dates and just come onout to the Nature Center morning,
noon or night money Friday. AndI know y'all have a robust website for
the CVB. Is this information youable to sign up online as well?
We're not at that point yet becauseI want to make sure i'm talking to
(31:22):
students. The information is on ourFacebook page as far as a calendar of
events that's being posted. Just callme and then I can or come by.
And I've got to sign up listfor those that need to sign up,
so we're working on that to havethe social media post to share that
information well, and I'll be sharingthat as well on my page and certainly
Rebecca, I know you're doing atremendous job. I've known you for decades.
(31:47):
You bring passion and you know toeverything that you do and we are
so fortunate to have this here inBeaumont. And again, thank you for
all that you do and we're goingto continue to get the word out about
it. Thank you so much.I appreciate it. All right, see
you again soon. Welcome back tothe Roy West Show. I'm your host,
(32:12):
Zach Styles. We've had a greatshow so far and we're gonna keep
it going. We always have thebest guests, and today is a day
like no other. We've got theone and only April Tolbert with Farmers Insurance
Agency. April Welcome to the show. Hi, Zach, thank you so
much for having me. I reallyI always enjoy that and I can't say
thank you enough to you and toRoy for this show. I love listening
(32:36):
to this show. You guys reallydo always have the best guests. And
yeah, I keep I keep upwith what's happening in in Southeast Texas through
you guys. That's right, andthat's what we aim to do. We
want to make sure that people understandsome of the best businesses that they can
go to for services such as yourselffor insurance, but also what's going on
in our community with nonprofits and thingslike that. April, Man, I
(32:59):
tell you, this spring has beena wild spring. We've had some crazy
weather. We had a hailstorm aboutfour weeks ago that was kind of nuts
and wild. And you know,people I don't think understand the benefit of
always having an insurance agent right righthere locally that understands the coverages that we
need and things like that. Andone thing that I get a lot of
times is, you know, coverageis changing and people not understanding those changes.
(33:22):
April. So in your you knowbusiness and your business model, you
know, what are some things thatyou're seeing and doing, you know,
to help make sure your clients understandthe different insurances available to them in coverages.
Well, that is a very goodquestion. I appreciate that very much
because I know, you know fromexperience, not only are on personal experience,
(33:43):
but helping people with their mortgages.You know, the experience is not
always good with insurance. And sowhat we try to do in my agency
is, yes, we are alocal agency. We're all local people.
We know insurance in Southeast Texas andwe have multiple insurance carriers. I know
everyone knows me as April Tolbert,the Farmer's agent, but what they don't
(34:07):
usually know until they get to meis that we actually have multiple carriers outside
of Farmers that we placed people throughas well. So we do a lot
of research on the policies, onthe companies, on the available coverages,
to compare one policy to another,so that you're not when you're shopping for
(34:27):
your insurance, you're not just gettingoh, here's the cheapest price. You're
getting Okay, this one might bethe cheapest, this one's the most expensive,
here's one that's in the middle.But let me explain to you the
differences, so that way you're makingan educated decision. You're making a choice
that's best for you. Sometimes theleast expensive might be the absolute best.
(34:51):
Sometimes it's the middle of the road. Sometimes it's the more expensive that people
want because of the extra coverages thatare involved. So what I say all
the time is don't wait till it'stoo late. We're coming into hurricane season
here coming up in a couple ofweeks June first, as the start of
hurricane season, So educate yourself aboutyour insurance. Please know who you're gonna
(35:14):
call if that worst case scenario happens, if we have another hill storm come
through that pounds your roof, orif we have a tropical storm, a
hurricane of flood you know, makesure you know who you're going to call,
and make sure that they are talkingto you about your options for deductibles,
for coverages, for extras that youmight not necessarily know that you need.
(35:37):
If your agent is not asking youquestions like do you have expensive pieces
of jewelry, do you own agolf carter or an ATV? You know,
those kind of things may need extracoverage. They may not be covered
by your homeowners policy the way youwould like them to be. So just
make sure you've got a good relationshipwith your insurance agent, because in Southeast
Texas, unfortunately, we have touse our insurance a lot more than people
(36:01):
in other parts of the country do. That's right, and I'm glad you
mentioned that because I think some peopleeven moving to this area, you know,
they may have been in an areain North Texas or even another state
where they're not familiar with the windstormcoverages, flood coverages and things like that,
and all of a sudden they startshopping insurance down here, and they're
not understanding. Well, if they'refrom another area, they're not understanding that,
(36:23):
no, you really need good insurancedown here because you actually will use
it, unlike the area that youcame from. And I have that conversation
a lot of times with people whenthey're wanting to know about their monthly note
and things like that. It's like, no, look, I promise you
whatever X Y and Z mortgage companyor whatever they said your insurance. Because
they're from out of state. Theysaid it was going to be one hundred
dollars a month. I was likethat, they don't get the game here,
(36:45):
you know. And you know,kind of back to your point.
You know, you could get insurancefrom from anywhere, right, but having
somebody that you can sit down andtalk to and that answers the phone,
you know, that goes a longways. And I think that people need
to understand that the April Holber team, they're going to answer their phone.
They're going to be accessible to youso that you can get those answers that
(37:07):
you need in a fast and quicktimely manner. I really appreciate you saying
that, because we'll go back tothat hail storm, you know, that
happened four weeks ago or so.You know, a perfect example. It
happened on a Saturday afternoon to Saturday, you know, late afternoon, early
evening. And guess what April wasdoing. Guess what my team was doing.
We were answering our phones. Wewere returning calls from our office.
(37:29):
We were answering texts on our cellphones, texts that were being sent to
the office, you know, aspeople cars were being damaged, people afraid
that their roofs might be damaged,you know, and giving those people advice
and kind of sucking them through whatthe next steps are and determining and filing
claims if we need to, youknow, if that warrants. So you
(37:49):
know, that's the kind of servicethat we want to provide to our friends
and neighbors in Southeast Texas. SoI know, having you know, I
hate to say cheap insurance, butthe lead expensive insurance. It comes to
mind when you're just having to payfor it, but boy, whenever you
have to use it, having someonethat you can call, even on a
Saturday afternoon, you know, aSaturday evening, when that worst case scenario
(38:13):
is happening to you that will helpyou and be there forward you. We
find extreme value and our customers reallydo value that service. They really do.
And it's not just me, youknow, blowing smoke here, I
promise, because one of my employeeskind of will shout out to her.
I won't mention her name, butshe had an issue in Houston one time
and she was in a bind andwith her family and April, you and
(38:37):
your team, you know, gother taken care of Lify split and she
had nothing but amazing things to continueto say about you. And she had
been a long time customer, youknow. So I guess that's the other
thing. Just because you may bea long term customer with somebody, April's
gonna treat you the same way whetheryou're a long term customer or a first
time you know. Quiet, Sothank you for that. Yeah, absolutely
(38:57):
no, I appreciate that. Thankyou so much. And we do we
try to give that special attention,that extra attention because we know we're not
always the cheapest insurance, right,I mean, Farmers isn't always the cheapest.
Some of our other companies aren't alwaysthe cheapest option. But our goal
is to make sure that you havethe right coverage so that when you do
make that phone call because something badhas happened, that we don't have to
(39:21):
say, oh, I'm sorry,that's not covered by your insurance. You
know, we want to make surethat you don't get that that answer that
you actually, you know, areable to file a claim and you've got
a company that's going to take careof you. Yeah. And the other
thing that a lot of people don'tunderstand about your agency it's a little bit
different, is everybody on your teamunderstands or is in the process of understanding
(39:42):
the whole ball of wacks. Soit's neat to be able to Hey,
you want to talk to April,or she may be in a meeting,
but you can talk to one ofyour team members in nine times out of
ten, unless it's just some wackything like a monkey broke into your house
and started destroying things like that personon the other end the phone is going
to understand and be able to getthe answers that you need. That's right.
(40:02):
All of my team are all licensedUM a matter of fact, they
carry the same licensing that I doUM, and they've all been trained and
mentored by me, and so theyknow you know they have been through some
of those odd experiences like you seeon the Farmers commercials, you know,
or you know the dogs are swimmingin the water in the living room,
(40:22):
you know, and things like that. We really do have crazy things like
that happen. And so you know, they've all worked for me, you
know, mentored under me, andso we you know, we've we've dealt
with those things together and and wedo work together as a team. And
again they all are licensed, um, and so they can answer those questions
and basically take care of you thesame way I could. Um. So
(40:44):
I have to give them a shoutout. Gabby and Ashley and ash Lynn
and Lisa, you know, andTommy and Larry. I mean, they're
fantastic, um, they really are, and they have hearts of gold and
they want to help just you know, help anybody who needs help with their
insurance and whether you're a customer ofours or not. Yeah, and that's
another cool thing. We got abouta minute left, April. But you
(41:07):
know, I know that you lookat other insurances and competitors and you're able
to break those down for people onhelp them with those. But April,
how can people reach you? Wherecan they find you give us all that
good information. Yeah, if youif you've you've seen your mortgagees scrow lately
and you've seen that increase most ofthe time. As of right now,
it's probably due to your insurance becausethe insurance rates are going sky high crazy
(41:30):
in Southeast Texas. So if that'shappening to you and you want to shop
options, please call the team atApril Tilbert Insurance Agency. We're located at
sixteen forty North Major Drive here inBeaumont and you can reach us by phone
four oh nine eight six six,one two three three. Find us on
Facebook April Tilbert Insurance, Google,April tilberd Insurance. We're all over social
(41:53):
media. Reach out to us anywhich way. We'd love to help you.
Fantastic April, Thank you so muchfor being on the show. We
always appreciate your insight and your knowledge. Folks, reach out to April today.
She'll get you taken care of morecoming up on the Royal West Show.
Thanks again, April. We areback and we are wrapping up another
awesome show and folks, has beenso good to get back with you on
(42:14):
the radio. Here we are Sunday, May twenty first, I am now
the mayor of the City of Boumont, and in my first segment, I
just kind of gave you all thereport about having been gone. And then
I spoke with Bishop David Tups andhe was talking about their upcoming event,
Far the Good, which is Saturday, June tenth, keenth. It's a
gala at the Civic Center and it'spretty much sold out, which means next
(42:37):
year you need to sign up earlier. But we were talking about Catholic ministries
and all the different ministries that theCatholic Church does throughout the nine county Boumont
Diocese, and also their new christCentral Camp that is just opening up this
summer, the youth Camp. Andthen spoke with Chris Robertson and he is
(43:00):
the new executive director with Some OtherPlace and Some Other Place is a place
here in Southeast Texas that serves thosethat are underserved, are that maybe not
having enough money for a mortgage,are a light bill, or need food,
(43:22):
have run into hard times, andthey serve people that you know before
they've become homeless. And they alsodo have a food kitchen and they and
they serve people which you don't haveto be homeless to eat, but homeless
do eat there as well as theyhave Henry's Place, which is a ministry
to the homeless. So check themout some other place if you have more
(43:42):
information. Rebecca Woodland with the Conventionand Visitors Bureau. She works out at
the Nature Center out at Terrell Parkthat's opened up really in the last year.
It's really cool. It's an oldbuilding that was resurrected and they have
a lot of summer programs. Besure to check that out. There's a
link in my page. And untilwe talk again, God bless you all.
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