December 17, 2024 • 39 mins
Operation Save Our City's Roz Pichardo stops by to discuss her organization that helps the community of Philadelphia. Through the discussion, both Britt and Roz reflect back on their history, present and future. Throughout the interview, Roz discusses the vital role that organizations like Operation Save Our City play in providing resources, compassion, and community for those affected by addiction. She also highlights the importance of reducing stigma, promoting empathy, and offering practical support in the healing process. Whether you're someone seeking help, a family member supporting a loved one, or simply interested in learning more about addiction recovery, this conversation is sure to offer valuable insights and inspiration.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome to be a voice. I'm Brick Carpenter and this
is Usula Media. I'm really excited about. Today's show is
actually the third episode of my fifth season, which really
means that I started in twenty eighteen with this show.
And I've had many guests on over the years that
have shared their stories, have shared their journeys, people that
I've partnered with in the community, and this guest that
(00:45):
I have today is one that I have partnered with
from the very beginning. She was one of the first
persons that became my biggest supporter, ally confidant, one of
my best friends, my snackpack. She also is one of
the largest advocates here in Philadelphia for many causes, for
(01:06):
many voices in our city that can't be voices for themselves,
and she's a leader in the communities that are most
vulnerable and needed. The person I'm sitting here with today
really defines what season five is all about. And it's
about switching gears. It's about the evolution of a person.
It's about changing, you know, directions sometimes to a company
(01:28):
what meets the needs of the times, and you know,
we need to constantly evolve where we stay status quo
and status quo is never acceptable, at least in my world.
So today I'm sitting here with somebody who has been
definitely switching gears over the last few years and has
been making great strides at doing so. Today I'm sitting
here with ros.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Pichardoh hey, Roz, Hey, thanks for having me, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
For being here. You know, it's a I wish we
could count the time. So many times it's been. We've
been here quite often.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, yeah, many different stories.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. You know we started over in
the radio, the radio booth. Yeah, and then we go yeah,
we evolved, We evolved from that too in these last years.
But you know, as I sit here, I was like,
I consider, and we can start right off the back
talking about you know everything. You know, I've known you
for years. You do an amazing workout on the streets. We've,
(02:19):
like I said, we've we started doing outreach when it
was just the two of us years ago, working out
of the back of the Hoofie with a smashed out
window in the car. But we were out there just
doing the work. You know. We may not have known
exactly what we were doing, but we were learning along
the way. We were switching gears, we were evolving, but
the outreach that we do is really important. And you know,
(02:40):
we met in a blizzard. Basically, well we met before that,
but we really bonded in a in a blizzard, in
a tent next to your mom's house. So I'm gonna
let you explain why that was and what that evolution
was and get to how you became where you are today.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So the camp out for Piece is where the tent
was located. It's a three days protests camp out for
pets in honor of many people who lost their loved
ones due to gun violence. My brother was murdered in
twenty twelve, which is why I started the organization Operations
Savior City and to kind of like EVA. From helping
(03:18):
families of homicide victims and sitting in the couches of
many mothers explaining the process of the funeral cost, the protests,
the visuals, the funeral costs, like all of these things
that parents at the time didn't know how to navigate
because it's not the norm to lose a loved one
(03:38):
to gun violence and no one's expecting to bury their child.
So from sitting on a mom's couch to doing the
protests for three days was very It was one of
the most powerful moments in my life in a sense,
where can I actually sleep in the cold for three days?
Is that possible? Who will support me in this mission?
(04:00):
Because for me it was my brother was murdered in January,
He was left in the snow to die, and for me,
that just spoke volumes to me. And choosing January to
camp out and to have families come in with their images,
share their images, and a lot of the times I
was on different platforms on social media sharing my live
(04:24):
experience and people followed, like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of people followed, and throughout the three day weekend, people
will leave their images and it really made an impact
in my life, but also in the impact on the
families lives who came out to support.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, it's interesting you were doing exactly what you know,
you would think victim services would be doing or should
be doing in a city as large as Philadelphia. And
you know, in my knocking in the city for that
sure I am because here we have a you know,
an everyday person, you know, a citizen, a resident in
their own community going out and doing exactly what the
(05:06):
city should be doing for them. So what made you
do that? I mean, you know, you know North Philly
is is. It's sad to say, but it's a it's
a it's a mecca for violence, gun violence. You know,
not that it's the only area, because it's everywhere in
our city, it's everywhere in our countries, everywhere. You know,
we all experience it. But why why did you say that?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I mean when you look at the different services that
Philly has, it's a culture thing too, Like I couldn't
go to certain organizations and ask for certain things because
they didn't know the culture of a Latino family. You know,
they didn't understand like a little saudio. Look, you know,
when somebody dies or someone loses their life. You know,
other places don't understand that. And so I wanted to
(05:49):
create a space that was that I knew that I
was familiar with. And so creating spaces where we can
join families at a rosario, you know, where it wouldn't
be disrespectful because we understood it, you know, and the
viduals and in all of these things that we do,
and the little sadios don't happen just for one day.
(06:11):
It's several days of prayer and like a chanting and
that kind of thing. So you can't go to every
victim services and they understand that. So being able to
sit in these special moments with families was really important
for me. And you know, in a place where they
don't have that kind of service, then we build it.
(06:33):
And that's what we did. And I think that being
able to and I and we serviced all families like
all cultures, but there was nothing for us. There was
nothing for us. So then you know the only thing
that I could do was just build my own space
that I knew that my family needed and that kind
of thing. So and I knew that other families need it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you've built a space, You've built an empire with it,
You've built you built a movement.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
We talked with Dan Gilman, you know, from who we
helped last time, and you know, we talk about the
different organizations out there, you know, you know, and most
of us that have been connected through this community have
built movements, you know, and you have you know, given
a platform to people. You know that well number one
that I'm going to peel it back a little bit.
(07:20):
You know, your brother Shooter, the person human or your
brother has never been brought to justice.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Correct, He's never been brought to justice. And that's one
of the things that we have to sit with. And
then one of the things that I also wanted to
share is that you know, there's a lot of things
that Congresso does that I can do. There's a lot
of things that Concilio does that I can't do. I mean,
(07:46):
I would be at capacity if I was trying to
do the same amount of work that they do. So
you know, I think everyone in this violence prevention world
has their own lane and figure out which lane that
we can master in. And I'm good at certain things
that other organization is not good at. And I know
when I need to pass up Atona say I can
(08:08):
help you with this, but they can help you with that.
And that's the same thing in the recovery world, when
we're dealing with people who are out in the streets
and we're putting people into housing and into treatment facilities.
And again, when we're talking about minus prevention and even recovery,
one particular place may not be good for that particular person.
(08:29):
So we have to navigate those systems as well.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And that's making the connections it's you know, meeting individuals,
it's meeting the people where they are. Yeah, you know,
we talk about that a lot in the world that
we're in. You know, like I said, most people can
sit quiet, and most people will sit quiet because they
don't know what to do, but they don't know how
to do it, and there isn't really any guidance for that.
And you've actually been a leader in the community that
(08:55):
have led people to actually starting organizations and starting their
own movements and becoming part of yours and operations. Save
our City is exactly that. It started out with the
gun violence prevention and I've been with you as we've
handed out gunlocks with even sept the transit police over
on Broad Street, and you and I would drive around
(09:16):
and hand them out, and you know, you would warn
the kids, don't use him as bike locks, because I'll
take the bike and I'll take your lock too.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Right, I've had quite a few bikes, you know. And
you know that that day even too, brought me to
full circle in a sense where we were working with
Scott Charles Temple University Emergency.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Scott was out with us in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That trauma bay and and I didn't work with him
at that time. If you remember, I don't think I was.
I was working at the emergency room at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh my gosh, this was this was way before the
emergency room. This was years we're going back to, like
this was like eighteen, I believe in.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, eighteen nineteen. Yeah. And then I ended up working
in the emergency room in the trauma bay for a
couple of years, and that was definitely an experience that
I could never forget. Just I mean all of those experiences.
It's particularly working with gunshot victims seeing it firsthand and
(10:12):
I mean literally seeing it, like pulling people out of
cars and watching this these cars barrel down the bay
and we pulled into people coating and we're doing chest
compressions as with riding through into the bay. Stuff that
you would see on television was some real life stuff
that we were seeing in the er. And those are
(10:35):
one of the experiences that one of many that I
could never forget because for me, having that experience brought
me to when my brother was murdered, shot and taken
to that same hospital, which was Temple University, and they
had no trauma advocates, so we would sit for twenty
twelve we sat on the floor, I think it was
(10:57):
a fourth floor, I think, for ten hours words with
no updates when he was in the o R. And
just to know that I helped a family with that process,
a family no longer had to wait ten hours. You know,
I can give you an update every hour he's still
in the OAR or she's still in the o R,
(11:19):
or if they do pass along, I can sit there
and understand what's getting ready to happen. You know, we're
getting ready give this death notification. What's getting ready to
happen and what services? And how do I prepare this
person's face or bodies so that this family can view
them in a way that's respectful because my family experienced that,
(11:41):
you know. So it was just one of those moments.
I mean, I'm not there any more, obviously, but because
God had a bigger plan for me.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I was gonna say I wanted to bring that up,
but go ahead and finish it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, he had a bigger plan. And I think that
that was just one level of preparing me for what
my community was about to give me.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And I love the word that you use, prepare, because
I wanted to say this and I want to interject
because it's so important for people to know this that
there are so many people out there that are educated
in the fields of study that they're practicing in. There's
a lot of people out there that have letters behind
their names, and that's amazing. They worked hard for it.
They worked their asses off to get there, and those
(12:23):
letters are deserved, and you know, they specialize in that.
But there's also people like myself and yourself especially that
has lived experience and has worked through the School of
the Streets. You started with operators to save our city.
The gun violence you started dabbling in, you know when
(12:45):
the encampment started turning because the opioid crisis, the opioid epidemic,
the public health crisis were facing hit close to home
for you, family, your neighborhood, your community. You evolve from
that and then all of a sudden, you start working prevention,
one of the God sends in the city that is
needed here in Kensington, that we need here in our city.
(13:06):
And you weren't just doing that. You were working doing
operations save our city. You were still working with the
gun vines. You were doing Friday and Saturday nights in
the er at Temple with trauma working with page and
getting up on Saturday and Sundays and doing whatever you
had to do then. So that is like having tons
of letters behind your name. Do you't understand what I'm saying. Yeah,
that education that you gave yourself and that put yourself
(13:29):
through has taken you to where you are today. So
that was Guy's bigger plan for you, I believe.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, And I think that you know the whole misconception
of having a degree. I mean, I don't have a
degree in shit but the streets, but I've mastered the
craft of loving people and giving people everything that I have.
It was all around. It was all based around trauma.
My experience of both surviving and attempted homicide, losing my
(13:54):
brother the murder, losing my twin sister to suicide, all
of those levels.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
You've been a victim of gun violence, yes, and domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So it's one of those things like you don't need
to agree to show compassion and to show love and
to give people your understanding. And working in the recovery field,
you know, was an accident in a sense because I
was stepping back from the violence prevention field and was
like I needed to step back to regroup to re
(14:24):
rebuild myself for a little bit, for like a month
or so. But I needed to serve and I didn't
know what capacity until I started handing out snack packs
when we were riding around Kensington. So we're riding around Kensington, yes,
and I think that, you know, coming across people who
was suffering in that way was like it wasn't new
(14:46):
to me because I was born and raised in Kensington.
But I didn't know what an overdose looked like. I
didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know what
the heck was going on until I responded, And I'm like,
I responded caressing the head because I didn't know about
narkin holding their hand. I didn't know about rescue breaths.
I didn't know anything about that, you know. So being
(15:10):
able to learn that skill and reverse the amount of
overdoses that I've had today as of today, it's probably
about two thousand and five hundred and something.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know, and you're you're at the epicenter where you live,
within the realm of the neighborhoods of it, so you
see it. You see it with just going about your
daily business.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It's every day, every other day, so.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You know, fortunate to have somebody like yourself who learned that.
I mean, I remember the first time we responded to
an overdose under Emerald City, and I remember her and
it was pretty crazy because there was nobody out there
doing what we were doing. When they were turning gird
the street tracks over and nobody wanted to touch it,
and it was only the two of us out there
were like, what the hell are doing here? And all
of a sudden they were calling, and you know, that
(15:57):
really sets something for me.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And you know, you know what, I think a lot
of people were doing it, but a lot of people
were underground in a sense where a lot of people
didn't want to be seen doing this work because one
of the pushback that we see now, So that back then,
oh yeah, but not as much as we see now.
I think now they'll push back as well. Either they're
(16:22):
trying to they're trying to like pass I don't know
if they passed a bill yet for the mobile unit units,
and I think that's you know, that's ridiculous. I think
to to to deny people access to care is inhumane.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
What Roz is referring to is that there are many
mobile units now in Kensington and the city itself, not
just Kensington. I want that to be really clear. This
isn't just a Kensington issue. This is city wide, This
is South Philly, this is West Philly. This is your
backyard people. I need people to realize this. But the
mobile unit specifically in Kensington. Because of the quality of
(16:58):
life that this Kensington cock ass has come up with,
they have now banned the use of mobile units for
wound care and distributing of any types of supplies for
harm reduction or prevention. That includes the clinics that provide
them with meds and stuff like that. So basically, and
(17:19):
I'm saying this has nothing to do with Roz the
city is what they're doing is signing death warrants to
people who can't have access to these resources. So I
just wanted to interject there and let Roz take it
from there. So Rod's had nothing to do with that
statement I did so in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
No, I just think, I mean, I just think that
when people start messing with the lives of people who
are suffering, I mean, karma is going to come back around.
And no matter how you're looking at it, no matter
how you look at these are human beings, you know,
and if they want to, because for me, the city
(17:54):
will always not have this separation between church and state,
will always use some churches, you know, and pay these
churches for services rendered when all they're doing is handing
out these pamphlets and say this is a service rendered.
But then yet you're paying these churches this money, but
they're not really providing service other than wearing these bright
(18:15):
ass vessels and huddering, hovering over people and laid hands.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But yet during the hearing, they bashed and went after
and attacked one of the reverend, Reverend phili Galita, who
was board member, friend, colleague, walks the streets, went after
him and attacked him for being a member of the church.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
But because he wasn't a member of the right church,
right church, he wasn't a member of the right church,
you know. And that's the sad part when you look
at if they want to be biblical, what would Jesus do?
And he would say, serve the people. And I think
they're picking and choosing, and I think at the end
(19:00):
of the day, there should always be a separation between
church and state, because that's the right thing to do.
Absolutely absolutely, I don't know, I just think we just
need to focus on the on the message in hand,
and that's just you know, don't give up whatever wherever
your path takes you, just keep doing it. Wherever your
heart tells you to go, follow it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Follow with your gut. Yeah, gut knows what's up. You know,
you know you are the best proct knowledge you have.
You know, it used to be doing serving as part
of our daily lives. It's supposed to be what we're
supposed to do. It's really what we're here for. You know,
I when you peelose layers back and if you really
did that, but you know, you've taken your service from
what we've talked about, the streets to a tent, all
these different facets. You were with prevention point, you were
(19:43):
with the fire PA, you started learning policy wasn't your favorite,
but you started learning it and you got you've got
something to know from there. All of a sudden, you like,
really just the brakes hit, you did a one to eighty,
and all of a sudden, there was this there was
this vision you had years ago when they closed the
(20:05):
storefront on Kensington Avenue, that you were going to keep
it alive in some much shape or form, and you
held true to that promise. You did what you said
you were going to do when you reopened that storefront
under a different realm. It's under your realm of operations
to save our city. But it's called the Sunshine House. Yes,
and the Sunshine House is now tell us about the
(20:27):
Sunshine House.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Actually it's thriving. It's like one of those spaces. So
the Sunshine House is a space where anyone can go
if you need resources, trauma form classes, stop the bleed, trainings,
art workshops, open mic night, movie night. We have a
case manager to get into services treatment. We have two
(20:50):
nurses on board. So it's just a space of healing
and that of love. I think it's important to provide
the services that community needs. And I think with everyone
getting pushed back, like Savage Sisters got closed down because
they had a store front. But I think that it's
shifted because I provide other services and I'm a resident
(21:13):
and I've been there my entire life. And yeah, there's
a hierarchy, yeah, And I think that I think that
I have a very loud voice when it comes to
people being disrespectful or put in policy before people.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And I think I want to clarify. When you say
you have a loud voice, it's a powerful voice. It's
a voice that people listen to. It's a voice of reason.
It's not that you're just spouting.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Off or your just you know, underhearing, understand me.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Listen to what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Listen to what I'm saying. And it's not coming from
a disrespectful place. Is coming from a place of experience.
And and I've sat at many many tables, you know,
I've sat hundreds of ta know, Never in a million
years that I ever think that I'll be sitting at
the White House training them on how to minister arcane right.
(22:09):
Never in a million years. And I think I'll be
able to be with the DEA doing stuff with them.
Never in a million years have there ever been harm
reduction in the midst with the DEA. And that's only
because I kept running it in their face, like listen,
you know, even one of your even when I can't
get into details or specific about names, but even one
(22:31):
of an agent that I know, Sun had passed away
in Kensington, guy, And that is where it all began.
And that's where I said, listen, harm reduction runs deep,
doesn't it, I said, so, what are we going to do?
Just because you're an agent doesn't mean you can't help.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And he comes to the rallies that we spoke at,
he's shown up, he's there. Yeah, And that speaks volumes
for that too, because one thing that people have to
understand and realize is that there have been so many
walls built, and there's been so many you know, trenches
and gaps dug between you know, residents and communities and
(23:12):
neighborhoods and you know parties and religions and whatever the
case may be that you know, building bridges is very difficult,
and bridging those gaps and communities is difficult. But what
you've been able to do is you've been able to
bring people to make connections. And I want to talk
about those connections because you missed something. And I was like,
oh my gosh, say it wrong, I say it when
I was asking you to talk about the Sunshine House.
(23:34):
You missed one of the biggest things that you do.
Tell me about that because that is amazing, And tell
us statist, give us some numbers please.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah. So the messaging centers, yes, miss that. The messaging
center is like one of the key components of the
Sunshine House and so far we were able to make
over eight hundred connections. We've been there since March and
it's like a service. There's nothing like it in Kensington.
It's like a messaging sense, like a messaging box, like
(24:01):
if a mailbox, but with words.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So if i'm if I say I'm on sheltered and
i'm I am on the streets and you come in, I.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I do, and you make a phone call, you call
mom and mom calls back and you can't answer the phone. Obviously,
I collect that information that that message you want to send,
and I say, Steve will come in and say do
I have any messages? Yes, you do. Your mom's at
the caller, your daughter is sick, or your your dad's
birthday is coming up, you know that kind of thing.
(24:31):
So making all those connections is great also with folks
who are going to treatment and need some meds like
the doctor's a call and all of that stuff. So
it is so so important to have these connections and
it's one of those things that is much needed and
we always need supplies. So if anybody wants to support
(24:53):
operations Saver City, what do they need to do? So
shun House. They need to reach out to Operations Save
our City at gmail dot com and let me know
what supplies they can donate, socks, snacks, art supplies, nacks, clothing,
winter coats, blankets, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
So then you know, these people get connected and it's
one of those things that we miss, I mean on
the streets. Everybody tends to forget that. You know, everybody
out there is somebody somebody, and there are people out
there that are looking for their loved ones. And you
and I know that very much because we also are
administrators for a Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Called Missing in Philly.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yep, there's three of us ras myself and yeah, but anyway,
I have been.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yes, I think that, and I love the fact that
we use Missing in Philly but also use the Kensington
Sushine House. We have a wall that's for your posters.
If you're missing someone in Kensington, believe mean they are
coming into the Sunshine House and looking at themselves on
this wall. I have a missing wall and then I
(26:06):
have a found side. There has been plenty of times
where my Sunshines I call on my Sunshines will come
and remove their photo and put themselves on found on
the found side, and I say, before you do that,
call that number on the back of that photo, because
I promised that I would do that, so they will call.
And I said, you know, if they call, if you
(26:28):
get here at seven, you can leave a message because
sometimes they're not ready to talk to their families, but
leaving that message because they know their family sleep. So
I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, And you know what, it's just the connecting, letting
them hear the voice, letting them know. I think that's
what some people are realize, like addiction being a person
in recovery, long term recovery, and knowing that, you know,
addiction was part of my life for over half my life,
and knowing how to destroy my life and my family's life.
And I think people forget that it affects the families
(27:01):
so much more sometimes than it affects the individual because
they're out there looking, they're out there they're losing sleep,
they're losing jobs because they're worried about stuff, the trauma
and the effects. So you're providing a peace of mind,
You're providing a connection that they've never experienced before because
they really a lot of people don't know how to
(27:22):
go about starting to do so, so you give them
that ability to do it. So the Sunshine House, and
you know, you call them your Sunshines. You've been called
them that since the Love Lot, before the Love.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Lit and why Yeah, I think the Sunshine is just
like an endearing name for anyone and everyone, you know,
instead of calling people these so nasty names like junkie, zombies, addicts,
Like those words are demeaning, they're disgusting, they're stigmatizing, junkie addict, zombies, crackhead, fied,
(27:57):
like all of these negative words. And for me, after
working on someone for you know, for twenty minutes and
he ended up dying, and I could hear people in
the background calling this person a junkie. Oh, that junkie
did it to himself. Oh that attict did it to himself,
Oh that addict this, and hearing that why I'm working
on this person. I mean, he kind of did something
(28:19):
to me. And in the midst of working with him,
I just kept saying, wake up, Sunshine, wake up, and
that kind of stuck with me and I think that
that was that was that, And now I call as
Mama Sunshine, Mama Sunshine, and everybody else. My son shines
and every does it.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I'm gonna tell you it's funny because you know, everybody's like, oh, well,
you know there there is this fine line of the
work that we do and the work that we do
in people's eyes. And there are certain people out there
that feel that the work that we do can be
on the side of enabling, which is a piece of
shad or a bunch of shit because they don't understand,
they don't under have the compassion. They never walked in
(28:59):
our shoes what we do. But it's not it goes
beyond that. And I want people to know that ros
is just not always like oh, come here, Sunshine. She'll
let them know right from wrong. You actually do what
should be done. You treat them like a person.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah you yes, you come into the Sunshine House. You
have to be respectful. Don't think that I'm just gonna
let you sit and eat and you're gonna leave your
trash there, like if you spill something. Yeah, you know
where the mop is at. You know, you know how
to keep the place clean. There's a sense, there's a
there's a sense of respect in the level of respect
(29:38):
that I'm expecting when people enter the space.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I want that to be known because it's also very
important to know that what goes on inside because how
many people on an average a day.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So when we first started, it was about fifty people
a day. Now, oh no, now we're about oh oh yeah,
now we're about two hundred and thirteen the day.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I walk through your door and walk that door from
the time you open at nine am nine am and
what time do you close at five? And you're there
five six days a week sometimes depends.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
On depending depending on what we have going on.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So when you're in there there and also you're there
some nights you do your movie nights.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Movie nights. Yeah, Now those days we have about close
to like three thirty, three hundred and thirty folks coming
through the door that day, that entire day. Yeah, so
movie night is pretty cool. Open mic nights there. Case management, Yes,
what does he do? So he gets people into treatment
and get people their IDs, help them with welfare if
(30:36):
they need their EBT card to activate it, like stuff
like that, like the basic meat a case manager does.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, and that right there is a service in itself.
Oh yeah, because people don't know that, you know, even
the people who aren't in active addiction or in addiction
at all. Some people don't know how to go about it.
Navigating the system is tough. The system is a very
tough thing to navigate.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You have a messaging board too, I mean a bulletin
board that we encourage the Sunshine to look at. Don't
think that we need to do all the work. If
my case manager is swamped, they go right on that
board and say, what are you looking for? Okay, you
need resources, you need legal go look on the board.
(31:20):
Here's your paper and pencil, write down what you need.
The phone is right there. Like, we're not trying to
enable anybody.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You give them the responsibility as.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They have to be present in their own life.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Absolutely, yeah, you can do you can do.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Your drugs, but you're gonna be present in the Sunshine House.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And I think it's very important people know that, you know,
people doing drugs, they can be present. So yeah, that's
that's not that's not out of the question. There are
people who you know are totally understanding and totally present,
and you know, because it is a disease, it's something
that you know people will work every day to overcome.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Do you remember back when people did heroin. Right, people
were functional. You were Yeah, you were punk and you
can still do work.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I worked.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Now these sunshines, they can't do no work. They laid
out this trenk, this metatomodine. They ain't doing no work.
They're sleep.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
It's not heroin anymore though, No, it's a different supply.
When I nine years ago, when I stopped, that's when
the fentanyl started because it wasn't heroin anymore. And I
was like, now I'm going to die after five times.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh yeah, these wounds are massive, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
We're seeing these wounds every day and they're getting bigger
and worse. And now they're doing to prohibit the services
from coming on the street, and that's a whole other episode.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, but you know there's ways around that, and there
is a there's already a way around it, and goodness, gracious,
I'm so I can't wait. So we reveal my way
around that, Shenanigan, and.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You heard it here.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, it's almost going to be in your face. You
shouldn't have did that because now anyway, we'll leave that.
Right with that, where that is, do you.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Feel better now that you've switched gears in your life?
Do you feel not that or feel better or do
you are you feel more well rounded or fulfilled?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
No, no, I feel like I feel like this. This
was a necessity. But there's so much more work to do.
It's not like because you have your own place, that's
where you stop. It just gets bigger. It gets bigger.
Oh well we are we So the second level it's
(33:27):
going to be showers and docs and clinics, so we're
already in the process of building and the plans for that.
The third floor is going to be the meditation room
for first responders like overdose reversal crisis responders in the
community in KSEDC can be a part of it, Prevention Point,
(33:48):
Impact Services, Savage Sisters, what's that other group, the Women's Center,
Prevention Point, everyone who's responding to a crisis. Can you
utilize the space. It's gonna be particularly for people who
just respond it and need to debrief and decompress. It's
gonna be completely soundproof, meditative. It's gonna be a space
(34:11):
that you won't hear the outside, so.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I can go up there, I can scream.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Oh yeah, yeah, no one would ever hear it. It's
gonna be serene. I'm telling you, it's gonna be nothing
like it. And I think that the problem is is
that Kensington, what we experience in my community can sometimes
be traumatizing, and there's not enough places where we can debrief, decompress,
talk about it, and and kind of process it so
(34:38):
we can mentally be sound, because there is no way
in the world that we can be reversing overdoses every
day and even stopping the bleed of several gunshot victims
that our team had to do and be right mentally.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
You know, people ask me all the time, you know
you take it home with you. You know, of course
you take it home with of course, you know I
take it home with me. But like you know, you
got to learn to have that switch and switch it
on and off. And I remember a few years ago,
you're on the trolley, the trolley ride for the member
for my for the fund riser for fundraiser, yeah, and
(35:13):
I'm for Philly down and blah blah blah, and there
was a shooting that night. You said, oh my gosh,
but you know, I gotta go. And I said, we
got to learn, we got to turn it off sometimes
because there's so much out there going on that we
can't do it all and you're only one and turning
off is important, and that's like a lot of self care.
You did you even had that? You turn on? You
had a good time and I got in your mind,
have been some fire, Remember you go to right. I
(35:36):
ain't gonna deny or confirm that, but you know you
are a big fan of self care. I don't, yeah,
unless it's like a pouring ass rain day and you
want to go to the beach. I remember that, But
I you know what self care? Self care is very
important to you. And on these last few minutes that
we have here together, because we've covered so much and
(35:58):
this would be like an episode too, coming up sometime,
I mean, or a second part episode coming up sometime.
What is self care? Do you? And what do you
do to maintain that balance? Because you do take it
home with you.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Yeah, So for me it's a little bit different. I
think in the morning, I wake up in the morning
and I spend my ten minutes to five minutes processing
the many losses. So because there's always a birthday or
there's always a holiday, and there's always something along those
lines with the many losses, I give that space every day,
(36:29):
but I only give it five to ten minutes. Five
to ten minutes is all it gets. For my family,
for my twin, for my brother, for my dad, you know,
and for my boyfriend. All of them would get that time.
And you know, my other family members, you know, from
other illnesses. I give them that time, you know, and
(36:49):
even for myself, you know, because I have to experience
that grief. But that's all it gets. I gotta go
to work, you know. I can't linger in that too long.
I can't sit in that. And then after work, when
I'm dealing with that nine to five of dealing with
vicarious trauma, which is everybody else's trauma. I practice self
care every day. I do something every day, every single day.
(37:14):
I do not go straight home every day I do.
I love to eat. I love the snack, but I
also find free stuff to do.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
There is so many all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yeah, let me tell you, so many free things and
you don't have to spend money. Listen. I'm very frugal
and there are so many free things in Philly. I
don't know why people don't utilize it, but there is.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And I love to see that about you, and you know,
I want people to know that, you know, Roz is
a powerhouse. She is a force. I'm fortunate to have
her as one of my best friends in confidence in
this crazy little world that we live in. And you know,
if you want to support Roz if the operations Save
Our City and the Sunshine House, where can they reach you?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Ros So on social media? Facebook, Operations Savers, Instagram, Operation
saver City, Gmail, Operationsavercity at gmail dot com, or they
can call her texts A five six seven four, five
six zero four or five.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And if you want to find out more about Roz's
story that we didn't mention today, because there's so much more,
you can check out past Bea voiced episodes. There's many
of them and you can hear the story about, you know,
how she got to where she is today. There's also
a training that uh Usula Media had her due on
Narcan and it's a video out there that you could
check on Usula's YouTube channel that you can watch her
(38:34):
administer in NARCAN and the proper way to identify an overdose.
Because there's so much and if you want that training
that hands on personal training for you individually, your family,
your business, whatever, contact Roz. She does the training. She's great.
I've worked with her on the trainings. I've learned so
much from her, and with all the overdoses I've reversed,
(38:55):
I'm still in a of what she does. Roz, I
love you, I love your heart. Thank you for being
here today, thank you for having me. You got it, honey,
and for the rest of you, thanks for joining us.
We'll always be back for sure. Once again, ros Pachado Operations,
Sayra City, check her out. Thanks for joining us this
sprick carpar USLU Media have a great rest of your game.
Welcome to be a voice. I'm Brick Carpenter and this
is Usula Media. I'm really excited about. Today's show is
actually the third episode of my fifth season, which really
means that I started in twenty eighteen with this show.
And I've had many guests on over the years that
have shared their stories, have shared their journeys, people that
I've partnered with in the community, and this guest that
(00:45):
I have today is one that I have partnered with
from the very beginning. She was one of the first
persons that became my biggest supporter, ally confidant, one of
my best friends, my snackpack. She also is one of
the largest advocates here in Philadelphia for many causes, for
(01:06):
many voices in our city that can't be voices for themselves,
and she's a leader in the communities that are most
vulnerable and needed. The person I'm sitting here with today
really defines what season five is all about. And it's
about switching gears. It's about the evolution of a person.
It's about changing, you know, directions sometimes to a company
(01:28):
what meets the needs of the times, and you know,
we need to constantly evolve where we stay status quo
and status quo is never acceptable, at least in my world.
So today I'm sitting here with somebody who has been
definitely switching gears over the last few years and has
been making great strides at doing so. Today I'm sitting
here with ros.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Pichardoh hey, Roz, Hey, thanks for having me, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
For being here. You know, it's a I wish we
could count the time. So many times it's been. We've
been here quite often.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, yeah, many different stories.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Oh my gosh. Yeah. You know we started over in
the radio, the radio booth. Yeah, and then we go yeah,
we evolved, We evolved from that too in these last years.
But you know, as I sit here, I was like,
I consider, and we can start right off the back
talking about you know everything. You know, I've known you
for years. You do an amazing workout on the streets. We've,
(02:19):
like I said, we've we started doing outreach when it
was just the two of us years ago, working out
of the back of the Hoofie with a smashed out
window in the car. But we were out there just
doing the work. You know. We may not have known
exactly what we were doing, but we were learning along
the way. We were switching gears, we were evolving, but
the outreach that we do is really important. And you know,
(02:40):
we met in a blizzard. Basically, well we met before that,
but we really bonded in a in a blizzard, in
a tent next to your mom's house. So I'm gonna
let you explain why that was and what that evolution
was and get to how you became where you are today.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So the camp out for Piece is where the tent
was located. It's a three days protests camp out for
pets in honor of many people who lost their loved
ones due to gun violence. My brother was murdered in
twenty twelve, which is why I started the organization Operations
Savior City and to kind of like EVA. From helping
(03:18):
families of homicide victims and sitting in the couches of
many mothers explaining the process of the funeral cost, the protests,
the visuals, the funeral costs, like all of these things
that parents at the time didn't know how to navigate
because it's not the norm to lose a loved one
(03:38):
to gun violence and no one's expecting to bury their child.
So from sitting on a mom's couch to doing the
protests for three days was very It was one of
the most powerful moments in my life in a sense,
where can I actually sleep in the cold for three days?
Is that possible? Who will support me in this mission?
(04:00):
Because for me it was my brother was murdered in January,
He was left in the snow to die, and for me,
that just spoke volumes to me. And choosing January to
camp out and to have families come in with their images,
share their images, and a lot of the times I
was on different platforms on social media sharing my live
(04:24):
experience and people followed, like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of people followed, and throughout the three day weekend, people
will leave their images and it really made an impact
in my life, but also in the impact on the
families lives who came out to support.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You know, it's interesting you were doing exactly what you know,
you would think victim services would be doing or should
be doing in a city as large as Philadelphia. And
you know, in my knocking in the city for that
sure I am because here we have a you know,
an everyday person, you know, a citizen, a resident in
their own community going out and doing exactly what the
(05:06):
city should be doing for them. So what made you
do that? I mean, you know, you know North Philly
is is. It's sad to say, but it's a it's
a it's a mecca for violence, gun violence. You know,
not that it's the only area, because it's everywhere in
our city, it's everywhere in our countries, everywhere. You know,
we all experience it. But why why did you say that?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I mean when you look at the different services that
Philly has, it's a culture thing too, Like I couldn't
go to certain organizations and ask for certain things because
they didn't know the culture of a Latino family. You know,
they didn't understand like a little saudio. Look, you know,
when somebody dies or someone loses their life. You know,
other places don't understand that. And so I wanted to
(05:49):
create a space that was that I knew that I
was familiar with. And so creating spaces where we can
join families at a rosario, you know, where it wouldn't
be disrespectful because we understood it, you know, and the
viduals and in all of these things that we do,
and the little sadios don't happen just for one day.
(06:11):
It's several days of prayer and like a chanting and
that kind of thing. So you can't go to every
victim services and they understand that. So being able to
sit in these special moments with families was really important
for me. And you know, in a place where they
don't have that kind of service, then we build it.
(06:33):
And that's what we did. And I think that being
able to and I and we serviced all families like
all cultures, but there was nothing for us. There was
nothing for us. So then you know the only thing
that I could do was just build my own space
that I knew that my family needed and that kind
of thing. So and I knew that other families need it.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you've built a space, You've built an empire with it,
You've built you built a movement.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
We talked with Dan Gilman, you know, from who we
helped last time, and you know, we talk about the
different organizations out there, you know, you know, and most
of us that have been connected through this community have
built movements, you know, and you have you know, given
a platform to people. You know that well number one
that I'm going to peel it back a little bit.
(07:20):
You know, your brother Shooter, the person human or your
brother has never been brought to justice.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Correct, He's never been brought to justice. And that's one
of the things that we have to sit with. And
then one of the things that I also wanted to
share is that you know, there's a lot of things
that Congresso does that I can do. There's a lot
of things that Concilio does that I can't do. I mean,
(07:46):
I would be at capacity if I was trying to
do the same amount of work that they do. So
you know, I think everyone in this violence prevention world
has their own lane and figure out which lane that
we can master in. And I'm good at certain things
that other organization is not good at. And I know
when I need to pass up Atona say I can
(08:08):
help you with this, but they can help you with that.
And that's the same thing in the recovery world, when
we're dealing with people who are out in the streets
and we're putting people into housing and into treatment facilities.
And again, when we're talking about minus prevention and even recovery,
one particular place may not be good for that particular person.
(08:29):
So we have to navigate those systems as well.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And that's making the connections it's you know, meeting individuals,
it's meeting the people where they are. Yeah, you know,
we talk about that a lot in the world that
we're in. You know, like I said, most people can
sit quiet, and most people will sit quiet because they
don't know what to do, but they don't know how
to do it, and there isn't really any guidance for that.
And you've actually been a leader in the community that
(08:55):
have led people to actually starting organizations and starting their
own movements and becoming part of yours and operations. Save
our City is exactly that. It started out with the
gun violence prevention and I've been with you as we've
handed out gunlocks with even sept the transit police over
on Broad Street, and you and I would drive around
(09:16):
and hand them out, and you know, you would warn
the kids, don't use him as bike locks, because I'll
take the bike and I'll take your lock too.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Right, I've had quite a few bikes, you know. And
you know that that day even too, brought me to
full circle in a sense where we were working with
Scott Charles Temple University Emergency.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Scott was out with us in.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That trauma bay and and I didn't work with him
at that time. If you remember, I don't think I was.
I was working at the emergency room at that time.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh my gosh, this was this was way before the
emergency room. This was years we're going back to, like
this was like eighteen, I believe in.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah, eighteen nineteen. Yeah. And then I ended up working
in the emergency room in the trauma bay for a
couple of years, and that was definitely an experience that
I could never forget. Just I mean all of those experiences.
It's particularly working with gunshot victims seeing it firsthand and
(10:12):
I mean literally seeing it, like pulling people out of
cars and watching this these cars barrel down the bay
and we pulled into people coating and we're doing chest
compressions as with riding through into the bay. Stuff that
you would see on television was some real life stuff
that we were seeing in the er. And those are
(10:35):
one of the experiences that one of many that I
could never forget because for me, having that experience brought
me to when my brother was murdered, shot and taken
to that same hospital, which was Temple University, and they
had no trauma advocates, so we would sit for twenty
twelve we sat on the floor, I think it was
(10:57):
a fourth floor, I think, for ten hours words with
no updates when he was in the o R. And
just to know that I helped a family with that process,
a family no longer had to wait ten hours. You know,
I can give you an update every hour he's still
in the OAR or she's still in the o R,
(11:19):
or if they do pass along, I can sit there
and understand what's getting ready to happen. You know, we're
getting ready give this death notification. What's getting ready to
happen and what services? And how do I prepare this
person's face or bodies so that this family can view
them in a way that's respectful because my family experienced that,
(11:41):
you know. So it was just one of those moments.
I mean, I'm not there any more, obviously, but because
God had a bigger plan for me.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I was gonna say I wanted to bring that up,
but go ahead and finish it.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Yeah, he had a bigger plan. And I think that
that was just one level of preparing me for what
my community was about to give me.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And I love the word that you use, prepare, because
I wanted to say this and I want to interject
because it's so important for people to know this that
there are so many people out there that are educated
in the fields of study that they're practicing in. There's
a lot of people out there that have letters behind
their names, and that's amazing. They worked hard for it.
They worked their asses off to get there, and those
(12:23):
letters are deserved, and you know, they specialize in that.
But there's also people like myself and yourself especially that
has lived experience and has worked through the School of
the Streets. You started with operators to save our city.
The gun violence you started dabbling in, you know when
(12:45):
the encampment started turning because the opioid crisis, the opioid epidemic,
the public health crisis were facing hit close to home
for you, family, your neighborhood, your community. You evolve from
that and then all of a sudden, you start working prevention,
one of the God sends in the city that is
needed here in Kensington, that we need here in our city.
(13:06):
And you weren't just doing that. You were working doing
operations save our city. You were still working with the
gun vines. You were doing Friday and Saturday nights in
the er at Temple with trauma working with page and
getting up on Saturday and Sundays and doing whatever you
had to do then. So that is like having tons
of letters behind your name. Do you't understand what I'm saying. Yeah,
that education that you gave yourself and that put yourself
(13:29):
through has taken you to where you are today. So
that was Guy's bigger plan for you, I believe.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, And I think that you know the whole misconception
of having a degree. I mean, I don't have a
degree in shit but the streets, but I've mastered the
craft of loving people and giving people everything that I have.
It was all around. It was all based around trauma.
My experience of both surviving and attempted homicide, losing my
(13:54):
brother the murder, losing my twin sister to suicide, all
of those levels.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
You've been a victim of gun violence, yes, and domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So it's one of those things like you don't need
to agree to show compassion and to show love and
to give people your understanding. And working in the recovery field,
you know, was an accident in a sense because I
was stepping back from the violence prevention field and was
like I needed to step back to regroup to re
(14:24):
rebuild myself for a little bit, for like a month
or so. But I needed to serve and I didn't
know what capacity until I started handing out snack packs
when we were riding around Kensington. So we're riding around Kensington, yes,
and I think that, you know, coming across people who
was suffering in that way was like it wasn't new
(14:46):
to me because I was born and raised in Kensington.
But I didn't know what an overdose looked like. I
didn't know what that looked like. I didn't know what
the heck was going on until I responded, And I'm like,
I responded caressing the head because I didn't know about
narkin holding their hand. I didn't know about rescue breaths.
I didn't know anything about that, you know. So being
(15:10):
able to learn that skill and reverse the amount of
overdoses that I've had today as of today, it's probably
about two thousand and five hundred and something.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
You know, and you're you're at the epicenter where you live,
within the realm of the neighborhoods of it, so you
see it. You see it with just going about your
daily business.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
It's every day, every other day, so.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You know, fortunate to have somebody like yourself who learned that.
I mean, I remember the first time we responded to
an overdose under Emerald City, and I remember her and
it was pretty crazy because there was nobody out there
doing what we were doing. When they were turning gird
the street tracks over and nobody wanted to touch it,
and it was only the two of us out there
were like, what the hell are doing here? And all
of a sudden they were calling, and you know, that
(15:57):
really sets something for me.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
And you know, you know what, I think a lot
of people were doing it, but a lot of people
were underground in a sense where a lot of people
didn't want to be seen doing this work because one
of the pushback that we see now, So that back then,
oh yeah, but not as much as we see now.
I think now they'll push back as well. Either they're
(16:22):
trying to they're trying to like pass I don't know
if they passed a bill yet for the mobile unit units,
and I think that's you know, that's ridiculous. I think
to to to deny people access to care is inhumane.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
What Roz is referring to is that there are many
mobile units now in Kensington and the city itself, not
just Kensington. I want that to be really clear. This
isn't just a Kensington issue. This is city wide, This
is South Philly, this is West Philly. This is your
backyard people. I need people to realize this. But the
mobile unit specifically in Kensington. Because of the quality of
(16:58):
life that this Kensington cock ass has come up with,
they have now banned the use of mobile units for
wound care and distributing of any types of supplies for
harm reduction or prevention. That includes the clinics that provide
them with meds and stuff like that. So basically, and
(17:19):
I'm saying this has nothing to do with Roz the
city is what they're doing is signing death warrants to
people who can't have access to these resources. So I
just wanted to interject there and let Roz take it
from there. So Rod's had nothing to do with that
statement I did so in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
No, I just think, I mean, I just think that
when people start messing with the lives of people who
are suffering, I mean, karma is going to come back around.
And no matter how you're looking at it, no matter
how you look at these are human beings, you know,
and if they want to, because for me, the city
(17:54):
will always not have this separation between church and state,
will always use some churches, you know, and pay these
churches for services rendered when all they're doing is handing
out these pamphlets and say this is a service rendered.
But then yet you're paying these churches this money, but
they're not really providing service other than wearing these bright
(18:15):
ass vessels and huddering, hovering over people and laid hands.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But yet during the hearing, they bashed and went after
and attacked one of the reverend, Reverend phili Galita, who
was board member, friend, colleague, walks the streets, went after
him and attacked him for being a member of the church.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
But because he wasn't a member of the right church,
right church, he wasn't a member of the right church,
you know. And that's the sad part when you look
at if they want to be biblical, what would Jesus do?
And he would say, serve the people. And I think
they're picking and choosing, and I think at the end
(19:00):
of the day, there should always be a separation between
church and state, because that's the right thing to do.
Absolutely absolutely, I don't know, I just think we just
need to focus on the on the message in hand,
and that's just you know, don't give up whatever wherever
your path takes you, just keep doing it. Wherever your
heart tells you to go, follow it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Follow with your gut. Yeah, gut knows what's up. You know,
you know you are the best proct knowledge you have.
You know, it used to be doing serving as part
of our daily lives. It's supposed to be what we're
supposed to do. It's really what we're here for. You know,
I when you peelose layers back and if you really
did that, but you know, you've taken your service from
what we've talked about, the streets to a tent, all
these different facets. You were with prevention point, you were
(19:43):
with the fire PA, you started learning policy wasn't your favorite,
but you started learning it and you got you've got
something to know from there. All of a sudden, you like,
really just the brakes hit, you did a one to eighty,
and all of a sudden, there was this there was
this vision you had years ago when they closed the
(20:05):
storefront on Kensington Avenue, that you were going to keep
it alive in some much shape or form, and you
held true to that promise. You did what you said
you were going to do when you reopened that storefront
under a different realm. It's under your realm of operations
to save our city. But it's called the Sunshine House. Yes,
and the Sunshine House is now tell us about the
(20:27):
Sunshine House.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Actually it's thriving. It's like one of those spaces. So
the Sunshine House is a space where anyone can go
if you need resources, trauma form classes, stop the bleed, trainings,
art workshops, open mic night, movie night. We have a
case manager to get into services treatment. We have two
(20:50):
nurses on board. So it's just a space of healing
and that of love. I think it's important to provide
the services that community needs. And I think with everyone
getting pushed back, like Savage Sisters got closed down because
they had a store front. But I think that it's
shifted because I provide other services and I'm a resident
(21:13):
and I've been there my entire life. And yeah, there's
a hierarchy, yeah, And I think that I think that
I have a very loud voice when it comes to
people being disrespectful or put in policy before people.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And I think I want to clarify. When you say
you have a loud voice, it's a powerful voice. It's
a voice that people listen to. It's a voice of reason.
It's not that you're just spouting.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Off or your just you know, underhearing, understand me.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Listen to what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Listen to what I'm saying. And it's not coming from
a disrespectful place. Is coming from a place of experience.
And and I've sat at many many tables, you know,
I've sat hundreds of ta know, Never in a million
years that I ever think that I'll be sitting at
the White House training them on how to minister arcane right.
(22:09):
Never in a million years. And I think I'll be
able to be with the DEA doing stuff with them.
Never in a million years have there ever been harm
reduction in the midst with the DEA. And that's only
because I kept running it in their face, like listen,
you know, even one of your even when I can't
get into details or specific about names, but even one
(22:31):
of an agent that I know, Sun had passed away
in Kensington, guy, And that is where it all began.
And that's where I said, listen, harm reduction runs deep,
doesn't it, I said, so, what are we going to do?
Just because you're an agent doesn't mean you can't help.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
And he comes to the rallies that we spoke at,
he's shown up, he's there. Yeah, And that speaks volumes
for that too, because one thing that people have to
understand and realize is that there have been so many
walls built, and there's been so many you know, trenches
and gaps dug between you know, residents and communities and
(23:12):
neighborhoods and you know parties and religions and whatever the
case may be that you know, building bridges is very difficult,
and bridging those gaps and communities is difficult. But what
you've been able to do is you've been able to
bring people to make connections. And I want to talk
about those connections because you missed something. And I was like,
oh my gosh, say it wrong, I say it when
I was asking you to talk about the Sunshine House.
(23:34):
You missed one of the biggest things that you do.
Tell me about that because that is amazing, And tell
us statist, give us some numbers please.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah. So the messaging centers, yes, miss that. The messaging
center is like one of the key components of the
Sunshine House and so far we were able to make
over eight hundred connections. We've been there since March and
it's like a service. There's nothing like it in Kensington.
It's like a messaging sense, like a messaging box, like
(24:01):
if a mailbox, but with words.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So if i'm if I say I'm on sheltered and
i'm I am on the streets and you come in, I.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I do, and you make a phone call, you call
mom and mom calls back and you can't answer the phone. Obviously,
I collect that information that that message you want to send,
and I say, Steve will come in and say do
I have any messages? Yes, you do. Your mom's at
the caller, your daughter is sick, or your your dad's
birthday is coming up, you know that kind of thing.
(24:31):
So making all those connections is great also with folks
who are going to treatment and need some meds like
the doctor's a call and all of that stuff. So
it is so so important to have these connections and
it's one of those things that is much needed and
we always need supplies. So if anybody wants to support
(24:53):
operations Saver City, what do they need to do? So
shun House. They need to reach out to Operations Save
our City at gmail dot com and let me know
what supplies they can donate, socks, snacks, art supplies, nacks, clothing,
winter coats, blankets, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
So then you know, these people get connected and it's
one of those things that we miss, I mean on
the streets. Everybody tends to forget that. You know, everybody
out there is somebody somebody, and there are people out
there that are looking for their loved ones. And you
and I know that very much because we also are
administrators for a Facebook page.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Called Missing in Philly.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Yep, there's three of us ras myself and yeah, but anyway,
I have been.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yes, I think that, and I love the fact that
we use Missing in Philly but also use the Kensington
Sushine House. We have a wall that's for your posters.
If you're missing someone in Kensington, believe mean they are
coming into the Sunshine House and looking at themselves on
this wall. I have a missing wall and then I
(26:06):
have a found side. There has been plenty of times
where my Sunshines I call on my Sunshines will come
and remove their photo and put themselves on found on
the found side, and I say, before you do that,
call that number on the back of that photo, because
I promised that I would do that, so they will call.
And I said, you know, if they call, if you
(26:28):
get here at seven, you can leave a message because
sometimes they're not ready to talk to their families, but
leaving that message because they know their family sleep. So
I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, And you know what, it's just the connecting, letting
them hear the voice, letting them know. I think that's
what some people are realize, like addiction being a person
in recovery, long term recovery, and knowing that, you know,
addiction was part of my life for over half my life,
and knowing how to destroy my life and my family's life.
And I think people forget that it affects the families
(27:01):
so much more sometimes than it affects the individual because
they're out there looking, they're out there they're losing sleep,
they're losing jobs because they're worried about stuff, the trauma
and the effects. So you're providing a peace of mind,
You're providing a connection that they've never experienced before because
they really a lot of people don't know how to
(27:22):
go about starting to do so, so you give them
that ability to do it. So the Sunshine House, and
you know, you call them your Sunshines. You've been called
them that since the Love Lot, before the Love.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Lit and why Yeah, I think the Sunshine is just
like an endearing name for anyone and everyone, you know,
instead of calling people these so nasty names like junkie, zombies, addicts,
Like those words are demeaning, they're disgusting, they're stigmatizing, junkie addict, zombies, crackhead, fied,
(27:57):
like all of these negative words. And for me, after
working on someone for you know, for twenty minutes and
he ended up dying, and I could hear people in
the background calling this person a junkie. Oh, that junkie
did it to himself. Oh that attict did it to himself,
Oh that addict this, and hearing that why I'm working
on this person. I mean, he kind of did something
(28:19):
to me. And in the midst of working with him,
I just kept saying, wake up, Sunshine, wake up, and
that kind of stuck with me and I think that
that was that was that, And now I call as
Mama Sunshine, Mama Sunshine, and everybody else. My son shines
and every does it.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I'm gonna tell you it's funny because you know, everybody's like, oh, well,
you know there there is this fine line of the
work that we do and the work that we do
in people's eyes. And there are certain people out there
that feel that the work that we do can be
on the side of enabling, which is a piece of
shad or a bunch of shit because they don't understand,
they don't under have the compassion. They never walked in
(28:59):
our shoes what we do. But it's not it goes
beyond that. And I want people to know that ros
is just not always like oh, come here, Sunshine. She'll
let them know right from wrong. You actually do what
should be done. You treat them like a person.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah you yes, you come into the Sunshine House. You
have to be respectful. Don't think that I'm just gonna
let you sit and eat and you're gonna leave your
trash there, like if you spill something. Yeah, you know
where the mop is at. You know, you know how
to keep the place clean. There's a sense, there's a
there's a sense of respect in the level of respect
(29:38):
that I'm expecting when people enter the space.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I want that to be known because it's also very
important to know that what goes on inside because how
many people on an average a day.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So when we first started, it was about fifty people
a day. Now, oh no, now we're about oh oh yeah,
now we're about two hundred and thirteen the day.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I walk through your door and walk that door from
the time you open at nine am nine am and
what time do you close at five? And you're there
five six days a week sometimes depends.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
On depending depending on what we have going on.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
So when you're in there there and also you're there
some nights you do your movie nights.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Movie nights. Yeah, Now those days we have about close
to like three thirty, three hundred and thirty folks coming
through the door that day, that entire day. Yeah, so
movie night is pretty cool. Open mic nights there. Case management, Yes,
what does he do? So he gets people into treatment
and get people their IDs, help them with welfare if
(30:36):
they need their EBT card to activate it, like stuff
like that, like the basic meat a case manager does.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, and that right there is a service in itself.
Oh yeah, because people don't know that, you know, even
the people who aren't in active addiction or in addiction
at all. Some people don't know how to go about it.
Navigating the system is tough. The system is a very
tough thing to navigate.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
You have a messaging board too, I mean a bulletin
board that we encourage the Sunshine to look at. Don't
think that we need to do all the work. If
my case manager is swamped, they go right on that
board and say, what are you looking for? Okay, you
need resources, you need legal go look on the board.
(31:20):
Here's your paper and pencil, write down what you need.
The phone is right there. Like, we're not trying to
enable anybody.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You give them the responsibility as.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
They have to be present in their own life.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Absolutely, yeah, you can do you can do.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Your drugs, but you're gonna be present in the Sunshine House.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
And I think it's very important people know that, you know,
people doing drugs, they can be present. So yeah, that's
that's not that's not out of the question. There are
people who you know are totally understanding and totally present,
and you know, because it is a disease, it's something
that you know people will work every day to overcome.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Do you remember back when people did heroin. Right, people
were functional. You were Yeah, you were punk and you
can still do work.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I worked.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Now these sunshines, they can't do no work. They laid
out this trenk, this metatomodine. They ain't doing no work.
They're sleep.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
It's not heroin anymore though, No, it's a different supply.
When I nine years ago, when I stopped, that's when
the fentanyl started because it wasn't heroin anymore. And I
was like, now I'm going to die after five times.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Oh yeah, these wounds are massive, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
We're seeing these wounds every day and they're getting bigger
and worse. And now they're doing to prohibit the services
from coming on the street, and that's a whole other episode.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, but you know there's ways around that, and there
is a there's already a way around it, and goodness, gracious,
I'm so I can't wait. So we reveal my way
around that, Shenanigan, and.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
You heard it here.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, it's almost going to be in your face. You
shouldn't have did that because now anyway, we'll leave that.
Right with that, where that is, do you.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Feel better now that you've switched gears in your life?
Do you feel not that or feel better or do
you are you feel more well rounded or fulfilled?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
No, no, I feel like I feel like this. This
was a necessity. But there's so much more work to do.
It's not like because you have your own place, that's
where you stop. It just gets bigger. It gets bigger.
Oh well we are we So the second level it's
(33:27):
going to be showers and docs and clinics, so we're
already in the process of building and the plans for that.
The third floor is going to be the meditation room
for first responders like overdose reversal crisis responders in the
community in KSEDC can be a part of it, Prevention Point,
(33:48):
Impact Services, Savage Sisters, what's that other group, the Women's Center,
Prevention Point, everyone who's responding to a crisis. Can you
utilize the space. It's gonna be particularly for people who
just respond it and need to debrief and decompress. It's
gonna be completely soundproof, meditative. It's gonna be a space
(34:11):
that you won't hear the outside, so.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I can go up there, I can scream.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Oh yeah, yeah, no one would ever hear it. It's
gonna be serene. I'm telling you, it's gonna be nothing
like it. And I think that the problem is is
that Kensington, what we experience in my community can sometimes
be traumatizing, and there's not enough places where we can debrief, decompress,
talk about it, and and kind of process it so
(34:38):
we can mentally be sound, because there is no way
in the world that we can be reversing overdoses every
day and even stopping the bleed of several gunshot victims
that our team had to do and be right mentally.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
You know, people ask me all the time, you know
you take it home with you. You know, of course
you take it home with of course, you know I
take it home with me. But like you know, you
got to learn to have that switch and switch it
on and off. And I remember a few years ago,
you're on the trolley, the trolley ride for the member
for my for the fund riser for fundraiser, yeah, and
(35:13):
I'm for Philly down and blah blah blah, and there
was a shooting that night. You said, oh my gosh,
but you know, I gotta go. And I said, we
got to learn, we got to turn it off sometimes
because there's so much out there going on that we
can't do it all and you're only one and turning
off is important, and that's like a lot of self care.
You did you even had that? You turn on? You
had a good time and I got in your mind,
have been some fire, Remember you go to right. I
(35:36):
ain't gonna deny or confirm that, but you know you
are a big fan of self care. I don't, yeah,
unless it's like a pouring ass rain day and you
want to go to the beach. I remember that, But
I you know what self care? Self care is very
important to you. And on these last few minutes that
we have here together, because we've covered so much and
(35:58):
this would be like an episode too, coming up sometime,
I mean, or a second part episode coming up sometime.
What is self care? Do you? And what do you
do to maintain that balance? Because you do take it
home with you.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Yeah, So for me it's a little bit different. I
think in the morning, I wake up in the morning
and I spend my ten minutes to five minutes processing
the many losses. So because there's always a birthday or
there's always a holiday, and there's always something along those
lines with the many losses, I give that space every day,
(36:29):
but I only give it five to ten minutes. Five
to ten minutes is all it gets. For my family,
for my twin, for my brother, for my dad, you know,
and for my boyfriend. All of them would get that time.
And you know, my other family members, you know, from
other illnesses. I give them that time, you know, and
(36:49):
even for myself, you know, because I have to experience
that grief. But that's all it gets. I gotta go
to work, you know. I can't linger in that too long.
I can't sit in that. And then after work, when
I'm dealing with that nine to five of dealing with
vicarious trauma, which is everybody else's trauma. I practice self
care every day. I do something every day, every single day.
(37:14):
I do not go straight home every day I do.
I love to eat. I love the snack, but I
also find free stuff to do.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
There is so many all the time.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Yeah, let me tell you, so many free things and
you don't have to spend money. Listen. I'm very frugal
and there are so many free things in Philly. I
don't know why people don't utilize it, but there is.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
And I love to see that about you, and you know,
I want people to know that, you know, Roz is
a powerhouse. She is a force. I'm fortunate to have
her as one of my best friends in confidence in
this crazy little world that we live in. And you know,
if you want to support Roz if the operations Save
Our City and the Sunshine House, where can they reach you?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Ros So on social media? Facebook, Operations Savers, Instagram, Operation
saver City, Gmail, Operationsavercity at gmail dot com, or they
can call her texts A five six seven four, five
six zero four or five.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And if you want to find out more about Roz's
story that we didn't mention today, because there's so much more,
you can check out past Bea voiced episodes. There's many
of them and you can hear the story about, you know,
how she got to where she is today. There's also
a training that uh Usula Media had her due on
Narcan and it's a video out there that you could
check on Usula's YouTube channel that you can watch her
(38:34):
administer in NARCAN and the proper way to identify an overdose.
Because there's so much and if you want that training
that hands on personal training for you individually, your family,
your business, whatever, contact Roz. She does the training. She's great.
I've worked with her on the trainings. I've learned so
much from her, and with all the overdoses I've reversed,
(38:55):
I'm still in a of what she does. Roz, I
love you, I love your heart. Thank you for being
here today, thank you for having me. You got it, honey,
and for the rest of you, thanks for joining us.
We'll always be back for sure. Once again, ros Pachado Operations,
Sayra City, check her out. Thanks for joining us this
sprick carpar USLU Media have a great rest of your game.
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