September 15, 2025 • 30 mins
This week’s show featured Reformation at the Crossroads president Kristine Bockerman, discussing their mission of empowering women experiencing trauma and addiction through personal growth.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is Community Matters, a weekly public affairs program to
inform and entertain you with some of the great people, organizations,
and events in and around Omaha. Now here's the host
of the program from news radio eleven ten KFAB.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's Scott for Heats and thank you so much for
being a part of our program. This week, I want
to introduce you to Christine Backerman for her first appearance
here on Community Matters, which I presume will be the
first of several. Christine, it's great to have you on
the show. Welcome, Thank you Scott. When I was told
about your organization, Reformation at the Crossroads, I thought, okay,
(00:42):
let's have an economic conversation about seventy second and Dodge.
Once I went to your website Reformation at the Crossroads
dot org, I realized, oh, well, this is true at
seventy second and Dodge, at ninetieth in Pacific and one
hundred and sixty eighth in Harrison. This is a lot
more than the old Crossroads Mall development. Tell me about
(01:03):
this organization.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'll tell you it does have something to do with
the Crossroads Mall. Actually, I saw myself. Actually we used
to have a sober living house and we don't anymore.
But I really saw myself when Crossroads was falling apart
and when they were thinking about selling it, I just
really looked at it and said, wow, this would be
great to have some space here. So I looked up
(01:28):
Frank craigy because you know, and just prayed for him
and just you know, just and it was so funny,
because you know, it just just to see I feels
philanthropic if maybe he would. And it never ended up being.
But you know, crossroads is where a woman comes to
(01:49):
a certain part or even just people come to a
certain part in their life, right to a crossroads in
their life. Maybe they're using drugs, maybe they're into pornography,
maybe they're into whatever it is that they're into, and
they come to a crossroads in their life and they
say this is not serving me anymore. And so reformation
is if you think of the word reformation, it's like
a reformation. It's a reformation of a woman because that's
(02:12):
what we deal with women. And right now we are
having mentorship and the mentors help to heal beyond trauma
through Christ. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That is part of the mission statement dedicated to empowering
women experiencing trauma and addiction by fostering personal growth, providing
compassionate service, and nurturing their faith in Jesus Christ. Christine,
when did I take it here that you started this organization?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Ye?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Twenty nineteen?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And what was it that caused you to say, this
is what we need to do more than just potential
redevelopment seventy second a dog.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I'm guessing yes, a lot more than that. Well, I'll
start back a little ways. And when I was in
high school, I didn't I didn't have a dad that
was a dad. He was in my life, but he
really wasn't. He did a lot of things, he worked
a lot, he wasn't around a lot. So I was
(03:14):
looking for and my parents really they were not real
involved in my life. So I would go to school,
I would go on the bus. And this is going
to sound really weird, but I would take acid before
i'd get before I got to school. Yes, and I
want to. I want to.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I know you can't see Christine here, but if you're thinking, yeah,
she sounds like someone who used to take acid, No,
you're no one I'm sure has that impression. But No,
that we talk about that kind of thing all the
time on this program, Christine, and that we talk to
people who tell their stories, and just about every single
(03:50):
time it is I can't believe that this is who
you used to be, which is empowering for people who
are at that point now to say, well maybe I
can get there as well. What path did they take? Correct?
So you say that, I mean it's shocking, but at
the same time it isn't because I can see your
heart doesn't get to beat to this place unless you've
(04:12):
walked this certain path.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, and I've done probably just about everything that a
lot of the women have done. I'm sixty six years old,
so I back then the police would just say go home,
sleep it off, not like today everybody goes to jail.
So I would go, like I said, I was going
to South High. You know, So if you live in
South Omaha, you know what South High is. So it's Southey.
(04:37):
So I went to South High. And so when I
went there, I'd get on the bus and I would
be tripping on the ascid all day long, and then
I'd go to lunch. It's smoke pod, come back in.
I had the principal Hanson chasing us around the school.
I would do all those things, but I never got
in trouble. People would see I got assaulted at school
in the middle of class by the football player in school,
(05:01):
and nobody knew how to help me. People could see
what was happening, but nobody knew. Nobody said, you need
some help, you need to go to the councilor you
need you know you're doing this, you're high, you came
in from lunch, you're high. Nobody said anything. And I
was just able to graduate, and I barely graduated. I
(05:22):
got pregnant in high school, and so you know, it
was just so I look back and I just you know,
I've asked the Lord. I talked to the Lord all
the time, and I said, you know why am I
so passionate about women? Because it wasn't like when I
was a kid. Wasn't like, oh, I want to help
women that come into prison and jail and you know,
women that have problem issues with drugs and alcohol. But
(05:43):
it was like it was in basic and I didn't
hear an audible voice, but I knew what he was
saying to me, because you were crying out for help,
and they couldn't help you, and or they didn't even
know how to help you. And these women get put
behind bars. They think society's okay, and it's like no,
they need some help. And there's women out there that
(06:04):
need help. And I wish I would have had a
mentor at that time. I wish I would have somebody
that'd taken me aside, a teacher, just go, is there
something wrong? Can I help you? You know? Can I
take you under my wing? And that's what we want
to do. We want to help women that and these
are women that are nineteen and above, help them and
just take them aside and model life for them because
(06:26):
so many of them. I mean, there's women that are
using drugs right now that their father taught them how
to use drugs, and they confuse love. I mean, I
remember when my grandpa when he was little, or when
I was little, my grandpa would give me He wasn't
an alcoholic. My other grandpa was, but he wasn't an alcoholic,
(06:47):
but he would have a shot and a beer when
he come home from the packing house and so, and
he'd give me that little teeny bit of whiskey in
the bottom of the shot glass. And I think I
equated that from with love. I've been sober for twenty
one years now, so I look back and I go,
I think I equated that with love. And that's what
(07:08):
a lot of the women do. You know. They equate
that with love. They equate abuse with love.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
So it's an incredible testimonial. Here as we're talking with
the president of Reformation at the Crossroads, Christine Backerman, with
us here on community matters. Again, the website is Reformation
at the Crossroads dot org. When you talk about how
you wish someone had intervened in your life at that time,
you also have to remember that you're saying now or
(07:38):
in this stage in your life, I wish someone had
said this to me. If someone had said some of
this to you at that time, when you were actively
engaging in self destruction, would that message have resonated?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know, I would have probably known someone cared, even
if maybe I wouldn't have taken advantage it, I know,
and then I could have gone back to them later
on and said, you know, oh, this person helped me.
I remember when I was pregnant, and at that time,
you couldn't be pregnant in high school. You had to
go to Individual Study Center and that was on like
twenty fourth in Martha, I think, and I had to
(08:14):
go there. Well, I had a teacher there and at
that time, because I was pregnant, I wasn't using. But
she actually let me do my classes because I had
preclamcy in taxemia. She let me do my classes from
the bed because I had to stay on my left
side and lay in bed for six weeks like that.
So she let me do my classes. She even came
to my baby shower, which is really cool. I didn't
(08:36):
stay in contact with her, like you said, you know,
but I knew somebody cared at that time, and that
kind of helped me turn around a little bit that
there was actually somebody out there that cared, because I
didn't feel like there was really anybody that really knew
how to help me.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right, Because when you come in contact with these women,
especially young women, and you know, you who don't you
don't look like you've done any of the things you
just described.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I know, I'm called the church lady most of the
time when I go to prison in jail, they say, oh,
there's the church lady. And then when I share my
story with them, they go, oh, she gets it right, and.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So I'm sure the first thing that these women think is, oh,
what does she know? So you have to quickly be
able to cut through that first line of defense and
say I know all too well, and I know some
of what you're dealing with. And it sounds like some
of the things that you were involved in dealing with,
not only are they still happening today in some instances,
(09:34):
I think they're happening more often.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh for sure. I mean it's just.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's despite all of the people saying don't do this
and don't do that, and if you see something, say
something and make sure you got to lift people up
and all the rest of this, it's still happening.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And how is it, first of all, Christine, how you
come into contact with the women who are in the
throes of this. It's a terrible situation.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Well, a lot of times we did have, like I said,
we had a sober living house and we had a
day program. So I've had facilitators and a lot of
times they tell me other chaplain I'm a chaplain too,
so a diappolin with International Fellowship of Chaplains, but other
chaplains and I used to be the volunteer chaplain in
Douglas County. So I was about a couple of years
when Chaplain Joy was doing trauma healing and so I
(10:22):
was there helping out. And so I got to meet
some of the women that way, and I got to
know some of the other chaplains and things like that.
So other people you know that's being on programs like
yours doing things like this. This gets the word out
and saying hey, there's help, and there's women that want
to help you. There's I've been mentoring someone and she's
(10:46):
got issues that I haven't been through, and I've been
married for forty some years and I, you know, she's
going through some really bad stuff. So I have another
woman that's been through so many of the same issues
she has, and she said, hey, I'm willing to take
her on. It took her off my plate so I
(11:07):
could do other things and then that helps me. And
that's what we want to do. We want to match
up the people that have certain issues, and we want
to match them up with the mentors that if they've
been to jail in prison. I've got a mentor that's
been to jail in prison, so she can help them
and understand that. And it doesn't necessarily have to be
(11:29):
that way, but if that's what they want.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Seems to me there might be at least two different
types of individuals who would reach out to you through
the website and want to come in contact with you.
Let's first talk about the women we're discussing right now.
Those who are those are Anita's intervention in their lives.
If they were to take that step today or this week,
go to Reformation at the Crossroads dot org and reach
(11:52):
out for some healing, for some intervention. What does that
process generally look like? Understanding it might be individualized as
the individual comes to you, but is there a kind
of a path that you can take with this person?
And what kind of you know, like a like am
I living here? Are you? Am I meeting with you
three times a week?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What does it look like?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Okay, Well, what they would do is and I can
give you a phone number that they can actually text
or call. It's four zero two eight nine to five.
I just forgot the number. Eight excuse me, it's four
zero two eight eight five nine six seven.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Zero nine six seven zero.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes, I just forgot I'm radio.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And then you know what that happens all the time
on this program. Let me give you my website.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
What the heck is it?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero, right,
And that's a call or text line.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You can call her text Yay.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So someone reaches out and then what happens.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
So then what we do is I do a little
interview with them, and I have them fill out an application,
and then we will look at their application. We will
we'll connect them with the mentor. They'll meet with the
mentor and if that mentor, if they seem like they
would be a good fit, because they both have to
agree that they would be a good fit, then it
(13:09):
could either be they could meet once or twice, like
once a week or once every two weeks. It just depends,
you know. I mean, if this person's in like emergency,
I need help now, whould Probably it might even be
more than once a week. But we also ask the mentors,
we say how many hours a month are you willing
(13:30):
to help someone? So that's another thing too, So you
have to have people that are willing to do it
because these are volunteer positions.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, that was the second group of people I was
referring to. A moment ago those that want to help
you with all of this. Obviously, if someone is in
that group where they're in trouble and they need help
right now, maybe if they need resources that your organization
is not able to provide, you know who those resources are.
(13:58):
You can connect them with where they need to be
if there's something that needs to happen right now, like
medically or something like that. Okay, and we have a.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Couple counselors that are actually on our board, and so
they've actually and then we have a nurse and she's
a veteran too, so she's got veteran resources. So if
we have veteran women too, so they've put some resources together.
So when someone calls and says, hey, I'd like a mentor,
but I also need some food, we can send them
to wherever they need to go or bus tickets or
(14:28):
whatever it is. We've got a list.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It sounds like Christina's just it's another very necessary level
of level of accountability, a layer of accountability, another necessary
layer of accountability. Easy for me to say, to be
able to check in with this person and just be
someone else that they can talk to to make sure,
like I know, someone else may have checked in with
(14:51):
you a few days ago. This is so and so
checking on you. You need to get together everything okay,
and that is so necessary to be those consistent touch
points to keep a person going in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
We do, and we also ask we ask the mentees
to please least text a couple times a week if
they're only meeting like once a week, make sure they
text and they sign a contract saying that's what they'll do.
They're willing to do that, and the mentor signs a
contract to saying what they're willing to do too.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Now, what about those people who want to come alongside
your mission to be there for these women and work
to get their lives back together. What does someone need
to have Do we need to have a background in
social work? Do they need to have a background like yours?
Because there are probably some people going, well, I didn't
do all that. So how if someone wants to help
(15:43):
you but it's not sure they're the right fit, what
would those boxes look like they'd need to check?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Just go ahead and fill out an application. Because the
thing is it might be a girl that's just she
just needs modeling, that's all. She didn't have. Maybe her
parents didn't give her modeling. It might be as simple
as that. He just says, I want to know what
to do, or you know, and we are a Christian organization,
so that's one thing is you know they will work
(16:09):
with them with the Bible, with showing them the way
of Christ. But it doesn't You could be in jail,
you could be not you could be because I worked
with a lot of women when we have facilitators, they
had never been in jail, but I met them at
the jail because I was a volunteer chaplain that came
in and I taught classes to at the jail. I
(16:30):
met them there. They became a lot of my facilitators
because they knew how to work with women in jail.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So you almost seem like you were talking about the
faith aspect in this public setting, almost in kind of
a I don't know if apologetic is the right way,
but certainly your website doesn't bury that lead. When you're
(16:56):
talking to people, sometimes you're going to come to them
and say I want to help you through Jesus and
they immediately throw up that wall and go, no, no,
I know what you people are all about here. So
am I reading into the situation correctly that maybe that's
not the lead there because some people, especially now we're
(17:17):
fewer and fewer people identify as Christians, it's something that
they might immediately say, no, I heard enough, I don't
want anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, that's one of the things that we have as
we say, okay, this is a Christian program, so if
you want to be part of it, you've got to
be open. That doesn't mean you have to be a Christian.
Just this is we're using Christian values, We're using the Bible,
this is what we're doing. So they have a choice
whether or not to. And we've had people that I've
had people interviewed people that wanted to be mentors and
(17:49):
they said, well, you know, I believe every way is
the right way. And so we've had some wonderful conversations
and I just said, we really that's you know, it
is a meant it is a Christian program. So that's
and I love talking to the women. And I've said
I would even mentor you in Jesus if you'd like to.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So we've heard so much about your life story and
how it manifests itself in this organization. Christine, I'd be
remiss if I didn't ask, then how was it that
you came to find Jesus? What was your crossroads? You
told us about all these different transgressions in your life,
and that's going to be an incredible movie someday. But
I want to get to the point in the movie
(18:30):
where it's time to move in a different direction for you.
How did that happen?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Well, like I said, I've been sober for twenty one
years now. And when I ended up with cancer, and
I ended up cancer the cervix, and I was drinking
and smoking pod all day. I mean, there was a
lot of things I did in my life that I
couldn't even look at. I just could. I could not
be awake and pay attention to what was really going
(18:57):
going on. So and my kids didn't get a lot
of emotional support from me because I was smoking pot
all day. So when I ended up with cancer of
the cervix, I looked at my life and I said,
would anybody come to my funeral if I died of
this cancer right now? And It's like no, because I
was so self centered. It was all about me. And
(19:20):
so I turned my life around, and you know, I
didn't find Jesus yet, but I went on a mission.
I eat organic, I did. I went after everything that
could help in the physical to help me so I
would not get cancer again. And then I started going
to AA and I had Christian sponsors that actually took
(19:43):
me to a Bible study. And I grew up Lutheran
and I went to a parochial Lutheran school, and it
all pointed toward Christ, everything in the Old Testament, but
I didn't understand that. But I did a Beth Moore
study and she was on the Temple, and I just
saw how everything really pointed to and I just woke
up and I said, oh, I said, I really know
(20:04):
who this Jesus is, and I really love him, and
I really want to do well. Well, you know, my
life wasn't perfect because I went back out again. I
was sober for ten years. I went back out for
four or five drank again, and then my daughter was
getting in trouble and so it was like, I need
(20:25):
to go to some alanon meetings. So I started going
to some Allanon meetings. Found a sponsor. She was an
AA and she said, are you sure you're not an alcoholic?
And I said, well, I said, you know no, And
then I really looked at my life and I thought,
this time, I really want to get sober. And my
(20:45):
granddaughter was six months old. She's twenty two now, and
she's the love of my life and we're so much alike,
and I just, you know, I knew my daughter wouldn't
let me really have much to do with my granddaughter
if I was drinking to And I didn't do it
just for her, because that's one thing that I tell you,
if every want to get sober, don't do it for
(21:06):
anybody else. Do it for you. And I was doing
it for me. But I also wanted to have a
relationship with my granddaughter. And we have a wonderful relationship now.
And you know, and it wasn't like I said, it
wasn't perfect. It was a lot of hard work, a
lot of different things that I had to do, a
lot of counseling, a lot of just therapy, a lot
(21:27):
of everything I had to do to get to this point.
And believe me, I've still got a long way to go.
I've had a lot of trauma. I still react to
some of the trauma in ways that I shouldn't, but
I'm I'm more aware of it now and I can
look at it and I can make amends. I can
say I'm sorry, and I can have a good marriage.
(21:50):
My husband and I've married for forty some years. He
put up with me a lot of what, you know,
what I went through.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And I love the name of your organization because that
crossroads that you come to in a number of different
things in your life, even if in your instance and
then so many others, that crossroads is not like, all right, well,
here's the fork in the road. I'm gonna go this
way because I know it's the right way to go.
And it's not like you just keep moving forward and
(22:19):
it's great. Sometimes you find yourself in a circle and
you're right back at the same crossroads and thinking, well,
how did that happen? I thought I was going the
right way. So that's part of how all of this works.
And if you don't believe that Christine Backerman, the president
of Reformation at the Crossroads, has been there, it's very
clear in this conversation you've been there. And I am
(22:42):
so glad that you shared your story with us.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Cold I share one more thing.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, of course you can't.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
This is okay, good, good, good, Well. I wanted to
share some just I just came to me. I thought
about it, and if I don't say it, I'll forget it.
So I'm sixty six, so it's like if I don't
say things right away, I forget. So when I was
I was going to York Prison, the women's prison and visiting.
I'd go up there once a week and visit the women.
And when I would go up there, one day, I
(23:09):
was walking and if you take a look at our website,
and you will see the website, it's got a hand,
which is God's hand, It's got barbed wire around it,
and then it has a butterfly coming out of it.
So when I was walking by the barbed wire to
go to the visitor center, I'm walking and hundreds of
these ugly butterflies. They were kind of, I don't know, whitish,
(23:34):
kind of whitish, yellowish gray. No, they were actually butterflies.
They were because I actually saw something and they had
migrated from I saw it in Facebook. They had migrated
from New Mexico and Colorado. So they were saying those
were butter those were actually butterflies, and so but there's
hundreds and hundreds and so they came out and I
(23:54):
was trying not to step on them. And I was like.
I walked into the visitor center and I said, Lord,
what was that about? And I didn't hear an audible voice,
but this I heard, that's how many women you're gonna help.
So you see, on my little water, I have butterflies.
I have butterflies all over my house, over our sober
(24:14):
living house, I had butterflies all over. I love butterflies
because that's what reminds me. So you know that I
know that's what the Lord has me to do. And
then two weeks later, I drove home from York and
two beautiful monarch butterflies hit the windshield and smashed in
the windshield and I said, Lord, what was that all about?
(24:36):
Can't save them all? And I just O, God, you
got a sense of humor.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
It is.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But I also looked at that and said, you know,
that's one of the problems with women. When they're beautiful,
that can be a problem because they use their beauty
and then you know that can just be a stumbling
block for them too.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, and that phrase about beauty only being skinned deep.
Sometimes you say, someone who looks great and you think
they don't have a problem in the world, and we've
learned today that that's not the case. Christine, you look
great inside and out. What an incredible story. Thank you
so much for what you and your organization are doing
at Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. You have events
(25:20):
throughout the year that if people want to learn more
and be a part of things. Is there anything that
they can do to come out meet you, help out you.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Well, there's one thing that you can go to our
website and there's a little donate button and if you
want a sponsor, if you say, you know, I can't
be a mentor or I'm a man, so I can't
really help mentor a woman. We have fifty fifty and
one hundred dollars a month donations that helps with several
different things, certifications, all kinds of different things that helps
(25:50):
us with if the women need to go to counseling,
to buy bibles, just all training. There's so many different
things that we need help with. And also there is
like we're going to have a yard sale probably toward
the end of September, so keep keep your eye on that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, so that'll be on the website as well.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
It isn't up there yet, but I will we will
get it up there.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. And again, Christine, for
those who either are or know someone in their lives
who could really benefit from all that you provide there
to empower women who are experiencing trauma and addiction to
become a productive member of the community. How would you
prefer they reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
You could either the website the contact page. You can
contact us there, or you can call us at four
oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero, or
you can text me either either one and that is
a Google number, so you do have to announce your
name before you call before you before I'll answer, so
you can leave and you could leave a message, or
you could text.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero.
That's four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero,
or online Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. Christine Backerman
is President of Reformation at the Crossroads, Inc. Christine really
enjoyed talking with you again. Thanks so much for what
you're doing for people in our community. Thank you very
(27:17):
much for telling us about it on community matters.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well. Thank you for what you do too, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
We have time for one more quick conversation on this
week's community matters, and it comes from a recent edition
of kfab's Morning News. Here's the host of that program,
Gary Sadelemeyer.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
You have been deluged probably and delighted at the same
time as we all have by if you're on social
media of all of the pictures parents posts, particularly the
little kids going back to school, and a lot of
parents now are reconsidering whether or not the post pictures
of their kids up there because AI makes things even
(27:54):
more easy to just do disgusting things. And we're joined
for a few minutes this morning by Kathy HadAM, who's
a communication director with Enough is Enough and has been
active on this issue. Kathy, good morning, Good morning to you.
What's the danger here there? They can take a picture
of a kid, and there's one thing to try to
trace them and find them and stalk them. That would
(28:16):
be brutal. But another thing they can do with AI
now is distort their images and embarrass them, humiliate them,
make them look like they're naked and all that.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Right, Yeah, you're absolutely right, and this is definitely an
alarming trend. The New York Times recently featured an article
on this. This has been going on now for a
few years unfortunately. But you know, like with any technology,
and especially in talking about artificial intelligence, it can be
used for good. But as we're discussing, it can also
(28:51):
be used to exploit children in the most vile ways.
And one of the ways that this is being done
is what's called new toify apps. And these apps are
extremely and unfortunately easy to access, but they're used to
digitally strip child if you would, by using an image
(29:11):
that is uploaded. This image can be taken from either
the image that a parent posted of their child on
a website, or they just map a picture of somebody
of child walking by and within minutes they have a
photo of a child who is nude. And it's really
just like I said, of disturbing the trend that's happening
(29:32):
in schools around the country. Sadly, these images are being
uploaded and shared exponentially only just to literally humiliate and
destroy children.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
This has been Community Matters, a weekly public affairs special
on KAT one O three, Omaha's Greatest Hits, ninety nine
point nine, KGr News Radio eleven ten KFAB, Country's Greatest
Hits ninety three three The Wolf, and ninety six to
one kiss FM. Thank you so much for listening and
enjoy the rest of your day.
This is Community Matters, a weekly public affairs program to
inform and entertain you with some of the great people, organizations,
and events in and around Omaha. Now here's the host
of the program from news radio eleven ten KFAB.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's Scott for Heats and thank you so much for
being a part of our program. This week, I want
to introduce you to Christine Backerman for her first appearance
here on Community Matters, which I presume will be the
first of several. Christine, it's great to have you on
the show. Welcome, Thank you Scott. When I was told
about your organization, Reformation at the Crossroads, I thought, okay,
(00:42):
let's have an economic conversation about seventy second and Dodge.
Once I went to your website Reformation at the Crossroads
dot org, I realized, oh, well, this is true at
seventy second and Dodge, at ninetieth in Pacific and one
hundred and sixty eighth in Harrison. This is a lot
more than the old Crossroads Mall development. Tell me about
(01:03):
this organization.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'll tell you it does have something to do with
the Crossroads Mall. Actually, I saw myself. Actually we used
to have a sober living house and we don't anymore.
But I really saw myself when Crossroads was falling apart
and when they were thinking about selling it, I just
really looked at it and said, wow, this would be
great to have some space here. So I looked up
(01:28):
Frank craigy because you know, and just prayed for him
and just you know, just and it was so funny,
because you know, it just just to see I feels
philanthropic if maybe he would. And it never ended up being.
But you know, crossroads is where a woman comes to
(01:49):
a certain part or even just people come to a
certain part in their life, right to a crossroads in
their life. Maybe they're using drugs, maybe they're into pornography,
maybe they're into whatever it is that they're into, and
they come to a crossroads in their life and they
say this is not serving me anymore. And so reformation
is if you think of the word reformation, it's like
a reformation. It's a reformation of a woman because that's
(02:12):
what we deal with women. And right now we are
having mentorship and the mentors help to heal beyond trauma
through Christ. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That is part of the mission statement dedicated to empowering
women experiencing trauma and addiction by fostering personal growth, providing
compassionate service, and nurturing their faith in Jesus Christ. Christine,
when did I take it here that you started this organization?
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Ye?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
When did that happen?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Twenty nineteen?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And what was it that caused you to say, this
is what we need to do more than just potential
redevelopment seventy second a dog.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I'm guessing yes, a lot more than that. Well, I'll
start back a little ways. And when I was in
high school, I didn't I didn't have a dad that
was a dad. He was in my life, but he
really wasn't. He did a lot of things, he worked
a lot, he wasn't around a lot. So I was
(03:14):
looking for and my parents really they were not real
involved in my life. So I would go to school,
I would go on the bus. And this is going
to sound really weird, but I would take acid before
i'd get before I got to school. Yes, and I
want to. I want to.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I know you can't see Christine here, but if you're thinking, yeah,
she sounds like someone who used to take acid, No,
you're no one I'm sure has that impression. But No,
that we talk about that kind of thing all the
time on this program, Christine, and that we talk to
people who tell their stories, and just about every single
(03:50):
time it is I can't believe that this is who
you used to be, which is empowering for people who
are at that point now to say, well maybe I
can get there as well. What path did they take? Correct?
So you say that, I mean it's shocking, but at
the same time it isn't because I can see your
heart doesn't get to beat to this place unless you've
(04:12):
walked this certain path.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No, and I've done probably just about everything that a
lot of the women have done. I'm sixty six years old,
so I back then the police would just say go home,
sleep it off, not like today everybody goes to jail.
So I would go, like I said, I was going
to South High. You know, So if you live in
South Omaha, you know what South High is. So it's Southey.
(04:37):
So I went to South High. And so when I
went there, I'd get on the bus and I would
be tripping on the ascid all day long, and then
I'd go to lunch. It's smoke pod, come back in.
I had the principal Hanson chasing us around the school.
I would do all those things, but I never got
in trouble. People would see I got assaulted at school
in the middle of class by the football player in school,
(05:01):
and nobody knew how to help me. People could see
what was happening, but nobody knew. Nobody said, you need
some help, you need to go to the councilor you
need you know you're doing this, you're high, you came
in from lunch, you're high. Nobody said anything. And I
was just able to graduate, and I barely graduated. I
(05:22):
got pregnant in high school, and so you know, it
was just so I look back and I just you know,
I've asked the Lord. I talked to the Lord all
the time, and I said, you know why am I
so passionate about women? Because it wasn't like when I
was a kid. Wasn't like, oh, I want to help
women that come into prison and jail and you know,
women that have problem issues with drugs and alcohol. But
(05:43):
it was like it was in basic and I didn't
hear an audible voice, but I knew what he was
saying to me, because you were crying out for help,
and they couldn't help you, and or they didn't even
know how to help you. And these women get put
behind bars. They think society's okay, and it's like no,
they need some help. And there's women out there that
(06:04):
need help. And I wish I would have had a
mentor at that time. I wish I would have somebody
that'd taken me aside, a teacher, just go, is there
something wrong? Can I help you? You know? Can I
take you under my wing? And that's what we want
to do. We want to help women that and these
are women that are nineteen and above, help them and
just take them aside and model life for them because
(06:26):
so many of them. I mean, there's women that are
using drugs right now that their father taught them how
to use drugs, and they confuse love. I mean, I
remember when my grandpa when he was little, or when
I was little, my grandpa would give me He wasn't
an alcoholic. My other grandpa was, but he wasn't an alcoholic,
(06:47):
but he would have a shot and a beer when
he come home from the packing house and so, and
he'd give me that little teeny bit of whiskey in
the bottom of the shot glass. And I think I
equated that from with love. I've been sober for twenty
one years now, so I look back and I go,
I think I equated that with love. And that's what
(07:08):
a lot of the women do. You know. They equate
that with love. They equate abuse with love.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
So it's an incredible testimonial. Here as we're talking with
the president of Reformation at the Crossroads, Christine Backerman, with
us here on community matters. Again, the website is Reformation
at the Crossroads dot org. When you talk about how
you wish someone had intervened in your life at that time,
you also have to remember that you're saying now or
(07:38):
in this stage in your life, I wish someone had
said this to me. If someone had said some of
this to you at that time, when you were actively
engaging in self destruction, would that message have resonated?
Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know, I would have probably known someone cared, even
if maybe I wouldn't have taken advantage it, I know,
and then I could have gone back to them later
on and said, you know, oh, this person helped me.
I remember when I was pregnant, and at that time,
you couldn't be pregnant in high school. You had to
go to Individual Study Center and that was on like
twenty fourth in Martha, I think, and I had to
(08:14):
go there. Well, I had a teacher there and at
that time, because I was pregnant, I wasn't using. But
she actually let me do my classes because I had
preclamcy in taxemia. She let me do my classes from
the bed because I had to stay on my left
side and lay in bed for six weeks like that.
So she let me do my classes. She even came
to my baby shower, which is really cool. I didn't
(08:36):
stay in contact with her, like you said, you know,
but I knew somebody cared at that time, and that
kind of helped me turn around a little bit that
there was actually somebody out there that cared, because I
didn't feel like there was really anybody that really knew
how to help me.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right, Because when you come in contact with these women,
especially young women, and you know, you who don't you
don't look like you've done any of the things you
just described.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I know, I'm called the church lady most of the
time when I go to prison in jail, they say, oh,
there's the church lady. And then when I share my
story with them, they go, oh, she gets it right, and.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So I'm sure the first thing that these women think is, oh,
what does she know? So you have to quickly be
able to cut through that first line of defense and
say I know all too well, and I know some
of what you're dealing with. And it sounds like some
of the things that you were involved in dealing with,
not only are they still happening today in some instances,
(09:34):
I think they're happening more often.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Oh for sure. I mean it's just.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's despite all of the people saying don't do this
and don't do that, and if you see something, say
something and make sure you got to lift people up
and all the rest of this, it's still happening.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And how is it, first of all, Christine, how you
come into contact with the women who are in the
throes of this. It's a terrible situation.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Well, a lot of times we did have, like I said,
we had a sober living house and we had a
day program. So I've had facilitators and a lot of
times they tell me other chaplain I'm a chaplain too,
so a diappolin with International Fellowship of Chaplains, but other
chaplains and I used to be the volunteer chaplain in
Douglas County. So I was about a couple of years
when Chaplain Joy was doing trauma healing and so I
(10:22):
was there helping out. And so I got to meet
some of the women that way, and I got to
know some of the other chaplains and things like that.
So other people you know that's being on programs like
yours doing things like this. This gets the word out
and saying hey, there's help, and there's women that want
to help you. There's I've been mentoring someone and she's
(10:46):
got issues that I haven't been through, and I've been
married for forty some years and I, you know, she's
going through some really bad stuff. So I have another
woman that's been through so many of the same issues
she has, and she said, hey, I'm willing to take
her on. It took her off my plate so I
(11:07):
could do other things and then that helps me. And
that's what we want to do. We want to match
up the people that have certain issues, and we want
to match them up with the mentors that if they've
been to jail in prison. I've got a mentor that's
been to jail in prison, so she can help them
and understand that. And it doesn't necessarily have to be
(11:29):
that way, but if that's what they want.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Seems to me there might be at least two different
types of individuals who would reach out to you through
the website and want to come in contact with you.
Let's first talk about the women we're discussing right now.
Those who are those are Anita's intervention in their lives.
If they were to take that step today or this week,
go to Reformation at the Crossroads dot org and reach
(11:52):
out for some healing, for some intervention. What does that
process generally look like? Understanding it might be individualized as
the individual comes to you, but is there a kind
of a path that you can take with this person?
And what kind of you know, like a like am
I living here? Are you? Am I meeting with you
three times a week?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What does it look like?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Okay, Well, what they would do is and I can
give you a phone number that they can actually text
or call. It's four zero two eight nine to five.
I just forgot the number. Eight excuse me, it's four
zero two eight eight five nine six seven.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Zero nine six seven zero.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes, I just forgot I'm radio.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And then you know what that happens all the time
on this program. Let me give you my website.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
What the heck is it?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero, right,
And that's a call or text line.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You can call her text Yay.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
So someone reaches out and then what happens.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
So then what we do is I do a little
interview with them, and I have them fill out an application,
and then we will look at their application. We will
we'll connect them with the mentor. They'll meet with the
mentor and if that mentor, if they seem like they
would be a good fit, because they both have to
agree that they would be a good fit, then it
(13:09):
could either be they could meet once or twice, like
once a week or once every two weeks. It just depends,
you know. I mean, if this person's in like emergency,
I need help now, whould Probably it might even be
more than once a week. But we also ask the mentors,
we say how many hours a month are you willing
(13:30):
to help someone? So that's another thing too, So you
have to have people that are willing to do it
because these are volunteer positions.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, that was the second group of people I was
referring to. A moment ago those that want to help
you with all of this. Obviously, if someone is in
that group where they're in trouble and they need help
right now, maybe if they need resources that your organization
is not able to provide, you know who those resources are.
(13:58):
You can connect them with where they need to be
if there's something that needs to happen right now, like
medically or something like that. Okay, and we have a.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Couple counselors that are actually on our board, and so
they've actually and then we have a nurse and she's
a veteran too, so she's got veteran resources. So if
we have veteran women too, so they've put some resources together.
So when someone calls and says, hey, I'd like a mentor,
but I also need some food, we can send them
to wherever they need to go or bus tickets or
(14:28):
whatever it is. We've got a list.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
It sounds like Christina's just it's another very necessary level
of level of accountability, a layer of accountability, another necessary
layer of accountability. Easy for me to say, to be
able to check in with this person and just be
someone else that they can talk to to make sure,
like I know, someone else may have checked in with
(14:51):
you a few days ago. This is so and so
checking on you. You need to get together everything okay,
and that is so necessary to be those consistent touch
points to keep a person going in the right direction.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
We do, and we also ask we ask the mentees
to please least text a couple times a week if
they're only meeting like once a week, make sure they
text and they sign a contract saying that's what they'll do.
They're willing to do that, and the mentor signs a
contract to saying what they're willing to do too.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Now, what about those people who want to come alongside
your mission to be there for these women and work
to get their lives back together. What does someone need
to have Do we need to have a background in
social work? Do they need to have a background like yours?
Because there are probably some people going, well, I didn't
do all that. So how if someone wants to help
(15:43):
you but it's not sure they're the right fit, what
would those boxes look like they'd need to check?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Just go ahead and fill out an application. Because the
thing is it might be a girl that's just she
just needs modeling, that's all. She didn't have. Maybe her
parents didn't give her modeling. It might be as simple
as that. He just says, I want to know what
to do, or you know, and we are a Christian organization,
so that's one thing is you know they will work
(16:09):
with them with the Bible, with showing them the way
of Christ. But it doesn't You could be in jail,
you could be not you could be because I worked
with a lot of women when we have facilitators, they
had never been in jail, but I met them at
the jail because I was a volunteer chaplain that came
in and I taught classes to at the jail. I
(16:30):
met them there. They became a lot of my facilitators
because they knew how to work with women in jail.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So you almost seem like you were talking about the
faith aspect in this public setting, almost in kind of
a I don't know if apologetic is the right way,
but certainly your website doesn't bury that lead. When you're
(16:56):
talking to people, sometimes you're going to come to them
and say I want to help you through Jesus and
they immediately throw up that wall and go, no, no,
I know what you people are all about here. So
am I reading into the situation correctly that maybe that's
not the lead there because some people, especially now we're
(17:17):
fewer and fewer people identify as Christians, it's something that
they might immediately say, no, I heard enough, I don't
want anything to do with it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, that's one of the things that we have as
we say, okay, this is a Christian program, so if
you want to be part of it, you've got to
be open. That doesn't mean you have to be a Christian.
Just this is we're using Christian values, We're using the Bible,
this is what we're doing. So they have a choice
whether or not to. And we've had people that I've
had people interviewed people that wanted to be mentors and
(17:49):
they said, well, you know, I believe every way is
the right way. And so we've had some wonderful conversations
and I just said, we really that's you know, it
is a meant it is a Christian program. So that's
and I love talking to the women. And I've said
I would even mentor you in Jesus if you'd like to.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So we've heard so much about your life story and
how it manifests itself in this organization. Christine, I'd be
remiss if I didn't ask, then how was it that
you came to find Jesus? What was your crossroads? You
told us about all these different transgressions in your life,
and that's going to be an incredible movie someday. But
I want to get to the point in the movie
(18:30):
where it's time to move in a different direction for you.
How did that happen?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Well, like I said, I've been sober for twenty one
years now. And when I ended up with cancer, and
I ended up cancer the cervix, and I was drinking
and smoking pod all day. I mean, there was a
lot of things I did in my life that I
couldn't even look at. I just could. I could not
be awake and pay attention to what was really going
(18:57):
going on. So and my kids didn't get a lot
of emotional support from me because I was smoking pot
all day. So when I ended up with cancer of
the cervix, I looked at my life and I said,
would anybody come to my funeral if I died of
this cancer right now? And It's like no, because I
was so self centered. It was all about me. And
(19:20):
so I turned my life around, and you know, I
didn't find Jesus yet, but I went on a mission.
I eat organic, I did. I went after everything that
could help in the physical to help me so I
would not get cancer again. And then I started going
to AA and I had Christian sponsors that actually took
(19:43):
me to a Bible study. And I grew up Lutheran
and I went to a parochial Lutheran school, and it
all pointed toward Christ, everything in the Old Testament, but
I didn't understand that. But I did a Beth Moore
study and she was on the Temple, and I just
saw how everything really pointed to and I just woke
up and I said, oh, I said, I really know
(20:04):
who this Jesus is, and I really love him, and
I really want to do well. Well, you know, my
life wasn't perfect because I went back out again. I
was sober for ten years. I went back out for
four or five drank again, and then my daughter was
getting in trouble and so it was like, I need
(20:25):
to go to some alanon meetings. So I started going
to some Allanon meetings. Found a sponsor. She was an
AA and she said, are you sure you're not an alcoholic?
And I said, well, I said, you know no, And
then I really looked at my life and I thought,
this time, I really want to get sober. And my
(20:45):
granddaughter was six months old. She's twenty two now, and
she's the love of my life and we're so much alike,
and I just, you know, I knew my daughter wouldn't
let me really have much to do with my granddaughter
if I was drinking to And I didn't do it
just for her, because that's one thing that I tell you,
if every want to get sober, don't do it for
(21:06):
anybody else. Do it for you. And I was doing
it for me. But I also wanted to have a
relationship with my granddaughter. And we have a wonderful relationship now.
And you know, and it wasn't like I said, it
wasn't perfect. It was a lot of hard work, a
lot of different things that I had to do, a
lot of counseling, a lot of just therapy, a lot
(21:27):
of everything I had to do to get to this point.
And believe me, I've still got a long way to go.
I've had a lot of trauma. I still react to
some of the trauma in ways that I shouldn't, but
I'm I'm more aware of it now and I can
look at it and I can make amends. I can
say I'm sorry, and I can have a good marriage.
(21:50):
My husband and I've married for forty some years. He
put up with me a lot of what, you know,
what I went through.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And I love the name of your organization because that
crossroads that you come to in a number of different
things in your life, even if in your instance and
then so many others, that crossroads is not like, all right, well,
here's the fork in the road. I'm gonna go this
way because I know it's the right way to go.
And it's not like you just keep moving forward and
(22:19):
it's great. Sometimes you find yourself in a circle and
you're right back at the same crossroads and thinking, well,
how did that happen? I thought I was going the
right way. So that's part of how all of this works.
And if you don't believe that Christine Backerman, the president
of Reformation at the Crossroads, has been there, it's very
clear in this conversation you've been there. And I am
(22:42):
so glad that you shared your story with us.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Cold I share one more thing.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
No, of course you can't.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
This is okay, good, good, good, Well. I wanted to
share some just I just came to me. I thought
about it, and if I don't say it, I'll forget it.
So I'm sixty six, so it's like if I don't
say things right away, I forget. So when I was
I was going to York Prison, the women's prison and visiting.
I'd go up there once a week and visit the women.
And when I would go up there, one day, I
(23:09):
was walking and if you take a look at our website,
and you will see the website, it's got a hand,
which is God's hand, It's got barbed wire around it,
and then it has a butterfly coming out of it.
So when I was walking by the barbed wire to
go to the visitor center, I'm walking and hundreds of
these ugly butterflies. They were kind of, I don't know, whitish,
(23:34):
kind of whitish, yellowish gray. No, they were actually butterflies.
They were because I actually saw something and they had
migrated from I saw it in Facebook. They had migrated
from New Mexico and Colorado. So they were saying those
were butter those were actually butterflies, and so but there's
hundreds and hundreds and so they came out and I
(23:54):
was trying not to step on them. And I was like.
I walked into the visitor center and I said, Lord,
what was that about? And I didn't hear an audible voice,
but this I heard, that's how many women you're gonna help.
So you see, on my little water, I have butterflies.
I have butterflies all over my house, over our sober
(24:14):
living house, I had butterflies all over. I love butterflies
because that's what reminds me. So you know that I
know that's what the Lord has me to do. And
then two weeks later, I drove home from York and
two beautiful monarch butterflies hit the windshield and smashed in
the windshield and I said, Lord, what was that all about?
(24:36):
Can't save them all? And I just O, God, you
got a sense of humor.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
It is.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But I also looked at that and said, you know,
that's one of the problems with women. When they're beautiful,
that can be a problem because they use their beauty
and then you know that can just be a stumbling
block for them too.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, and that phrase about beauty only being skinned deep.
Sometimes you say, someone who looks great and you think
they don't have a problem in the world, and we've
learned today that that's not the case. Christine, you look
great inside and out. What an incredible story. Thank you
so much for what you and your organization are doing
at Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. You have events
(25:20):
throughout the year that if people want to learn more
and be a part of things. Is there anything that
they can do to come out meet you, help out you.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Well, there's one thing that you can go to our
website and there's a little donate button and if you
want a sponsor, if you say, you know, I can't
be a mentor or I'm a man, so I can't
really help mentor a woman. We have fifty fifty and
one hundred dollars a month donations that helps with several
different things, certifications, all kinds of different things that helps
(25:50):
us with if the women need to go to counseling,
to buy bibles, just all training. There's so many different
things that we need help with. And also there is
like we're going to have a yard sale probably toward
the end of September, so keep keep your eye on that.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, so that'll be on the website as well.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
It isn't up there yet, but I will we will
get it up there.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. And again, Christine, for
those who either are or know someone in their lives
who could really benefit from all that you provide there
to empower women who are experiencing trauma and addiction to
become a productive member of the community. How would you
prefer they reach out to you?
Speaker 3 (26:34):
You could either the website the contact page. You can
contact us there, or you can call us at four
oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero, or
you can text me either either one and that is
a Google number, so you do have to announce your
name before you call before you before I'll answer, so
you can leave and you could leave a message, or
you could text.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero.
That's four oh two eight eight five nine six seven zero,
or online Reformation at the Crossroads dot org. Christine Backerman
is President of Reformation at the Crossroads, Inc. Christine really
enjoyed talking with you again. Thanks so much for what
you're doing for people in our community. Thank you very
(27:17):
much for telling us about it on community matters.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well. Thank you for what you do too, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
We have time for one more quick conversation on this
week's community matters, and it comes from a recent edition
of kfab's Morning News. Here's the host of that program,
Gary Sadelemeyer.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
You have been deluged probably and delighted at the same
time as we all have by if you're on social
media of all of the pictures parents posts, particularly the
little kids going back to school, and a lot of
parents now are reconsidering whether or not the post pictures
of their kids up there because AI makes things even
(27:54):
more easy to just do disgusting things. And we're joined
for a few minutes this morning by Kathy HadAM, who's
a communication director with Enough is Enough and has been
active on this issue. Kathy, good morning, Good morning to you.
What's the danger here there? They can take a picture
of a kid, and there's one thing to try to
trace them and find them and stalk them. That would
(28:16):
be brutal. But another thing they can do with AI
now is distort their images and embarrass them, humiliate them,
make them look like they're naked and all that.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Right, Yeah, you're absolutely right, and this is definitely an
alarming trend. The New York Times recently featured an article
on this. This has been going on now for a
few years unfortunately. But you know, like with any technology,
and especially in talking about artificial intelligence, it can be
used for good. But as we're discussing, it can also
(28:51):
be used to exploit children in the most vile ways.
And one of the ways that this is being done
is what's called new toify apps. And these apps are
extremely and unfortunately easy to access, but they're used to
digitally strip child if you would, by using an image
(29:11):
that is uploaded. This image can be taken from either
the image that a parent posted of their child on
a website, or they just map a picture of somebody
of child walking by and within minutes they have a
photo of a child who is nude. And it's really
just like I said, of disturbing the trend that's happening
(29:32):
in schools around the country. Sadly, these images are being
uploaded and shared exponentially only just to literally humiliate and
destroy children.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
This has been Community Matters, a weekly public affairs special
on KAT one O three, Omaha's Greatest Hits, ninety nine
point nine, KGr News Radio eleven ten KFAB, Country's Greatest
Hits ninety three three The Wolf, and ninety six to
one kiss FM. Thank you so much for listening and
enjoy the rest of your day.
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