Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
This is the Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio
seventy ten WNTM. Thank you so much for listening to
the Uncle Henry Show. Now, today is a Tuesday. Ordinarily,
let you know what happened in the Mobile City Council
meeting and all that kind of stuff. But today I'm off.
(00:38):
I'm off for the rest of the week, and so
I've got a series of guests that are going to
be joining me on the Uncle Henry Show while I'm
while I'm out on vacation. Now, tomorrow we're gonna have
our first ever interview with Mobile mayoral candidate Paul Prime.
That is tomorrow on the Uncle Henry Show. Then on Thursday,
we're gonna have mayoral candid eight Spiro Chair gid Us.
(01:03):
We got those candidates coming in this weekend. But today
we're gonna talk to Eric Overstreet. Eric has been on
the show before. The Last time you were here, Eric,
you were here with Killer Bees, sir, and you were
here to talk about Ryan's refuge. Eric, thank you for
coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Now. Remind me now we're talking to Eric because he's
gonna do something. He's starting something this Friday that I
think is quite intriguing. I want to find out as
much as I can about it before we get to that. Though,
Eric over Street, you were with Ryan's Refuge for people
that didn't hear you talk before on the Oil Glinton Show.
What is Ryan's Refuge?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Okay, Ryan's Refuge is I guess you could call it
a home as shelter, but it's more of a restoration center.
It's not a flat hoouse. Like people come there and
they want to change, and we give them the avenue
to change, like whether it's documents, old fines, they don't
have a car, whatever the reason is, we help them
at Ryan's Refuge get we take them all the way,
get them back on their feet.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Now this is something to help the homeless not be
homeless anymore. Yes, sure, it is all right. Now we're
going to get back to that. We're going to talk
all about that through the show. But tell me and
the listener, because I'm not sure I understand completely. What
are you starting this Friday on August first? What are
you doing personally?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, some people know me from doing it in twenty
twenty two, twenty twenty two, I gave away all my
possessions I'm a longtime homeless minister of Mobile, and I
got to the point where am I doing any good? Like?
What am I doing? Like? It's some of the same
people are still out here on the street. So I
wanted to find out. I wanted to live with them
and find out, really what's their help and Mobile? Who
(02:36):
are these homeless people? Are they a bunch of lazy people?
Or are they addicts? Are they mentally ill? I wanted
to know. So I went to live with them for
ninety days in twenty twenty two, and I learned. I
learned everything I need to know for sure. But more importantly,
a lot of things happen since then. It wasn't just
it started out as a fundraiser for driftlet housing, the
amazing drifled housing. They're building tiny homes and we've raised
(02:56):
awareness for them. But so many people, so many things happen.
We've opened shelter since then. A lot of churches are
opening their doors now for weather, which is very important.
They never did that Mobile, We encourage them to do. So.
So more things happen than just raising money for driftlet housing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So, but what are you doing this Friday? You're gonna
go you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Do it again. I'm doing it again. Yeah, I'm just
gonna do thirty days this time. My life's a lot different.
I'm married now, got some medical stuff. I've got the
responsibility of Ryan's Refuge, so i can't go ninety days.
But it's gonna be a fundraiser for Ryan's Refuge this time,
the homeless shelter. We've served six hundred people in the
last two years already at Ryan's and we've got great,
great success stories.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, tell me how you're gonna do this? So so
what what are you going to do? How is your
Friday going to be different from the day before?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It can be a lot different. I'm gonna be dropped off,
probably in Tillman's Corner. I'm gonna stay several different places.
I'm gonna start under a bridge over there and just
live with the homeless peop I'm gonna have one set
of clothing on. I'm not gonna have any money, oh no, sorry,
And I'm gonna live with homeless people again. I'm gonna
get to know them again. But the whole time I'm
going to document it so people can see what's really
(04:04):
going on. I did that last time. Without humilating one
homeless person. I'm gonna include everybody in this journey. And
then it's gonna be a fundraiser for Ryan's Refuge. You're
gonna have an opportunity to give our homeless shelter is free,
so we want to keep it free. It doesn't make
sense to charge somebody that's already at the bottom right right,
So we raise money to keep it that way, as
(04:24):
the City of Mobile supports Ryan's Refuge in my personal friends.
So this is a fundraiser, although it's gonna be about awareness. Also,
we're gonna try to raise twenty five thousand dollars in
a month.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So, now, are you gonna be there twenty four? Are
you going to be there over nine? Is it gonna
be twenty four to seven? Yeah, you're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be twenty four to seven. I'm living
on the street. I'm sleeping on the street. I'm not
gonna have my car again. I'm not even taking sleeping bag.
I'm have to find it. You know, when you when
you've become homeless, suddenly you don't have your camping gear
with you, you know what I mean. So that's the first
few days. I'm gonna be scraping together some stuff to
make it as comfortable as possible for myself. I'm gonna
get to know the homeless people again. What a man.
It just changed everything. I mean, just getting to know
(05:03):
them in person, you know, and I found out they're
not lazy. Some are menlils, some are addictive, but mostly
they're just broken people that you know, if you give
them an avenue to get out of that, they take it.
They embrace it, and we've seen great, great success.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Okay, so you say you're going to document it, So
are people going to be coming and doing video with you?
I mean, are people going to be showing up to
just check on you and to provide updates? Are you
going to be.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Glad you asked? I'm going to film, you know, it'll
be a lot on Facebook. Also have a TikTok account.
But I'm also invite people. I got some important people
in mobile. They are going to be homeless with me
one night at a time. And when they come be
homeless with me, they're going to video too and say, hey,
I'm here with Derek over Street. I'm being homeless tonight.
So we can help other people not be homeless, So
they're going to kind of help me with awareness and
(05:50):
fundraising too. I've got several people that are going to
do that with me. I'm trying to find some more
to spend one night with me homeless.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Okay, so tell right now where would we be able
to follow this if someone's interested and they want to
seek up close what it's like out there? Yeah, with
the homeless people you encounter. Yeah, and you really don't
know exactly what you're gonna encounter yet, do you? I
don't know. So where do we follow it online? How
do we fink? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I would follow me on Facebook. I have the maximount
of friends right now. But it's Eric Bump Bump that's
my nickname of Graham Babes gave me Over Street. You
can follow me on Facebook. I'll do videos all day
every day. I'm going to wear a GoPro camera, not
to fill homeless people, to fill myself. So you're gonna
know what I'm doing. I'm gonna post those videos and
I also have a TikTok account I'm working on. It's
(06:34):
also the.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Same name Eric Bump on over Street.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, so follow me now, Go ahead and follow me now,
and you can see the whole build up and then
you can go on this journey with me.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Are you Are you expecting anything different? I know you
work with homeless people every day now of your life
and you have for years. Do you think it'll be
any different, anything different from the first time?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, I think it will. You know, I'll just kind
of be honest. Yeah, please transparent. You know, I've always
been known as somebody that meets you where you're at,
I help you where you're at, I'll bring you what
you need. It almost institutionalizes the homeless person if you
enable them too much. So now I've become somebody that
when homeless people come to my place, I push them
(07:15):
to be better. So some of the homeless people didn't
make it in my program, you know, some of them
might be mad at me, you know what I'm saying.
So I'm going to be living with the people that
might not have made it in my program, So that
will be different. More people know me this time. Last time,
I tried to do it in disguise, like I was
really a homeless person for a while, and you know,
eventually they knew who I was. But this time I'm
(07:37):
just going out straight as Eric over street living with
you homeless guys. I've talked to a few of them,
let them know I'm gonna stay with them a few days.
It'll be different. Everybody knows what I'm doing up front.
I'm not sure how the homeless people will react. I'm
hoping they embrace it and I can help a bunch
of them this time.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, when you tell us about what it was like
when you did it for ninety days, that was different,
you said a few years ago when you did it
for ninety days, you weren't married. Then A complainit you
didn't know what to expect. I guessed, what was that
like those ninety days?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It was uncertain for sure at first, and it was grueling.
I didn't like it. I didn't like being homeless. I
found out it's a miserable life. How'd you I had
to figure it out, like I had to figure it out,
just like they do. And then, you know, a lot
of people know me, so they did make it more
convenient for me than they should have.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Just be like, okay, so you did have some people
coming up making sure you had some deals.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I know all the homeless ministers. I knew where I
could get food and then and then at some point
for prop food.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, okay, but what kind of things did you learn
when you were doing that? Oh wait, wait, I've got
to go to break. Okay, all right, we're gon. We're
gonna talk more about a lot of people want to
know how should we treat the homeless, what's the right
way to help. We'll get into all of that as
we go forward here on the Uncle Henry's Shows, The
(09:02):
Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio seven to ten WNTM.
This hour, we're talking with Eric bump over Street Look
up Eric bump over Street on Facebook, on TikTok. He
is about to start a month where he's going to
be living with the homeless here in Mobile, trying to
(09:24):
learn about them and also raise money to help them
with Ryan's Refuge. So you told us in the last
segment that a few years ago were you lived with
the homeless for ninety days trying to find out what
it was like, just so you could learn. What kind
of things did you learn about homeless people when you
were out there with them for ninety days.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
The main thing I took was every situation's different. I
wish we could group them as homeless. And then there's
one way to fix that issue. But they are completely different.
Every story's different. There's families, there are addicts. There's a
huge amount of mentally ill people. I found out, like
a huge amount, more than half.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
More okay, now more than half. Now there's no way
to scientifically measure it, of course, but you're saying more
than half of the homeless people you dealt with had
some form of mental illness. Absolutely that may have not
been drug related. It was just a form of mental.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Absolutely, and it can go hand in hand. But that
is a huge issue that I found I didn't know
like when I when I spent time just taking them
a sleeping bag or feeding them or make sure they
got a shower, I didn't get to know them well
enough to know, like you know, this person maybe needs
some medication or they need some therapy, and even addiction.
A lot of it stems from that, like something happened
as a kid, some trauma, and that just it'ched them
(10:35):
their whole life and it breaks them. Like we all
cope differently. Something minor might have happened to you and
it destroyed you, and something major some kid man's up
and becomes something. But a lot of people don't. It
breaks them, especially when they're children. So that was very common.
Like there's a reason almost every time. And there's addiction,
of course, you know there is that. That's probably close
to half also.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So this is not like back in the day nineteen
fifties and sixties, there were there were there were people
were it was romanticized as the hobo. Hobos. Yes, a tramp,
a hobo, that's gonna do. That's not what we're talking
about now, talking about people that are broken.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Hoboes were people that traveled and work and stuff. Yeah,
that riding trains. You know, these are people. It's different now,
even since I've ministered on the street for fifteen years,
it's a lot different. At first, it did seem to
be like this poor family, you know, had a problem
that the guy lost his job or something. It is
very much mental illness like and addictions mostly. Is it
(11:35):
mostly men or do you encounter women alsome? I'm glad
you said that. I meant to say it crazy. It's
probably forty percent women for scent women in Mobile Alabama. Yes,
and if you include the ones living in hotels calling
me all day, calling churches. I can't make it, you know,
and I get it. I'm not judging them. That's a nut.
It might be fifty percent if you include the ladies
(11:55):
they are in hotels with their kids.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, So first thing for people that didn't hear the
last time you were on the show, there are a
lot of generous people and compassionate people in Mobile and
in this and in on the Gulf Coast that would
like to help the homeless. They wish that it was
something that we didn't have to deal with at all. Yeah,
(12:17):
how can the average person help without putting their own
selves in danger? Because you just described over half having
mental illness. Some of that could manifest with a violent
reaction to someone. Absolutely, absolutely, So how do we help?
You helped the established nonprofits.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's a good way to start. I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
Like I have a ton off you. Hey, Eric, I
like what you're doing. I want to get involved. Let
me meet you. Let me I got one lady that
messaged the other day said you want to do be
homeless like me. I'm like, no, you don't want to
do that, like you would be in danger. Are they
bad people? Of course not anybody living out an oafing
on the street's going to be in a little danger.
They're vulnerable. How do you help? I would absolutely say
(12:56):
find a group, and there's many, and let them teach
you and train you how to do it. Always have
people with you. Don't ever try to help anybody you
don't know, whether the homeless or not, by yourself.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I should not buy myself go out and try to
help someone. I should should have support system.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Even a man, have at least one person with you.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Absolutely, Okay. Now should I ever give someone money if
somebody is asking for money? Should I ever hand a
homeless person some cash?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I don't. I don't, but whatever God tells you to do. Yeah,
but why don't you because you know, one, I don't
have a lot of money. There's if I had a
lot of money, I probably still wouldn't. I'm trying to
really help them. I'm not trying to temporarily help anybody.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I used to buy a bunch of hotel rooms for
these ladies that would call with their kids, and you know,
at some point I would be the one making them
homeless because I'd have to say, hey, listen, I can't
pay anymore. So we're trying to find real solutions like
not temporary ones. They've been bandidd for fifteen years, some
of them, and they're still out there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Could it make it worse if somebody's got an addiction,
then are we making it worse by handing them cash?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Okay? So what can someone do? Because we do we
get solicited on the side of the road all the
time at intersections. What should one do when they're solicited
by somebody on the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
If you're by yourself, keep going. If you're not by
yourself and you got and you want to give out
my phone number, you can. I would love to. I
know most of them, so I would like to help
intervene in that situation. I would like to know where
they're at. If you see somebody in danger, let me
know where they're at. And a lot of people do
should you approach? I don't think so, You don't think so.
So what about the somebody that wants to hand out
(14:35):
beef jerky or something like that. Get with one of
the organizations that do that, and they come in groups.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
But you still say, don't do it by yourself? Yes, yes,
all right, now, you just told me you know most
of them. So if I encounter somebody there used to
be a guy that was down at the loop and
the poor man looked haunted, no idea what could be
his problem, but you knew he had them. Yeah, you
(15:02):
know those folks I do.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And that's schizophrenia. And schizophrenia is huge on the street.
These people they don't even know they're schizophrenic. That's the
sad part. They're walking around in fear. They don't know
why they're homeless, and people are screaming at them out
of their car rooms when it's rude things, and they
don't even realize why they're homeless. A lot are in
the system at Altipoint and because of confusion, they wander
off like they're in group homes. They wonder off. They
(15:25):
don't even remember where they lived. So there's many unmedicated
schizophrenics and mobile. They need to be back in the
system and be back on their medication.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Is there a way to get them back in the system.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Altipoint has a crisis phone number. If you see somebody
like that walking down the street and manic schizophrenia where
they're talking to themselves and they they're very troubled and scared.
ALTI Point has a crisis center and they will come
to that person. And that would be what you do.
If you see somebody in that state, call Altrapoint Trump
Crisis Center. If you see a homeless person you want
(15:56):
me to come talk to if you could post my
phone number on your page or I'll give it now,
you can give the new five to one, three oh one,
three oh two four. I get a lot of calls
to day, and we do go find them. If you
see a woman, if you see kids, and even a
broken old man, just call me and we'll run to
them and we'll figure it out. We'll do it for you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Give me that number again, two five.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
To one three zero one, three zero two four. That's
my personal phone number. It rings all day.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Okay, and it has been here, uh while we've been
doing the show. And who knows, maybe somebody has spotted
has sorry but you and no problem there. But uh
so you're saying, if we see somebody and we think
they need help, but they can call you, we can
call you.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
As Ryan's refuse. Yes, And I'm not the end all.
I just know all the people. I know all the
programs now. I made myself learn so I know how
to direct them if I can't help them.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Well, you say that you know all the people when
the the I know locally, Once a year they try
to do account. How does it go? How many is there?
Like a thousand, two thousand? Is there that many?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I don't know the number, but I think three thousand
three not seven hundred. And they're not going to be counted.
They make sure you don't count them. And that's terrible
because we need to count them because that helps us
get money to help them. But they don't want to
be counted. They don't want you to know where they're out.
Of course they're hiding, so they don't want people to know,
and they're scared of being counted because like why are
you counting me? You know?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, all right, we're going to take a time out
for news headlines. We have new headlines coming up, and
then we're going to talk more with Eric Overstreet again.
You can follow what he's going to do with the
homeless in August by looking him up on Facebook, Eric
bump over Street look him up on Facebook, or he
said on TikTok. We're going to have more from Eric
(17:37):
as The Uncle Henry Show continues here after the news
headlines here on News Radio seven to ten WNTM. It
(17:59):
says the Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio seven
to ten WNTM. Now I'm off today, I'm off this week. Now.
Today I would normally be talking about the Mobile City Council.
We're not doing that today. We're talking with Eric Overstreet.
(18:19):
You can find him online, look him up on Facebook.
Eric bump over Street. He's with Ryan's Refuge. He's been
on the show before. He helps homeless people in our community,
has been doing it for years. Now, Tomorrow on the
Eulk Clanrary Show, we'll have a brand new interview with
Paul Prime, Paul Prime running for Mayor of Mobile. And
then Thursday, the next day, a brand new interview with
(18:40):
Spiro Cerragattas, who is running for mayor of Mobile. But
today it's Eric bump over Street with Ryan's Refuge. So Eric,
you're doing this. If you just tuned in, Eric is
going to go back and live with the homeless the
entire month of August. He's starting Friday, going out. You're
going to be staying out all night long with the
(19:00):
homeless every night for a month, and you're gonna use this.
You're going to document it all on social media. You're
trying to raise money for Ryan's Refuge to help the homeless. Yes, now,
when somebody go you've just described in the last segment
of the show, you talked about things you've learned about
the homeless from working with them from years. For years,
You've said that in your experience, over half have mental illness,
(19:26):
some with addiction. Many of them are women that we
may not realize. How do you help them at Ryan's Refuge?
How do you help these different people with different needs
at Ryan's Refuge?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Awesome? Knowing that they're all different, we approach every person different.
The very first thing we do. They get there for
thirty days, we make them sit down, sit down and rest.
When you're homeless, you're not allowed to sit around. It
against the law to sit down, So we let them rest,
watch TV, get your weight up. We feed them real
good We don't charge a penny. We take care of
them for thirty days. That thirty days we find out
how we can help them. We come with the game plan. Generally,
(20:01):
we start with all their documents. You got to have
some security card data, bird like, because they told me
when I was homeless with them before, this is the problem.
We don't have our ided you know, right, So all
those things I heard and learned on the street, that's
what we try to implement it. Ryan's all these reasons
you're homeless, We're gonna fix them right now, right at
this place. Well, of course for a Christian place. We
introduce them to Christ. We try to touch their spiritual, physical, mental,
(20:22):
you know, all of it. We try to help them
some need all Tora point. They work with us health
Careful the homeless works very closely. If you have a
bunch of homeless people in one place, the services can
come to them right and you start something with them,
you can finish it with them. The problem on the
street is you're trying to help them, then you don't
ever see them again. You started some document, they get
them on their feet, and you don't. You can't find them.
(20:43):
So that's one good thing they come. They help so
many services come service Ryan's refuge because we have a
location where they're all at. But yeah, thirty days we
do that. The next thirty days. If they can work,
we help them work. We get them to work, we
drive them to work, we get them jobs. We still
don't take their money the whole time they're there. They
saved their money and then after around ninety days, sometimes
(21:05):
six months, it depends how long it takes, we'll either
send them to the next program that teaches them to
pay bills and they charge rent, like you got to
learn that, Like you're not gonna be taken care of forever.
But we've just decided that while they're at Ryan's Refuge,
we're gonna try to get them back on their feet.
When they leave, they're gonna have a bank account, money
in the bank, all their documents. They're gonna be employable,
they're gonna be well rested, they're gonna be clean. You know,
(21:26):
how can you get a job? Like coming up from
under a bridge. You can't work, you're exhausted for one thing.
I found that out. I'm tired every day living on
the street, like I can't work, I'm filthy. Nobody's gonna
hire me. So, you know, we clean them up, we
get them clothes, and they have every opportunity to start
over right there. People need a fresh start.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
So how many people are at Rhyme's Refuge at any
one given time, we.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Had thirty one Today we only have six girls today,
We've had up to ten girls. It's not a female shelter,
and I'm gonna get a woman's shelter open. There needs
to be more places for women in this town, shelter.
But we do have women in a separate house right
now around thirty years so, but we can hold forty.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Okay. So, and as you said, every homeless person has
a different story in a different set of needs that
you try to help them meet to get them back
into society and not be homeless. We've seen it seems
like growing numbers of homeless around the country over the
past ten to twenty years. Do you have any thoughts,
(22:31):
any ideas of why you think that would be? Why
more now than we.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Used to have the same reasons. They're prevalent here, addictions,
mental illness. A lot of the states, just like Alabama,
have closed the mental hospitals, so they're just running around unmedicated.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Okay, So closing of facilities in the past has led
to this.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
That's why you see so many on the street talking
to themselves. They used to be inside and they need
to be inside.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay. Yeah, so you're helping people immediately that are homeless
get out of it. What about a bigger picture solution.
Have you talked to state lawmakers or others that might
be able to change that.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yes, getting help on the government level. You know, I'm
taught politics. Just a second, I sorry, but you know,
Donald Trump everybody's savior. He turned out to be somebody
that's going to hurt us very much. The people that
try to help people if we use government programs, also
have a very good relationship with a local mayor. Kind
of can I say it?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
With Paul Prime, Like we've talked a lot of known
him for a long time. He's a personal friend. But
we have a plan, like how can we fix this?
And he wants to know, he wants to learn, Like
he's listening to me, and that means a world to
me because I've done it long enough. I want to
tell him I didn't have a lot of luck with
the previous administrations. Their idea was to, you know, make
(23:53):
them go away, make them invisible, run them out of town,
or lock them up. The jail's already full. They're not
going to leave town because they're from mobile like the
poor people allowed to be here too. You know, we
just got to figure out, you know what bothers the
public is what they see, right, if they could be
invisible nobody would talk about it, but they're not. They're
far at our town. We've got to figure out how
(24:14):
to clean up the messes, stop the panhandling, and somehow
get people inside. Because it's hard to help them where
they're at. You almost institutionalize them. When you help them
where they're at, you got to encourage them. Come on,
let's get out of this. You're creative for better than this.
So I'm going to work close as I can with
any candidate because I need the city's help.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But I feel very strong about faul Prime. But what
about the at the state or national level. Now you
said President Trump will hurt because he's all about cutting
government spending. What about at the state level in terms
of getting some type of resources for the mental health
needs for people.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I mean, the state's the one that closed the mental hospitals.
I don't know the answer. I want to know, like,
how are they going to address this because people are
going to start being upset. They're seeing people walking around
talking to them. That scares people and it worries them.
For the person, you've been to Birmingham lately, no, oh
my gosh, you can't go in a store. You've got
to step over a homeless person, and most of them
you can tell they're in manutes schizophrenia right there on
(25:12):
the street in front of everybody. People are fearful, but
they're also concerned about this person. The states have they're
the ones that dropped the ball on this, like that
it's in their court. Are we going to get help
from the state.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I don't even know how.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I don't know who to approach for that. All my
help's gonna come locally. I would love to like this
is a state issue, it's a national issue. They need
to get MIHND this. It's not going to go away.
It's increasing, Like they're cities. I watched their report the
other day, sometown in Arizona that had seven thousand homeless people.
They don't hide them anymore. They've given up. So they
literally have tent after tent after tent right out there
(25:48):
in the open in front of everybody. And all they're
doing is just like covering their eyes because they let
it get to that it might be unfixable. There's too
many mobiles not we can address this now and we
can help this.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Where do you get most of your assistance.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
From all from local people in Mobile, Alabama?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
What is it churches, individuals?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Some churches. I'm going to talk to some more churches
because I want to take this burden off the churches.
They're getting phone calls all day long trying to figure
this out and they don't know how to do it.
People in hotels ask it from under their rooms. So
I want to take it off of the churches. I
want to do the officite. I want to help the churches.
It's not really their lane, you know what I'm saying.
The church is a body of believers. Of course, they're
going to help them all they can. I think the
(26:28):
nonprofits that are set up to help them are qualify
for that.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
All right. So Ryan's Refuge? Where is Ryan's.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Refugeetollmanville is five to five four Southcraft Highway. And I
would have opened a shelter in Egypt if that would
have been an available building. This is the house that
became available. Chris Francis gave us this house and we're
making the most.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Out of it. So where does Ryan's Refuge get its money?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Locally? Friends, local people. I don't even know. I've had
a fundraiser last year. We raised twenty five grand doing
a banquet. It's all low people. We're gonna get grants
one day. We're new, we're only a couple of years old.
We've got to do a few nine nineties first. If
anybody calls for first grants, we're gonna right now, it's
just friends and people around Mobile, all.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right, We're going to take a time out and then
have our remaining moments with Eric Overstreet. Now, if you
want to follow his his month where he's going to
live with the homeless Ofmobile, go to Facebook. Eric bump
over Street on Facebook and you can also find him
on TikTok Eric bump over Street. We'll be back with
more from Eric as The Uncle Henry Show continues here
(27:34):
on news Radio seven to ten WNTM. This says The
Uncle Henry Show News headlines coming up in ten minutes,
and we're here in our remaining moments with Eric Overstreet
with Ron's Refuge starting Friday, August first, he is going
(27:59):
to go live with homeless every day and night for
a month, and he's going to document it a lot
on social media on Facebook and TikTok, trying to raise
money for Ryan's Refuge where he helps homeless people become
non homeless. Now, and it's Eric bump over Street on
Facebook and TikTok. So, Eric, you this has become a
(28:22):
This has become your life helping homeless people. Why? I mean,
there are many other things you could do in life.
Why would you devote your life to this?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I kind of accidentally did it. Well. I had a
dad that taught me to help broken people. I had
a wonderful father. Man, I hate he's gone. He taught
me as a kid. My whole childhood was running around
watching him help people. So I learned it as a kid.
But I became an addict when I grew up, and
I never faced homelessness because my mom loved me so
much she let me sleep on her couch. But I
should have been out there. But I also had a
(28:54):
baby sister that did not make it out of that.
She died on the streets in Mobile.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Your sister died in my baby from from addiction.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
She died from addiction, and she she ended her own life.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Oh I'm so sorry to hear that.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Okay, addiction and depression. Can you imagine like a girl
being on the street. I don't want to tell you
what girls go through on the street when they're homeless.
Like I'm trying so hard to get a woman's place open.
Because of that, it's not good for women on the street.
My sister went through that and she gave up, but uh,
you know, she loved me. She would run around and
tell every attic and every homeless person in town, you
(29:29):
got to meet my brother Eric. You got to meet Eric.
And then she happened to die on the street. So
until I die, I'm going to make a point to
find people like my sister that are closely giving up.
It's not living outside like I can sleep outside. A
good percentage the world sleeps outside, you know that, Like
there's countries they sleep outside. It's laying out there being
(29:50):
hopeless and broken and depressed, thinking you know you deserve that,
like everybody else riding around the cars and I'm sitting
on this bread. It's depressing. I saw how people look
at it, because they looked at me that way. The
cars drive by didn't know I wasn't homeless. I looked
like everybody else. I had the beer and I was filthy.
I would go in stores and people would look at
me different. They watched me different. So you know, you
(30:11):
start believing people's perception of you and what we're trying
to do at Ryan is. Of course, we introduce people
to Christ, but we're also trying to change your whole
self image because when a man starts looking at his feet,
it's hard to get a shin back up. And that's
what we're trying to build self worth. And the way
a man gets his self worth is get his life
back together and feel like a man again. So we
teach that also.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Uh, you teach that. But you you've mentioned Christ a
couple of times. For a lot of us, it seems
like it would be impossible to do what you're saying
you want to do without Christ. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, he changed me. It's the only thing I got. Really,
I'm going to clean you up and bring you in
and get you with your documents, but something has to
change inside of you. What what cures that broken heart?
You know that that thing that happened to yours kid?
Only for me. I'm not pushing Christ on people, but
I recommend him. He changed me, and you took all
that pain away and gave me a new direction. And
(31:04):
I do this because I was encouraged because my sister
passed and my dad taught me. But I'm driven by
my relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Well it is it's okay to push Christ that Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It's okay to show you.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah. Absolutely, we want to push him.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I want to introduce you to him by trying to
be a proper ambassador for him.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Well, people want to know what's in it for me
and to a homeless person. You can show them what
Christ did for you.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I'm an example, and when they get better, they're an example.
Like if we can get enough on off the street
and get him right, like I got people that were
wants homeless now help in me. Like they're proof, they're proof.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Okay, we're almost out of time here. So if you
the listener, if you're interested, and I know that I am.
I'm interested in what Eric finds when Eric goes out
and lives with the homeless for a month, I am interested.
I'm interested in the different locations that you're at and
what you encounter in each location. So if you're interested
in following that, it is going to be on Facebook.
(32:02):
You can look it's Eric bump over Street and you're
going out starting Friday correct August first, Friday August first,
and then also on TikTok uh and people you're gonna
be asking for donations the whole time.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, I'm going to give you an opportunity to give
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
If we raised twenty five grand the first day, I'm
still staying out there thirty days because there's way more
than that. But it is a fundraiser, So start saving your.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Money, okay. And you gave out your phone number earlier
in the show. If somebody encounters a homeless person and
they want to get that homeless person, help you encourage
a phone call to you personally.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, absolutely, ok right, that's all fine.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That phone number. Keep this phone number listener if you
encounter the homeless. Eric said that he knows a lot
of them, the ones that are on the side of
the road that may be painhandling. Two five one three
zero one three zero two four. That's two five to
one three oh one three two four to call Eric
(33:00):
bump over street. What does what does your wife think
about you spending a month down on the street side?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You know, she planned it with me, She planned it.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
She was trying to get you out of the house too.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
She'll stay out there with me a couple of days,
Oh she will, Yeah, of course, she's you know, My
wife really started Ryan's refuge. She had a revelation from
God one just the Street Ministry. She's like, you know what, Eric,
I feel like God just told me we need to
open a house. There's one particular homeless person we love
that we wanted inside and it just haves. So she's
a major player all this, of course.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
All right, well, Eric over Street, thank you for coming in.
Always want to learn about this issue, and the entire
country is trying to figure out how to how to
resolve the homeless issue. And of course you've rolled up your
sleeves and you're right there in it. So thank you
for coming and talking about it here again, listener. You
can find him at Eric bump over Street on Facebook.
(33:53):
We have more to come after the news here on
news Radio seven to ten WNTM. Tomorrow we'll be talking
with mayoral candidate Paul Prine and then Thursday mayoral candidate
spiriture A Goddess. All of that coming up this week
on The Uncle Henry's Show.
This is the Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio
seventy ten WNTM. Thank you so much for listening to
the Uncle Henry Show. Now, today is a Tuesday. Ordinarily,
let you know what happened in the Mobile City Council
meeting and all that kind of stuff. But today I'm off.
(00:38):
I'm off for the rest of the week, and so
I've got a series of guests that are going to
be joining me on the Uncle Henry Show while I'm
while I'm out on vacation. Now, tomorrow we're gonna have
our first ever interview with Mobile mayoral candidate Paul Prime.
That is tomorrow on the Uncle Henry Show. Then on Thursday,
we're gonna have mayoral candid eight Spiro Chair gid Us.
(01:03):
We got those candidates coming in this weekend. But today
we're gonna talk to Eric Overstreet. Eric has been on
the show before. The Last time you were here, Eric,
you were here with Killer Bees, sir, and you were
here to talk about Ryan's refuge. Eric, thank you for
coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Now. Remind me now we're talking to Eric because he's
gonna do something. He's starting something this Friday that I
think is quite intriguing. I want to find out as
much as I can about it before we get to that. Though,
Eric over Street, you were with Ryan's Refuge for people
that didn't hear you talk before on the Oil Glinton Show.
What is Ryan's Refuge?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Okay, Ryan's Refuge is I guess you could call it
a home as shelter, but it's more of a restoration center.
It's not a flat hoouse. Like people come there and
they want to change, and we give them the avenue
to change, like whether it's documents, old fines, they don't
have a car, whatever the reason is, we help them
at Ryan's Refuge get we take them all the way,
get them back on their feet.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Now this is something to help the homeless not be
homeless anymore. Yes, sure, it is all right. Now we're
going to get back to that. We're going to talk
all about that through the show. But tell me and
the listener, because I'm not sure I understand completely. What
are you starting this Friday on August first? What are
you doing personally?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, some people know me from doing it in twenty
twenty two, twenty twenty two, I gave away all my
possessions I'm a longtime homeless minister of Mobile, and I
got to the point where am I doing any good? Like?
What am I doing? Like? It's some of the same
people are still out here on the street. So I
wanted to find out. I wanted to live with them
and find out, really what's their help and Mobile? Who
(02:36):
are these homeless people? Are they a bunch of lazy people?
Or are they addicts? Are they mentally ill? I wanted
to know. So I went to live with them for
ninety days in twenty twenty two, and I learned. I
learned everything I need to know for sure. But more importantly,
a lot of things happen since then. It wasn't just
it started out as a fundraiser for driftlet housing, the
amazing drifled housing. They're building tiny homes and we've raised
(02:56):
awareness for them. But so many people, so many things happen.
We've opened shelter since then. A lot of churches are
opening their doors now for weather, which is very important.
They never did that Mobile, We encourage them to do. So.
So more things happen than just raising money for driftlet housing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So, but what are you doing this Friday? You're gonna
go you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Do it again. I'm doing it again. Yeah, I'm just
gonna do thirty days this time. My life's a lot different.
I'm married now, got some medical stuff. I've got the
responsibility of Ryan's Refuge, so i can't go ninety days.
But it's gonna be a fundraiser for Ryan's Refuge this time,
the homeless shelter. We've served six hundred people in the
last two years already at Ryan's and we've got great,
great success stories.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, tell me how you're gonna do this? So so
what what are you going to do? How is your
Friday going to be different from the day before?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It can be a lot different. I'm gonna be dropped off,
probably in Tillman's Corner. I'm gonna stay several different places.
I'm gonna start under a bridge over there and just
live with the homeless peop I'm gonna have one set
of clothing on. I'm not gonna have any money, oh no, sorry,
And I'm gonna live with homeless people again. I'm gonna
get to know them again. But the whole time I'm
going to document it so people can see what's really
(04:04):
going on. I did that last time. Without humilating one
homeless person. I'm gonna include everybody in this journey. And
then it's gonna be a fundraiser for Ryan's Refuge. You're
gonna have an opportunity to give our homeless shelter is free,
so we want to keep it free. It doesn't make
sense to charge somebody that's already at the bottom right right,
So we raise money to keep it that way, as
(04:24):
the City of Mobile supports Ryan's Refuge in my personal friends.
So this is a fundraiser, although it's gonna be about awareness. Also,
we're gonna try to raise twenty five thousand dollars in
a month.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
So, now, are you gonna be there twenty four? Are
you going to be there over nine? Is it gonna
be twenty four to seven? Yeah, you're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, it's gonna be twenty four to seven. I'm living
on the street. I'm sleeping on the street. I'm not
gonna have my car again. I'm not even taking sleeping bag.
I'm have to find it. You know, when you when
you've become homeless, suddenly you don't have your camping gear
with you, you know what I mean. So that's the first
few days. I'm gonna be scraping together some stuff to
make it as comfortable as possible for myself. I'm gonna
get to know the homeless people again. What a man.
It just changed everything. I mean, just getting to know
(05:03):
them in person, you know, and I found out they're
not lazy. Some are menlils, some are addictive, but mostly
they're just broken people that you know, if you give
them an avenue to get out of that, they take it.
They embrace it, and we've seen great, great success.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Okay, so you say you're going to document it, So
are people going to be coming and doing video with you?
I mean, are people going to be showing up to
just check on you and to provide updates? Are you
going to be.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Glad you asked? I'm going to film, you know, it'll
be a lot on Facebook. Also have a TikTok account.
But I'm also invite people. I got some important people
in mobile. They are going to be homeless with me
one night at a time. And when they come be
homeless with me, they're going to video too and say, hey,
I'm here with Derek over Street. I'm being homeless tonight.
So we can help other people not be homeless, So
they're going to kind of help me with awareness and
(05:50):
fundraising too. I've got several people that are going to
do that with me. I'm trying to find some more
to spend one night with me homeless.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Okay, so tell right now where would we be able
to follow this if someone's interested and they want to
seek up close what it's like out there? Yeah, with
the homeless people you encounter. Yeah, and you really don't
know exactly what you're gonna encounter yet, do you? I
don't know. So where do we follow it online? How
do we fink? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I would follow me on Facebook. I have the maximount
of friends right now. But it's Eric Bump Bump that's
my nickname of Graham Babes gave me Over Street. You
can follow me on Facebook. I'll do videos all day
every day. I'm going to wear a GoPro camera, not
to fill homeless people, to fill myself. So you're gonna
know what I'm doing. I'm gonna post those videos and
I also have a TikTok account I'm working on. It's
(06:34):
also the.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Same name Eric Bump on over Street.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, so follow me now, Go ahead and follow me now,
and you can see the whole build up and then
you can go on this journey with me.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Are you Are you expecting anything different? I know you
work with homeless people every day now of your life
and you have for years. Do you think it'll be
any different, anything different from the first time?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, I think it will. You know, I'll just kind
of be honest. Yeah, please transparent. You know, I've always
been known as somebody that meets you where you're at,
I help you where you're at, I'll bring you what
you need. It almost institutionalizes the homeless person if you
enable them too much. So now I've become somebody that
when homeless people come to my place, I push them
(07:15):
to be better. So some of the homeless people didn't
make it in my program, you know, some of them
might be mad at me, you know what I'm saying.
So I'm going to be living with the people that
might not have made it in my program, So that
will be different. More people know me this time. Last time,
I tried to do it in disguise, like I was
really a homeless person for a while, and you know,
eventually they knew who I was. But this time I'm
(07:37):
just going out straight as Eric over street living with
you homeless guys. I've talked to a few of them,
let them know I'm gonna stay with them a few days.
It'll be different. Everybody knows what I'm doing up front.
I'm not sure how the homeless people will react. I'm
hoping they embrace it and I can help a bunch
of them this time.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, when you tell us about what it was like
when you did it for ninety days, that was different,
you said a few years ago when you did it
for ninety days, you weren't married. Then A complainit you
didn't know what to expect. I guessed, what was that
like those ninety days?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
It was uncertain for sure at first, and it was grueling.
I didn't like it. I didn't like being homeless. I
found out it's a miserable life. How'd you I had
to figure it out, like I had to figure it out,
just like they do. And then, you know, a lot
of people know me, so they did make it more
convenient for me than they should have.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Just be like, okay, so you did have some people
coming up making sure you had some deals.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I know all the homeless ministers. I knew where I
could get food and then and then at some point
for prop food.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, okay, but what kind of things did you learn
when you were doing that? Oh wait, wait, I've got
to go to break. Okay, all right, we're gon. We're
gonna talk more about a lot of people want to
know how should we treat the homeless, what's the right
way to help. We'll get into all of that as
we go forward here on the Uncle Henry's Shows, The
(09:02):
Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio seven to ten WNTM.
This hour, we're talking with Eric bump over Street Look
up Eric bump over Street on Facebook, on TikTok. He
is about to start a month where he's going to
be living with the homeless here in Mobile, trying to
(09:24):
learn about them and also raise money to help them
with Ryan's Refuge. So you told us in the last
segment that a few years ago were you lived with
the homeless for ninety days trying to find out what
it was like, just so you could learn. What kind
of things did you learn about homeless people when you
were out there with them for ninety days.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
The main thing I took was every situation's different. I
wish we could group them as homeless. And then there's
one way to fix that issue. But they are completely different.
Every story's different. There's families, there are addicts. There's a
huge amount of mentally ill people. I found out, like
a huge amount, more than half.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
More okay, now more than half. Now there's no way
to scientifically measure it, of course, but you're saying more
than half of the homeless people you dealt with had
some form of mental illness. Absolutely that may have not
been drug related. It was just a form of mental.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Absolutely, and it can go hand in hand. But that
is a huge issue that I found I didn't know
like when I when I spent time just taking them
a sleeping bag or feeding them or make sure they
got a shower, I didn't get to know them well
enough to know, like you know, this person maybe needs
some medication or they need some therapy, and even addiction.
A lot of it stems from that, like something happened
as a kid, some trauma, and that just it'ched them
(10:35):
their whole life and it breaks them. Like we all
cope differently. Something minor might have happened to you and
it destroyed you, and something major some kid man's up
and becomes something. But a lot of people don't. It
breaks them, especially when they're children. So that was very common.
Like there's a reason almost every time. And there's addiction,
of course, you know there is that. That's probably close
to half also.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So this is not like back in the day nineteen
fifties and sixties, there were there were there were people
were it was romanticized as the hobo. Hobos. Yes, a tramp,
a hobo, that's gonna do. That's not what we're talking
about now, talking about people that are broken.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Hoboes were people that traveled and work and stuff. Yeah,
that riding trains. You know, these are people. It's different now,
even since I've ministered on the street for fifteen years,
it's a lot different. At first, it did seem to
be like this poor family, you know, had a problem
that the guy lost his job or something. It is
very much mental illness like and addictions mostly. Is it
(11:35):
mostly men or do you encounter women alsome? I'm glad
you said that. I meant to say it crazy. It's
probably forty percent women for scent women in Mobile Alabama. Yes,
and if you include the ones living in hotels calling
me all day, calling churches. I can't make it, you know,
and I get it. I'm not judging them. That's a nut.
It might be fifty percent if you include the ladies
(11:55):
they are in hotels with their kids.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, So first thing for people that didn't hear the
last time you were on the show, there are a
lot of generous people and compassionate people in Mobile and
in this and in on the Gulf Coast that would
like to help the homeless. They wish that it was
something that we didn't have to deal with at all. Yeah,
(12:17):
how can the average person help without putting their own
selves in danger? Because you just described over half having
mental illness. Some of that could manifest with a violent
reaction to someone. Absolutely, absolutely, So how do we help?
You helped the established nonprofits.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's a good way to start. I wouldn't. I wouldn't.
Like I have a ton off you. Hey, Eric, I
like what you're doing. I want to get involved. Let
me meet you. Let me I got one lady that
messaged the other day said you want to do be
homeless like me. I'm like, no, you don't want to
do that, like you would be in danger. Are they
bad people? Of course not anybody living out an oafing
on the street's going to be in a little danger.
They're vulnerable. How do you help? I would absolutely say
(12:56):
find a group, and there's many, and let them teach
you and train you how to do it. Always have
people with you. Don't ever try to help anybody you
don't know, whether the homeless or not, by yourself.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I should not buy myself go out and try to
help someone. I should should have support system.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Even a man, have at least one person with you.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Absolutely, Okay. Now should I ever give someone money if
somebody is asking for money? Should I ever hand a
homeless person some cash?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I don't. I don't, but whatever God tells you to do. Yeah,
but why don't you because you know, one, I don't
have a lot of money. There's if I had a
lot of money, I probably still wouldn't. I'm trying to
really help them. I'm not trying to temporarily help anybody.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I used to buy a bunch of hotel rooms for
these ladies that would call with their kids, and you know,
at some point I would be the one making them
homeless because I'd have to say, hey, listen, I can't
pay anymore. So we're trying to find real solutions like
not temporary ones. They've been bandidd for fifteen years, some
of them, and they're still out there.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Could it make it worse if somebody's got an addiction,
then are we making it worse by handing them cash?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Okay? So what can someone do? Because we do we
get solicited on the side of the road all the
time at intersections. What should one do when they're solicited
by somebody on the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
If you're by yourself, keep going. If you're not by
yourself and you got and you want to give out
my phone number, you can. I would love to. I
know most of them, so I would like to help
intervene in that situation. I would like to know where
they're at. If you see somebody in danger, let me
know where they're at. And a lot of people do
should you approach? I don't think so, You don't think so.
So what about the somebody that wants to hand out
(14:35):
beef jerky or something like that. Get with one of
the organizations that do that, and they come in groups.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
But you still say, don't do it by yourself? Yes, yes,
all right, now, you just told me you know most
of them. So if I encounter somebody there used to
be a guy that was down at the loop and
the poor man looked haunted, no idea what could be
his problem, but you knew he had them. Yeah, you
(15:02):
know those folks I do.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And that's schizophrenia. And schizophrenia is huge on the street.
These people they don't even know they're schizophrenic. That's the
sad part. They're walking around in fear. They don't know
why they're homeless, and people are screaming at them out
of their car rooms when it's rude things, and they
don't even realize why they're homeless. A lot are in
the system at Altipoint and because of confusion, they wander
off like they're in group homes. They wonder off. They
(15:25):
don't even remember where they lived. So there's many unmedicated
schizophrenics and mobile. They need to be back in the
system and be back on their medication.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Is there a way to get them back in the system.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Altipoint has a crisis phone number. If you see somebody
like that walking down the street and manic schizophrenia where
they're talking to themselves and they they're very troubled and scared.
ALTI Point has a crisis center and they will come
to that person. And that would be what you do.
If you see somebody in that state, call Altrapoint Trump
Crisis Center. If you see a homeless person you want
(15:56):
me to come talk to if you could post my
phone number on your page or I'll give it now,
you can give the new five to one, three oh one,
three oh two four. I get a lot of calls
to day, and we do go find them. If you
see a woman, if you see kids, and even a
broken old man, just call me and we'll run to
them and we'll figure it out. We'll do it for you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Give me that number again, two five.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
To one three zero one, three zero two four. That's
my personal phone number. It rings all day.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Okay, and it has been here, uh while we've been
doing the show. And who knows, maybe somebody has spotted
has sorry but you and no problem there. But uh
so you're saying, if we see somebody and we think
they need help, but they can call you, we can
call you.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
As Ryan's refuse. Yes, And I'm not the end all.
I just know all the people. I know all the
programs now. I made myself learn so I know how
to direct them if I can't help them.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Well, you say that you know all the people when
the the I know locally, Once a year they try
to do account. How does it go? How many is there?
Like a thousand, two thousand? Is there that many?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I don't know the number, but I think three thousand
three not seven hundred. And they're not going to be counted.
They make sure you don't count them. And that's terrible
because we need to count them because that helps us
get money to help them. But they don't want to
be counted. They don't want you to know where they're out.
Of course they're hiding, so they don't want people to know,
and they're scared of being counted because like why are
you counting me? You know?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Okay, all right, we're going to take a time out
for news headlines. We have new headlines coming up, and
then we're going to talk more with Eric Overstreet again.
You can follow what he's going to do with the
homeless in August by looking him up on Facebook, Eric
bump over Street look him up on Facebook, or he
said on TikTok. We're going to have more from Eric
(17:37):
as The Uncle Henry Show continues here after the news
headlines here on News Radio seven to ten WNTM. It
(17:59):
says the Uncle Henry Show here on news Radio seven
to ten WNTM. Now I'm off today, I'm off this week. Now.
Today I would normally be talking about the Mobile City Council.
We're not doing that today. We're talking with Eric Overstreet.
(18:19):
You can find him online, look him up on Facebook.
Eric bump over Street. He's with Ryan's Refuge. He's been
on the show before. He helps homeless people in our community,
has been doing it for years. Now, Tomorrow on the
Eulk Clanrary Show, we'll have a brand new interview with
Paul Prime, Paul Prime running for Mayor of Mobile. And
then Thursday, the next day, a brand new interview with
(18:40):
Spiro Cerragattas, who is running for mayor of Mobile. But
today it's Eric bump over Street with Ryan's Refuge. So Eric,
you're doing this. If you just tuned in, Eric is
going to go back and live with the homeless the
entire month of August. He's starting Friday, going out. You're
going to be staying out all night long with the
(19:00):
homeless every night for a month, and you're gonna use this.
You're going to document it all on social media. You're
trying to raise money for Ryan's Refuge to help the homeless. Yes, now,
when somebody go you've just described in the last segment
of the show, you talked about things you've learned about
the homeless from working with them from years. For years,
You've said that in your experience, over half have mental illness,
(19:26):
some with addiction. Many of them are women that we
may not realize. How do you help them at Ryan's Refuge?
How do you help these different people with different needs
at Ryan's Refuge?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Awesome? Knowing that they're all different, we approach every person different.
The very first thing we do. They get there for
thirty days, we make them sit down, sit down and rest.
When you're homeless, you're not allowed to sit around. It
against the law to sit down, So we let them rest,
watch TV, get your weight up. We feed them real
good We don't charge a penny. We take care of
them for thirty days. That thirty days we find out
how we can help them. We come with the game plan. Generally,
(20:01):
we start with all their documents. You got to have
some security card data, bird like, because they told me
when I was homeless with them before, this is the problem.
We don't have our ided you know, right, So all
those things I heard and learned on the street, that's
what we try to implement it. Ryan's all these reasons
you're homeless, We're gonna fix them right now, right at
this place. Well, of course for a Christian place. We
introduce them to Christ. We try to touch their spiritual, physical, mental,
(20:22):
you know, all of it. We try to help them
some need all Tora point. They work with us health
Careful the homeless works very closely. If you have a
bunch of homeless people in one place, the services can
come to them right and you start something with them,
you can finish it with them. The problem on the
street is you're trying to help them, then you don't
ever see them again. You started some document, they get
them on their feet, and you don't. You can't find them.
(20:43):
So that's one good thing they come. They help so
many services come service Ryan's refuge because we have a
location where they're all at. But yeah, thirty days we
do that. The next thirty days. If they can work,
we help them work. We get them to work, we
drive them to work, we get them jobs. We still
don't take their money the whole time they're there. They
saved their money and then after around ninety days, sometimes
(21:05):
six months, it depends how long it takes, we'll either
send them to the next program that teaches them to
pay bills and they charge rent, like you got to
learn that, Like you're not gonna be taken care of forever.
But we've just decided that while they're at Ryan's Refuge,
we're gonna try to get them back on their feet.
When they leave, they're gonna have a bank account, money
in the bank, all their documents. They're gonna be employable,
they're gonna be well rested, they're gonna be clean. You know,
(21:26):
how can you get a job? Like coming up from
under a bridge. You can't work, you're exhausted for one thing.
I found that out. I'm tired every day living on
the street, like I can't work, I'm filthy. Nobody's gonna
hire me. So, you know, we clean them up, we
get them clothes, and they have every opportunity to start
over right there. People need a fresh start.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
So how many people are at Rhyme's Refuge at any
one given time, we.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Had thirty one Today we only have six girls today,
We've had up to ten girls. It's not a female shelter,
and I'm gonna get a woman's shelter open. There needs
to be more places for women in this town, shelter.
But we do have women in a separate house right
now around thirty years so, but we can hold forty.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Okay. So, and as you said, every homeless person has
a different story in a different set of needs that
you try to help them meet to get them back
into society and not be homeless. We've seen it seems
like growing numbers of homeless around the country over the
past ten to twenty years. Do you have any thoughts,
(22:31):
any ideas of why you think that would be? Why
more now than we.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Used to have the same reasons. They're prevalent here, addictions,
mental illness. A lot of the states, just like Alabama,
have closed the mental hospitals, so they're just running around unmedicated.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Okay, So closing of facilities in the past has led
to this.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
That's why you see so many on the street talking
to themselves. They used to be inside and they need
to be inside.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Okay. Yeah, so you're helping people immediately that are homeless
get out of it. What about a bigger picture solution.
Have you talked to state lawmakers or others that might
be able to change that.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yes, getting help on the government level. You know, I'm
taught politics. Just a second, I sorry, but you know,
Donald Trump everybody's savior. He turned out to be somebody
that's going to hurt us very much. The people that
try to help people if we use government programs, also
have a very good relationship with a local mayor. Kind
of can I say it?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
With Paul Prime, Like we've talked a lot of known
him for a long time. He's a personal friend. But
we have a plan, like how can we fix this?
And he wants to know, he wants to learn, Like
he's listening to me, and that means a world to
me because I've done it long enough. I want to
tell him I didn't have a lot of luck with
the previous administrations. Their idea was to, you know, make
(23:53):
them go away, make them invisible, run them out of town,
or lock them up. The jail's already full. They're not
going to leave town because they're from mobile like the
poor people allowed to be here too. You know, we
just got to figure out, you know what bothers the
public is what they see, right, if they could be
invisible nobody would talk about it, but they're not. They're
far at our town. We've got to figure out how
(24:14):
to clean up the messes, stop the panhandling, and somehow
get people inside. Because it's hard to help them where
they're at. You almost institutionalize them. When you help them
where they're at, you got to encourage them. Come on,
let's get out of this. You're creative for better than this.
So I'm going to work close as I can with
any candidate because I need the city's help.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But I feel very strong about faul Prime. But what
about the at the state or national level. Now you
said President Trump will hurt because he's all about cutting
government spending. What about at the state level in terms
of getting some type of resources for the mental health
needs for people.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I mean, the state's the one that closed the mental hospitals.
I don't know the answer. I want to know, like,
how are they going to address this because people are
going to start being upset. They're seeing people walking around
talking to them. That scares people and it worries them.
For the person, you've been to Birmingham lately, no, oh
my gosh, you can't go in a store. You've got
to step over a homeless person, and most of them
you can tell they're in manutes schizophrenia right there on
(25:12):
the street in front of everybody. People are fearful, but
they're also concerned about this person. The states have they're
the ones that dropped the ball on this, like that
it's in their court. Are we going to get help
from the state.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I don't even know how.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I don't know who to approach for that. All my
help's gonna come locally. I would love to like this
is a state issue, it's a national issue. They need
to get MIHND this. It's not going to go away.
It's increasing, Like they're cities. I watched their report the
other day, sometown in Arizona that had seven thousand homeless people.
They don't hide them anymore. They've given up. So they
literally have tent after tent after tent right out there
(25:48):
in the open in front of everybody. And all they're
doing is just like covering their eyes because they let
it get to that it might be unfixable. There's too
many mobiles not we can address this now and we
can help this.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Where do you get most of your assistance.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
From all from local people in Mobile, Alabama?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
What is it churches, individuals?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Some churches. I'm going to talk to some more churches
because I want to take this burden off the churches.
They're getting phone calls all day long trying to figure
this out and they don't know how to do it.
People in hotels ask it from under their rooms. So
I want to take it off of the churches. I
want to do the officite. I want to help the churches.
It's not really their lane, you know what I'm saying.
The church is a body of believers. Of course, they're
going to help them all they can. I think the
(26:28):
nonprofits that are set up to help them are qualify
for that.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
All right. So Ryan's Refuge? Where is Ryan's.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Refugeetollmanville is five to five four Southcraft Highway. And I
would have opened a shelter in Egypt if that would
have been an available building. This is the house that
became available. Chris Francis gave us this house and we're
making the most.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Out of it. So where does Ryan's Refuge get its money?
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Locally? Friends, local people. I don't even know. I've had
a fundraiser last year. We raised twenty five grand doing
a banquet. It's all low people. We're gonna get grants
one day. We're new, we're only a couple of years old.
We've got to do a few nine nineties first. If
anybody calls for first grants, we're gonna right now, it's
just friends and people around Mobile, all.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right, We're going to take a time out and then
have our remaining moments with Eric Overstreet. Now, if you
want to follow his his month where he's going to
live with the homeless Ofmobile, go to Facebook. Eric bump
over Street on Facebook and you can also find him
on TikTok Eric bump over Street. We'll be back with
more from Eric as The Uncle Henry Show continues here
(27:34):
on news Radio seven to ten WNTM. This says The
Uncle Henry Show News headlines coming up in ten minutes,
and we're here in our remaining moments with Eric Overstreet
with Ron's Refuge starting Friday, August first, he is going
(27:59):
to go live with homeless every day and night for
a month, and he's going to document it a lot
on social media on Facebook and TikTok, trying to raise
money for Ryan's Refuge where he helps homeless people become
non homeless. Now, and it's Eric bump over Street on
Facebook and TikTok. So, Eric, you this has become a
(28:22):
This has become your life helping homeless people. Why? I mean,
there are many other things you could do in life.
Why would you devote your life to this?
Speaker 2 (28:32):
I kind of accidentally did it. Well. I had a
dad that taught me to help broken people. I had
a wonderful father. Man, I hate he's gone. He taught
me as a kid. My whole childhood was running around
watching him help people. So I learned it as a kid.
But I became an addict when I grew up, and
I never faced homelessness because my mom loved me so
much she let me sleep on her couch. But I
should have been out there. But I also had a
(28:54):
baby sister that did not make it out of that.
She died on the streets in Mobile.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Your sister died in my baby from from addiction.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
She died from addiction, and she she ended her own life.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Oh I'm so sorry to hear that.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Okay, addiction and depression. Can you imagine like a girl
being on the street. I don't want to tell you
what girls go through on the street when they're homeless.
Like I'm trying so hard to get a woman's place open.
Because of that, it's not good for women on the street.
My sister went through that and she gave up, but uh,
you know, she loved me. She would run around and
tell every attic and every homeless person in town, you
(29:29):
got to meet my brother Eric. You got to meet Eric.
And then she happened to die on the street. So
until I die, I'm going to make a point to
find people like my sister that are closely giving up.
It's not living outside like I can sleep outside. A
good percentage the world sleeps outside, you know that, Like
there's countries they sleep outside. It's laying out there being
(29:50):
hopeless and broken and depressed, thinking you know you deserve that,
like everybody else riding around the cars and I'm sitting
on this bread. It's depressing. I saw how people look
at it, because they looked at me that way. The
cars drive by didn't know I wasn't homeless. I looked
like everybody else. I had the beer and I was filthy.
I would go in stores and people would look at
me different. They watched me different. So you know, you
(30:11):
start believing people's perception of you and what we're trying
to do at Ryan is. Of course, we introduce people
to Christ, but we're also trying to change your whole
self image because when a man starts looking at his feet,
it's hard to get a shin back up. And that's
what we're trying to build self worth. And the way
a man gets his self worth is get his life
back together and feel like a man again. So we
teach that also.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Uh, you teach that. But you you've mentioned Christ a
couple of times. For a lot of us, it seems
like it would be impossible to do what you're saying
you want to do without Christ. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah, he changed me. It's the only thing I got. Really,
I'm going to clean you up and bring you in
and get you with your documents, but something has to
change inside of you. What what cures that broken heart?
You know that that thing that happened to yours kid?
Only for me. I'm not pushing Christ on people, but
I recommend him. He changed me, and you took all
that pain away and gave me a new direction. And
(31:04):
I do this because I was encouraged because my sister
passed and my dad taught me. But I'm driven by
my relationship with God.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Well it is it's okay to push Christ that Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It's okay to show you.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah. Absolutely, we want to push him.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I want to introduce you to him by trying to
be a proper ambassador for him.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Well, people want to know what's in it for me
and to a homeless person. You can show them what
Christ did for you.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I'm an example, and when they get better, they're an example.
Like if we can get enough on off the street
and get him right, like I got people that were
wants homeless now help in me. Like they're proof, they're proof.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Okay, we're almost out of time here. So if you
the listener, if you're interested, and I know that I am.
I'm interested in what Eric finds when Eric goes out
and lives with the homeless for a month, I am interested.
I'm interested in the different locations that you're at and
what you encounter in each location. So if you're interested
in following that, it is going to be on Facebook.
(32:02):
You can look it's Eric bump over Street and you're
going out starting Friday correct August first, Friday August first,
and then also on TikTok uh and people you're gonna
be asking for donations the whole time.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, I'm going to give you an opportunity to give
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
If we raised twenty five grand the first day, I'm
still staying out there thirty days because there's way more
than that. But it is a fundraiser, So start saving your.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Money, okay. And you gave out your phone number earlier
in the show. If somebody encounters a homeless person and
they want to get that homeless person, help you encourage
a phone call to you personally.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Yeah, absolutely, ok right, that's all fine.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That phone number. Keep this phone number listener if you
encounter the homeless. Eric said that he knows a lot
of them, the ones that are on the side of
the road that may be painhandling. Two five one three
zero one three zero two four. That's two five to
one three oh one three two four to call Eric
(33:00):
bump over street. What does what does your wife think
about you spending a month down on the street side?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
You know, she planned it with me, She planned it.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
She was trying to get you out of the house too.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
She'll stay out there with me a couple of days,
Oh she will, Yeah, of course, she's you know, My
wife really started Ryan's refuge. She had a revelation from
God one just the Street Ministry. She's like, you know what, Eric,
I feel like God just told me we need to
open a house. There's one particular homeless person we love
that we wanted inside and it just haves. So she's
a major player all this, of course.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
All right, well, Eric over Street, thank you for coming in.
Always want to learn about this issue, and the entire
country is trying to figure out how to how to
resolve the homeless issue. And of course you've rolled up your
sleeves and you're right there in it. So thank you
for coming and talking about it here again, listener. You
can find him at Eric bump over Street on Facebook.
(33:53):
We have more to come after the news here on
news Radio seven to ten WNTM. Tomorrow we'll be talking
with mayoral candidate Paul Prine and then Thursday mayoral candidate
spiriture A Goddess. All of that coming up this week
on The Uncle Henry's Show.
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