Listen Up with Host Al Neely
Hi, I'm Al Neely. I've spent most of my life asking, " Why do people behave a certain way? Why don't people understand that most everyone wants basically the same thing? Most everyone wants their fundamental need for peace of mind, nourishment, shelter and safety."
What I have learned is that because of an unwillingness to open one's mind to see that some of the people you come in contact with may have those same desires as you do. We prejudge, isolate ourselves, and can be hesitant to interact, and sometimes we can be belligerent towards one another. This is caused by learned behavior that may have repeated itself for generations in our families.
What I hope to do with this podcast is to introduce as many people with as many various cultures, backgrounds, and practices as possible. The thought is that I can help to bring different perspectives by discussing various views from my guests that are willing to talk about their personal experiences.
Hopefully we all will learn something new. We may even learn that most of us share the same desire for our fundamental needs. We may just simply try to obtain it differently.
Sit back, learn, and enjoy!
Listen Up with Host Al Neely
From Hardship to Hope: A Nonprofit's Remarkable Journey
Behind every successful community support system stands someone who understands what it means to need help. For Sabrina Davis, founder of Reset Inc, this understanding comes from personal experience. As a child, she once attempted to steal a Lunchable because she wanted what other kids had—not because she was starving, but because her hardworking single mother couldn't afford extras. Seeing her mother's tears after being called from work left an impression that would eventually inspire a revolutionary approach to food insecurity.
Reset Inc (Restructuring Education, Social development, Economics Together) has transformed how community support functions with their 24/7 food pantry at the intersection of Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach. Unlike traditional pantries that provide pre-selected boxes during limited hours, Reset's pantry operates around the clock with a "people's choice" philosophy. Community members can select exactly what they need—name-brand cereals, fresh produce, meats, and even treats like popsicles—without restrictions or judgment. As Sabrina puts it, "You don't have to steal what we give for free."
The nonprofit's impact extends beyond food. They provide 50 diapers per child monthly to families, maintain a computer lab with internet access, offer tutoring services, and even have shower facilities where homeless individuals can clean up. Their outreach team, led by coordinator Honesty, delivers food to homeless encampments and families without transportation across Southeastern Virginia and into North Carolina.
What makes Reset truly special is the philosophy behind it. "Sometimes in life everyone needs a reset," Sabrina explains. The organization isn't just about giving handouts but providing hands up—helping people understand their situation doesn't define them. Despite receiving no government funding and relying entirely on grants, donations, and their own resources, Reset continues to expand their services. They're currently fundraising for a refrigerated truck to reach more communities in need.
Want to be part of this inspiring mission? Visit resetvirginia.org or find them at 1109 South Military Highway. Whether you can donate food, funds, or simply volunteer your time, Reset Inc shows that when compassionate people come together, positive transformation happens. Subscribe to hear more stories of community heroes making a difference where it matters most.
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If you enjoyed today's episode, I'm going to ask you to click on the links below follow, subscribe, become part of the conversation and remember, listen up. Hello everyone, I'm Al Neely with Listen Up Podcast and today we have Sabrina Davis. She's the founder and executive director of Reset Inc and her outreach coordinator. Honesty, say hello.
Speaker 2:Hello.
Speaker 3:Hi everybody.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Thank you for coming here. One of the reasons I wanted to have you in studio. We did an onsite interview, but what came across to me was your passion for what you're doing. Reset is a nonprofit foundation and the whole idea is to support the community. Right, yes, ok, so let's talk about, let's talk about your mission with Reset, what inspires you, and just go in to explain to everybody what Reset does.
Speaker 2:So Reset was founded in 2023.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:I was actually having a conversation with our director about starting over. People need a second chance.
Speaker 1:Director of.
Speaker 2:Reset Inc Okay.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:We were just having a conversation about, you know, falling but not staying there.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And having that chance. And you know, we both looked at each other and was like, sometimes in life everyone needs a reset. You know we laughed it off.
Speaker 2:And then we stopped and we looked at each other and we said that's the name of an organization, because what stood out to me was a reset button. Every time they tell you you need to troubleshoot, especially electronic, what do they say have you tried to reset Right? And so from that point we said you know what Reset is? Restructuring education, social development, economics together, the capacity in which we want to continue to help our community, not just by giving them handouts but giving them a hand up and allowing them to see that you know your situation does not define you. You may be down today, but tomorrow is a whole nother day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so we want to give that hope and embody that principle that we are going to be the change we want to see.
Speaker 1:Right, so it's a non, it's a nonprofit, it's a 501 C3. Is that correct? That's correct, ok. And you started to provide service for the underserved communities in the area. You even work with veterans yes, veterans, seniors Right, yes. Veterans, seniors yes, right. So I understand the underserved. We'll go into that in just a minute because that's the majority of what you do Right, right. But you also have a background in home care, yes, so is that where your passion came from, helping seniors, or how did you roll that into the organization?
Speaker 2:So I've always had a love for the most vulnerable, which have been children and elderly OK, and those are the vulnerable population, and elderly always gravitate to me and so, ever since I was a kid, they just had this liking and this love for me. Since I was a kid, they just had this liking and this love for me. So, fresh out of high school, one of the first things I decided to do was go to Bon Secours to become a certified nursing assistant, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed working with the seniors, I enjoyed helping people. I've always had a love for just doing for others.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And so that is what started me along the process of working with the seniors. I'm growing up in a church and having seniors around. My mother growing up was the excuse me the president of a senior choir, so of course, as children we went with her to her meetings and choir rehearsals. I mean, we were brought up in a church. You know what we have roots, deeply rooted into. You know the Baptist church. So for me, being around seniors is just, you know, second nature.
Speaker 1:Right yeah.
Speaker 2:But then I started a home health care business.
Speaker 1:Oh OK.
Speaker 2:And so, with that, we provide home health care services and skill services. What is the name of your?
Speaker 1:Agape Care, agape Care, agape Care, yes, okay, which Agape? Everybody has seen, that means love.
Speaker 2:Yes, and one of the driving forces is to say to our patients and their families is that we're going to love on your family member as if they were our own Right. They're going to get that same love and care that your family would provide to them. Sometimes, maybe even better.
Speaker 1:Right Honesty. How did you become involved? How long have you been with Sabrina?
Speaker 3:I've been with Sabrina since like the very beginning of January.
Speaker 1:Okay, two thousand Two thousand twenty, beginning of January. Ok, two thousand Two thousand twenty, ok, gotcha.
Speaker 3:I. We're both on the next door app. I knew nothing about it. I've been working in nonprofits since I was probably about 15.
Speaker 1:Really OK.
Speaker 3:So I'm, you know, in turn with working with another nonprofit. You know, god led me to reset. I'm trying to expand, trying to reach out and trying to make sure that the community has all the resources necessary. Her 24-7 pantry is one of my major go-to's for the community. So when they can't get to the pantry, I, as her outreach director, make sure that the community has food outside. But I got in, I got into it with Reset because I was trying to get more resources for the underserved, because they don't know about it. Right, I wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for some of the apps and some of the you know feeds that come on your Facebook and you know different things that will connect you. But when I say that like, that was how I just immediately got immersed, that I fell in love with the pantry the minute I stepped on the property, it was just agape love, like. It was like yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I felt that. I felt that as well. One of the things you just mentioned was the 24 hour pantry. I think that's an amazing concept and we were talking about it a little bit, ken, why don't you she's? You know she, she knows that. She's been saying this forever, right. Why don't you explain it? Know she, she knows it, she's been saying this forever, right. Why don't you explain it?
Speaker 3:all right, explain it she says it, and when I say it comes out so fluently like I just listen. Okay, so this 24 7 pantry right, which is amazing just sit over there for me it's super super, super, super amazing. Ok, a lot of people don't even grasp the concept. They're still like this is good to be true, like I can just open the refrigerator, I can just grab that off the shelf. I can, I can get that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You got a bag for me. Yeah, I can get more than two items. You don't tell me what to get, you don't come out here and pick it for me. That's not what our pantry is about. And a lot of people when I say like this has an amazing impact on the community because now we don't have as much stuff in the neighborhood stores, because not only does her pantry provide food, but she got name brand stuff right, all the name brand stuff like the good food, the good cereal, the good meats, everything that's going to fill you up.
Speaker 3:And God in the community is standing behind her. And when I say it's expanding so fast in front of my eyes. Like every day we get a new piece of a pantry, like every day we have something else to add to the pantry the, the, the love of in the outpour that we get from volunteers, because we do have a lot of volunteers. We do have a lot of organizations that come and donate. We have Fishing Point. They always bring us things. We have another. She's partnered with another organization that she actually helped start up.
Speaker 2:Jen's name is Jen's organization cruising for the homeless, okay and she is out of Suffolk Whaleyville area right yeah, so we're all the way.
Speaker 3:In Virginia Beach, this one pantry has a impact on not only the seven cities, but but outside of the seven Southeastern.
Speaker 1:Virginia, Southeastern Virginia. Yeah, you were talking. I think you were talking last time. You were talking about Franklin, right, or was?
Speaker 2:it Franklin, Gastonia County.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, which is North Carolina? Yes, yeah, waverly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we cross state lines. You know, growing up in Southampton County, like my parents are from South Hampton County, Isle of Wight County, and you know farm agriculture, there was never a we can't eat, we have nothing to eat. I don't understand that. In the capacity of grandmother's house is always we could be talking to her like you and I are talking and she's made a whole spread of food. And you're looking and you're like Like you and I are talking and she's made a whole spread of food. And you're looking and you're like wait a minute, she's fried fish, she's cooked chicken, she's made, you know, turnip green, she's made cornbread and it's enough to feed everyone here. And so we were always taught food is plentiful. Everyone should be able to eat.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, and she also. This is this pantry has fresh produce, this pantry has perishables, non-perishables, and one of her biggest like one of her biggest things are potatoes, onions, things that can make a filling meal and a big meal or, even if it's not big, something that you can take and use your resources. We have tomato soup, we have spaghetti noodles, we have so much that goes together peanut butter and bread, we have bananas, we have waters. So it's just like so much that goes into this, so much and it's the thought behind it, because she's wanting to put foods out there that people can actually eat. And you know the traditional pantries, you know what they give you. They give you those, um, canned foods.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like the stuff, like the government stuff, the government stuff, the stuff that sits in the back of the cabinet. I grew up doing government cheese.
Speaker 3:No, you know what I'm saying the bologna, the thick, thick bologna with the, you know, and it sits in the back of your cabinet for right ever, you know, because even though you get it, because you're grateful for it, it still sits there because that's not something that you would eat if you had a choice. It's not appeasing.
Speaker 3:It's not so we don't want people to feel like this is all I got. So let me just. We want you to be happy and excited when you see this, like oh my gosh, I get to eat today and, like I said, it's we want to get work done and stuff like that. But when they come to that pantry and we have filled their belly and they have had something, something cold to drink we even have popsicles at summertime, you know what I'm saying. So it's like when they let us know and when we see the smile on their face and the joy and the tears of happiness, and when we see that we know like, okay, this is another cause it gets frustrating. You know it gets, it gets.
Speaker 3:It gets really frustrating because you have some people that abuse it. You can't stop and talk to every single person and say, hey, listen, this isn't just for you and your family, this is for the whole entire community. Not only that. You have volunteers that have to restock this pantry. You have volunteers who have to go pick up the food. You have volunteers who who handpick this food out to make sure that you get it. You have volunteers who just go to the grocery store just to make sure it's something on those shelves. You know what I'm saying. So it's like people don't know all that's behind it, and that's why I tell them she makes it look easy. Yeah, she makes it look extremely easy, but now I'm in it.
Speaker 1:OK, gotcha, you didn't think about that until. That concept is a great concept. We were talking about that before we came in and one of the things I thought about was being a single parent and having to work two jobs. Right, and you may not have time to cook or you may not. You know you're working two jobs. You don't have a lot of money. If you got to pay for a vehicle, insurance, gas, your rent, then you're. You have very little in the food that you're going to purchase food with, and it may not be nutritious, but you can go there after work and pick things up, like you said, the meats and you have specialties and, um, you know, popsicles. That's kind of like a novelty thing, right, but you know kids enjoy that, right. So, um, I love the idea, I love the concept, um, so let's talk about some of the other services you provide with Reset.
Speaker 2:So we also do a weekly diaper distribution.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Every Thursday between two to 6 pm. A family can get 50 diapers per child once a month no cost, and the diapers are huggies. And the diapers are huggies. Pampers. We have pull-ups, we have overnight and adult diapers as well, for the Asian adults that may need those. We do this every week. I don't know if you know, but you know a case of diapers in a store can easily run you $50 for something disposable.
Speaker 1:I had no idea. I know it's expensive to raise kids, though, right.
Speaker 2:And believe it or not.
Speaker 1:Do you have baby foods and things like that?
Speaker 2:Sometimes we do come across baby food Okay.
Speaker 1:Cereal Okay.
Speaker 2:We get wipes occasionally. We don't always have them. We get toiletries, so we have toothpaste, deodorant lotions, body wash. In addition to that, we have a computer lab where we have computers connected to the Internet.
Speaker 1:That's what you consider your resource lab. Okay, talk about that.
Speaker 2:So the thing with that was, when I first started this nonprofit, that was something I envisioned having. It's like you manifest things, you put it in the atmosphere, you say this is what I want, but how much are you willing to put into working for what it is that you say? You say you want these, now how much are you going to put in? Because everything that we have in life, no matter what it comes from, what we're willing to put in, and that's what you typically sometimes get out.
Speaker 2:Well, I was afforded the opportunity from TCC in Virginia Beach to purchase desktop computers for them at a very, very discounted rate, and so we purchased some, but then we also had a desktop and a laptop that the organization already owned to go to coincide with those computers. Right, so that youth can come in and utilize them. Senior citizens can come and utilize them from. You need to do a school project to. Maybe you need help recertifying for Medicare or Medicaid or your SNAP or EBT benefits are about to expire and you need to do your recertification. Those computers are there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can see that One of the things that I've learned about you is that, well, out of high school you went to nursing school, then you went to got your associates in business and then you got your bachelor's. And you, when did you get your master's? When did you finish with that?
Speaker 2:And that was from Liberty University Right.
Speaker 1:So it's important that you I think that's fantastic because people I think that's fantastic because people children can't study, people can't get things done if they don't have those, those tools, those resources. And we're in a community where you can do pretty much anything on your phone or your laptop or your tablet anymore. So that is a great concept that you came up with. I just absolutely think that's fantastic. Talk about tutoring you do tutoring too, yes, okay, since we're on the thing about education, so where did that concept come from?
Speaker 2:So um, um, you know, as, as as you mentioned, um, I, I am into education. That is something that I I definitely am a person who rallies behind the importance of it. Um, is it for everyone to go out here and get you know a master's or PhD? Maybe not, but I'm big in. I need you to be able to get the basics you know, and some children just don't have it. Like you said, some parents work two jobs, so when do you have time to tutor? You know the school teachers are trying to do a lot, but they can't. Right Now. We have standardized tests that these children have to get prepared for.
Speaker 2:So when my children, who are now adults, were younger, every summer we would work on SOL activities for the upcoming grade that they were going to. Really, oh, it was no video games all summer, they went to summer camp every summer. Games all summer, they went to summer camp every summer. And the home time when we were home, you had three pages every day to do in this book to get prepared for the next grade level. Now to some children. My children's mother was strict. Um, no, I allowed them to have fun, but I wanted to get them prepared for the next grade level for what's about to come. The summer is fine to have fun and and I want you to do that, but I also want you to be prepared.
Speaker 2:But I also realized with my youngest son the children were like night and day. One just grasped things so quickly. One was a little bit different. He's a thinker. He's going to sit and analyze and it's going to take him a little while, longer than someone else, to answer that question or to pick something out of the store. It could be something as simple as okay, guys, go pick out something. And I remember asking him one day I said well, how come it takes you so long? And he looked at me and he says cause I don't want to get something, just to get it, and I may not really want it because I didn't really think it through. Well, that's a different learner, right?
Speaker 2:I paid for tutoring for him because what I learned was, even though I was one into education and even though my oldest was a scholar as well, I realized that we couldn't do for him what he needed, so I hired tutors. I remember looking into Sylvia Learning Center and seeing the cost. Most single parents, even even two income families with a father and a mother can't afford the tutoring cost, Right? So shortly after COVID, a lot of these kids went back into the schools and they were so behind. I said, well, I can do some virtual tutoring. We can do Zoom, you know we can. We can tutor these kids. If they can't get to us, we can go to them. Or we can do zoom, you know we can. We can tutor these kids. If they can't get to us, we can go to them. Or we can do this virtually.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And, and so in a lot of instances, that's what we had to do. Um, we worked with a Cox cable provider who would help those that qualified to get the free internet service at home if they didn't have it. I work with an organization called One Simple Wish. They help us fulfill wishes from children as young as infants all the way up until maybe, let's say, 24 years old, and so if there is a need for a tablet or a computer in the home, they help us fulfill these wishes for these children, so they can get what they need wishes for these children so they can get what they need.
Speaker 1:Awesome, that is very awesome. You, honestly you, I think you said you grew up in DC.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you grew up in the city.
Speaker 3:In the city. Oh okay, I grew up in the city, southwest, so everybody knows what Southwest is. That is like the inner city, that's where it all pops off. It's like the inner city, that's where it all pops off.
Speaker 1:So how, how would you say, growing up there has translated to being able to assist reset with.
Speaker 3:If I the the only saying that just came to. The only saying that kept coming to my mind during this discussion was two backgrounds can still breed the same thing. Two different backgrounds can definitely still breed to the same passion. You know, because, unlike Bree, I came up in a totally, totally different background. I was in a single parent home and my mom had six girls. I'm the last, I'm the baby, so you know I got all the hand-me-downs I was in. I was really good in school, though I'm a super smart. I went to Norfolk State. It just we're just different. We're the same but we're different. We come from different things and all I can say is that my passion comes from my experience, what I went through.
Speaker 3:I never want people to go through that without support, without help, because one thing I didn't hear her mention is that she's very close to a lot of mental health people. Like people with mental health illness. It's really like most of the people that come to her pantry suffer from mental health illnesses. Most of these adults, most of these children. They still suffer from mental health illnesses. So she's a healer. So a lot of people are attracted to her because of.
Speaker 3:She says she's a tutor. I say she's a mentor yeah, me personally More of a mentor tutor too, because the tutors teach me of a mentor tutor too, cause the tutors teach um me. I just say that she's an amazing leader, um, amazing mentor, Um, she doesn't. It doesn't matter where you come from. She doesn't have any judgment in her. She's like so understand, she wants to understand, like, okay, I didn't come from that, but how was that? Are you okay? How did it make you? Let's grow from it, let's heal from it. You know what is it? What does it teach you? Like you don't let that hold you down. You are not your mental health. You are not your disability. You are not that Today is going to be better than tomorrow. Not today can be better than tomorrow. Today is going to be better than yesterday. Today is going to be. That's what it is. You don't get no younger. You got to do it now. You got to do it today.
Speaker 3:No procrastination and and a lot of people can respect that, a lot of people can respect that I needed structure. I need structure in my life. That's just how I am. I can't say it any other way. They hear my name. They'll be able to YouTube or look it up. I'm not going to go into detail, but I will say that two different backgrounds breeded the same passion. Because now she's helping me start a nonprofit organization and I couldn't have even fathomed it. I would have never thought like, oh, I could be in this line of work too. She, like everybody, got a pass. That's what she said to me, like I don't care, everybody has a pass, but that's what's going to help you and me build a successful future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, uh, Sabrina, um, let's, let's talk about an experience that you had growing up, um, you know, with your mother. It's just cause you mentioned that up, you know with your mother, it's just because you mentioned that in you know, talking to me, and in your bio.
Speaker 2:So talk about. So. My parents divorced when I was young, toddler, toddler age, and so I was born in Virginia. We lived in Indianapolis. I was born in Virginia, we lived in Indianapolis, and my mom always was a worker, Like you know. She tells me sometimes to this day she'll say you do so much, but I grew up watching you Children mimic right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I remember my mom didn't get any subsidy. I mean none, but mean none. Hard work so, but work two jobs. I mean I remember having the microwave with the dial Okay, so like, cause you can't burn your house down with those, cause they're only going to go up to a certain amount of minutes. Right, we had the answering machine. You know when you hear my voice pick up the phone.
Speaker 2:I know about latchkey. I know about being a latchkey kid. Did that make her a bad mother? No, because my mother's theory has always been I trusted my children to look after themselves, sometimes better than I trusted other people to look after them, because I need to be able to work to provide.
Speaker 2:So I remember growing up, you know we had food, but there was things that you want as a kid. You see other kids have that we we didn't. You know we didn't have no father hurts, we just didn't have it. I had what I needed, Maybe not so much what I wanted, right.
Speaker 2:So I remember going across the street one morning before school. I was in elementary school and I said all these kids at school, they have these Lunchables. I think Lunchables probably just came out, they were new. I just had to have one. I had to have it. So I go across the street and I've never publicly even shared this story with anyone and I just mentioned it to my mom last week and she laughed, but she was like the things kids do and remember. But I'm going to go in this store and it was cold outside. So I take the Lunchable and I stick it in my coat, then I go down to Candy Island. I'm like, well, I'm going to get this bag of you know Hershey Kisses chocolate candy. Well, I had gotten the Lunchable in my coat and somehow, when I went to put the candy I don't know if I was hugging it so tight that the plastic popped and the candy dropped and the security guards got me and they sat me down and asked me my name.
Speaker 2:I'm a kid, I mean, I'm in elementary school, and they had to call my mother to come from her job. And as dark skinned as I am, when my mother got there, I was pale because I knew like my mom had to come from her job. I got called stealing. She's doing the best she could, but the awakening moment for me was to see her cry because I wasn't taking it, because I was starving at home. But I wanted something I didn't have, which is why we try to make sure we have things that are appealing to the children, the teenagers, at our pantry pantry, because it's not the child's fault that there's a lack of income or a lack of funding to be able to get that novelty popsicle or to be able to get that bag of Doritos or to be able to get some fruit snacks or cookies or whatever it is you may want.
Speaker 2:I didn't understand it as a child, but as an adult I look back on that and I say you know, I realized, no, it wasn't the thing to do. But I realized how children can be so vulnerable and sucked into seeing what the other kids have and wanted and how they can get trapped into certain lifestyles. Well, we can't have it or they become angry because they're in poverty. It's not their fault, it's not that their parents aren't trying. They just don't have the means. And that's where you have your working poor Al. They work every day. They work two jobs they're trying to provide. They've paid their rent, they've paid their utility bills, they've used what they had left to buy what they could afford to buy, but there's no extra.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so you just thought about that, huh, but that's that manifests itself in you and that's exactly why you have a diversity and various things when it comes to foods. Right, that's where all that started and it just dawned on you a few days ago started and it just dawned on you a few days ago.
Speaker 2:Well, I have foster children.
Speaker 2:You know, I foster two boys. Oh, okay, and so with, with, with that, um, you see all types of things because it depends on what they've been through and experienced, right. So I was relating that story to something one of them had done and I said mom, I'm getting ready to say something. I said, no, don't swear at me when I say what I'm about to say. And she said what are you about to say? You know she's on the phone and she's like what are you about to say? And I said and she? She said boy, you know, but for me, I'm that parent whether it's my own biological children or the children that I take on as though they're mine, that I foster, and that I say I've been where you are Guess what. Come on out, don't even try to listen.
Speaker 2:I've been living a little bit longer than you and I already know Don't tell me you didn't, because you did. You know we're going to get past it, but this is what we have to talk about, this is what we have to address. Yeah, and I know what it's like to be that child yeah, child that wants that lunchbox so bad Like. I remember being a kid thinking if you could take lunch to school. I mean, that's top notch. You know you're doing big things if you can't pull up. And you got this Lunchable. You know, and even to this day now, I just purchased Lunchables for the foster boys that I have in my care now and it's still an excitement for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That didn't change too much from being a seven year old kid to now being, you know, 44 years old. The the feeling of what it felt like for them to come home from school, to go and get that pizza lunchable. It still was excitement for them, yeah. And so if they feel like this and they're in my care, these other children feel the same way.
Speaker 1:Right, the. It's good to be practical, I mean because you have to have a baseline, but it's always good to add in that that little extra. So you appreciate things. So I'm sure that they appreciate it, you know, so you also.
Speaker 2:Let's see also, let's see you do a lot, I do, you do a lot. So tax services as well. Financial service, yes. So I'm not as engrossed. I still do it. I'm mostly seasonal and I'm not as engrossed in it as I used to be do you have the time?
Speaker 2:So no, okay, but I make it. Okay, I make the time, because I have some clients that every year I say the same thing I'm getting out of this business, I'm not doing this anymore. And every year they beg and plead with me not to, because in doing tax preparation, I'm an educator, so that's always going to come first. Right, I'm going to do what I'm going to do, but I'm going to teach you, right? So my thing is it's not enough just to get you a refund or keep you from owning an internal revenue service. I need you to understand why we are here, why we are doing what we're doing and what you can do better.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I have some clients that have come to me and they have started out small businesses and they may have been an investor of one property and now they have a portfolio of maybe 20. I service your local sheriffs, but then I also have some doctors and I have some people with behavioral health practices. I have clients in Seattle. I have clients in North Carolina. Much like my nonprofit organization, I extend my services where they're needed and if I can be a resource to anyone in need, that's what I do. Is it a lot? Sometimes, yes, yeah, it can be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's good because I don't think a lot of people that say that they want to start businesses, grasp all the different things that go into it from a financial standpoint and then being have a checks and balances I mean you can have a specific strength, right, but you know, if you've not learned and they don't really teach you in school they do not how to balance a checkbook, how to manage finances, and it's something as I feel like is needed as a business person, I'm like those are things that are.
Speaker 2:They should be a requirement, because I tell my business owners there's more to owning businesses than making the money, see, because then you on the back end, oh, I haven't filed taxes in four or five years, and we get them, we get them. Yes, it happens. And I'm like and people say, oh, you can make a lot of money, yeah, but it's also a lot of headache. I'm like, and people say, oh, you can make a lot of money, yeah, but it's also a lot of headache. So you know, because most people that haven't done that nine times out of 10, they haven't kept you know good records, they don't have receipts, they don't, and they want you to work a miracle. And they want you to work a miracle. So you help with that as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, and I say she's an, I told you I couldn't leave. So I'm like, what can I do? What can I do? At first it was the pantry and it was just the non-profit side, but then I just got so engulfed in it and I was like, what can I do? I'm gonna, I want to learn.
Speaker 3:Because when you start learning around her, she has so much to soak up because she does so much. So it's not like you can be around her and be like, okay, well, I'm gonna just stick to this portion of it and you know, let you handle that. No, it's not like that. So when I actually and I love math, I love school, I, I love education as well, I love learning. So when I sat around her and when I say the cases this year were like I think I had the log, maybe 50, I can't even I is major, she does.
Speaker 3:Sometimes we'd be at the building to what? Eight o'clock, eight, nine o'clock? Yes, you know, because we have to make sure that what the nonprofit needs is taking care of her home health care, because I'm also helping her with that as well and her tax business home life, because she has foster kids. So she has all these different and she's so used to doing it alone. Talk about a person who is just so independent. She has to fight herself to be like all right, I'm gonna let you do this because she's so used to handling everything by herself.
Speaker 1:I'm just like, let me soak it up, let me let me it up, let me let me she carries it like one day she's going to be tired and she ain't going to be able to.
Speaker 2:I say it now, but and there's been some, I call them soldiers that have been sent to to lighten my load. Ms Wilhelmina, amazing, the church with no walls. She is a gourmet chef, so in addition to the food that we put in this pantry, we have gourmet chef meals also. Wow, they had these submarines. That were Italian submarines, handmade with oil and vinegar and herbs, tomatoes, peppers, pickles I mean amazing. They had apple glazed chicken and homemade mashed potatoes. Really, oh yeah, we feed them very well. That's why they keep coming back.
Speaker 1:She started it with the chili she.
Speaker 3:she's the one who started the gourmet meals.
Speaker 1:That's the first time I heard about chili. What's up with the chili?
Speaker 3:Exactly she started that.
Speaker 2:So January of this year we did a warm in the city event Okay, and that's best part of our community outreach. We gave away about 200 coats. So January of this year we did a warm in the city event OK, and that's best part of our community outreach. We gave away about 200 coats. We had 13 different soups and chilies that we allow people to get because part of warm in the city we want to warm your hands, your feet, your head, your body and we want to have warm meals. So we had hot chocolate, coffee and then we had all these different soups and chilies for them. If they didn't want to come in and eat them, we had to go containers and they could take the soup and the crackers. We had saltines club crackers, oyster crackers, and then we had crochet blankets, hats, gloves, socks, sheets scarves.
Speaker 1:So the response gloves, socks, sheets, scarves. So the response one from the community, how large is it? And then two what kind of assistance are you getting from the community?
Speaker 2:In addition to everything else I do, I write my own grants. So, as of right now, we do not receive any federal, state or city funding. So everything we do comes from our fundraising efforts. The private sector grants that I write are in-kind donations or us using our own resources to to keep and sustain this nonprofit organization.
Speaker 2:The community support for the Woman, the the City event in January was amazing. I mean, we were getting coats dropped off. We had two carloads full of coats that were donated from a gym in Virginia Beach because we're partners with Operation Warmth, and 75% of the coats were brand new Wow. Then we had about four or five people in the community that signed up to participate and we did a chili cook off. Who had the best chili?
Speaker 2:So we had like chicken and dumplings, we had white bean chili, we had regular beef chili, we had a vegetarian chili, we had chicken and wild rice soup, we had gosh, we had so much Navy beans, navy bean soup. I mean amazing. And people from the community, especially Virginia Beach, turned out. Some of these people have been with my nonprofit organization since we were founded in 2023. And some of them have been with us since I started this 24-7 pantry last July. So we have a grilling and chilling event coming up July 6th, which marks the two-year anniversary of Reset Inc as a nonprofit and a one-year anniversary for the 24-7 food pantry, and some of these people have been with us ever since we started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so where exactly is it located?
Speaker 2:So we are at the trifecta point of Norfolk, chesapeake and Virginia Beach. We sit at the. We're one block away from Virginia Beach and one block back. We're in Chesapeake, so we're in the College Park area. We are off of Auburn Drive or Haywood Street, depending on which direction you're coming. So we're located at 1109 South Military Highway. But even though we're in Chesapeake, we service citizens from all cities Portsmouth, suffolk, like we were saying, franklin, virginia. We send food to Gastonia County. This earlier this year we sent hurricane disaster relief food to Ashville, north Carolina.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:And my director actually went there to help clean up, to do cleanup efforts Wow. So we definitely try to take part in as many you know. We want to be a light, a sign of hope for people, no matter what I mean. We have homeless people that we know. We have one lady that is a driving force behind my food pantry. That I met a year ago and her talking to me and telling me her story is why I decided to expand the pantry and keep going. Because she was helping me one day as I was throwing some boxes away and I said listen, I don't have much over here, but if you ever need at the time I was only doing non perishable foods I said you know we have food over here. If you ever need it, help yourself. She said oh, I know I'm homeless. I've been eating off of your hummus and pretzel chips for the last two days.
Speaker 1:That is awesome.
Speaker 2:She said I don't take more than what I need, but if you ever come across soap, socks, shirts, I mean I'm homeless, I could utilize these things. And I went in the building and I stopped and I had to think and I had some Anthem Health Keepers t-shirts that had been given to us because they came out and talked to some of our patients. I had socks, I had body washed I don't know if we spoke on this, but in my facility I have a shower which, if you're a homeless person or in a crisis situation and you need to come in store your stuff in a locker, you can also take a shower. Wow, get cleaned up and leave. Well, this lady said these are the things that she needed and could use. And I went in and I got a bunch of stuff she's mentioned, put it in the bag and gave it to her. Not even a year later, she came back doing one of our fundraising events and donated and she said you fed me when I was hungry and I'll forever be grateful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's out of the situation. She's not homeless anymore.
Speaker 2:She still, and we would say, homeless. Yes, she has a tent that she lives in, she has a cat.
Speaker 1:So there's some other issues going on, but she was very grateful for what you did.
Speaker 2:But she didn't have income at the time and now she does have a. It may be a reduced income, but it is an income now which she didn't have. That at the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, before you came here today, you had an experience. Yes, this morning, right, so um talk about that.
Speaker 2:So about eight, 30 ish this morning I got a text message and it said I'm Mr Brayton, I'm sorry to bother you, I know you're resting, I know you're planning on coming in later, but I need to send you this video and our pantry had been vandalized. There were produce scattered across the sidewalk, canned goods scattered across the sidewalk. I was astonished to see. You know I'm like wow, who would do this so? Instantly I went to my camera because one of the reasons we can do this 24 seven pantry is because we have surveillance. There's two cameras outside of the building.
Speaker 2:So I went through and I started going through the footage and I looked at 805. There was an older lady that came picked up a few items she needed and about four minutes after her, a gentleman walked up. He looked like he had just walked from the food line. He had a food line bag in his left hand and he took his right hand and he knocked over all the fruit and produce that was on the produce stands and then he proceeded to go to the shelves and knock over canned goods and take bags and scatter them across the pantry on the sidewalk and he walked off.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:So me being me, you know this is a seven day job for me. I like to stock that pantry and to make sure these people eat is a seven day job for me. I like to stock that pantry and to make sure these people eat is a seven day job. Whether anybody else shows up or not, I'm going to be there, right? And I went to the next door app and Facebook and I said you know, what we do here is unorthodox. There's no other 24 seven pantry in Hampton Roads.
Speaker 2:Other pantries give out food, but they box the items up and they give them to the individuals. They don't allow them to do what we consider people's choice. You can walk up and select what you want. I'm not giving you what you want. What I want you to have, I'm allowing you to select it. So when you think of that and you think that someone would come up and vandalize the property and do this, it is bothersome. And so I went to social media and I made a post and I also put the photos out there. I said if you know this gentleman who came up and did this, this is who he is, and in some instances, one bad apple can, in fact, spoil a bunch, because there are families and children and seniors and veterans that depend on the services that we offer. Yes, you know we're here to be a beacon of hope, to take the burden off of other pantries, to take the burden off of loss prevention for having to watch these people come in to steal, because you don't have to steal what we give for free.
Speaker 1:Right, I love that. Okay, right, I love that. Okay, people don't realize. Grocery stores, places where you can get nutritious meals, are leaving low income areas and what you're doing is you're providing. You're providing goods that are nutritious and they're varied and they're healthy, right? So when you're making beans and chili, ok, those are the kind of things that my mom would make, so we and there'll be the whole week, so we would have a nutritious, balanced meal, have a nutritious, balanced meal, right? So what are you going to get now from the convenience store? A hot dog that's been processed, or so? Yeah, it's very disturbing that someone would do that. It's just that, that's. Perhaps they just had some issues.
Speaker 2:And it could be mental health because, like, like honestly said, we do have a lot of people that deal with the behavior health. Right now we just started tapping into doing delivery services, so right now we're fundraising and doing our campaign for a refrigerated truck for our nonprofit organization. She needs help with this folks.
Speaker 1:Yes, go ahead. That's me about that last time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, our nonprofit organization. She needs help with this. Folks. Yes, love this idea, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Two weeks ago we picked up 4,600 pounds of food from the food bank, which I had to rent a U-Haul, and we had to utilize our vehicles our personal vehicles as well to get everything we had from the food bank, some of which we purchased. And that's another thing people don't realize is we can go to the food bank and get items that we don't pay for, but we spend roughly 300 plus dollars a month it's discounted but it's still an expense along with going to our local wholesalers Costco, restaurant Depot, sam's, club, bj's to purchase additional items. So we don't just rely on West for free, but we are renting a U-Haul, which is an expense, and then we have to, of course, put the fuel back in the U-Haul, which is an expense. We could do more and go out more in the community, but what we're using is a Dodge Grand Caravan that I should be able to send out my volunteers to take food to those who can't get to the pantry senior citizens, families in need. We're utilizing that to the max capacity.
Speaker 2:We need this refrigeration truck because, again, 4,600 pounds of food is not a little bit of food Right. We had television dinners, cereal flapjacks, I mean, you name it, we had it produce.
Speaker 1:So where are you guys taking this stuff to? Because you're doing the outreach part, right, yeah? Who are you taking these things to?
Speaker 3:So one of my major spots that I go to is McArthur Square. Yeah, mcarthur Square, where there are just An unimaginable amount of homeless people and they can't get anywhere. They cannot, they don't have any transportation. I actually just got like super involved with this dude in MacArthur Square. He has a dog, his name is Jeff and his dog's name is King, and I seen them out there and the dog was like puking and throwing up and I asked him like what was wrong and he was like well, we haven't eaten in two days. So you know, of course I call Bree, like she's like go to the pantry, get him something to eat. What does he need? He needs a blanket and things like that. So it's like MacArthur Square, church Street. I go to Portsmouth, jefferson Avenue in Portsmouth, behind these wawas, because there are tents. Always behind the wawas, behind the hotels, there are always homeless people hanging out behind, like these days, in these red roofings, these motel sixes, the super eights, chesapeake.
Speaker 1:How often do you do this?
Speaker 2:Every day and then we deliver to families in need. So yesterday I had three to deliver to. One was a family of six in Chesapeake, one was a family of three in Virginia Beach and then there was a gentleman in Norfolk that was a family of two and if you can imagine, with everything else on our plates that we do, to do this extra piece, yes, it wants another vehicle or refrigeration truck. I would much rather go into some of the food desert communities where there's not grocery stores because they're leaving. When I do my stats and I present to city council, one of the things I do is the demographics of what is needed and why it's needed.
Speaker 2:You have a lot of people with transportation barriers. They are in communities where the closest store may be 15 minutes away. They have no transportation. And if you can't buy food, can you pay for ride share? Probably not. In addition to that this is another piece I want to add.
Speaker 2:Yes, a lot of low income people have snapping EBT benefits. Right, there are Instacart, so people say, oh, they can't deliver. But there is only one retail grocery store in Hampton Roads that I know of that have same store pricing and that's Food Lion, which is one of my largest supporters, one of my largest supporters. They support our organization a lot with in-kind donations of gift cards, and sometimes Carolina Feeds Foundation will present us with a check once or twice a year. But these people are using Instacart to shop from Walmart and other places, but there's higher prices when you shop, so you're not getting in-store pricing. So then your benefits are not going to last you throughout the month.
Speaker 2:So when you look at why is there a need for food, well, let's see, I don't have transportation, so I have to order it, and if I order it, I'm paying higher prices. And then I'm paying a delivery or convenience fee for getting it delivered to me. Wow, now, if I place the order out and they don't have something I selected and they replace it with something else, it could be a higher price, right? Well then that's even more money deducted from the balance on my EBT card and so it's not going to last you 30 days. And a lot of people, especially those parents with with three and four and five and six kids, they're getting this because they need to get the food, but it's not the best use of their benefits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think the way things are going, a lot of those programs are going to wind up going away. And what will? They do, then You're going to be super busy in this area probably.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're already busy, yeah, super busy in this area. Yeah, and we are already busy, yeah, it's super busy. But you touched on something earlier when she was talking about the resource lab. So we're also working on, because I was, when I started working with her, like I said, a lot of what she does sparked a lot of things that I do today, because it's certain resources that we need and the way that she moves.
Speaker 3:You know, I went out and found a phone company because there are me personally. I'm an individual, I was an individual homeless person. I don't have any children or anything like that. So when I was fighting the poor and the poverty and the homelessness, I was fighting it by myself and we still couldn't get any resources. So I see how it is for women with children. That's the reason I don't have any children, because in a world that is like a crab, you know, dog eat dog, you got to fight to, you work, you live from paycheck to paycheck. I just didn't feel like it would be, you know, appropriate for me to bring a kid into this world.
Speaker 3:But at the same time, it starts with communication. It starts with having a computer to be able to look up these resources. It starts with being able to actually go apply for benefits. Sometimes you can't, transportation barriers, you can't get there.
Speaker 3:But if you have a communication device because, like you said, you can do everything from your phone, just about, from a tablet, just about if we can be a maximum resource to the community, which is what we're doing, we're trying to maximize and add as many services as we can, so it can be kind of like a one stop shop so that we can have send them to a to a, to the DHS, to whatever you know social services they need, and we can have an inside connect and say, hey, ihs, to whatever you know social services they need, and we can have an inside connect and say, hey, I'm sending this person. You know, we just got somebody at the building and they need this, they need that. On top of that, we're able to. Being her outreach directors director, I have phones that with free, with free service, but they cut the, cut the program. So all I have is some cars, no devices. So it's like they took half the battle away.
Speaker 3:It was moving, so it was going so well when they gave us these phones to be able to go with the SIM cards. How are you going to tell a homeless person like, oh yeah, you can get a SIM card, but now you got to go find a phone?
Speaker 2:And what and when you do these things. And I always like to say this, and you know, I know a lot of people will agree to disagree, but the word project everything and this is my, you know from my observation the government does is almost like a project, right, so it's a study is to see, well, how many people will be impacted if we cut this, because then you're going to do stats. Everything is numbers, it's a number game. Everything, with everybody, is numbers.
Speaker 2:Some of the pushback I used to get from different cities why they wouldn't fund us is well, how many people from our city do you service? Hunger has no age, no city, no gender. When your belly's hungry, your belly's hungry, right, okay. But the pushback that I would get from council is well, how many of our residents are impacted by it? Well, how about this? You come down to this pantry and volunteer with me and you can see how many of your people come. You sit right here with your clicker or whatever you need to use and find out what city. No, seriously, because the people that sit in these seats aren't here doing the work every single day that we do every single day.
Speaker 1:And I think we're in a place in period right now where we have people that don't can't relate to things.
Speaker 2:And you say well, do you?
Speaker 2:know? Do you know how much a dozen eggs is? No, you know, some of these people don't even do their own grocery shopping, so they cannot relate to what it's like to be in some of the shoes of some of these people. And even if they say well, growing up I remember, but you're not there anymore. So Right, imagine back then that the minimum wage might have been five dollars. Now was 13. But now, what is your typical rent? A thousand twelve hundred a month, and that's low income rent. That's not even you know, it's it's. It's taking four and five people in a household to be able to just sustain.
Speaker 1:Right, so you can work two jobs. I've actually known people who've had two jobs. Actually, you know people have had good jobs and were homeless and they had to sleep in their car. Yes, right, I was homeless for a while, so it changed things for me, the way I approach things and people, and that's because you don't have money for everything else. Right, right.
Speaker 2:And it's not that in some instances like I was talking to Ms Green earlier today and it's not that you don't want to do better or you don't try. Let me tell you something, ms Anneli. I have driven Uber when my children were coming up and I've always worked.
Speaker 1:But I have driven Uber.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have sold on eBay. I have sold Avon. Yeah, I have donated plasma. You know people. Oh, that's such a bad thing to do. Let me explain something to you. It's legal, Okay, You're not standing out here asking for a handout. You are doing what you have to do. So I don't anticipate when my sons go out here and decide that they're going to get in relationships or get married, that they would probably even. You know they saw me and what I did to make sure they were OK. They went without nothing, but that's because I was the type of mother that I was. I didn't want them to be a statistic. I didn't want anybody to say oh poor little black boy, you know you need a sandwich you can't eat, you know I didn't want them to go through any of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your mom built a foundation Right.
Speaker 2:And and even now, like my mother will cry because somebody is hungry, like it's not funny, but it bothers her, yeah, that someone can't eat.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And even my mother will make big spaghettis and different things and she'll put them in the pantry refrigerator. Yeah, there's nothing in the pantry's low. We need to put food out. You know there's nothing there. During the snow earlier this year we watched people walk in the snow Al to come get food.
Speaker 3:You're not walking in the snow to get food, unless you're hungry. And so, in the snow, we did what we could, which wasn't much, it was. It definitely broke our hearts, like, literally, like we were whole babies, like, oh my God, like, why, like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you know how many other places do that? None.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you have to have that. When I tell people, I've always been a giver, I've always loved the children, it's my life, and so when I tell people I eat, live, sleep and breathe this, I even do it at home, in my personal life. And people say you foster kids too. Oh, yes, I do that too. When you come into the nonprofit world, people assume that you're becoming millionaires. Let me explain something to you. I do not pay myself. I don't get paid for this work. I get paid in the smiles and the hope that I give to people, but there's no check that comes from this. I'm not becoming a millionaire off of this and, honestly, almost everything I get I turn right back around and pour right back into the company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, literally.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we're going to have to end it. So what would you like for people that are listening to this, they are going to see this, what, what would you like for people to know, what would you like for people to help you with? And then, how can they get in contact with you?
Speaker 2:So what I would like people to know is as things are changing in the economy and we all are aware, as things are changing in the economy and we all are aware, and if we're not, then we need to. We need to research as to what we are dealing with now and what may come we need to together, join forces as a community, regardless of your background, regardless of you, know your beliefs and understand we are trying to feed communities. Understand we are trying to feed communities. My assistance to the community is not restricted by what city you live in, your gender, your age, none of that. We help everyone in need, no-transcript. They may be working two or three jobs and they forgot it was trash day. This is the time that everyone needs that seed sown, whether it's a child, whether it's adult, whether it's a veteran. We all need to do our part and our organization. Right now, we want to keep our shelves stocked, so unexpired food donations are great.
Speaker 2:You know things to do If you're in the market and there's tuna on sale, or if you're in the store and there's cereal. It's the summertime. These kids need to continue to eat. We need a refrigerator truck If you want a tax deductible. You know. You know it's tax deduction for donating. Donate. Our website is wwwresetvirginiaspelledoutorg. We have cash app, dollar sign Reset VA INC. Us 757-362-1157. Come to our location. We're at 1109 South Military Highway, volunteer.
Speaker 2:You know people tell me well, I don't have anything to donate, but you have time. And see, that's my pushback. I used to be the person I'm not going to say no, I'm not, because it takes the help of every single person that is able-bodied to help. You know people will say oh, that's so sad, somebody vandalized your building but I fed your whole family for a year and you won't come help and say, well, let me help, do you need me to help break down boxes? I get more volunteer support from seniors than youth. That should never be the case, because they have paid their dues to society. They should be able to sit, but that's where you get your help and they still work jobs on top of that.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, wow, okay, all right. So she told you where she's located, she told you what she needs and then, if you can't get there in person, you can call or you can make a donation through one of the um, um provided uh apps or services that she has a platform. So thank you for coming in, um I, I just love what you're doing and you and we'll see you next time. We'll see everybody next time on. Listen Up, you have a good day.
