SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
So that...God's ways may be known on Earth.
"So That" is an FBC Boerne podcast focused on what God is doing around the world with missions and through FBC Missions partners.
SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
Episode 67: Kendall County Women's Shelter - Healing Hearts, Rebuilding Lives
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Behind the seemingly idyllic facade of affluent communities lies a stark reality: domestic violence affects one in three women and one in seven men regardless of zip code or socioeconomic status. The Kendall County Women's Shelter stands as a vital lifeline for those seeking escape from abusive situations, offering far more than just temporary housing.
What began in 2005 as a crisis hotline has evolved into a comprehensive support system with a 32-bed custom-built shelter where families find dignity, safety, and a chance to truly heal.
The shelter's comprehensive services address the complex barriers facing survivors: lack of transportation, absence of affordable childcare and housing, and the emotional aftermath of trauma. With 24/7 trauma-informed staff, case management, therapeutic services, and legal advocacy, KCWS helps clients navigate overwhelming challenges while rebuilding their sense of self-worth.
Want to make a difference? Support the shelter by shopping at their Fabulous Finds thrift store, participating in upcoming fundraisers like their September golf tournament, or volunteering your time and talents. Visit kcwstexas.org to learn how you can join their mission of transforming crisis into opportunity, one family at a time.
Learn more or donate on the Kendall County Women's Shelter website: https://www.kcwstexas.org/
Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.
Introduction to Kendall County Women's Shelter
Speaker 1Hey everybody, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. You're going to love this topic. Today we're talking to some friends from a ministry here in town called the Kendall County Women's Shelter and you're going to love hearing this story. So thank you for tuning in. Welcome to FBC Missions. So that Podcast. This is an encouraging place to hear how god is working in and around us. We know that he blesses his people so that they can bless the world around them. Join us as we discuss how to join god and all that he is doing. Why is god working in our life, church and community? It's so that through us, the world will know that he is needed, that through us, the world will know that he is new. Hey everybody, we're so glad that you joined us on the podcast today. We have a great group of guests in our studio. It's like the whole table's full. We have a lot of people talking to us. I have right now Brittany Whitworth as my co-host today. Hi, brittany, hello, it's your second time here with us.
Speaker 2So glad that you're joining us again and so excited to see these beautiful women to tell us about this amazing thing going on.
Speaker 1It's an amazing thing going on. So we have two leaders from the Kendall County Women's Shelter here with us, and so we have the CEO, holly Aldridge. How are you, holly?
Speaker 3Hi, I'm doing well, thank you.
Speaker 1It's great to have you with us. And then we have Brooke House, who is the chief. We'll make sure I get it right. Chief program officer.
Speaker 4You got it.
Speaker 1Awesome, Awesome. Well, welcome ladies. How are you?
Speaker 3We're doing well, thank you so much. Just had a wonderful Mother's Day, mother's.
Speaker 1Day was yesterday. I'm here surrounded by moms. You guys all had, I hope, a wonderful weekend. Yes, end, and so, yeah, well, this one of the things we're here at Women's Shelter. There's a lot of moms that you guys deal with as a part of the shelter. But before we get into the shelter, tell us a little bit about yourselves. Since your title is CEO, we'll start with you. That's the bigger title, so tell us a little bit about yourself so our listeners can get to know you just a bit.
Speaker 3Okay, so I'm a mom of four and a grandma of three and a half.
Speaker 1We have one.
Speaker 3My daughter's expecting another little boy in October, which is super exciting. I have two boys and one girl for a granddaughter. That's really exciting because all of my kids are girls. I have four girls.
Speaker 1Four girls. Four girls, yes, wow.
Speaker 3So that's a little bit about me and just my family. That's what takes up most of my time outside of work.
Speaker 1When we were walking down here, you said that you grew up in Pipe Creek, so you're kind of local. You've been here most of your life in this area.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 1And you've been at the women's shelter for how long?
Speaker 3So, going on seven years, I started out as a transportation advocate and just kind of worked my way up through the shelter and then up into admin, up to the CEO.
Speaker 1Yeah, a transportation advocate. I have a feeling you were driving vans.
Speaker 3I was, and now you're the CEO. I love that I started at the bottom, and I love it because it's just given me a really good understanding of how the shelter runs from the bottom up. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1That's awesome. I want to ask a funny question, but it probably wouldn't help us, like, what's the worst job? And you've done them all, you've done them all. It's a, it's a crazy work. Well, awesome. Well, tell us uh, we have Brooke with this as well. So, brooke, tell us about yourself.
Speaker 4I'm also a mom of four, so I have two boys and two girls, ages 22 down to 13, in all different kinds of walks of life. But I'm from Austin originally, but I've been in Bernie for I'm from Austin originally too. What part?
Speaker 1Seton Hospital originally. Oh, just born there. No, my family all lives up by Lake Travis, so out there at the lake Hudson Bend. If you know Hudson Bend, yeah, it's a crazy place Anyway go ahead, please.
Speaker 4I went to my senior prom dinner at Hudson's on the Bend.
Speaker 1Okay, okay, I applied there when I was a junior in high school. That's funny, yeah, crazy. Nice restaurant though yeah, it's cute, that's awesome, okay. So you, you grew up in Austin, grew up in Austin.
Speaker 4I've been in Bernie for um 20 years.
Speaker 1Okay.
Speaker 4A while.
Speaker 1Do you?
Speaker 4consider yourself like old Bernie, then, or no. Like you have the generations for old Bernie you have to yeah, you have to be here a hundred years before you're old, a hundred years.
Speaker 1Yeah, a hundred years before your old Bernie, a hundred years before your old Bernie, that's a slow burn. It's such a crazy town and it's growing so fast that I think anyone that's been here for very long is probably old Bernie. But you're right, there's an older Bernie that holds tight to the reins of the city in many ways, so that's fun. So how did you get involved with the women's shelter?
Speaker 4Ironically, Holly and I started at the agency within the same week of each other Really.
Speaker 1Yes, seven years as well, or almost seven years, yeah.
Speaker 4Yeah, it's true, it's funny this month too.
Speaker 2This month yeah.
Speaker 4I started as a case manager, okay and, similar to Holly, have literally been every position up to executive director and then came back down to a chief program officer. Just, it's just a better role for, um, my preference and my skillset, um, yeah. So we've done it all and we've seen it all, but we're still here. Well, we love our clients.
Speaker 1We're so glad you're here. Um, like I said I told you guys, I've only been here for a couple of years two and a half years at FBC and it seems like every couple of months I find out about another organization that works in the city that is doing amazing things that I just am getting to know. So this is really my first big introduction. We met with Holly just last week and got to hear a little bit more about what the Wilderness Shelter is doing. We want to take some time today and just hear about what, why it's here, what's it doing, what are we trying to accomplish and really what are our goals. And so why don't you give us just a little bit of history of the women's shelter like how long has it been around? Just give us an idea of what it started doing and what it's doing now.
Speaker 3So I think in 2005, some people got together because they started noticing a need and they started with a crisis hotline and so women could call in and get different resources from them to different shelters just different resources that they would need from anything that came from domestic violence, that they would need from anything that came from domestic violence. And then in 2012, well, they started noticing a need for a shelter and then in 2012, a capital campaign was run and we opened the shelter. So we've had the shelter location since 2012.
Speaker 1Wow, wow, do you have any idea?
Speaker 4how many families have gone through the shelter in that time? We could probably pull the exact number, but we average. Currently we average over 300 clients per year. Okay, but that's just. That's women, children, that's non-residents, that's clients that are staying in the shelter with us as well. We actually used to serve more than that annually, but we've kind of changed.
Speaker 4We'll get into it, but we've kind of changed our programming, where clients are able to stay with us, if they need to, in the shelter for longer than they used to be able to, just in an effort to reduce some of that re-victimization and urgency, to stay in that hyper state of trying to figure out what comes next, just letting our clients kind of have a little more space to breathe and take a minute.
Speaker 1Well, I mean, that still means you guys have served thousands, of thousands of people over the years and many, many families, so that's incredible all by itself. So tell us a little bit about maybe I know there's no typical family, but what would be a situation. You mentioned domestic violence as being a key portion of why people come to the shelter. But tell us a little bit about the stories that you're seeing. How does it start? How do people even get there?
Speaker 3So we have the crisis call line so they would get our number and they can get our number through a lot of different ways. We have a website, there's a domestic hotline number that they can direct you to us, and so if somebody would is in need, they would call our shelter and talk with one of our residential specialists, who are 24-7. And they would do a crisis call with them where we would just kind of go over some things and find out, you know what county they're calling from, what, what they're going through and kind of what their needs are to see if that's something that we can meet within our shelter.
Speaker 1Yeah, Well, that's, that's amazing. Um so, so I've never been there.
Speaker 4You guys have, you have some, uh, some property.
Speaker 1Uh, we won't talk about the location of the property, but you have some, uh, obviously, living quarters. How many beds do you guys have? How many people can you have in the shelter? Like, tell me a little about the shelter itself.
Speaker 3We have. So it's a beautiful commercial house that they've built Custom home. Custom home, sorry, I was like it's not commercial. Not commercial, yeah, a custom home is what I meant to say. And we have a huge commercial kitchen, which is why I was saying that we have a huge commercial kitchen, which is why I was saying that. So everybody kind of shares a common space as far as like the living room and the kitchen, but then they each have their own bed. We have a 32 bed shelter, we have eight rooms we actually have nine rooms now and so each family gets their own room. We don't have them stacked up in bunk beds, we have their own individual little beds, which we're pretty proud of. We set the rooms up for, you know, each expected client. We make it as homely as we can for them.
Speaker 2What is the typical time frame that a family stays with y'all during their crisis?
The Shelter's History and Evolution
Speaker 3Right now it's about six months. Is the average stay during their crisis? Right now it's about six months. Is the average stay.
Speaker 3So previous probably 18 months, 18 months ago we were a 30 day stay Okay, and so clients would come in for 30 days and then they would have to find somewhere else to go. We would try to help them, but that's where we were re -victimizing the clients, and so we made a change. Once Brooke and I got higher up in the ranks, we started making a change for the clients because we just saw the need for them to be able to progress. They needed a little more time, and so now we're a six to nine month shelter.
Speaker 2I wish people listening to this could see the joy on both of your faces whenever you're describing the location. And when you're describing the location and when you're describing the fact that these children I mean, if we're really thinking this through we have and you can provide more of the picture for our listeners but I mean we have a mom, most likely, who has been taken from or has left her home, made the very difficult decision to leave her home. I just get to her thinking about it with her children. How scary that must be. And to know that that you two are there making some probably very hard decisions to set up a home situation where they can bring their children and provide some stability. It's a big deal. It's a really big deal what you're doing. And even when you just now said six months, I noticed I noticed the joy on your face and then when you tell that backstory, we don't want them to be re-victimized because 30 days is not long enough. Tell us a little bit more about that and just thank you.
Speaker 3I mean seeing the joy in both of you as you talk this through is beautiful we're just very proud of that because that's a decision that Brooke and I both had a lot to do with, and I think it's because we did work our way up through the shelter and we kind of got to see just the day-to-day and what the clients actually needed. And it's real easy to sit up in an office and say, you know, 30 days they'll come in and we'll do all of this wonderful stuff for them and then we'll send them on their way. But when you're actually in the shelter and you get to see what what they actually need, and 30 days is just a drop in the hat and it's not enough to help them move forward. And that is what we're working towards is helping them break the cycle and get out of that.
Speaker 2So that's amazing. I'm thankful that you had the opportunity. You said you started off as a transportation advocate. You started off as a caseworker, so you really did hear those stories firsthand and then you use that knowledge to implement necessary changes. That's really cool.
Speaker 4I think what's important to remember is, in a community like Bernie, where there's a lot of financial affluence and there's a high education level, there are a lot of intact families, there aren't very many crisis experiences that women and children go through on a regular basis, and so it's a little challenging for a community like this to understand exactly what our clients go through and the barriers that they face once they have left their situation and made that brave decision like you're talking about, and then to find themselves in a place where they've never been before and most likely their children are having to change schools or daycares, at the very least starting completely over from scratch. Most of our clients come without anything, including they might have a small bag packed, but more than half of our clients don't come with a vehicle either. So part of the barriers that our clients face in this community is we have no public transportation, so more than half of our clients are walking everywhere or riding bikes, and then we don't have affordable child care on top of that, and we don't have affordable housing care on top of that, and we don't have affordable housing. There's no Section 8. There's nothing that is a sliding scale affordable option. Actually, our rent is significantly higher than comparative communities surrounding us.
Speaker 4And so what we found? That 30 days we were a 30 to 90 day that we could extend up to 90 days that Holly was talking about to 90 day that we could extend up to 90 days they um, that holly was talking about. But what we found was happening was our clients were staying in crisis mode because they're coming in to the shelter. They're arriving, we have this. We really are proud of our shelter. It really is beautiful and it's well, well taken care of, um, and it meets 100 of our clients' needs Food, nutrition, hygiene products, clothing, school supplies, beds I mean you knit shower like everything literally is provided for them. And so what we hope happens is they walk into a really hospitable environment where we have really well-trained staff that cares about them and is meeting them exactly where they are. We have really well-trained staff that cares about them and is meeting them exactly where they are.
Speaker 4But then they were staying in kind of a hyper state where they know this is super short term and how fast 30 days goes. So they're enrolling their kids in school and they're getting on as many wait lists as they can. They might be applying for jobs if they have a vehicle, if not, then they're trying to find a ride to figure out what they can do next and they're just staying in survival mode nonstop. And that's where that re-victimization came in. So when we had that opportunity to kind of step back, assess what would you do, what would you do? That's where we extended. We're not transitional housing. There are plenty of programs that that offer that exact type of support. We are still emergency, short term, but because our community has so few social service resources, readily available, readily available. That's why we've chosen to extend, to just give clients a little bit more space and time to kind of figure out what their next step is. We're not solving all of the problems, but we're moving down the path.
Speaker 1Yeah, people may not realize just how desperate people are by the time they come to a shelter for need, and that might be similar in lots of different areas of life, whether it's an orphanage that a child is in or whether it's a Hathaway house where someone who's incarcerated. People go to someone else for help complete strangers to live. They're in a really rough spot and one of the things that has been removed if if they're in that spot is they feel like their dignity is gone. If you like, right now, if you're listening and you're thinking about, like, what would it take for me to ask someone for me to live with them? That's kind of they wouldn't ask that question because they got nothing.
Speaker 1They're in a desperate spot and so one of the first things you're doing is you're giving dignity. You're saying take a deep breath. We're going to see you for who you are a valuable person and the and the people that are with you, and we're going to take care of you. We're going to give you some time just to, to recover to, to to regain some personal pride, some some value that you've lost, and help you see that there's a purpose moving forward and, if nothing else, that regaining that purpose is probably one of the biggest things you can do in the timeframe you have. And yeah, I just can't imagine thinking you could do all that in 30 days, because you're right, in the first two days they're going to realize I got 28 days left.
Speaker 1I've got to have a plan and so you're right, the crisis will just continue. Well, you guys, you're amazing, like listening to you, hearing you talk, like what you're doing is fantastic. So what are some stories, what are some things that you're seeing? Like, if someone had a chance, we'll talk about how people can get involved here in a minute, but what kind of transformation do you see in the lives of the people that are coming through your work?
Speaker 4I knew you were going to go ahead.
Speaker 4She's got a great story and I love hearing this story no matter how many times she's told it, it just it doesn't get old. Awesome, it really is our best story. But it's also the catalyst to what kind of prompted that um choice to have our clients um extended, extend their stay option. Um, so around the time that we were at that 90 day timeframe um, this was a few years ago we had a family that it was a grandmother that had two teenage boys that she had custody of, so their parents were not safe for them. She had acquired custody of them and then she found herself in an unsafe relationship and decided to flee.
Speaker 4So grandmother and two teenage high school boys came to stay with us. They came right at the very beginning of the school year I mean the first week of school and found out that the football team if you want to play football, you can be on the team. So they weren't cutting anybody and so they had never played team sports before. They had just not had the opportunity in their life to be able to do that. They needed some equipment. So we called some people and made some things happen, which you know. If the story kind of ended there, it would already be sweet, because that's just. You know, teenage boys playing football in a Texas town that.
Speaker 4I mean first opportunity. I just think that you know there's some sweet things that can come from that. But what ended up happening was they moved through the semester. They're they both. Well, let me say this. So it gets to around Thanksgiving time and the older of the two boys asked if he could meet with me. Like, can I set an appointment with you on the calendar, which I never have our child clients ask for that. I've had adults do that, but our children clients that has not happened before. And so we set an appointment and he came in my office and had a notebook with notes and he said I want to let you know.
Speaker 4I respect the rules that the agency has and I understand that 90 days is going to be our cutoff, but I want to know if you would consider extending that, if you could just make an exception for us, because our 90th day is supposed to be at the end of November, and if we could just extend through the end of the semester. It would be the first time that we've ever completed a semester at a school. Before We've always had to move every few weeks. You know, every 30 days something would happen, or they're couch surfing or whatever, but their entire school career they had never finished a whole semester in one place. So usually usually how I say this is, it became the story of almost, if you've read the book, if you give a mouse a cookie, so if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want a glass of milk to go with it. So he says, could we just extend to the end of the semester?
A Transformational Story
Speaker 4It's December 18th and I'm like, well, if we're going to extend to the end of the semester, we might as well extend through Christmas, and if we're going to extend through Christmas, it might as well be through New Year's. So that's what we did. We ended up moving their exit date to the beginning of January and what that gave them was not only a complete semester, but they both had perfect attendance through the whole semester. They both had Bs or higher in every one of their classes, and they were on the football team that went to the state playoffs, that played in Dallas at Cowboy Stadium. And just in three months, what was supposed to have been 90 days ended up being almost 120. I would do it a thousand times over again, because we did not just meet their need, meet them where they are in the moment. We also, in a perfect world, played a part towards prevention and breaking the cycle, which is our bigger goal out of anything else.
Speaker 1Of course.
Speaker 4Stop it upstream before they're arriving in our shelter, if possible, and the way that we do that is at our at the level of our children clients. And so it just became a conversation between Holly and I of what are we doing If, if we can extend. That's where that six to nine months came from. Six months is about the average that everyone's staying but it, or that our clients are staying but it gives them the option to complete a semester, possibly an entire school year, if they've got some goal related actions that are happening, and if we can do that in order to play our part towards the intent of cycle breaking, then that's what our job is for.
Speaker 2Amen yeah of course. That's amazing and I'm.
Speaker 4I apologize for the tears, but I don't apologize, because I was a school counselor for some time.
Speaker 2And I can just see a kid coming to you and saying I want to break this chain. And as I'm thinking this through, you're saying let's not just break the chain, Like let's do more. I mean, what you were able to help him to see is incredible, and I'm thinking of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and I mean you were able to go right up to the top of that so beautifully in a short amount of time. Sure, it's incredible.
Speaker 4Well, and it gets better If you want the movie version of it. They end up moving to a major city beginning of January. And then that boy the older one that I met with graduated high school and it is has completed community college now. So he has an associate's degree and I don't know what's going to happen in the future.
Speaker 4You know I could try and predict that, because it'd be cool. But if nothing else, at the very least we heard his need, we acknowledged him having the ability to, and the bravery to, advocate for himself on behalf of the family that he cares for, and we did our part in seeing him as a complete human and not as a project and not as a number or a bed, a head in the bed.
Speaker 1Yeah, bed, yeah, everything about the story is wonderful. I mean his respect. He respected the rules, he understands why the rules exist. But also, is there a possibility, is there a willingness, is there an opportunity for something different? And that's incredible that you guys are able to respond. Some agencies are very rigid in the rules that they have, and you have to be, because people will take exception every chance they possibly get. But you're right seeing people as a human, seeing them as something more than just a project, and I love it. I love it. So there's so much to this that we could unpack this for probably many hours, but we're coming close to the end of our time, so I want to just focus a couple things. One is that this community is, you mentioned, affluent and it's got a lot of things to it, but through its generosity. It's how you guys operate, right, like you guys are funded. How are you funded? How do you get your funds to do this incredible thing?
Speaker 3Well, you, me, we can both share it, I guess. So we do have a thrift store which is on the 930 north school street, and a lot of our funding comes from that. We have some government grants that we get, and Brooke is the one who does all of that and can talk about all of that, but some of it is from foundations and individuals.
Speaker 1So I mean there are a lot of pieces of this community contributing to that. I don't remember the exact number, but somewhere around a third or maybe even up to half of your funding comes from your thrift store. That's a community engagement. What's the name of the thrift store?
Speaker 3Fabulous Finds.
Speaker 1Fabulous Finds. If you're in Bernie you probably know about Fabulous Finds already.
Speaker 3If you don't, you should I agree.
Speaker 1Brittany, my co-host, talked about how her son just bought a bicycle there this weekend and they were so excited about it. So what a cool thing that is. Anyone in Bernie that wants to support or be a part of caring for this incredible service ministry here in the city can contribute to that. I think you guys have a donation portal, but you also, like people, can go and buy things that fund the work there, so that's an easy way almost a consumeristic driven way to be a part of what's happening there. You mentioned grants, so you're grant writing.
Speaker 1I'm grant writing Well done, brooke, that's not an easy thing.
Speaker 4It's not.
Speaker 1But this city seems to be an incredibly generous place. I hear so many people talk about the different foundations doing different things and I know not all of them want to be named, but in the end, like it's so cool that you have the ability to do that and that it brings in significant funding. You also mentioned individuals. So you guys seek individual donors as well.
Speaker 4We do. We're not ashamed to say we'll take your money. No, no, take your money, your time, we'll take anything you're willing. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1Anything. Well, how would people go about finding out how to give? So you mentioned your website. I'm sure you have a donation portal there. Is there also volunteer needs there, if somebody wanted to learn more about how to be involved.
Speaker 4You could. They could go to your website. What's the website? Wwwkcwstexasorg. We're also on Instagram and Facebook, so you can find us on all kinds of ways, all kinds of social ways.
Community Support and Funding
Speaker 1All right, you said it really fast, I'm going to say kcwstexasorg County Women's. Shelter Texas. Yeah, we're going to put that in the show notes from today, so anyone that's listening. If you're wondering, just go to the website, to the podcast website and you can see this on this episode, the link to that website. So we'll definitely highlight that. I want you to know about that. You mentioned volunteer needs. How do people volunteer? What kind of things would they do if they volunteer with the women's shelter?
Speaker 3We have all kinds of things that you can volunteer for. You can volunteer in the thrift store sorting and going through the donations that come in, working at the cash register, selling, you know helping stage the store. We do have opportunities for people to help in the shelter. That is a little more of a stringent background check and you know, just for the confidentiality. Yeah, definitely training, because we want to just maintain the confidentiality and safety of the clients.
Speaker 1Add to the crisis, as we've already went through. To just maintain the confidentiality and safety of the clients, add to the crisis, as we've already gone through. Right, we're pretty particular about who we let in the shelter, sure, but there's also all kinds of ways.
Speaker 3We have three different properties, so maintenance is always a thing like mowing and painting anything. Yeah, our shelter. So we have men, women and children in and out of the shelter and pets and pets.
Speaker 2We do have a pet kennel, okay, okay.
Speaker 3So you know there's all kinds of maintenance that needs to be done, just the same as you would have with a home.
Speaker 1Yeah, of course Probably quite a bit bigger than if you have nine living quarters and a commercial kitchen and a large living space. Well, that's fantastic. That's fantastic. What else would you like our listeners to know about the Women's Shelter and how they could get involved? Do you guys do a fundraiser every year?
Speaker 4We have a golf tournament.
Speaker 1A golf tournament. Everyone loves golf, especially in this community, so that's great. When is it?
Speaker 4So normally it's in October. This year we have moved it to September. It's September 22nd and it's at Canyon Springs Golf Course Awesome.
Speaker 1September 22nd Okay, great.
Speaker 4And then the Bernie Retailers Association, all the main street shops. They have a style show also in September and we're the sole benefactor for that every year. It's such a fun event. There's like music the whole time and all of the shops have their current styles that walk the runway and Ashley does a great job of putting that on. It's just a fun event.
Speaker 1Where do they do this event? This sounds crazy At the.
Speaker 4Bevy Hotel so it's super fun.
Speaker 1I bet it is. It sounds hysterical and amazing. I'm not saying it's laughable.
Speaker 4I have a great time.
Speaker 1It's like small town Bernie has a fashion show at the Bevy we do. That sounds amazing. I imagine all those little boutiques would love to have people trying on their clothes and showing how awesome it is, so that's great.
Speaker 4They all show their personality while they're walking. It's fun.
Speaker 1And our thrift store is.
Speaker 4Annette, we're one of the ones that we walk the runway.
Speaker 1Not we not, I no we have people that walk. We have people that do that for us.
Speaker 2You probably, Ted, you probably haven't gone shopping at the boutique. Part of fabulous finds, but there are fabulous finds in fabulous finds.
Speaker 3There are. Yes, it's true, yes, so.
Speaker 1I have two daughters, so we'll get a good buy, I'm sure. I'm sure we'll go there.
Speaker 3Perfect, we have a bowling tournament. It's our first annual bowling tournament yes, that sounds fun. And that's at Bandera Bowl in San Antonio. So we're hoping to have a fun time and inviting your families to come out and bowl.
Speaker 1Yeah, that sounds like a blast. That'll be great.
Speaker 4We serve families, so we were looking for a way to have a family-focused event, and everyone loves bowling.
Speaker 1We're all terrible. We're all equally terrible. You don't have to be good. No, no, but it's a tournament. You say tournament, people think competition. But there's pizza either way, there's pizza and what are the things they put up?
Speaker 4Guardrails, bumper rails, so anyone could be a part.
Speaker 2That's a great invention. That's great.
Speaker 1That's great. All of the different ministries and social organizations in the city kind of work together. So I hear good things about you guys from so many different parts of the city of Bernie and so I'm really grateful we got to spend some time today getting to know you a little bit and getting to know a little bit about what the women's shelter is doing. You mentioned that you have a non-resident client, so is there are most of your families coming from, like San Antonio? Are they mostly coming from this area? Just, obviously not just Bernie.
Speaker 3Yeah yeah, bexar County is one of where we get most of our clients from. About 18% are from Kendall County.
Speaker 1Okay, okay, I mean, that makes sense. It makes sense Again. The city. One of the beautiful things about Bernie is that it seems to have a peaceful place for people who are struggling from other things that come here, and staying here is harder.
Speaker 1Like you mentioned, brooke, this is a tough place, and that's another thing for us to be praying about is how this city can adopt some new rules and regulations to be a little bit more welcoming to people that just can't afford to be at that affluent level to live in the city. Like I heard, somebody told me just a few weeks ago that the police officers and firemen our first responders if this is their only job and they don't have family here, they can't afford to live here, so they're driving from other places. So even our full-time city workers can't afford to live in the city without having some sort of family relation or so just imagine if you're working as a barista or a server in a restaurant or working in one of the boutiques, like you can't make enough money to live in bernie. So where are they going?
Speaker 4to live. What are they?
Speaker 1going to do so. Guys, we, we really appreciate all the work that you're doing, trying to help these families get on their feet, and thank you, thank you.
Getting Involved and Resources Available
Speaker 4Is there anything else you'd say to our listeners as they have considered Kendall County Women's Shelter? I think I just want to say to reach out to us if you need access to our resources and services. Given all the wonderful things about Bernie, the statistics don't change. Just because you live in a seemingly safe and affluent community. The statistics stay the same. So one in three women and one in seven men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime at some point.
Speaker 4So if you're looking at this room, one of the three of us if not all of us have exposure or access to that. The three of us, if not all of us have exposure or access to that. So I just think it's important to remember that in a community like this, where there are so many good things about Bernie, but it doesn't change that humans are still humans and there is still a crisis of conflict in relationship regardless. So I just want to encourage people that, just because you live here, we still all of our services are free and confidential for the ones that qualify and need them, and we are a safe place in order to be able to help with anybody who needs anything.
Speaker 1I'm so glad you said that it's so easy to think about just promoting the ministry and the need of it, but there's also a very real opportunity. If you know somebody who's going through these kinds of things, going through hard times, this is a great place to start, and so make sure you have these guys on speed dial so if you meet families or if your family goes through a crisis, you know these guys are behind you. They're here to help. They're a safety net in our community for the people going through really difficult situations. Can I?
Speaker 4explain what non-resident services entails though just to clarify.
Speaker 4So all of our services are the same for our clients. It just depends on if each of them needs a safe bed to sleep in at night. So everybody that is on our caseload has access to case management support, which is anything that a client or family might need as far as job resources, housing resources, public resources like SNAP and any of those type of benefits. And we walk through that whole process with all of them. Our case manager does, our family coordinator does, and then we have therapeutic services as well. So we have group therapy, we have individual and family therapy options, and then we provide transportation, medication assistance, legal assistance, so we walk through the process of protective orders and divorce cases, custody cases, child protective services, resources and help if anything's going on. With that. There's a million different options. Plus, we are staffed 24-7, trauma-informed care staff and crisis de-escalation staff, trained staff.
Speaker 4But non-residential services just means that you have either somewhere safe to be, so you have a family, a friend, or you have the means to be able to move into your own independent living, or you're in an unsafe situation and haven't figured out how to leave yet, but you're still trying to have access to all of the resources and services that you might need so that we do safety planning with every single client. So we work on identifying what those red flags are in the relationship and how to try and naturally deescalate situations, but what to also do if you find yourself in a situation that is quickly escalating and you need somewhere to go, somewhere, somebody to talk to. We have a process and a plan that we walk through with every single one of our clients, so there's a million options, but it sounds like it.
Services Beyond Shelter
Speaker 1Yeah, there's so much there. Well, again, the city is so blessed to have you guys in it and uh, in the County and, and obviously the neighboring County is everyone, every one of them that is blessed by, by your caring for these families and uh, and so we're so thankful for you. I definitely hope that our listeners will learn more about you, ask more questions, get involved as they can, and then we also look forward to partnering in as many ways as we can, moving forward, and we talked about that a little bit last week as well. We're a church and we pray for our community, and you guys are definitely part of that community. We're praying for and uh, and again so thankful that there are people who are walking into these spaces where not everyone can go and not everyone can be there, and definitely not everybody can be there on the scope and scale that you are, and so we're so thankful. Um, you ladies are welcome here anytime, maybe a year from now, we can do an update and hear more about how how things are going there at the women's shelter, but for those of you who are tuning in and listening, I hope this has been encouraging to you.
Speaker 1We always talk about why we do this. It's so that we can make a difference in the world that God has sent us to. Why does he bless us? Why does he make his face shine on us? Why is he gracious to us? It's so that we can be a blessing to those around us and around us, and so I hope this has been encouraging. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to us here at the church. We'd love to hear. Brittany, that's two episodes. Well done, well done. We're so glad that you're here with us and I look forward to doing this some more.
Speaker 1Thank y'all both for coming in this afternoon. All right To all of you listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in, Hope this has been enjoyable and God bless you. We are so thankful that you joined our podcast today. We would love to hear any feedback you may have for us. Remember, Psalm 67 says may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us so that always may be known on earth and your salvation among all nations. Don't forget why the Lord blesses us. It's so that we can be a blessing to those around us. Until next time, God bless.