First Light Mission: Providing Shelter, Hope, and Dignity

In this episode of the Inspiring Good Podcast, join us as we delve into the heartwarming and impactful work of First Light Mission. Established as the Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network in 1995, the organization has grown exponentially, now providing much-needed shelter, support, and resources to unhoused families in the Goshen area. With Mindy Morehead, who leads the organization, we discuss the mission's evolution, current operations, and profound impact on the community, offering a beacon of hope during challenging times.

00:00:30: Introduction to First Light Mission

00:00:50: Mindy’s connection and role at First Light Mission

00:01:09: Overview of First Light Mission’s services

00:01:47: History of First Light Mission

00:02:54: Increased need for services and crisis calls

00:04:14: Staff and family involvement in First Light

00:05:27: Transition to a new facility

00:07:22: Partnerships and community support

00:09:01: Community generosity and donations

00:11:01: Importance of new clothing for guests

00:12:23: Transformational changes at First Light

00:13:06: Expansion plans and addressing housing needs

00:14:00: Additional programmatic services

00:15:05: Requirements for guests

00:17:06: Interaction and support among guests

00:18:05: Significance of handmade quilts

00:18:37: Cleanliness and order at First Light

00:19:13: Forced transitions and the importance of First Light

00:20:12: The origin of the name "First Light"

00:20:37: Discussing the organization's logo and visuals

00:20:47: Mindy's support system and self-care

00:21:37: Challenges faced during Covid

00:24:19: Homelessness in Elkhart County

00:26:12: Success stories from First Light

00:27:36: How to connect and support First Light

00:28:38: Advice for new CEOs

00:30:16: What gives Mindy hope

00:31:00: Show credits and acknowledgments

This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in The Riverbend building in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.

Transcript

0:30

Today our guest is Mindy Morehead, who is CEO of First Light Mission, which serves unhoused families in our community. Mindy has worked for many years to help those in need and shows love and kindness to those in crisis. Welcome, Mindy. Welcome. Thank you, Mindy. It is so good to have you on the show. You're one of my champions because you understand the mission. You connect with families, you connect with people, and they connect back with you. And they many times keep the relationship through first light. They come back to tell you how they're doing. Yes. And I love those stories. But let's talk first about for our listeners, what is first light? First light mission is a homeless shelter serving anyone with minor age children, single dads, mom and dads. And then we have single female beds as well. And the genesis or the history. It was interfaith hospitality, wasn't it? Was it not? Yep. Tell me about how that happened. So we were Goshen interfaith for 22 years. We started in 1995 when a family showed up at First English Lutheran church needed a place to stay. A group of pastors got together and started. They knew about interfaith network, and so they started one here in Goshen. And what year was that? 1990. 519. 95. So how did the churches interwork? Like, how did you know which family is going to go to which church? And how long were they allowed to stay there? So every family went to the same church. So it started off as six quickly, within a month grew to 18. And so they would switch to each of these 18 churches for a week at a time, and they could stay for seven days, up to 30 days in a calendar year at one church. One of the things I appreciate back in my boys and girls club days was working with interfaith hospitality, which is now first light. Nobody wants to think about homeless people, particularly homeless children, and what that impacts their school, their education, how they feel about themselves, their self esteem. No parent wants to find themselves in that situation. But yet it happens. And I've had over the years many children and families who are in some kind of crisis. Sometimes it happens quickly, overnight. Yes. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the calls you get, some of the walk ins and about some of these crisis moments? So right now our need is greater than what it's ever been. We turned away 276 families in July, which was qualified people for our shelter. And we are seeing more and more where people live. Paycheck to paycheck, situation happens, hours get cut. We're seeing a lot of medical issues. Things change, and they no longer can survive. And it is overnight. Landlords aren't working with tenants as much as what they wore. So everyone that we have in the shelter right now works. And how many do you have in the shelter today? 24. 24. And how many of that right now would be families? Men, women? We have 16 children, two single dads, and then the rest are women. So. It'S just sad to think that in Goshen, Indiana, that we have that kind of a nonstop opportunity to serve the bocashon crisis. Every single one of our guests currently are also from the Goshen area. Tell me a little bit about your staff. Okay, so my oldest daughter works for me, and then the rest of our staff are all. It's really important to me that our staff feel like this is their purpose. That is how we make such a difference, is we all feel called to do this work. It's not a paycheck. And I'm very, very. That's very important to me. When I interviewed, I, potential staff. So they've all had some kind of walk of life where they can understand what it is like to be in our guest shoes. And it really is a family mission. It is. I mean, you weave your husband in, you weave your daughter in. I mean, it's a family mission, and you feel it. I mean, your family love each other very, very much, and yet you have this incredible love to put your arms and embrace your guests. I think that helps our guests, actually, because they see that we're. My family's not untouchable, and I'm not above them by any means. So they become very relatable. Mindy, the facility that you're in is remarkable. And you've been on this journey from having guests at churches and kind of being housed at one church, primarily for a while, and then getting this opportunity to take over this former school building. Talk a little bit about that and how it's gone from many churches to more one church and now where you are. Yeah. So we seen the need. When you're staying in a church and you're in a basement or anywhere the Sunday school rooms are, kids were going backwards instead of forwards. We had a lot of kids wedding beds that had been potty trained for a while, parents not sleeping well. So we moved to the one church. But then we seen the need to have our own facility. And this God has led the way completely with where we're at now. We made a phone call for our guests to get into the Merritt learning center, and they told us they were moving. That led to a conversation with the school board. I mean, he has had his hand in every single bit of it. So it is such a blessing to have that full building and to be handicapped accessible. And so to somebody who hasn't been there, I mean, we've. Kevin and I have had the pleasure of being on a couple tours with you. I mean, this is a former elementary school on the kind of north side of Goshen. Yes. And I mean, you've been able, through donations and through partnerships with the hotels, like, outfit this thing and even down to the food partnerships that you have, like, when you give this tour, like, some of those details of where this bed come from or where that sandwich came from are pretty remarkable. Yeah. So we do. We work with great partnerships. And actually, a really great person once told me not to turn away any donations, that you can turn a donation into a benefit for your organization. And that stuck with me. For those not in the studio, I think that great person is here with us. Kevin Deary. Yes. So we have learned how to make partnerships. We get stuff from hotels, and we can turn those. We have another agency that sells them for us and turns it into dollars for the organization. So, mindy, I think I was so impressed when I came into your gym, the gymnasium, and the former elementary school, and I saw floor to ceiling. I've never seen so many dishwashers. I think it was dishwashers. They were stacked up on pad on little boxes, and I just couldn't believe that you had that many. It's just incredible how the generosity of goshen. Yes. Generosity of many of our hotels. But you had 50 dishwashers or more. Yeah, we actually had 75 of them. 75 dishwashers. So when God chooses to bless you, he blesses you pretty heavily. So how did you. How did you share those or pass those out? So we actually work with a company out of middlebury. It's an amish rand company, and they sell everything on eBay. So they said, we want to help you. They came in for a tour, we want to partner with you, and they came, loaded all the dishwashers up and sold them. So I don't know what's more surprising, the Amish on me and on eBay, or the fact that somebody gave you 75 of these. That's incredible. And just. It's amazing how God puts in front of you these folks that can help you. Our community support is amazing. Two weeks ago, I was out of the office at the CEO retreat. Our pantry was completely empty. And so we put out a call on Facebook the next morning before our meeting even started. I had gotten a text from staff with pictures, and staff said, it makes me want to cry. Our shelves are overflowed now. So in less than 24 hours, the community stepped up and was making deliveries. And those deliveries are still happening every day. Part of our tour that Marshall and I took with our staff here, you brought us the end of the tour. You brought us to the back. There was a separate building out in the parking lot, and it looked like a classroom that would be attached to a school. And we walked into it and we were just blown away with the amount of clothes and toys, and everything in there was clean, including, and surprisingly, you told a nice story of why there are so many women's undergarments. Yeah. And could you share that? Because that didn't. Doesn't really think a lot of people think about that. So undergarments is something that a lot of shelters, they don't get brand new ones. So people are used to getting used ones. And that was really important to me. So we started reaching out and formed a partnership. And we get stuff from Walmart now that is brand new. All of our undergarments are brand new, and we get bamboo socks. So I want to share a story with you guys real quick. About three weeks ago, I got a call from a police officer, and it was pretty late at night. And he said, is there any way you can meet me at the clothing closet? There was three kids that had been taken to the ER. He had a connection there. They had some pretty big things in their system was going to be removed from. Mom did not have underwear, never had had them. So we met, we were able to get them some nice clothing. And when he delivered them, he called me and said it was like he was Santa Claus going in there. What those new clothes done for those three kids was transformational. Speaking of transformational, the last two years of first light has been from a business side. Transformational. The board has changed. The amount of donors and partner has changed. What did you do to make all that happen? It was a tour that led to a great connection, and we brought an amazing board member on the. And that's added. We have almost a completely new board, but it's being open to kind of coming out of your comfort zone and letting them see the facility. That's so one of the keys to great board development is finding board members that actually have a passion for what the mission is. Yes. Even though they themselves may have never experienced it, but they can relate to it. They see the impact on the family, the children the community overall, and then they're more willing to give of time, talent and treasure to push the organization forward. They also. I know you won't say it, but they also rally behind you. They're your biggest fan club other than me. So I've been very happy to hear when people talk about best practices and strong organizations, they talk about first light now. And I hope you feel that pride in your organization. Thank you. And there's so much need. What breaks my heart is 230 families and people turned away in July. And what can you do through a strategic process that maybe can address some of that? So we're going before BCA in November, hoping to go to 41 beds, but we got to be looking at the next step. So I've been having lots of meetings, meetings. I've met with La Casa and other organizations about how can we provide that housing, that next step, where we can get them our turnaround, even quicker than what it is. I don't think shelter beds is the answer. It's helping with the next step, and. That is uniquely placed, too. First light is in a neighborhood. It's been well received in the neighborhood, I believe, and it's easy to get to. It's not hard to get to. It's not too far off a bus stop. Nope. Or a block away. And so it's easy to get to. Easy for them to get to work in the places they need to. But you do more than just provide food and housing and love. You also provide a lot, a lot of other programmatic services that I'm continually impressed with. So can you talk about some of the other things you do? We partner with a lot of agencies. We want our guests to quit living in crisis, quit putting out fires, and learn how to take care of things before it happens. Delegates. I mean, we look at everything from their hobbies to their financial situations. We work on absolutely everything with them, and we do that with a lot of great agencies as well. I think we underscore, we miss the. What happens when people don't have access to technology? You know, we turn to our phones and we can get an airplane ticket, we can make a reservation at a restaurant. We can answer questions with our insurance company, all from our phone. What happens when you don't have technology? You don't have the ability. And I love the fact that you not only can your guests have access to technology, but you actually teach them technology. Yes, because many of them have not had that opportunity. And then you make sure the kids go to school, which is so important. It's a requirement. And we're really funny. A lot of parents that are homeless, transient, they want to homeschool their kids, and we push for them to get them into school systems. Education is so important. That's one of our biggest things with our kids, is focusing on their education. And social relationships, and kids need to be with other children. Yeah. And I think that's very wise. You, you talk about requirements. Can you talk a little bit about when a family comes in? What are the requirements that they are required to do to stay as part of first light? When they first come in, they get 48 hours to relax, and then after that, they have to sit down and they have to look at their life, and they have to set goals. So they set 30 day goals and they set long term goals, and they have to be meeting those goals to stay in our program. But then they also have to little things like getting up, being up by a certain time every morning, making their bed. We make them practice good hygiene. They cook for themselves, and we make sure that they're feeding their kids. They're actually preparing meals for them. We're really encouraging healthy living. And one thing we've done since you guys have been there is we have a gym now, and so we have some exercise equipment. And just pushing that them seeing staff do it is helping, and it's being used every day. So we're making them do things that a lot of people do without thinking, and it makes them feel better. When we were there on the tour, there weren't a lot of guests there. It was during the day when they were at work or at school. But what was clear and what you talked about is that there are spaces in which these aren't just people huddled down, huddled with their family. They're interacting with each other. They're supporting each other. And even the ways, like you have, where people sleep is flexible. Like, you didn't dictate rooms. You have dividers that you move. I thought that was brilliant. But the other thing, the image that keeps sticking in my head is these comforters that are on all the beds. And it's just one of the things that has been an important practice for this organization is to provide these. Tell us a little bit about that. So we have quilts that are made. We have an amish group, and then we have Elkhart homemakers extension club that makes quilts. They get to take those with them. And a lot of people think it's a blanket. It's way more than a blanket. A quilt. I grew up with a family of quilters. I have a very special quilt on my bed. All of my. My girls do. It's just a family thing. And when you walk into their places after they leave and you see those quilts on the bed, that is something they make sure they don't ever lose. It is very, very important to them. It's that they know somebody specifically made that blanket for them. You know, when I was growing up, quilts went into the hope chest, which was usually at the base of the bed. Yeah. And it was a very prized part of the family, and many times they were passed down. These are very high quality. I love that imagery of home, of how they feel and how you make them feel. I went in there with the understanding that, okay, there's a lot of people here. A lot of them are homeless. The first thing that hit me was how clean first light is. I mean, incredibly clean and incredibly ordered, orderly. Yeah. And that must take. That must take setting those expectations and keeping and having them be part of the family. A mom said to me yesterday, you have no idea what this has done. For my pride, I'm not embarrassed about where I'm coming to. And that's exactly it. They're worth it. And teaching them that they're worth. Having a clean place makes the world a difference with them. Yeah. Now, so many of your families are in sometimes forced transition, and we have this picture of homeless and the guests that are coming through. Many times it is forced. Something happened in a relationship, something happened with the landlord. They lost their job, bills piled up, and they had no place to live. Many years ago, we had people who lived in their cars in Goshen families, and I hope that doesn't happen anymore. But there are times when you will see families who live in cars, and when those cars break down, they are really in trouble. And it breaks my heart to see that, because these folks are trying to get jobs or they're working smaller jobs, trying to piece together life, and yet they come to first light. And what a. What a wonderful name first light is, because for them, it's the first light they've seen in a long time, wherever. So how did you come up with that name? We worked with a great marketing company, but they interviewed guests, board members, volunteers, and kept coming back. Guests kept telling them it was kind of like their fresh start, their new day, and so they came up with first light. A lot of times, especially Mennonites, keep lights in. Their window is a sign of welcoming. And that is how we came up with the window. Showing the landscape in the background as our logo, too. So it is that first light. New day. Mindy, you're supported by the board. You're supported by a lot of donors and partnerships, but this is hard, heavy work. How do you fill your own bucket? How do you keep from giving too much of yourself and burning out a. Really good network of friends who kind of all can relate, doing very similar things, but making sure that I stick with those nights when we have them scheduled. And then also being with my family, I've had to learn how to self care and making sure that I shut things off and spend that time with my family and yet still pick up. The call from a police officer and show up at midnight to make sure kids have underwear. You are such an angel. Let's shift to Covid. Tell me about that time. Covid hits. Tell me, were you shut down? Were you not shut down? Were you providing services? So we was. We were definitely providing services. We were at full capacity. And actually, we had room for a family. We had a family show up at the door, just started discussing protocols, and I let them in. And that family actually ended up being had. Covid. And so that led to 51 days of being in the shelter. So what I thought was going to be a regular doctor's appointment, because I really just thought it was from being outside. They were sleeping unsheltered, turned into, no one can leave this facility. And they came back positive. We isolated everyone. If I had to do it all over again, we would have just all got together. Because every time we got close to the end of the 14 days, somebody else was showing symptoms. So. The fact that we in our lives will be able to tell stories of COVID and how it impacted us personally, our families, our community. But I can only imagine how difficult that was to. As the world was shutting down, we yet, as nonprofits still had to fundraise, some of us opened up to take care of first responders. So there was always people to serve. And yet you couldn't do special events. There were some really good organizations, like the community foundation, the United Way. The government that passed out, gave money out to try to bridge the gap so we could still meet the need. Not to mention, I thought I'd never ppe PPE. I mean, there was all these acronyms, and then all of a sudden, Zoom. The world went to Zoom. It was crazy for what we all had to live through. But if you're homeless and the world has shut down, that must be really terrifying for a parent with their children. We actually had a homeless, pregnant woman who had her baby the day before we got out of quarantine. So for those 51 days, she was unable to go to a doctor's appointment. I guess she did see one. We were able to get her in the back door, but that was scarier for her than anybody else. And she had other kids. Not knowing what she's going to happen. A volunteer was with her when she delivered her baby. Man, the stories that just. That just happened through first light. We talk, educate our listeners and Mars and I on homeless in Elkar county. How many are there? And, you know, where are they? So I don't have exact numbers, but it has grown quite tremendously. It's been something we're talking about in the Elkhart county homeless coalition. Everyone is seeing a huge intake. I mean, July was our biggest number. August, we were still at almost 200, and we're still pushing 200 a month in calls. Every agency is full. We have nowhere to refer homeless individuals to. I'm guessing we have over 150. Just in Goshen, one of the schools said that they had over 1200 homeless students in Elkhart county. That's couchsurfing, doubling up, but 1200 kids that don't have a home of their. Own, that just brings in a host of all sorts of other issues and challenges from lack of academics, lack of social. Feeling safe. Yeah. Safety is important. When you don't feel safe, it's hard to focus on moving forward in your life, and that includes families, so, especially if they're in a domestic situation. And how many of your guests would you say, come from a domestic flare up or a situation? None of our. None of our guests come from that because we're not secure. We don't take domestic violence victims. So maybe family. You know, distant family issues, but not domestic violence situations. Okay. No, that's. I understand if we asked you, this would be right out of Marshall's playbook, but if we asked you to come up with the greatest success story that first gala's had. First lights. Sorry. You have a gala coming up, by the way, October 17. We'll give her a chance to talk. About that before we close, but tell me what your most successful story is that you've been part of. We had a mom with six kids who was generational, came from generational drug users. She was addicted to crackhead. We got her into treatment. Our kids were all hosted by a family. While she was in treatment. She came out, she completed. She has been sober for almost eight years now. She got her high school diploma and now has a bachelor's and two associates degrees. That's our biggest success story because her kids lives all the oldest two. One has completed college, the other one is in college. Like, they are working hard, too. Otherwise, I think we would have seen a continuation of that lifestyle. Mindy, what is it? Tell people how they can connect with you. I know you have an event coming up, but also kind of like, if somebody wants to learn more about you or donate or see the facility, how do they connect with you? Okay, so we have a Facebook page that we share our Amazon wish lists and all of our donation lists. You can stop by the facility. We're at 801 West Wilkinson street in Goshen. Call. Our phone number is 534-2300 you do an application, a very short application for volunteering. But we love to get people involved. We need people all the time to be involved, so. And then our event is October 17. We still have a few tickets left, but we're selling tables really good this year. So. That'S awesome. Tell me about. We talked about it briefly. You talked about best practices and how your board has been transformed, and that has transformed first light. What else? If you were a. As a senior CEO, what would you tell a beginning CEO who was just starting up in their mission? What best practices would you share with them? So there's a few things to be adaptable, to always be ready to adapt to new things. But have a network, build relationships big time with other CEO's. Whether you think that their nonprofit aligns with yours are the same thing, that's huge. And then self care. Make sure you continue to self care. But building relationships and being able to adapt and change and learn from others. Yeah. The burnout of social workers, people who are working in grief, people who are working with domestic violence, if you do not self care, it could come back to really haunt you. So I think that is having an awareness of the. Of being able to stay in the mission and stay focused and yet take care of yourself. Don't forget your family. Don't forget your faith. Don't forget the things that are. That make you you. Yeah. Don't lose your passion. Don't lose your passion. So great advice, Minnie, thank you for. Joining us today, and thank you for the work you do. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Remarkable to see this organization grow, but also just to see the full heartedness that you offer people in our community. So thank you for that. What gives you hope? It is the biggest thing right now that gives me hope is we have a dad with a three year old autistic boy, and he was nonverbal. And he spoke his first words. The other day. He said hi at the shelter, plain as day. But watching everyone, our guests including, come surround him and help him, that gives me hope. Watching other people in need care so much about somebody else and help them. We're blessed to live in a very generous community, and I see that every day. But watching even those struggles still care so much about somebody else gives me huge hope. The show is a production of the community foundation of Elkhart county. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in the Viaggio studio at Wee Impact in Elkhart's river district. Music is provided by sensational sounds. Editing is done by the award winning communications students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe radio at 91.1 fm or online. Learn more about the Community foundation of Elkhart County@inspiringgood.org. dot. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.