The Social Athlete
A weekly podcast exploring the upper limits of social fitness and relationship success.
The Social Athlete
Eric Lovett on Starting Over, Finding Peace, and Ending Youth Homelessness
Eric Lovett is Founder and CEO of Urban Street Angels, an organization committed to ending youth homelessness in San Diego. Eric is one of the most socially skilled people I've ever met. As soon as you meet Eric, you like him, trust him, and want to be a part of his mission.
Eric's path to social athleticism has been a wild ride...
In his twenties, Eric enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom in the world of Christian music. At the age of 29, he was outed as gay. Suddenly, everything was taken away from him--his career, his friends, his faith, his very identity.
In our interview, Eric speaks bravely about losing it all, battling back from the depths of depression, and finding renewed purpose in his mission to help others who have been rejected by society. He also speaks about his unique social superpowers, how he developed them, and how he uses them to improve his community.
Over the last 12 years, Eric's organization Urban Street Angels has emerged as one of the most innovative and effective organizations in the world for addressing youth homelessness. On a shoestring budget, he gets 400 kids a year off the streets. And when they get off, they stay off.
If you have ever wondered why throwing millions of dollars at homelessness only seems to make the problem worse, listen to this episode. Eric speaks with breathtaking clarity about the perverse incentives that frustrate our common efforts to end homelessness. More importantly, he shares the uncommon methodology he's using to get outsized results where everyone is failing.
I have seen firsthand the difference Eric is making in his community. After listening to this episode, I hope you'll join me in donating whatever you can to Urban Street Angels. I promise you the money will be well spent efficiently and effectively on restoring hope to the people who need it most.
00:00 - Intro
03:36 - Eric's Wild Ride from Alabama to San Diego
06:05 - Being Outed as Gay and Losing it All
11:22 - Founding Urban Street Angels
19:41 - Struggles With Selfishness and Finding Peace
31:14 - Strategies for Recharging Socially
33:25 - Eric's Social Superpowers
49:26 - Rediscovering Faith in God
54:05 - The Distinct Problem of Youth Homelessness (And How to Fix It)
1:01:15 - Why Most Homelessness Initiatives Make the Problem Worse
1:08:24 - Urban Street Angels' Novel Approach to Homelessness (That Actually Works)
1:11:59 - How to Support Urban Street Angels
1:16:29 - The Power of True Love (and Alabama Football)
Hello and welcome to the Social Athlete I'm your host, casey Wright. Today I'm going to share with you an interview I just conducted with Eric Loveit. Eric and I have been friends for about 10 years. Eric is a true social athlete. Everybody who meets him loves him, and in a few minutes you'll understand why. Eric is founder and CEO of Urban Street Angels, which is an organization that is committed to ending youth homelessness in San Diego. As you'll see, eric and the organization have a very unique and remarkably effective approach to ending youth homelessness. He's getting 400 people a year off the streets on a shoestring budget and, much more importantly, when they get off the streets, they stay off the streets.
Casey:Several years ago, when our company was headquartered in San Diego, we had a monthly initiative called Thankful Thursdays, and the way it worked is, once a month, we would pick a Thursday and we would interface with a local nonprofit organization and the whole idea was I'd tell them hey, we've got a company of 10 people and we'll give you a donation and we just want to come and be a part of your mission for a day. You know, we really want to get in the trenches and be a part of your mission. We want to be on the front lines, we want to see what you're doing and we want to be a part of it. And in doing this you really get a front row seat to these organizations and you can tell very quickly which ones really care about helping people and which ones are really in it more for their own edification and for more selfish motivations. And in doing this, you know, we worked with all of the largest organizations, all the big name ones that I'm sure you're familiar with. I won't name any of them here, but in doing this we also got to work with Urban Street Angels a couple of times and by the end we were kind of would just kind of throw up our hands and say why are we working with any organization other than Urban Street Angels? What they were doing was so ahead in shoulders above what every other organization was doing in terms of really stretching their dollars and really making a difference. You could just tell that everything that Eric was doing was designed around actually solving the problem.
Casey:I truly believe, if you're looking for a cause to donate money to, there is no better organization to donate to than Urban Street Angels If you want to do that, and I would highly encourage you to. You can go to urbanstreetangelsorg. There are several ways that you can support their mission. Obviously, the most direct is just to send a donation, and again, I'd really encourage you to do that. But there are also quite a few other ways that you'll see as we get into this interview or if you go to the webpage, where you can see different ways that you can support their organization. I really think there is no bigger bang you'll get for your donated buck than donating to Urban Street Angels, either time or money, so I'd really encourage you to do that.
Casey:Now, eric has had a wild ride, as you'll see, most people who have been through what he's been through would be bitter. But not only is Eric not bitter, he is one of the most relentlessly positive people that I've ever met and he is truly at peace with himself. In this conversation, we talk about his social superpowers, where they came from and how he developed them. We talk about his meteoric rise to stardom within the world of Christian music, losing it all once he was suddenly outed as being gay and then finding renewed purpose in helping other people. We also talk quite a bit about the problem of youth homelessness how he is solving a problem that no one else seems capable of solving, and why so many of the ways we commonly address this problem tend to make it worse. I came away from this conversation as I always do when I talk to Eric inspired to be a better person. I think you will too.
Casey:So, with that in mind, let's go meet Eric Lovett. You know we've known each other I think about 10 years now. We probably met first time around 2013, 14, back at Fit San Diego. I remember the gym that everyone went to, and it's funny because over the years I remember you would reveal things to me here and there like oh yeah, I used to be a pastor, I used to live in Tennessee, I used to live in Alabama. Oh yeah, I used to tour as a musician. And I would just kind of do the math and I'd be like, wow, this guy's lived so many lives in such a short period of time. You've had quite a wild ride. So I just wanted to start by. Can you just talk me through the big moves, what were the reasons for them, and kind of walk me through where you started to where you are right now?
Eric:Yeah, it's good to be with you, casey, and it has been a long time. It was probably 10 years ago. I was thinking about that last night at Fit it's where I met so many people as I moved to San Diego. But yeah, I met, born and raised in Alabama, raised Alabama, crimson, tide, fan Roll Tide and from there, you know, just moving. I think a big thing for me in my life is I was raised a pastor's kid, somebody that's a preacher, and so I was raised in that environment of religious faith and really a heart, even from my parents, of helping people and being from Alabama to Virginia I was.
Eric:I started singing at an early age.
Eric:I was probably six years old when I went into my first competition at the state of Alabama and won that, which always kind of helped me realize, oh, I want to be a singer, a professional singer.
Eric:So I think, as I was finding myself even early age in the high school and figuring out that sports was probably not the avenue I was going because I had a better chance to paint for my school with singing, that's kind of why it took me in that track and you know, I left Alabama, went to school there at Alabama and then transferred to Liberty University, which is a Christian school in Virginia, and really started my music career there on scholarship and with my own band and traveling the country and getting involved there, which is and then to Los Angeles. I actually went to Virginia. I went to Los Angeles I know we're going to dive into some of these subjects, but I had a crisis happen in my life and took me out to Los Angeles to kind of find myself back to Tennessee. I was a pastor and landed in San Diego 12 years ago.
Casey:So you'd mentioned that there was kind of a crisis. Do you mind opening up a little bit and sharing what that was?
Eric:Absolutely so. As being a being a pastor's kid, you know, I was raised with a set of values that really didn't line up with me. In my personal life, I was experiencing at the time just issues with my sexuality. You know, at the time we didn't even mention being gay, especially in that world. That was, you know, 30 years ago, 25, 30 years ago, and so it was always struggling with my sexuality if you will in quotation marks and I was doing very well.
Eric:I was very successful in music, christian music and leading one of the leaders of the university, and I was outed in my late twenties and it I lost everything. I lost all my my job, I lost my bookings, lost my friends. I mean it was like overnight, it was like everybody. Just I lost it all and I didn't know what to do. I went through depression and suicide, went through a lot of stuff trying to fill my life, for things, and I had a friend reach out to me that had gone to school with me earlier, who lived in LA, and I was like why don't you just come out here and get away from?
Eric:Like you know, when we're in those type lifestyles, we get in this bubble and so all you think your world is is what's immediately around you, and so I was around being judged and hate and those things, and so I went to visit him out there and I ended up moving out there, I meant just because it was like a breath of fresh air and it was honestly not just to get away from the religious people, which it was, but it was to really find myself.
Eric:You know, I think out of everything that happened to me at this age of my life, which was like 29, I needed to find myself, because for so many years I was, I felt like I was something that other people wanted me to be, and then, when I lost all that, I realized I was trying to be something for these people who basically ended up, you know, throwin' me out like really quick, and especially when I didn't have money or I didn't have things that could help them or our popularity, and so it really kind of caused me to really kind of find myself and figure out who I was, if I was going to survive this thing called life.
Casey:That's crazy. I mean, 29 is such a hard time. I feel like to start over right, because it's like if you're doing this early in life, it's like you feel like, oh, you've got so much in front of you. If you're doing it later in life, you probably have all these resources that you've accumulated through life, and then it's like that pivot point where everything should be gathering steam and gaining momentum and then just have the rug pulled out from under you at that age. I mean it almost seems like the hardest age for that to happen.
Eric:Yeah, it was tough, casey. It was the darkest times in my life and, like I said, it got so low because I had lost so much. You know, I think we're raised I can't speak for other people I was raised to where I work hard enough. I go after things.
Eric:I was out of accumulated properties and investment properties at the time and I felt like things were up and up and, like you said, I'd already established that I started doing that at 21 because I had that entrepreneurial mind and to lose it off something that I really it was who I was. It was all based on a set of values that I didn't really adhere to but that my work was built around. It was devastating to me and I had to build back and it was interesting in my mindset because I'd put everything, I'd based everything of my importance on how much I succeeded and what I had and this type of stuff. And then when I lost it, I said to myself, when I come back and I will come back, but when I come back it's not going to be based on the same things, because I've been down this road and the things I thought were guaranteed were not guaranteed.
Casey:Wow, that's such a cool lesson to take away from that. I think so many people would have walked away with a lot of bitterness and resentment. And for you to take that as a period of self-reflection and say, what was wrong here was the foundation that I built my life on, not how it was taken away from me. I mean, that obviously was wrong too, but you were like, if I'm going to do this again, I'm going to do this a different way, and you certainly have. So I want to talk about this. You've moved to San Diego, you had nothing, you knew one person, and now you are universally one of the most beloved and popular people in San Diego. And I'm just curious how did you do this? What was it like in the early days? How did you rebuild the social support system down in San Diego?
Eric:Well, moving to San Diego was another hard decision. You know you had mentioned I've had to make several moves to my life. When I went, when I left Alabama for Liberty to Virginia, I was like I had one semester to get up there and get a scholarship. I was coming home. So I was like all right, I got to get up there and hustle. You know I got to make this happen. I did the same thing when I came to San Diego. Then, from Tennessee, I knew that I wanted something different. I want to be a part of something.
Eric:My business partner at the time, who was a property development person, it was like come help me build a nonprofit to help the less fortunate in housing, and I don't have any money to pay you, but if you can come up here and make it work, and I was like, well, hell, you know, god enabled me to do it in the past Let me get up here and let me go. And he was actually shocking to him. He was like you're really coming. I was like, yeah, I'm en route, my stuff's being moved, I just need to find an apartment. And he's like but I don't have any money to pay you. And I was like, I know, but I'll get to hustling and figure it out. And I know for a lot of people they laugh at me because they're like when I tell them this story. They're like you did what and I was like.
Eric:But it wasn't the first time, casey. So for me, I told you about my crisis. That happened at the age of 29 and having to rebuild it. So just fast forward it another 10 years. I had to kind of do it again, not off the same principles. It wasn't like I was trying to find myself. Because I found myself in God and my faith. I came back to my faith, a different type faith than what booted me. I had been down that track before, so it wasn't new to me. It wasn't as scary to me because I knew that my faith would get me through this. And so, you know, but intangible, it's like all right, let's move and let's get to work.
Eric:So it was a hustle for me, you know, and I think we mentioned that's where we I met you at the gym and I went. You know, I always been kind of a fitness person. I went, you know, I got to find a good gym and motivating, and then I started networking. So it was just like starting this nonprofit for homeless youth and my buddy actually said Eric, I'm too busy to really work on this with you, so why don't you just take it and I'm going to do my thing? And, you know, go at it. I'm like, great, here we go. And so, with that mindset, it's like, let me meet people, let me find people, that and just tell my story, be my authentic self.
Eric:So something I don't want to fail to mention in this is when you go through something like I did and I say, when I come back, I'm going to come back and I'm going to do it differently. I think the foundation different for me is being a transparent person, and it doesn't matter whether you like me or not. I'm going to be real, I'm going to be transparent and not like in your face. If you don't like me. You know it's. More of this is who I am, this is what I'm about, and if that's not you, it's okay. We don't have to be friends. But this is really who I am and it was a freedom for me as well.
Eric:So it was living in freedom, my true self, in terms of not just my sexuality, but what I wanted to accomplish, how I wanted to give to people and what was my motivations and that's what really helped me do what I started to do in San Diego, and it wasn't about acquiring more things like I did, you know, 15 years earlier, it wasn't about just how many people I could meet so I could be popular.
Eric:It was about a cause that had been birthed out of my own pain, and that was the rejection.
Eric:And I saw here that there was a lot of rejected people in a city that was, you know, a larger city from what I come from, but a very wealthy city, and you had a lot of people but a lot of pain. And then, of course, it kind of focused into homelessness for me, and so I wanted to give life and be a breath of fresh air and light to darkness, and I felt like that was my calling, because I had gone through so much darkness and experienced a life change, if you will, and I wanted to be able to give that to other people, and so I just started hustling for urban street angels. I started, I saw the pain of those homeless youth on the streets and I wanted to help them. I wanted to provide something for them that I did not have, if I would have had something like that when I went through my darkness and I just started. So I met everybody, anybody I could, and but the motivation was based on what I just told you.
Casey:You know it's so interesting.
Casey:You know, one of the ways that we met is our company back in San Diego used to do something called thankful Thursdays, or we would go out, we would work with different charities once a month and we would go really get in the trenches with them and do something. And one of the things that was a little demoralizing through going through that was just seeing how many people that had this organization. That seemed like it was about helping people and then you get under the hood and you'd see that it was all about personalization. It was all about them feeling good about themselves. They weren't really connected to the problem and you could see that there was kind of this fundamental divide between they thought of themselves as the good guys and they thought of the people they were helping as people who needed they help. They really saw a division between those two people.
Casey:And when I hear you talk, you don't think that you're elevated about the people you're helping. You're saying I feel a real connection because I've been where you're at, and that seems like such a more powerful way to go about helping people is that you're not seeing them as different people. You're seeing them as literally being the exact same point you've been in your life and reaching from that point of real, genuine empathy seems like it seems like that really creates a much more healthy organization that's focused on the right things.
Eric:Absolutely, casey. And not only it creates a healthy organization, it creates healthy people, and I have learned that the more I am honest about why I do this or why I started this, just because it's me and what I went through. It challenges other people to be themselves and who they are and to really get to the bottom of what makes them tick. I don't have to tell you, in our society today there's so much built on division and separation and this type of stuff that's happening, and so if we can find those pockets in our community that we can relate to people I mean it's just people and we're all the same but we act like we're so different, like even it's just. It's just so interesting to me how things have changed, even the last few years, and I think I learned a big lesson in my crisis of belief, and that was when I started Urban Street Angels.
Eric:I had to start. There was no services. There wasn't a lot of services in San Diego for homeless youth, and so, as you know, I opened up my house to bring in youth and started it there and learned from the ground up how best to serve the youth. It was not that it was my idea, but it was hearing what they needed and kind of building it from that, but really taking on a belief system that I have now and that is give more than I take, and so everywhere I go and everything I do is based on giving versus taking, and I feel like that could be something that could help a lot of people. And I don't think everybody needs to be in homelessness and taking people off the street into their house. That's not the point. The point is how we treat others and how we face those other human beings, and I think that that's what makes the difference.
Casey:I totally agree. It's funny. One of the things I noticed about you is you strike me as somebody who is deeply at peace with yourself, and I'm generally a pretty happy guy. I like my life, but true genuine peace is not something I experience a lot, and part of the thing that I think about when I listen to you is that my life is fundamentally a pretty selfish life. I go to work every day. I work to make my life better. I do it ostensibly for my clients, but ultimately it's really about making my life better, and then, when I feel a little guilty about that, I'll throw money at the cause I care about, and that's generally what passes for being a good person in 2024.
Casey:But it's hard to convince myself that I'm really a good person when I know that fundamentally, most of my energy is generated towards making my own life better. And when I hear you and I see you, I think that the real cost of that might actually be internal peace, right that when you live selfishly, there's a sense of moral conflict that is always present, and so I just want to. I'm curious how do you think about this? How has devoting your life to a mission just changed your internal emotional life. What does it feel like to just wake up every day knowing you're one of the good guys?
Eric:This question reminded me. I don't even know if you remember this, casey, but we were. You had had your company. We were out distributing sleeping bags or food, and we went to it. You took us to In-N-Out and you're like, just buy as many meals for however many you think we need. And I was like, oh, this is awesome. Our people that we serve are not going to get like donated ramen noodles. They're going to get an In-N-Out burger with fries. This is going to be amazing. And so we loaded up. I met.
Eric:You spent I don't know how much money you spent. I logged money on probably hundreds of In-N-Out meals and we're passing those things out there in Ocean Beach here in San Diego. And you looked at me and you said, man, I wish I could have your job. I don't know if you remember that. That's what you said. And I said you probably don't want my job because I'm broke, and that was kind of. But here's what I said. But I'm at peace and there's a price that we can put on a lot of things, but you're onto something, because what's priceless is this thing that we call peace, and I think we're in a world that have people that constantly seek it. I think we're created with a self preservation as top priority for us and I don't think that's bad and I don't think that's selfish. I think that it can turn into selfishness, but I think putting ourselves first is important in our society and it's important for us as healthy individuals. But I think for me, as you asked that question, for me it's first my faith in God and how I had to find my own faith in the midst of my pain and, like I said, when I lost everything and I was outed and I lost. It showed me the true meaning of what life is and I found peace in giving giving more than I take and the cause I am a part of. It really is about me. So we're talking about the selfishness.
Eric:I need to dive into this a little bit because I still think about it. It was like man, am I helping all these people? Because I'm selfish and I know that sounds counterintuitive to you, but for me I still battle a selfish motivation and a life that I consider or you would consider has been selfless. But I still battle being selfish in a selfless life. It's very interesting because I think it's a constant battle, just because you devote your life to homelessness, or giving all this stuff and not taking much, you still get caught up in being a selfish person, and I think that's constantly a battle.
Eric:I think it deals in that how this giving and the cause has changed me and I think for me, honestly, casey and this statement is probably going to sound very odd but I'm not motivated by money, and I had to think about this because I had a friend tell me about six years ago. He was like you're so interesting to me, eric, because you are not motivated by money, and I'm like that sounds about right. Whether I have a dollar in my pocket or a thousand dollars in my pocket, it's all the same, because now I need money and I like money. So don't misinterpret this. But I don't have this overwhelming love for money and I think that has helped me in my life understand what I went through, that I can have a thousand dollars in my pocket today and not because of anything I do or don't do. I cannot have it tomorrow.
Eric:So it's like let me focus my life on something that I know I can control, and what I can control is the compassion that I give, the compassion and love and hope that I give to others and I can give that, whether I'm rich or poor or whatever that is.
Eric:And it goes back to this verse I was just reading just the other day is a statement that says whoever loses his life will find it. And I always read those in the Bible, those scriptures that I said what the hell does that mean and how can I relate to that? But then I start realizing it's kind of me. It's like, wow, it's like I can do good and see, I see somebody like you, casey, and I think you do have a heart for giving and you do have a heart for people because you're doing what you do and what you did was so much more than the majority of people do. But I also hear you on the other side, like me. It's like then we weigh ourself in this and we're like God, I'm so selfish. How can I find this peace? And so in my journey I have just tried to stay at peace with Eric in the midst of me, helping other people, and continually to balance my selfish motivations or my ego in the midst of me, giving away so much.
Casey:You know, it's so interesting because when you're saying this and it's fascinating to me that you still feel like you struggle with feelings of selfishness and moderating that tension, and you're right. I mean, both of us would be people that pass for good people in 2024 when you look on the spectrum you much more so than me, but generally speaking. But I'm struck by the fact that both of us still struggle with this, and maybe that's one of the things of being a good person, because most of the selfish people that I know that are truly selfish. They don't have any really moral objections or compunction about this, right, they're just like yeah, of course, everyone's selfish.
Casey:And so it strikes me that this internal struggle is maybe one of the points of evidence that you're really wrestling with this question, because the truth of the matter is like, unless you really are, you know, have no shoes, have no clothes and are giving everything away, you're not doing everything you can. Right, and none of us do everything we can. We all stop short of at some point, and you know, I think that you're always going to feel a little bit of tension around that, but of course you have to. It seems like you have to draw the line at some point, and so it's interesting to me, though, that that tension might just be an ever-present thing. I mean, if somebody like you still experiences it, it makes me feel like there's never. There's nothing over that horizon, right, it's just, it's a constantly. It's kind of this treadmill that you never really get to right.
Eric:Well, it's exactly right and you hit the nail on the head because I think now in my life there's still some things I'm working on. There's some you want to call them social skills or you want to call them but something that I'm still working on, things I feel like that I'm good at or that I've accomplished. But you know, I'm constantly working and I still face now balancing my time between my personal life and my work life. Now, naturally, you knew me in a time of where all I did was work. I mean, I worked, I did this and I did it all the time. I mean I was at the gym, I was talking about it. I was talking about helping people bring youth in off the streets and giving them jobs and, you know, trying to get other people to give them jobs. It was just all tireless. I was a workaholic and I know you can relate to that. But I think now, especially in my relationship and I'm getting married this year and it's helped me to understand that I can have time for me and just whatever that means I listened to one of your podcasts recently where you took your three week trip to Brazil and all, and you had a guest on and you were just like you realized, and you realized all right, after a certain time, I need a day by myself.
Eric:You know I need me time and it resets you, you know, and you know I need that too, and I think those type things are important for us to realize and they're not selfish. It's what makes us better and what makes us who we are, and so, but I still work on that because I want to come home and I want to respond. I was on the phone last night with a 23 year old Marine who got booted and now he's been homeless on the streets here for two months, and I had a friend call me and say you're going to want to hire this kid. You know, and I'm always doing something, like you, and so and I also still work on this casey, you know, socially, I'm to the place now where people are always wanting a piece of my time and sometimes, to be honest with you, it's a waste of my time.
Eric:Now, I would never say that to them, like you wouldn't, but it's like I had a tendency to avoid people who I know are going to waste my time, because I feel like, okay, I've got a, I've got shit to do. I got to do this and you know you're wasting my time. But then I have to slow down and I'm like, okay, what is it in this that I can give? Not to be a continual waste of my time, but give me the need and then move on. Now it doesn't mean that I don't learn from that and I continually give that person time, but those are work with or other organizations, or even people needing me or needing a piece of me. So those are the type things that I believe in my own personal journey I still have to work on, because I just get tired sometime of BS that I have to deal with, but I still have to deal with it.
Casey:Do you have? So, yeah, this line between you know, managing this tension between self-absorption and self-care, and trying to find that line. How do you? How do you recharge? Like, do you have a specific way that you do this? Do you just need to be alone? Do you need to spend time with fiance, is it? You know how do you reset and recharge?
Eric:Yeah, so I have to spend some alone time. So I definitely I do a lot of meditation and prayer and I do some reading. I have to do that. And then it is it's with Hunter, my fiance, it's we. I mean it's something as tangible as at night when after a certain time, we get home and we have to both put our phones down on a. This is something I never did Like.
Eric:I like to live with my phone, like right here at all times. We sit the phone on the table and we will watch one of our programs or we talk or whatever, and we don't look at our phones and that kind of helps me. It's helped me prioritize Look, the people that need you. You're going to be here tomorrow and so is the issue. I can deal with it tomorrow. And it has been revolutionary for me, casey, because having him in my life and valuing I see so many relationships that we'll get into a relationship and then they'll still value their work more than that person, especially after a honeymoon period.
Eric:Hunter and I have been together for two years but it's like I have to really make time for myself to say, no, it's not that important. And that's hard for me because it's such a part of who I am and helping these people, but I'm going to have tomorrow, it can wait, and so those are tangible things that I do. And we also travel. I try to take short trips. I can't take long trips because I get restless. I don't know about you, but we take trips, yeah. Yeah, I feel like I'm missing something, so I'm like so we'll take trips and that recharges us and I try to do the same thing. I try not to work while I do that.
Casey:So that's great. So the subject of this podcast really is social skills, building relationships, One of the reasons I wanted to get you on here. I mean, you're one of the people that I am 100% sure as a social athlete, you have some elite social skills, and so I want to talk about a couple of your superpowers here. One of your superpowers is your ability to make a great first impression. I remember the first time I met you and I don't have this experience that much. Usually I'm skeptical.
Casey:I take my time, Like I'm more likely to have a negative judgment of somebody the first time, Meet them in a positive judgment of somebody and then all kind of relax that over time. But you were the first time I met you. I remember just thinking I really like this guy, I really trust this guy. I can tell you as a great heart, everything that I've learned about you since has reinforced that initial impression. And I know that it's not just me. We know a lot of the same people. So I know this impression of you is universally held and it's something that people see immediately when they meet you. And so I'm wondering how do you make such a great first impression? Is there something specific that you're doing some specific sort of mystical technique you're using to make everybody love you the first time they meet you. What is this?
Eric:I'm passing those spells. It's so funny because I was thinking, as you mentioned, that I'm thinking about I'm six years old. It's so funny, this story, but I can remember being like six years old. My dad's a preacher in Alabama. Everybody in Alabama, in the South, is. They wave at everybody and say hi to you, whether they know you're not, How's your mom and them.
Eric:And I remember after every study service and we had a church congregation of like 800 to a thousand people so it's like not a small church and I would go out to the parking lot and it was kind of a few years after this my dad would be like do you remember doing this? And I would literally shake everybody's hand as they left the parking lot, like they would have to stop by me and I'd be by myself, like there was no adult watching me or when I'm gonna run out the road, and I'm like I did what, and so it was almost like even in an early age I had this overwhelming desire to like, and it's probably because of my dad, because my dad is very similar. It's like energetic and just. I want to know people I want to be a part of, and less about me telling them what I do, but find out, tell me about you. And I think it was from an early age, you know, I lost my mom tragically at the age of eight. So my mom died of an asthma attack at eight and I mean, it was like she kissed me, put me to bed on January 31st believe it or not of 1980. And then January 1st, it's 6 am, I woke up to screams in my house and my partner and my dad was performing CPR on my mom, I mean, and I never saw her again. So it was super, super tragic and I think, reflecting back and after some counseling on the issue, I, you know I was, I didn't know how to deal with that pain and I think what happened was is for me, is it took me into a place of elevating those things I just told you about.
Eric:It's like, hey, let me really just, you know, meet other people, be around other people, so I don't have to focus on this pain that I'm experiencing. And I'm not saying those things were bad for me. I think they were great for me, but I think, through different things that happened to me, I think it caused that to elevate for me. And so at the gym or any places. You know I thrive on walking into a room and an event, a networking event, and I can be by myself, I can be with people. You know I'm going to go meet other people because I genuinely want to see who they are and, you know, hear of their story, and so I think that had a lot to do with me of looking people in the eye and finding out. You know, a Casey man tell me what are you, who are you, you know, what do you do, and I think for me it was. It was a very genuine interaction when I'm with people, because that's kind of what I want to know.
Casey:So you would mention that at six years old you were, and I'm learning stuff in this interview. This is great. I mean, we've known each other for a while and this is one of the cool things about doing this about getting to interview your friends is that you get to ask some questions that just wouldn't come up in normal conversations. But I'm glad we're getting into this.
Casey:I had no idea you lost your mom at eight years old. You mentioned that you were really outgoing at six years old. I mean, you're out there shaking hands. You have this, I mean, tsunami of an emotional crisis at eight years old. I can only imagine you're not only dealing with losing your mom but dealing with a dad who's grieving at the same time, and so I'm just wondering what do you have memories of that, of how that impacted you? Did that it was I mean, you mentioned it just immediately made you kind of double down on being social? Was there any refractory period where you kind of came into yourself, or were you experienced depression or sadness or what was that like? I can only imagine at eight years old you just don't have any of the psychological or emotional resources to deal with something like that.
Eric:Which? Yeah it you know as.
Eric:I reflect back on it and you know, years later, as I was reflecting back on that, casey, I realized, you know, I didn't. The way I dealt with it was. I knew that my mom had passed and my aunt and uncle told me that I didn't even cry for like six months. It was very interesting and I remember myself not even wanting to walk up to our casket. I didn't want to go see her because I was trying to imagine that my mom would come back. And then, even when my dad remarried, I, you know I did not like my stepmom at the time. I didn't want her a part of my life and I think it was later that it started to hit me that.
Eric:You know why would God, you know, to be honest with you, why would something like this happen to me? You know it's like you know we take everything personal. We always do, which is natural. But why did this happen to me? You know why am I going through this? And you know my dad had to deal with this. I mean, he was 28 years old, so he was a very young father, and he lost his wife. So you know, imagine what he went through and I think you know he went on real quickly, business as usual, and how he needed to cope with it.
Eric:And I think that's what happened to me, like you know, nine years old, as I'm sitting here, business as usual, going to school and being like everything's fine, and so I think that really affected me later in life, casey, because I never I wasn't encouraged to let's still talk about this or anything. It's more like, well, let's not talk about it. And, sad to say, and the way I was raised not my family, but in the circles that I was raised it's cut. That's the way you deal with problems. It was like let's just not talk about them, let's pretend like they don't exist and let's keep going. But the problem with that is they're going to come back and get you. You need to talk about it, they're going to, you're going to deal with it. And I think for me, it just threw me into business as usual, which was, you know, being around people.
Casey:You know, one of the things that's coming across in this interview and in one thing that is something I've known about you from day one and just really stand in awe of, is just your relentless positivity. I mean this is one of the skills you have and I know that doing what you do, you must have bad days. Dealing with literal issues of life and death, I mean you must have some really bad days. I'm sure I've seen you on some of those bad days, but I've never been able to tell. Whenever I see you it just seems like again moving forward we're going to. So I'm curious how do you keep such a relentless positivity in the face of such overwhelming adversity at so many points in your life?
Eric:Oh man, I have. I have I'm not going to say bad days, but I have bad minutes. It's kind of funny because there's a lot. There's a lot of times I mean I don't have to tell you, you know, having a business or organization with you know we talk about me serving homeless youth, but I also have people that work with me and work in an organization and everybody's got issues, everybody's got problems, and so I'll have those times and I'm like, why am I doing this? You know, let me go. You know I have a sales background so I've always been, you know, networking and doing that type of stuff. Why don't I just go, and, you know, work for somebody and make money and just deal with me?
Eric:But then I realized real quick, like in a matter of seconds or minutes, that that's not why I'm here and I feel like there's a specific purpose that was given for me of why I am where I am and what I'm doing now. Now, I'm not a person that believes that we're called to do just one thing our entire short life on this earth, and you better find that I feel like we have seasons and I feel like I'm in the season of life where this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and so with that, I don't compare myself to others, even though I want to really quick. You know, kind of like you said to me I want your job, but I was like man, maybe I want your job, and so it's. I don't compare myself to others anymore because it's not about me and them, me versus them, it's about me versus me, and really about me and how God or anyone, their higher power, how they feel about themselves, because it's in you, it's not like outside of you. And so I think, for me versus me, and where I am now, I have to realize and I do that I'm very thankful for what I have.
Eric:And I think a key to positivity and to stay positive is being grateful, is being thankful Because when I start taking for granted what I have, oh, I have a place to live, I have a car that I can get from A to B, and I mean it's so simple, I can go to the grocery store and I can buy what I want, where a majority of human beings on this planet can't do just those things. And so I kind of put it in that perspective versus and this is just honesty, but why can't I drive to the grocery store in my Ferrari Versus my it's a call, my pickup truck and it's, and I have those dealings because I see people and my friends with all this. It doesn't make me angry or bitter at all. It just causes me to be like and I'm faced with. But I'm grateful for what I have. I'm loved because I love me first and it doesn't matter if somebody else loves me, I'm gonna love me.
Eric:But when we get to that place, casey and I think that's also in social settings and you talk about how, when you've met me, this positivity and relentless positivity, when we love ourselves and we're comfortable with ourselves I'm not saying you have, it's this mountain, high or peak that you get to. I think it's something we work on and we're constantly on this journey. But there's areas that we accept ourselves and love ourselves and just be in that moment and also stop always trying to be like, okay, I'm here, but, man, I wish I was at this next level and, oh, I wish I was at that next level, and I know that kind of goes against us growing and becoming a better person, because I think we need to be in that growing process. But once we arrive at a place, we need to accept it and be in that moment. And I related to a story last year.
Eric:Last year we celebrated 10 years in Urban Street Angels and we did a gala and the mayor came and city council members and we had a great turnout and I had a dear friend come up to me afterwards and I'm running around and I'm not saying this to Tute Mullenhorn, but I gave a great speech and everybody was like oh, I love the organization, we love you, and I'm only sharing this to bring up this one point. But she came up to me and she says you need to appreciate this moment right now, like you need to be proud of yourself right now. And I'm like like right now. She said, yes, look at what you've done, look at where you've come.
Eric:I know you're already thinking about the next 10 years and building two more buildings and doing all this other stuff, but you've got to stop, stop for a moment and just say I am proud of me and honestly, casey, I never got that from my mom because I didn't have her. My dad I love my dad and but I didn't get that a lot from him because he had his own stuff, he was a young dad and so very rarely did I get that. So I think, going back to that pain, even up to last year I said God like thank you, but, man, I am proud of me and it was like something else lifted off my shoulders, casey, and so I think it's a constant thing, but we have to pause to be thankful.
Casey:Yeah, it's such a good point. I remember hearing and this is kind of mythological and NFL circles, nfl fan circles but Tom Brady, famously, when he's asked at the end of a Super Bowl, the last one, what's his favorite Super Bowl, and he'll say the next one, right, like that he, just the day he wins the Super Bowl, he's already thinking about the next one. People are like, wow, that's what it takes to be a fearless competitor. And I'm like, okay, sure, but also there's something kind of sad about that. Right, like, if you really can't, even on the day you win a Super Bowl, if you can't appreciate it, then when are you ever going to be happy? And maybe that's the path to winning seven Super Bowls, but I don't think it's the path to being truly happy and truly loving your life. I think we do need to take these moments to look around and say this is pretty cool. This is why I did this, you know.
Eric:Absolutely. You know I'm a huge, as you know, alabama fan and Nick Saban just retired, like shockingly. I was at the Rose Bowl and so I was at the last game he coached and nobody knew he was retiring. And he was like that, nick, you know, he was always like, hey, I won this game, tomorrow I'm recruiting, let's do it again, you know, but when you and I'm not saying that's not good, like you said, it's like that's, you know, relentless, I'm going after these dogs.
Eric:But life is so short too, casey, that it doesn't matter, it's things are gonna end for us, like you know, what we're doing, how we're doing, is gonna come to an end. So if we don't pause to at least appreciate what we've accomplished, we're gonna end up at the end of our life feeling like we've not accomplished anything and which is so devaluing to our personal relationship. And it goes back to what we talked about even at the beginning of this podcast of what peace is. So I think when we get to that place of valuing and being thankful we're at peace, then we can go to the next thing and be at peace again, and a constant state of that.
Casey:I love that. Well, I really one of the things. I wanna pivot here in just a second to talk about what Urban Street Angels is doing and how you're addressing youth homelessness. I think this is such a fascinating issue and there's nobody that I think really understands it more intimately than you do. But one thing that I wasn't even expecting getting into, but you've mentioned quite a few times your faith and how that factors into your life. You know most people, I think if they had lost a mom at eight, been kicked out of the church basically, and lost everything at the age of 29 from a faith-based community, that would be more than enough for them to say I've had my fill, I'm done. But you found your way back and you can tell just every time you talk about it what a source of strength and power that is for you. Can you talk a little bit about that journey and what your faith looks like now versus what it was like and how you kind of found your way through all that?
Eric:Yeah, I mean it is, you know, navigating my faith and my relationship with God in a world that is for me. You know, my whole world was built on. You know, if I do good, god's gonna love me, if I do bad, god's gonna get you. You know, and it's like whoa, he got me good in my mind because of what I went through. But I think for me now Casey is in school. Well, I didn't mention this earlier, but I have a master's degree in religion and went through theology and things like that, and it's interesting how every sect of religion is going to teach you their own concepts of what they believe. And so what I really tried to do is, after I went through my crisis, is really to kind of figure out for me who God was for me and what kind of faith I can have. And as I started going, you know I would I was a pastor of Progressive Church. You know they let Gays in because at first I thought it was all about the Gays issue, you know, but it's not really. It's about so many other issues. But for me I tried so many things and so for me, finding my faith of understanding that the key to my faith is understanding God loves me and that I'm accepted and that I am okay, and it kind of goes back to some of the things that we're talking about. So when I say things like I love me and I accept me, it's because the kingdom of God for me is not something I've got to go try to get and find and be a part of, and if I do good, I can be a part of that, because that's not my belief, because I believe the kingdom of God is within me and so I believe what I do in turn is that. So with that, with that belief, I internalized for me love and compassion and I see it and you know it's so funny.
Eric:I was just watching this movie we're talking about this. It was Bruce Almighty. I don't know if you remember the movie with Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman's God, and you know he's getting upset and he was like I have to do a better job and so he's God for a day or two, and then he realizes I suck at this, you know, because everything just falls apart in this comedy, but at the end it's all brought back to something that I believe. So feel good movies. Why do these like movies like this make us feel so good Because it comes back to us loving and having compassion for those who've done us wrong.
Eric:Or maybe they're acting out of some pain that's causing them to hurt us or other people around us, and I don't know if they're major hurts. I mean in my business and life, the things that we had time or won't have time to talk about, and so I can take those hurts and I can take people that have hurt me and hold it against them. But I learned a lesson a long time ago when I hold those things against people, I'm the one who's in prison in quotation marks, if you will because it keeps me back and how I can't be in a relationship or I can't reach out to other people because they know this person. And so I've just learned that element of forgive forgive, have compassion.
Eric:And honestly, casey, at this point I still help people. In the back of my mind, I know they're probably going to not appreciate it and I'll help people out, and I just don't expect anything in return. So I've lowered my expectations, not for them, but for me. At the end of the day, I'm going to help people and I'm going to be kind and compassionate, whether they respond or return it or not, because I have found that is my peace and that is where I am in my life with my faith, and that's kind of what I've learned in my journey back.
Casey:It's interesting. So it sounds like you've really moved from faith through works to a faith as an ever-present reality in your life that becomes a source of strength for you to connect to other people and to not really care about the outcomes. So it's almost completely inverted, where previously you're doing good things to be recognized by God and now it's God gives you the power to do great things and to not worry about the outcomes.
Eric:There it is, and then the outcomes come. They're there.
Casey:Well, let's talk about the outcomes. I want to talk about how you're addressing youth homelessness in San Diego and, to start with, can you just give me a current outline of, kind of the current state of urban street angels? What do you see as the biggest hurdles to ending youth homelessness and how is urban street angels addressing them?
Eric:Well, we have. You know, as I mentioned, we started the program in my house years ago and we just kept growing because the needs of the youth were so great, and so we've not just focused on housing but also empowering youth to sustain themselves, to stay off the street. So we have job programs in addition to close to 140 beds every night that we have, we'll take, you know, close to 400 youth off the street this year. But we also couple, in addition to support, case management, therapy. You know we focus a lot of mental health issues because we feel like this is a foundation of helping our youth get to a better place. We have job programs. We've got we've got trade school programs. So we're getting helping you find that element that's their passion to teach them that they can be sustainable, they can do this and they can make it, not always being like, well, I'm just a victim and so I'm just always going to have to be in this begging state to where I need you to give me something, and that's not what I believe is the healthy way to solve this problem. And so we're teaching our youth through trade schools that we started and we've got 33 tracks and we've got youth coming through trades, guaranteed jobs after, and so they, before they even graduate the school, they're coming out into living wages. I'm everything from not just plumbing electricity but electricians but some music production and being a firefighter and being a certified nurses assistant. So there's so many things that we're doing there. But also we started a cafe last year. It's called Timmy's Place, so we have a pizzeria, we have a cafe and have a print shop. You know it's like everything all together.
Eric:So we we've employed close to 45 youth there so far into that program and in the sense may, and it's getting them jobs into other jobs, teaching them the skills they need. So it's giving them something to do, showing them that there's a value in what they do, to be proud of that and then in terms, say I can do so much more and you know I also did that with 8 West, which is our soap company, which we still have. And so we employ youth to, like I said, really get involved in doing something that they can see they're successful at and then say what else can I do to be successful? So now we're seeing youth that are education, they're coming off the street, they're staying off the street and youth by nature, casey, you know I believe has a not a better chance, but maybe then a person who's maybe been on the street or homeless for 20 years and they're so accustomed to society giving and then just begging and living on the street, versus a young person who maybe has been homeless six months, or like that Marine, I just told you about that I talked to last night three months and they're like I need a job.
Eric:You know, I was a firefighter in the military. I need to be a firefighter. I want to be a firefighter again.
Eric:And so the trajectory of the trajectory of getting them out of homelessness is much better at this age and we can really help them get to that. We just need to continue our efforts and grow more.
Casey:So interesting. You know, I remember the first time that we went out, you know giving I think it was packs and socks and and toiletry kits to the homeless, and you said something to me that really stuck. That stuck with me where you said you know a lot of these people that have been on the streets for a while. They they might never get off Like. Once you've been on the streets for a while, you get, you get acclimated in that in a way that it becomes very difficult to come back. If you have been on the streets for 20 years, there aren't too many employers that are going to take a shot on you with a 20 year hole on your resume. You know, and so it's. It's really challenging.
Casey:But for young people, I mean specifically people who have aged out of a foster care system, these aren't people who have necessarily had, you know, addiction issues.
Casey:They didn't lose a job, they didn't do anything wrong. These are just people who don't have the same familiar and financial support that we all take for granted, and for them, interventions in their lives can make such a massive difference early on, and it was the first time that it really hit me that this is a multi-dimensional problem but the outcome of homelessness has so many different starting points and if we really want to address this problem, you have to address each of those different journeys differently. You've really taken on the issue of youth homelessness. How do you think of this issue as being distinct from homelessness generally? I mean, what are the specific challenges of youth homelessness? What are you seeing when you're seeing somebody that's aged out of the foster care system or somebody who's been on the streets, as you say, for only a few months early on in life? What? How is that a distinct problem from, say, somebody that's been on the streets for 10, 20 years?
Eric:I mean, you hit the nail on the head when you you know, even those years ago when I was making comment, you know you've dealt with drugs and things. But most people look at almost individuals and they're like they're lazy, go get a job, get off drugs. And that's not most of the time the case, especially with youth. They need this four-letter word called hope. They need somebody to give them a hope. And many times I'm not saying it's just our youth, all of us do but sometimes you need to give somebody hope before they will give it themselves, before they they own that themselves. And so what we've done in our program and we've seen, and it's been a trial over the last 10 years, is how much structure do we put into our housing and our support systems, in other words, in our programs. You have curfews, you've got chores, you've got productivity, you've got to meet versus. Let's give them a bed and let's give them a place to stay and they'll be fine Maybe a lot of support.
Eric:But that's not our youth. Because if you've come in from an area of no structure and no support, which basically means just kind of a free fall, that's the kind of mentality that a lot of people on the street have and that's why they don't want to go into shelters or organizations, because they're going to have to follow some rules. You know things like this. But that's why I think it's important for us to teach our youth now, at this age, that rules are not bad, structure is not bad. We all have to follow them and we teach them structure. We teach them that, but with them, give them the hope that they can change.
Eric:And our youth are young enough and resilient enough to where they do I'm going to say that all of them do, but the majority of them do and I think that's the difference is they want to change. They don't want to end up on the streets, they don't want to have a life like this. So where you talk to somebody who's 40 or 50, who's been on the street for 20 and 25 years, they're like I'm fine where I am, you know thanks, but no thanks. And I think that's the difference and how we can really end homelessness. We've got to start here and start at the prevention side and really keep people from going to the streets early on.
Casey:I think that's really interesting. One of the things that I'm kind of struck by is, you know, when I have conversations with people that don't have much of an experience with homelessness beyond seeing homeless people in their communities. You know there was a stat the other day that the city of San Francisco spent over $100,000 a year on per person, per homeless person and the problem got worse in San Francisco over that time. In San Diego we see these headlines about the millions of dollars that are going through new homeless prevention initiatives or management initiatives, and yet the tent cities get bigger and bigger every year and it's easy to just kind of lose hope, to throw up your arms and go look, the more money we throw at this, the worse it gets. Let's stop spending any money on this. It's just not going to get better.
Casey:But then the counterpoint to that is what Urban Street Angels is doing. Where you guys have 140 beds, you're going to get almost 400 people off the streets. That's almost three people per bed. I mean, if any of these other cities were doing anything close to what you were doing, it feels like we could end homelessness inside a year. So I'm curious how are you getting such outsized results to these other organizations. And if we were to give you kind of the whole budget, the whole national budget, to deploy towards homeless prevention or towards getting homeless people off the streets, how would you be spending it differently? What mistakes are we making as a society on how we address this?
Eric:Man, your question has got so many levels of answers. I believe to it and I think, first, homelessness has got to be coupled with other issues, other issues like mental health and health care and education and jobs, cost of housing. There's so much that goes into this, but I believe a foundational issue for us, especially in our society, is empowering our youth and not enabling them. I believe, intrinsically, our government has an issue with enabling people who are homeless and have without, and keeping them in that state. I think our cities and when I say our cities, you know cities and states get money for homelessness. The budgets keep growing. I would love to believe that my next statement is not true, but I'm not confident that it is, because I believe homelessness now has become a business for many, many people, and so to end this problem means they're going to not have jobs or they have to change the way they serve, and I think that's our systemic problem. Casey, I think we need to start holding organizations accountable, states, cities accountable for the money they have. I think we need to set measuring goals for what they do, and then it comes with who's setting those goals and measurables, and so what we've tried to start here in San Diego is the taxpayers have created a taxpayers board that have created an accountability and the cities, the municipalities, the organizations, all have to adhere to these set of standards and they get rated by them, rated by a third party auditor, just like we would finances and there's been a lot of kickback from that. Like organizations and people don't want to do this, they're like and I know why they don't want to do it, and so we were the first one that stood up and we're doing the prototype with them to try to be like look, it's okay, we may come in and have some things that we could do better, but we learned from it. But we have to utilize and we have to teach our people. We have to enable them to fish. We have to not just give them stuff, give them a fish. We're going to teach them how to fish. Youth, by nature, respond to this, but even the adults.
Eric:I think, if we take this thing and there's a lot of things that I've seen with housing first models that the federal government from HUD, the Housing and Urban Development Department, has to change and that's how we measure this, how we monitor this and how we give support to those we can't just give an apartment to somebody and say we'll pay the port for six months and good luck, and then they destroy it and they cycle back out and then for every one person we take off the street to fall back into the street. So I think there's got to be much more accountability with that. I think we're trying to do it here. I'm fighting that fight, but it's going to take a lot of us. Man, you're talking about seniors, you're talking about veterans.
Eric:There's a lot of things that we can focus on and we have to do it as community. And I got to say this because if there's one thing that we need to know about homelessness and about people in general, it's about connection. It's about connection and that hope with that community connection. Without community there's no healing. So I feel like, as we support and we get people off the streets and we get them into their place, it's also keeping them connected to a family, a community, the same communities that you and I talk about that makes you thrive and your group of friends and kind of what makes you tick and keeps you engaged and me.
Eric:We can't expect any less from those who have nothing, and so we can't make it acceptable for them to have a community that thinks living on the street is okay and that doing this is okay. We have to create the community that's saying this is okay, having your place and a job and support or whatever that is if they can't get a job or teaching them a skill, that has got to be okay. It's going to be a process. It's going to take a lot of work, but I just had a conversation with my staff this past week and that is I've still got some good years of fighting me. So let's really solve this problem and end it because we can, because I'll be in urban street angles to be out of business in 10 years the way that we know it.
Casey:It's such a unique perspective and you would expect it to be more broadly shared in the nonprofit community, but it's just not. We saw this and I told you I mean it was one of the moralizing things when we would reach out and I would reach out to these organizations. I mean these are big name charities, big name organizations I won't say the names here, I'm not trying to blow anyone up but I would call them and I'd say I've got 10 people. We're willing to spend a whole day doing whatever you want. We'll clean toilets, we'll do anything. No job is too gross or too dirty or too anything for us. We want to be a part of this organization. We'll also give you a sizable donation, but we just want to be a part of this. We really want to be. We want to see what it's like on the front lines.
Casey:And the amount of organizations to say send the check, keep the people, was just amazing to me. Right, they were like, yeah, we can use the money, but we don't really need anything else. And then to me it became a really good barometer for the organizations that really cared and the ones that didn't, because the ones that were really trying to make a difference. The ones that were trying to make a difference say oh 10 people, bring them over, I've got a ton of stuff for them to do. We have a laundry list of things that we still want to do and we just don't have enough hands. So to me it just you could tell the ones that were in the trenches that really wanted to get stuff done and the ones that just wanted to collect checks and pay salaries and buff up their resumes. And it's sad to say that there are a lot of those organizations out there, and I think it's what makes it so special when you see an organization like yours. You've talked a lot about how you guys are doing job training and I think I want to kind of pivot here to a little bit of 8 West, which to me is one of the coolest ideas I've ever seen in the nonprofit world.
Casey:You know, one of the enduring cruelties of homelessness in this country is this sort of weird catch 22 where you can't get a job unless you have an address and you can't get housing unless you have a job, and it's one of the reasons why so many of these organizations that only try and solve half the problem end up solving neither, and you have this really novel approach to this, which is, you said, cool.
Casey:We're going to create a business arm of the organization called 8 West. We're going to create these organic artisan soaps that are really high end. We're going to staff it completely with the homeless youth that are coming in here while they're living at our facility. That way we can make sure that they're doing their job well, that we have the unique compassion, that we need to be flexible with them and to understand some of the issues that are going to emerge in those first couple of weeks and months and keep them on track. But we'll keep the business working, and then what happens is the organization ends up funding the next generation of kids coming in, so these kids go from being part of the problem to literally being part of the solution through this organization, and it's such a powerful idea. So I just want to could you talk a little bit about how you came up with this and how it's working? I just think it's such an inspiring model and I really would love for this to catch on.
Eric:You know, I got the idea from a company up in LA that made keys and they used homeless people to make necklaces out of keys and things like this. So it was kind of a fashion statement and I thought, you know, when I went up to visit them I was like, man, there's got to be something for our youth. Because, as you remember, as I started in my house, I was like, okay, you can live with me, but you need to work and let's help you get a job. And I found out real quickly, nobody wanted to hire anybody that has homeless this name to it. And so I, you know, friends, watch cars, don't watch somebody's car, let's cut their grass. You know, there's only so much that you can do. So we did start 8 West because we found it interesting that the youth loved to get their hands into something, make something. So it shows them, oh wow, I can do this. And then go sell them and go to places. And so over the years we use 8 West to inspire hope for the, for the youth and what they can do, but also that they can make money. They can make it rapidly, they can. You know, they have to deal with conflict and things, and so we have. You know, we hope one day to take it past San Diego and we've got some partners in the soap industry that have agreed to help us with larger orders now so that we can hire more youth.
Eric:But we want to get our 8 West company and now our soap across the country and then to retail venues and and cause it's a great product but also to help people understand.
Eric:You know it goes back to what you and I talked about in the beginning of the podcast today and that is okay. Look, my calling is I just I want to be a part of giving, I want to be a part of supporting this. You know I'm not called to have homeless youth in my house, which I totally get, but how can I be a part of supporting that? And I think people want to be able to walk into stores and if they've got a choice between, you know, a bar of soap that does nothing or not associated with that, versus an organization that is it's going to homeless youth and help and prepare them and getting them off the street and teach them a skill that people not everybody, but people are going to be like, I'm going to buy that soap and that's what we're hoping to do out of this. It's more than just soap, even though it's a great product. It's also a story behind it.
Casey:I love it. I don't include links to all this in all the show notes and I'm going to promote the hell out of this. I'm going to try and get as many people buying soap and doing whatever they can to help. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening to this that have been, you know, really inspired by what you're doing and want to be a part of this. What's the best way for somebody listening right now? I'm sure there are several ways that somebody can help Anything from a donation I know donations always help so definitely let us know where and how we can send money. But is there anything else beyond that that you see that's useful for people to do, and just kind of lay out the full playbook for how people can be a part of this?
Eric:Well, let me address this two ways. And that is first how you can be a part of our mission, and that is you said it right urbanstreetablesorg, and you'll find out what we're doing and the different programs we're doing and definitely donate. You know it's interesting because government funds all over housing programs but I have to raise money for all our job and education programs. Go figure, there are things that can help our youth stay off the street. The government doesn't fund. That should tell you something. So that's where we really need. We need some help with that because we've launched our trade school program, so you'll find that on the website. And then I guess the second part is because I'm sure that people are listening from all over, not just San Diego, and that would be an encouragement because I think there's a lot of great organizations out there. It's not just us and I think it behooves people in their own journey to find those that are doing great work. And, like you said, you can pick up on it pretty quick If you make a phone call or see and what they're willing to let you do or volunteer, you figure out what it's about and it may not be hopeless, it may be something else, but I think a key to any social athlete, if you will, or somebody better at finding themselves or finding peace within themselves or being able to build who they are personally, I think it's about connecting to something in your community.
Eric:You know that's the biggest thing about San Diego is everybody I met here was really about San Diego community. It's like what can we do so when you're partnered, also in your business or what you're doing with an organization that's making a difference? But there's very few people I've ever met that is not for that. They're like sign me up. And I think that was probably my biggest success in San Diego is because I wanted to make your business and other people's businesses a part of mine. It wasn't mine and attack on. It's like you come, be a part of this and this could be something that you talk about and provide for your employees. So my encouragement is for people and entrepreneurs and business people to find that in their own community and then, like I said, give more than you take and that kind of mindset will revolutionize their business and their individual as an individual person.
Casey:You know, one of the ironies of this that I remember and this was an opinion that was universally held on our team is that thankful Thursdays were always our favorite day and we would just come away on cloud nine. And these are days where we're doing hard things. I mean, we literally were a lot of times emptying trash cans and doing janitorial work or really getting our hands dirty. They were physically exhausting days. They'd be emotionally grueling days, but at the end of it you're just on a high. I mean the feeling that you have after spending all day making a tangible difference in your community transcends any business I've ever had, almost any high you really can have. I mean it really is an extraordinary thing.
Casey:And that's the strange irony of giving more than you take is you soon discover that the more you give, the more you get, and it really is just kind of this, but it's you got to get started and I think it's that first step right. And once you get started it really does have a life of its own. I mean, you get addicted to it, you really do. But I think that first step sometimes people just have a hard time taking, but I think, hopefully, with your encouragement to do that, we'll get so few people off the sidelines. Find an organization in your community that's making a real difference and just find a way to be a part of it, because it really does make a huge difference.
Eric:Absolutely it does. I love the way you just said that the more you give, the more you get, and that's always been something that we can abide by. So, yeah, I appreciate the time for letting me come and share a little bit of my story, man.
Casey:Well, I love it. Well, I think that's pretty much everything I had on the structured questions. I wanted to ask Is there anything else you wanted to cover or anything we didn't cover that you think we should?
Eric:Man, I'm just thinking back. You did ask me a question, you sent me a question and I've got to talk about my. I think the thing that has changed my life you've known me for 10 years but something that has probably changed my life more than even urban street angels is Hunter coming into my life and I think what can be said about somebody and who they're looking for and what they're finding. I always thought for me in a relationship it was always like oh, I'll never find a person, I'll never be able to experience what I'm seeing. My other friends or the people.
Casey:You thought that about yourself. That surprises me. Why did you think?
Eric:that I literally was like, why can't this happen to me? Yeah. So after that I was like, well, it'll come, and it's not that I had a concerted effort, but I had to. I really did. I'd be like, all right, how do I? I married a friend several years ago, and when I say married before, I officiated the wedding and I was like it was a gay wedding and I was like God, this kind of hit me. It was like maybe this can happen for me and I know that's weird, but that's the way I looked at it. So a couple of years back I met Hunter. We met online apps because that works. I went going to the bars much and he was in another city and invited him to come meet me and he did and thank God he wasn't a catfish and from there it just kind of it grew. But it's been the best things ever happened to me, because it's kind of helped me even balance everything more and it's made me a better person for what I do.
Casey:Can you talk to me a little bit about what he's like, how he differs from you and kind of how that animates your relationship?
Eric:That's hilarious. Yeah, so he. You know I'm still the person who plans and detailed oriented. You know that's always been mine. He's more of the sit back and for two trips let's me do but at home he's the person that does it. He wants to make sure that things are in place.
Eric:I thought I was a clean freak until I met him, and so he handles that kind of stuff. So it's like we've got this symbiotic relationship now to where it's. He does his thing it wasn't kind of sad and I do my thing, but we do so much together, I think what. What makes it for us is like we're best friends. And so for me you know I'm big into sports, you know this I'm like I get told this all the time I'm the straightest gay dude that people have ever met, and so Hunter's the same way.
Eric:So it's like we like sports for football. But you know we do this kind of stuff. So he's literally my best friend, and so it's almost like finding a best friend that we do everything together, and so it makes all these things easy. He's super real, he's super transparent, and so I think all I love how close he is to his family. So he's got those elements that that in some cases I wish I had, but that I have through that extension as my extended family, and so it just works. So it's kind of amazing, is he an?
Casey:Alabama fan too.
Eric:He is now. He went to Penn State and he's from Philadelphia, so he's an Eagles fan. I tell people all the time I'm like in Alabama we don't have a professional sport. So the universe of Alabama is it, you know. But he was like I went to Penn State, but I don't really follow him much. I was like no problem.
Casey:You're a Roll Tide fan. Now, like we can work with that. So you're you're an Eagles fan and he's a Bama fan. Now, that's how it goes.
Eric:Exactly, I'm now an Eagles fan.
Casey:That's called the worst. It works yeah.
Eric:Exactly.
Casey:Some disappointing endings for both your seasons this year, but get them next year.
Eric:Right man, right, it's like oh God, help us.
Casey:Oh well, awesome, Eric. This has been great. I really appreciate you coming on the show. I think a lot of people are going to get a lot out of this, and I'm going to do everything I can to get a lot of soap bot and a lot of donations sent in your way too, because you deserve it. You're one of the good guys making a real difference in your community. I've seen that firsthand and I just want to thank you for everything you're doing and for taking some time here with me today.
Eric:Man Casey, thank you. It's good to reconnect with you and I love seeing what you're a part of and bringing awareness to so many people and anything I can do to support you, and I appreciate your friendship, how, since the first day, I met you, and who you are as a person and what you do for your community and the people around you. So take some time to be proud of yourself too.
Casey:Well, that's all bullshit, but we can edit that out, so that's fine.
Eric:Hey, I appreciate you, buddy, I really do. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric, thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks Eric, thanks Eric. Thanks Eric. Thanks to the acknowledging assistant about.