Food Hub: Feeding Dignity, Not Just Hunger

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Transcript

Announcement 1:07

If you have ever been told by someone that you're not capable of attaining success, if you have made mistakes or lived in an underpolish neighborhood, then this podcast is for you. You are now locked in to struggle to success. Struggle to success aims to inspire individuals to navigate life's challenges with courage, fortitude, and unwavering determination. So if you're in your car, jogging, or somewhere else, trying to find the calm in the storm, then join Struggle to Success airing every other Saturday. Remember, life is trial. Stay focused.

Sterling 1:43

Both you ladies have 40 plus years of experience spanning, saying that you're lifelong learners. You know, Aaron, for instance, you know, you work for the Lancaster School District. And Kristy, you have background in business and health. How does that collabo push the food hub forward? Because, you know, I'm sitting here and I was speaking with Nat, and I'm like, this is like the fantastic of two. Like you got so much energy coming from both sides. How do you use that to keep the food food hub moving forward?

Mission Of Struggle To Success

Christi 2:22

Yeah, I mean, I think we all have different gifts and talents that we're bringing to the table. And Christy has significant experience and background with managing volunteers and very complex organizations and I don't know how many volunteers you had dealt with in the past, but quite quite a few. And so really looking at all of the different sectors of our organization and my previous job, I was very connected to the community. So it just, you know, I think we're both bringing different unique skill sets to the table, but we're all filling gaps. Nonprofit work is hard, but I think everybody here, all across, I mean, from our staff, our board members, our volunteers, everybody's very mission-aligned and committed to serving people with dignity in the best way possible.

Skills That Power The Food Hub

Sterling 3:10

Now, was it for either one of you, was it a like a huge shift from coming from that experience to dealing in the food industry? What was that like? Because you know, and and I say that because when I go to the market, I'm like, and I and I I like shopping at various markets and stuff like that when I can, when I have the funds, when I have the financial means to do it, but I'm always looking at the produce. I'm I'm looking at the people who's packing the produce, who's bringing it out. I'm look, I'm thinking about now as I get older and I have my children, how much time is it gonna take me to get to the store? So, what is that like for you, Christy, when you when you think about all the dynamics that go along with that?

Shifting Into Food Access Work

Christi 3:55

Well, again, I as Aaron mentioned, you know, I think we're all bringing a different lens to the everything that's happening to the food hub. So everybody brings their different experience and expertise to be able to serve our neighbors. And we're just always looking for innovative ways to try to help with that. You mentioned produce specifically, you know, produce is just one of those things that are great to be able to provide to our neighbors because we know they're expensive, right? I mean, it it is, it is. So we want to make sure that when we're working with our food recovery partners and our with our grants and things, that we're providing the best selections that we can to our neighbors because, again, that's not something that everybody can always shop for because of price points and availability, you know, and things like that. So we're really very proud to be able to offer those types of things. And our volunteers, again, go back to the volunteers, they're working really staff and volunteers working really hard to make sure that we've got that best, best available produce available, you know, available to our folks.

Making Produce Affordable And Available

Sterling 5:03

I went into the store and and and just to buy a uh a case of eggs, a carton of eggs. I just had to think for a minute, like, do I really need this right now? I had to make a choice. Do I get the milk or do I have to get the eggs? You know, I don't need the eggs, the kids need the eggs. So with that frame of mind, what type of individuals now and I and I know in the questionnaire that you say you're seeing three to four unsheltered families come in every single time. What do you think is going through their mind and and and how do you combat that to help them?

The Cost Of Basics And Tough Choices

Serving With Dignity Amid Rising Need

Erin 5:46

Well, I think I mean it's never easy to ask for help, right? Nobody wants to be job, but we really pride ourselves here in at the food hub of meeting people where they're at and serving people with dignity, welcoming everyone. And I mean, everybody's very close. Like you just need one catastrophic incident, and then you know, you're struggling to to make ends meet. And and it's not just about food, right? I mean, inflation, wages, housing, healthcare, all of these things are happening, and then it's just sort of compounding challenges. And so we are finding that in 2023 when benefits ended through COVID, our numbers doubled and they have not come down. I mean, we're serving 73,000 people a year. We would love to be able to do that.

Sterling 6:34

Those numbers are astronomical. I'm I'm sorry, but I always want to mention that 73,000 families a year. That is extraordinary work.

Erin 6:46

Yeah.

Sterling 6:46

So thank you.

Erin 6:48

Yeah, what we are very thankful that we have such, again, a generous community of donors and volunteers and being able to source food and clothing. I mean, we get so much clothing that's donated, and we're able to turn that around so our neighbors can like shop for free, but you know, with a really dignified experience and get what they need when they need it. But we're, I mean, people from all walks of life are coming in here, and and we just want to tell them, like, hello, it's okay. We're here to help you and you know, help you in that journey and whatever that looks like.

Who Are Working Families

Sterling 7:25

You you you just said two words I'm gonna come back to. You said in the questionnaire, you said working families, and you said dignify. Can you both expound on what is a working family and that dignity?

Choice Models And Dignified Service

Christi 7:42

So I I mean, working families are are just that. They are working. It's not that they're being at home all day and not they're out there working stuff sometimes a couple of jobs, you know, to provide for their families. And then on top of that, you've got to figure they've got to figure out how they get their kids into daycare while working. And that's not cheap either. So again, I think we kind of refer to, and Aaron can back me up on this, but what the United Way has coined, the Alice families, so the asset limited income constrained, employed. So they're they're working really hard, but they've got, you know, some significant expenses, you know, with health, as we, as Aaron mentioned, healthcare, the cost of everything, the cost of just rent, the cost of living, everything, and the wages not keeping up with that. So, so you know, we've got we see a lot of those families that are that are just struggling to get by, but but working hard to be able to do that. And then that dignity factor goes into, again, we're here to help our neighbors. So we want to create an experience where no one has to be ashamed, you know, to come in for for so those basic things, the the food and the clothing. And then we have it so that it's not, we're just not giving them what we think is appropriate. They have choice. They have choice in produce, they have choice in bread, they have choice in the nice, the nice things that are nice to have the desserts, you know, things like that. I mean, we'll curate an order for them with with the eggs that you've talked about, the milk, you know, those types of things. But but we we have choice options available to them so they can pick and choose whatever meets their family needs, because not everybody, you know, eats the same thing. So we want to make that option available to our families.

Sterling 9:26

Yeah, of the 55,000 people that we serve just in food this past year, 60% of them are in that Alice category. So they're not eligible for SNAP benefits and they they're that asset limited population.

Lived Struggle And Why Dignity Matters

Christi 9:42

You know, I believe when I created struggle to success, I really thought long and hard on my timeline through life and the moments of struggle and how I captivated them to still be success. It was just a frame of mind because I believe life is for struggle and and and that success can be in that struggle. So to be absolutely clear, you know, I'm I'm in law enforcement as well as I do the podcast, and over a year ago I suffered a um catastrophic incident that required two surgeries, and you talk about finances, you talk about dignity, you talk about working family. Now, I go back dating myself here when I was a kid, I used to go with my mother to receive assistance with a big box of cheese, and here I am today what I had to do because my children didn't ask for that that that to happen to me. So for for me and other families of Lancaster County to need this assistance and have that dignity, it it goes beyond thank you for what you ladies do and the volunteers and and the partners that we're gonna talk about because your impact is heartfelt. It truly is. And again, like I can't say thank you enough. It's tireless work, you know, and and and this is something that you know you're not searching for acclames, you're not searching for recognition, you know. It's it's the work that you do. I would like to say it's the servitude leadership to do it every single day. It it takes a resilience, it takes more than some people have. I had asked the question about the social services, and then one of you mentioned that you mentioned.

Sterling 11:39

Oh, yeah, the follow-yeah, the philosophy of our guides us. Yeah. So I've always um taken the approach of if I'm over-resourced in different areas, but systems are really hard for me to navigate, what is that like for other people? Whether it's a language barrier, whether it's transportation, whether it's, you know, you're having to go to multiple social service organizations and like just, you know, and you have a job that doesn't allow you the freedom to be able to do that, or or being on hold for hours and hours and hours. And, you know, so I'm just always taking the approach of if I'm struggling to navigate certain systems, what is this like for other people? And how can we just remove barriers for folks? And and again, just coming back to a relational approach, meeting people where they're at, serving people with dignity, and you know, treating people like people, meeting them where they're at.

Christi 12:35

Another unique thing that I noticed that Aaron, you grew up in Africa.

Erin 12:43

Yeah, correct?

Navigating Complex Systems And Barriers

Christi 12:44

Yeah, right? Christy, you grew up in York. So I think about farmland, I think about country and York City where I policed at at one point in time. Again, here's that collabo effect when you two ladies got together. What type of conversation did you have on saying this is what I've experienced here, or this is what I've seen here, this is what we can do here. What give me a give me a tentative meaning on how does how the brains interact with that type of experience?

Sterling 13:24

Yeah, I mean, I think it comes back to, you know, we're we're all kind of approaching things with our our own lens, right? And while I I mean, I moved to Alfredo when I was 10. I grew up in very, very rural northern Pennsylvania. So when we moved to Alfredo, we're like, this is the big city. Like this is or I mean, we had no idea. Like there was sidewalk, so it seemed like the big city compared to where I came from. But yeah, I think again, it just comes back to like our lived experiences and how can how that that lens shapes us and how we're serving. I mean, everybody has experienced bad customer service at some point, right? We all know what that looks like. And we want to provide excellent customer service as we're engaging with whether it's donors or volunteers or partners, our neighbors, whether it's our unhoused neighbors. You know, we just we want to, you know, I keep coming back to just our, you know, how we serve people with dignity and how we treat one another. And that I think is just a driving force across our organization.

Customer Service As Community Care

Speaker 1 14:30

Yeah, I think, I think it's, you know, as Aaron mentioned, there it's our systems are so very complex, right? I mean, it it's it's confusing sometimes for us, let alone if if you're not not, you know, able to handle the complexities of everything and the confusion sometimes. So that's the one thing we want to try to do here is make it as simple as we can. We'll follow the guidelines, you know, the requirements that are a part of our grants and things like that. But we want to make sure that we we take a lot of those barriers out so that people can feel comfortable, you know, coming here and getting the help that they need in order to help with their families and help their families thrive.

Behind The Scenes Complexity

Christi 15:10

So let's let's let's talk about that for a second. When you speak about the system and the complexity of it, you mentioned competition, right? And you mentioned collaboration. What parts of the system are complex? Like when it comes, is it the funding part? Is it because I feel like you know what I feel like I feel like when I read when I read your your your information, I feel like you ladies literally have to roll up your sleeves, like like let's go. Let's get down, let's go. Is it is it like that, or is it what is it like? I mean, because you when I say this, I think it's important for our listeners and our viewers to to understand this to some extent because what they see, what we see at the front door, are smiles and this uh already in place system of bringing people in, great customer service, greeting people with a smile and giving them their dignity, helping them to their vehicle. Asking them but behind the scenes, what what piece of that complexity you say, you know, like we we gotta get down with this?

Sourcing Food And New Pressures

Collaboration Over Competition

Sterling 16:20

Yeah, so we, you know, it's hard to procure food. We are very fortunate that we have partnerships like Central P Food Bank, and then we do our we have food recovery trucks with trucks that go out to places like Costco and Whole Foods and Wigman's and Giant and Target every day to kind of fill that gap. And then we have different community organizations that will bring in fresh produce or you know, the the scouting troops will, you know, do food drives or congregations will do collections for us. So, but because as I said, in 2023 our numbers doubled and that they have not decreased, it just keeps rising. We have to continue to be creative in how we source food for the first time this year in 2025. We've had to purchase food, which can get very costly, but we want our neighbors to get a reliable procured food order that that they know what to get. And it's not just like random odds and ends, right? But like, how do we put eggs and milk and fresh produce and lean proteins and shelf stable items and bread and you know, cereal and those things that so so folks can rely on that? And so we have to get really creative and share resources. Sometimes we get large orders of things and we can't turn it around as quickly, and so we might share it with another organization, or vice versa. There was an organization that had a surplus of something, they didn't use it all, so they gave it to us and we were able to turn it around. Wow. So that is partnership. That it is. We I mean, I think dealing with poverty is complex, and no organization can do it by themselves. And so we have to lean as a community on one another to to serve our neighbors and leverage resources and collaborate and you know, share.

Speaker 1 18:25

Yeah. I think collaboration and partnership is just so critical, critical, just but just because of all the logistics involved. So when I say the complex nature of some things, it's we're trying to figure out how to do everything within the scope of our very small but mighty team, you know, too. So I think that's that's something that is worthy to talk about too, just because there's not many of us, but we're doing uh a lot of work along with our volunteers, doing a lot of work to serve our and help our neighbors.

Christi 18:55

You say that, and and uh it makes me think I want to ask the question because I I couldn't think of two brilliant people to ask other questions, ask question two. Are we running out of food or or are we running out of the resilience to help people to provide food for other people?

Is There Enough Food Or Access

Sterling 19:19

I mean, I think there's food, there's a lot of ways that does happen. So I I don't think it's I think it's there. I think it's how people access it because there's barriers, whether it's transportation, whether it's navigating systems to get there, or you know, again, like meeting the hours of when the places are open, or or you know, they're in a different part of the county. And so it might be harder. There, there may not be as many resources. So I think that's part of it, but also the the not having increased wages and then the increasing costs of everything else, right? Right, is is I think it's just making it really complex. And then if you are able to get SNAP benefits, like it's incredibly challenging to enroll in the system. And Chris, you could talk about we're doing a SNAP blitz to help folks with that. Okay. I mean, that's gonna be happening, but it's really hard to access those services that you need when you need them. And then if you're limited by, oh, well, now you make an extra 50 cents an hour, and so now you can't get anything. Well, 50 cents an hour doesn't take you that far if you're losing your child care subsidy or you know, whatever it is. So it's just it's a juggle. It is a juggle.

Childcare, Wages, And The Benefits Cliff

Christi 20:41

And you and you you think about okay, well, I and I how can I say this? There's always one parent at home now, most times, because of childcare. Because to put both parents in the working force, then you're paying one person, one one parent's salary is going to complete your child care. So it's better for one parent in some instances to stay home, but still that working factor is is is void. And then again, now we're scrambling and say, okay, well, how are we gonna have these ends meet? I had posted, you know, when I when I came down to the food hub, the outside, and I just scanned everybody and I posted it on on my Facebook uh S2S podcast, and I got mixed views. So I wanted to ask you ladies about this. Some of the responses that I got were very positive, and this relates to why I asked that question are we running out of resilience to help other people? But others like they're just looking for handouts. And I'm just I was taken aback because I'm like, and it was another comment, why are people posting this? I do I believe that this work should be getting promoted on social media. I believe that the amount to some degree of the people that are involved in this work should be getting promoted on social media to say that it's it's here. But how do we change the mindset of those negative ones? That's what I want to ask. How do we do that?

Sterling 22:19

Come come and visit us.

Speaker 1 22:22

Hey, I like that.

Sterling 22:23

Everyone heard first hand, first hand, be here. You know, yeah, we'll give you a tour. We're a 27,000 square foot facility, and you know, serving 73,000 people a year, people aren't here just for fun, you know, like I mean, does some of that yeah, yeah. I mean, that happens, but like I think the percentage of that is so small. It's very, very small. And the amount of folks that come here that are just so thankful for the help and grateful and knowing that they have a space that they can rely on. I mean, yeah, if people have doubts, call me. Yeah, I'll we'll give you a tour. You can see it in action, you can talk to people yourself. Yeah, I mean, there's gonna do that.

Christi 23:11

We're gonna come, we're gonna schedule a tour, yeah, and we're gonna put that everything together out there so people can see the work that you ladies and your volunteers do.

Sterling 23:22

Yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot that happens here. Um I mean, we get I I can see from you know my office window, there our doors open at 9 30. There is a line across the parking lot already.

Speaker 1 23:34

And I mean, yeah, Aaron, as Aaron said, people don't people don't necessarily want to be here. I mean, you know, because so I those skeptics are are mind-boggling sometimes, right? Because again, it takes a village to do to do everything. We need to help each other. We need to help each other. We're all here to support each other. Yes, yep.

Christi 23:56

I love it. You you ladies have 25 to 30 volunteers at any given time. You've already said that some of these volunteers have been coming for decades. How do you encourage how does the volunteer process work if someone wanted to be a volunteer?

Sterling 24:13

Yeah, so you can go to our website. Um, we have some great information on volunteering. You know, you need you do need some clearances. Uh, there's an application process.

Christi 24:22

Clearances would you need?

Volunteers: Roles And Onboarding

Sterling 24:23

Yeah, yeah. So you need your your child abuse clearance and your state criminal, Pennsylvania criminal one. And and there's some you know, online training that's doesn't take long. And we set up a tour so you can see what it looks like. So people can volunteer in different areas. We have our clothing area, which we really could use some extra help in right now because we get so much clothing donated, men's, women's, children's, babies, shoes, like all the things. And we have to be able to process it and turn it over and sort it and organize it and box it or put it out on the racks. And so that just requires a significant number of man hours to be able to do that. And then we have our intake. So those are the fo the volunteers that are really just checking people in, verifying, you know, their household members, all of that. And then we have the food distribution side, which is everything from packing what we call dry bags, so those shelf stable items, sorting produce and bet like taking larger quantities and bagging them into smaller quantities, and just, you know, being runners and helping, you know, take stuff to people's vehicles or their carts and stuff. So there's a lot of different ways that folks can get involved depending on their interest area or their comfort area. And yeah, we have volunteers that come several times a week, some that come once a month, some that come, you know, in between.

Christi 25:48

What's the turnaround time if and I'm sure they can they can call you ladies or get information online for the clearances and things of that. But what's the turnaround time for clearances for the Mr. I have I have it, and then we're good to go.

Speaker 1 26:04

The the clearances are yeah, the clearances are everything can be done online. So pretty much the the state police clearance is almost instantaneous, and the child abuse clearance can take one or two days. It's not a it's not a long process at all. So and your clearances are good for five years.

Sterling 26:22

Five years, so if you have them from another organization or whatever, we just need a copy of it, and that's fine. So, I mean, we can turn it around fairly quickly to get folks that are interested and ready.

Safety, Training, And Trauma Awareness

Christi 26:34

Have you ladies ever had, you know, again, like we we could say we're living in trying times, and I probably would have said that 10 years ago, 20 years ago. Is this the heat of the moment? But has there ever been a security issue? Like you felt like there there might be like you we look at other states and we and we see how things happen and escalate quickly, or has the community of Lancaster been very reliable and patient and and and and waiting for assistance from from your a from your help?

Speaker 1 27:08

So I think I think most of the time our neighbors are very cordial and respectful, like and we're you know being the same way, of course. I mean, there are times when emotions get a little high just because of the nature of what someone's going through. So we're just prepared for that to make sure that to keep everybody safe. There's a lot of we'll do some trauma-informed training, you know, for our staff, and we need to roll that out to volunteers just to make sure that you know there's just a lot of things impacting people and how we respond is part of how they respond as well. So we just need to make sure that, again, we're we're we're providing that good service, yes, and and prepared in the event something does happen, but making sure that we're providing that compassionate, you know, care and support to everybody.

Christi 27:57

And that's that that business and education and social services all mixed together and it makes a phenomenal team and work effort. Now you mentioned, Aaron, you mentioned partnership. Can you speak about some of your partners and and how they contribute to the work effort at Foo Hub?

Partners Powering Outreach

Sterling 28:15

Sure, yeah. So on our we we provide outreach services for our unhoused neighbors in the afternoons. And so our unsheltered neighbors, you know, are coming with really quick.

Christi 28:29

What's a what's an unsheltered neighbor?

Sterling 28:31

The the homeless population. So, you know, and there might be they might be in a crisis of some kind, they could be struggling with addiction, they could have other just health limitations. There's just a lot, especially, you know, the longer you've been living out on the street, the more complex your needs become. So we cannot do this work alone. This is really complicated work. And so we're very fortunate to partner with organizations like the LEMSA Lancaster EMS. They do they have a shower truck called Refresh. And so twice a week the refresh truck is parked on our unsheltered neighbors can you know get cleaned up. They can get, you know, they can talk to the EMTs if they need some medical care. We also have a great partnership. LGH Pen Medicine has a street hour. Yeah, usually Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Christi 29:33

It's called the shower truck.

Sterling 29:34

It's called yeah, it's called refresh. Refresh the truck. But yeah, it's a shower truck. And so there's two showers and then like a medical bag.

Christi 29:41

We are phenomenal people. We're doing set. I would never even thought of it.

Beyond Food: Clothing And Care

Sterling 29:45

And then traveling, I mean, that truck goes all over the county. Like it's yeah, it's a wonderful service that LEMSA is providing. And then their EMTs are like driving this truck around and then you know, helping people in whatever capacity they might need from like, you know, med checks or wound issues or something. And then Penn Medicine LGH has a street outreach medical program. So there's a doctor and some nurse practitioners, and they're in the community, again, across the county, meeting people where they're at. So they're providing that medical care on benches and in libraries, like wherever people are that are unhoused. I think they said last year they served 500 people across the county. So we have a great partnership with them, Blueprints, which does addiction recovery. And then our team works really closely with other just case managers and outreach workers in the social service for the unhoused homeless population. And so there's a lot of just collaboration, sharing resources. Just yeah, we could not that that work is so complex. And then we have our other partnerships with like our faith community and our congregations. They either donate their their time and talent and treasure, they'll do, you know, collection drives for clothing or food for. Us, they're you know sponsoring us as from like a fiscal perspective, and then we have businesses that we work with come in and volunteer again. They do drives, they donate, they sponsor things. Phenomenal. You know, we just we could not do this, and then there's the food recovery side, which is phenomenal.

Christi 31:25

I mean, you just think about and you mentioned I and I was speaking to Nat about this. I we didn't know you had a food, I mean a clothing side. I mean, you just think food hub.

Erin 31:36

Yeah, food hub.

Christi 31:38

And you have a clothing side, you have a social services, you have faith, you have all these components coming together in one location. So again, this is the tireless work that I'm speaking about, and this is why I I feel so passionate about the work that we're doing and we continue to do because I I just love meeting extraordinary people like you ladies, because it takes so like it takes an it takes an island, it takes more than one people to do this type of work and have this collaboration. You you mentioned on the questionnaire, you said I said, Well, what is the one message to the audience? And you you mentioned something of the effect of food insecurities and community support. How would you like to get that across to our audience and listen to that?

Core Message: Community Support

Sterling 32:32

Yeah, I I think that you know, we we're we're a safety net organization to help meet basic needs. And we try to do this in a very nurturing and welcoming environment. So if if you are in need of clothing or food, we can help you with that. If you would like to donate food or clothing, we can help with that. You know, if you are if you're experiencing homelessness and you're, you know, you're ready to like work on your plan, whatever that plan is for you, we can help you make those steps. We're not here to say, well, you have to do X, Y, Z, but like what, what, what do individuals want and how can we help you get to your next step, whatever that may be. So I think, you know, we we're an old we're an old organization. Our name is new, the food hub, but we were the council of churches for over 75 years. And so the faith community really leaned into how can how can we give back? And clothing was the first program that that they did, not food. And then food came shortly thereafter. But so yeah, we're just here to be a resource for the community, either for folks that need it or to be a broker for those goods, and how can we distribute them to the community?

Christi 33:51

Yeah, meaning a module hierarchy of needs, you're you're you're hands down, you're doing all of it. You're doing all of it. I mean, the clothing, the shelter, the food, the communication.

Speaker 1 34:04

I mean, you can't sorry, I was gonna say, unless you meet those very basic needs, you're never going to progress, right? So that's why we want to we want to help people meet get those basic human needs met. Absolutely.

Christi 34:16

You you say that, and I think that that's what's I believe that's what separates Lancashire County food hub, especially from other areas of the country because you're meeting those needs. And again, our our a lot of our viewers and our listeners don't see what's going on behind the scenes, but the demand to meet those needs are so high, but the fact that you're meeting them, it it it it you have the faith of the community, you have the trust of the community. And I again I I just want to commend you for your work. One thing that we we like to do on struggle to success podcasts is we want to ask our previous guest a question for the next guest. So one of the questions that we were asked to ask our next guest was, what do you want to leave behind?

Sterling 35:09

What do we want to leave behind? Hmm.

Speaker 1 35:12

I I always say that like I hope that that I'm worked out of this job so because that means all the community needs have been met, right? So that means no everyone has their basic human needs and and they can you know progress to the next to whatever the next journey is for them. Because that that that would make me feel good that these very basic needs are are met and there's not that struggle for things.

Sterling 35:38

Yeah, I I would echo that. I I think it would be great if we if we weren't needed, you know, if our numbers could go down, that that would that would be a gift.

Christi 35:48

But I think that's gonna happen. I know.

Hopes, Legacy, And Next Steps

Sterling 35:51

We're we're kind of preparing for more. I I think I you know meeting people where they're at is great, but you also don't want to leave them where they're at. And so how can we help steward people to their next step? And and I say whether they're they're needing help or they want to give help, right? Because maybe also we're not the best place for people to volunteer at either. Like that's okay. And so, how can we just educate the community? How can we connect folks to more resources? How can we, you know, get people to their next step, whatever that is, and just um, you know, lean into one another in the best way?

Christi 36:32

So, again, how could struggle to success and other social media platforms and our listeners and our viewers help the extraordinary work that Food Hub does every single day? How could we help?

Sterling 36:47

Yeah, I think just telling the stories of what is happening in the community, I think there are a lot of misconceptions, right? As you said when you were here before, like, you know, oh, they're just you know taking advantage of the system or whatever. And and if you're really talking to people that are vulnerable or people that are asking for help, like that's not the case. And I think it's just we've become so divided as a country and as a community, and I think really just telling the story is that like we're all just people, we're all human, and and everybody needs help at different times in their lives, and that's okay. Like, there's nobody that has never not needed help from somebody, and yeah, and just how we can be good stewards and brokers of that to help people to their next step.

Christi 37:37

I think also, too, is that we continue to create the platform so people can ask for help. Because again, that goes right back to what you ladies were saying earlier, is that dignity. Because if I if I feel withheld to ask for that help, I'm going to stay where I'm at. And this is what I tell my children is two types of people won't advance the shy person and the one who doesn't ask questions. You you get you gotta ask for help. Granted, sometimes not gonna be the best help that you want it, sometimes, but still you have to get in that behavior because that habits and systems, I heard atomic habits, and I love the part where he said that you know if you create these good habits, it develops into these systems that get you to that next level. And I and you you ladies have a beautiful system, they have a great system. So, what would be the a question for our next guest that you ladies they're in for it because I have to have one from both of you, each of you. So, yeah, so what would be a question that they could ask, they should answer?

Sterling 38:47

Hmm. I don't know. I think like where do you find joy? Because sometimes it's hard to forget, like, because life can be hard, right? But you have to lean into you know finding joy and reminding yourself where that is. Yeah, so where do you find joy?

Spreading Joy And Everyday Kindness

Christi 39:11

If you if you if you look on my Facebook, I was in the East East Pete fair with the bumper cars with the kids. That was my joy.

Sterling 39:21

That was great. My my toddler told me this morning, mommy, your face is beautiful. And I was like, Oh, this was after she like yelled at me for something. I don't know why. But I was like, Oh, thanks. Like that was so nice. So we had to do, you know, parenting toddlers is hard, so you gotta take what you do.

Christi 39:43

Oh yeah, oh yeah. What do you think, Christy?

Speaker 1 39:47

I I guess maybe, and it's something that I try to do once a day, so maybe I could pass it along as where what can I do? Like, talk about finding joy, but what can I do to make somebody smile, to make somebody feel good? Like one thing, one thing a day, you know. If I've done that, then I've been successful. So, so maybe just passing that along to what's one thing that someone can do to pass along joy, you know, to help somebody at least one time, you know. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's me just allowing grace for somebody in traffic, you know, because it's it's frustrating sometimes. This city can be very frustrating, you know, getting around. So it's just okay, I'm just gonna let them go, let them go in front of me because it's just okay. It's all okay. You know, so it's just sometimes it's just those little things that help other people and help us feel at peace too.

Christi 40:43

Christy Brown, operations director, and Aaron Conahan, director of advancement from the food hub, I would like to say thank you so much for coming on Struggle to Success podcast. And again, we're definitely going to connect, we're gonna we're gonna reach out, we're gonna do everything we can on our end to keep pushing the food hub and on behalf of Lancaster and and beyond, because if I believe if if you think wise, if you if if you save one person, you save all the creation. Vice versa is the opposite. So you ladies are saving our our community is helping families, extended families. So I want to say thank you so much.

Sterling 41:32

Thank you.

Speaker 1 41:33

Thanks so much for having us and helping us share the story. And thank you for all that you do too. Yeah, to get the messages out there.

Christi 41:39

I can do more, and I'm gonna do more. I promise you that.

Sterling 41:43

Well, you have my information, so you just let me know when you want to come through a behind-the-scenes tour.

Christi 41:48

I will do that. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Take care.

Sterling 41:53

Bye. Bye bye.

Closing Gratitude And How To Connect

Announcement 41:55

Thanks for checking out this episode of Struggle to Success. To connect with the show, you can email us at struggletosuccess.p at gmail.com. Make sure you like and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And remember, life is trials. Stay focused.