BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 58 – Answering the Call: Why Tim Pierson Left Corporate America for the Streets
What does it take to walk away from a successful 23-year career to serve those society often overlooks? In this powerful and thought-provoking episode, guest Tim Pierson joins hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr to share the story of how an unexpected calling turned his life upside down—and ultimately right side up. Tim’s journey from insurance executive to full-time advocate for the homeless and addicted is a reminder that purpose often begins where comfort ends.
Tim grew up in a middle-class household where faith, family, and hard work shaped his worldview. For more than two decades, he built a thriving career in the insurance industry—successful by every traditional measure. But when he unexpectedly lost both his father and his business mentor within a short span of time, he found himself at a crossroads. In the silence left behind by grief, Tim began asking bigger questions about meaning, purpose, and legacy.
One of the first seeds of change came during a routine event: a drug prevention presentation at his children's school. What began as simple curiosity quickly turned into a deeper realization. He started volunteering with a local anti-drug coalition and eventually began walking the streets of Richmond, Indiana late at night, handing out coffee and snacks to people in need. What he discovered was staggering: a hidden crisis of homelessness, addiction, and despair happening just blocks from his comfortable home.
“I was just blown away,” he recalls. “I had no idea people were living like this in my own community. How could I not know that it was this bad?” That moment of awareness became the catalyst for action.
Tim founded Bridges for Life, a nonprofit organization focused on building real, sustainable pathways out of homelessness and addiction. Rather than offering short-term fixes, Tim’s team invests in long-term solutions—programs that restore dignity, provide stability, and build real skills. One such initiative is the Building Together program, which teaches carpentry and construction skills to people in recovery. Participants rehabilitate condemned or abandoned homes—gaining not only job training and a sense of purpose, but also housing and extended sobriety support.
The model is innovative, efficient, and deeply personal. Each renovated home becomes a stepping stone to a new life. “We’re not just fixing up buildings,” Tim says. “We’re rebuilding people.”
Tim also sheds light on a sobering reality: Wayne County’s homeless population is far larger than official counts suggest. Without visible tent cities or encampments, most homeless residents remain out of sight—living in vehicles, abandoned structures, or couch-hopping in temporary situations. And while the cost of homelessness to society is estimated at $38,000 per person annually—through emergency services, healthcare, and lost productivity—Bridges for Life can transition someone into stable housing for about $1,100.
It's not just about housing. It’s about hope. It’s about showing someone that they’re seen, valued, and not beyond redemption.
Tim’s story is a testament to the power of saying yes—to discomfort, to uncertainty, and to something greater than yourself. It’s a challenge to all of us to consider where we might be called to serve, even if the path ahead looks nothing like the life we imagined.
If you’ve ever wondered whether one person can really make a difference, Tim Pierson’s journey offers a resounding “yes.”
Ready to learn more or get involved? Visit mybridgesforlife.org to support their work through donations, volunteer efforts, or simply by spreading the word. You don’t have to change careers to change lives—but you might be surprised where your own next step leads.
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Speaker 2:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 3:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 2:We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives. This is.
Speaker 2:Be Tempered. What's up everybody? Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 58. 58. Today on the podcast, we are honored to welcome a man whose life exemplifies servant leadership and unwavering commitment to community transformation.
Speaker 2:Tim Pearson is the executive director of Bridges for Life, a nonprofit organization in Richmond, indiana, dedicated to supporting individuals and families through recovery, housing assistance and community engagement. Tim also leads the Drug-Free Wayne County Partnership and community engagement. Tim also leads the Drug-Free Wayne County Partnership, working tirelessly to combat substance abuse through prevention, education and support services. His initiatives, such as Dinner at the Lamp and Recovery Together have become vital resources for those in need, offering not just assistance, but also hope and a path forward. Not just assistance, but also hope and a path forward. Beyond his professional roles, tim is a certified community health worker and a devoted family man. Alongside his wife, nikki, and their seven children, his faith and dedication to service had made a lasting impact on countless lives in Wayne County. Tim, your journey is an inspiration and we're eager to delve into the experiences that have shaped your impactful work. Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you, thank you, man, appreciate you letting me be here with you and, as I told you earlier, I'm kind of a new fan to your program and new to getting to know you guys a little bit. But just love the work you're doing and love the dedication to the faith and the faith message and trying to bring inspirational stories to the community and others. So thank you so much and so honored to be here, really Thank you.
Speaker 2:We appreciate that and your story is one, as we get into it, where people will find inspiration. I mean, what you're doing is amazing and it's one of those things that is unseen. So we appreciate what you're doing and I'm excited for you to share that story. So how we start every podcast, as you know, is we like to go back to childhood to hear how you grew up. So talk about childhood, where you grew up and what life was like as a kid.
Speaker 4:Okay, I'll try to remember back as far as I can, but I'm from Wayne County, lived here aside from two years, lived down in Cincinnati for some work, lived here in Wayne County my whole life. So lived in two places, my whole childhood, most of which out in the country, so not farm but country, and so we lived. We just lived out kind of close to New Paris but on the Indiana side. But yeah, so life was mom and dad and then three sisters, two older, one younger, and so I was a baby until she came along. I was maybe 12 or 13, something like that. So, but it was kind of, you know, what I would describe as sort of the all-American middle-class experience.
Speaker 4:It was a lot of values-based interactions God, family, work. The order changed maybe a little bit through the years, but they were always present. I mean, dad was a diesel truck mechanic, so hard worker, you know, never stopped working. As soon as he got home he'd keep working. You know that kind of deal, good man, great dad. And then mom was a teacher by trade, but most of the time that we were growing up she just would substitute teach every once in a while, so she was pretty much stay-at-home.
Speaker 4:Mom Went back to full-time teaching after all of us were grown and then, like I said, two older sisters and then a younger and we were just went to church every Sunday. We had a small Baptist church we went to. My whole pretty much my whole childhood Went there. All kind of the normal things you would sort of expect from a nice, wholesome family that I'm really blessed with. So we had dinner at 5 every night and Mom cooked every night and family time, family games, vacations, this whole deal.
Speaker 4:If Mom and Dad ever fought, we didn't see it, we'd see them holding hands, that kind of thing. So it was a good experience and any time I kind of reflect back on it, I enjoy looking back on it. But sometimes I feel a little guilty because I was just so blessed by that experience and you know, you think about a lot of the folks that we interact with now that you see those foundations that they were born into that they had no control over. Right, that's, the only decision in our lives we don't get to make is what family we're born into, and some are just born into horrific circumstances. So I try every day to not take that for granted and be very grateful for how I came up.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, great childhood. Why do you think that you regret that, though, or feel bad about how you were raised?
Speaker 4:Well, regret or feel bad may not be the right characterization of it, but anytime you have a really big blessing in your life, something that is as meaningful as what family I was born into, where you got lots of love from mom, from dad, and you had all your needs met. Sometimes you do take that for granted. You kind of forget that that was a significant thing that you got in life that you didn't do anything to earn. It's one thing. You get some benefits from the hard work you put in. Then you can have some level of pride in that the good pride. But with that it's like why was I so fortunate to have that experience? But God works everything out. The good pride. But with that it's like why did I, why was I so fortunate to have that experience? But God works everything out the good stuff, the bad stuff. So I've always just thought well, let's just be grateful for it and try to learn from it. And I think at the end it's given me a much larger level of compassion for those who haven't had those experiences.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's what I was going to say is, I think, I think, being raised as you were, that put the compassion in your heart to do what you're doing today.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's how I would look at it Years later, but yes, true.
Speaker 2:Kind of look at it. So continue on through childhood. Talk about school a little bit, yeah.
Speaker 4:So I went to Highland Heights School, which is of course now a doctor's office, in Pleasant View Middle School, which is a church, I think, now and so, and then just right on through to Richmond High School, graduating in 89. And so school was. I was always a good student. I kind of always think back on my high school years. It was just I was one of these ones that would not go back. I'd go back in time a little bit, but not that far back.
Speaker 4:High school was just survival. You know we were. Oh, I came into high school and I had gained a bunch of weight. I had bad eyesight since I was very little, so I got these thick pop bottle glasses, you know, and some heavyset got the glasses. You know, mom enjoyed shopping at Kmart, so we didn't have the designer clothes, you know.
Speaker 4:So the first few years of high school was a little rough, you know it's. You know, not of none of the, the what I would call real traumatic bullying or anything like that, but you know a lot of getting picked on and made fun of this and that. So but my summer, before my senior year, then something in me just sort of said oh, let's change the narrative here a little bit. So I just I think it was 60 or 70 pounds I lost in one summer and got my contacts and of course I was working then. So it was like, okay, I'll go buy my own clothes and got a nice truck and you know, and then get the girlfriend, and so I went back into the senior year kind of a new person at this point, and so I didn't mind the senior year a bit. I kind of enjoyed it and kind of closed the school year out. I was not, still not, mr Cool, don't, don't get me wrong, but I was still very much an outsider and kind of a loner.
Speaker 2:But you know, not in the James Dean kind of way.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's kind of a little bit of a dork, you know this kind of stuff, but but yeah, finished out high school there and somewhere in that senior year I picked up some an interest in the criminal justice field. I think I kind of can remember thinking about probation work or something like that, maybe law enforcement. So I went to IU East right afterwards and started studying criminal justice and sort of set off on that path till things changed up a little bit. But yeah, so just right on through.
Speaker 2:So what in high school, going into your senior year? What made that shift? Do you know?
Speaker 4:I really don't know. I thought about it a lot. I'm not sure what piqued that interest. I really don't know. I knew that. You know Mom had went to college, dad didn't, so there wasn't a lot of pressure to go to school. But you know, I had a sister that was going over to Earlham and so there was a little bit of pressure to what else are you going to do? I was already working, so I knew I was going to work. But and it was just interesting to me and I liked kind of learning about those things and how the law worked and all of that type of stuff. So I remember in just a year and a half that I went to school. I just soaked it up and really enjoyed it and was interested in it. Still still am at some level, uh. But yeah, I don't know what really triggered it, but off I went.
Speaker 2:So you go off to school, but then something changes again, right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, we had that next. You know, I kind of sort of look at it like that going through, you know, younger years, childhood, everything was kind of fairly normal, and so you just kind of go up and you're following this typical path. And then I got sort of presented with an opportunity that came very, very unexpected. It sort of came about. I was one of the jobs I had. I was always working two or three jobs since I was 15 or so, but one of the jobs I had was working at the movie theater, which was just the funnest job you could ever have, you know, I mean a big $2.60 an hour, I think it was at the time, whatever minimum wage was.
Speaker 4:But you got free movies and you got free Coke and popcorn and all this stuff. But I met a guy there Matt was his name, and he was the exact opposite of what I was. I mean, this guy was just trouble. I mean he was skateboarder, I mean the purple mohawk, literally the whole bit, you know. And so he came to work and you wouldn't have ever thought that the two of us would have became friends, but we became very, very close friends quickly and so I was kind of he was maybe three years younger than me, so I was kind of drawn to a little bit of the trouble side that he was getting into and and so we would get into some trouble.
Speaker 4:We were, you know, we were ushers, ushers at the movie theater, but we we referred to it as the bouncers. So the manager gave us permission to get rid of anyone that was not following the rules and we did very regularly so if they had their feet on the seats or they back, talk back. When you could actually do that. You know we're throwing people out of the movie theater. Friday and Saturday nights was just, you know, just the heydays. It was fun. So me and this guy, we developed a great friendship.
Speaker 4:So well, when I turned 21, I didn't do, or I didn't think I was going to do, what most do when they turn 21. The idea of drinking and alcohol was not ever on my radar, never even thought about it, never thought I would ever touch a drop of it for sure. I think somewhere in our, my parents' house there was a bottle of wine that they maybe had held on to for a keepsake or something. But every once in a while I'd see dad grab a beer from the neighbor when he sort of offered him one just to be kind. But we just, it just wasn't part of our life.
Speaker 4:And so, but when I so, when I turned 21, I had no plans of that at all. But Matt, who was only 17 or 18, he said, hey, do me a favor. He said, would you go over there to the Big Red Liquor or whatever it was? And he said, can you just buy this for me? And I thought, well, this is like a rite of passage, this is cool, I'm hanging out with the cool kid now. And so, yeah, I'll buy him some booze. And so I. I did. Fortunately, the statute of limitations is up on that minor not planning on running for office, so we're good.
Speaker 4:So I went there and I bought him a case of I think he was drinking some little King's cream ales or something, and and, uh well, when I handed it to him he's, he's like, well, hey, why don't you just come over to the house? And you know his parents were out of town and he said, just come over and you know, just have a couple with me, and I was. He talked me into it pretty easily and we went over, just me and him. We just hung out through the night and just drank, drank, drank, drank.
Speaker 4:And so, um, kind of bringing this back around to my transition out of college into the other field, so that we drank all night and I just got, you know, first time drinking and it was just like a cigarette dog, I'm throwing up everywhere. And so I ended up somehow in his dad's minivan and I'm like laying across the front seats. And so later that morning when his dad comes home, first time I ever met his dad, his dad opens the door and I basically just fall out. I puked in his van and my head's just hanging there and I'm thinking this guy's going to kill me, you know. And um well, he didn't kill me. What ended up happening just in the next couple of months was that he offered me a job and wanted me to come work for him.
Speaker 4:I don't know what it was that dream to but years later he would tell the story He'd be. He'd be the first time I ever met Tim. I knew he was going to be a good salesman and of course nobody knew what the story was. But we met and he was working at an insurance office, a large Fortune 500 company, and I never thought I would do anything like that at all. But I knew that he had success written all over him. They had a nice house. They didn't really have fancy cars because he didn't spend his money on stuff like that, but he had little side businesses.
Speaker 4:And my buddy was in sales too, in a different field, and he's like driving motorcycles, corvettes, and I mean I was making three bucks an hour at the movie theater with a couple other jobs mowing grass and all this stuff, and so I sort of saw it as an opportunity to move forward, saw it has an opportunity to move forward. And I think that was in what 93, 93 when I started and Mark was his dad's name, and Mark told me he said if you come to work for me and do exactly what I tell you to do, he said, you will make $50,000 this year. Now this is at 21 and in 93. He said if you don't, I'll write you a check for the difference. He said I guarantee you that's what you'll make, but you have to do everything I say.
Speaker 4:And so I was just drawn to him more than I really was the career, because I just liked everything that this guy was. I mean he was just, he was smart, he was wise, he was witty, he was successful, he was a great Christian man. I mean just had a great family. And so I was just. I did exactly that. I just everything he told me to do, I did. So I had a really unorthodox start into the business but I ended up left school and about a year and a half, maybe two, close to two years in, I dropped out of school and just came to work in the insurance business selling door-to-door sales, doing door-to-door insurance sales, and it just worked, ended up sticking with that same company for what? 23 years 23 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was a good ride. Did you have to clean out his van? I don't remember much about that.
Speaker 4:Next, day I remember doing him a lot of favors.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker 4:I had to penance there somewhere.
Speaker 2:I'm sure, but it was good. Wow, so 23 years in the insurance business, so life's pretty good, right? You eventually get married.
Speaker 4:Yep, talk about your family a little bit. Yeah, back during that season I had maybe been in the business a couple years and we got a girl I had met at the movie theater. We ended up falling in love and getting married. So the first couple years there with the insurance business was really good and I started achieving and doing well. And so there's kind of a twist to the story there, because I didn't get to work with Mark for long Cause he he ended up passing away unexpectedly just a couple of years into our work together and that just the way that came about.
Speaker 4:It was all kind of tied to at the same time when we found out we were expecting with our first daughter. So I mean, kind of how the story goes is so we were, uh, for that two or three years I was working with Mark there in the insurance business. We're just booming. I mean I was the youngest agent in the company nationally. I mean the second closest person in age to me in the office was 30 years, my senior, I mean. So I'm just 21 year old. What do I know? Kind of deal and we're breaking national records. I mean I mean we're just winning trips, he's getting promoted, I'm getting promoted. I mean we're just moving.
Speaker 4:And so during that season I got married and I mean life's just going really good. We've got kind of all this stuff going now, bought our first house and got the nice vehicle, and you know we're off now for the pursuit of the dream, you know, and so but the so my wife at the time time she ended up I think she had a bad call for something ended up going to the doctor and through that found out that we were expecting. And so I can remember when I got that news as much as I want to even tell my family Mark was the guy I wanted to track down because I was just like this is like this is the rite of passage, it's like I'm gonna be a dad now. This is so cool. I got to, and well, so he was out of town that day with his family on a trip, and so we ended up going to my parents that night and we're, you know, sitting there. It was kind of one of those moments that, however many years ago that was, it sort of gets etched in your mind forever, you know. And so we're telling my mom and dad and great news, everybody's excited, we're in the middle of hugs and we're just so excited, you know.
Speaker 4:And phone rings and it was Matt, my friend, calling to say that his dad had been in a fatal drowning accident just a couple hours prior. They had went down to Brookville and it was just I'll spare you the details, but it was just a horrific scene and his family was there and observed and watched it all happen. It was just terrible. So that that was, you know, one of the first um big challenges that came along, where it was like, okay, all right, I kind of grew up sheltered, you could say, maybe it just wasn't experiencing too much of life's negative stuff. And then when that happened, it was like, okay, different lens. Now things are a lot different. So things were a little rough there for a little while.
Speaker 2:But well, especially someone who was a mentor to you for sure. And, um, you know, here's a high point of your life, you know, expecting your first child and and he's the first guy you want to go to, and then you find that out. I mean, that had to be to be a difficult time. It was.
Speaker 4:It was tough. That two or three-year period. There had a number of challenges in it. Just a number of months prior to that we had had my we were just engaged at the time but her best friend, who was her roommate, she was murdered here in town and so she had this. We had just came off the heels of that and Mark was like this great support for her and for me and you know, it was just this horrible experience and so I had learned to kind of lean on him. I remember kind of thinking the first time he met my dad, I remember kind of feeling a little guilty because I was sort of like treating him sort of like a father figure and I was like, dad, you're still number one kind of deal, but these were two different men.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 4:Mark, my dad was super silent and quiet. Mark was just all of this and so, yeah, so when he was out of the picture it was. It was rough. I mean I had had, obviously some sad moments and, you know, been down like anybody, but that was the first time that I really experienced some level of depression, not clinical but just situational. But it was tough. It was tough to get up and go to work and I remember just we used to sit in the office at night working. He would never let me in the office during office hours because there was so much negativity there. He just wanted to keep me from it. So we'd be in the field all day selling and then in the evening we would meet back in the office and just spend hours together working on proposals and building sales scripts and you know, and just practicing and role playing and all this stuff.
Speaker 4:And so I can remember just sitting there in that office and by myself, just you know, kind of these dramatic, you know, sitting outside of his office door just sobbing, you know, it was just just, it was just like, wow, why did that hit me so hard? And it was just I. I knew what that feeling was of having somebody so close to you that it's just gone. And of course, the um, the empathy I had for his family was just, you know, overwhelming, because they were just amazing people. So so, yeah, so that that was kind of tough but we kept kind of kept pushing forward and then we, um, of course, ended up having our first daughter, taylor, and then she was moving along pretty good, kind of got back into work doing what I was trying to do.
Speaker 4:It ended up that I got kind of moving up the ladder still and ended up in the position that Mark was in and so kind of filling his shoes a little bit, and got the pleasure of hiring his son later on to come into work for me. And then he is still there to this day as one of the district managers, the office, following in his dad's footsteps uh, jesse harrison, so proud of him and um, so, but yeah, so we once we had the baby then we were about eight months in and then kind of next challenge hit us. That's when my father passed away unexpectedly, so when she was only eight months old, taylor. So you know, that kind of brought in this other set of like okay okay, life isn't perfect, you know, and so.
Speaker 4:But that was, you know, that was just sort of an unexpected thing out of nowhere. I don't talk too much about that. I mean, it's still fresh, right. It's like 28 years ago fresh right. It's like you just can't hardly even think about going down that path with it. But yeah, so that was kind of difficult, but then we just kept you know, god's grace is always there and keep pushing through and just stuck with the business and just kept moving up the ladder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so in a short period of time you lost two very, very important men in your life. How do you pick up the pieces? I mean I? I know you don't have a choice. The choice is to keep moving forward, which you did, um, did you find other mentors? Did you just confine in yourself and just say, hey, this is on me now?
Speaker 4:Oh, I definitely found, you know, what would end up being the best mentor of my life, which is my pastor, pastor Holdeman from Lighthouse. And so Ralph Holdeman, his son, is the lead pastor now, but he's still on staff. So I mean God just inserted him in my life just when I needed it. I mean we were kind of in a season where we were out of church a little bit and so we had started kind of, you know, thought, let's get back around and start. You know, taylor was just maybe a year old at the time, so we were kind of like, you know, I'm thinking I've got to be a dad here.
Speaker 4:And me and Mark's son Matt, we had kind of got on this drinking spree for a three or four-year period now where we're drinking pretty regularly. Pretty year period now where we're drinking pretty regularly, pretty heavily, you know three, four or five days a week kind of deal. And so once she was born it was like okay, I'm just not going to do that anymore and I'll maybe come back to that later how that played into what I'm doing now. But I just said, okay, I mean we were drinking, you know vodka five nights a week and just I said I'm just not going to do that anymore and I just stopped. And so Matt had a little bit different story. He didn't quite stop at that moment. He dealt with it for a number of years, but anyway, so we, what was I at here?
Speaker 4:So when I had the baby and we said now we're just going to turn and do something a little bit different, it just was like there's still some missing pieces there. So we thought let's do some church looking. And so we went and visited a bunch of churches and first time we ever went out to Lighthouse we've been out there for 26, 27 years now First time we ever went out there it was like, okay, this is where God wants us to be. And the first conversation I ever had with Pastor Holderman was just life-changing. I mean, just one of those moments, and it was like, okay, thank you God, this is a guy. And so he became my dad and he's my spiritual dad and I think about him like a father, for sure, and we're just super close. But he, but he filled that void. He was, he was all of that and more.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, he's been just you know probably single-handedly the most influential person in my life, without a doubt. Isn't that amazing how, through the loss of you know, at the time where the two most important men in your life you just said he came into your life, you know, at a vulnerable time when you needed him, but even more powerful than the others. That's amazing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly, I remember my first couple experiences with him. One was when we first went to the church. I just had like some questions. I was very skeptical and it was a different denomination than we had grown up, and I just had all these questions and I wrote down on the visitor card I want to talk to the pastor because I had some questions. And yeah, I remember he called me the next day. He said, yeah, you had some questions, can I come by the house? And yeah, he came by the house and we sat down and had a great conversation and the two or three things that I was kind of hung up on that I thought that maybe that they were missing, that they were off on a little bit. He showed me real quickly no, this is right. And I was just like, okay, I could see this guy's got some value to offer me, I mean mainly through the Word, that he knew the Word and I kind of thought I knew it. So I knew I needed some teaching of the Word. So I saw him as very valuable in that respect. And then, from an advice standpoint, I mean I could tell our whole community you want advice, go see Pastor Holtman, he's got it. But I remember before I knew him very well.
Speaker 4:We had just started attending the church and as I was getting back into the job there was some dynamics there that was going on. Long story short, mark, when he was there we had sort of an arch enemy. There was kind of a guy there that just didn't like us, we didn't like him, and so we were always kind of butting heads. And so when I went back to work, the guy that they took to replace Mark's job was this individual who did not like me at all. He just didn't care for me, and so he made life very, very difficult for me there and almost made me want to leave the business. And so, well, what happened was I decided I want to transfer to another office, and we were, we were going to move and go somewhere else, and so that was in motion.
Speaker 4:And then some other things happened and I needed to come back. So here I am in the spot where I have to go to this individual he shall remain nameless and I have to go to him and basically say can I have my position back? And it was like I just do not want to do that, because we had came to almost physical stuff at times. It just got so tense he was just, he just treated me horribly. And so I remember I was like I don't know if I can do this, so maybe I'll just drive to Muncie every day for it, because I just my pride is not going to let me go apologize to him. So I went to my pastor and I just said here's the situation One of the first many times I said if you, you tell me what to do, and I'm going to do it, whatever it is, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 4:Um, before you tell me, just tell me. And of course he just uh, uh, talked to me about grace and forgiveness and he said you know you need to go into his office and just say is there something you've done wrong that you need to apologize for? Address that, do that. I mean he's just giving me the biblical way to handle conflict and then ask him to forgive you, and then that's it. I said, well, how about his? He's supposed to say, hey, I'm sorry for all the trouble I gave you. He said that's not up to you, tim, that's for him.
Speaker 4:And so it played out about like I expected.
Speaker 4:I gave him a pretty genuine apology and I really was sorry for some of the things I'd done.
Speaker 4:And this joker literally leans back in his chair, kicks his feet up on the desk, and he's not about to apologize to me for anything, and he just sat there and just made it, made me beg for it, basically, and I didn't want to drive to muncie every day to work, I want to be here close to my family, and so I just took it and just swallowed my pride and um. But you know, years later funny turn of events it ended up that I ended up having his position, he ended up getting demoted working for and not that I'm happy about it, but at some point down the road I had to end up terminating this guy because of stuff he was doing he wasn't supposed to be doing. So it was kind of like justice found its way, you know. But I said all that just to say that Pastor was jewels of advice and wisdom, and so I've been in his office many times saying give me, give me give me some of that stuff, so I need it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's called high road leadership.
Speaker 4:Take it to the high road. Take it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So at some point, though, there becomes another shift in your mind where, I don't know, are you getting too comfortable? Is there a calling? Something happens and you make a big change in your life.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, there's no other way to put it than it was a calling. I mean, it was just God calling or pulling me out of where I was into something else, and it wasn't kicking and screaming. I mean, he had given me enough glimpse, enough of a glimpse of what I should be doing with my life, that I was eager. So, yeah, after you know, 20 some years of doing that and I really wasn't there were some things that were happening that I was a little not happy with. I mean, I had been with this one company long enough where I you know, it's kind of like I had my kind of way of doing things and and they were rocking the boat on some things. So we had some differences of opinions, but nothing that would have taken me out of the field at all and nothing that would have made me leave the company. I figured I'd be there forever and so. But yeah, it really came about from.
Speaker 4:There was at the time, of course, just several years back, there was a drug task force here in town that is kind of renamed something. It's been regrouped and something different now, but guys that you may know pat tudor and jamie mostiano, these guys that were on this task force and well, they were going to the different schools in the county and they were doing this presentation about drugs and all this kind of stuff and it was a really kind of like a dramatic presentation. They took a little heat for it, but it was a good message. I mean, they're like rolling a coffin into the gymnasium and they're, you know, kind of the scared straight kind of stuff that some people say not a good idea, don't do that anymore. I don't know Whatever works, I say, but so, but my kids had seen that and it was kind of the talk of the school for a little bit.
Speaker 4:There we were at Northeastern and but I didn't see the presentation, but I was just hearing so much about it. I was just intrigued by it. I don't even know why I was so interested. I was just very interested in that and I was really interested in meeting the guys who did it and not I wasn't feeling any kind of judgment against them for doing it. They took a little backlash doing that kind of presentation, but it was like I didn't feel that at all. I was just curious to meet them. I didn't know who they were and so I remember I'm like literally out on sales appointments in Richmond. I got like my suit and tie on and I don't. I'm just like I want to find the drug task force. I have no idea who they are, and so first stop was the jail. And so I go in the jail and I you know, I've never been to jail before, I don't know really how it works. So I'm just knocking on the window and I'm like I want to is the drug task force here, can I talk to them?
Speaker 4:And of course she's like, well, who are you, you know? And so I got a shirt and tie. It's like I'm not liking them in a foreman or something you know. I'm like I don't know. I was like okay. So I left, went to the city building of course, walked in there, knocked on the window just trying to find the drug task force, you know. And they're like, well, who are you, you know? And and so here comes out, walks, uh, jamie mostriano, who's a kind of a monster of a dude, you know. He comes out and he's like well, who are?
Speaker 4:Said, well, I kind of told you the story. I said I'm just curious, you did a presentation at my kid's school. I just want to talk to you guys and learn. I don't really know why I'm just I feel compelled to do it. Can I buy you all lunch one day and just hear what's going on? He said, sure, so you know, really, really good men. And we just sat down for a couple hours and they just told me all this information about drugs and all the stuff that was happening in the community that I have lived in my entire life, and I was just blown away. I think that was a year where we were either number one or number two in you know, the most overdosed deaths per, you know, per capita. And it was just like all of this was happening just right within a 10 minute drive of me and I'm just clueless. I mean, I know I lived kind of in the rural part of the county and but still it was like how could I not know that it was this bad? I can just remember feeling compelled.
Speaker 4:And after that lunch I pulled Pat Tudor aside and I was like, and he was a Christian man and I said listen, I don't really know why I'm here, but I'm compelled. I'm compelled to do something, and I don't know why. And I sell, I sell insurance for a living. So help me, what? What's next? What do I do? And he's like, well, I don't never had anybody asked me that. And he said I don't know what to tell you. He said except he said there's a meeting this week why don't you come? Come with me as a guest which was a drug-free Wayne County meeting. You know, this has been 10 years ago now maybe.
Speaker 4:And so I just went to the meeting and from that meeting on. I just started meeting people. I mean I would just be in these meetings and just literally just saying, all right, lord, out of these 50, 60 people here, who's my next move? And just like this, one person to the next person. The first one I met at that meeting was Stacy Steele, who worked out at the Boys and Girls Club. She's since passed away, but she was leading the Drug-Free Wayne County group. I said can we meet? I met just one person at a time and I just started to plug these people in just so that I could learn, because I'm thinking I don't know anything about this world at all.
Speaker 2:And you don't know why you're doing this and I don't know why I'm doing it, and so you know.
Speaker 4:It sort of then led to, you know, across those stepping stones, meeting people, and I ended up and went back to school to kind of head down the social work field and then that's where I kind of made the transition and took the plunge and left the insurance business, but you went from the comfort.
Speaker 2:I'm sure things were pretty good at the insurance business.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was nice, it was good.
Speaker 2:To social work.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was jumping the deep end man. It was like I was having a blast, but it was different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was different.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, the first role I got after I graduated I was working for a company called Lifeline Youth and Family Services. That covered the four or five counties around here was my territory, and we were working with families that had had DCS involvement, where the children had been removed from the home. And so my job whatever the title was I forget what it was, but family consultant, I think. My job was to work with mom or dad and help them get their kids back. Well, so for me, I was, you know, very goal oriented. I mean you know you spent your life doing commission only sales. I mean you know you got your business owners. It's like, okay, we just get stuff done. So so it's like, okay, so here's the goal, here's what DCS says you have to do to get your kids back. You got to a, b, c and d let's go. So it's like, okay, you need a job. Oh, okay, we'll get your job by the end of the day. Get in the truck, let's go, and so we'll do applications. I can get them employed and and you know, two days later they don't show up to work and it's like, what did I miss here?
Speaker 4:Uh, so there was so much more happening there than what I thought, and I was super green in that world on how things worked, all these systems, all of these ridiculous barriers that are present that prevent people from moving forward and it was, it was fun, I had a ton of fun. So I'm doing supervised visits and with families and sitting at the library with a kid and a mom and just I. I'm just soaking up this world, just learning as much as I can about how all this stuff works, with in my mind thinking I still don't know where I'm going with this, but I need to know more to be able to figure out what my next move is. So I just just learned and learned and learned.
Speaker 2:What did your wife say when you said hey, honey, I'm going to make the jump? From discomfort to social work.
Speaker 4:Well, she's always my number one fan, so she um, we'll maybe click back to that. So this is, uh, this is wife number two, uh, from the from the previous but uh, so, but yeah, she's just great. So she, she's big on education and was going back to school herself later in life to, um, you know, she had worked in the post office for a long time and wanted to go back and become an occupational therapist and has since started her own business, and so she's very much into that. So she was she was probably more pushing me to do what you want to do, do what you're. You don't seem to be happy in what you're doing, so change the gear, do something different. And um, so, yeah, she was a big, big fan. So, you know, we had some little adjustments to make. And you don't get into social work for the money. That's a disclaimer for anyone trying to get in the field you better have a heart for it.
Speaker 2:Some social workers may go from social work to insurance. You went the opposite.
Speaker 4:Exactly Might be a better move some days. But yeah, so it wasn't too bad, but it was great and it was just a lot, a lot of learning, a lot of education and it was. It was a ton of fun. I was enjoying it, for sure.
Speaker 2:So you're learning. Uh, there had to be some challenging situations and stories that you learned about. That would be way different than anything you had done for your prior 20, some years in the insurance company. How are you able to disconnect when you went home from some of those stories that? That would be a challenge for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's such a good question and, um, I'm still kind of sometimes baffled by that. I'll give you kind of a funny story. Like, um, when I was, um, when I was working for that company, they had um, I forget what they were called, but they were like sort of like a little pick-me-up session or something they would have. So it was kind of like and I kind of I hesitate to say this because it feels like maybe I'm kind of poking fun and I don't mean it this way. I just want to come back to answer your question. But so during this meeting they would basically just I think it was on a Monday morning and it was kind of like this real kind of feel good kind of. You know, we go around the room and tell me about your weekend and how were things and how are you. It was like self-care. That's what I was trying. It was a self-care meeting which I really didn't feel like I needed. I just thought why are we sitting here for two hours? We have things to do. You know this kind of deal, and so there's people talking about you know that they had a problem with their cat that weekend or something. And again, I'm not trying to poke fun at it. It was just, it was this kind of a softer world than what my mindset was. So I wasn't, I didn't need any of that. It was like I'm good, I'm good, and so, as I would deal with these situations, I have just felt like I've just had this gift. I guess, if you will, maybe some wouldn't think of it as a gift where I can just distance myself from that. I think I just see it as a defense mechanism. I know that I have to do that.
Speaker 4:So people are leaving this company and other companies in the social work field. They're leaving by the droves because of all the impact it has on you and it's a very real what it does to an individual's mental health. I mean working for that company's. First time I ever heard of the. What do they call the days off? When you just want to? You just kind of want a day off because you need it. Personal day, yeah. Personal day, okay. Well, when the business I came from it was, you were just straight commission, so you'd take as many personal days as you want, but you're not getting paid. So I didn't take too many personal days.
Speaker 4:So you know, just kind of taking care of yourself and I, I so appreciate that for sure, and again don't mean to make light of that because I know it's very needed, but there's, you know, mass exodus of all these mental health workers because of that. But for me it just wasn't. I just I was okay, just to turn that off. And so even now and I really do consider that a blessing that I can distance myself from those things, again probably subconsciously doing it, because I know that I need to do that At the end of the day it's an issue that I can't control and so you know, you see, kind of like you know definitely some heartbreaking situations and kids in some tough spots, and I guess maybe sometimes I might come across a little cold and calloused about it because I don't wear it too heavily, but I don't find it to be helpful If I take it on and it affects me so much that I can no longer be effective in helping you, then let me just turn that switch off so that I can keep being helpful to you.
Speaker 4:If I burn myself out because I'm so worried about everything that's going on, I just carry it, then what good am I? So I enjoy being able to distance myself from that, but it's tough because it is a bunch of mess and a bunch of sadness for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so eventually you decide to make a change again, but now more so for you starting an organization, correct? Yeah, so talk about that shift.
Speaker 4:Well, that originally kind of came about through a ministry, through our church, so we had um, um and and again, everything. Always, when you look back, you can see all these little fine moments where it's like, oh, that's what happened during that moment. In the moment you don't think about it as being that significant, but one of those moments for me was when we were I was leading a Wednesday night group at the church or I think I was just substituting for someone who couldn't be there and I'm kind of doing some teaching or whatever, and we were talking about evangelism and I remember, you know, I prepared my notes and we were talking all about this and I remember somewhere during my teaching, I said something to the effect of you know, we as a church, you know kind of one of these self-righteous statements. It's like we as a church need to get outside of the walls and go out into the streets and do evangelism. You know, that's kind of what came out of my mouth. Of course that sounds good and right. In that moment, I mean, it was like the Holy Spirit said okay, buddy, when's the last time you did that? And I thought, oh, never, I've never done that. I always sort of thought I could check that evangelism box off by being a good Christian in the workplace. And I mean I was the guy that always had a Bible in his office and you know, I mean would pray with people and people always knew I was a Christian but I never really went out like that.
Speaker 4:So from that moment on, from that teaching night, something said you got to go out and start doing that, doing some outreach. And I wasn't exactly sure what that looked like. But what kept coming into my mind week after week was to do it on a Friday night. To do it on a Friday night, go out on a Friday evening and just meet people and talk to people. And it was about November, december somewhere in there. So the idea of that was not too appealing because it's kind of cold, you know it's light.
Speaker 4:So I sort of kind of dismissed those notions I'm having until probably about February, somewhere around the first week of February that year, I'm literally just laying in bed and just woke up and just said I think it's like 11 or 12 at night and I told my wife. I said I have got to go out. I mean, he's calling me to go out, I've just got to go. So I just got up and got dressed, put on some warm clothes and went to grab the thermos, went to Speedway, got some coffee, stopped and bought some little Debbie's or whatever.
Speaker 4:I didn't. I didn't know what I was going to do and so I just went out and just started walking up and down main street. And I mean it's 12 o'clock at night, february, it's cold. I figured this is going to take about five minutes and I'll realize no one's out here. It was just the exact opposite. There's all kinds of people out. I'm like, why are you not at home, you know, but of course many of them didn't have a home.
Speaker 4:But and I just had the just the most amazing night of ministry. I mean I met tons of people and just got him some coffee, went back to Speedway a couple of times to get the thermos refilled, and I mean I just was like, okay, I see now what I'm supposed to be doing, but just praying for people and ministering, and so that started then an every Friday night tradition, and so I went maybe, oh, four or five weeks on my own and I'd stay out till two in the morning or whatever, and until finally one of my buddies, dwayne Harrison, who was a is it really a co-founder? Him and his wife with Bridges, with us, he said. He said what are you doing on the Fridays? You're going out by yourself and he thought he needed to come protect me.
Speaker 4:So he's like I'm coming with you. And little did he know that God was working in his life as well. And so the two of us then ended up teaming up and we ended up, over the course of the next couple years, then built a large group of people that came and we continued to do that on Fridays and we it ended up moving from handing out coffee and a little Debbie's to we bring the grill out, and we set up on 12th and Main, over here and just right outside of the bar, and just grilled hamburgers or hot dogs and eventually we got some ladies on the team that wanted to cook a little bit more for us. So they're bringing out crockpots, we're running extension cords around the back of a building. We're feeding like 100, 120 people a night at 11 o'clock at night all the way until the bar closed at 3.
Speaker 4:And so, but through that experience then, me and Dwayne again looking back, you can really see it now, but you know God was bringing the two of us together and our families together for something a little bit greater. So through that ministry then, as we were talking to people and ministering to people, we were just trying to become more aware of what resources were in the community so we could get them pointed in the right direction. And that's really what just sort of birthed us deciding maybe we could create something here where we could help people. And so we just began about a two-year process of just sitting at the table every few weeks planning and developing what we thought Bridges for Life would and could be, and the four of us plus my daughter Taylor, we would just sit down and plan and finally decided to pull the trigger on it and kind of get the nonprofit thing going, and so it was like a whole new world now. I don't like the sound of nonprofit.
Speaker 2:I know what that means, especially from a commissioned sales guy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that has to be terrifying, but we, you know, turned out really really good.
Speaker 2:What surprised you most on those Friday nights that you maybe didn't anticipate, phew.
Speaker 4:What a great question. Many things, many things were surprising, but probably what most took me by surprise was the warmness and the openness, not that we were giving out, but that we were getting back. It still is shocking to me out, but that we were getting back Still is shocking to me. Just really really great people just meeting tons of wonderful, wonderful people that were very open to us and I believe now what that is is that you know I don't know where this would be found in the Bible, but it's certainly biblical and a God-like principle is that God just seems to put in others through the power of the Holy Spirit, just puts in them a trust coming back to me that I need to be able to help them. I need you to trust me, and so people will develop a deep trust in you quickly, and it may not even be reciprocal. I may not be trusting them that much, but they're willing to put their whole life in my hands for a little while, and so you know that is definitely through the Holy Spirit. But that surprised me.
Speaker 4:I always thought that I hate saying that population, but you know, those that are experiencing homelessness or those that are suffering with addiction. I always sort of thought of them as more standoffish, leave me alone and every day, still pleasantly surprised that that's not the case. It's like there's something there that says I do need help. And if you approach people very genuinely and lovingly which is how we were doing it, with no judgment, and you can tell people there's no judgment all day long, but they they know, and so I don't have to announce that to people. I just hope that they'll feel it that it's like I'm really not judging you. Believe me, I have to convince you, I'm not judging you. I love you and I want to help you, and so I think when they sense that they just are, are drawn to you. So we just had some of the anybody that was part of that Friday night group and there was probably 40 different people that helped at some level.
Speaker 4:Every single one of them would reflect back on those years that we were doing it and the way we were doing it as just an amazing time in our lives. We had so much fun and we just had a blast and we'd walk the neighborhoods first meeting people, and then come back and set up the grill and stuff and yeah, we just had some amazing encounters and saw God do some powerful stuff and some great miracles too. Were you ever afraid? No, I can't say as. I was ever afraid. I mean I don't. I should probably have a little more fear sometimes, maybe a little. But yeah, I don't get taken back too much. We weren't. I was never worried about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you know, I think the stigma in society is, you know, homeless addicts. You know those are people to fear, to be afraid of, kind of out of sight, out of mind. I don't want, you know you're, you're going out into the community, downtown Richmond 11 o'clock at night. You don't know who's out there, but you don't care, you just want to help and give back. And that's amazing because I think well, I know more people would have a bigger fear of hey, out of sight, out of mind.
Speaker 2:I know there's homeless people out there. I know there's people addicted to drugs. I can't do anything for them. You took the opposite approach and said hey, maybe I can help one. Right right and look at what you've done. So what is Bridges for Life doing now?
Speaker 4:And let me back up to the previous statement. I don't intend to try to sound like some superhero or something I previous statement I don't intend to try to sound like some superhero or something.
Speaker 4:I just I haven't. I didn't find that to be useful to be afraid to approach somebody. Let's just do it so. But yeah, I appreciate that. So, bridges Now, so what we?
Speaker 4:What has kind of happened is that when we first kind of developed it, we were really just sort of trying to figure out okay, so how exactly are we going to do this? We originally thought we would probably be a little more focused on families with kids, and that was largely in part because of Dwayne and his wife Jamie's involvement, because they were the real family element of it. They did family ministry at the church, worked with the youth, worked with the kids. That really wasn't my lane or my wife's lane. That really wasn't what we did. So we sort of thought we'd lean into that a little bit. And then Dwayne and Jamie ended up answering a call they had to answer, which was to start a church down in Franklin County, and they started a church down in Laurel, indiana. So they had left us to go there back in 2020. And they're just doing phenomenal, by the way, and just have an amazing ministry down there in Laurel, a church right downtown in Laurel called Reach Community Church.
Speaker 4:So when they left, it shifted the gear a little bit because it was kind of like, okay, they were the real strength and the backbone for family kind of stuff, whereas I was a little more working with the individuals in addiction or homelessness or whatever. So we shifted the gear a little bit there. So really what we started doing was just on an individual basis, just trying to figure out okay, let's try to help this guy and let's see how did we help him? What are the things that I did that were helpful? And then the next guy, let's help him. And we started to see some common things that were like okay, these are things that are always going to be helpful, and then there's things that will sometimes be helpful based upon that individual. And so I tried to focus a lot on the things that were always helpful. For an example, if someone needs their identifying documents major problem in that in that population group.
Speaker 4:So, we can help with that, a variety of different things like that. Let's just build a relationship, all this stuff. So from there then we started to kind of package the programs a little bit so that we could kind of put a name to what it is that we're doing. So we started moved the Friday night outdoor ministry to more of a sit-down type meal once we picked up a location. So for a couple years we were renting space from the Reed Church which is now called the Reed Center. We were in there for a couple years so we used the big fellowship area in there and brought our meal inside to where we had people come in and sit down and kind of restaurant-style kind of dining experience or whatever, so they could come and sit down and get connected. So we should sort of package that.
Speaker 4:And then the folks we were helping in addiction that ended up kind of growing into what we would call the recover together program or the building together program now the carpentry apprenticeship program.
Speaker 4:So those are to help kind of people in recovery or trying to get into recovery.
Speaker 4:And then the the homeless outreach operation reconnect we call it is that direct outreach and support for those that are in that kind of situation. So we just tried to. So there's a lot of things in there that are kind of best practices, things that make sense that you would do, and then there's some things in there that are unique to the way we go about doing things, and we just try to put all that together in a little package so that we could duplicate it for one and also so that we could sell it for another, so that we could say this is we need support to do this work, and we can't just say we help the homeless and expect someone to say, oh, here's a check. You know, you got to be able to show this is how we help them. This is the process that we use to do it and these are the steps that we take and these are the results that we have, and then you can hopefully get some funding to keep things going.
Speaker 2:So give us some stats, some Wayne County stats that people may not have any clue about. Let's see.
Speaker 4:So maybe a little disclaimer, given that I've only worked with this population in Wayne County. I mean, I've read and studied a lot about it and talked to a lot of people that have worked in other things, but my experience is limited here and so I've tried to mitigate that by being a good student of the people I serve. So I'm always asking questions and I want to know everything about what your life is like. So could I need to learn, Cause I don't. I've never been homeless and lived that experience myself. So so when it comes to kind of some numbers and stuff so homeless population, for example, if you were to have asked me, you know a decade ago when I was first getting into it, how many homeless people or is homelessness even an issue here, I probably would have really minimized that and thought not really. I see a guy down by Kroger every once in a while holding the sign up, and you know there's a handful of them around and so and then you move into kind of a little more scientific approach with it, which is done through an initiative called the Point in Time Count, which is a HUD, a national HUD initiative where on a 21, 24-hour period during the year there's an attempt to actually make a physical count of the homeless population in your community, so that's called the Point in Time or the PIT count, and so that's done in January, usually around the 24th or so every year, and that is a national effort for any communities that want to mobilize to do that. So the pick count would say that there's about several years back when they first started it. It was hard to get a good count, but the last couple years that number would land somewhere around 80 or 90. I think last year it was 91 that we got. But that is a very specific and somewhat narrow definition of homelessness that HUD uses. That may not be how you or I would describe it. So to say there's only 91 people that are homeless in Wayne County is a ridiculous statement, Because, number one, the population is very transient, so it's not the same 91 this year as it is next year. They're constantly moving and growing, and so you think, well, what is the real number? Well, that number is very difficult to find, for sure. But if you looked at just what our work does like last year, we and this is just the team of just a few people, literally just a few people. I mean our team interacted with 213 people that were homeless the day we met them. Now, that's just our small little group and that's just Wayne County, really, more specifically, Richmond. So you think there's 200 that we found. So I don't know what the number is, but it is in the several hundreds for sure. I mean, and we're meeting new people every year, and this year I think we've already interacted with 120 or something like that people. So, yeah, so it's hundreds, hundreds. So that's probably a number.
Speaker 4:Sometimes it might take people back a little bit and you know we don't have tent cities here. I mean, this isn't like a big metropolis where it's very clear where all the homeless population are. It's not clear at all. They're very, very hidden. Most of them are in abandoned houses or in encampments that you may see, some you may not see. They're in sheds behind people's houses. They're staying in their car outside a friend's house, or they're just sleeping in their car somewhere else. Or they're staying in their car outside a friend's house, or they're just sleeping in their car somewhere else, or they're they're just scattered everywhere and so they're. It's hard to kind of say there they are, because they're all over the place. So but yeah, I think of easily into the hundreds for sure four, five, six, seven hundred, probably at any one point in time would you expect that no?
Speaker 4:what has been your perception of it from kind of outside, looking in with you?
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, I don't know that I I know maybe this is bad on me ever gave it a whole lot of thought. Um, you know, I would see people, especially where our shop is on on South ninth street, see people walk by and think, man, I wonder if that person's homeless Um been to other places where I you can, you can tell that that person's homeless and and um, I'm. When I hear 200 people, that kind of shocks me, like I would have never guessed that in this community again because, like you said, they're kind of embedded, they're hidden in certain spots or whatever. Um, and I feel bad for saying that because, um, you know, I feel like there's gotta be more that I can do to help you and there's gotta be more that maybe our local government can do to help in a way. And maybe they are, I just don't know, I don't know that.
Speaker 2:So that was one of the big reasons why I wanted to have you on here was to share those stats, because there's probably a lot more people like me out there who either turn a blind eye to it or just don't know. And so that's why your story is amazing. That you would go from this nice, comfortable living to putting yourself out at 11 o'clock at night, going till two in the morning, feeding homeless people and having those conversations to make that impact, to try to help to change their lives, told me when we met there, you know, a month or so ago, you talked about the program I can't remember what it's called about for addicts when they're coming back, trying to get back into the community and doing some construction project. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 4:Yeah for sure. Um, back up just slightly to the individual who's leading that program. Uh, jeff Holthaus. Um, another one of those guys where you kind of meet somebody and you're like, okay, this one's good, this is a good guy. And so we were working at a helping at a warming station out there with Carl Reinhart and others, and Jeff just showed up one day wanting to help and just from the moment he came out there to help, it was just like, okay, this guy's on a mission, he's got, he's up to something and he was helping. He was helping quite a bit and so, you know, through the coming weeks and months we forged a great friendship and he's like a brother and he came in to help me with bridges so he's, you know, kind of works there with me now and so for that first year we're just working and doing the normal work we're doing.
Speaker 4:And and he had had kind of this thought and he could, of course, articulate a lot better, but he had this vision, that of all these houses that are around here, because of his experience as a 30-plus year carpenter he had his own remodeling business for 30 years here in Richmond and so kind of specialty in older homes and I think he said he remodeled 400 and some different houses there in his career. So he had always had this thought that I could go around to all these houses and just fix them up, because we have a housing crisis. And we're, you know, depending upon what study you look at, I mean Wayne County is maybe 7,000 different housing living units short of what we should have and way short on income subsidized type housings and housing units. And so he thought, well, I'll just go fix these places up. And of course he you know his body said no, you can't do that. And so, um, he ended up just really seeking the Lord to figure out what to do with this thought he had. And so where he ended up was he said, well, instead of me to go in and fix them up, I'd like to teach guys how to do that. And so that ended up really narrowing us down to what population group? So it was a group of guys in recovery.
Speaker 4:So that program Building Together that's been around for just about a year now really came from the idea to say how can we get these guys on a path forward and give them some skills and give them an opportunity to get into a great field a field that has a huge labor shortage and help them to learn the skills that they need to get a new start in life and get on the path forward. So we got some houses donated through the county and that program was funded through opioid settlement funds, which was a great use for those dollars, because that's what they're for is to help those people that were hurt by those atrocities. So we received some kind of startup funding for that and a few houses that were just you know they were.
Speaker 4:We paid for them what they were worth zero because they were just boarded up, health department condemned and you know just that Richmond has a lot of and so they gave us a few of them and Jeff just we we built this program and Jeff just is an amazing teacher and mentor for these guys. So they typically are coming out of at least a 28-day program. I mean, we don't have a set number of days that they need to be sober, but they got have a little bit of sober time under their belt for sure. Usually the guys have 60 or 90 days, something like that.
Speaker 4:And and we've developed a partnership here with the Centerstone Recovery Transitional House, so a large part of the guys that have been in the program are living there at that facility because it's a three-month transitional house. So it just works out really well. So it's very much a recovery-focused program. So there's a lot of recovery elements built into it. But largely what's happening is that they're learning how to remodel houses from the ground up and so and Jeff is like just, he's like the Mr Miyagi of carpentry- I mean so every nail and every hammer is a life lesson and he just beautifully has transformed these guys' lives.
Speaker 4:So we we had to work through a few wrinkles early on trying to get the program developed right. So you know, we had a few guys fall out at the beginning and so we've tweaked quite a bit, but so far it's been really great. We've had three guys that graduated. It's a six-month program, so three guys that have graduated this year and two of them went to work. I mean they graduated and the very next week they went to work for uh, smorelli, you know, you know, great builder here in town I mean jobs they could not have gotten.
Speaker 4:Um, they learned and some of them had a little bit of experience, but most they didn't have any real experience. They just were kind of good with their hands and they had. They had some giftings for it and then jeff just just taught them how to do it and they're redoing the house. So we've got one of the three that's completely done. The other one's close to done and, yeah, so far so great. It just transformed their lives and the guys are provided six additional months of clean time.
Speaker 4:So that's a lot in the recovery world. Got you six more months of no use and you know, and we pay them during the program. So they got a little bit of wages that they've earned and they built some great relationships with us. We've laid some other recovery bricks into their foundation and then they have learned how to do stuff and I'm not the carpenter, so I'm always impressed with guys that can build. I'm like me and Jeff would walk through these houses and I'd be like you sure we want this house. Of course I look at it. It's like this is a dump and Jeff would look and be like, oh yeah, I want this Cause he could see, you know he could see what he could turn it into.
Speaker 4:That's a great gift he has. So, yeah, so, and they're beautiful and turned into beautiful homes and and these guys have just really been transformed.
Speaker 2:So so what an amazing program to take people in recovery, to take a home that in most people's eyes probably should have been torn down and to, to put that work into it, to transform it back into a home that that someone can live in and you're you're helping to that addict to or that person in recovery to get their life back, to get it back on track. That's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2:That's a that's a pretty awesome program, um, very, very unique, um, I think so, all right, what you're doing is awesome. You're you're hit your true calling for sure. And, um, I know you need help. I know there's financial needs out there, so how can people, if they want to get involved whether, uh, getting involved with whatever program or getting involved financially how can people help?
Speaker 4:Yeah, Well, any, any number of things I mean financially is always good, because these programs take they take a lot of money. Um, and getting someone from homelessness to the path forward or in addiction out, there's a great cost to that.
Speaker 1:And um there's, we don't apologize for that.
Speaker 4:I mean an average person who's homeless costs society about $38,000 a year. We've discovered a path that for about $1,100, sounds like sponsoring that way, but that's what our cost is per person that we bring an individual out of homelessness and get them housed on the path forward. It costs about $1,100 and about 10 or 12 hours of time. So there's cost in that as well. But from a financial standpoint, that's always donations are always going to be put towards that people could donate to a specific program, just donate to us generally. Uh, we have a lot of sponsorships for our Friday meal program where someone can sponsor the meal for 294 bucks for the week. It feeds a hundred and some people and provides other connections for them. So we're feeding them pretty cheap but nice meal and so, yeah, folks can donate specifically to programs or just generally speaking to us and we'll do that through the website.
Speaker 4:Do it through the website yep, which is Mybridgesforlifeorg.
Speaker 2:Mybridgesforlifeorg. Okay.
Speaker 4:And then volunteer-wise, like a Friday night our other programs don't offer. There's some opportunities for volunteerism there, but our Friday night program is always welcome for volunteers. We have a lot of groups that come out student groups and church groups and business groups that will come out and sponsor a meal and then bring a team out to help serve. So we always welcome folks to come and help us on a Friday too.
Speaker 2:That's pretty awesome, man. I want to ask you one final question. So when you're in a dark moment, like when you lost your dad and you lost your mentor, or any other time in your life when things have been tough, or maybe you've helped someone who's homeless and they can't help themselves, and no matter how hard you try is there a Bible verse, is there a quote? Is there something that you lean on that helps you get you through those tough times?
Speaker 4:Oh sure, well, I love so many different things, of course, but I love the quote and I can't credit it to my pastor because it was said by some other guy that wrote a book by the same title, but I love the quote that just simply says that every setback, is a setup for a comeback, just a great reminder to us that there's always hope.
Speaker 4:There's always hope and so, no matter how far it is, what's that real old song's got a lyric in it I think about the cracks are good because they let the light in, kind of thing I mean. So it doesn't matter how bad it's gotten, there is always a path forward, and if you can't figure it out for yourself, that's what I can help you with, that's what we can help you with, to help you see what that path forward is. But yeah, I love that Every setback is a setup for a comeback.
Speaker 4:That's pretty cool, and there is a book by that title by the original Willie, somebody that actually said that. My pastor has said it many, many times so I give him a little credit.
Speaker 2:That's great, ben, you got anything to add?
Speaker 3:I got a bunch there's a couple times over here Just sit here and think so it's going to sound like I'm rambling, but two different things that I think about. I kind of knew this is our third podcast today and each one kind of hit me different, but this one was the one that I knew I was going to kind of struggle with and like I was over here just thinking, and there's two different parts. So the first part is on the homeless part, where you talk about 200 here in Wayne County. I've only been working here for like a year so I don't feel like this is anywhere near like dayton, like when. But there's a place there where we serve, called target dayton, and basically they bus people in from all the different parts of dayton to eat. You know.
Speaker 3:So think how big wayne county is and you know I don't see as many as that and just listen to those families that you don't see. Like I never see families on the street corner in Dayton, but there at those homeless shelters there's tons of them. And I think I've told you the story before about we were serving Lisa and I were with the church and it was kind of like the restaurant, like you were talking about how you guys have the restaurant set up and you'd have people that would come and they'd serve and I just remember serving this one family and you sit back and you listen and they had kids and Lisa and I didn't have kids at that time, but they were probably talking like six, seven-year-olds and the kids were very quiet, didn't talk at all, but the adults are sitting there talking, and one was talking about, yeah, we didn't get to the shelter quick enough last night, so you know, they slept under a bridge and just like hearing those kinds of things. And then, I don't know why, but when you're talking about 200 and when you were talking earlier about how many of you are here in wayne county, you know, if we bust all of them in I I, you said hundreds, I can just think thousands, you know, and I think that's a realistic number. I mean, um, a lot of the places that we go and like the glass that we replace and stuff the big thing, squatters like well, why are they squatting? Well, they don't have a place to go, you know. And so that was the first thing. And then the I was you, just the quote that you just said.
Speaker 3:And then, talking about the recovery. My brother in law that's what he passed away from was opioid addiction. He was gone for a year, and he was gone for a year to get in rehab, trying to get back, and the last conversation he had with my sister-in-law was that he couldn't get clean and so he kept trying to find a job. Couldn't find a job? Well, you couldn't get on a pass. So what do you go back to? Right? And so those programs like that, they don't get government funded the way that they should, because people are trying to get back on track, you know, and so I don't know.
Speaker 3:I just can't thank you enough for all the different things that you're doing. It's such a, such a blessing. If you change one life, you've changed thousands. And just the selfless act that you do, from starting in insurance and then now going to social work, where it's not a money group so many times.
Speaker 3:Everybody thinks advancing in this world is by going after the dollars. Well, I'm taking the next step in my career. I'm taking the next step in my career is by going after the dollars, you know. Well, I'm taking the next step in my career. I'm taking the next step in my career, like I just I can't thank you enough For sharing with our listeners. You're going to change a lot of lives, I know, with, hopefully, funding for your programs, but also maybe it will take some people to look in the mirror, like how can I change stuff in our town? How can people change stuff here in Wayne County? How can you change stuff in our town? How can people change stuff here in wayne county? How can you change stuff where we live in preble county? How can we change stuff in montgomery county? Like it's just, I hope this is really eye-opening, though, yeah well, I appreciate that and sorry about your brother oh no, I mean, it's tough well, a couple things that you were talking I think are just so important.
Speaker 4:Is that you mentioned tell me again what you said, that that he said. He said I want to get clean but I can't something.
Speaker 3:So he went and got clean, um, and basically he couldn't find a job, is what it was. And then he, when he couldn't find a job, then he went back to his addiction and then at that point it became something where he couldn't overcome.
Speaker 4:Yeah well, if you look at, uh and this has been probably one of the most, um, eyeopening things that I've experienced and that's that's been my whole journey is just looking at this issue and these individuals through a different lens. But if you, when you look at the emotional side of this, um, of this group of people, I mean there's, there's a lot happening there, um, you're talking about, you know, we talk about like some myths and stuff. It's like you think, okay, so for one. We just think these people just need to go get a job right. Well, for one. 40, 40 to 60% of them do have a job for one. So there's that. And then, secondly, you look at the mental health side of it. I mean you have two thirds of individuals that that are experiencing homelessness have a diagnosed mental illness. 25% of them have a diagnosed severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. So there's some very real emotional barriers there.
Speaker 4:And so early on, I would interact with someone who was using drugs. They're a person who uses drugs and I would just say here's the answer Just stop doing it right. I mean it's just kind of in our simplistic minds it's like just quit doing that right, and it's like that would be just as easy for them to say to me well, the things you're doing in your life that aren't good for you, quit doing them. And even Paul can figure that out, right. He that aren't good for you, quit doing them. And even Paul can figure that out right. He said I do the things I don't want to do and I don't do the things I know I should do.
Speaker 4:So when you look at that emotional side of it, the observation I've made is that it's a very individual situation and everybody's situation is different. Okay, for sure, but what is rampant among the population, what is epidemic in the population, is high levels of shame and hopelessness. That's what they all have in common. And so now they may be on a different place on that spectrum of how hopeless do I feel, how much shame am I feeling, but it is always very, very present. And then when you so you're looking at what is it going to take for them to get out of this and the fortitude it's going to take for them to get on that path forward. I mean, the terrain of that path is altered greatly by their level of emotional turmoil that they're experiencing. I mean, from people who are adult, active users that you have 80% of them that were sexually abused as a child, most of them before age six, changes your lens a little bit. It's like you start to see that individual as someone that's hurt and they get stuck in that spot Like you talked about with your brother.
Speaker 4:It's like I can't find my way out and even if I can get a little clean time under my belt now, I've got a couple guys I'm working with now that are just coming out of the jail. I mean they have no identifying documents. They've got now a record that's going to make job search not impossible but difficult, Finding an apartment that's decent to live in not impossible but very difficult. Where am I going to get the documents? I've got to get the first month's rent. I got to get the deposit I get. All of a sudden, all this starts coming at them and they're just like whatever glimmer of hope I had is gone, and so it.
Speaker 4:Folks get just stuck there and so you know, just kind of last point on that. So what I, what I found, is that when you look at that shame and that hopelessness and kind of where they're at on that continuum of how bad is this, for me it really comes down to kind of a personal responsibility thing, because they could be experiencing their blight because of some really bad decisions that they made. They could be experiencing their blight because of some really bad decisions someone else did. Oftentimes it's a little mixture of both. You know there's a little bit. But the way that they view their situation changes the dynamic. So are they owning it at least at some level to say I know I've got to do some stuff, but if they're just being a victim and a lot of blame, then there's not much hope out until that mindset changes a little bit.
Speaker 4:So that's where some real mental health supports, you know, really play in and that's why I'm glad like recovery programs now are usually dual diagnosis programs, so they're addressing mental health issues as well as the substance issues as well. So but yeah, it can just be a very it's a real tough hole to get out of, so need a lot of love and support to do it and some real practical help too. So but yeah, appreciate sharing that.
Speaker 2:And people like you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:People like you to take that step.
Speaker 4:And there are tons of us around here. You had the wonderful Carl Reinhardt in here, and I can go through the list of people, people, people that just pour into these population groups and we're we're glad to have it, but we need more, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tim, your dedication to serving the Richmond community is truly commendable. Your efforts have not only provided essential resources to those in need, but have also fostered a sense of hope and resilience within our community. Your story is a testament to the power of faith, perseverance and compassionate leadership. Thank you for sharing your story, thank you, thank you for what you're doing. I hope that there's more than one person out there who's heard this story, who's maybe been on the fence or maybe didn't know about what's going on and the programs that are out there that you're doing. That can really make a true impact on people trying to get back into living everyday life in a home, having a job, being a productive member of society, and so I thank you for that.
Speaker 4:Thank you Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 2:Everybody share it. Get it out there. People need to hear this and know what's going on in our community and we appreciate Tim and all he's doing and all those on his team and go out and be tempered.
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