Homelessness and Hope: A Conversation with H.E.P.'s Barbara Green

Transcript

Ernestine 0:00

Welcome to Bon Vivant Chic Life. Well lived the podcast. For anyone who wants to cut through today's noise and just listen for a few minutes to meaningful conversations on the human experience and the power of connectedness. I'm your host Ernestine Morgan, an advocate for kindness with a passion for showcasing human interest stories that matter. Today I'm delighted to spend time with Barbara Green. Barbara and I met through her brother-in-law, Bruce Fyfe. Bruce was an amazing mentor for me through my early years at Morton Plant, Meese Healthcare Foundation. In 1986, Barb and Otis Green founded HEP Homeless Emergency Project Incorporated to better meet the immediate needs of a growing number of homeless individuals and families in Pinellas County. Otis and Bruce have now passed and Barbara continues her work honoring the legacy upon which the organization was built. So let's get started. Barb, thanks for sitting down with me today.

Barbara 1:01

Thank you for having me.

Ernestine 1:02

Can you please share a little bit about where you grew up and what life was like?

Barbara 1:07

I grew up in Alabama. I was born in Henneger, Alabama, and, third for the oldest of 12 children on a cotton farm. Good, strong mom had a lot of common sense. Except maybe having too many kids.

Ernestine 1:18

That's a lot to manage.

Barbara 1:20

Yes. We were poor, but a lot of the neighbors were too, so nobody ever thought too much about it, other than, sometimes you had less than others. Think we were all happy. Because you had to be that way. You, didn't really think about it. The one thing about being raised on a farm, you have plenty to eat in the sense that you grow gardens and your mom cans and our hardship probably was more about just not having. A lot of money, being able to get things that most other kids got, we had a good time because we were in the country and free.

Ernestine 1:49

Lovely.

Barbara 1:49

Yeah.

Ernestine 1:49

And it must have been fun having 11 siblings, 12 of you. How many brothers and sisters?

Barbara 1:54

Seven girls. And five boys. My sister married, early at 17, and then my brother, he ran off with a circus at 16.

Ernestine 2:01

Oh my gosh.

Barbara 2:02

Well, the circus came to town and at the time it was hard to find jobs and he came in and announced one day, mom, I'm leaving with a circus. I got a job

Ernestine 2:10

right out of the movies.

Barbara 2:11

Right. You didn't really think too much about, as long as there were jobs. And that was the main thing in life those days.

Ernestine 2:17

What are some of your fondest memories growing up on a farm?

Barbara 2:20

You were used to early hours, in late evenings, on cotton farms. Naturally that's a tough world, but you didn't really think about it, you just did it. Us kids were, out in the fields early and, so were the neighbors I think that in a way that we were lucky that we had hard times in our lives because it makes you stronger and you learn to live with all types of different situations.

Ernestine 2:43

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 2:43

And can, adjust to 'em, I should say.

Ernestine 2:45

Who had the biggest influence on you when you were young?

Barbara 2:49

There were a lot of people in our lives at different points. But I think the one for me that helped me a lot, I stuttered and had a, speech impediment when I was real young. Had a teacher though in the second grade, that noticed that when I would have to tell about my experience as a child to the class. That I had really,, a lot of trouble pronouncing words and then I'd hesitate before I would speak. She started, a program with me one-on-one, just making me repeat, every day in school, her name was Ms. Fletcher and she would, stay with me and keep saying, repeat, repeat, repeat until I was able to overcome a lot of it. I still have, issues with words that I cannot pronounce. I have trouble sometimes with s's like sachet you learn to control it and you learn to say sentences that doesn't include those words. And years ago I was one of the ones that helped start the Pinellas County Coalition for the Homeless. And at the time when we started it in 1984, I was elected as the secretary. And I thought, oh Lord. We had maybe 20 people at the first meeting and then, the next meeting was way up. Mm-hmm. 50 over.

Ernestine 3:57

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 3:57

And I, learn when I'd have to read the Bennetts out. I would come to words that I couldn't really pronounce like they should be, and I would say hard word and go on where they just caught on and then it became like a humor, that people would laugh and, that's the way I overcame, a number of things that I couldn't control or couldn't, change

Ernestine 4:17

humor.

Barbara 4:18

Yes.

Ernestine 4:18

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 4:18

Humor. Mm-hmm. Hard word.

Ernestine 4:20

I think a lot of us use humor during difficult times. It does help, doesn't it?

Barbara 4:25

Laughter's wonderful. And that was one of the best things in my family the brothers and sisters we used to have a joke that if one got mad at you, who cared? You had all those others. And to this day now, unfortunately there's only five of us left.

Ernestine 4:39

Oh, I'm sorry.

Barbara 4:40

a lot of good memories. And us five still stick together

Ernestine 4:43

and very talented sing, you play musical instruments,

Barbara 4:47

We always say at our family reunion and, georgia, it's a lot of, our family picking and grinning. But, it was, and all, the ones that grew up, during all those times and all had careers with two police officers, two, retirees from the city of Clearwater, hairdressers, a minister. Everyone just picked a career and managed to get through it and retire from them

Ernestine 5:09

i've heard you and Wanda sing too. Beautiful.

Barbara 5:11

We were harmony singers. We were okay most of the time.

Ernestine 5:14

I thought you were great. What was your very first job

Barbara 5:18

my first job was actually ironing for my aunt at 11, and I think I got a, at that time I thought I was making maybe, a quarter a week. 25 cents. You have to realize that I'll be 85 in August, so that puts me way back there when, nickel and dimes were considered a lot of money. Through the years I had jobs, working in my aunt's cafe after hours, of school. I had worked in five and 10. You just, kept changing jobs back in those days to whenever you could make a little bit more money. It was all about trying to, survive, in that world. And I don't normally tell this to, people years ago I actually worked in the cigar factory.

Ernestine 5:53

Did you?

Barbara 5:54

Yes. In Clearwater. They had one on Myrtle Avenue at that time. A cigar factory. And, don't remember how long I lasted there, but I remember the first month I was there, I never smoked. And so cigars was not the best thing in the world for somebody that never smoked. I think I spent the first month in the restroom throwing up.

Ernestine 6:12

Oh my gosh.

Barbara 6:14

But I met a lot of, wonderful friends there. That just kind of took away the problem with the cigars and stuff, I remember, I worked on the banding machine, that's where they put the gold around the box.

Ernestine 6:24

Oh

Barbara 6:24

yeah. The cigars. And so we had three or four girls that were there on it. And we were to put 'em in boxes where they'd be shipped off and we had one young lady, That went to a lot of the drive-in movies with her husband and the kids and so she would come to work next day and she would tell us the entire movie. So we'd get so engrossed with it that all of a sudden the boxes would end up on the floor. Oh. And then we'd see the, manager there yelling at us girls. But, it's a funny thing about life. You remember things that when you just. Didn't care what kind of job you had, you just remember laughing a lot.

Ernestine 6:56

Oh, that's great.

Barbara 6:57

Yeah.

Ernestine 6:58

How did you end up in Florida?

Barbara 6:59

We moved here, the

Ernestine 7:00

whole family?

Barbara 7:01

Yes. No jobs in the area where we're at. And moved to Florida but it was just life. Through the years, when we got involved with the church, we got involved with the shelter.

Ernestine 7:11

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 7:11

We had started under the church. And that was started during that the family that had gotten hurt on the job. And, my husband, bought that house on Garden Avenue, put the family up, and then the church supported the family for three years or more. That's exactly how the shelter really started. No plan or anything like that. The Tabernacle got the reputation for helping people, and all of a sudden it was just growing.

Ernestine 7:33

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 7:34

We ran that under the church for probably about eight or nine years. And then in, the late eighties, the property that he had purchased and was using for the shelter, was getting older.

Ernestine 7:45

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 7:45

And hadn't gone public, so there wasn't a lot of money coming in other than his jobs and I met a friend of mine, Darlene Colta, who worked for the county for community development, I met her in the early eighties. She said to me, Barbara, come a 5 0 1 C3 and then you can apply for grants, and we'll help with rehab and so forth. That's when we created, HEP, which Wanda actually wrote, my sister, who's married to Bruce. Her and, judge Roland Fox, who's an attorney, they actually drew up the, 5 0 1 C3. Corporation paperwork. He became a friend of the program, even under the Tabernacle, and we were coming up with a name and he said, and we were trying to put the name homeless in that, in the program, so that people knew what we were doing. And he said, we could name it, homeless Emergency Project. He said, and Barb, we could call it help. Like you talk, we're gonna help you. So anyone ever remembered or wanted to know what Hap stood for? It stood for somebody that from Alabama that says, we are gonna help you. That's

Ernestine 8:43

kind of cute though,

Barbara 8:44

yeah,

Ernestine 8:44

yeah.

Barbara 8:45

Oh yeah. I remember, judge Fox for years after he retired, coming, walking up, at the parking lot there at the church, to bring a Turkey. Every Thanksgiving. He'd be bringing, I got a Turkey Barb

Ernestine 8:55

That's cute. How did you and Otis meet?

Barbara 8:57

We started church there. He was a builder and my brothers worked at that time too, on the jobs with him, I always tell everyone what do I want to express in my life? And I tell 'em the biggest thing in my life is HEP. It's always been, from the day one when we, created the shelter I think when you believe in something and believe that what you're doing, what the mission is all about,. It becomes such a part of your life that's what you want to tell people about. And that's why, I speak at different meetings and I'm not good at asking for money. I'd rather say to them, come in and see what we do. See what HE P's all about, then you trust us. We're very transparent and show you where your dollar went. And how many people it can help too.

Ernestine 9:38

Very impactful. You mentioned the name HEP,

Barbara 9:42

we were homeless emergency project. As the legal. And then we changed it, DBA, as homeless. Empowerment program because we're more than emergency shelter. From day one, we really were, more than emergency shelter. Our biggest, thing that we did and noticed was the fact that when a client came in, you could give him a bed or a family bed and something to eat and something to wear. But really and truly you weren't. Making any changes in their life. And it was all about the need. What did that client need to get back out in the community making it. That's why we started years ago starting support services and bringing in partners that were doing things better than us.

Ernestine 10:19

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 10:19

And the hospitals got involved with us. Morton Plant was one of our, first success, partnerships. During that time, I can't remember the exact years that the state hospitals for the mentally ill started closing and so they were sending the people home, but the families could not. Manage them. They were off their medication and they'd end up on the street. There was a lot of conversations that went like, why is there so many mentally ill on the streets?

Ernestine 10:44

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 10:44

It was tough even bringing them in shelters until we could get 'em on medication. Phil Beachamp and Bruce Fyfe were at a function for Morton Plant, and he was talking about so many of the clients were in emergency rooms looking for a bed most of the time. And, Bruce said, if you give us somebody that can diagnose, we can help you solve that problem. And we did. First, they sent us an A RMP. That could make the diagnosis. And then later on sent two LPNs. And that's been in a place for years now. BayCare has now taken over that area, and they, pay for that.

Ernestine 11:17

That's wonderful. You've helped build an amazing nonprofit organization. What have been some of the most rewarding moments?

Barbara 11:24

Gosh, thousands because the results there's a song a group that I like, it's called Need to Breathe. They talk about being a difference maker. And I think, that's what HEP is about, is that they're a difference maker. They take. People that have, had the worst day of their life coming from every walk of life with a lot of issues, or could be just simple, that they've lost their job. I know when COVID hit, HEP was hit bad because many of the people, the businesses were closed. People couldn't work. We couldn't even take anyone in at that time that they wouldn't allow us to. 'cause we have a large number of people there already. And, it left a really bad impact on a number of people in our area, in Clearwater, everywhere in Pine County, in Hillsborough, out of that came a number of people that were looking for shelter it was just a time, and hadn't recovered either yet with people and losing, not being able to pay their mortgage.

Ernestine 12:18

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 12:18

We were able to, work with the county and be able to pick up, rents and, deposits and, even mortgages from different, partners of ours when we opened up the, veterans community, we built a clubhouse with it. That was another thing when we built Beatty Villas, which is 16 Apartments for families, I remembered we built those in 98. Before, that we had 12 mobile homes there that we had a grand opening for. The, workforce center, the veterans Community Center. Family units, the new kitchen.

Ernestine 12:47

Extraordinary moments

Barbara 12:49

and we have pictures of, former commissioners, former mayors, former HUD leaders. Mm-hmm. Just made up the whole group and when you're looking at a piece of ground that has nothing on it, but dirt and you got a shovel that you put in it. With the big breaking ground thing, it's nothing like,, when you see your first client go into that unit. That had been on the street and this was their home. I remember telling someone, they said, what do you furnish when you bring a family in? Everything including the fork, because that's what it's all about.

Ernestine 13:19

Yeah.

Barbara 13:20

But the biggest thing though, I think is the fact that when you run into different people through my life, I see different clients every so often in, banks. Grocery stores in, everywhere in, the mall, working in stores there that have been in the shelter. And I hear this, Hey, miss Barb, you remember me and I say, I remember your face.

Ernestine 13:39

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 13:40

And they said, well, I grew up now, but I was in the shelter when I was seven and eight. Oh wow. And all of that. I ran into a little girl not too long ago and she was in our thrift store. And she said, you remember me? And I said, your face, I do. And she said, well, I was there. And she said, oh, I said, oh, that's right. Your brother was there too. And he and she said, yes. I said, what's he doing? She said He has his own construction company now. And she said, I'm a manager

Ernestine 14:04

oh, that's

Barbara 14:05

terrific. And I've been there for 10 years. You can't beat that,

Ernestine 14:08

yeah.

Barbara 14:08

I'll tell you about guy that we thought so much of. He came to us, years ago when he had, Vietnam bad war then, and came out as a alcoholic. Remained an alcoholic, for about 15 years by the time he got to us. And he said to me, I have a job over on Hercules, but I don't like it. I'm a carpenter and I'm a good carpenter. And I said, well. You can see my husband in the morning on Monday. That was on a Sunday. He was at church and he got up and started talking and it wasn't time for him to talk and he had been drinking then. He'd just came in and I said, that might better be your last time to drink 'cause he won't hire you. Well he did, we did hire him and he spent 32 years at HEP

Ernestine 14:49

Oh

Barbara 14:49

as the best carpenter and he was, that's wonderful. And when he came there at first he was a bad alcoholic, and he came from a great family. His family was not, from a poor situation or, hard times or anything. It was all about the war. Back then in my lifetime, I've saw a lot of that was caused by the PTSD mm-hmm. And the mental illness. And the alcoholism.

Ernestine 15:11

I know that over the years there have been cities that have tried to duplicate what you've been able to accomplish here in the Clearwater Tampa Bay region. However, they haven't been as successful. What do you think is missing in some of those formulas in other locations that keeps them from being as successful as you have been over the years?

Barbara 15:38

I don't know if I have the right answer for that. We saw as the right answer for us. And it had to do with not just trying to bandaid it, we'll give you, you got a bed. Here's, you can eat here, you can go down to the store and get anything you need free. And that's the way it's set up at our program. Our clients get vouchers from the, caseworkers and they go down and they get their items free. Not only do they get them free, but when they get ready to move out, they can furnish their units that they're going to out of their store too. We've done that ever since, from the very beginning when we opened, the thrift store 40 something years ago. My thought on that, just telling you this as a plan I thought why would I charge the client? He didn't have any money when he came in anyway. Through the years, we've continued to do that and we give back we do mock billing on it, and it shows that we give back from 70 to $80,000 worth of goods back to the client out of the store that people donate. And I think donors love that.

Ernestine 16:33

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 16:33

They love the fact that the clients can, look good. They'd come in, get a shower. We have our hairdressers there. I'd be here all day talking about what we do, but we tried to cover the need. How can somebody,

Ernestine 16:44

get back on their feet

Barbara 16:45

exactly,

Ernestine 16:46

yeah.

Barbara 16:47

When they need dental care

Ernestine 16:48

mm-hmm.

Barbara 16:49

When they need a haircut mm-hmm they need, the clothes that look decent when they apply for jobs our dental clinic, is one of our biggest successes. Doc Johnson, who had a 35 year practice here in Clearwater in fact, I met people that, that was their dentist. He called in 1991 and he said, Barbara, sick of golf, give me something to do. And he had been donating like tooth es and toothpaste for the clients and, I told him, I said, well, doc, you can answer the phone. Now I'm thinking he's a doctor. He's not gonna answer a phone. I don't mean anything bad about doctors. They do answer phones. But, anyway, he said, okay. And he came and, answered the phone every Wednesday for three years. In 94, by that time he had said we'd have to start a dental clinic and he said, I do not want to start one for pain management. I want to do everything. So we did a full service dental clinic. In 24 we did $1.5 million worth of procedures.

Ernestine 17:41

Wow.

Barbara 17:42

We have over 30 dentists that volunteer. Through those years, I was doing a tour the other day and I looked up at a picture of Doc. And in 1994 we did $47,000 worth of, procedures now we're over a million dollars worth of procedures and a little dental clinic at HEP.

Ernestine 17:58

That's amazing.

Barbara 17:59

It's amazing. I saw dentists in there after they finished working on the client tears in their eyes and Doc always cried. He'd call me over from the office, come here and look at this one. You can't create people like that. It's within them, that's the way our volunteers are. That's why I love volunteers. It's in their hearts to. Do those things and reach out.

Ernestine 18:18

Extraordinary, really is, were there any pivotal moments or decisions that changed the course of your life?

Barbara 18:27

I was a diehard, my husband told me one time I was the most stubborn woman in the world he ever met. And I said, is that bad? And he said, actually, it's not. If you're gonna say you're gonna do something, you end up doing it do or die, always had a reputation of hiring people smarter than me. I thought that was a real plus in my life cause it made me look good. I think caring about people, probably the best thing in the world that happened to me, I was raised up in a big family and you learn to like people, whether they acted nice or not, and I think that made me, receptive. I have a favorite statement. People ask me in my opinion about different things about this or that and the other. And I said, well, God didn't die and leave me, judge. I got enough to answer for when I get up there. I don't need anybody else's. I think that's allowed me to, look at people when they come in with all kinds of issues. A lot of times they've wasted their lives away, and become in the shape that they're in they've not been there for their kids. They left creating single parents. And not given support to the families, to the kids like they need to do.

Ernestine 19:23

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 19:24

I've seen people that have lost all their teeth due to drugs. Cocaine is a real bad issue, a thing on your teeth and so forth, your dental. I've saw people that wasted their life, as a drunk, but you don't judge cause you didn't walk in their shoes. You don't know what put them there. And I think that's what allows you to work with people, that a lot of people wouldn't work with. One of the things that they put on Otis's tombstone was he saw Worth and others, where others saw none. I think that, tells you how you can not be judging people when they come and say, I'm homeless. For whatever reason.

Ernestine 19:59

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 19:59

And you can just say, well, we've got this program here, it's called Helping People Help themselves. And we'll do whatever we can to help you get where you need to be.

Ernestine 20:07

What are some misconceptions that people might have about the homeless?

Barbara 20:11

They're all drunks or druggies or they don't wanna work. I don't think anybody wakes up in the morning and says, I wanna be homeless today.

Ernestine 20:17

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 20:17

I think, that circumstances, in the cases that I've saw comes from anything, everything, divorces, illnesses, not making enough money, not enough education. One of the biggest things is, affordable housing, trying to find something that your salary can afford to rent, or, buy it's a real problem out there I think people forget how many people work in the, serving world, the restaurants and the hospitals and the teacher, the police officers even that the salaries just don't cut it. And we see that all the time. It's not that they're not trying, but if their car breaks down or the insurance goes up, or this happens in their life. They get an illness for the child, or they don't have insurance, that all creates homelessness. COVID created a lot of homelessness. The hurricane created homelessness. Believe it or not, we had people that were living in high rises called and said, do you have any room at the shelter? Because they have been in those high rises for a long time. Their income didn't change that much. And then insurance backed up and they were pretty much homeless. If they didn't have family that they could go to, and a lot of 'em are elderly. I think when people just say, make a statement like, they're just homeless. That's the way they are because they wanna be like that. I think years ago, service providers, figured out that once a client becomes homeless, especially male population, it's like they drop into a dark hole. A lot of times they've lost their id. They can't get a job because they don't have a permanent address. You don't have, somewhere to take a bath unless you're at a gas station I think that works on your mind too. You spend your day trying to find something to eat somewhere to sleep at night if it's bad weather, it's really tough. For anyone to say, I got the right answer on homelessness, I'd have to really, probably not believe that.

Ernestine 21:58

Yeah. The city did do. Survey though, and there is a percentage of people that just want to be like living in the woods and whatever. You don't really count those as homeless, do you? Or those are? Well,

Barbara 22:10

We do. They come into the shelter. And, usually you can tell right away, a good social worker can tell in 10 minutes where they've been, where they're at and where they're going.

Ernestine 22:18

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 22:19

In conversation with the right question you can read 'em. But they've gotten comfortable with it some of 'em actually draw, their own, maybe a disability and they don't wanna part with the money. So they won't. Rent something or go to somewhere where they'd have to pay some of the money, even at a shelter, in permanent supportive housing, you can do 30% of their income, whatever it is. That's to keep people with the idea that you need to, have to pay something even in the community.

Ernestine 22:43

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 22:43

That will stop people even coming in from trying to get into a program the 55 plus 'cause they gotta give up that money.

Ernestine 22:49

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 22:49

And that's all they have. A lot of the people that we deal with too, the ones that's own social security and homeless, they don't draw a lot of money. They're lucky if they're getting 700 or, even 900 is considered, large a month. Where in the world are you gonna live on that even the cheaper rents. We have a quality improvement committee, on our board and all our numbers are reported to our board members, and we even report the percentage that goes back to homelessness. In other words, when they were there and they don't make it and we're not successful in getting them to make it. That's reported. It can be sometimes 10%, 15%. HEP has failures as well as successes, because you're dealing with people. And, those are the ones. They want what they want, but they don't wanna, adhere to the rules and regulations that they have to go through

Ernestine 23:37

what lessons about family and relationships would you pass along to the younger generation?

Barbara 23:43

I heard, a general give a speech and he said that the most important thing in raising kids was to make 'em make their bed. Have you heard that?

Ernestine 23:51

Yes.

Barbara 23:51

That was a thing in my life I always made my bed. Whatever bed I was in, I made it.

Ernestine 23:57

Did

Barbara 23:57

you? Yes, because I always, figured out the room could be completely cluttered, but if your bed was made, it just looked. Rather nice, like you had your life together. Years ago I used to speak at, the Ibis Schools. It was, school with troubled children I used to tell 'em how many of you made your bed this morning? There wouldn't be hardly any hands up. I'd say, well, you're gonna have a hard time in life. And they'd all laugh, what's my bed got to do with that? Now, I haven't never had any children. My brother and sisters used to drop their, their kids off thinking we were lonely. And there's been a lot of kids in my life and my whole thing has always been the choices in life. If you have, your nieces nephew and all staying with your friends and you can't beat 'em. If they're bad.

Ernestine 24:38

Right.

Barbara 24:39

So I was always giving them choices and to this day, the grownups now that used to be kids in my life, they would say, yeah, we hated those choices bar. Make your bed.

Ernestine 24:48

Make your bed.

Barbara 24:49

I think it makes you responsible. I've seen the difference in the way, a lot of parents don't have a lot of times, but it shows up sometimes in how the kids' studies and making 'em do their homework. Giving 'em a breakfast before they go to school, kids, I think like to be told to do their homework. They like that, that somebody cares.

Ernestine 25:06

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 25:06

Enough to tell 'em that, and feed them. I come from the old Southern world where somebody walks through your door and you say, are you hungry? I got something to eat. You want to eat?, I think some things in life that kids got left out that ended up maybe having real problems in their life is that they didn't have a lot of that, support in that way.

Ernestine 25:23

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 25:23

If you're a parent, I think people say, you don't have any kids, Barb, how can you give advice? Well, I've observed a lot of kids, and I think you need to take the time to, look at how you're doing it. What the responses are and I think it changes. I've often said that at the shelter, we feel like sometimes we're raised in other people's kids.

Ernestine 25:40

What advice would you give someone interested in nonprofit work?

Barbara 25:44

You got 40 years? I get that question asked a lot. I'll get phone calls and say, I wanna start a nonprofit. And I want to, get this done. And so then I just ask the normal questions like, you got any money? Do you have land? Do you have, supporters that's already stepped in, whether they have money or volunteering or helping you plan or anything like that? I tell 'em, do it by the book. Make sure it's set up right. Make sure you have an audit if you don't make sure your books are right, so that you don't have to face problems down the road, that can close your

Ernestine 26:14

Nonprofit.

Barbara 26:14

I talk about, the need. If you apply for any grants you've got to show a need. If you've got a church that's involved with you, then, embrace your congregation to get how they would feel about it. Setting it up it's all about if you have the drive for it, do the legwork, do your homework, i've seen people that, they have the real heart for the homeless but the first thing, sometimes they wanna give them money, but if they got habits, they don't need money, they need a home. You see people on the street that's panhandling. Sometimes you get this certain thing that just touches you for a minute and you will help them. But a lot of times some of 'em are suffering from, substance abuse and it's, that's not the best thing you could do. Better to go buy McDonald's, buy a hamburger and hand them

Ernestine 26:53

mm-hmm.

Barbara 26:54

Or find out where a shelter is and maybe give them information about a shelter that they can get in, that kind of thing. I don't recommend, people taking people home with 'em from the street I don't think that's safe.

Ernestine 27:05

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 27:06

I know it's been done and they've been safe, but you never know, different things like that. If you're truly interested in a nonprofit, then volunteer to start. If you're interested in starting a nonprofit, I think probably do go a little bit further out and volunteer at a nonprofit, see what it's all about. See what you'd be dealing with if you were running that, company. I think there's a lot of nonprofits that, do really good work. That you could join in with. It doesn't have to be a standalone

Ernestine 27:33

Good advice. What do you think is the secret to a fulfilling and happy life?

Barbara 27:37

Staying alive., Ernie, you're happy, right?

Ernestine 27:40

Mm-hmm. I am.

Barbara 27:41

Lemme ask you a question.

Ernestine 27:42

Sure.

Barbara 27:42

What makes you happy?

Ernestine 27:43

Purpose, good health, friends, family, love,

Barbara 27:47

yeah. That's pretty much mine too.

Ernestine 27:50

Mm-hmm.

Barbara 27:50

I think one of my biggest happiness is to see, adopt a family at Christmas time. When the kids that live in shelters get new gifts. And I have to say our Adopt a Family program at HEP is outstanding. The people that adopt those kids just go out of the way. It's like they can't buy enough or do enough. My happiness too is seeing, all my family, make it in life able to, have careers or happiness or married wonderful people that they love and all I think happiness is all about. Just seeing people do something that changes their life to make it better for them.

Ernestine 28:27

Beautiful. You have incredible drive

Barbara 28:30

you can't grow old when you're moving. They say, a body in motion stays in motion it's worked out really good. I now have enough time to call donors that have been involved with me forever, from when we first started the program and they stayed involved, then they brought their kids in. I have enough time now to call them and thank them for all these years of support. And I tell 'em, just drive by HEP. You help build it. Brag about it. And then I call first time donors, to tell 'em how grateful we are that they get involved. Then they call reoccurring donors that, thank you for staying involved. And I am, i'm grateful all the time. That's why when people talk about the Barb Green thing and the founder thing, I don't, that doesn't even really register in that world because I think how many people got involved with this program make it happen like this? I had a little lady that called me one time and said, Barb, don't send me a thank you letter, anymore. Don't waste the stamp. Now, she was sending $5 a month. She had a little social security check, and that was it. And she'd been donating to HEP for. Over 30 years or so. She donated $5 a month. And she said, Barb, don't send me a letter thanking me. Save the stamp. And I said to her, Betty, you're worth a stamp. And she said, no, no, and so I added up 30 years of, her donating $5 a month and it came to a really good amount. And when I told her, she said, oh my gosh, I had no idea. And I said, you get your son and you have him bring you over here and you tell him this is what we helped build.

Ernestine 29:55

Oh.

Barbara 29:55

And, but that's how I feel about donors. It doesn't make any difference what they give it. It can be even their time. I tell volunteers, you help mold this and build it. Couldn't have done it without you. And that's really a true statement that, when I think about, church members, families, of mine and all our families that got involved and did work on the buildings without thinking about it and went on to their jobs. There was no pay or anything like that. It was just out of their heart. So when you have as many people that I've met in, almost 50 years

Ernestine 30:24

mm-hmm.

Barbara 30:25

Of people volunteering and giving their time, and when they didn't have the money, gave their little bit of money. I have a lady that sends in. $500 every month to HEP. And I call her the car payment. She laughs her head off her husband too. She just automatically makes a check out and it's like she's making a car payment, but I have wonderful relationships with donors. They're just, they've become family and friends

Ernestine 30:44

That's great. I've been in the philanthropic space for quite a number of years, and we know philanthropy means different things to different people. What does philanthropy mean to you?

Barbara 30:55

It's one of the words, I can't pronounce that's the truth. Ashley, our CEO and president, wonderful lady. Barb and Wanda's the worst. Barb repeated, I still haven't learned, I can't, I hadn't been able to tackle that one. Think people that, recognize that word and know what it stands for. I think they're the luckiest people in the world. It doesn't matter what you give, even if you give a time of day, like, going to a nursing home and just singing to 'em at Christmas time or, doing like my brother Dave has always had a, nursing home ministry he does the music just simple things like that. Or meeting somebody on the street and actually saying, hi, how are you? Meeting a client in the parking lot. I do. A lot of times. Hey, how's it going? How's your day? I think it doesn't always have to be money. I think the world is made up of a number of ways that you can just be kind and you talk about that a lot. Kindness. That's kindness is what it's all about. I think I've been the very, probably the luckiest person in the world that I've been involved with, people. The homeless and, people that in need that at the end of the day, I'm just so glad that I got a house I can go to. I got food on my table. You don't have time to feel sorry for yourself. And, in the same way, the way with the veterans, when you see people with missing limbs and how can you not feel like that you. Be grateful in areas that you're not having to face what they're having to face, doesn't mean that you're putting them down in any way. And, but you feel, and you sympathize and feel,, you can go over and speak to 'em. How to make their day a little bit better when they're suffering from that.

Ernestine 32:25

This has been terrific. Thank you for all the work you've done over the years. I'm so grateful to call you friend and the impact you've had in this community is absolutely extraordinary. So thank you. And thank you for sitting down with me today

Barbara 32:39

i've made so many mistakes. There's a verse in the Bible that says, I die daily. I'm my worst critic, i'm very grateful that God's, allowed me to be a part of all these people's life.

Ernestine 32:48

Beautiful. Thank you Thanks for listening to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived. I hope you'll tune in for more meaningful stories on the human experience and share with family and friends. A special shout out to Will Cooper, out of Nashville, Tennessee for providing this season's music. All the episodes are available wherever you listen to podcasts, including my website. Bonvivantchic.com till next time. Remember, every day is a gift. Live it with kindness.