The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 64

The 64th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape hosts Matt Marchand, Executive Director of SafeSide Recovery and Tess Carleo, Manager of Recovery Services with SafeSide Recovery. Find out about the recent success with placing 20 residents in permanent housing and 18 individuals securing employment. 

 Additionally, this week The Pueblo Shelter and SafeSide Recovery are hosting their Open House on Thursday, June 18 from 2-5pm. Meet the community partners on campus, tour the Relief Shelter and residential shelter, explore the services offered and more. More information available on The Pueblo Shelter or on SafeSide Recovery Facebook pages or by visiting thepuebloshelter.org. 

Transcript

Welcome And Where To Listen

Haley Sue Robinson 0:07

Welcome to the 64th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I am Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs for the City of Pueblo.

Tess Carleo 0:15

I am Tess Carleo, manager of recovery services with Safeside Recovery.

Matt Marchand 0:20

And I am Matthew Marshand, Executive Director of Safeside Recovery.

Brian McCain 0:25

Brian McCain, Chief of Staff.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:28

I was like, are we going to get Brian in here? Everyone's probably wondering where's the mayor, because this is the mayor's mixtape. But we have a lot of folks in the room today, and so she said I could do this one on my own. So I'm sorry, Matt and Tess and Brian, but I'm it today.

Tess Carleo 0:47

Love it.

Haley Sue Robinson 0:48

Okay, so uh want to remind the listener you can find us on YouTube, BuzzSprout, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on local channel 17. Um, if you have questions or topic suggestions, you can um email us mayor @pueblo.us. And I am so excited to have our guests here today. Um, Matt and Tess, thanks for joining us. Matt, this is your second time on the podcast, so thanks for coming back.

Matt Marchand 1:14

Veteran.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:15

Yes, veteran. Tess, it's first time, but that's okay.

Tess Carleo 1:19

I promise to behave.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:21

Okay. That sounds great.

Meet Tess And Matt

Haley Sue Robinson 1:23

Um so before we jump into um some questions that I have for both of you, let's let's get to know you so the listener um can know a little bit about you and your role at SafeSide. So, Tess, let's start with you.

Tess Carleo 1:35

My role at SafeSide. Um, well, about actually almost exactly two years ago in July, I was managing the cafe at the Rawlings Library.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:47

Okay.

Tess Carleo 1:47

And if you've been to the Rawlings Library, you know who frequent, and I made friends with a lot of unhoused people.

Haley Sue Robinson 1:54

Sure.

Tess Carleo 1:55

And um there was one gentleman in particular who we talked about any and everything politics, philosophy, history, and he found out that I taught yoga. And so he was like, hey, you you he said to me, You don't seem like you're afraid of homeless people. Would you come teach yoga at the mission? And I was like, heck yeah, put me in touch with whoever.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:19

Sure.

Tess Carleo 2:19

And uh we'll get it started. And so I started with one yoga class a week.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:25

Okay.

Tess Carleo 2:25

and then by October 1st, I just loved the people so much that I asked Rob if there were any full-time positions.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:33

Cool.

Tess Carleo 2:34

And he brought me on before I even had my peer certification.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:38

Great.

Tess Carleo 2:39

And I acquired that. And since then I've just been working alongside SafeSide and now the Pueblo shelter, and I'm officially the manager of recovery services now.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:50

Very cool.

Tess Carleo 2:51

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 2:52

I love that story.

Tess Carleo 2:54

Well, thanks. Me too. It's a pretty exciting one for me, too, because I I kind of have been manifesting this exact position for like 10 years. And so I wasn't even expecting it, and then it happened, and I was like, it's go time.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:09

Okay. So I love that. Yeah. I really love that.

Tess Carleo 3:11

Well, thanks.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:12

Awesome. And uh, Matt, tell us a little bit about yourself. How'd you get started with SafeSide? Um, what have you been up to since last time you've been on the podcast?

Matt Marchand 3:22

Pretty much still the same.

Tess Carleo 3:24

He lies. The amount of stuff that this man has accomplished since the last time he sat here is wild.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:31

Tess will hype you up.

Tess Carleo 3:33

Don't be so modest, friend.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:35

He's like, please go on, go on. I'm ready.

Matt Marchand 3:38

Do you say more? No. Um, let's see. So who am I? Still the same person from the first time.

Haley Sue Robinson 3:45

Yep. Um what what if our what if this this is a first-time listener? So tell us a little bit about yourself, Matt.

Matt Marchand 3:50

Yeah, I think, you know, my my background's actually in art, um, which I just like being creative. And so trying to place that within like the executive director role, um, you know, envisioning things in a creative manner to to make things happen and support a community that's usually not supported.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:10

Sure.

Matt Marchand 4:10

Um, you know, with the mayor's help, the um she's an advocate for the unhomed, the city of Pueblo, the shelter, and Safe side. And so with that backing, it's been pretty easy to to step into this role and to push things forward. Um, you know, we strive to at the shelter, what we're striving for is to be a a model um to set the standard for what unhomed shelters look like um and how we operate. And so, yeah, we've made strides in the last six months. Um we're really excited about that. And so I think we're gonna talk a little bit about sharing that with the community here.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:51

Yeah, that's like the perfect segue. It's like you read the script or something. I love it.

Matt Marchand 4:54

I gave it a glance.

Haley Sue Robinson 4:56

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay,

The Recent Housing And Jobs Wins

Haley Sue Robinson 4:58

so actually jumping right into it, uh you all recently shared some of your success, um, which is pretty much incredible. Um you recently announced that 20 of your residents have found permanent housing, um, and 18 of your residents have um gained employment. Um, and those numbers are really significant. So talk to us a little bit about uh that process and and why we've had this recent kind of surge in success at at SafeSide and at the public shelter. Either one of you. That's a question for both.

Tess Carleo 5:34

Um well I think that the surge in success is just kind of um indicative of the culture that we've been nurturing down there. Um it's a lot more uh progressive and motivational and encouraging these people that just because you've fallen on hard times doesn't mean that you have to unpack and live there, that they are worthy and deserve so much more. Um and that energy kind of just carries throughout, and here we are. Um I would be remiss if I didn't say that our team is um just incredible. Our case manager, Christy Larson, is when she talks anything housing with me, she knows that I just like glaze over because I it's so in-depth and

Haley Sue Robinson 6:26

it's complex.

Tess Carleo 6:27

Very complex. And she knows it well enough to know packet, packet, packet, this person, this person. So for a long time she was working kind of individually with everyone, and then we knew that there was gonna be a big opening for the housing. And so, like, as a team, we really buckled down in that week. Um, Christy came in on a Saturday, sat down 14 people, they filled out the housing applications, which I don't know if you've ever seen, but they're like it's not an application, it's a packet. And

Haley Sue Robinson 7:00

almost like a book, honestly.

Tess Carleo 7:02

Yeah, it's like it's a lot. And then what you don't understand or you don't realize until you're in the process is that those applications only go to certain programs.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:12

Okay.

Tess Carleo 7:13

And there's several different programs.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:15

Sure.

Tess Carleo 7:16

And so um it was like this one final push on a Saturday. Christy came in, sat down with 14 of them, got all of the applications done. Monday morning, Gabe Charbonneau came in bright and early because he's always there bright and early, um, and hand delivered them down to housing. And by the time we got the information back that our people had been approved, it was like it was so cool to see like in real time because it was just like a cyclical thing. People picking up what we needed to do. These documents need to be in, these people need this letter. And we had everything buttoned up within like what, three days? Like we found out on Thursday.

Haley Sue Robinson 7:59

It was pretty quick.

Tess Carleo 8:00

Yeah, we found out on Thursday that eleven of the twelve had been approved. And by Tuesday we had all of their documents in and everything. Um and it's just, you know, like Matt said, they feel kind of overlooked and overshadowed. So the fact that we all took the time and did this and like look, it it is possible. We tell them a lot, don't count on housing because

Haley Sue Robinson 8:27

it's it's a competitive process,

Tess Carleo 8:29

right?

Haley Sue Robinson 8:30

It's yeah, it's rigorous.

Tess Carleo 8:31

Right. And so the fact that we were able to house eleven through housing was like oh my gosh, this never happens.

Haley Sue Robinson 8:40

Yeah.

Tess Carleo 8:40

Um but it's

Haley Sue Robinson 8:41

I know Rob Rob reached out to me, he sent me an email and he was like, Haley, we've never seen anything like this. And uh

Tess Carleo 8:48

Now we've got an entire suite full of furniture for when they go out into their into their world. And it's so cool. It's it's a fun process to watch.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:02

It is really cool.

Tess Carleo 9:02

It's a difficult process to be a part of, but it's a cool one when it finally comes to fruition.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:10

Matt?

Matt Marchand 9:12

Yeah, I think that it um you know Tess said it really well. It's the team that we have that's really stepped up. I think the other part of it, you know, these achievements were in the making. Right. They did it three days, kind of made it happen, but actually it took a couple of months.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:30

Yeah.

Matt Marchand 9:30

Um one being um really intentional about the way that we show up and how we learn to work within the system.

Haley Sue Robinson 9:40

Okay

Matt Marchand 9:41

Like when you look at housing, it's a packet, it's a book. Um knowing what is involved to get it is part of it, right? Like not just doing it on a whim, but actually like studying it. Um, you know, a lot of our residents um have been down and out, right? It doesn't mean that they're not deserving. Right? And so when we can learn something and take it the extra mile and create movement on our campus, which is what our campus is all about.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:09

Yeah.

Matt Marchand 10:10

Um you know, it's I I've said this till I was blue in the face, it's not a retirement community. It's a place for people to come, heal, and move on with their lives. Um and so with our team being intentional on learning the systems and learning how to advocate for our our residents, um, we've been able to um achieve these goals. Um and so yeah, it's um really, really cool to see.

Haley Sue Robinson 10:37

I think

Building A System That Creates Movement

Haley Sue Robinson 10:38

I think the other piece that you both have mentioned that um from an outside perspective looking in, what's different is um all of the services that are there. So um what what was formerly in place was you know emergency sheltering and a residential program with uh occasional um wraparound services or community partners. And now it seems as though, to your point, Matt, it it really is meant to be you know a a transition process and you come here, you stay for a little bit, and you move on. But there's something different and and I want to know what is that different.

Matt Marchand 11:22

Um I think it's the way that we show up.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:24

Okay.

Matt Marchand 11:24

Right? So like um there's a c there's a couple things. I start with the staff. It's the way that the staff shows up. Um it's being really clear of what our goals are.

Haley Sue Robinson 11:33

Sure.

Matt Marchand 11:33

Being really clear of what our approach is. And when you look at the staff, when I look at the staff, right, like each one of our staff's uh staff members are have really good qualities, right? And so like what we need to do is utilize those for the benefit of our residents. Um and so when we can can go and look at the the different coaches and be like, hey, you're really good at this, like make this happen for these for these guys. And then hey, you're really good at this, focus on doing this, and then we can all come together as a team to make something happen. Um so outside of the staffing, it's the programming.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:14

Sure.

Matt Marchand 12:14

Right. And so we've split it up, we've been really intentional about our curriculum. Um, we've been intentional about setting up um timely goals.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:25

Okay.

Matt Marchand 12:26

Um, you know, giving the the residents a certain amount of time to kind of settle in, um, feel safe, um, start their healing journey, um, you know, while also keeping them accountable and um and pushing them to do things that uh are hard.

Haley Sue Robinson 12:46

Sure.

Matt Marchand 12:46

Right? That are that are that are hard to do but are necessary to do to achieve the goals that they that they have, and if they don't have them yet, they will have them. We can predict that. Um and so, you know, then we start working vocational um and and getting resumes done and getting getting the things that everyone that might take for granted um but they haven't had the opportunity to do before. And so once we start breaking these things down and giving them uh the the coaching world calls them smart goals, yeah um but once you get them broken down and easy to obtain and then they start obtaining them, then the light switch goes off.

Haley Sue Robinson 13:29

Sure.

Matt Marchand 13:30

And it is um yeah, and then we see eleven people housed in in one circuit, right?

Haley Sue Robinson 13:36

Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic.

Matt Marchand 13:38

You know, 18 people employed. I think when I came on um it was 12% was the employment rate at the at the shelter. So we've not only increased the amount of people housing, we've increased the the employment rate. We've also increased our census. We've been able to bump up um the amount of people that we can get into our residential program. And by proxy, we've we've been able to increase the amount of people that we can house in our relief shelter. And we've also increased the amount of people that we feed um on a daily basis. And so with all these numbers kind of trending upwards, um, it takes a really good team.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:21

Sure.

Matt Marchand 14:22

Right? And that's what we've well that's what we've constructed.

Haley Sue Robinson 14:24

and I I think uh what you touched on is is really the piece that um was necessary was regaining that trust and that confidence from the community, um, not only the unhoused community, but the larger Pueblo community. And so those numbers that you've seen as far as folks entering the relief shelter, and maybe that's their starting point, or potentially their starting point is the the meal that you serve each day, and then getting them to the relief shelter, and then creating those um relationships and that confidence and trust, and then getting them into the residential program, which which then gets them into permanent housing, which is incredible. Um and it's it it's exciting for us at the city. I think it's very exciting um for the Pueblo community to just see some folks return to dignity and um and be in a place of safety.

Matt Marchand 15:20

Yeah. Get housing, get back into the workforce. Um a lot of the our residents want to be contributors to the community. They want to be. They just um some have lost hope, some just don't know how.

Haley Sue Robinson 15:35

Sure.

Matt Marchand 15:35

Um and so when we can kind of

Haley Sue Robinson 15:38

Give them the tools to get there. Great. Um so if if we have listeners who maybe don't know anything about uh the Pueblo shelter, they don't know anything about Safe side recovery. I know we have an open house later this week, but um tell us a little bit about what else is offered on the campus and and what folks could expect if they were to come visit you at the Pueblo shelter. That's that's a defer to you, Tess. I saw Matt's face and he said that's a Tess question.

Tess Carleo 16:07

Um well, let's

On Campus Services People Can Use

Tess Carleo 16:09

see. What you I mean, you will find all of the things um on any given day. Um but the uh some of the things that we have added since Mr. Marchand's um entrance is um we've got PCHC on campus um once a week.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:27

Yeah, their pop-up

Tess Carleo 16:28

They have their pop-up clinic, yeah. Um and that has been so helpful. Um we've got Catholic Charities, um, Crystal Archiletta's works program.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:38

Yeah.

Tess Carleo 16:38

Um and I mean we joke all the time that she may as well be Safe side staff because she's taking messages and opening doors and um all of you know

Haley Sue Robinson 16:49

Doing all the things.

Tess Carleo 16:49

Yeah, doing all the things.

Haley Sue Robinson 16:50

Yeah.

Tess Carleo 16:51

Um then we have Innavive Home Health. They come in um and do a lot of med management for a lot of our residents.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:00

Okay.

Tess Carleo 17:01

Um we've got a social security lawyer that comes in twice a month from Denver.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:07

Great.

Tess Carleo 17:07

Uh Richard Sansusi. Um I

Matt Marchand 17:12

mobile dentist?

Tess Carleo 17:12

Mobile dentist. I was like, I know I'm forgetting a whole bunch. Mobile dentist comes in.

Matt Marchand 17:17

Mobile vaccine.

Tess Carleo 17:18

Mobile vaccine. Um

Haley Sue Robinson 17:20

Paragon, behavioral health.

Tess Carleo 17:25

Oh, yeah, that's a pretty important one.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:28

Um I I just know because I looked at the flyer, so I'm like cheating.

Tess Carleo 17:32

Yeah. Um

Haley Sue Robinson 17:35

How about the thing that you guys host on Fridays when I sometimes come

Fry Yay Outreach And Donations

Haley Sue Robinson 17:38

by? What's that?

Tess Carleo 17:39

Fry Yay.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:40

Fry yay.

Tess Carleo 17:41

Fry Yay. So Fry Yay is our outreach event that we hold uh on the second Friday of every month.

Haley Sue Robinson 17:48

Okay.

Tess Carleo 17:49

And it is, I mean, it all kind of depends on weather and schedules, but we bring um Purple Mountain Recovery. Uh we've got Amanda Ladner with Express Haircuts who comes in and does haircuts for our people. Um we pass out food bags, clothes, and just little goodies. Um, we've got our case management there if people need to sign up for Medicaid or food stamps.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:16

Sure.

Tess Carleo 18:17

Um and it's just kind of like a community event where you know people can come and get what they need, and we kind of get to build rapport. And that's kind of a place where um, like when well, you'd mentioned that uh we've been rebuilding trust. And one of the ways that that has been evidence to us is that um we've seen folks coming up from the river bottom.

Haley Sue Robinson 18:44

Sure.

Tess Carleo 18:44

Um, and they come for the meal or they'll come for Friyay and they get the same respect and dignity as any other person that walks on our campus, and just kind of being able to build that rapport through that event like has been really amazing, and and it truly is outreach because they're coming. We've got people from all over the city that, you know, come for their stuff. And in the summertime, we like to do hot dogs and stuff.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:18

Okay.

Tess Carleo 19:19

So yeah. So we use it.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:20

Little cookout?

Tess Carleo 19:20

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:21

All right.

Tess Carleo 19:21

Yeah, we try and make it a party because if we're not having a good time, what's the point?

Haley Sue Robinson 19:25

So it's like a little mini resource fair and and uh folks are able to get what they need and connect with you all. Um and it's very interesting to hear that we're getting some folks who maybe have not visited the Pueblo shelter campus before or have been, as some folks like to say, uh resistant.

Tess Carleo 19:44

Yes.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:45

Um and now you're starting to see some of those folks show up on campus.

Tess Carleo 19:50

Right. Which I, you know, to me is a testament of trust.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:53

Sure.

Tess Carleo 19:53

You know, um they know they know at the very least that when they come on campus, they're they won't be mistreated.

Haley Sue Robinson 19:59

Yeah.

Tess Carleo 20:00

And if that's all that we have to offer at the end of the day, that works for me, and I'm pretty sure it works for him.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:05

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so as far as that goes, um, what does it look like for uh the resources that you hand out? Is that donation-based? Is that from

Tess Carleo 20:18

Yes.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:18

What does that look like?

Tess Carleo 20:20

So all of everything that we hand out is donation-based. Um we have a lovely little lady who takes care of all of our clothing donations, our hygiene donations, um, and she puts together bags. And it like, and I think what really helps is that it's so thoughtful, you know, like we really make it a point to create something special. Um, but it's all it is all donation-based.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:49

Okay.

Tess Carleo 20:49

So keep them coming.

Matt Marchand 20:51

We also get one of our supporters is Care and share.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:53

Oh, sure.

Matt Marchand 20:54

And they um have been great.

Haley Sue Robinson 20:57

Yeah, they're a great community partner.

Matt Marchand 20:59

Uh you know, all of our food, 99% of our food comes from them.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:05

Okay.

Matt Marchand 21:05

Um and so as we've had a ri a rise in our numbers that we've been able to serve, um, they've also adjusted with so during the Fridays, you know, we all hand out food bags.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:18

Yeah.

Matt Marchand 21:19

Um and that food comes from them.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:20

Okay.

Matt Marchand 21:21

Um and the community. The community is great about donating food as well. Um but you know, and by picking up in bulk um from them, it it allows us to show up. Right. Um, I think some of the other services that I wanted to chime in on was the food. Um, you know, we do a dinner at 4 30 every day. And so if anybody's ever hungry, come check it out.

Haley Sue Robinson 21:44

And that's that's seven days a week.

Matt Marchand 21:46

Seven days a week

Haley Sue Robinson 21:47

every day.

Matt Marchand 21:47

And our our kitchen staff, we've been intentional with that staffing. And um the food that they serve is amazing. I'm just gonna throw shout them out. For a second, because we made homemade flautas the other day.

Tess Carleo 22:04

Wild. They were so good. I actually took some home and my husband ate them.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:12

No way.

Tess Carleo 22:13

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:14

Okay.

Tess Carleo 22:14

Yeah.

Matt Marchand 22:14

I mean, when and that's what that's how we want to show up, right? Like, um, and so if everyone's in need, 430, come to the campus. Like, we will feed anybody. Um, we've also been really good at um creating food boxes for the community. Um and and those numbers have unfortunately they've ticked up too.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:37

Sure.

Matt Marchand 22:37

But um fortunately, we get to show up.

Haley Sue Robinson 22:40

Yeah.

Matt Marchand 22:41

Um, and so those are some of the smaller um services that might not be seen on the front on the front end of it, right? Is is the food boxes going out, the families out the back door. Um and so, you know, not only with the donations of clothes and hygiene products and and those kind of goodie bags that um anyone from the community, anybody, if you don't have food on the table that night, call us. Um and you're anyone's welcome to come.

Open House Details And Final Updates

Haley Sue Robinson 23:12

You really are looking to be a community partner for Pueblo. What can we anticipate for the open house this Thursday from two to five?

Tess Carleo 23:25

The most fun ever.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:27

Yeah, absolutely.

Tess Carleo 23:29

Um we're going to have Chef Harvey with Steel City Cafe. Um, and then all of our community partners will be on campus.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:38

Okay.

Tess Carleo 23:38

Uh staff will be offering tours.

Haley Sue Robinson 23:42

Great.

Tess Carleo 23:42

Um, so it's just I think what we want to do is give the community an opportunity to see what happens there, what it looks like, where people are living, what our group room looks like,

Haley Sue Robinson 23:57

sure.

Tess Carleo 23:57

Um, what kind of culture we're fostering. Because we I I mean Matt is obviously new to Pueblo, and I am not. Um and so rebuilding that trust, um, you know, people like to see it. They like they like the concrete evidence.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:18

We believe you in what you're saying, but if I want to see it with my own eyes, I can come do that.

Tess Carleo 24:21

Right. Right. And um I mean, I know that I'm slightly biased, but I have a feeling that people will be very surprised at what our facilities look like and the people inside. And it's it's a really nice place. And you know, it's it's gotten a bad rap, and it's like, so come see all the good things that we've done.

Haley Sue Robinson 24:49

Yeah. I I think uh, you know, from the city perspective, um, we're really proud of the Pueblo Shelter and what it the transformation has been and the relationship with Safeside Recovery. Um, but the other piece is starting to see that campus really become what we said it was going to be. You know, we've had um the Pueblo Shelter as the only permanent um housing uh or um homeless shelter in the city. Then we had the relief shelter for um emergency sheltering 365 days a year. Formerly it was just when it was cold and occasionally when it was really hot. Now it's every night. Um and then slowly SafeSide has continued to build on relationships with the community partners, with you know, Catholic Charities in the Works Program and PCHC in the clinic and all of the folks that you bring in uh weekly or monthly to help your clients. And now it's really time for people to see it and say, hey, this is pretty cool. And then um, you know, later this year we're gonna see the the transition of of more um more transitional housing available, uh the fence and uh pet relief area and more services.

Tess Carleo 26:13

Yeah.

Haley Sue Robinson 26:14

It's pretty exciting. Um

Matt Marchand 26:17

really exciting.

Haley Sue Robinson 26:18

Yeah. I know Tess says she's biased, but obviously uh you know from the city perspective, we're we're very proud and we're really excited about it too. So uh if anyone is wondering, are Matt and Tess full of it? You can come see for yourself on Thursday, June 18th, 2 to 5.

Tess Carleo 26:38

And if you can't make it then and you want to make sure that we're not full of it, we've got an open door policy.

Haley Sue Robinson 26:44

Okay.

Tess Carleo 26:44

You want to see it, come in. Um this guy loves nothing more than giving a tour.

Matt Marchand 26:50

I do like my tours.

Haley Sue Robinson 26:54

Matt's like, look, come on down, let's do it.

Tess Carleo 26:57

I tell him all the time, do you see this land, Simba?

Haley Sue Robinson 27:00

Uh-huh.

Tess Carleo 27:01

Everything the light touches is yours.

Haley Sue Robinson 27:03

It's yours. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Um well, I just want to say thank you for making time to come and talk to us about your success, about um, you know, the the dignity and the trust and um just what you all are doing with your partnerships that you've restored here in the Pueblo community and what you're doing at the Pueblo shelter. We're excited. Uh and I really hope folks come to the open house so they can see it for themselves. But Tess, like you said, if they don't, they can come another time.

Tess Carleo 27:34

The buildings do not move.

Haley Sue Robinson 27:35

Okay. Anything else that you want our listeners to know?

Matt Marchand 27:40

No, I don't think so. I you know our work is for Pueblo, right? Um, you know, I might be the executive director of SafeSide, but really I work for the community. I really worked for the unhomed community. Um and and through that is the the Pueblo community. And so we're really happy to show up um and do what we do every day. Um our work is meaningful um and full of intention, and the center of that is the city, blah blah blah. So thanks for having us.

Haley Sue Robinson 28:12

Great. Thanks, Matt. Yeah. Anything else, Tess?

Tess Carleo 28:16

Um, I mean, just kind of doubling down on what Matt says. Um it, you know, like my dad always said, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. And it's true. I mean, being down on that campus, you never know what your day is gonna look like. Um, but I never go home thinking, what did I do? What have I done? What did I get myself into? Um and like at the end of the day, we're just dealing with people, with human beings who have fallen on hard luck or been a victim of circumstance and realizing that that could be anybody, that could be any of us. Um and just kind of bringing the humanity and dignity back to it. It's it's a really fun place to be, a really good, fulfilling, meaningful place to be.

Haley Sue Robinson 29:10

Great. Well, thank you for for sharing that with us. Um we're we're really excited. Um a couple more upcoming events besides the open house this week. Um City of Pueblo is also hosting a public open house next Thursday, June 25th from 5 to 7 for the 24th Street Bridge over BNSF Railroad and the transportation study to downtown. Um that meeting will take place at Centennial High School. That's located at 2525 Mount View Drive in Pueblo. Also, um, join us for the Steel City Arkansas River Festival Saturday, June 27th at Waterworks Park. Um, fun for the whole family. Build your own boat race, Generation Wild Adventure Alley, music, food trucks, community bike and paddle parade, and a rubber duck race. Um that's from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 27th. And lots of more exciting stuff coming up in Pueblo. Uh, just want to remind the listener you can find us on YouTube, Buzz Sprout, Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can find us on local channel 17. Like, subscribe, share. We'll also put some information about SafeSide and their Facebook page and the Pueblo shelter and their Facebook page if you want to follow them. And we will see you next week.