(Community Matters 192) Run-Up to Roofsit 4: Receiving Help Comes Full Circle

This is the fourth in a series of interviews shedding light on The Haven of Rest's mission and programs ahead of its annual Roofsit fundraiser. The Haven marks its 70th anniversary in 2026.

Rebecca, a Haven of Rest Case Manager, talks about losing housing while working and raising kids, then finding stability through Inasmuch House and the Haven’s transitional support. She shares how that same path leads her back as a Case Manager who helps families replace fear and anger with a clear plan toward.

Episode Resources

The Haven of Rest Ministries Website

ABOUT COMMUNITY MATTERS
Former WBCK Morning Show host Richard Piet (2014-2017) returns to host Community Matters, an interview program focused on community leaders and newsmakers in and around Battle Creek. Community Matters is heard Saturdays, 8:00 AM Eastern on WBCK-FM (95.3) and anytime at battlecreekpodcast.com.

Community Matters is sponsored by Lakeview Ford Lincoln and produced by Livemic Communications.

Do you have a non-profit you'd like to hear highlighted on Community Matters? Go to our website and let us know!

Transcript

Roof Sit And How To Give

Richard Piet 0:02

Thanks for joining us on Community Matters Saturdays at 95.3 the ticket. That's in the eight o'clock hour in the morning. So if that's your appointment with us, thank you for that. BattleCreekPodcast.com anytime. And on your device, just go to where you get podcast type Community Matters, Calhoun County, and you'll find us and follow us, and you'll get an alert when these episodes come available. As you know, we have been finding our way along the run-up to roof sit, the big benefit for the Haven of Rest and In As Much House, the annual event that puts the crew on the roof and uh creates a bit of a spectacle so that uh they can call attention to the tremendous mission of helping those in Battle Creek who need homes, who uh need help to get there. So the big event is June 12 and 13, and uh you don't have to wait until then to make a donation. Thehavenbc.org is the website. There's a green button in the upper right that says donate, and you can make that happen.

Rebecca’s First Night At The Haven

Richard Piet 1:13

Rebecca's with us now. Quite a story that Rebecca will tell us about her experience with Inasmuch House at the Haven, not to mention the career path that followed. Hello, Rebecca.

Rebecca 1:27

Hello, thanks for having me.

Richard Piet 1:29

Well, thank you for taking a moment to tell us about why the Haven and In Asmuch are so important to you. Why are they?

Rebecca 1:39

Well, my story starts uh in 2010. My family and I became homeless, and a friend of ours from church shared to call the Haven to see if they could help us out. And we we started here at In As Much House. Our kids were five and seven, and definitely not what we expected. We'd never been homeless before. We didn't know what to expect. Walked in and everybody welcomed us in and greeted us. It was very clean and warm and inviting, which for somebody that's never been homeless and and you see and hear things when you're a kid, you don't know what to expect. It was an eye-opening experience for us to walk in and it'd be clean and warm and inviting and not just okay, here you go. And it just stick us somewhere. They actually sat down and heard our story and figured out a game plan for us to get from homeless to our own place in the process. They slotted us for their transitional housing program that they had at the time, the win program. And we we went and did that. We graduated out of that at 18 months, and they helped us get a section eight voucher, at least on the list. And so we went and did the section eight, and now we're homeowners. So it's we're super excited. It definitely has been a journey that started at In as Much and has now circled back to In as Much because now I'm a case manager and I get to share my story and show people that there is a way out of being homeless.

Richard Piet 3:10

Oh my goodness. We'll talk about

Working Homeless And Breaking Points

Richard Piet 3:12

that in a second. You know, one of the things we hear pretty often is that balancing finances is like standing on a boat in the ocean in a storm. You know, you're trying to keep yourself level, and any coming wave can throw you overboard. And it might be a little wave. Obviously, that's an analogy, right? But what I mean is very often we hear that at the slightest extra issue that demands more money could make this happen. Is that what happened to you, would you say, you and your family? And by the way, you're talking about you and a partner and two children.

Rebecca 3:52

Yeah, so we were both working, and um, the term that gets thrown around as working homeless. So we were both working, we were both trying to go to school, navigate life with two kids that were with us all the time, and then my stepdaughter bounced back and forth. So it was definitely a lot to manage, and um we had finances, it just didn't fall when we needed it to fall to get a place.

Richard Piet 4:18

Help us understand what that might have been like when you came through the door. You talked about it being welcoming and and clean, and this was, I presume, against perhaps the impressions that you might have had, but you probably, I presume, were carrying with you some real fear and concern.

Rebecca 4:40

Yep, fear and concern, anger, because this is definitely not what I expected when I got out of the military to a few years later being homeless. Every every emotion at the time. And then we had kids we were bringing in with us, and and how this was gonna affect them.

Richard Piet 4:59

One

Keeping Families Together With Casework

Richard Piet 5:00

of the things we hear about is the foundational mission of the Haven, which is to keep families together. You were probably concerned about that, and so were they, right? Yes. So, how did they handle that with you when you perhaps you even said, I want to make sure we're together?

Rebecca 5:19

They were able to accommodate us. They allowed my husband to interact with us and be the it was a whole family unit. So we had case management together, life skills together. Our kids even had they have a kids program that we still have today. And so the kids had their case management, I had my case management, my husband had his case management, but then collectively we had case management together along with all the life skills and stuff. So we were able to not be completely separated. It was individual and a family unit at the same time.

Richard Piet 5:55

You probably can give us an impression of what a relief that is. I mean, you you need not to be worried, right, about your children and your family unit while you're trying to figure out all of the other things you just mentioned. And the case manager played a role in helping to make sure you were as comfortable as you could be.

Rebecca 6:14

Yep. So the case manager sat down with us, uh, my husband and I, together, and we made a game plan of where we were coming from, what barriers we had to overcome to get housing. And then we each individually sat down with the case manager and made personal goals that we wanted to accomplish while we were here. And then that carried on through the win program. We still had the case management through the win program for those 18 months, individual goals and uh family goals together. So, yeah, case management plays a huge role in the game plan on how to take everything that's in your head, it's all scrambled together. And then they help us navigate on what we need to prioritize and and what we can we can wait on a little bit. And it was nice having that case management alongside during this journey because we would have been in the water with no paddle, so to speak, without the case management.

Richard Piet 7:08

So, how did you end up becoming a case manager?

Rebecca 7:11

I uh had actually come down and to talk to Lisa. She's been an integral part of our family for a very long time. And our oldest son who came along the journey with us, he was one that stayed here, was like, Mom, I I want to let Miss Lisa know that I'm graduating. I'm excited. I've graduated high school, so she can see that. And she said, Hey, I have a job. If you're interested in a job. And I have learned over the years that when a door is open, you don't say no to it. God, God opens doors. I was not looking for a job at the time. And I've learned that when that door is open, you walk through with faith and and let God direct the rest of the way.

Richard Piet 7:52

Yeah, you uh make a good point. I've met other people who say that too. Boy, you know, this opportunity came along. No, I don't want to do that. And then all of a sudden they say, wait a minute, these opportunities show up, and maybe I'm supposed to pay attention to that. Let me think about that again. So you'd already settled in in another position, and you were uh working on your homeownership, and uh you were uh working and and focused elsewhere, and this came along and woke you up a little.

Rebecca 8:23

I was actually a stay-at-home mom. My husband and I have added two kids since then. So I've been a stay-at-home

From Client To Case Manager

Rebecca 8:28

mom for like six years. It a job was not even on the radar at the time. So it came at a perfect time for us because we had some financial hiccups that walking through the door and and accepting the the job helped to alleviate that.

Richard Piet 8:43

Folks who are listening, you can't see her, but I'm I'm watching Rebecca talk about this. And as soon as I brought this up, her face lit up. Talk about what this means for folks who are in the position that you are in, walking in scared, nervous, worried. And now you get to play the role of the person who made it easier for you. You get to be that person now. Is that important for someone coming in and going through it to know you've been there?

Rebecca 9:14

I have noticed a difference. There's a lot of people come in with the wall of they they don't want to share, they're angry at the world, they're scared, and telling them, hey, I've been you, I've been in your chair on the other side of this desk. It gives them a sense of, oh, I can do this too. I can take a breath for a minute and just ride the waves and and allow the case management to help navigate. Uh, it definitely breaks down the barriers for some people that come in and they have that stone wall, like, I've got this, I'll figure it out, I don't need your help. And to hear like somebody's been through it, then they they break down that barrier, that wall a little bit, and it's much easier to help them navigate and know, like, okay, what I'm saying isn't just a bunch of words. I actually have lived it.

Richard Piet 10:06

And this must do something for you personally too.

Rebecca 10:09

Yeah, it's exciting to see people walk the path of coming in here and and then moving into their own place, and I get to kind of relive it all over again, but from a different perspective. And it's really hard to explain, but it just it brings me so much joy and like I don't even know how to explain it. It's just amazing to watch people from where they are when they come in to moving into their own place.

Richard Piet 10:36

I get it. So you can relate, of course, but you can also probably, as you've just alluded, call to mind a success story like yours. You've watched someone come in with a wall up, nope, I'll deal with it. And then the wall comes down and they navigate, and now they're like you, where their life is completely different. You've seen that, right? Yep. Is there a special one that you can think of, a story like that that particularly impressed you?

Rebecca 11:09

There's quite a few. The ones that really touched me are the ones that come in angry and they go, You don't understand. Oh no, I I was you. I was angry at the world. This was not the plan I had for me. And to just to see them melt that wall and like watch them move into their place. There's quite a few that have have done that. I mean, they all they all touch me, but I can see myself in there and knowing, like, okay, let's break down those beers, let's break down that wall. They're all significant to me, but I relate a lot more to the ones that come in and they're just angry at the world and and I'll figure it out. And I got this because I was very much that way.

Richard Piet 11:49

I don't imagine that wall comes down easy either, does it?

Rebecca 11:53

No, it does not.

Richard Piet 11:54

There's a lot of pride and and stuff mixed in, all of that. But boy, to see the other side of that probably gets you up the next morning and you're back at it.

Why Donations And Asking Help Matter

Rebecca 12:05

It does.

Richard Piet 12:05

Talk to the audience now. Tell folks why it's important. If they can give you 10 bucks, 20 bucks, a thousand bucks, whatever it is, why is it important?

Rebecca 12:17

It all matters, whether it is 10, 15, 20, whatever it is. There's always going to be families that need help. And it doesn't matter how they get here because they all get here for different reasons: addiction, money situations like my husband and I did, families not there for them, whatever it is, they all come in for different reasons, but they all have the end goal of getting their own place, finding stability for themselves and their children. So any amount of money is helpful. Any anything is helpful. We want to end homelessness, but we also know that life happens to people. So there's always going to be homelessness. And so having our doors open for families that are in need is massively important for the world to have. And I don't even know what Calhoun County would do without the Haven because we are the only shelter, family shelter here in Calhoun County. It's a great need.

Richard Piet 13:10

Talk to somebody, Rebecca, who might happen to hear this and they are homeless or on the brink of it. And maybe that wall is up and maybe they're a little reticent to come through the door.

Rebecca 13:24

Reach out for help. Don't let your ego be the reason that you're on the streets with your kids. Ego plays a huge part in why people don't reach out for help. There are resources here for us. Even if it's just for you to call and say, hey, how can you help? We give advice on the phone, whether you're here at the shelter or you're just calling for help. There's resources we can give you that you don't need the case management for. So reach out for help.

Richard Piet 13:47

All right. You heard Rebecca and she speaks from experience. Reach out for help. So maybe you want to just call and ask 269-965-1148 and uh make it happen. Or uh you can stop by at 11 Green Street and ask some questions and uh take it from there. Meanwhile, thehavenbc.org help at this time of the year when Roofsit uh calls attention to this vast undertaking that's going on at the Haven and in as much house, the HavenBC.org, the donate buttons on the upper right. Big 7-0, by the way, this year. The uh effort to give hope to the unsheltered of Battle Creek started at the Haven in 1956. That's 70 years this year. So if there's uh another reason you need it on top of the ones we just talked about, it's a big anniversary. So how about that? All right, the run-up to Roof Sit here on Community Matters. Rebecca, I can't tell you how appreciative we are that you've shared your story and how you've uh warmed our hearts hearing about how you have turned that around to help people who are in the same position you once were. Thank you for what you're doing.

Rebecca 15:04

Thank you for having me.