Expressions of a Hairstylist Off the Record
Real People Real Careers Real Conversations
Don has a variety of different guests on the show to get an inside look into their career choices. These career topics will educate and inform the listener on what it takes to be in each field.
Expressions of a Hairstylist Off the Record
Lead Case Manager
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Real People, Real Careers, Real Conversations
In this Unedited Episode, Don speaks with a Case Manager of a Homeless Shelter to give insight and answers to common myths and misconceptions surrounding Homelessness.
We don't end up. Turn it up, sit back, five out. Welcome to the show. Welcome to the show.
unknownWe don't end up.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the show, Miss Edith Johnson. She is the lead case manager at the Van Buren Family Shelter. Thank you so much for joining Expressions of a Hairstylist off the record. I am glad that you are here. I hope you are having a good day. Are you having a good day? Yes, I'm having a wonderful day. Good, good. I like to start off with just 20 or 30 seconds of exceptional customer service that you may have experienced, like in the last, oh, recently, something that stands out. I like to do this just because I don't know what it is, but I feel like customer service has become almost like a choice or a thing of the past, if you want to say. Have you experienced any good customer service recently that you want to give someone a shout out to or recognize?
SPEAKER_00And um and the gentleman that we normally go and sit in his section, he is so diligent about and very attentive uh about all the people that he provides service to, making sure they get their drinks on time, making sure he's checking back with them and removing plates and things like that. And so uh his name is Ed. So we always go back and sit in Ed's section. And I believe Ed's been there for like over 10 years. And recently, I believe near Thanksgiving celebrated his 85th birthday. I think, yeah, for him to still uh be doing that and still have that level of service to his customers.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. But that just goes to show. I mean, shout out to Ed because he loves what he does. Yeah, and sounds like customers come back just to see Ed. I I haven't eaten at Golden Corral in a long time, but sounds like I need to go visit Ed just because he's giving out such good customer service. There's a uh Kroger that I go to, a really, really nice lady there. She's so sweet, and but I don't see her all the time. And I must always have the lost look face when I'm looking for something because I was looking for spices the other day, and I didn't even know who was just like, ma'am, can I help you find something? I'm like, okay. And she walked around because she wasn't really sure where it was at, and we walked a couple aisles until she helped me find it. So I think it's important to give good customer service. So shout out to Ed and to Miss Christy at Kroger's. Miss Edie, you have been uh lead case manager now at Van Buren for how how long?
SPEAKER_00I have actually been in that position uh for almost 13 years. Uh um I started at the Van Buren in uh June of or August of uh 26, 2015, when they first opened the family um shelter.
SPEAKER_01Everyone has like a first day story, right? And you take us back to the very first time you you know walked into the shelter as a leader. What was like the one thing you saw or smelled or felt that made you realize, okay, this is this is gonna be much harder or much different than what I expected?
SPEAKER_00Well, when I first uh started working at um at the Van Buren, I was originally hired for their um housing locator. Um, but my first day there, um we were in this tiny like safety room. It was myself and three other case managers, and we did not have the traditional office where our clients could come and sit down in front of us. We actually had to, we sat in chairs and you know, just rolled up on the side of their bed and met them right where they were. And so I remember when we had to transition the families over to where they're located now, and there was still caution tape across the elevator. We were building beds, building cribs, building bump beds, and all those different things. I can remember saying to myself, wow, this is really the open door to servitude because it doesn't go straight into customer service. You have to really be built for service. And that was part of that service component, just be able to say, you know what, I'm gonna put a crib together today. I'm gonna put 10 cribs, and that's gonna be the scope of my job for that day and be okay with it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, wow. Yeah, you know, to be honest with you, I'm not sure I would be able to put a crib together. And if I did, I mean, I would be concerned, like, I want to make sure that these babies are gonna be safe, you know. So for you to have that skill and the mindset and the determination, that before we even get to the customer part of it, we gotta start from the ground up. So that's pretty awesome. You're right. That's more than great servitude when you have to do all the other things, just in traditional office, nothing fancy, you know, nothing glamorous. That that just goes to show for sure that your heart is definitely in it, and you're definitely, you know, is that you you need to see. We we as people, we see people on the street and you know, people out, but we don't see the people inside your walls, right? We don't see what you see. So who is the person or people that would most surprise listeners to find out is staying at your shelter or has stayed at your shelter?
SPEAKER_00Um, truthfully, uh, your physician who probably wrote you a prescription last week, or a psychologist that someone might have um got service a month ago, or maybe a nurse who took their blood pressure last week. I mean, homelessness is not just a particular person. Homelessness can meet anybody anywhere at any time. Each person has their own personal threshold, and where life pushes you to that to the end of that edge of that cliff, we don't know uh what psychological or emotional state that person will be in when they go over. And so I've had many, many people sit across my desk who were lawyers, who had their own law practices, who were doctors, who were nurses, and great professions, six-figure salaries, and something tragic happened in their life where it caused everything to unravel. It could be a death, it could be multiple deaths at one time that deplete someone's income. It could be anything that will cause someone to throw in the towel and say, you know what, I can't do this anymore. And I'm checking out. And so those are the people that I see every single day in the shelter. It's not one particular race, it's not one particular gender, it one particular culture. I have a blended amount of individuals who come into Vamburan each and every day, and the level of service that we provide them is just as the next person. No one gets any more quality of a service as the next person that walked out my door, and the next person that comes in.
SPEAKER_01Well, I needless to say, this is the myth that it's due to poor choices. Because you know, for years, I but I just personally believe this. I was a believer of this even growing up because you heard it. I heard it around family and friends, and you know, they must have made bad choices, they must didn't manage their money correctly. It has nothing to do with any of that, and it is not always in some cases, it may be, but what your response just truly debunks the myth that it's every person that's homeless is because they made poor choices, and that's not true. Exactly, exactly. I I figure so I hope that that reaches um people out there to let them know that that has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter your race, it doesn't matter uh your your career or where you were. Um, it just it can be anyone uh at any time. It's it it doesn't matter. So thank you for that. Thank you for debunking that because there are a lot of people who truly, as of right now, we're speaking, they believe that it's the person's fault and that it's due to poor choices with all the people that you see. I'm sure you have to deal with such a high level of secondary trauma and constant crisis, right? How do you walk through your own front door at home and turn off all the stories of the dozens of people who are still or who may have been in crisis back at your shelter?
SPEAKER_00Truly, it comes with it really comes with a lot of prayer, it comes with a lot of um personal, you know, the personal ability to be able to separate the world that you leave behind at work and then walk back into the world of your day-to-day life. And, you know, I know when I leave my office that I have provided the best quality of service to my clients that I could possibly do, and also being able to empower our clients to be able to problem solve and to uh to look at their situation, not as a failure, but as a springboard to the next level or to next chapter in their life. That's the way. That's what gives me comfort. So when I walk out that door each day and they're waving and telling me to have a good night, I know that I have done something or said something that really shifts their thought process into empowering them to do something different in their life. So when they leave out, they never come back.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty awesome. And also, you know, I love the saying, just because you fall down doesn't mean you failed. Right. You won't you only fail if you stay down there. So thank you. I thank you. And I'm I'm sure they thank you too for being able to pour into them. And then I'm sure it helps. I'm more than sure that it helps that they have somebody that believes in them, even when it feels like they don't believe in themselves. So it sounds like you're definitely giving that out. I'm I'm more than sure that that would definitely have something to do with them feeling as if they can just keep going and they can, you know, I I came here, I did what I had to do, and now you know I can I can jump into my next chapter and keep going. So that's awesome. Thank you for that. I mean, that means a lot. I don't think I just don't think that sometimes I don't think people in the world just truly understand the things that people go through. I, for one, quick story. I was cutting hair for I think I I think at one point I may have come to Ben Buren as well, but I was cutting hair for an organization, and uh it was people from, like you said, all different backgrounds, all different cultures, and listening to their stories, you know, kind of had me a little shocked, like, okay, well, this, you know, this has nothing to do with anything, you know, none of their bad choices, and they're relocating here, they're starting over, or the one guy that says, Hey, I got a haircut, I got a car now, so I give me your card, I'll be able to come to you to get my haircut. Um, I'm gonna be moving soon. I found an apartment, so it really is, you know, a great thing to be able to pour into them and to see them be able to make it on their own. That's awesome. You know how movies and television they always have this depiction of shelters that they're dangerous and they're chaotic. How do you cultivate a sense of home and dignity in a space that is by definition temporary and crowded?
SPEAKER_00Um, at any point in time, Van Buren can have uh close to 300 people that's children and families. And Van Buren has been very diligent and very uh timely when it comes to trying to create a sense of what we call normalcy for the children. And what we do every month, um, the kids have for those kids who have birthdays in that month, you know, there's a family that kind of honors their daughter and bring in gifts for the kids, bringing uh cupcakes or cakes and presents and all those different things for birthdays, Christmas. Um, my husband and I have volunteered as Mr. and Mrs. Santa for the past seven years. And the kids are able to get presents from Mr. and Mrs. Santa, and the families um through donations, community donations, they're able to shop in Santa's workshop. Now I'm not talking about just you know, one toy for, I mean, these families are able to shop and provide at least six toys for their kids, plus two outfits and some other things, you know, and and so many of the families just like, you know what, this is a blessing because I don't even know if I would have been able to do this for my kids, even if we were not in the shelter. You know, so we have that, and then we have volunteers that come in and read bedtime stories, you know, for the kids during quiet time. And, you know, and all these, so we have a number of programs and community partners that come in and say, you know, we want to do something for the families, want to do something for the kids. During Thanksgiving, there's a lot of churches that come in and provide a full spread Thanksgiving dinner to to um to the um guests at the shelter. So there's a lot of different, and we just had the Easter egg hunt. There's so many different things that the shelter provides. Um, so when you walk in there and your parent, yes, it's not your home traditionally, but it becomes a home and a sense of a different community. And we have found that many of those families create communities within a community. They now have met their surrogate mother, their surrogate grandfather, their surrogate sister or brother or aunts. And so they have now begun to formulate communities within communities and families within the shelter, and where they might not have had a family before they came to the shelter, they have now connected with other individuals and built families within the shelter. And so if we did not, you know, um, you know, have that type of environment in order to foster that type of behavior, then yes, it would be a very dangerous place. Um, yes. Do things happen because of you know, um, large places? Absolutely. There's uh dangerous uh shelters in New York. But no, we have uh many safety mechanisms in place that protect not only our children, uh, but all the families of N Buren.
SPEAKER_01Unfortunately, when these movies depict all these, you know, the negativity and it's dangerous, but it could be just dangerous riding on the highway of 70 West, right here in the city of Columbus. So it's no more dangerous than anything else, you know, a bus stop or anything else. So that's marvelous to hear that it's a community. It's you're building relate, they're building relationships and meeting new people. So, yeah, so thank you for that. I think it's important that people know to stop assuming and stop believing everything that they see on television or here in social media because bad things can happen anywhere, but the good things that are happening at Van Buren, it sounds amazing. I mean, I would love to come and see uh you and Mr. Ron is Edie's husband dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. I did not know that. Yes, I don't want to miss that next year. Um, and the fact that I mean, I'm thinking me as a parent, I was working two jobs, and I don't even know. I'm like, there were some Christmases where it was like four items. This is you know, Merry Christmas, and we're gonna love each other, and we're gonna enjoy Christmas for with the real reason. So the fact that those kids get abundance of love. Can you tell us about a specific individual, you know, whose journey kind of broke your heart when you met them, but who eventually found their way back and what was the turning point for them?
SPEAKER_00Wow. Um, I have so many, but um, I know one young lady. Um, she came into shelter. Um, it had been about maybe 2017. Um, I worked with this young lady. She had four kids, uh, four children. They were small, small then. And she really felt like, you know what, I'm a failure to myself, I'm a failure to my children. Um, and this is just the end. Um, I can't believe, you know, I'm in shelter. This is my first time. Um, she had been going through some personal trauma and things like that. And um, and I always have a personal conversation with my clients when I first meet them. It's never go straight to the paperwork and be all clinical and stuff. Um, and this is what I train my other case managers to do have a sit-down talk with them, build a relationship with them, um, and then um, you know, and then they're able to kind of open up to you. But anyway, this young lady was very broken, didn't have, um, left a DV situation. Ultimately, after about maybe six or seven months, um, she had got a job and the kids were in school. We were having our weekly meetings, and um, she had gone back, got her, got her GD, and um, and uh, you know, I had a rising star wall in my office, and I would kind of uh you know, celebrate their accomplishments and put it up on the wall and stuff like that. So she ultimately, we got her house and about maybe five or six years later, I look up and they're torn her in the building because now she had been hired as one of the employees at the YMCA. That's awesome. And so when she saw me and we kind of walked out, she just like grabbed me and just like broke in tears. She's like, Miss CD, she said, you would not allow me to give up. You, I still hear your voice in my ear say, failure is not an option. Get up, cry, but get up, do the freight. And she is still an employee at the YMCA now. And she tells all the clients that come in there. She asked them, Who is your case manager? And he's like, Oh, Miss Johnson. And she was like, one thing is for certain, she's not going to allow you to give up, but she's going to push you as hard as she can so you can get out of here.
SPEAKER_01That is so like moving because the as a parent, you know, I remember having that failure feeling. Like it is, it could just tear you down. It could just tear you down. I didn't do this, I couldn't do that, I couldn't afford to do this, I couldn't send them to this school, I couldn't send them to that school. And you're right, like there were plenty of nights where I just cried myself to sleep, like, okay, okay, we we, you know, you got to get it together because he's got school tomorrow and you still gotta take him. So, you know, having somebody there to really pull you up, you know, is important, uh, especially because in a lot of cases, Edie, I'm gonna tell you, you gotta be the person to step outside your body and push yourself and stand in front of yourself and pull yourself. And I only know because I've been there. So um, there needs to be tons of Eds cloned. Oh, let me watch that because we don't want AI cloning it. I know we say that, and and then they they actually try to clone. That's not us just figuratively speaking. She doesn't want to walk down the street and see ten of her, right? But we definitely need you know more people like that in every, you know, in I believe in every position, and I think it's I love how you build trust with them, you build the actual relationship with them, and they they know that you care, yeah. You know, that's what matters. They know that you care. So you don't walk in, walk, say hi, and walk into the office and close your door, and you know, you're out mingling and talking. And so I think that that is another thing, is they not only did it build trust, but it built a lot of respect for you. Yeah, like she's here, she sees us, but she actually sees us. Yeah, she sees us as people. So that is a phenomenal story. Good luck to her, and let there be more of those um to come. There's so many critics, right? There's all these critics that always say, you know, I don't want it in my backyard. I don't want, I don't want any homeless shelter, I don't want any homeless people, you know, walking around in my backyard. If if you could sit down with some of these critics, what would you what would you want them to know?
SPEAKER_00Um, I would want them to know what would be their alternative if they lost everything right now. If somebody hacked into your bank account and took every dime, stole your mortgage deed, broke into your car, what if you woke up and you lost everything? Where would you go? Where would you go? And and I tell them that because and I ask um, you know, individuals, close your eyes and imagine you not having anything but a newspaper and a bottle water, and that's it, and the temperature is below zero, and you have just lost your house, and they've just reposed your car, and you have no money in the bank, and your family members have closed the door and stopped answering your phone calls, where would you go?
SPEAKER_01Where would you go? Being able to humble because life can humble you very quickly. Life can humble you very quickly, regardless of how much money you have. So, yes, that is a great question to ask those critics. Like, if if that was to happen to you, where would you go? Yeah. Um, and most of them, you know, so many people try to so many people, in my opinion, just try to, oh, you know, act like it's only certain people. Oh, that well, what did they do? Well, why didn't they put it up? Well, where who were they hanging? Or then it always becomes who they hang around and who they're associated with, right? And so a lot of times, you know, some of the richest people can be so fraudulent, you know, so they can have it, it's not specific to who you are or what you have, you know. Um, so yeah, you're I mean, that's a great question to ask anybody, any critic. Where is it that you want them to go? If you don't want the homeless shelter built near your neighborhood or in your community, okay, so then where are these people? Where are these people gonna go? And if it was you, where would you go? You know, yeah, where would you go? Where would you stay? Okay, you don't have any money, so you can't go to a hotel room, right? You know, and in some cases, let's just talk about the cases where their identity is stolen. Thank you. Your whole you don't even have a way to prove who you are. So now where are you going? Yeah, you know, like and who's gonna believe you? Like the only way that somebody would you have to go to the dentist, I guess, because you know they say the dentist has our teeth record or fingerprint or fingerprint, you know. If you've never worked for a bank though, then the only other I don't know, only other way you get a fingerprint is if you get booked at the jail, isn't it? Or or no? I I mean, I don't know. Well, I mean, when you're a baby, you get I mean that fingerprint you when you're a baby, maybe you gotta prove in this day and time. If you ask for any records from anybody for you, you have to prove that that's you asking for the records, yes, you know. So if something happens where you know your whole identity identity gets stolen, then what you do? Yeah, because now you know this guy over here is pretending to be you, and he's gone into the bank and he's just had his way with your money, yes, you know. So I I'm I'm glad that you said that and you posed that question because there's so many people that I just I mean they get and then you get the people, and this is just my opinion that at one point in time, you know, they were younger, and so they're working and they're trying to make it. Okay, so now they get their big break and their big blessing, and then they somehow forget that there was a time where you had to catch the bus because you didn't even have a car. Yes, oh, so now you live in this $575,000 home or two million dollar home, and now you've forgotten all about that, you know. So I just I uh I think it's important that people remember, you know, okay, yeah, I I'm here, I'm I'm successful, but you you weren't always that way. Some some of the people, I'm not talking about people that were born into a family with money, I'm talking about the ones that had struggled. You had to work two jobs, you might have worked for Wendy's, McDonald's, White Castle, catching the bus, feet hurting, walking in the rain, walking in the snow, and then now you got all this money, you know, and now oh, I don't want I don't want to see that. Somebody might not have wanted to see you walking to work when you had to walk, you know.
SPEAKER_00I think they lose their sense of empathy. Um, they forget or they refuse to remember, you know, those hard times. But you know, there's nothing wrong with remembering or reflecting back, it makes you when you can reflect back, it makes you have a sense of humility for those individuals who are currently going through a situation that you are blessed to come out of. Um, so it's not always, you know, people say, Well, I did it, I did it, I did it. But if you did not have the blessings of the Lord, and if you don't believe that, if you don't have a higher power that you believe in, and you think that you would do all these abilities on your own, then okay. I mean, that's possibly uh I get that to you, however, you know, there's always gonna be a moment in time. See, everything goes up, but eventually some things come down.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, absolutely, and people and people don't realize that I mean they it's it's unfortunate, you know, um, that some of the people, you know, feel like, oh, that was back then, I don't have to think about that now. I'm past that. You should you should be thinking about it because at any given time, you know, you could easily go back. There's a uh a motivational speaker that I love to listen to. I don't know if you've ever heard of him. His name is Eric the Hip Hop Preacher. And Eric Thomas, he's from Detroit, and he said in one of his speak one of his uh speakings, he said, I still lay on the floor because he was homeless at one point. He was homeless. He said he's sleeping in buildings, he was sleeping outside, and now he's very successful, right? And he said, I still he said, I will still sleep on the floor, and he said, and I'll still even eat potato chips on the floor. He said, Because it at any given time, if I have to go back to it, if something happens and I went back there, it's not gonna break me. Yes, I thought that was pretty powerful, you know. Most people on his level wouldn't even think about something like that happening today. You know, it's the little things for me. For me, it's the little things. I getting God, thank you for this car running for getting me back and forth to work today and without any accidents, and the car is still running, you know. So, you know, I think it's it is truly, you know, something, and and it's hard to listen to people. It's hard for me to listen to people or be around people who have that type of mentality that nothing's ever gonna happen to me. I don't even want to be around them because I don't want some weird, invisible wind of energy that takes them down to be clear. I don't want to be close to that, yeah. Yeah, because I need that wind to go that way and stay over there with you. Yes, because I need the good wind that knows I'm appreciative of where I've come from, I'm never gonna forget it, and you know, I'm ready to move forward. So I try not when people get talking like that, I'm like, okay, but let me go on the other side of this building because something might happen to you right now, and I don't want to be there.
SPEAKER_00That's like if lightning strike, I do not want to be close to you.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to be close to you because I don't know, I just don't know how things will go. I don't want to be close to you, you know. So that is I'm glad you said that. That is that is very it's powerful, you know, to just make sure that people understand, you know, that it's at any given time, it could be any of us for any reason. It doesn't have to do with race or or or gender or how tall you are or how handsome you are, or how pretty you are, or the neighborhood you came from, or your grandma, or your grandfather, none of that stuff. It's not it doesn't discriminate. No, it doesn't. It doesn't discriminate at all. So uh so in in a field defined by hardship, right? Where do you find the humor and the light? What was a moment of just pure unexpected joy you you know you've witnessed inside the shelter?
SPEAKER_00Man, I mean, just uh, you know, the team that I um the family team, you know, of case managers, we have a um a team of uh case managers that work with the single adults, but the camaraderie and the um in the family and the connection that um that I have built with my team of four case managers is so unique. Um and I truly believe that God put us together for a reason. Um we uh we support each other and we're able, even in the most difficult when one has a difficult case, um we're able to pull that case manager up and just act silly sometimes and just have that laughter and say, you know what, uh we're in it to win it for these families. And um, and we can act silly and we, you know, and we have like pizza parties for each other and sing happy birthday to each other. That's how we lift each other up so we are empowered even more to keep on going. That keeps us that that keeps that is a moment of enlightenment. And I do that because that's what I was brought there to do. I tell them, I tell my co-workers and I tell my case managers, God sent me the Van Buren on a mission. I'm there on a mission, and when my mission is over, he will, whenever he decides, he will um he will remove me. But I had a moment of gratitude a year ago when they um the organization nominated me as um as a as a person who the most advocators that advocate for their clients. And you know, you do this, you do your profession because you love doing it. And that touched my heart because I said it's for one group, a small group, to acknowledge you, but for an organization to say, you know what, out of the thousands of employees we have at the YMCA and Van Buren, we choose you collectively. That says something. That says something to my heart and said, you know what? I am in the right position. I have truly been called to do this, and by all means, I'll do it to the best level I can until I'm no longer there.
SPEAKER_01And that you're doing it out of the you you love doing it, it's your passion, it's something that's pretty phenomenal. Congratulations. I didn't know that. That is awesome. I mean, it is, it's awesome. If there is any listener out there that may be considering, you know, um whether or not this is some type of work or career that they would like to do, what you know, what advice would you give them or what would you tell them? What was the time when you before you started, how did you know that, how did you find your calling and know that this is where you wanted to be?
SPEAKER_00I um I I and that's so um ironic that you asked me that. Um when people ask me that social work fell on me. Social work fell on me. When I was in college, my psychology professor said social workers are not taught, they're not trained, they are born. You're born to be in this position. If you have a love for people and you love servitude, and you love just getting right in there, that's the job for you. That is the position that God has placed you to be in. And it will find you, it will fall on you. You could be you could be at the grocery store, and someone might say, Man, you need to be in a position of, and that's what that's what it was. I fell into this position in Pittsburgh, didn't have a degree or anything, or anything. And I began working um in the courts, and then I began working as a victim's advocate um for like 12 years, and then you know, worked with DV on clients and children. And God, you know, when he assigns you for something, um, he will take you in avenues and places that you never thought you would be in. And so um, did I know it? No, I didn't know it. Um, but when it found me, when it fell on me, that was my moment where I said, you know what, this is a glove that fits very well in my life, and I'm gonna wear it.
SPEAKER_01It definitely takes the right mindset, the right heart, the natural skill that some of the stuff that they're that you're doing every day, they couldn't teach you this stuff if you if you read it, right? You know, you could pass all the tests you want in college, but there's gonna be you know tons of situations that they wouldn't be able to teach you, they're not gonna be able to teach you, you know, how to handle some of these sensitive and critical situations that you come up on. So it just I just was curious because I just I've heard people, you know, I'm just gonna I'm gonna do social work. And I'm like, oh, okay. How do you how does a person just you know wake up and decide you know, I'm I'm gonna, I'm gonna do, you know, social work. And then, you know, so it's it's pretty phenomenal.
SPEAKER_00Um it's very difficult when you know you hear a lot of individuals who say, I'm gonna do social work, and it's you know, in a sense of uh grandeur, and it's no sense of grandeur because social work is pretty much uh next to being a teacher, it's the lowest paying job ever, but you can't go into this field, you know, thinking about you know the money portion, you have to really be led by your heart, um, and something in your gut that says this is what you're meant to do, and the reward will come later on.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, you can't be expecting the reward to be up front, right? Yeah, it's gonna you just have to know, but in some instances, the reward you're getting is when people walk out of there and go get a job, yeah. Or they walk out of there and they could, you know, and they get a job, they get their own apartment, then they eventually get a house and they come back and visit you, you know, and their new car. I mean, I'm just guessing that like there is the reward. It's like, okay, yes, you know, another family has succeeded. We we have helped another family get back on their feet and stay on their feet. That is our reward. Yes, I mean, that's what I would think. And don't get me wrong, of course, you you know, for your your uh recognition that you have from the organization last year, but the rewards to meet, in my opinion, yeah, just from listening to you, come daily, you know, daily and weekly when these people manage to turn their lives around. Yeah, you know, that's that's part of the reward. Beyond a bed and a meal, what is the one thing your residents crave the most that you know the general public never thinks to donate or provide?
SPEAKER_00Um There's so many different um things. Um I mean clothing, um, things for babies. We have a lot of women that come in there and they're pregnant, um, you know, uh clothing for the uh for the babies when they when they're born and you bring them back to the shelter. Um, you know, um just volunteer, you know, time. Uh we truly need um someone who really uh has a profession with working with autistic children. We have uh we have experienced an overflow of children that are um autistic um on the severe spectrum, uh verbal, nonverbal, and we have young parents, parents who are 19 and 20-year-olds, and we truly need a service that would be able to teach these individuals how to work with their children. Children doesn't come with a handbook, but truly they're not gonna get a handbook when, unfortunately, when your child is autistic. And so um, you know, things like that, just those those trainings, I mean people that can come and support groups and things like that. Um, if you can teach a person to fish, they'll fish and they'll eat for a lifetime. Uh, and so when you can teach them to do these different things, um it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01It is, it is. And you know, I know all too well um about working with autistic children. I'm I'm a in my field, so I work at a uh all children's uh haircutting place, a place where it's just children that come to get their hair cut. And I was actually blown away. It's it'll be two years that I've been there in July. My first week there, nine out of the nine times out of ten, each child that I serviced had autism. Yes, no one ever, I mean, I literally had to learn, you know, because the parents are frustrated, the parents are ready to give up. There are so many barbers and stylists who do not have the mentality or the patience, you know, to deal with uh the children as they're cutting their hair. So I'm sure that trying to find a professional to come in and work with them. Now, do they do they still do some of the families qualify for uh some of the therapy um that the autistic kids are are able to get? Yes, yes, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you know, with therapy, that's one piece, but then you know, the parents are still left to deal with the behavior part. And so, you know, once they leave that that professional setting, then they go back home. And what does the parent have to do? If the parent doesn't know why, you know, my kids is doing this and my kids is running around, and you know, and why, and and they become frustrated because they don't know what to do and they don't understand what's going on with their child, you know, so they're dealing with a lot of guilt, frustration, anger, and all these emotions that go along with it. Um, and then you know, they're like, I this is my baby, I don't know how to help them.
SPEAKER_01The parents need the training to be able to know how to, and I hope and pray that you find a professional. Yes, um, they're definitely needed at the shelter, but I'll tell you, working at the place that I'm at, there are some parents that I need that they need to be educated as well. Because I mean, we're talking, they just truly don't know what to do. Like they just it's almost as if they've given up on their child. Yes, like I mean, the child literally is, you know, they're they're running back and forth, they just don't know what to do their lost. And me not being licensed, you know, uh, I I can only make suggestions, yeah, you know, you know, ma'am. You know, you letting him run back and forth for 15 minutes is still not gonna get the haircut done, you know what I mean? And so, I mean, I've in this been in this business, and I I remember working with uh a mother who she brought her son, and I think he may have been seven or eight. And um I don't even know. I I asked her how often she shampooed his hair, and she said, not very often. And she said, He it's hard for me. I can't give him a bath but once a week because he doesn't like the way the water feels. So things like that, you know, like there there has to be some sort of resource, and I'll do some digging, you know, to be able to get help out to these parents to teach them and to educate them because it's it's an ongoing job from day to night. Yes, yeah you know, verbal, nonverbal. Um, you know, it's it's an ongoing. I mean, I am grateful that the kids that have been coming to me have turned a corner, you know. Some of them are and it's easier, but there are so many, you know, you know, more children out there and more parents that live frustrating lives because they don't know what to do. And you know, lifelong friendships is what it sounds like, yes to me. So that is phenomenal, you know, and they don't know who to call. So um hopefully we can, you know, try to find out ask around and you know, try to get some resources as well to see if we can find a professional that's willing to donate their time to come in to just educate the parents because that's where it's gonna start, you know. Yeah, um, how can how can for the listeners and people, um, how can they, you know, what can you give them their the address and any email if they want to donate or if they would like to volunteer?
SPEAKER_00Um, they can actually reach out to for those who want to um donate and volunteer, they can reach out to Sarah Trot. And uh she is at the Van Buren uh family shelter at uh 595 Van Buren Drive, and that's uh Columbus, Ohio 43 um 223. And um, they can always reach her or leave her voice matches at um 614-689-2020. And she is our employment and uh community resource uh coordinator.
SPEAKER_01Okay, thank you so much for that. So that uh hopefully if there are some people who um feel like they have the skill or the education or they just want to donate clothes for babies or something for the pregnant moms or their time, then they will be able to reach out to a Seratrot. So, Edie, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for coming on to the show. I learned a lot tonight, and I'm sure my listeners did too. We are grateful for your service and everything that you have done for the community. Um, and we we look forward to hearing more about the things that you're doing and uplifting the people and making sure that people's lives continue to be changed because it, I mean, it really is important, you know, that people understand that having someone that is there that really cares and sees them, you know, um, is important. And I'm definitely uh I'm definitely know and believe that that is you. You are definitely doing what you are supposed to be doing. You are not supposed to be uh doing anything else, no corporate, no paralegal, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. So um we are grateful and thankful for you um and all of your service. Thank you so much for having me. You are so welcome. That is the end of our show today. Uh, people, if you um have any questions uh about the show, you can reach out to me at healthyhare by dawn at gmail.com. Thank you all for listening. Be well, be at peace, be inspired, stay inspired, and pass the inspiration along to someone else.
unknownWe are ever now. Real life, real life, real time. You found your place, you hold down.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the show, welcome to the show, big dreams in a small room, like so long. Turn a fire, little thought to a lightning stone. From the winds to the world, we gonna stay at blank. If you ever fell alone, you can stay in my name. I'm your friend in a farm when a day fill on Lil' bad, little brand, little hard in a spark. It's pay, let the world pay far outside. Every word, every beat, you write it, try.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the show, welcome to the show.