The Collage Podcast

Episode: Empowering Communities: The Path from Relief to Restoration Pt.1
Host: Jeff (Feed My Sheep)
Guest: Nancy Glover (Director of Housing and Community Development, City of Temple)
Date: January 22, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of The Collage Podcast, produced by Feed My Sheep in Temple, Texas, dives into the crucial distinction between relief, recovery, and restoration in humanitarian and poverty-alleviation work. Jeff (host, nonprofit leader) and Nancy Glover (guest, city official) examine how both organizations and communities can unintentionally remain stuck in the "relief" phase—reactively meeting immediate needs—rather than progressing to "restoration," which is marked by empowerment and lasting change. Drawing from examples including disaster relief after hurricanes (locally and abroad in Haiti), they question their own practices and challenge listeners to evaluate the effectiveness and goals of community aid efforts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: What is Feed My Sheep?

• [00:00-02:23]
  • Jeff gives background on Feed My Sheep: a resource center in Temple, TX serving mainly homeless and low-income individuals with daily necessities like food, rent assistance, and ID support.
  • Emphasizes the diversity of the community served and clarifies that the discussion centers on community topics, not "issues," to avoid a negative connotation.

2. Introducing the Relief–Recovery–Restoration Model

• [05:07-08:51]

  • Jeff prompts Nancy—and listeners—to think about humanitarian response stages as explained by a "humanitarian engineer" he met over breakfast:

    • Relief: Immediate urgent needs met by outside help after a disaster.
    • Recovery: Community regains some function, starts to participate in rebuilding.
    • Restoration: True empowerment, with the community becoming self-sustaining.

  • Jeff warns of the pitfall: if relief is prolonged and outsiders do everything, restoration never happens, and dependency is created.

    "If outside forces come and do everything for the community, things get rebuilt, but restoration is never achieved… You basically have stayed in the relief phase..." — Jeff [08:04]

3. Applying the Model to Temple’s Homeless Community

• [10:03-12:43]

  • Jeff asks Nancy to classify Feed My Sheep’s current operations:

    • Nancy: Mostly "relief," focused on stabilization of immediate needs.
    • Jeff: Agrees, but notes the eventual goal is "restoration," i.e., self-sufficiency.
    • Nancy estimates about 25% of Feed My Sheep clients are in the recovery phase.

    “I would say that we at Feed My Sheep are working primarily...to stabilize a person...helping them with their immediate needs today.” — Nancy [10:59]

• Discussion acknowledges the bell curve of client progress—some are in recovery, but as an organization, the overall model is still relief-based.

4. Why Does Relief Become Permanent?

• [13:22-17:11]

  • Jeff asks why, despite intentions to reach restoration, the community often gets stuck in relief.

  • Nancy references the documentary "Poverty, Inc." and her own experience in Haiti, describing how constant external aid fostered long-term dependence instead of empowerment.

  • Jeff recalls visiting post-earthquake Haiti, noting that all relief efforts were run by foreign entities, not local people.

    “…They became completely dependent on this outside support, even though they had full capability to support themselves…” — Nancy [17:42]

    “We have not allowed the community to be part of the serving. We have simply gone in and did for them and see you.” — Jeff [20:22]

5. Contrast with the Dominican Republic

• [25:03-27:54]

  • Jeff and Nancy point out Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island and experienced similar disasters, but the outcomes were starkly different:

    • Dominican Republic had less devastation, less dependence, quicker return to restoration.
    • Cites stronger community/government structure as a factor.

    “Same island, same people...One lives in relief at best mode… the other went from relief to recovery, back to restoration quick.” — Jeff [27:06]

6. The Challenge with Daily Disaster—Homelessness

• [27:56-30:29]

  • Discusses that, unlike a one-time disaster, homelessness is a day-to-day crisis with individuals at varying stages (some in immediate relief, others in recovery).

  • Jeff insists that the variation shouldn’t prevent organizations from shifting toward empowering, restorative operations.

    “As an organization and as an entity, the fact that people are on different places in the scale should not change or deviate how we do our operation.” — Jeff [30:29]

• On timelines:

  • Relief after disasters like tornadoes often lasts two weeks ([14:54, 15:24]), but for ongoing issues like homelessness, relief has stretched to 15 years.

7. Barriers to Progress: Systemic Obstacles

• [31:33-32:13]

  • Nancy points out that organizational, bureaucratic, and societal structures often maintain relief-mode operations, especially when combined with mental illness and substance use issues.

  • They express understanding but frustration at being stuck.

    “…the barriers that have been created by the organizations, the processes, the bureaucracy, all of that are not built for success for these folks. And then you add on top of that, mental illness, substance use disorder…” — Nancy [31:43]

8. Self-Critique and Invitation for Broader Dialogue

• [32:16-36:13]
  • Jeff candidly admits Feed My Sheep is still mainly a relief organization—“not saying that’s horrible. I’m saying it’s not good.”
  • The episode closes with a commitment to continue this conversation with a wider group—a city official will invite a nonprofit voice, and vice versa, for part two.

9. Call to Action for Listeners

• [33:26 & 36:13]

  • Listeners are urged to critically assess whether community resources are fostering relief, recovery, or restoration.

  • Emphasis placed on the need for design changes—“if something is not working, there is a flaw in the design.”

    “If a bridge collapses… there’s not any engineer group in the world that’s just going to go, huh? That’s just bad luck. …What failed and how can we make sure it doesn’t fail again…?” — Jeff [37:29]

Memorable Quotes

• "You need to form your own thoughts and your own opinions. You have a brain for a reason."
  — Jeff [04:05]

• "Relief is not a four letter bad word."
  — Jeff [13:48]

• "The community must become part of their own solution, or you never meet restoration."
  — Jeff [22:20]

• "How we remain in relief mode is not surprising to me."
  — Nancy [32:13]

• "If something is not working, there is a flaw in the design."
  — Jeff [36:46]

Notable Timestamps

• [05:07] — Introduction of the engineering model: relief, recovery, restoration.
• [10:52-12:43] — Nancy and Jeff classify Feed My Sheep's current operations.
• [17:11] — The hard question: "Why are we still in the relief phase after 15 years?"
• [25:03-27:54] — Contrasting outcomes: Haiti vs. Dominican Republic.
• [31:33] — Discussion of systemic barriers keeping communities in relief mode.
• [32:53] — Plans for a follow-up episode with new voices.

Tone & Style

Conversational and candid, with moments of humor and humility. Both speakers are self-reflective, open to critique, and approach the issue pragmatically but with compassion. Listeners are repeatedly invited to engage in the debate and form their own perspectives.

Takeaways for Listeners

• Reflect on whether local aid efforts are truly moving people toward self-sufficiency (restoration), or simply maintaining relief.
• Recognize the risks of dependency created by prolonged relief efforts, seen globally and locally.
• Consider the value of empowering community members in their own recovery.
• Anticipate a follow-up discussion in Pt.2 featuring broader viewpoints—including city and nonprofit voices from both sides.

End of Part 1.
Stay tuned for Pt.2 for an expanded, cross-sector conversation on empowering communities!