Homeless Women and Their Challenges

Summary

The Collage Podcast Host: Feed My Sheep
Episode: Homeless Women and Their Challenges
Date: November 19, 2025
Location: Temple, TX

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Collage Podcast centers on the harrowing challenges faced by homeless women in Temple, Texas. The conversation, led by the host (Jeff) and guest Nancy—a dedicated volunteer and Elizabeth’s Farm manager at Feed My Sheep—dives deep into recent real-life examples from their work and examines the layers of trauma, lack of resources, and the desperate need for both practical and compassionate community action. The episode weaves together stories of acute crisis with a broader critique of institutional and community inaction, highlighting a call to holistic and personal involvement for lasting change.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Reality of Women’s Vulnerability on the Streets

[00:00–07:36]

• Nancy recounts a recent incident: being called early on a Friday about a woman found naked, disoriented, and terrified outside Feed My Sheep.

  • Police involvement revealed she had been assaulted but, due to memory loss and trauma, she wouldn’t press charges or seek hospital care.

• Homeless women in Temple face significant physical and emotional dangers—often heightened by trauma, substance use, and lack of safe shelter.

  "She knew the last thing that she knew, her husband had kicked her out of their hotel room, and she was out on the street alone. Come to find out, she was assaulted brutally. And sadly, because she doesn't remember, she's not willing to press any kind of charges."
  — Nancy [04:01]

• Temple has an unusually high rate of homeless women (~60%, compared to the national average of 25%), attributed in part to a perception of lower violent crime against women locally.

2. Traumatic Cycles and Lack of Shelter

[07:36–15:17]

• A second story: another woman lost memory after being drugged, wandered aimlessly, and was found hungry and terrified.

• Both women were unable or unwilling to report assaults due to confusion or shame.

• Acute lack of overnight shelters—"Zero" was available the night they intervened.

  • Feed My Sheep is not an overnight shelter; their intervention was to pay for hotel rooms when possible, typically only if a next step (like treatment) is planned.

  "Access to a shelter that night was what?"
  — Jeff
  "Zero."
  — Nancy [11:19]

3. Systemic & Procedural Hurdles

[13:15–17:06]

• Shelters full; mental health help unavailable unless the person admits being a danger to self/others.

• Police are bound by strict regulations, limiting what they can do in such situations.

  • Volunteers, not professionals, often manage extreme crises.

• Even paying for hotels is “not cheap” and not sustainable for longer than a week.

  “Her mother apparently passed away recently. Just horrific. Horrific.”
  — Nancy [17:15]

4. Trauma at the Root of Substance Use

[19:00–21:24]

• The hosts push back on the stigma that substance use explains homelessness—it’s often a coping mechanism for severe underlying trauma.

  "They're using those substances because they've experienced trauma that we can't even fathom."
  — Nancy [19:38]

• Isolation compounds the issue: no family, severed relationships, untreated PTSD, physical illness.

5. The Inadequacy of Piecemeal Support

[22:02–26:58]

• Survival strategies barely keep women going; self-worth is depleted, so they may not fight for themselves or accept help.

  • Memorable moment: The hosts highlight the “not enough” of sandwiches, socks, or short-term hotel stays—these are just the bare minimum.

  "I don't want to come to [God] and have been faced with all these different scenarios... and all I can answer to him is, 'I gave them three sandwiches, and we normally only give people two.'"
  — Jeff [41:03]

6. Housing Barriers and the Limits of the System

[29:08–35:22]

• Affordable housing waitlists are long (up to eight months), with domestic violence or proven assault barely improving odds.

• Cold weather and delayed processes are life-threatening for women on the street.

  "If we were to be able to prove that this woman was assaulted, that might help, but it might not."
  — Nancy [30:10]

7. Beyond Shelter: The Holistic Approach

[35:20–39:49]

• Elizabeth’s Farm: housing with healing in mind, not just a roof but a chance to rebuild self-worth and process trauma.

  • Many women decline the offer, overwhelmed or distrustful due to past trauma.
  • A holistic plan must start with acknowledgment of worth and work on trauma, not just providing material needs.

  "Housing only doesn't work. Substance use disorder treatment in and of itself will not work. Unless we're showing them their beauty and their worth, it's all for nothing."
  — Nancy [37:24]

8. The Role of Community and Faith

[42:41–54:08]

• The hosts invoke the Good Samaritan as a call to personal, not just institutional, responsibility.

• The city, state, and federal governments are not the answer—progress, if any, comes from community members stepping up, volunteering, and sacrificing personally.

• Recent “strategic plans” have led to little action: three years, 31 deaths on the street, few tangible results.

• Feed My Sheep and partners are now building new, community-based solutions like Elizabeth’s Farm.

  "We can't continue to put all of our eggs in the basket of national government, state government, local government, none of that. It won't work."
  — Nancy [50:09]

• Despite bureaucratic and logistical failures, acts of individual kindness and self-sacrifice (buying hotel rooms out of pocket, volunteering time and skills) are celebrated as essential.

9. Ongoing Challenges & Next Steps

[56:33–59:06]

• Specific prayer requests for women in acute need.

• The narrative will continue in the next episode—listeners are asked to reflect, pray, and, if moved, find their own way to help.

  "We do this because… God cares about people, and they are of infinite worth to him. People matter."
  — Jeff [57:56]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the impossibility of judgment:

  "At best you don't understand."
  — Jeff [22:02]

• On the depth of trauma:

  "You would think it would be impossible at this juncture…to still be perplexed and baffled about the depth of hurt that people carry."
  — Jeff [22:13]

• On hope:

  "I do believe in the goodness of humanity and people."
  — Jeff [32:06]

• On acceptance and self-worth:

  "There's no… 'I'm worth the fight of trying to identify these people that did these awful things to me…' She doesn't see her worth enough to want to fight the fight. Why bother?"
  — Nancy [22:46]

• On faith and action:

  "Well done is far greater than well said."
  — Jeff [48:04]
  "What we need is more followers of Christ."
  — Nancy [43:51]

• On community response:

  "It's individual members of the community stepping up and being part of somebody's life."
  — Jeff [53:07]

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Key Timestamps Index

• [03:22–07:36] Nancy describes the naked, traumatized woman outside, police limitations.
• [09:43–11:21] Second woman: memory loss, hunger, no shelter options.
• [13:15–15:17] The limits of what police and volunteers can do.
• [22:02–23:25] Exploration of internalized shame, self-worth, why women won’t pursue justice.
• [29:08–32:07] Affordable housing barriers, the reality of waiting lists during cold nights.
• [37:24–39:00] Advocacy for a holistic, trauma-informed model—why "just" housing can’t solve it.
• [41:03–42:41] A call to moral responsibility, questioning what counts as “help.”
• [43:09–48:31] Parable of the Good Samaritan, shifting the locus of responsibility from institutions to individuals.
• [49:14–51:24] Critique of government inaction; 31 deaths on the street since strategic plan launched.
• [54:01–54:42] Defense of collaborative action, partnerships, and the spirit of local government.
• [56:33–57:56] Prayer requests and a reminder: "People matter."

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Tone & Style

The episode combines urgency, deep compassion, and frustration with humility and hope. The hosts speak conversationally, with a blend of storytelling, advocacy, and personal confession. They are honest about their limitations and failures but resolute about the importance of continued, community-centered action.

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Conclusion (for Listeners)

This episode gives an unflinching look into the everyday emergencies faced by homeless women in Temple, Texas—a microcosm of a pervasive national crisis. It’s a call to individual empathy and action, grounded in faith and the conviction that systemic change only comes when communities stand up for their most vulnerable neighbors—not just with words, but with deeds and holistic solutions.

Next Episode Tease:
Check back for an update on the women featured, particularly “day eight”—and reflect on your role in creating a more caring, responsive community.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Hey, we want to welcome everybody to the Collage podcast. And it is good to be back. We haven't been here for a little bit and today we have got a special guest. We've got Nancy in here. We're going to talk about. I hope everybody is doing well out there. Interesting topic. Well, they're all interesting, but I think that we're going to talk about today. What we're going to address is, I don't know, it might be kind of interesting for people out there to hear what a day sort of looks like at Feed My Sheep for some of us about some of the things that we come across. What unfortunately, I don't know if the word normal would fit into what we're going to talk about, but so we're going to kind of look and we're going to look at the topic at hand would be we're going to start with the crazy amount of vulnerability that the woman, the women that we work with and the people that we work with here have to experience every day here. And here is Feed My Sheep in Temple Texas. This is not a negative statement on Feed My Sheep. We're saying anything about that. The town that we're in is a little town temple here in Texas is where our here is. But I think the things that we're talking about are topics that are all over the place. So, Nancy, do you have anything to say?

[B]

No, just happy to be here. Excited to talk to you about it today.

[A]

Yep. And so Nancy, in our world here is volunteer. She has a real job. But like many of our people here at Feed My Sheep, she has a real job that pays bills and she volunteers up here. And she is in charge of our Elizabeth's farm operation. And Elizabeth's farm is a location that we are in the process of building tiny homes and putting women that are coming out of abusive situations into a safe place out at the farm. That's what we're trying to do. That's why Nancy is here. And so we were just going to kind of it could be enlightening. So this kind of. How about this, Nancy, tell us about no names, any of that stuff. Okay, so we're not any of that situation, any of that. But let's just start last Friday morning. So we are now we're recording this. It doesn't matter what that we are now at a Tuesday. Okay, so we're at a Tuesday. So we're going to backtrack to last Friday. Tell us about how your day started last Friday, Ms. Nancy.

[B]

It started pretty Early, I got a text message from one of the women that work here at Feed My Sheep that there was a woman out in front that was completely naked, disoriented, and really confused and scared. And the employee here didn't really know what to do about it. So she texted me, and I said I would call my son. My son is a police officer here in. In Temple.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So I did and asked him to. To come on over and see if he could figure out what was going on, if the woman had been assaulted or if there was any. Anything that we could do to help her in the immediate term. And he and the other officers came over and were able to talk with her and found out that she had been out all night. She didn't remember what had happened at all and didn't remember how she got there. Nothing like that. She just. She knew the last thing that she knew, her husband had had kicked her out of their hotel room, and she was out on the street alone. Come to find out, she was assaulted brutally. And sadly, because she doesn't remember, she's not willing to press any kind of charges or even go to the hospital and get checked out and just really, I think, doesn't want to face what happened. Sadly, it's not an unusual story for here. I think it's important to kind of put it into a little bit of context. So, as Jeff mentioned, I have a day job. I work for the city of Temple in Housing and Community Development, and we do a lot of research and report writing and, you know, studies on the different factors that are impacting homelessness in our community. And as a national average, the typical percentages are 25% women experiencing homelessness, 75% men experiencing homelessness. In Temple, we are at about 60% women, 40% men. So we have a really high percentage of women. The reason for that, we're told, is because Temple seems to have less violent crime against women. They feel a little bit more comfortable coming here. There may be other factors that lead to them being displaced while they're already living in Temple. Not really. Not really sure what those. Those contributing factors might be, but regardless, we have a very high percentage of women as compared to the national average. Along with that, higher risk factors for them, just more numbers means higher probability of something really tragic happening, lots of opportunity for trauma, and they're just vulnerable on the street. It's hard to. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to be outside without any sort of protection in a world where there are drugs that are out there. That someone can slip into a bottle of water that you don't even know you got. And the next thing you know, you wake up and you're halfway across town. You don't know how you got there, and you don't know what happened the night before.

[A]

And have we seen. Just for point of referen. So Nancy and I have seen. We met another person. So we're not backtracking, getting up. We have seen somebody we know and that as a matter of fact, today we are praying that person we're not is going to go to substance use disorder treatment. Today we saw this person walking down a street very disheveled, very disoriented, Late afternoon. It was afternoon when we saw her and didn't know really where she was. She was trying. She was a decent distance from Feed my sheep if you're walking on foot. She wasn't here. We saw her and she didn't know. She was crying, she was upset, and she was trying to walk to feed my sheep because she needed to get a sandwich for lunch. Well, we had already missed lunch by a long time. And then she tells us that she had just gone to this place, Little Bobby's, which is in our world, a place that. What is online gaming stuff. 24 hours. So it gives access to a lot of stuff. And she remembers going in there and she was hanging out with some guys and that's it. They slipped something to her and ready whatever. I. I can't remember the exact day. I think it was a Monday. Okay. We found her on a Monday. The event and her time spell that she lost memory was Friday. It was Friday. She was in a place that she didn't know where she was. She didn't know what occurred. Saturday and Sunday have disappeared. So, like, it's not an isolated deal. We're not saying it c. It was terribly sad. I can still see her face. And she didn't know.

[B]

She was very scared. Very, very hungry. She ate what, five pieces of pizza. And she's little.

[A]

Bitty, tiny, tiny. Little bitty.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then like that one charges. She didn't know what to even press charges for the same situation here. Can we press charges? No, Nothing happened because she has no recollection. I mean, no recollection of anything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And.

[B]

And I think it's important too, to point out. And I. I'm not trying to paint any agency in town with any kind of bad brush at all, okay. Or put them into a bad light, but there's just not enough shelter space.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

There's nowhere for these women to go fair.

[A]

Okay, that was my next question is, and this is not negative, this is just. This is not on anything to the people that we have in this town that do provide overnight shelter. Okay. Props to them. I mean, I can't say that anything. There's nothing negative on that. Okay, so then in it, if you are out there listening to this story, you're going, oh man, at least you found her and you got her. She's in a safe place and you got safe people. Okay? And we will get to what. But access to a shelter that night was what?

[B]

Zero.

[A]

Zero.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Zero. A possible scenario that we were forced with here and then keep in mind, so if you're out there, feed my sheep at this moment is not an. We are not an overnight shelter. We'd have loved to be able to. Oh, sure, you can stay here. Not an option. We don't have that option. We're not that. So she's here. We find this scenario. She's not willing to press charges because she thinks that nothing happened. We now highly believe through some other things that people witnessed something that might happen. Still doesn't get you anything in the legal realm. So that's nothing negative on them. So we are now left at the place of, you've got this woman that has a block of time that she doesn't know what occurred, passed out underneath trees outside on a street here in the city. Okay. Wasn't like gone on the street. Okay. And we have nowhere to put her.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Nowhere to put her. So out of that. So then everybody out there listening. So that's, that's where we're faced with. This is. I think, I don't even know what the word helpful is such a trite word to use in this. This is, this is the scenarios that we face, often various forms. Sometimes it's male, sometimes it's female, but. So then now you're left with. We don't have a whole lot of options. Can't get her into mental health help because she has to be willing to do that and you have to have access to it.

[B]

And there has to be. If the police were to take her, it would have to be for a reason. She would have to be a threat to others or a threat to herself. And if you're simply just having a mental health crisis that doesn't impact anybody, or they can't even prove that it's impacting you personally in a, in a suicidal way, there's nothing that they can do about it.

[A]

So again, nothing negative on the Police, right? They are. I don't mean to use a. They are handcuffed. Okay. Because the lady. Are you going to harm yourself? No. Are you going to harm somebody else? No, I'm not having any of those thoughts. You do you feel you're in danger? No. You know, these people are watching. They are limited by what they can do, you know, compassion wise. I'm sure they would love to have done more. You know, we would go, oh gosh, we'll put her in her own cell up here or something. Or we do. You can't, you can't. I mean, so they were limited. Is there a crime that occurred? No, nothing occurred. Are you sure nothing occurred? No, nothing occurred. They are handcuffed. So then they don't have a whole lot of options. They would do whatever, whatever we would ask them to do, but don't have a whole lot of options. So then everybody out there listening on this just to give you a glimpse of a day. Okay, so we got a lady here she is now, keep in mind. Let's rewind. She showed up at our place naked. Right. Okay. Fairly cold, naked outside, doesn't remember a thing. Okay. We now have her. We're trying to find clothes. We do this. We did. We're working with people here that are volunteers because you, you are in this, Nancy, a trained medical professional counselor here. And you get paid a lot of money by Feed My Sheep for this.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

So then we have kind hearted good volunteers that now have in the, even the psychological profession a absolute high magnitude level of a situation.

[B]

Yeah, okay.

[A]

Reality. So then, okay, we now have established we don't have overnight shelter facilities that are going to be open. They're full.

[B]

Right.

[A]

No matter what the. Everybody's gave what. Everybody's got a horrible story, but there's nowhere for her to go. So then what do we do with that lady? Where is she now and how did that occur?

[B]

So through the intervention of the people here at Feed My Sheep, we were able to find resources to put her into a hotel.

[A]

Meaning we paid for a hotel. Right. Okay. Out there that we paid for a motel for her to stay that safe.

[B]

Yes, but it's not cheap.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

And that that kind of intervention is usually only reserved for individuals that have a next step option like that. We know what's going to happen next for them. We've got either plans for going to substance use disorder treatment or plans to go to a mental health treatment center or plans to go back home. Sadly, this woman doesn't have any family that, that would Be willing to. To take her in.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

For whatever reason, those relationships have been severed. Her mother apparently passed away recently.

[A]

Holy crap.

[B]

Just horrific. Horrific.

[A]

Oh, my. Yeah, Nancy and I just heard. Paul. We came up here 20 minutes ago, 30 minutes ago, we heard the scenario of how she found her mother. She. The same person found her mother after she had passed. She was the first one to come across a scene that is. I can't even visualize it in my head. And it is disturbing me to all ends of what this lady walked in and saw. So this is also in the package of here. Oh, and we got this other tidbit. Not that we're laying this for this. All this to get to. This is just. I don't want to say this is just normal. Like, there's so much tragedy and horrific things that go on. Okay. And then on top of that, the lady also. Oh, she's got cancer, and she gets kicked out by her husband from the hotel. So she has no resources. She is suffering from ptsd. There is, like, that is among. I'm not a medical professional, but, like, she has that, among other issues. She does have a. Whether she acknowledges it or not, and we're probably at the not acknowledging it phase, which is. That is the most common of all scenarios here. But she does have a substance use disorder treatment because she was passed out from alcohol. Okay. We have all of these things, and she has no resources to go anywhere.

[B]

And I would say it's really easy to look at this lady and the other young woman that we were talking about a minute ago, and we can point at substance use and we can say that's it. That's why, you know, no wonder. Oh, okay. So they're. They're going through this because they've chosen these terrible things. But let me just. Let me just say they're using those substances because they've experienced trauma that we can't even fathom.

[A]

Fair.

[B]

And there's no other way for them to get through it than to medicate themselves in the only way that they can medicate themselves. This woman in particular, we're finding out, was put outside by the husband with nothing. He didn't even give her her thyroid medicine for the cancer that she's suffering with. Like, he kept that even. Didn't give her anything. So she's put outside. She doesn't have contact with her children. She lost her mother in this horrific, awful way and found her that way. She has a sister that doesn't have anything to do with her. She's literally all alone. In the world. What is she supposed to do at that point? Like where would you turn and how would you think, how would you feel about yourself if like imagine the self esteem that she must have or doesn't have if everybody in her life has turned their back on her. How else would she. Of course she's gonna use a substance. Same with the other young woman that we were talking about before. She's been on the street for years, lots of years. There's no telling what she's experienced, the trauma that she's experienced and there's no way that we could ever, ever even possibly say that we, we understand it.

[A]

I'm not laughing. But you're like, I'm not. It is like here. That's our reality.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

For somebody to justify or validate an opinion on any of the scenarios we run across, that's kind of the gist of what is. That's it. If you hadn't done this, this wouldn't have occurred. Maybe so. Maybe so. Okay. I can't tell you. That is fact. Maybe so. At best you don't understand.

[B]

Couldn't possibly.

[A]

Couldn't possibly. And I'm. We're here in this day in and day out. Okay. And you would think it would be impossible at this juncture of how many different human interaction stories that we've come across to still be perplexed and baffled about the depth of hurt that people carry with them. And then I would also say the depth of the darkness that lives within side of some people.

[B]

Yes. That woman, not her. Like she obviously sadly doesn't see her worth at all.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

There's no. I'm worth the fight of trying to identify these people that did these awful things to me while I was, while I was incapacitated and she was, she was literally incapacitated 100%. And they did awful, horrific, horrible things to her. Terrible things to her. There were witnesses to this that won't speak publicly. But she doesn't see her worth enough.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

To want to fight the fight. Why bother? Why bother?

[A]

What's anybody going to do?

[B]

Nobody cares. Why should I care?

[A]

And I deserved it.

[B]

I deserved it. I'm this horrible, awful person that everyone has turned their back on and I deserve every bit of the suffering that's just going to be doled out to me.

[A]

So I'm going to ask you an obvious question, Nancy. Does she deserve it?

[B]

No.

[A]

Why not?

[B]

Because she does have worth.

[A]

She does.

[B]

She's a child of God.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

She's beautiful.

[A]

Correct. So here everybody out There. Okay. All this is today is I'd love to tell you that within the 45 minutes of this podcast that we're going to tell you. And here's the great solution of how we've got this fixed. And she's now going to Oz. She's living in this great place that we've now solved. Okay. She is. So we're doing what we can. She is as we speak going to go speak to a counselor who comes here with the same heart like Nancy has. Because that's what she has A. This counselor has a whole other job. Like she tries to pay for her. Her life through her counseling business. But she comes up here two days out of the week volunteering to be a counselor with people because her heart is touched in such a way. So she is. This person is now going to go talk to this counselor and to try to figure out what we could do. Nancy. Okay. Managing our farm. And keep in mind on all of this stuff, we cannot do anything a grown adult doesn't want to do. Irregardless of what I know or I think or I believe is the most obvious and best scenario that this person could do and should do and what's best for them. And if they don't want to do any of those things, they don't nor do they have to. That's the world we live in. Okay. So there's some pluses to complete freedom and there's some possible downfalls to complete freedom when people are in such a mental place not going down that road. But that's where we're at. Okay, so as we were speaking this. And then we'll get on to the next deal. The lady is still. We have her in a safe hotel room. Another one of the people that volunteers and helps up here. We're trying to find her clothes. We're trying to. She's in a safe place to try to recover for this week to try to figure out what we could possibly do for long term help like because in it everybody out there, I hope if you're listening to this. Okay, um, let's take a vote because there's one outcome. The, the, the. The business outcome. The what we could. The community could provide at this point. Outcome is she shouldn't even be in a hotel room right now because we really don't have access to that. She should be still have that scenario occurred. Maybe we provided her. We would provide her a hot meal today with some sort of clothes on. And only resource we technically have is good luck. We'll see you tomorrow at 11:30 at lunch. Correct?

[B]

Correct.

[A]

That's fair. Yeah, Fair sentence. Okay. And that's technically all we got as a moral human being that comes here. Where it gets tricky is that is not all you could do. So if you're listening out there, this is a morality type question is okay, you're not dumb, you're smart out there. One week of a hotel. It comes and goes. You're at day eight and we can't afford because a hotel. Let's just easy math. I'm terrible at math. Let's just say $60 a night at a hotel room times seven. It's $420. We ain't got $420, but we do. Okay. And we don't have another $420 to keep her there for two weeks. That's $840. So you're on day eight. Can't put her at my house. Don't have space. Maybe Nancy might. Okay, so that is. That is in. But she might. But you're going. Okay. Time is ticking. Yeah, Time is ticking. So we're now at day eight. Congratulations. Whoo. Glad you got a hotel room. Glad we could put you in a hotel room for a little bit. Glad you're safe. You seem so much better than you were when we found you naked and abused. You can form sentences now. You're not crying all the time. The lady ate none over the weekend. She threw up the whole time. Because she is not well. She is traumatized. Things are starting to come back to her. Like she's thinking she has bruises around her neck because somehow she remembers feeling of being choked. She was.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But these are complicated. We're now day eight. So Nancy, tell me, Joe listener out there can. What should we do with her? You put her back on the street.

[B]

This is a common dilemma.

[A]

Okay, good.

[B]

Feed my sheep.

[A]

In. In. So this is negative on Feed my sheep. This is not across the board. This is just. We interact with 200 plus people every day.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Okay. So that's our geographic location. This is not a testament against feed my sheep. This is just a glimpse into our daily world.

[B]

Right.

[A]

That's what we're saying.

[B]

And there isn't any housing options. So shelters full all the time housing. Affordable housing in Temple is like the waiting list is eight months right now. If you're lucky. There are some factors that will take you to the top, like domestic violence. So if. If we were to be able to prove that this woman. Woman was assaulted, that might. That might help, but it might Not.

[A]

Yeah. And even help. Like, she gets moved to top of the list.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wonderful. That is like the lottery in this. Like, whoo. Okay. She is still. It ain't like day eight, she gets a place.

[B]

It's. It's more like 15, 30 days a month, something like that.

[A]

Which you're going, oh, that's not too bad. You ain't got nothing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we are now record. We're recording this in November. It was 35 or 39 last night, I think. 39, 30, 39. Yeah, something like that. Nancy's a pilot, so she knows weather stuff far better than me. Okay. But it was cold. It was cold.

[B]

It was cold.

[A]

And 30 days. So we're talking just human beings. Okay. So like my daughter. So I would be absolutely aghast. I don't know if she. If she came. Whatever life. I'm not cursing anything on her, but life decision. She reaches a place that is very low in her life, and she comes to a place of support and they say, hey, good news, we can help you, but it's going to be 30 days that you have to stay outside on the street and make it on your own. And then we could figure something out. Unacceptable answer.

[B]

Absolutely not.

[A]

Absolutely not. Okay. Regardless of the decisions that got there or didn't get there or any of that stuff, I would be absolutely aghast if she came to. And I would. I would like to believe. I do believe, even though I have said earlier that there is some dark places inside some human beings that I didn't even know could possibly exist. I will acknowledge that. But I will also acknowledge the truth. I believe in the goodness of humanity and people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So I do. I've seen it on the same flip side, okay. We don't have money here. I have. Yet. Yet not one time have I seen any person of these type of scenarios that go without. I've seen over and over and over and over and over and over and over. People bend over backwards. So. And pay out of their own pockets. To not allow somebody to be outside the hearts of people are good. I mean, like Nancy. I watched her last year. There was a lady here that we ran across. I've lost track of how many nights of a hotel room that Nancy paid to make sure she didn't go outside. She was 85 years old and on the street. Terrible trauma. Whole other deal. Okay, your scenario was, I'm gonna leave you right here and allow you to make it through the night and go to my house, which we have every right to do. Okay. But as a human being, you can't come across these scenarios and not be moved to interject some. I don't see how, I don't see how you could. So then out of that, the scenario, all you've got, the only card you got here is, okay, I can pay for a hotel room and maybe I can find a friend that could pay for another night. And maybe another friend could pay for another night. And it buys us some time to try to figure out what we can do to find long term answers to these people, which there's not many in Temple.

[B]

Well, and I think it goes really beyond that.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And this is, this is a, this is a conversation that I, I had with my team at, at work just last week for, for the, the clientele that we deal with here and in our programs, they have experienced that, that trauma, like all of them. That's a common denominator among all of them. So yes, we need to get them off the street and safe, but also we need to make sure that they're on some sort of trajectory that will equal long term change, long term solutions. I think from my perspective, and I'll sing your praises a little bit, even though I know you hate it when I do that with this woman. Like we'll just use her as an example. She, as you said, will have to be the one that makes the choice about where she goes next and how, what steps she takes as far as her future, the solutions for her future. She'll have to be on board with whatever we, we suggest. Okay, you mentioned the farm. We've had some women that have been offered the farm that have not wanted to go there because they, for whatever.

[A]

Reason, they have farm, what that means.

[B]

So Elizabeth's farm is a facility of feed my sheep and it currently has a sort of group home on it and one tiny home. We're hoping to expand it to add seven additional tiny homes. But specifically for women like this, like we're talking about today, that would just provide a safe place for them to land until we can get them on their feet and most importantly for them to understand their worth.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

For them, for us to be able to help them deal with their trauma. Like this woman apparently has been through substance use disorder treatment multiple times. Multiple, multiple times. And it has not worked because the base problem is the trauma that she's had to deal with and that she doesn't, she doesn't see her worth. She doesn't understand how to deal with everything that she's gone through in her life. But you Jeff have a gift of helping people to see their worth and their beauty. So I think there's gotta be. We have to have a holistic approach.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

We can't just continue on putting someone into a house and helping them get an ID and you know, buying them some groceries and, you know, giving them some clothing and that's just gonna fix the problem. And that, that's just not, that's not the solution that we, that we should be going towards. It's gotta be a deeper level of support and care for their soul and for them as a person.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

Housing only doesn't work. It just won't. Substance use disorder treatment in and of itself will not work. It may work some, it may help.

[A]

A little, and it's a great tool.

[B]

It's a great tool in the toolbox. But unless we're showing them their beauty and their worth, it's all for nothing.

[A]

Great.

[B]

It will, they will go, they will, they will fall to their trauma again.

[A]

Agreed. And so what we are hoping you get a glimpse out there. Okay, so all the individual things that Nancy mentioned are good. Somebody providing free clothes for a person. She needed clothes. She was naked.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Good. Is that the whole answer?

[B]

No.

[A]

No. Here's some new clothes. She needed a shower. We provided a shower. Is that the whole answer? No, no, she needed something to eat. Okay. She was hungry. Whole answer. No, she's in a hotel room that's a safe place, that's a roof over her head for a little bit. Is that the answer? It's an answer in the whole equation, not the whole answer. Okay. And so you look this big word, it is a holistic. You have to address the whole, starting with the root place of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. And they must, and these things must be brought along in this. Yes, you need clothes and yes, you need food and yes, you need a place to stay that's safe and that's good. And yes, you need to be clean and sober and well to truly embrace life. And yes, you need to be able to think about what the future might hold for you. Well, this may be a difficult juncture here because we had some Internet issues, so we're not sure how this is going to paste end. So we had like a four second lapse here. But what we were talking about is that a holistic approach to individual people is the only way that this works. And coming back to the root issue, which is the lack of community and belonging and support for the people that we run across, acknowledgement of the trauma that they have experienced every one of them, whether they acknowledge it or not, okay? And acknowledging the fact of how little they think of themselves because they know intimately. Well, make no doubt about it. They know well all the poor decisions they have made and all the ramifications of it and how little they deserve of this, as do all of us, okay? And so, like, you look at that. And so, like, for everybody out there, this is a discussion Nancy and I have had many times, and we do not believe it's enough. I do not. I am tasked and challenged even on this every day of going home. And I don't think this is how the God that we serve and worship is. I don't want to come when I pass, and it's going to happen. I mean, I'm going to pass. I don't know what coming to him necessarily looks like. I don't want to come to him and have been faced with all these different scenarios that we see every day. Every day. Varying forms of terrible, terrible things every day. Okay? And all I can answer to him. And I'm trying to do. Well, like, because you would go, man, I'm trying. I don't want to be able to come and say, I gave him. Look, I gave them three sandwiches, and we normally only give people two. I gave them two pair of socks, and normally we only give them one. What do you mean I didn't help? I put him in a hotel room for a night. Nobody else did that. That came out of my pocket. Gave him three sandwiches, two pairs of socks, and a hotel room for a night. What do you mean I didn't help? Okay? And so I'm not saying that's how it's going to come down. I'm not. I don't know. But so then out of that moral obligation of that of going, I'm one that believes that all these random scenarios that we come across, God puts them in our place for a reason, and he is allowing us to be part of help in it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It is not enough to see something occur and to go, huh, that stinks. And go on my way. It's not enough. I don't believe in my thought process. And then I debate with whoever. I don't. I'm. Whatever. No debate. I don't think it's enough to go, hey, you're all right, aren't you? You're good. Okay, cool. Later.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So then you go and where I would come to. And then we're going to come to where we're going to make the circle to. There's a story in the Bible, like, we are happen to be Christians, okay? And so, like, man, I don't know why it stings staying that word sometimes because it has such connotations now. But we do believe in the teachings of the Bible. You know, one of my favorite sentences, and we'll be back on this is there's a guy, he said the last thing the world needs is any more Christians is what he said. And you're going, what? And he says, what we need is more followers of Christ.

[B]

Amen to that.

[A]

Yeah, we got plenty of Christians. But with the story, and that's not negative, I'm on that team. And this is nothing against any of the teams because there's humanitarian good in all of them. But there's a story in our Bible of the Good Samaritan. It's about a guy that was from Samaria, which was not a very well thought of place, okay? So the population was chosen for a reason in the story, for a teaching tool. And he had gotten beaten up and robbed and terrible thing happened to him on the side of the road. And we all know this story, whatever, give you the synopsis briefly. First dude comes by religious this or that or whatever, and he just passes by on the other side of the road because he couldn't get near this dude, okay? Because whatever, whatever the order. But one of them didn't go near him because he's worried about his own safety. Salad this dude, the roads were dangerous. He sees this guy that's beat up, obviously there's some danger around there, and he's like, oh, no, you know, I got an obligation, I got a family to take care of. I can't take a chance. Valid. You go, okay, I get it. He walks across the road. Next guy, not sure the order, whatever. Next guy comes up, he works in the church. And in their custom at that time, if you come across somebody who was injured, it was unclean. If this dude happened to die and this guy touched him, he couldn't go do his job for the next X amount of days because he's unclean. He had touched somebody who had died, who was ill. Couldn't go be a good preacher, so he had to go on his way. I'm sorry, love to help, but I gotta go preach. Can't touch you because I can't take the chance that I couldn't be able to preach to my flock, you know, so good luck to you. And then one guy comes by and he drops everything and he gets the guy and he loads him up, takes him to a Hotel at that time, an inn or whatever. And he pays all the debts that are necessary for this guy to be taken care of and taken care of well. And then even goes so far, he said, I'm going to be back in town. If I'm short anything, this paraphrase. If I'm short anything, let me know and I'll square up on that. This guy owes nothing. Okay? So out of that, Nancy and I were absolute idiots on this. And this is not us, okay. At all. I'm hoping you out there would hear and go and crap. No, day eight is not acceptable option for this lady getting out of the hotel, having all these things occur. And now you're back on the street. Good luck again. Hope it doesn't happen again. It is not an acceptable answer for a community that cares for each other and what we are called to do for other people. So with that, what Nancy is doing at the farm in her spare time, We've got a farm. We are going to put tiny homes out there where we have places for ladies to go to find their value and their worth in a safe, good place, surrounded by mentors and people that are caring about them, moving them towards a path that they could live the life abundantly. They are called to not to be babysat their whole entire life. That's not life abundantly, but to set them up in a way that they could live the life they're called to live, to find the grace and forgiveness that they. They are, that's afforded to them as well as all of us that are listening to that. So that's what Nancy is doing. Okay. I saw a billboard coming in, and I think it's brilliant. It says, well done is far greater than well said.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So what Nancy's trying to do at the farm and provide a place, you see a need. We have no place for women like this to go that they can get into a need. We're not sitting by. This is nothing against God. We are not sitting back waiting for somebody else to be the solution. Nancy says we must do this. Matter of fact, we're looking even to expand that even further.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because the farm is not going to be enough. And so we're going, we got it. We got to do more. But then you would go, but y' all are just individuals. You're just people. How are you going to do more? That's government's got the money. Okay. We sit around and we wait for somebody else to do the things that we are called to do as human beings for each other. And to help and to be there. Okay. We sit around and wait. The exact same things that are occurring will occur again and again and again and again.

[B]

Yes. So in 2023, not to point fingers at all, but January, January of 2023, the city council adopted officially the strategic plan to address homelessness and mental health issues in our community.

[A]

And we're in 2025.

[B]

This is the end of 2020.

[A]

End of 2020.

[B]

Staring down the barrel of three years later.

[A]

Okay, okay.

[B]

Nothing has happened since then. Now we're working on some stuff. We have a great new partnership with Feed My Sheep, and I think we finally have some forward movement. But we're three years later and 29 deaths on the street. 31 deaths on the street since then.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Unacceptable.

[A]

Unacceptable. Unacceptable.

[B]

So we can't wait around. We can't continue to put all of our eggs in the basket of national government, state government, local government, none of that. It won't work.

[A]

Will not.

[B]

We have to come together as a community and find solutions. We have to do something.

[A]

Agreed. This lady that we started this story with, with the acknowledgment, okay? You always have to put this precursor in it. We can only do what she is willing to allow us to do for her. So I saying that. I know that. I acknowledge that. Okay, so we got that. Okay? The solution of any form or fashion of how it's going to work out for her in a positive way, is it going to be something the national government did?

[B]

No.

[A]

Is it going to be something the state government did?

[B]

No.

[A]

Is it going to be something at this juncture right now, the city government did?

[B]

Absolutely not.

[A]

Absolutely not. So how is any positive outcome for this lady going to occur right now in Temple Texas? It's going to be what God's hand through us and who is us?

[B]

Community.

[A]

Community. Individual people. The only way this story is going to work out, only tool that we have in our arsenal right now is individual people in the community walking across the side of the road interjecting and saying, I'm on board with this, and I am not all right. I'm not all right with the fact that this lady might get put back in the exact same scenario again. Again, I'm not all right with that. It's not all right in my community for one of the members of my community to be preyed upon this way and not try to step in in some form or fashion. So the point of all of this is not we're not beating anything down. It's. I forget everybody doesn't get to see the reality of what we see day after day after day. So I think it is helpful and I could be wrong and whatever the one person that's listening to this, Mom, I know I'm always right. So like hey, thanks for listening. Okay. But whatever. I think it is helpful for people to hear what what is going on and what we are seeing every day and what the true answer to this that is diametrically different than what other communities are trying to do. It's individual members of the community stepping up and being part of somebody's life.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So when we get this thing done, and we will 2023 to now. Not our best chapter. Okay. Not our best chapter. We had some opportunities and this is nothing negative on the city. Opportunities were there and we had some whatever. We were just it this and this is a difficult fight and this is an all in fight and we just weren't ready at different places in the lineup to go all in. No longer acceptable.

[B]

However, I would say I would agree with your assessment.

[A]

What's that?

[B]

That it shouldn't be laid at the feet of city government.

[A]

Oh, agreed.

[B]

Shouldn't have from the beginning.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

If the city had of swooped in and paid all the money to build whatever and it didn't include the participation of the community. Wouldn't work, worthless. Would not work, not worthless.

[A]

But I'd agree so with it. So make sure everybody hears this. I do believe the city government we have in place, right? Oh yeah. I do believe the city government we have in place right now is very good and very caring.

[B]

Agreed.

[A]

And they are really trying to do really, really great things. The steps that they have made now to sign the partnership with Feed My Sheep here, not just because it's here. Very forward thinking, very compassionate, very person centered decision making. They're doing nothing negative. You will never hear anything negative out of my mouth about the city or about the police department which I'm supposed to in this world that I deal with homeless. I'm supposed to hate the police department because every other, every other conference I go to, everybody else who's in this world is the police or the enemy. They're absolutely not. I see some of the kindest, caringist people that are in that side. So you're not going to get that from me either.

[B]

So I'm like, especially my son.

[A]

Well, her son is so handsome. Oh, he's so handsome. He's so handsome.

[B]

He's the best police officer ever.

[A]

So what we're going to do, we'll just leave it at that and guess what we're going to do. So next Tuesday we're going to come back and we're going to tell you about day eight for this lady. I thought it'd be interesting to get you involved in a story and to hear and to be thinking what is going on with this person. Okay. And you out there, I'm believing some of you are people of faith and if you're not, that's all right. But if you are a person of faith, prayers for this lady. And the story that we are dealing with is unbelievable. I will say this prayer we have, I'll use her what our initials for because you can trace this. It's going to come to absolutely nothing. So I can give her initials. Prayers for YR is another one that we work with that needs so much help and we're praying that she gets a day one.

[B]

Amen to that.

[A]

That she takes advantage of day one and you pray for or who's in a house thanks to Nancy and has her own place that, that her story continues to be well and or okay. How she functions every day. Nancy brings her food every day, checks.

[B]

On her Nancy and Jeff.

[A]

Heavy on Nancy, light on Jeff. But she cares about her. Okay, so. And we do all of this stuff and this is nothing on us like so period. The story we mentioned, it will, if it has any kind of sort of an outcome of anything positive, it will be some no name person that's going to interject here because they don't want to be known and they're going to step in and help be part of this and they're going to allow God to be used through them, period. And that story will, will work out. So we do all of this stuff not because feed my sheep matters or whatever. That's not here nor there. We do this thing because what Nancy said, we believe wholeheartedly and it must be the fact that God cares about people and they are of infinite worth to him. And we say here, we put it in a simple sentence of people matter, they matter. So here everything we do is we would say people matter. And if you're listening to this every time I do this, you have to acknowledge the fact that you are a person as well. And with that comes the responsibility that comes with it which is you matter as well. And in the issues we are talking about, I will say this. How we are going to do it, what it is based upon, it is upon people who realize they matter in being part of the solution. You matter as soon as the community realizes they matter. In the solution and that the members of the community matter. We move on down the road.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Okay. So next week we will take up with day eight and to see where our lady is and how that is going. So at least you would get maybe a glimpse of what this sort of looks like. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Good to have you, Nancy. We will mark it down for next week to try it again. Thank you, Isaac. Good to go. Sa.