Understanding Homelessness: A Volunteer Perspective

Summary

The Collage Podcast: Episode Summary Title: Understanding Homelessness: A Volunteer Perspective
Host/Producer: Feed My Sheep
Release Date: June 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this poignant episode of The Collage Podcast, produced by Feed My Sheep in Temple, Texas, host Jeff engages in a heartfelt dialogue with a group of dedicated volunteers from Baylor Scott and White. The discussion centers around their experiences serving the homeless community, shedding light on the multifaceted challenges and insights gained from their volunteer work.

Volunteer Introductions

Jeff opens the conversation by welcoming his guests and setting the scene at Feed My Sheep, a local organization committed to feeding individuals who are hungry not just physically, but also spiritually and emotionally. The volunteers introduce themselves, sharing their backgrounds and reasons for joining the mission.

• Michelle shares her longstanding affiliation with Baylor Scott and White and her personal business in Temple, highlighting her interactions and support for the homeless as her "Sheep" (02:24).

• Jeremy discusses his 18-year tenure with the organization, emphasizing Baylor Scott and White's commitment to community service and his personal fulfillment from volunteering (03:40).

• Lauren, a new hospice care consultant from Round Rock, reflects on her past volunteering experiences in East Texas and her motivation to continue serving (04:04).

Expectations vs. Reality of Serving the Homeless

The conversation delves into the volunteers' initial perceptions versus the realities they encounter at Feed My Sheep.

• Michelle anticipated certain behaviors based on prior experiences, mentioning, "there's certain rules for those individuals" (09:52).

• Jeremy describes the overwhelming sight of numerous individuals waiting early in the morning for breakfast, stating, "It's a little jarring to the system when you first drive up" (10:31).

• Lauren expresses feeling intimidated initially, especially when transitioning from her previous volunteering environments where safety was less of a concern (13:48).

Root Causes of Homelessness

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the underlying issues contributing to homelessness, with each volunteer presenting their perspectives.

• Jeremy identifies the mental health crisis as the foremost issue, noting the scarcity of mental health professionals and the long wait times for services (16:10).

• Lauren points to substance abuse, sharing her firsthand experiences with drugs and alcoholism as pathways that lead individuals to homelessness (19:20).

• Jeff offers a broader view, asserting that the lack of community and belonging, alongside catastrophic loss of family, plays a pivotal role in homelessness. He emphasizes, "homelessness isn't just about not having a house; it's about a loss of community and identity" (20:02).

Challenges in Addressing Homelessness

The volunteers discuss systemic barriers that prevent effective assistance for the homeless population.

• Michelle highlights the bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining identification, which is essential for accessing services and employment. She explains, "If you don't have proof of residency, you can't get an ID" (17:39).

• Jeff elaborates on logistical challenges, such as the lack of public transportation in Temple, making it difficult for homeless individuals to reach the DMV or job sites (17:47).

• The group also touches upon issues like functional illiteracy and mental clarity, which hinder the ability of homeless individuals to navigate applications and services effectively (18:07).

The Mission and Services of Feed My Sheep

Jeff delineates the comprehensive mission of Feed My Sheep, which transcends merely providing meals to addressing the holistic needs of the homeless.

• The organization aims to feed individuals physically, spiritually, and emotionally, reflected in their expanded services, including the Sunrise Center for mental health counseling and partnerships with various support agencies (31:07).

• Jeff discusses innovative approaches such as virtual reality tools for occupational therapy, helping individuals manage anxiety and simulate real-life scenarios like job interviews (31:07).

• The volunteers emphasize the importance of personalized interactions, ensuring that every individual feels recognized and valued, contributing to their sense of dignity and respect (30:57).

Community vs. Government Solutions

A critical debate arises around the efficacy of community-driven initiatives versus government-funded programs in addressing homelessness.

• Jeff argues that community involvement, rather than government intervention, is the key to meaningful change. He contrasts the inefficacy of high government spending on homelessness, citing examples from Austin and California where exorbitant per-person costs have not led to sustainable solutions (41:07).

• The volunteers agree that simply "throwing money at the problem" is ineffective. Instead, they advocate for fostering a sense of community and belonging, drawing parallels to the Blue Zones—regions with high longevity due to strong community ties and purposeful living (43:49).

• Michelle echoes this sentiment, criticizing over-reliance on governmental systems and emphasizing the need for grassroots initiatives that support and integrate homeless individuals into the community fabric (40:52).

Insights and Reflections

The volunteers share personal insights and the emotional impact of their work.

• Jeremy expresses how volunteering deepens his appreciation for his own life and the choices he's made, reinforcing his commitment to serving others (28:31).

• Lauren reflects on the controllable aspects of their mission, such as alleviating hunger, and finds fulfillment in making a tangible difference in people's lives (29:16).

• Jeff stresses the importance of seeing homeless individuals as people with unique stories, advocating for personalized treatment over generic solutions. He narrates, "We would recognize people and you would understand individual stories" (37:35).

Conclusion

The episode culminates with a reaffirmation of the volunteers' dedication to their mission. They acknowledge the complexity of homelessness and the limitations of their efforts in solitary but remain optimistic about community-driven solutions. Jeff envisions Feed My Sheep as a model for other communities, emphasizing that while not all problems can be solved, fostering connections and providing comprehensive support can significantly improve the lives of those experiencing homelessness.

Notable Quotes:

• Michelle (02:24): "I offer them some labor sometimes and depending on what I need for the day."

• Jeremy (16:10): "I think it's a mental health crisis that we have going on in the country."

• Jeff (20:02): "The number one commonality of the people that are in the line that we will face today is all of these things. But number one is lack of community and belonging and catastrophic loss of family."

• Lauren (28:31): "It's about serving, giving back to the community."

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Timestamps

For quick reference, here are some key timestamps mentioned in the summary:

• 02:24, 03:40, 04:04, 09:52, 10:31, 13:48, 16:10, 19:20, 20:02, 17:39, 17:47, 18:07, 31:07, 30:57, 41:07, 40:52, 28:31, 29:16, 37:35.

Transcript

[Jeff]

Foreign. Hey, we want to welcome everybody to another edition of the collage podcast. We're excited to be here today. Always excited to be here, and it's good, man. I've been kind of lax in getting up here. Isaac hasn't been doing me a good job of making me come up here. So we are up here recording this podcast. We're in a little place out there, if you're listening to this, called Temple Texas. So it's right in the middle of Central Texas, kind of between Austin and Dallas, off of I35 corridor is where we're at. We're at a place called Feed my Sheep, which is in temple. And what we do here is we serve. We would say our mission is we feed those that are hungry physically, spiritually, and emotionally. So a lot of the people that we're working with are outside on the streets here in temple. That's generally our clientele. And what we do is every day we have a different volunteer group that comes in here and helps serve our people. So we are excited today. They don't even know what they've got into. Okay. But we've got a group here, and I'm going to let them introduce themselves in temple. Kind of what we have temple is all about, always has been. We have a big hospital in temple. Okay. And it is now Baylor, Scott and White. I grew up. It was Scott and White, but it's whatever. Baylor, Scott and White, whatever. Okay. But it is kind of the big. The big operation here in temple. I mean, so it is the thing. If you came in our town, you would see it miles away. It is our largest employer in it, and they have a group here from Scott and White that is volunteering and serving today. So I thought it would be kind of interesting to have them come talk about why in the world do I even come serve here, who they are and what were they expecting and that kind of stuff just to talk. So we'll go around the room. There's four of us total here. So we'll just kind of go around. You introduce yourself. Whatever you want the world out there to know about you, bring it.

[Michelle]

So my name is Michelle. I work for Baylor, Scott and White here in temple, and today volunteered because, you know, it was an opportunity to serve my community. I do have a business down. Down the road here, and I do see a lot of these individuals that come. And so I do. I do offer them some labor sometimes and depending on what I need for the day. And I know they come down here quite often to be my Sheep.

[Jeff]

So. And we're going to come back to that on the business because it is a legitimate discussion because some of the people we serve here aren't always the best in their behavior and what they do in businesses. And so it is a difficulty we navigate as well. So that one is a. This isn't the whole topic, but that is a discussion point, is how can the two coexist? And then what's always intriguing to me, we're talking about a modern society. We shouldn't even be having issues of trying to figure out how to keep people from sleeping on a street. I mean, that's kind of the. You're correct. You would believe, but it's not.

[Michelle]

I think some of it's more of their choice.

[Jeff]

Agreed.

[Michelle]

And what they do.

[Jeff]

100%. 100%. There's all kind of different things occurring. And we're going to look at that. Okay, great. Yes, sir.

[Jeremy]

So thank you for inviting me on this. My name is Jeremy. I been with Baylor, Scott and White for five years here in Temple. Been with the organization for 18 years total, really. I've served here at Feed My Sheep. I think this is my fourth or fifth time that I've come to serve. That's what I really like about Baylor, Scott and White. They are all about giving back to the community. And so they give us this opportunity to come serve, and I enjoy it.

[Jeff]

Good. Very nice.

[Lauren]

I'm Lauren. I just started with Better Scott and White, so. But I am a hospice care consultant. I work out of Round Rock, though, so I'm not very familiar with the Temple area as much. I come up maybe like once a month. But of course, the opportunity to serve, I used to do it a lot back in East Texas, so had to hop on it.

[Jeff]

Okay, now let me ask, because I'm not aware. Are y' all all from different areas of. Scott and White are all in the same department. Do y' all know each other? Not know each other.

[Jeremy]

So we all have the same vice president.

[Jeff]

The same vice president.

[Jeremy]

And then. So I'm with the respiratory department. Michelle's with ICU department.

[Michelle]

I've been there for 10 years. A little over 10 years.

[Jeff]

So then you would fall under this same vice president? Yes, yes.

[Lauren]

But I work with the hospice department.

[Jeff]

And hospice is end of life care.

[Lauren]

Yes.

[Jeff]

Okay.

[Lauren]

Comfort care.

[Jeff]

Comfort care. Okay. Okay. So. And that's an interesting one because I've been really intrigued. Are you familiar with the blue zones and all that? This. I'm going to tell a medical person about the blue. The blue zones or Blue laws, the blue zones. Interesting. I made up with that one. Like, we won't go. This is not the direction the podcast is going to go. But it was a National Geographic study. They did like 20 something years ago. Okay, this guy did just give a brief because we have to touch it. We're going to talk about this in your world. Okay? But it was this guy did a study of the areas in the world that had highest percentage of people that live to be 100. And so he thought we're going to go. And it was all over the map. And the blue zones, he just circled it on a map, okay, oh, it's Japan and it was Greece and it was South America and it was all these different places. And he went to see if there was a commonality of why the people were living longer there. Obviously the first take was it's going to be dietary, strictly dietary. I mean, because no offense, America's diet's horrible. And there was some components to the diet. But after they went and studied for years and years and years, there was nine principles that they came that were equal. Diet was 1/9 of the equation. Important one. But we went and looked at stuff and how these societies functioned and how they, how much they spent per capita on health care, nursing homes, all of these different things. And how were they able to live and live well and not just we got a couple people live to be 100. It's an interesting journey. It's really intrigued me to look at these people in these different countries that live different than us because the possibility of retirement ain't happening in South America. Your garden still has to be taken care of. You got to still pick your food. You got to live. Going to nursing home. There ain't no such a thing. You know, so whole other discussion. Okay, so we're going to, we're going to look at that because that one intrigues me to no end. And even for our people, we've got some down there that I'll introduce you to that Hayes better not say a name, but some of our people, they're coming to the end of their life. I mean, they are. And to look at. How can you go to that place? Well, you know, and to look at that even in this realm. So we're going to kind of go around. So just kind of tell me. So we have some been here quite a bit, some that were uneducated because she went to University of Tyler.

[Lauren]

At least it was at umhp.

[Jeff]

But see my main problem. So we're not going to go make it personal. But my main problem is I went to A and M. It's the UT part in front of the. Tyler is more of the issue than the umhb. And they beat us every now and then because I. I do. That's our local school.

[Lauren]

And I can't even lie, though. I looked at UMHB to play volleyball, so it was actually my first option.

[Jeff]

Oh, wait, which one? Somebody. There's somebody famous, played volleyball at ut. Tyler. Who was it? Hold on. It'll come to me before this is over.

[Lauren]

Someone famous?

[Jeff]

No, I'm sorry. Soccer.

[Lauren]

She was UT Mahomes wife.

[Jeff]

That's right.

[Lauren]

Brittany.

[Jeff]

That's right. Brittany was playing about that same time. Yep. Okay. So great athlete. Their kids, you better watch. They're gonna make. They're gonna be some athletes. So on that, let me ask you, okay, Because y' all are volunteers. We have very different places that we're coming. We're gonna not lie. Our population that we're dealing with people that you've already seen. And we're not claiming you all are the experts on everything. These are unhoused people. Okay. The people that we have worked with already, some are. Well, they're not making very good lifestyle choices. That's a fair sentence to say. Okay. Some are mentally this and that. What were you expecting, like, when you come here and whether you were familiar with. Because you did, oh, we're going to go serve the homeless people. What does that even mean? Okay, so tell me what you were expecting. What do you think of this topic? Because it is one. I mean, like, we're just talking about the topic at hand because we have a lot of people. Round Rock, you get up towards Austin. There's all kind of ways to do it up there. Some that are really good community. First Village up there is marvelous in what they're trying to do, the city of Austin and what they're trying to do with the hotels and such like that absolute train wreck. So there's ways to do it and do it well, ways to do it and do it poorly. Tell me, what do we think when we came here? You go, oh, we're going to work with the homeless. What were you expecting?

[Michelle]

I kind of had expectations already because of the individuals that come to work every once in a while. For me, I know there's specific rules for those individuals, you know, and how they are perceived whenever they come here. They break those rules and different things happen. But I already knew kind of that there's certain companies, restaurants in the city that already donate to here. And so I kind of had a semi background, but I didn't know what the inside looked like.

[Jeff]

Fair enough. Yeah. Okay. What do we. You've been here several times. Okay, so.

[Jeremy]

So I think the. Actually, every time I've come, it's a little jarring just seeing so many people here at early in the morning just waiting for the doors to open to get their breakfast. So it kind of shocks your system a little bit when you drive up and you see everybody just hovering around the doors and waiting for it to open, because, you know, they probably haven't had anything to eat since the day prior. And I think y' all serve only lunch only, so.

[Jeff]

That's right.

[Jeremy]

That might have been the last time they ate anything. So it's. It's a little jarring to the system when you first drive up.

[Jeff]

Agreed. And is it a fair statement? Like, even me, I'm been here since 2010, so. Even me, it's a bit intimidating to look at the front door and there's this line of people that you've got to walk by to come in here to serve.

[Jeremy]

Right.

[Jeff]

There's no line, like, for all of us to go, oh, crud. I mean, am I going to do this right? Oh, my gosh, what are they going to do to me? What are they going to say? Am I safe, etc. Kind of intimidating, right? And then I get to the door, and even me, I'm like, oh, crud, Was it wrong of me to feel that way? Those are just people, you know? So you kind of have this internal dialogue going, even this. But a lot of people. A lot of people. And then here in our little town of Temple, okay, we're kind of divided. Temple's divided. Pretty decent. 31st street, not decent being a good way, but 31st street right down the middle. Okay. And west side of 31st street, decent affluence. East side, not so much. And then you get off of this side of town. We're at. This is really, really economically challenged area. They're trying to revitalize it and such like that. But what's interesting in our community, I think this is a fair statement. If you live in West Temple, like when I was growing up, that would be Belton. Okay. So you live way out there by the lake. There's people that live out there, and it's not their fault. That would say, man, what's so nice about Temple in this area is we don't have any homeless people that you can see. That's right, because they never come over here. And they never come, you know, past the Loop. If you never came past the Loop and you were on that side of town, you would never really know that. We're going to have 100 people waiting in line out here to have breakfast.

[Michelle]

And there were spots that they can. They were hiding over there in the trees.

[Jeff]

That's right. There still is like that. The spots, the 100. The biggest camp. I'm not going to rat them out. The biggest camp. There's one over by Lowe's. Okay. But they've tore that one down pretty decent. Biggest camp right now I know of is on the west side of town. Huge.

[Michelle]

Oh, I know.

[Jeff]

I think huge. Way back in the woods. You would never even guess it. It's huge.

[Michelle]

Part of my property.

[Jeff]

You own property over there?

[Michelle]

Yeah. It's probably by the metaverse in the back end. I know where it's at because, man.

[Jeff]

I'm trying to figure out how to deer hunt over there. There's some big deer over in that area.

[Michelle]

They're building apartments back there, so there's not going to be much left, but.

[Jeff]

There'S still a little pocket by the old Western auto that has got some monster deer living in it. So. Okay, what were we expecting? What do you think?

[Lauren]

Well, I think intimidating was a great word, only because, I mean, I served a lot when I was in East Texas, but there was never any safety concerns. And so intimidating is the word I would use because as soon as I got out, the first thing that someone told me was, make sure you lock your car. So I. Yeah, I was intimidated. I mean, happy to serve, but, yeah, it's definitely different from the times I've served. So.

[Jeff]

No, I mean, like, here we're just. It's legitimate, you know, like, there's concerned, and it's not anything negative on the people. But, I mean, I go, hey, probably not my best idea to leave my wallet sitting out on the table anywhere but here. It's even to the next deal. So that it's for. We're just kind of talking for volunteers. It's fair. Okay. To say, man, I wasn't so sure. Didn't know where I was supposed to go. It kind of felt strange. You got to walk down here. Fair. That's legit. We wouldn't say that out of that. Okay. And to go, okay. Then we come inside, and our operation is, like you said, different restaurants provide us some food, we get food. That's loads that get denied by, like, Walmart or H E B. They're good. The temperature might have got up to 37 degrees instead of 36. One of the boxes may have fallen over. They reject the whole load. And then we get the leftovers of that. And so we get that. So easy question says intimidating here. Just out of curiosity. Okay. For y' all. And I've got an opinion on this. I would say so besides not having a house, which I don't think is the number one issue of being homeless. Okay. So there's difference of being housed and homeless. And I am proactive in that. I know in the world that we're in, there were some that. Oh, you're supposed to say unhoused. No, they're homeless. They don't have a house that's homeless. Okay. I would say more importantly, something. But what would you say the number one issue if you were going to say on people that are homeless? This is just your opinion. If you were looking at this topic matter. Homeless, your perception at the start going. Is the number one thing that is facing people that are homeless. The number one topic would be what.

[Jeremy]

Your opinion, My opinion, I think it's a mental health crisis that we have going on in the country.

[Jeff]

Tell me about that.

[Jeremy]

I just. I don't feel like there's enough mental health professionals to treat all the. All the different people that need it. And I know for personal experience, having family members trying to get in to see a mental health professional or get in for counseling or whatever, I mean, it's a nightmare. I mean, the wait lists are forever huge.

[Jeff]

Okay. Legit. Okay, we're going to come. We're going to look at that one.

[Michelle]

So of course they have a lack of address.

[Jeff]

Okay.

[Michelle]

Can't get a position anywhere without an address.

[Jeff]

We're going to look at that. Okay, so then there's an interesting deal on that one, too. So if you don't have a driver's license, you can't do anything. If you don't have a. You can't do anything. You can't get a driver's license. So like, so in it. Mine, I would say. And I'm not okay at all. I think sex trafficking, any of that horrific Needs to end. But you know what? How easy everybody. Oh, man, that'd be. You know what? If I get. If I got Tyler. I'm gonna call you Tyler just because I like the nickname. If I got Tyler's driver's license, she's from. She ends up in temple. She doesn't even know how she got here. But we're hanging out because we're friends or whatever. I get her driver's license. Guess what? I got her. Okay. I got her. Okay. Because she's not from here, she can't get a hotel room, she can't get any services. She can't do anything because she has no id.

[Michelle]

No id.

[Jeff]

No id. I got her.

[Michelle]

You can't. If you don't have Internet access or a computer at this point now, you can't go get your id.

[Jeff]

That's right.

[Michelle]

And then if you don't have proof of your identification, you still can't go get your id. That's right.

[Jeff]

So, like here in our town, like. And that's one of the things we do provide. We provide services for people to go get their id. One of the biggest things that we could do, we have post office boxes for our people that they have a mailing address. Because to get a driver's license, you know what you have to have? You have to have proof of residency for 60 days prior. How are you going to do that if you're on the street? You can't. Okay, but we at least give a post office box they can get mail to. We can show that we can take them. We don't have public transportation in Temple to get them to the dmv. Computer access, we have that. You got to make an appointment. And it's two months to even get an appointment. Terrible, terrible. So ID and these things, it is not that difficult to get in this situation. And then that's. Okay, we're going to come and this is a topic. Okay, so let's pretend that you have mental difficulties. That clarity is not easy for you. You don't have an id, and you're. Let's even pretend on top of that, you don't know how to read. Because percentage wise, that's gonna be 40% of the people that come through the line today. Statistically, they are functionally illiterate. One of the difficulties. Okay, how are you gonna get on the computer and fill out the application, but you can't read and you're not clear and you don't understand this stuff and you don't have an id? Can you see how easy it would. Okay, what do you think? What were you expecting and what do you think the number one concern is?

[Lauren]

Well, I was going to say lifestyle only because I've seen it first, firsthand. Drugs and alcoholism can really lead someone down the worst path. And again, I've seen it firsthand.

[Jeff]

So agree. Okay. No and fair. So it is legit. Substance, huge issue. Okay. Mental health, huge issue. Choices, Choices, yeah. Lifestyle choices. And then I will tell you, and I'm not saying I'm right and these all are factors in it. I would say the number one commonality of the people that are in the line that we will face today is all of these things. But number one is lack of community and belonging and catastrophic loss of family.

[Michelle]

I think it still has to do with life choices.

[Jeff]

It could. I'd agree. Okay.

[Michelle]

Personal family members we do have, we gave them choices to saying, hey, you have a spot to stay. However, you can't allow these other individuals, they're going to bring you down the wrong path. But they made that choice to stay home.

[Jeff]

I would agree. And then I would say in that same deal. So catastrophic loss of family could be choices. They have severed ties, if you like. We have registered sex offenders that are in here. They made terrible, catastrophic choices in their family that have completely severed that. You're not like this. I agree. You go, fam, you cannot. And we love you too much to allow this to continue. Math is not a good thing. It must end. Okay. If you keep doing this, these are going to be the ramifications.

[Michelle]

Or they're in denial still.

[Jeff]

Well, that's right. And then they go. And they do that. Then they go, I can't have nowhere to go. They've now burned that bridge. That's gone. And like you mentioned mental health. And then one of you think, well, I've had family members and it's so hard to work with them to get this through that family still support, you know, and so you got this connection. But here the commonality is if you go ask them, hey, tell me about your family, tell me your support system. They don't. And then mine in your world is, I would say the people, they realize nobody here knows they're even alive or cares. They will live unknown, they will die and nobody will even know that they are dead and that they even live terrible existence. Did they. Some of them make choices. Yeah. And then we can, man, we can get on this deal. We're not going to go way philosophical because some of this stuff, like I would say on choices, mental ill. And I'm not, I'm not a mental health professional. Not at all. Not even claiming to be. I'm just saying what my people would say. Many of the people that we will come across today, terrible addictions, they wouldn't see it as such. Okay. They would say self medication because they can't get the medicines they need to bring clarity. They would say to me, I can go grab a couple of them if I Do this. Then the voices, they're not so loud, like because they're schizophrenic. But smoking meth calms some of these voices down. They believe actually extenuates other problems or this. They would not necessarily, when they reach here, think that, oh man, I do drugs because I like to party. They would say, I do these things to function in life. And they think they're functioning. But we would look at it and they're going, your function is you're sleeping outside in an alley in a community that if they even catch you sleeping anywhere, you're going to jail. You know, and for all of us, we would agree with that. Putting somebody in jail for camping, that's against the law. And they should. I mean, you need, there's, there's rules. I have to live by the rules. I get that. But us as taxpayers, what is it now? $150 a day to put somebody in jail? Yeah, $150 a day.

[Michelle]

Just leave them alone.

[Jeff]

I'm going, that's three days at a hotel. You know, I get three to one to pay for society. Not the best solution. But they, I get it. That's what we have to do. Okay, so we're looking and we would go, man, it's such a complicated matter in it. We're not going to solve it here because if we do, then guess what, you ain't working for Scott and White anymore. If we can solve it in this 45 minutes, we are rich. Because we're going to go to every town in the United States and go. That's all you got to do. We got it figured out, you know, but like me, I do believe what we're going to talk about, what we're doing here, like y' all serving. That's the answer. Community is the answer, you know, and connectedness and understanding what's going on. Like, I'll take my chances with a whole community understanding all the members of its community. Okay. To be able to figure out what we can do, to navigate within that. Are we going to solve every one of the problems? Absolutely not. Okay. We got some of the people that they will not come back to society as we see it, period. Still, you can function within that. There's ways that they could live and have a respectable, decent life. It may not look the same way ours does. They're not coming to West Temple. They're not going to care about getting a three bedroom house. They're not doing these things. But they still can have community and belonging and be treated with Dignity and worth and respect. Yeah, plenty. It's doable if that's the aspect. Okay. And like this we could look and why I would say community is of utmost importance for us to provide here over even housing. Okay. So let's pretend man there because there's some that are got to get a house first. That's housing first. And then you work on the other stuff which I get it. Okay. You put somebody who is deep in mental illness and you haven't worked on treating that, guess what? They ain't staying in the house. They ain't gonna stay very long at all. We had one of our guys here, a veteran, he's got plenty of benefits. Twice now they've gotten duplex for him inside place. You would think home run.

[Michelle]

I think I know who you're talking about.

[Jeff]

Well, yeah, could be. I mean it cleans up brush and trash and pushes carts around and has brown hair. Yep. Okay. This guy, hard working guy, I don't even know. But some days every word out of his mouth may be the F word. Don't know why. Don't know why. And. But he's not talking to you and he's intimidating. Like, I mean like, you know, you sorry I'm ever like you dude, what did I do to you? And he cussing you out. He's talking to this person that's not even there but him twice. Duplex got him inside. Go check on him. Within two weeks he's sleeping in the backyard. He won't sleep and stay inside the house. Whatever. I'm not. I almost said his name. You can go inside.

[Michelle]

Maybe a comfort level too.

[Jeff]

It is. He's like, man, I don't like being inside. Something happened to him in the middle. Like something happened long. He don't want to be inside.

[Michelle]

Not contained.

[Jeff]

That's it. Okay, so we got that. And then we're doing this. So outside of not having to go work and do your normal responsibilities. Okay. What do you expect to get out of today? Serving. Like why? What would you tell somebody A we've already told them, like I hurt my volunteer list going. It's kind of intimidating to walk up here. And we're also acknowledging and I don't really know what to say because we're not the answers, you know? And then we can leave here going, man, I kind of felt guilty because I got money or I do this. No, not at all. That's not what we're trying to accomplish here either is to go. You need to go home and feel guilty because you've Made different choices in your life and you need. Whatever. No, not saying that either. Not solving it. But what would you hope that you would learn from this? Everything is a learning experience. What would you hope to learn?

[Michelle]

I guess learning, you know, just that the difference, you know, the inside. Like I said, I didn't know anything about what's going on inside here. You know, I pass by, I send people down the way, and then just kind of just what it is that, you know, help serve those people. That's all it is.

[Jeff]

That's it.

[Michelle]

There's nothing. I mean, you know, I already kind of, you know, know some of their backgrounds and not everybody, but because I choose not to. Yeah, but just kind of learn to serve, you know, Serving.

[Jeremy]

That's all.

[Jeff]

That's it? Just serving. Like, that's it. Nothing. What do you think?

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I mean, for me, it's. It's about serving, giving back to the community. But also, I just develop a greater appreciation for the things I have doing this. And so it just makes me appreciate what I have and the choices I've made and the life I'm able to live and all that. But I just. I enjoy being able to serve. That's why I got into health care. I did healthcare in the military. I've done health care outside the military. I mean, it's what I've done since I was 18 years old. And I think just having a heart to serve others is why I got in health care in this. Just another way to do that.

[Jeff]

Good.

[Lauren]

Well, I'd say even being here, even on the podcast, I've learned. Well, kind of just going around the table, talking about what we think the variables are of why people are on the streets. And so, I mean, yes, serving is rewarding, but it's also nice to know that with these uncontrollable variables, we can control. Sometimes they don't have to be hungry today or tomorrow.

[Jeff]

That's right.

[Lauren]

So it's nice to know that that's one thing we can control and help with.

[Jeff]

Agreed. And then what we messed up here, and I'm saying that kind of sarcastically, is we changed our mission statement, which seemed sort of. Well, that's what you do now in nonprofits. I got to come up with a clear mission statement. We came up with our mission statement. You know, it's about five years ago. We've always been doing the CAFE operation, but we came up. Our mission statement was, we feed those that are hungry physically, spirit, emotionally. And you're like, man, that's really cool. Sounds good. It's nice. We put it on the brochure. It looks good. And then all of a sudden you realize, okay, you've just now expanded your definition of service exponentially. Okay, so if we would have said our mission statement is we're gonna provide peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to 175 people today, we knocked that out of the park. We're gonna serve a lunch every day. Knock that out of the park. But when you say you're gonna try to feed those that are hungry, physically, spiritually and emotionally, because we would say that is the issues that are at hand in the line, then it changes huge.

[Lauren]

Can I ask. So you say you wanna feed people physically, emotionally. So what does that, I guess for y' all. What is that fair?

[Jeff]

Okay, so then. Legitimate questions. So emotionally, we would say we've now opened the Sunrise center, which is right below us. That is mental health free counseling. So while we're. We've got sex trafficking group. That's in there. AAN a Celebrate Recovery Central County Services offices here. So upstairs, three other offices. I let them have offices up here. So the mental health aspect of it that. So then it was no longer, can you just provide food? Because then I have a moral obligation. If my definition is we feed physically, spiritually and emotionally. Okay, no longer is. Would you like an extra bag of chips? Solely enough. Can I give you another dessert? That's not what we're saying we do. So then we had to invest in going, you know what? We have to provide a place. So this big yellow house that's right on the corner, that's us. Okay. That's going to be the Sunrise Center. That's our mental health facility. So free counseling. I want. And it's going to be. It's nice. Like, we've spent a lot of money in that and it's free. Okay, so UMHB counseling program, the occupational therapy, like at noon, if y' all. Y' all still be here at noon. Yeah. Wait till you see this. Okay, so I've got a company from California that's got virtual reality goggle and computer software. They think it's the next level of how to work with people in the occupational therapy field, like with anxiety and life stuff. So they're testing it out here. It's stinking amazing. So at noon, we have people that. Let's say you have anxiety issues and walking into a room. I don't know how to work with a group. Okay. They video our cafe, their surroundings, their world. And they go with an occupational therapist and they go into this realm with them, and they go see this setting and they teach them, hey, here's what you could do. They can. You have trouble interacting with the police. We can go to that scenario. You have trouble with job interviews, they can go to it. So this is like the front edge of that world. And you're going, that's kind of cool. So that's going on in that. And so you would go the. And then we do the women's center. There's mentoring for the women. The well is going on right now. So that's where women can go. They have lunch together, we mentor, we try to develop relationships. The men's areas, doing the same. Okay. I would say the easiest thing we do is the physical aspect of the stuff, which is catastrophically difficult because we are based on volunteer groups every day of the month, showing up when they say they're going to show up and doing what they say they're going to do shouldn't work. And I'll say that's the easiest of all of them. Easiest to all of them. Provide somebody. Today we're going to do 200 lunches. 175 to 200 lunches. That's not easy. Easy. Getting somebody mental health help and getting clarity in the world right now, that's hard. That's hard. And then the other thing I would say, which is not pointing at y' all, the people that we serve as an organization are not just on the side of the line that think they're poor. Everybody who comes here is hungry, physically, spiritually, or emotionally. Our ministry is not just to those that come on the other side of the. I think I need lunch. No, it's. Everybody who comes into this place is hungry in one of those areas, and we can feed that. So then it messed everything up, because then you have to then invest in going spiritually. Okay? We have opportunities for a greater depth in that, you know, because, I mean, I can't. I mean, I am of the Christian faith, okay? Don't have to cram. But I do believe there is truth in that. And you would go, okay, we do these things. So it expanded what we do. So why we even do a podcast makes zero sense. If we were simply, I want to serve lunch. This. We want to expand and get people to understand what's going on with people, okay? And so, like, you'll notice when we serve today, every person that comes through that line better get spoken to and they better hear their name, their people, you know? And so, like, that's what we would say is out of everything, you would leave here through the experience, know each other better, know what we do a little bit better. Great. That's a byproduct. But you would recognize people and you would understand individual stories. Because somehow in the population we serve, like our culture is still learning. We have this process of racially. We don't make any overarching racial proclamations. We recognize that's wrong. You know, oh, anybody who is this color or nationality. Oh, they're this. If you said that, everybody would jump on and rightfully so. Rightfully so. Or even, you know, male or female, all women are this. Or all male are this. No, all. Anything is wrong. Still, in the world of homeless, it's pretty decently fair. Fair game. Homeless, lazy. They're this. They're addicted. Maybe so. But still mine. We would leave here and you would say, ah, I can't tell you about homeless, the overarching deal. But let me tell you about even the ones. So just to tell you a little tidbit, like the one that's. That your boss on the street used to be Josephine on the street. Okay, people, individual stories. Okay? And it's. You would go, I don't know about the overall deal. Let me tell you about Eric, man. Super sharp dude, you know, And I met him today. Not the answer to all his problems, but I know him as a person. And so that's what we're trying to do here in this. Forget the community. We do the podcast for this people to hear the stories. And you don't feel. So it's. Once you get to meet, they're just people. Like, even in this room, if we start laying out our whole story, there's going to be moments. You're going to be like, oh, my gosh, Jeff's had such a hard life. Or, man, Jeff is really strong. It's sad. Individual stories. And you would be able to go, this is. I don't know. I can't tell you on everybody, but I know him. Oh, that's so. And so I met him at Feed My Sheep. Like this. Man, he has some good days, huh? What? Oh, thank you. That's easier. Okay. He's doing. I'm like, okay, so. So I just want to say for y' all, we're going to. So you're not missing out on your serving time. When we go downstairs, the food, it needs to be prepared, and it will. Do not miss the main thing that goes on in this place, and that's the people that come through the line. Okay? It is work to sit down with somebody and talk to them. That's what occurs. And we're going to serve a meal today.

[Michelle]

So you're talking. Random thought come through my head. So your blue zones. Oh, yeah, I know. Like in different areas of the world, you think about it depending on where it's at.

[Jeff]

Agreed.

[Michelle]

I don't know if we want to, you know, everybody. Has anybody ever looked at that type.

[Jeff]

Of aspect of I, I. So I've gotten to through. I mean, I've been in other worlds, like not just stuck here. I'm not an expert. You. Haiti, it looks different. It's hard. It's hard to discern homeless and not homeless. And now with all the gangs and so I haven't been since it's. But there. Okay, ain't no homeless because you're with the family. Everybody has to take care of everybody. There's. It's. Nobody's even in the town. There may have been the one who's not mentally well. Everybody in that little village, they knew him and they knew how to take care of him. And they knew. They made. They took care the community. They had no other choice. You know, there was not an option of let's just put him out here and watch him die. Okay. They had no choice. Nigeria, you go, okay. I mean, they would have communities that I wouldn't have done it the same way. Guatemala, been there. Kenya, Tanzania, all these. They don't have another option here. We've somehow fallen to the place of these people. Okay. And they have made choice. Even in these other places, they made choices, but they ain't got no government. I mean, you go to Haiti, they ain't got a government.

[Michelle]

But you look in Puerto Rico, you don't see you rarely even you can drive through all those towns and barely see one person out there and. But it's still us run kind of government decent. And so, I mean, I don't know.

[Jeff]

We could go. We could go and I won't. There's some of our systems in place that keep people exactly. In this place.

[Michelle]

Oh, absolutely.

[Jeff]

Make no doubt that most of the people that are homeless that will come through the line today are receiving government checks.

[Michelle]

I don't want to keep my opinion, but my opinion is California is the worst of all train wreck.

[Jeff]

I mean, even so we won't. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer. I mean, Austin, Texas, I don't know it this year, but last year, okay, average per homeless person, I think it was $27,000 per homeless person that the city of Austin pays taxpayer It's a lot. It's huge.

[Michelle]

That's a lot of money.

[Jeff]

And that doesn't even. That's 20.

[Michelle]

So I think it's doubled in California, though, 100. They can live well.

[Jeff]

But very well. I mean, like San Francisco, there is different programs in place that if you calculated the money would be 60 something thousand dollars a year salary they could make for living in a tent and being homeless. They're getting paid to do it and your drugs and you have a safe place to do it. Doesn't work. So there. But you go, if that was the answer, then it doesn't work. Throwing money at it is not the issue at hand. Okay? And then keep in mind here, okay, which is blue zone ish. We don't get any government money. Zero. Because I don't think the government is the answer. I think the community interjecting in the community is the answer. Okay? And serving others in the community is the answer. And so like this, they would say in the blue zone stuff, the minute somebody steps in a nursing home, they've taken six to eight years off their life expectancy. In the United States, whatever y' all would say medically from this traumatic life general, like, whatever, like, I don't know the big fancy medical words, but like a major event occurs in the United States. Somebody falls and they break a hip, that begins this process of dying. Okay. In these blue zone countries that live longer, the average from that event to dying is a little under four months. So basically, you live and you die. United States, I think they're saying it's nearly almost eight years now that this event. I broke a hip and it starts this spiral of. And I'm in assisted living. And then I'm this, and then I'm this, and then I'm. And I'm this. And I hang on. And we look at that and we go, why would anybody want to live a long time? Let me die quick. Because we see it wrong. We see it wrong. And you look at, you know, people in Guatemala. I mean, you watch. And These people, they're 100 years old, taking care of their great, great, great grandbabies because they have to.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

They wake up. Purpose. So you would look. So then we won't go blue zone. We're gonna walk. It's something to see, Tyler, I'm telling you. But you go, number one thing, it was dietary. Yes. Portions, calories. Yeah. America's. We eat way too much. There's no denying that. Lifestyle choices. Yes. You can't smoke and expect to live to be A reason to get out of bed. Purpose, community. Those are equally as important. Our people here that we serve. Why they wake up. Oh, purpose. Even if nothing else, I come up here and we treat them well. That's a reason to get. A reason to get up. Purpose. Even it doesn't end in retirement. They would say what's one of the most. One of the highest percentage chances of dying is within six months of retirement from work.

[Jeremy]

This is a lot.

[Jeff]

That's right. Because you lost a reason, a purpose. Agreed. But then it's that we have to have a reason to get. So then why do I think a place like Feed My Sheep is part of the answer? Why do I think Blue Zone dietary. Yeah, we're going to start a cafe here that is healthy, non processed food. Does that matter? Absolutely, absolutely. What we eat, it affects mental health. Okay. But when you're poor, you have food like so here. You get a SNAP card, you get grocery stuff. Let's say you lived on east side of town, you have to walk everywhere. You show me a grocery store within two miles of here.

[Michelle]

A couple miles down the road.

[Jeff]

That's right. Okay. So let's pretend you don't have a car, but you do have grocery money. Okay. So where are you going to get your groceries? You're going to get at this gas station over here and you're going to get it at pools and you're going to get processed food and you're going to get your kids. They're going to eat the hot dogs, they're going to eat burritos, they're going to eat this stuff that is proven that it is not good for you. And we can't figure out why this spiral keeps going worse. We can't figure that out. They have no access to good healthy food if they don't have transportation. Biggest. One of the biggest food deserts in Bell county is right here on East Temple. Meaning there's no access to good groceries, fresh fruit. And we go. I can't figure out why people have such a diabetes issue and they stopped.

[Michelle]

Doing the Farmer's Market downtown 15 years ago.

[Jeff]

That's right. So whole other deal, but so in it I do appreciate. And we're going to go look and serve and then hopefully next time you come back and we're going to look and see and hopefully you would see what we said that people would get treated decent and we happen to serve them lunch and they get treated well and we look at them in the eye and we do little things and you would look and we'll go look around and you go, huh? They are people. We don't have it figured out. You know, we don't have it dialed in and trying. And I will put this, you mark it. I promise it's going to occur. Okay. Within short order. Give me two years. Okay. Because we've already made a bunch of progress. People from all around the United States are going to be looking and trying to figure out what little Temple Texas did to address this issue differently than anybody else did and how were they able to do it more effectively and not rely on. On tax dollars just throwing money away to nothing. Okay. Don't need it. Okay. Don't need it. We're going to be a community that truly embraces and we understand what's going on and we're going to address it that way. It's not that difficult. You can't tell me that we're not going to solve everybody's problem nor are we tasked to just like Scott White just because you got a great medical facility. Then I'd go, ah, but there's still sick people. That doesn't mean Scott and wife's not good. It's an absolute absurd logic. So the same deal. I'm not going to cure every single person that is homeless. No, we are going to provide the best solutions and we will provide the answer because we're really going to address what was going on. Okay. And so what I love forgot the medical study. It's a leadership deal. But there was a early 1900s, early in the medical field. Okay. They had this one hospital and I forgot what town it was. It's somewhere in England, but had the highest percentage of these mothers dying of this fever after they gave birth of anywhere in the whole country. And so they were trying to study and they couldn't figure out what was going on. But why something like 30% of mothers if they gave birth in this hospital, they were going to catch this fever, they're going to die. And it was like shouldn't even be that every other place like 1 in 100. I'll look and see what the name is. Okay. Of what this fever was. Mercury or no, I don't say thermometers with the mercury could be. So you started looking. So then they started studying all this stuff and this guy was even doing the study and they were studying why was it couldn't figure out why this was going on and some anomaly and wasn't over here. Wasn't over here. Okay. Finally they learned after I think a year or so, many people Died many people. And all these things, oh, it's got to be this. It's got to be this. It's got to be this. It's got to be. They realized it was a teaching hospital and they didn't understand basic sanitary process. They were working on cadavers, okay? These doctors. And that's how they learned. So they would work on these cadavers and use some of the same instruments on these ladies and their hands, okay? And so then they would die. They didn't understand. But what was interesting out of that, even with the clarity of going, this is why it's occurring, the doctors that were there fought it tooth and nail and said, this can't be the case. It's got to be something else. It couldn't be. What we were doing was wrong all along. They fought the true answer because they go, no, it can't be because it put them at fault, you know, not doctors at all. We're not saying that, but it's interesting. So. Because that's going to occur when we really start looking at what's going on here. Many of us are going to go, oh, crud. We've been doing this all wrong, and we've been killing people for a long time now. And that didn't need to die. It's going to happen. I don't know what cadavers. We need to get out of here. But something is going to be that we're going to go, crud. It was that simple. We could have. We're not going to save everybody. We could have saved a whole lot of mothers, and there's a whole lot of kids that didn't need to be without their mothers. If we just would have looked at this slightly differently.

[Michelle]

I have a question, dude. You know, you talked about, you know, adults mainly. Is there children that come here?

[Jeff]

Wait till you see.

[Jeremy]

We. We had children last time I was here.

[Jeff]

Oh, yeah. I. I'm very proactive. I don't think there should be any. But will they be? Yes. So I'm happy to say, like, last week we had a mother that had five kids. She's here, no resources. Dawn, she came from somewhere. She's here. Pretty decent. Red flag. You're like, oh, no. Okay, here we got her in family promise the next day. So family promise that all the families there, they're working on that. So I tried. If there's somebody like that, we grab them real quick and get them into a place. Got to. But yeah, we'll. Oh, yeah, yeah. So we'll. I'm trying to think today. Yeah. You'll see. Shouldn't be. Shouldn't be. There's zero. I mean, like, yeah, I'll tell the mothers, you go to where Tisd's feeding, you can get food. This is not a place. That's right. There's plenty of food. You go to the library and they'll feed you. Go to Ralph Wilson, they'll feed you.

[Michelle]

Yeah.

[Jeff]

I mean, so there's zero. Zero.

[Michelle]

Shouldn't be housing easily for parents, I would say, if you have your stuff.

[Jeff]

Yeah. So appreciate it. We're going to get down and we're going to go serve. And then like this just. It's interesting for y' all, just so other people can go, hey, man, it's all right. This is an uncomfortable world. I'm not comfortable in it. We shouldn't be. And the minute we're comfortable in this world, we need to really look at ourselves and go, man, what's wrong with me that I'm all right with this? Because that is it. But you can find it's a beautiful place as well. So hopefully when you leave here, you would go. It's like if you go to a desert either. I mean, like, you go to a desert and you pass by in your car and you go, oh, my gosh, that's a horrible place. Nothing but death is out there. Because you could look at it and go. If you stop for a second and go look around and see the place after it had a tiny little rain shower, what goes on there, it's amazing beauty, you know, but you got to stop and look at it because it's small and it's delicate, you know, Same with here. You can look at it in passing and go, ah, look at what a horrible place of death of those people. Or you can look and go, what amazing beauty that I got to see. You know, and to look and to go that the line that separates us, you know, is not this economic line. We have just as much hurt and we have just as many things and obstacles, but we somehow have kept our support system around us that helped us navigate things. We got stuff around us still that help us, you know, whether we like to admit it or not. So great. We're going to get on downstairs. I appreciate your time and I appreciate Scott and White. It legit, like, for them as an organization. This is something we started a year and a half ago. And big, big that. That y' all come here and serve our people and get to meet them. And it's huge because that's how this is going to change.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. There's quite a few that met Lyme, where they. They talk about coming to our hospital and the care they receive and all that.

[Jeff]

Yep.

[Jeremy]

So we see them daily basis. They're coming to our place for care.

[Jeff]

You do. I mean, you've had in the ICU stuff. You've had some of ours because we've not had the best year and a half. We've lost a whole lot of people. Won't say any names, but I mean, we had a couple in ICU that stayed there for quite a bit and they died quite a few. 20, I think. We're 21 or so in the last little bit. Rough, rough. So let's go serve some food.

[Jeremy]

Sam.