Wake Up Classy 97 The Podcast

Josh Tielor visits with Tyler Perkins, Executive Director of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission about the services IFRM provides and shares details about the upcoming benefit concert with Jason Gray at the Colonial Theater in Idaho Falls on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

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Episode title: Wake Up Classy 97 - BONUS - Tyler Perkins

Episode summary introduction:

Idaho Falls Rescue Mission Website: https://ifrescuemission.org/

Tickets to Jason Gray Benefit Concert: https://www.idahofallsarts.org/calendar/idaho-falls-rescue-mission-benefit-concert-featuring-jason-gray/

Visit our website: https://riverbendmediagroup.com/info-page/wakeupclassy97/

Full show transcript:

It's Josh Tielor from wake up classy 97 with a wake up classy 97, the podcast bonus episode. This is a conversation with Tyler Perkins, the executive director of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, about their upcoming benefit concert on Thursday, September 26th at the Colonial Theatre in Idaho Falls with Jason Gray. Alright. Tyler Perkins is in the studio. Hi, Tyler.

Hey. How are you? Executive director of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission. Kinda give me a background about what you do and what exactly the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission is all about. The Idaho Falls Rescue Mission has been around, for 26 years, 1998.

And, we we specialize in, homeless services homeless and homeless services. What that means is we own and operate, homeless shelters and, programs, that are designed, to meet people where they're at in their darkest hours and help them get back into sustainability as quickly as possible. And you kinda have, like, what I saw online, you've got a kind of a 3 part sort of system for how you work through that with someone who, is in a situation like that. Is that right? Yeah.

We have, we have, programs, what we call it. And so anybody who comes to our doors is is automatically in a program, and that that starts at intake, within 24 to 48. You are scheduled with a licensed case manager, and we are working with you to build your plan, to sustainability. And then that phases out into 30, 60, 90 days, which is a typical shelter stay if everything goes, well. And then, of course, if we need more time, then, we can give some extensions and things like that on a case by case basis.

And now as we drive around town and stuff, I mean, if you've been to any large city, it it seems like, the, homeless population is a little more prevalent in some larger cities. As you kinda look around East Idaho and Idaho Falls specifically, we don't necessarily see a lot of it, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Is that is that true? Yeah. That's absolutely true.

And a and a large reason of why it's so minimal here is because we have, the mission with some, community partners working really hard to keep it that way. Yeah. And so I always like to tell people, you know, you you might not know about the mission or you might not care about the mission and what it does, but if we weren't here, you would know really quick For sure. Really quick. And and there's a couple of thought processes there from for me.

When I see somebody at an intersection or somebody at a, you know, outside of a shopping center or something that's asking for help, it isn't that I don't necessarily want to help them, but there are programs like what you guys do that are designed to make sure that they're getting the proper help. Do you have, I guess, communication open with the folks that are doing that, you know, that sort of sort of outreach, I guess? Yeah. We we have a lot of community partners. Basically, anybody you can think of in the social services world, whether it's addiction recovery or mental health, you know, probation, parole, IFPD, Bonneville County, all of those, and and many more.

But as far as kind of knowing what the problem is and and where it is, we go as far as to go out in the community. We have what's called our rapid response team where we have a licensed case manager and and trained staff, and we will actually go out and approach people who are standing on the corner with the sign or maybe we hear from somebody there somebody's staying down by the river. And we'll go out and we'll, talk to the individuals, try to get them into shelter, try to get them some good resources. So we have a really good, we have a really good sense of the issue, whether it's chronic homelessness or For sure. Not.

And that's a really important first step to under you gotta understand the problem before you can help solve it. I think that makes sense. Yeah. For sure. As as you kind of, talk about these different programs and these different resources that you have available, and and I'm sure this comes at at a cost.

There's there's money involved. There are resources that are needed, from from you guys as an organization to be able to do the work that you do. And we'll talk about the benefit concert, which is kind of the point of our our conversation here. But what are some other ways that people can get involved? Or what are some some of the big things that that you guys have on a day to day basis that you go, man, if we had this or this is something that we use all the time that people could help us with?

Great question. We have so many ways to help. You know, we're we're a nonprofit, a 501c3, and, right now, we're about 95 plus percent locally funded, which means we're not taking a lot of any government money, or state money. We're not opposed to that, unless there are strings attached. And so, we just kinda took a step out in faith saying, hey.

The community is gonna support this. So the best way to check out, I'll talk about a few of them, but the best way to check out, possible opportunities to help the mission out is to go to our website at ifrescuemission.org, and you can explore, possible volant voluntary op opportunities where you can come down, get a little training, and serve a meal or work the front desk or, you know, administrative. There's just lots and lots of ways to volunteer. In kind donations is another one, that means non monetary donations such as food or clothing. You know, at in any given day, we have 80 to a 100 people, housed at 1 of at at our shelters.

And so you can imagine the amount of clothing and food and hygiene and stuff that we go through. Sure. Sure. And so that in kind donation is another way, to get involved or or help. And then, of course, money.

A lot of nonprofits only have a few staff members, and then, you know, an army of volunteers. Because we're housing people and we're housing people at at their worst, we have a lot higher payroll, and we have to have 24 hour housing, higher security, And so that's a large, a large cost to be able to, help people meet them where they're at and then get them, walk through getting better with them. So, money. Yeah. Money is a huge one.

Top of the list. Yeah. If if you if you, if you feel like you'd like to support, we will absolutely talk about, receiving that. And so those are just a few of the ways. Again, go to our website or come down and and request a tour.

We love to Sure. We we think that giving should be give should be responsible, be be done responsibly. And so we like people who are even thinking about supporting the mission to come and learn more about us, to put their eyes on our facilities and our programs so they know where their money's going, and, that's always served us really well. I think that's great. I think, you know, that's that's probably some great advice for any anytime you're gonna go, hey.

Here's some here's some money. You should probably have an idea about where it's going. Yep. And I'm glad that you guys have that kind of, you know, as an open door where people can actually come in and and see firsthand. This is what we're doing.

This is the work we're doing. Here are some of the people that we're helping. Those kinds of things are great. So let's kinda segue then, to the benefit concert that's coming up on Thursday at the Colonial Theater in Idaho Falls, 7 PM. We've got Jason Gray, who is performing, and this is a big, sort of, charity benefit for you guys.

Yeah. This is, something that we thought, though we don't know a lot about concerts, we thought, hey, you know, this would be a great way, for people to enjoy a show regardless of whether you know about the mission or even wanna support the mission. It's it's a great concert. It's a great show. It's super family friendly.

Jason has a great story and a great message. He's actually really funny, so it's kind of a comedy show in between There you go. Songs. So it's a really, really good show. I mean, just just awesome.

And so we thought, well, why not try to put on an event where people, can enjoy it, you know, and and it's really, really fun, and the every dollar is is going to benefit the mission. And so it's kind of that double whammy, if you will. Sure. Where you get double the impact for your money. So you get a little entertainment, and you get to help out a great cause with the, Idaho Falls Rescue Mission.

The Jason Gray Show, again, is Thursday at the Colonial Theater. That's, like, tomorrow, at the Colonial Theatre 7 PM and tickets are available right now at idofallsarts.org. You can buy your tickets there and again those proceeds are going to help out the work that the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, is doing. Sort of in closing, Tyler, I just, you know, if people wanted to, you know, do more, we can go to the website, you said it's ifrescuemission.org, for people to do that. Are there any other thoughts or anything you want people to know about what you guys do at Isle Falls Rescue Mission?

Yeah. You know, I I have to I have to say this carefully because we, you know, we're an extension of the community. Really, we're a non profit and so we work for the community. And but with that, we also are down in the trenches, fighting this fight to keep homelessness minimized in our community so that you don't see it very much, and also help people, grow into sustainability so that they're not staying homeless. And that's what we're really passionate about, that life transformation piece.

And so I would just say to the community, you know, if you've never heard of us or you don't you don't know very much about us, it's it's because we're doing our job so well. If we weren't around, think about 80 to a 100 people per night Right. On the streets in camps. Yeah. And and that's year round too.

Right? Like, this this isn't a problem just during nice weather. Yeah. Like, this is this is a a situation where people find themselves in these, you know, in the in this predicament, of homelessness in December, in January, in February, in the negative 22 degree weather that we get. Yeah.

Yeah. And we That's that's dangerous. Yeah. We get a lot of, the giving season, which is October through December. We usually get tons of support from the community.

Lots of donations, lots of food, lots of clothing, lots of volunteers. Everybody wants to come down and and serve, Thanksgiving dinner. Mhmm. And then from January to October, it all dries up. Right.

And so that's what we call our dry season. And so I would just encourage the the community, if, you're interested at all, in any of the services we're providing, the programs that we provide, or anything that we're doing, which is vast, we don't have enough time on the show to talk about Sure. All the things we do, please come down and, talk to us and, get your family involved and engaged. Awesome. Tyler Perkins, executive director of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, thank you so much for taking time to talk to us again.

The Jason Gray benefit concert is coming up on Thursday at the Colonial Theater. It'll be, 7 PM. Tickets are available at idaho falls arts.org. If you wanna go, take the family. It's gonna be a great night of entertainment, and you're gonna help out a great cause.

Thanks so much for taking the time. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to Wake Up Classy 90 7, the podcast. If you enjoy the show, please share, subscribe, and rate the podcast. Wake up classy 97 is hosted by Josh and Chantel Tielor and is a production of Riverbend Media Group.

For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.

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