OurCalling - Our podcast about homelessness

In this episode, Pastor Wayne Walker, CEO of OurCalling, interviews Carolyn(wife and co-founder), the Chief People Officer, who plays a crucial role in managing staff, volunteers, and certain IT functions within the organization. They delve into the mission of leading individuals to Christ and aiding them in transitioning from life on the streets into stable, community-oriented environments. The discussion emphasizes treating all individuals with dignity, focusing on both their spiritual and physical well-being, and highlights the significant contribution of over 3,000 volunteers in 2023. Through genuine donor engagements and supportive staff initiatives, the organization strives to maintain a community of integrity and measure their impact and outreach effectiveness on the homeless population.

https://www.ourcalling.org/
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- **Carolyn's Role (01:08)**: As the Chief People Officer, Carolyn is responsible for staff, volunteers, and some IT aspects.
- **Mission Statement (01:48)**: The mission is to glorify God by leading people to Christ and making disciples on the streets.
- **Focus on Eternal and Physical Addresses (02:06)**: Emphasis on improving both the spiritual and physical circumstances of the homeless.
- **Volunteer Engagement (02:50)**: In 2023, over 3,000 unique volunteers participated, receiving orientation and learning about the organization’s methods.
- **Caring with Dignity (04:12)**: Carolyn emphasizes treating everyone with respect and honor, recognizing their inherent worth as creations of God.
- **Importance of Volunteers (06:14)**: Volunteers are treated with kindness and patience, acknowledging their journey into the organization's environment.
- **Donor Relationships (07:22)**: Engagements with donors are genuine, focusing on their personhood rather than their financial contributions.
- **Staff Support (08:39)**: The organization has staff chaplains available to support their coworkers confidentially, providing a necessary outlet for those facing professional and personal challenges.
- **Connecting with Intentionality (12:50)**: Every action and service offered is infused with the intention of aligning with the organization’s overarching goal of leading people to Christ and aiding them off the streets.
- **Community of Integrity (16:56)**: The ultimate aim is not just to provide housing, but to usher individuals into a stable, healthy, and supportive community.
- **Report on Organization Impact (43:46)**: The frequency of interactions and services rendered to new and existing clients is used to measure the organizational impact and outreach effectiveness.
- **Entire Organization Goal (48:58)**: The primary goal remains to help individuals establish a relationship with Jesus and assist them in transitioning away from street life into more stable and supportive environments.


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Creators & Guests

Host
Wayne Walker
CEO and Pastor Wayne Walker serves as the CEO and Pastor to the homeless at OurCalling. In 2001, Wayne, along with his wife Carolyn, started serving the homeless community in Dallas. They founded OurCalling in 2009. During his youth, Wayne’s family actively pursued the scriptural commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” by modeling the life of Jesus to scores of foster children whose own origins represented generations of human brokenness, dysfunction, sexual exploitation, and abuse. Early exposure to these destructive forces set him on a path to recognize the long-term effects of trauma, which often lead to homelessness. While completing his Master’s Degree in Cross-Cultural Ministry from Dallas Theological Seminary, Wayne befriended and ministered to men and women in the homeless community. During that time he began to establish personal, discipleship-oriented relationships with homeless individuals, many in the same urban setting where he and his family continue to work today.
Editor
Orange and Teal Productions
caroline@orangeandteal.org
Designer
Sarah Katherine

What is OurCalling - Our podcast about homelessness?

A Podcast by OurCalling—the goal is to be a learner. What can we learn about serving those experiencing homelessness? Even though we have years of experience, can we step back, take a fresh look, and rethink everything we know? OurCalling is a Christian nonprofit (501 c3) serving the homeless community throughout Dallas County in Texas. Our team helps people get to know Jesus and get off the streets every day. Last year, we helped individuals exit homelessness over 1,300 times. We have a facility in downtown Dallas, and our street outreach teams visit over 4,000 locations throughout the county. We serve about 10,000 individuals experiencing homelessness each year. We partner with the most amazing organizations and recognize that we are stronger when we work together.

Wayne:

Today we're gonna talk about an overview of our calling. Who are we? What do we do? What is the strategy behind how we're helping our homeless neighbors? And, we're gonna be talking to it with Carolyn going in deep on how we help people walk with Jesus and get off these streets.

Carolyn:

Who is our calling? What does our calling do to help the homeless? The nonprofit.

Wayne:

We care with dignity. Our calling. Can't help but think about the definition of Christian

Carolyn:

We connect with intentionality.

Wayne:

Called our calling To our calling We build community with integrity.

Carolyn:

Calling our calling

Wayne:

This is our calling and our podcast, a word on the streets about homelessness. Today, we're gonna be talking about our calling. Just kind of an overview of what we do now, our departments, our structure, how that looks, our values, kind of vision, statements, stuff like that. And, again, I'm accompanied with my beautiful wife, 20, almost 6 years. 26 years, Carolyn.

Wayne:

What do you do? What's your role here?

Carolyn:

I am the chief people officer and I love that title because I love people. So I am responsible for all the staff and also for all the volunteers, and then a little bit of IT.

Wayne:

Carolyn serves on our leadership team. She's our chief people officer. We also have a chief financial officer and a chief advancement officer. And then we have a director of operations and a director of programs, and we have about 60 staff members today. So let's start with our mission statement.

Wayne:

Mhmm. Right? And it's changed a few times over the years. Mhmm. But today, the current mission statement is?

Carolyn:

Our calling is to glorify God by leading people to Christ and making disciples on the streets.

Wayne:

That's it. Pretty simple. Yep. We're here to glorify God by leading people to Christ Mhmm. And making leading and making disciples on the streets.

Wayne:

Yeah. What does that mean?

Carolyn:

It means that we are really interested in people's eternal addresses and then also their physical addresses.

Wayne:

Yep. We wanna disciple people to to get off the street, but also discipling our volunteers and people that wanna know how to serve the homeless community. Mhmm. I mean, we're not teaching bible study methods to homeless friends, because we want them to be in a safe environment where they can do that long term. So we connect them with long term options for that.

Wayne:

Some that are faith based, some that are secular based, just steps to get them off the streets. Mhmm. But a lot of our discipling, making disciples on the streets is really teaching people how to love their neighbors well.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Yeah.

Wayne:

We work with a lot of churches, hundreds of churches. We've how many volunteers a year?

Carolyn:

In 2023, we had a little over 3,000 unique volunteers come through our doors.

Wayne:

And we get to sit with each one of them in a, you know, orientation, and then as they serve with us, learning here's how we do what we do. Yeah. We have no secret sauce. Yep. You know, if we're the secret sauce is anything, we say it's relationships.

Wayne:

Yeah. Relationship with the Lord himself, relationships with his people. Mhmm. We wanna have these intimate relationships, the horizontal, so people can work on the vertical. Mhmm.

Wayne:

Really to love our neighbor well. Yeah. To love our neighbor as ourself. So we say that we kinda break up what we do into these 3 c's. Mhmm.

Wayne:

Letter c. And we teach this to our staff. Mhmm. We rehearse it regularly with our staff.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Your team, Carolyn, does onboarding for new staff members, but even ongoing with training, we talk about these 3 c's, and this kind of impacts every department here at our calling. What are the 3 c's?

Carolyn:

It's it's something that I I when I'm talking with new employees or if, when Melody, who is responsible for orientation, it's a it's the way we live. It's the way we talk to people. It's more than just like we need to do. It's not check boxes that we check off each day. It's something that just becomes a part of our nature.

Carolyn:

And so caring with dignity is the first one. And the way I like to describe that is the way I'm talking to you right now is how I'm gonna talk to anybody. If it's one of our homeless friends, if it's a volunteer, if it's a donor, if it's one of my kids, if it's one of my friends, everybody I want to treat the exact same way because they are made in the image of God. And I want to extend the honor and respect that is due to them because they are made in the image of God. And so that's that's what we lead with is that we are going to care with dignity.

Wayne:

And one of the ways that we measure that Mhmm. Is with the phrase, would your mom? Yeah. And Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself, but most people don't really take care of themselves like they should. Don't go to the doctor like they should.

Wayne:

Don't eat like they should. So we asked the question, would your mom? Would your mom wanna be talked to

Carolyn:

that way?

Wayne:

Mhmm. Would your mom eat that? Would your mom call that clean? Mhmm. Would your mom wear that?

Wayne:

If not, we're gonna start over.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And we hold each other accountable to that, caring with dignity. That means we're gonna go where they are. Mhmm. You know, showing dignity, we're gonna show respect to people when we enter their camp. Mhmm.

Carolyn:

This

Wayne:

is their living room. We're not gonna barge in there. Right. Right? We're gonna treat people with kindness.

Wayne:

We're gonna speak to them with gentle voices. Even our security is de escalating. Right? How can they care for people with dignity in that moment?

Carolyn:

They're very pastoral.

Wayne:

But those 3 c the the care with dignity, we'll just start there.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

That doesn't just impact the way we care for people experiencing homelessness. Yeah. It also impacts the way we care for volunteers Yeah. And our staff Mhmm. And our donors and our partners.

Wayne:

Mhmm. How does it apply to those other groups of people?

Carolyn:

For me personally, it's a measure for myself of, am I considering the person I'm talking to? For lack of a better word, higher or lower than me? Mhmm. And we're we're all on level ground. And I want to be I want the person with me to know that I care about them.

Carolyn:

That I think that they're important. That I think what they have to say and the life that they live is important and has value. And so it's it's just a way of approaching people with curiosity and with tremendous amounts of respect. And with volunteers, it's it's kindness, it's gentleness, it's patience, it's acknowledging that they're stepping into a world that is very normal and familiar to me, but it's often their first exposure to some things. And so it's being gentle and being, you know, like, hey, you doing okay?

Carolyn:

Do you have any questions about anything that you've seen or experienced today? And just giving them the space to, to be human and to say, I don't understand something that happened, or I never knew I would have so much fun. Mhmm. You guys laugh a lot here at our calling. Tell me why you guys laugh a lot.

Carolyn:

Like, well, like it's it's fun. We have a great place to work. But that is kind of how I see that with volunteers. Mhmm. And then with donors, I want to invite them into this place.

Carolyn:

You know, if I'm having a conversation with someone, I am interested in them. I'm not interested in in their money. I'm interested in them because they are a person made in the image of God. I have a lot of curiosity about their life and I have a lot of respect for them as a person because they're made in the image of God. What they decide to do with their money is up to them.

Wayne:

It's their business.

Carolyn:

But it's not the reason why I am interested in them.

Wayne:

Yeah. I'll have a lunch with a donor or be meeting with someone that's really interested in what we're doing Mhmm. From a financial perspective. You know, they wanna be investing in the work here. And I'll sometimes recognize that they're going through crisis themselves.

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

Yep. And, you know, let's put that other conversation off and maybe even forget it all together. Let's Yep. How can we care for you?

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

What's going on with you? How do we love you, care for you Yeah. Support you and your family and the crisis you're going through? Yeah. How do we care for them with dignity?

Wayne:

It also applies to how we care for our staff with dignity. Mhmm. They are exposed to severe trauma.

Carolyn:

They are.

Wayne:

And we don't want them to do anything that we wouldn't do ourselves.

Carolyn:

Right.

Wayne:

Right?

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

The trash on the in the parking lot is as much my responsibility as it is everybody else's. Yeah. So we wanna care with dignity for our staff. So part of that is our care plan. We have 2 staff chaplains.

Wayne:

Mhmm. And what are their roles?

Carolyn:

Yes. We have 2 people on staff, and their primary role is to care for their co workers. So, yes, they are chaplains, but their focus is the our calling staff. And the way we we have it set up where it's anonymous and the staff chaplains report to me. They do not report back to me.

Carolyn:

I'm interested in the number of sessions they have a week, and that's where it stops.

Wayne:

Not who they meet with. I have

Carolyn:

no desire to know. I want that to be something that is between them and their coworkers.

Wayne:

Mhmm.

Carolyn:

And we created some separate spaces within our building where they can have those private conversations. And even the way they set up their appointments is outside of our work calendar system. It's a separate system so that it's private and anonymous. And that just creates, we want our staff to know that we acknowledge that we've asked them to we've invited them in to some hard things. And we also want them to know that we have no expectation of them to just keep going.

Carolyn:

Like, there are sometimes that we have to stop and acknowledge. Okay. Today was kinda hard. That conversation was hard, and I probably need to go and have a session with Ned or with Wanda.

Wayne:

Or take a mental health day.

Carolyn:

Or take a mental health day. We're very generous with our PTO, and we have another space in our building that I call it the prayer closet. I'm not really sure what the official name is, but it is a small room and it has a very comfortable chair and an ottoman. You can turn the lights off. It's quiet and it's peaceful and it's soft and it's just a place where you can shut off the noise, you can reset and then spend some time with the Lord and then come back out.

Carolyn:

And it's, you know, a lot of people think of limitations as a negative thing. And I think that limitations are a beautiful gift. Now it's taken me 47 years to realize that. This has just been a recent thing I've learned and discovered, and I celebrate the fact that I have limitations. I am so glad that I do not operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Wayne:

Me too.

Carolyn:

I'm yeah. I'm thankful that there is a sunset and I get sleepy at night and I go to sleep. I'm thankful that I can only handle so much before I need to step away. Mhmm. And so when I see that in myself and I can encourage that and my coworkers to say like, I there is no expectation on you to keep running.

Carolyn:

If you need to take a day off, do not feel guilty about that. And rest is just as important as work.

Wayne:

And we've learned this the hard way.

Carolyn:

We have learned that the hard way.

Wayne:

We've burned and crashed hard. We've watched other people burn and crash hard here and other places. Yeah. You know, when we have employees that are working too many hours Mhmm. Even if they're full time look, obviously, I'm full time.

Wayne:

I work more than 40 hours. Yeah. But if it gets to be excessive, we're gonna tell them, hey, you need to pause. Yeah. You need a break.

Wayne:

Even when we do inclement weather in which we're all working overtime, you still put a limit on how many hours people can work because the crisis that they often deal with may have nothing to do with work. They may be going through a crisis at home, and we want to care with them. And that part of that staff chaplains roles, so to care for them even when they're not at work and they're dealing with family crisis as well. Yeah. The second c is connect with intentionality.

Wayne:

And, you know, the way we kind of package this is we're we're not here just to hang out Right. And and high five, you know. Someone living on the street, their life is not incomplete because they don't have a friend in a green shirt.

Carolyn:

Yep.

Wayne:

But we want to be intentional Yeah. In how we care for them. We're not there just to walk with them. Yeah. We're there to walk with them off the street.

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

We're here there to walk with them into healthy community. Yeah. We're here to walk with them into a relationship

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Where we invite them to be connected to people. Mhmm. So how does connecting with intentionality work?

Carolyn:

Well, it kind of sets the tone for everything that we do. So if if I'm just going through the motions of getting here at 8 o'clock in the morning and leaving it at 5 PM and just going through my day and never thinking about why am I doing this? What is what is my end game with this? What is my ultimate goal? And at our calling, I want to see people walking with Jesus and getting off the streets.

Carolyn:

And so everything has intention built in behind it. If we're gonna do something, it means that we have spent a lot of time. Why do we wanna do this? What is the ultimate goal? How is this gonna get people closer to the Lord and off the streets?

Carolyn:

And so, you know, some of the intentionality is we serve really, really good food. We have an amazing chef. And it invites people into our facility so that we can have those conversations with them. And when someone is experiencing homelessness, it is I like to say they hear no a lot. A person who is experiencing homelessness hears no.

Carolyn:

No one answers the phone. They hear, we can't do that. You can't do that. That's not how it works. You can't stay here.

Carolyn:

You got wrong information. They hear no a lot. And our calling, we like to say yes as much as we can. And so the intention behind that is we want to build hope that there is more, that you're not stuck here. You don't have to stay stuck here.

Carolyn:

You can start to believe that there's something better on the other side. And so one of the ways that we say yes to our homeless friends is by bringing in looking at all of the needs. What are the ways that our homeless friends are are hindered and stopped from getting the things that they desperately need? And so we invite those partners in who do those things. So someone who doesn't have a car might possibly have a physical disability and can't walk all over Dallas and can't afford a bus ticket.

Carolyn:

We bring everything to us.

Wayne:

Okay. We'll pause. We'll come up with a list of what we do in each one of these 3 c's in a minute. Mhmm. How does connecting with intentionality apply to, like, donors and volunteers and staff as well?

Wayne:

Because these 3 c's, we apply to all these groups.

Carolyn:

I see what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Connecting with intentionality is, again kind of like with caring with dignity. The relationships that we have with one another are intentional and that we realize that we have to work together.

Carolyn:

We can't do this massive undertaking on our own. It has to be together and it has to be collaborative. And there has to be what is our intention? We're all on the same page of helping people walk with Jesus and get off the streets.

Wayne:

And we wanna be intentional with our donors.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Like, we want them to feel connected. Yeah. And so we wanna be able to share with them stories, the good stories that are happy

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

And the sad stories that makes you cry.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

You know, we we intentionally want to send them thank you notes when they give us a gift. We want to be Mhmm. Invite them to come and tour and see and and and participate in what we're doing to see how we're using the gifts they're giving.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

We wanna be very intentional in in how we, you know, take care of our staff with training and, you know, regular process groups and all that kind of stuff, and intentional with volunteers. Yeah. And when they come here on the 1st day Mhmm. They're gonna learn a lot about what we do. And for some people, they're gonna learn, this is not the place for me.

Wayne:

Right. Or they're gonna learn, you know what? I wanna be a part of this thing. Yeah. But we're gonna be super super intentional in how we we address that.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Yeah. And even training our volunteers how to to serve in such a way and then even caring for them as well. Yeah. After they've worked here and seen some things, just following up being intentional with that.

Wayne:

The last c is community of integrity. Mhmm. Our goal is not to get people off the streets. Our goal is to see them in healthy community.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Every single person that's experiencing homelessness has been in a home. Yeah. Everybody's in our parking lot or we meet on the streets has been in a home. It didn't work.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Housing is essential. It is necessary. Absolutely essential. But housing alone will never fix the problem Yeah. That we see.

Wayne:

They need healthy community. I mean, if you put someone in housing in a terrible environment Mhmm. In a crime infested place where there's abuse and all kinds of chaos going on, you've not really helped the person. Right? You've relocated them, but we want them to be in a healthy community.

Wayne:

So here, when people come, we want them to feel cared for. We want this to be a safe space. We want this place to be a place of peace. Our security and the smells in the building and the sounds that you hear, we want it to be Mhmm. To feel like this is a place where you are loved.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And even when we get someone off the streets, you know, we want them to get into a safe, healthy, long term solution. So even for some people, that means permanent supportive housing. Yeah. If it provides the level of care services they need. For some people, the community of integrity is a a rehab, a detox, a sober living community, a Christian discipleship program, if they want it, you know.

Wayne:

We work with sex trafficking victims. We want them to be in a healthy community. Putting a trafficking victim in an apartment in South Dallas would not be so healthy.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

Putting him in a shelter would not be healthy. Mhmm. Getting them into a safe space that has the psychotherapeutic recovery programs that they need Mhmm. That really help them on a long term, you know, trajectory with exit plans for long term sustainability, that's a healthy community. And for us, the focus is not on the quick fix.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

In fact, when we get people off the streets, we often will track them for a year Yeah. To try to see, is it working?

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Right?

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

But that community of integrity also applies to our other groups. Again, can we well, these three c's apply to all those groups. So we wanna be a community of integrity with our staff.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Hold each other accountable.

Wayne:

Yep. Mhmm. We wanna be able to have hard conversations.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Necessary.

Wayne:

And be transparent Yeah. And have a safe place where we can learn how to get along and have that integrity in in the way we serve each other. We wanna be a community of integrity with our donors. Mhmm. We do an annual audit.

Wayne:

Yep. Our books are wide open. Our Yep. Stuff is on the Yep. You know, 9 nineties up on all the websites because we want to be a place of integrity.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

And we wanna be able to prove that, you know, we can be held accountable to every dime and every volunteer and every hour and every guest that comes in here.

Carolyn:

It's something that we steward, that we realize that none of this is anything we own. It's what the Lord has given us to steward. And that's not just money, it's people and in relationships and are we stewarding those things well and it's done best in a community of integrity.

Wayne:

So I'm a start over with those 3 c's and we're gonna give you examples of how this applies specifically to our neighbors, our homeless friends. Right? And there's very specific areas that fit into this under care with dignity and connect with intentionality and community of integrity. And so we'll go through some specifics there, but when we talk about care with dignity, what are some very specific, like, real touchy feely things that people will experience here.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Today is, Friday, May 10th and Sunday is gonna be Mother's Day. And so a very present example is in the women's center today. They hosted a mother's day event for all of the women. And it's a way to honor the ones who are mothers, all of them have mothers.

Carolyn:

And just to acknowledge the good, the bad, the messy. And it's instead of trying to smooth things over or pretend like it doesn't exist or any of that. It's just acknowledging like, hey, this Sunday is Mother's Day. We wanna honor you. We wanna celebrate you.

Carolyn:

We wanna talk about your mom. We wanna talk about your kids. And allowing them to talk about things that there isn't any other safe place to talk about those. And it is, it was really beautiful. I stuck my head in there this morning and got to see some really sweet things going on in there.

Carolyn:

Another very tangible way is just that the way we talk to one another. The expectation that we have of of this being a place of peace. And so we talk to one another with kindness. Even if you're frustrated, we're gonna talk at this level. And our homeless friends know that and appreciate it and they know that when they come into our calling, how they're gonna be treated and how I mean, I'll even hear someone say, hey, you can't talk like that in here.

Carolyn:

Like this is this is our calling. And, you know, they hold each other accountable to this expectation that this is a place of peace and a place of honesty.

Wayne:

And sometimes we screw up. Yep. Sometimes we get mad and

Carolyn:

Yep. We are human. We'll

Wayne:

yell. Right? But we wanna hold each other accountable

Carolyn:

to that. And

Wayne:

go back and own it. Own what you did Yeah. And show some apology and go back. And we've had lots of staff members who've had to go back and apologize Mhmm. To a neighbor because Yeah.

Wayne:

We weren't really treating

Carolyn:

them Yeah.

Wayne:

With dignity. Other ways we care for people with dignity is like the way we serve food.

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

So our chef is culinary trained with the Cordon Bleu. He he is amazing. But one of the ways we serve food is, you know, we don't have just a traditional lunch line. Go get a plate of food and you're done. Yeah.

Wayne:

We have a lunchtime. So when we eat meals at a restaurant, they never tell us, okay. That's enough. You need to leave. Yeah.

Wayne:

So we wanna be able to provide that same experience where if you wanna go through the line again Yeah. And again and again and again, that's fine. We want everybody to go through to make sure everybody eats and then everybody can go through again. We're gonna keep serving until we run out of food. Mhmm.

Wayne:

Now we don't use styrofoam because Mhmm. Again, dignity. That's not really good for the environment, so you have to eat your meals here.

Carolyn:

Sure.

Wayne:

But if you wanna go through the meal 5 times or 7 times, that's totally fine. Mhmm. And we will serve good food.

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

We serve really good food. Yep. We serve brisket. We serve ribs. We serve steak.

Wayne:

We serve

Carolyn:

Fried catfish?

Wayne:

Thai food. We serve, you know Curry? Yes. You know, shawarma. I mean, it's amazing, the food we serve here.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

To be able to care for people with dignity. Showers

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Laundry, we'll do laundry for you.

Carolyn:

And even the showers is is very dignified because it's a it's like a hotel bathroom. It's not like a locker room and it's a nice a nice space. And a person gets to go in there for 15 or 20 minutes and and be alone in privacy.

Wayne:

Lock the door.

Carolyn:

Lock the door.

Wayne:

Be by themselves.

Carolyn:

Be by themselves. Yes.

Wayne:

Hot water, holy spirit moment. You have a toilet, a shower Yeah. A sink all by yourself. Mhmm. And some people need more than 20 minutes.

Wayne:

Yeah. Some people need assistance getting on and off of the the seat that's built into the shower. Right? And and some people in a wheelchair and with dignity, our staff will go in there and care for them. Yeah.

Wayne:

You know, even in kind of the grossest environments because we wanna care for people Yeah. With dignity. The way we would wanna be cared for, the way we want our mom to be cared for. Yeah. Clothes, we give out now almost 3,000 clothing items a week.

Wayne:

So someone will come in and ask for shoes, and we'll look them up and say, hey, Bob, you got shoes last week, bro. You're gonna have to wait a few more weeks. Everything has accountability. Everything is tied to a person. We can track a ton of data.

Wayne:

Yeah. But even without that accountability, we'll give out 3,000 clothing items this week. Mhmm. And we wanna give you we will only give you clothes that are clean.

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

That don't have holes in them. Mhmm. There are things that we or our mom would wear. Yeah. If it's not, we we won't give it out.

Wayne:

Right? People donate nasty stuff to us all the time that we toss or Yeah. Into a thrift store. And the wear is gonna be clean. It's gonna be

Carolyn:

brand new underwear.

Wayne:

Brand new underwear.

Carolyn:

Yeah. We're not using Mhmm. Brand

Wayne:

new socks. No. Yes. No. Brand new socks, no holes in them.

Wayne:

Right? Shoes, gently used shoes, because we run out of shoes. But we wanna make sure people have dignity in the way that they're fed, cared for. We have high speed Wi Fi. We have phone chargers here.

Wayne:

We have phones they can use. You know, we wanna provide a safe place with dignity. And that means we're open late when it gets hot Yep. And when it gets cold. Mhmm.

Wayne:

Because it's not dignified to make people have to go back outside.

Carolyn:

And it's even thought of when even the digital signage that we have and the announcements that we make or, the different, slides that we have Mhmm. On the different screens around around our campus. It's acknowledging that, a lot of our folks have, poor vision. And so we make sure the font is as big as possible, that it's as simple and easy to read. And we think of what what is the information that they need.

Carolyn:

And this is I'm kind of bleeding into the connecting with intentionality, but making sure that they know what's happening. Mhmm. I know with our emergency broadcast that we have. And then

Wayne:

That's where we can send a message out to now about 8 to 10000 people, you know, hey, it's gonna be cold. Here's the inclement weather place open.

Carolyn:

Here's where to go. Here's the address of where to go.

Wayne:

And the digital signage, I love it. It shows who's next to get in the shower. Yes. Who's next to get in the laundry.

Carolyn:

Yeah. And there's, you know, there's it's it's hard to wait when you don't know why you're waiting. Mhmm. And so when someone's waiting for a shower or waiting for their laundry, they know they can see on on the display that, okay, I'm 3rd. Alright.

Carolyn:

I can do that. I can wait. And then they can see how they're moving up. Mine, but

Wayne:

it's yeah. We have dog park areas Yep. For people to bring their their pets out here. Right? And, bring your grocery cart the car you're living in.

Wayne:

We want people to have dignity when they come here. Yeah. But also dignity that they show to each other. Mhmm. Right?

Wayne:

We will not allow people to speak cruelly to each other. Yeah. Not here. Mhmm.

Carolyn:

It's not

Wayne:

gonna happen. Yeah. But then we wanna talk about connecting with intentionality. You were talking about partners because Yeah. On the digital signage, it says, here's who's coming what day.

Wayne:

Here's yeah.

Carolyn:

And here's who here here here is who is at in our building today.

Wayne:

We have about 12 to 15 partners that we have separate rooms Mhmm. That they can schedule to use. Mhmm. And what kind of services are available here?

Carolyn:

So we kind of drew a circle around what we do and then recognized that our homeless friends are barriers to a lot of things. And so how can we break down those barriers? And with transportation being such a big barrier, we started inviting different partners into our facility. So it can be someone from the North Texas Food Bank that is helping people get set up with SNAP and with their food stamps. If it's, we recognize that people have, acute care, like medical care.

Carolyn:

They've got a bad blister on their foot or something that can needs to be treated right then. We partner with Watermark Health and they bring their mobile unit into our, our parking lot. They're done because they're

Wayne:

still and work here.

Carolyn:

Yes. And, you know, people know they come here every Thursday and they just know that this is if I need to have something looked at or treated, that's when I do it. It's also difficult to get to the doctor when you're homeless. And so having partnering with with, with Parkland and also with the VA's medical clinic as well, they can schedule their appointments with their primary care physician. And, if

Wayne:

And meet them and get their prescriptions refilled and all that stuff.

Carolyn:

Yeah. And it's all in one location. And it's part of of how we can say yes to people. Like, yes. Yes, you can see a doctor.

Carolyn:

Yes, you can see a mental health provider. Yes, you can get set up with food stamps. Yes, there is someone to talk to about your Social Security benefits. And just being able to when when you hear no so much and then someone starts saying, yes. Yeah.

Carolyn:

We can do that. Yeah. You can do that. It's it's I like to call it a hope builder. It's like, oh, I can do that.

Carolyn:

This is possible. So that's, a really a very fun way that we get to connect with intentionality is by saying yes to our homeless friends with the the different needs that they have.

Wayne:

So beyond those, I'm gonna read off the list of Okay. Some of the partners that we have here.

Carolyn:

Sure.

Wayne:

I'm looking it up. We track all this in real time. So the city of Dallas office is here.

Carolyn:

Yep. Help people with their tickets.

Wayne:

With their tickets. Mhmm. We have a group called The Haven Mhmm. Which helps people with long term recovery. We have 2 different mental health care providers.

Wayne:

Mhmm. We have pharmaceutical services here. We have AIDS and STI testing. Mhmm. Right?

Wayne:

We have Recovery Resource Council here, Salvation Army, the VA Yeah. Watermark Health, and then there's more. For some reasons, they're not all fitting on my screen, but we have so many partners that provide services. And some of the services that people wanna provide, we evaluate them and say that's not a good fit

Carolyn:

Right.

Wayne:

For our population. It's not it's not really intentional in caring for their needs in a way that they can access Yeah. Access. And so we we tell some groups no. But we have rehabs that'll come here and detoxes that'll come here and interview people.

Wayne:

We have, you know, trauma counselors for sexual assault survivors that come here, all kinds of different groups, all connecting with intentionality Mhmm. Just like our little green book is designed to connect people, just like the the app is designed to connect people. And we wanna connect people horizontally to the services they need. Mhmm. But, ultimately, we also wanna connect them vertically to the Lord himself and the body of Christ because we think that's super important.

Wayne:

Mhmm. So we have a church service here.

Carolyn:

Mhmm. Every Wednesday.

Wayne:

We have Bible studies here. Mhmm. But that actually falls under the last c which is community of integrity. Yeah. Again, we're not here just to hang out.

Carolyn:

Right.

Wayne:

We wanna have a healthy community here. And so what are some areas of under community of integrity Mhmm. That, allow us to care for our neighbors.

Carolyn:

Mhmm. You know, you mentioned the church service and it is beautiful and I invite anybody listening or watching this podcast to come on a Wednesday morning and just experience that time.

Wayne:

8:30.

Carolyn:

8:30 on Wednesdays. Yes.

Wayne:

And now why do we do it on Wednesday mornings? Why aren't we doing it on Sunday mornings?

Carolyn:

Because Wednesday I mean, it's when our homeless friends are are here.

Wayne:

Exactly. On the weekends, they have told us that on the weekends, it kind of feels like a petting zoo with a lot of

Carolyn:

churches that

Wayne:

are going around and safari of poverty.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And so they've asked us to do it on a different day years ago. Again, trying to be dignified and care with them in ways that that make sense to them. Yeah. So we do it on a Wednesday morning. Mhmm.

Wayne:

And they can come in, and the pastors are people that work with them every day. We don't do guest pastors.

Carolyn:

Mhmm. That's right.

Wayne:

It's worship in a cultural context that they love. Mhmm. Right? And it's trying to care for individuals in a way where they can understand God's word.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

And inviting them to come. Everybody, you don't have to come. Yep.

Carolyn:

It's not required.

Wayne:

You know, you you can still have access to every service here. Yep. But we do have a church service available. Mhmm. And I always get asked, well, how do you get people to come to a church service?

Wayne:

Well, you learn how to preach.

Carolyn:

You learn how to preach.

Wayne:

And where they like it. Right? If they're not showing up, they vote with their feet. Right? So Yeah.

Wayne:

People will come, people will worship, people will get an experience to learn more Yeah. About God Yeah. In a safe and healthy environment, and then ask questions afterwards.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

We have bible studies, recovery classes.

Carolyn:

Classes. Yeah.

Wayne:

But ultimately, going back to one of the reasons why we're here, one of the two questions is we wanna help people off the street.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And that community of integrity is really where we wanna see people live long term.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And there's a group of people that we can't get off the street.

Carolyn:

Yes. Yeah. And you know, the more that we work so hard and diligently with those those two questions of will you trust the Lord and can we help you get off the streets. And we began to realize that there and we've done a ton of research. I mean, I know I we're over 700 different exit strategies now all over the United States.

Carolyn:

And so it's not like we're just looking in in the city of Dallas or only in Dallas County. We've looked all over the United States. And you're right. There is a a a section

Wayne:

A subset of the community.

Carolyn:

Of our homeless friends and the people that we serve that we're not able to place. And it's it's been heartbreaking.

Wayne:

And who is it and why?

Carolyn:

It's our friends that, cannot take care of themselves on a daily basis. It's the medical term is they can't manage their activities of daily living, or they're dying. And most of the places, that we partner with and that we work with people have to be able to take care of themselves in order to step into those programs. And that's not a bad thing. Like I wanna make sure people understand that we're not saying that people should be doing this.

Carolyn:

They are meeting a tremendous need in the areas where they are serving. And we still have these individuals who are experiencing homelessness that have physical and mental challenges and who are should be in hospice care that we cannot find a place to to to that will take them.

Wayne:

Supported independent living, assisted living Mhmm. And even in home hospice care. Yeah. We're big fans of permanent supportive housing We are. And rapid rehousing Mhmm.

Wayne:

For some people, but it's not this fit for everybody. Yeah. You know, permanent supportive housing, it to me, I I get frustrated when a case manager who's caring for people in permanent supportive housing Mhmm. Is expected to be a miracle worker.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

They're expected to take care of all these wraparound support services that don't deliver.

Carolyn:

Right.

Wayne:

And so that person has gotta figure out how do I get to a doctor on a regular basis, how to get my prescription filled? How do I get food Yeah. On a regular basis? Right? All those care components are scattered across the city.

Wayne:

Yeah. Not in the housing unit itself. Yeah. So in order to care for this group of people, we are creating our community. Mhmm.

Wayne:

Which is a tiny home community that'll have all those services on-site, specifically for those individuals in that high needs community.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Those individuals that need long term care. So Yeah. Full scale medical clinic on-site with a cafeteria and a grocery store and mental health care. And again, all those 15 partners that we work with Yeah. There as well in addition to what we're doing here, but specifically for those residents.

Wayne:

Long term care residents. Again, because we want to help people walk with Jesus Jesus. And get off the street. And get off the streets is really in a healthy community. Right?

Wayne:

Community of integrity. Yeah. And we cannot sleep with the lack of integrity of not having an option. Yeah. You know, when we serve in inclement weather.

Wayne:

Right? We step in and we're flexible. We're not a shelter, so we can step in and run that with some of our partners collaborating with agencies around the city. Mhmm. And we recognize that we have this group of people with high needs.

Wayne:

Mhmm. Cannot care for themselves.

Carolyn:

Grows every year.

Wayne:

People with walkers, people in wheelchairs.

Carolyn:

Amputees.

Wayne:

Yep. Mhmm. And what's so sad is at the end of that, you know, they their wheelchair kinda gets pushed to the corner and Yep. There's not many options. I mean, our shelter partners take in who they can.

Wayne:

Yeah. But there's so many, and the needs are so vast and expansive beyond Mhmm. That we've recognized with our partners that there this is a bottleneck. Yeah. There is a a a substantial number of these individuals who have high long term needs at every agency

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And they're all stuck. Like, what do we do about it? Parkland, Baylor Mhmm. Shelters around town. They have these individuals without really good solutions.

Wayne:

And so after 6 years of research, we're just having to build it because Mhmm. It's just part of who we are in caring, connecting, and building community.

Carolyn:

Mhmm. Yeah.

Wayne:

And we're excited about it.

Carolyn:

We're very excited. We're ready.

Wayne:

We're ready. So those are the 3 c's. We have all kinds of other value statements for our staff that we use to kind of evaluate who who they are and what they do. But I wanted to touch on a topic that I get asked all the time from donors, and I should get this asked much more frequently and don't. But the question is, and I'm gonna ask you and then we'll talk about it is Okay.

Wayne:

What's a measure of success? How do we measure success here?

Carolyn:

When I think of our care ministers, I'm assuming that's what people are are asking.

Wayne:

And those are the frontline people Yes.

Carolyn:

That are

Wayne:

asking those questions Yes. Working in relationships, kinda like a case manager

Carolyn:

Case managers slash chaplain.

Wayne:

Had a baby.

Carolyn:

Yeah. Yeah. What I preach and say over and over again is that the the definition of success for our care ministers, for the those staff members is not somebody else's answer to questions. So my success or their success is not dependent on whether or not somebody places their faith in Christ, whether or not somebody says, I wanna get off these streets. Because it's it's unfair to try and measure success over something that you have no control over.

Wayne:

It's not my responsibility.

Carolyn:

Yes. Somebody else's decision. That's right. It's their decision. And so the success is, am I asking those questions?

Carolyn:

More about like one of the things that we've been learning as a staff is the effects of PTSD on our homeless friends. And how anybody who is is, experiencing chronic homelessness, they have PTSD. And they and so learning how to talk to somebody, how to interact with somebody, and getting better at the things that we can control. I can control, my tone. I can control my mannerisms.

Carolyn:

You know, I've learned not to sneak up on anybody or surprise somebody, you know, and to make sure my my my voice is gentle and soft. And, because there's just this constant anxiety with living on the streets which totally understandable. Mhmm. And and so training in those ways and how can we get better at asking those questions? How can I better understand that the human condition and the life that my homeless brothers and sisters experience?

Carolyn:

Can how can I understand that better? How can I become a student of the people that I'm working with? And that is the way that I measure success with our our care ministers in the way I want them to measure success for themselves for themselves. I want them at the end of the day instead of being disappointed in other people's decisions of yes or no, excited or disappointed about somebody else's yes or no, to just today was a good day because I had conversations with people. I talked to people about the Lord.

Carolyn:

I talked to them about options Mhmm. Of better choices and how the future doesn't have to be so scary and how they can trust the Lord and yeah.

Wayne:

So I I just to summarize Mhmm. When we say, will you trust the Lord? Will you let us help you off the streets? One way we measure success is our people trust in the Lord and our people getting off the streets.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

But we also recognize that we can't force. Yeah. We can't coerce. We're not baiting.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

And we're not responsible. Right.

Carolyn:

For people's For somebody else's decision.

Wayne:

Yes. And again, the faith based component of what we do, we don't require that for anybody. We're extremely inclusive in who we serve and exclusive in what we believe. Yeah. But we wanna be able to say we do what we do.

Wayne:

Yeah. Right? And so we're faith based. We talk about Jesus all the time.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

We also wanna see fruit. We wanna see people coming to know the Lord. And so how can we learn how to communicate in ways that are clear

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And contextual and getting people off the streets? Can we find the best solution for you, which, you know, you may be a square peg and that's a round hole. And so how do we find a program that fits your specific needs? We have some people we've tried to get off the streets for years, and no one will take them because of significant challenges cognitively, you know, dual diagnosis Dual diagnosis. Or, you know, dissociative identity disorder or physical disabilities or, you know, whatever.

Wayne:

Yeah. And so we wanna track our people getting off the streets Mhmm. And, do people come to know the Lord.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

You know, the faith component, we can measure that and see so much spiritual fruit. But one of the ways we see that is will people choose to make a decision to walk with Jesus? And part of that decision is, you know, obviously, it's not salvific in its connections, but will they make that step to enter into a healthy place? Mhmm. Will they get away from this the crime around them?

Wayne:

Will they get out of a dangerous situation? Do they recognize they have value? Mhmm. And God has a plan for them, and we want them to see them valued and cared for off the streets. Mhmm.

Wayne:

So last year, we, you know, we got we did 1359 placements. That's where we place someone off the streets. And some of those are the same person a couple times because, intentionally, like, when you were working with a sex trafficking victim, we have to place her in multiple places to get to the end. Yeah. We need an emergency place right now for her.

Wayne:

Yeah. Well, the best sex trafficking places that we work with are not close, and they're not fast. Yeah. It may take a week. It may take 2 weeks to get her through that interview process.

Wayne:

We may have to try 5 different places before we have one with an available bed that fits that. Mhmm. So we will place her in an emergency safe location, undisclosed that we've had to figure out, and then later place her in Yeah. You know, we may place someone in a shelter temporarily as

Carolyn:

they While we're working on this stuff

Wayne:

for the longest time. Disability so they can get into housing.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

I did some math. This year so far and, you know, wherever people are in the year when they listen to this, the numbers will be irrelevant. But here's some math that is relevant. If you look at how many hours we're open no. We're not a 24 hour day shop.

Wayne:

We're only open 6 days a week. But if you look at how many hours we're open, we meet a new person, brand new to us, just brand new experiencing homelessness. We meet a new person every 41

Carolyn:

minutes. Wow.

Wayne:

Last week was 98 new people. Wow. The week before that was 83 new people. We meet someone brand new experiencing homelessness every 41 minutes. Yeah.

Wayne:

We place someone every 116 minutes. So less than 2 hours. Mhmm. Right? So about every 2 hours, we get somebody off the street Mhmm.

Wayne:

Into that next step Yeah. Which could be a group home, which will be good for them for the rest of their life. It could be permanent supportive housing Yeah. Through, you know, the coordinated access system through one of our partners. So we put someone in a shelter through HMIS, you know, they get through coordinated access system.

Wayne:

We don't do that. They do that. They do it really, really well. We don't wanna, you know Yeah. They they do that.

Wayne:

We don't need to replicate that service. Sometimes we get people into rehab or detox or one of those psychotherapeutic recovery programs. But every a 116 minutes, helping someone exit homelessness is great. Mhmm. But there's so much more work to do.

Wayne:

Yeah. There's so many more people experiencing homelessness brand new every single day

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

That we have to figure out how to find better long term solutions that help people not only get off street Mhmm. But stay

Carolyn:

off the street. Yeah. Yeah. And I think in another way too that we do that is filling out an application for something can sometimes be especially for women who have to retell if it's a domestic violence situation or a sexual assault situation. They have to retell that story so many times in the application process.

Carolyn:

And so one of the things that our team has started doing, and again, this kind of bleeds into that connecting with intentionality.

Wayne:

And trauma informed care.

Carolyn:

And trauma informed care and and all of that is is coming alongside them, creating a separate space in our building that's quiet where they can do the incredibly long application process and do those phone calls in a place where it's private and dignified, where they can cry if they need to, if they yell if they need to, whatever they need to do, but just to help them. Like, look, we want to help you through this intake process. We know that it is hard. We know that sometimes it can be complicated. We are here to walk beside you.

Carolyn:

And as part of that community of integrity, you're not gonna do this alone. We are here to walk with you. You're the one that's taking these bold steps for yourself, but we are here beside you and cheering you on.

Wayne:

We do that for families too. We have a separate family room here in a super high secure area. So we have downstairs cafe is open to anybody.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

But upstairs, we have an isolated area for women only. Mhmm. Because, obviously, most women that I know need a break from the men in their lives. And so it's a safe place. It has lockdown procedures.

Wayne:

It's really cool.

Carolyn:

And it's peaceful and it's beautiful.

Wayne:

Unfortunately, we have to use some of those lockdown things because we have victims of trafficking and domestic violence that come in every day. It's we're 0 barrier, so you don't have to give an ID. Mhmm. We're not gonna check your pockets. You're welcome here.

Wayne:

And, therefore, they can come in and then start to work with a team on exit plan if that's even escaping from a guy that is in our parking lot. Sure. Right? Or a trafficker that dropped her off here to get her shower. He's meeting her from another city, you know, to put her on back page or something, which we, you know, work with all the law enforcement groups on that.

Wayne:

Yeah. But then we also have this family room that's really isolated, separate because we have families with kids that come in here. And how quickly can we fast get them connected to Family Gateway or one of our other partners Mhmm. Because they are experts in that. Yeah.

Wayne:

Again, we collaborate with all these agencies that are brilliant. Mhmm. That's part of the, you know, connecting with intentionality. Mhmm. The collaboration between all these agencies in town is is just beautiful.

Wayne:

It is. We, as Carolyn said, put a circle around what we do and try to figure out how can we do that as best as we can, for the glory of God. And then we recognize other agencies do stuff outside the circle better than we can, or they're more equipped than we can, and we're just gonna Yeah. Hand the ball to them.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

Right? StewBot does IDs. They do

Carolyn:

They serve in very specific ways.

Wayne:

Services and mail services and, you know, partners all over that do things that are amazing.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

We don't wanna replicate what they do. Mhmm. And we also do these 3 c's on the streets. Mhmm. You know, we have our street outreach teams.

Wayne:

We visit a couple of 1,000 locations a year in Dallas. We say Dallas County, but we actually bleed over in a couple of other counties around here because the homeless population is growing. Mhmm. I wish we had a ton more street outreach folks than we do. We have these green vans all over the city.

Wayne:

And they're not bringing you a box of food Right. So you can play Iron Chef behind a liquor store.

Carolyn:

Right.

Wayne:

They're there to love on you, care for you, ask you those questions, provide some emergency medical stuff, you know, snacks and those kind of things.

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

But really start to work on the process of can we help you get off the street? Yeah. Can we help you pause for a moment in the chaos Yeah. And trust people and trust the Lord? And can we build a relationship with you personally Sure.

Wayne:

And then invite you into a relationship with Christ? Because we think that's super important. Yep. So, about our calling in general, we help people walk with Jesus. Walk with

Carolyn:

Jesus and get off the streets.

Wayne:

We help with people get off the streets. And for churches and individuals that wanna get involved, obviously, we have the Our Calling app on the app store. It's used all over the country. The Yelp of homelessness, where's a shelter, where's a domestic violence center, that kind of stuff.

Carolyn:

And it allows people who see someone experiencing homelessness. You can report

Wayne:

Yeah. In in Dallas, if you see a tent in the woods, you can report it, or we have people experiencing homelessness pulling out their phones reporting themselves. I'm here. I need help. Right?

Carolyn:

Yes.

Wayne:

And so our teams respond to those. We're trying to partner with other cities around the country to make those reports and and data available to them. And then we have the little green book that people use. That's what you you can order them off our website, our calling dot org slash directory.

Carolyn:

Stop by and pick them up?

Wayne:

Stop by and pick them up. Hang out for a while. Take a tour. Get a cup of coffee. Yeah.

Wayne:

And, and that's what you give out to someone experiencing homelessness. It's the top 50 resource providers in the county. I like to say it's the solar powered version of the app. Yes. And, but churches that wanna come partner with us, we need you to come serve.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

And we need you to come volunteer. But not because we're desperate for you to be here or we desperately need someone to serve food or fold t shirts. We want you to come serve because you were created to do it. Yeah. We were created by God to do good work, and we just wanna invite people to come do good work.

Wayne:

We wanna invite people to come participate in what we're doing, to give towards loving their neighbors. So when your kid asks the question in the car, mommy, there's a person out there. What can we do? To be able to say Yeah. Let me tell you what we do.

Wayne:

Yeah. We support an organization like our calling or the Bridge or Austin Street or the Soup Pod or Salvation Army. Right? Support local organizations that are working their tail off every day to help people

Carolyn:

Mhmm.

Wayne:

Survive and thrive.

Carolyn:

Yeah.

Wayne:

You know, for here, it's to help them walk with Jesus and get off these nasty streets. Yep. True. So that's our calling in the

Carolyn:

summary.