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Discover The Humanity of Homelessness, a podcast from Church at the Park that brings you honest, heartfelt conversations with people experiencing homelessness, community leaders, and staff.
John Marshall | 00:08
Welcome to the Humanity of Homelessness. I'm John Marshall, and this is a podcast from Church at the Park in Salem, Oregon. Since 2007, Church of the Park has created community with our neighbors living outside. Today, we get to offer collaborative navigation, emergency sheltering, workforce development, and supported housing for our neighbors in need. In each episode, we hear from a member of our community who is experiencing or has experienced homelessness. We invite them to share their story in their own words so that they and we might remember their goodness, their courage, their hope, and their humanity. You can find this podcast wherever podcasts are found, and it is helpful to us if you subscribe and share episodes that inspire you. Thanks to everyone for tuning in and joining us as we celebrate good news in the hardest, most unexpected places. In today's episode, we get to hear from Patrick, one of our Safe Parking Program participants. I met Patrick when he and his wife Chantel joined our Safe Parking program in April. And in the brief time that I have known them, I've been blessed by their friendship and participation in our spaces. They're both incredibly resilient humans who work hard to make their lives better and they are conscientious of the people around them, seeking to serve and help in ways that lift others up. Recently, Patrick stood in front of the Salem City Council and shared some of his experiences in our program as the council deliberated continuing to fund safe parking. I invited Patrick on the podcast to reflect about that experience and give his best pitch to the wider community about why programs like Safe Parking matter. I'm so grateful Patrick said yes to being on the podcast, and I can't wait for him to share his story. Patrick, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Patrick Geier | 01:45
Yeah, thanks. I'm glad to be here.
John Marshall | 01:47
Yeah. How are you today? How's life this week?
Patrick Geier | 01:50
Hey, it's Hart. It is hot. No, it's nowhere near as hot as I'm used to, but the humidity definitely changes things.
John Marshall | 01:58
You and Chantel are living in your vehicle right now. What type of ways do you to try to keep yourselves cool when the weather is hot like.
Patrick Geier | 02:07
This? Park in the shade. That's the only thing.
And then open the doors. There's always a breeze in Salem for some reason.
John Marshall | 02:15
Well, I guess I'm glad for that breeze. And I hope that... The spaces of shade are abundant.
Patrick Geier | 02:24
Yeah, you guys got a lot of natural parks out here that we can park at that's got trees and...
John Marshall | 02:29
Yeah, good. We do have some natural spaces that I enjoy being in myself.
Well, as you know, I really want to make sure there's space for you to talk about your experience in front of Salem City Council and then invite you to share with the wider community and anyone who might be listening to this podcast about why it's worth funding and supporting programs like Safe Parking and the other stuff that Church of the Park is up to. Before we get to that part, I want to just learn more about your own story and give you a chance to talk about yourself and how it is that you ended up in Salem in the first place. Whenever I have these interviews with guests, the easiest place is kind of Gainesville. Always to start. I Do you really have an autobiography?
Patrick Geier | 03:08
Could have just gone to Barnes & Noble and got my autobiography. It's only $8.99.
John Marshall | 03:15
Thank you. I... Wouldn't be surprised if you had written an autobiography that could be found on shelves somewhere. You are that type of human who is resourceful and ingenuous like that. The What about speech to text?
Patrick Geier | 03:28
Problem is I think too fast to type.
John Marshall | 03:36
Could you dictate your own autobiography?
Patrick Geier | 03:38
No, because most recorders... Actually can't keep up with dictation. Because I speak at such a high pace. That things turn into run out of sentences, and words get mixed up. - Yeah. - And that's the way, if I'm typing something out, I'll start typing, and my mind will be like a sentence and a half ahead, and my sentences get mixed up.
John Marshall | 04:02
I understand that. I've had some of those experiences too with speech to text. I'm curious, though, have you wanted to write an autobiography? Is that a project that? You would want to do someday.
Patrick Geier | 04:15
Maybe when I'm done with some of the more exciting things that are going on in my life.
John Marshall | 04:21
Well... Maybe. At least my hope is that this space serves as a little bit of an autobiographical. Autobiography. On a Biographical space. And because I know you and know some bits of your story, I'm just excited that you're here and that people get to learn who you are and why you are and how you are and what wisdom that you have about being human in.
Patrick Geier | 04:44
The world. I can't say I'm all that excited to share, but if anybody knows anything about me, I'm unapologetically honest about everything.
John Marshall | 04:53
I do know this about you. Well, let's start at the beginning. Where did you grow up? What, was the first place that you called home.
Patrick Geier | 05:00
A town called Lubbock, Texas... Back then there was only about 15,000 people in the entire place. But if you look it up now, it's up to like 1.2 million, I think.
John Marshall | 05:11
So you experienced that community before... It was really big.
Yeah. What were the good parts about growing up in Lubbock? What were some of the hard parts?
Patrick Geier | 05:22
I can't say too much about it, cause... There were some pretty traumatic things that happened in my childhood there.
There were some good things. Like, Well, we'll start off with some of the bad. I had... A dad. Who... When everybody looks back at their childhood, one of the few things from your childhood almost everybody can remember is the ice cream man. Running after the ice cream truck. Running up to the ice cream truck buying something. My dad was one of the few people that would have grown men throwing children out of the way to get to the ice cream truck because he sold cocaine out of the ice cream trucks. He didn't sell ice cream. He was on steroids for... About 15, 20 years before I was born. He was very abusive to my mom. I remember one time when he tried to board up all the windows and the doors and light the house on fire while I was inside of it. Me, my mom, and my sister.
But... After he was out of the picture.
My mom started working for this little store called Town & Country. One of the few bright spots in my early childhood I can actually remember. Was This guy named Blue. He was a truck driver who works at a place called Eagle Shipping. And he used to babysit me while my mom went to work on the graveyard shifts to the town and country. It was one of the few jobs that she could get. And one evening he took me out shooting. I was like, six or seven years old. I was really small. And he had a little .22 caliber pistol and we were out shooting beer cans. My mom's manager happened to have been doing inventory and stuff that night when this little six-year-old ran into the store waving a gun and a can with a hole right through the middle of it and thought a six-year-old was trying to rob the store and called the cops on me. I still consider that one of my best memories to that place.
John Marshall | 07:25
As I listen to you, I'm... Noticing the sadness in my own body creep up. That's not a childhood. That any kid deserves.
Patrick Geier | 07:35
Well, it could have been worse.
John Marshall | 07:36
Maybe.
Patrick Geier | 07:37
I mean my dad could have physically assaulted me all the time. He didn't he took everything out of my mom. I She took the brunt of that for both me and my daughter most of the time. And it wasn't until... My dad left when I was... Or I want to say three or four. And I had already started to develop... This... Hatred that no child should have towards any living human being. Or animal on the face of this planet. A child at three or four should not have hate in his heart. But my dad had one prized possession in his entire life. And we lived in a small house. It was right across from Eagle Shipping. He had a one-price position. He smoked a lot. Mostly crack and coke and drugs, but he had a Bic lighter.
Some of your older listeners might remember them. There used to be these lighter holders. They had like turquoise eagles and really nice stuff on them and like really decorative, expensive lighter holders. He had one with this big turquoise eagle on it. And We had a wood-burning stove that we used for heat in the front room. He fell asleep on the... Couch I went and put his lighter on that wood-burning stove. Just because I was hoping I was going to destroy it. Because he destroys everything of ours, why not destroy something of his? And about three hours later... It exploded and that eagle slapped him right in the face for like the next two weeks. He had an eagle on the side of his face. It made me so happy.
John Marshall | 09:19
One of the things... That I've learned as I get to know people who come from places of deep pain. And it's kind of a Right. Saying that hurt people.
But the flip side of that gives me hope a lot is that, loved people can develop the capacity to love.
Patrick Geier | 09:45
I completely, I don't completely disagree with the statement. But I... On a intellectual level. Disagree. Hurt people don't hurt people. Being hurt. Gives you that chance for resilience and strength in dire situations. That's what I got. From my time was an abundance of resilience-ness to where I could I've overcome almost anything, nothing keeps me down.
Yeah, I'll get depressed, yeah, I'll get angry, I get over it quick and I move on.
John Marshall | 10:18
Well, that was going to be my point, is that the Patrick I know today is a Patrick. Who has that resilience. And is incredibly patient in moments where You would be justified to be mean towards someone else. And so my curiosity is like, Were there experiences in life that allowed you maybe to let go of some of that hatred? That you developed really early on. And I mean, were there spaces where you got to be a little bit more of a carefree kid?
Patrick Geier | 10:51
The answer to that is not a good answer, because yes, I let go of a lot of hatred towards pretty much everybody in my life. Except for myself.
I loathe myself on a daily basis. Because in my eyes, what I'm going through, I shouldn't be going through. And I take all that weight onto myself. But again, It's something that I let go. Because I know it will change. It will get better. I always go back to what my rabbi told me when I was 12. My rabbi told me that God would only put the strongest warriors through his hardest challenges.
Like if there's much more harder challenges to go, then that's the person I want to answer to then. Going through it.
John Marshall | 11:39
What gives you the hope these days? Then it'll get better.
Patrick Geier | 11:44
Waking up next to Chantel and seeing her do what she wants to do. Anytime I can make it to where she can do what she wants or has what she needs to have. I can go without anything. I've done it for years. I was homeless without a tent. Car, anything for almost six years. And with that, you learn how to live on $2 to $3 per day. I'm not even one of those people that can hold a sign. Because, you know, with the program, this program has helped us fix our car. Dall-E have to do is swallow our humility, swallow our pride and say, hey, can you guys help? And that's still the hardest thing for me to do. I might not have nothing, I still have that sense of pride in everything I have I've done. I don't have much because I haven't been able to accomplish much, but what I do have is the stuff I accomplished.
So to ask for that help, It's probably the second hardest thing I've ever gone through.
John Marshall | 12:46
I want to hear more about your story with Chantel and how you two have... Provided a place of safety and comfort for each other. I'm wondering if you could give a bullet point summary of your life between Lubbock and Salem. What are the...
Patrick Geier | 13:04
I don't know if you have that long on your podcast. There's a lot.
John Marshall | 13:07
I believe that. So maybe the question is just what are the experiences from life... Two or three. That you look back on and go... Whether it was good or bad, it was really important for how I understand who I am in the world.
Patrick Geier | 13:27
Okay, so after my father left, We packed up and moved into, and this is probably where a lot of my resilience started to come from, was the first home we had after my dad left. My mom bought this blue house. She met another guy.
And We moved into this little blue house in Lubbock. And he bought it cheap. It was like less than $4,000 or something like that. But it was like a class five hoarding nightmare. If you've ever seen the show Hoarders.
Like. Dead rodents. Dead animals all over the place, underneath boxes, piles of trash, the whole backyard. There's only like... A walkway, you know, less than what I could walk through at 7. To get through. But when you bought it, We cleaned it. And we turned it into a home. And if something that broken can be made whole and beautiful again. It can happen to anything.
John Marshall | 14:26
How old were you when that happened? Seven. Seven, okay.
Patrick Geier | 14:29
When we got that house.
About six months after we got in that house, My uncle. Was ...driving his... Motorcycle down the street. He had just gotten off. He was in the Navy. He had just gotten his shore leave and It was raining. He was driving his motorcycle, going too fast. Ran at like 95 miles an hour into a brick wall. Died on impact.
So we flew out for the funeral there and ended up moving out. To Lakeland, Florida. Lived there with my grandmother for a while who was a Jehovah's Witness and From there we ended up moving back to Texas to stay with my aunt and my uncle. Let's see from there, me, Jerry, and mom moved out to back to Florida and then from Florida to Arizona. We got to Florida. We got to Arizona in 89. I think it was either it. 89 or 90. I would only have been eight or nine.
And that's where... The things just started to get really bad with my stepdad. Because he was an alcoholic. I'm a compulsive gambler. Very abusive to my mom.
He eventually ended up stealing her car. And a bunch of what she owned. And left and took off somewhere. And we end up moving to Mesa with my sister and her husband. I've never really stayed in any place longer than A year? In my entire life.
So, That whole, where do you call home? Home is wherever I go to sleep at.
John Marshall | 16:24
For a kid who... Never spent more than a year in one place. And whose places were so filled with... Broken relationships.
Patrick Geier | 16:36
I wouldn't call them broken. See, that's the part that a lot of people seem to gloss over.
If a woman is getting abused, Yes, that's a bad toxic thing. But there's still a lot of love in the relationship. I saw the way he loved my mom. But when he drank, he became somebody else. And that's the stuff that my mom...
Still loved was the man he was before he got drunk. So it's not a broken relationship, there's just a flaw mentally that people have to... Drown part of themselves or destroy part of themselves. In order to cope with something. I know I went through it a long time.
Yeah.
John Marshall | 17:32
Talk to me about the impact... That your experience... With homelessness has on your story and your sense of place in the world? Because I'm thinking if... If place, if home is already inconsistent or unstable, if there's so much... Instability And relationship around you, maybe not brokenness, but instability, perhaps. At what point does homelessness enter into your story? And I'm just curious if it's like, was that a place? Where you experienced more stability?
Patrick Geier | 18:09
I don't think I'd necessarily call. Homelessness stable?
It's simply because you can't be stable if you're wondering where your next meal is coming from. It's been more consistent than anything else in my life. I think stable would be the wrong word.
But I don't think I'd be able to cope with it. If I hadn't grown up with the things I had grown up with. Because my dad moving us every six months. Going to different states all the time. I've never... I'm not like everybody else. I've never had a place where somebody set down roots and, built something and to honest to God tell you the truth, I don't know if I can do it.
I mean, if I'm in one spot, for too long, I get antsy. Before we left Mesa, We had a house for about two years. It's the longest time I've ever spent in one spot. Every two months, I had to rearrange all the furniture to make it feel new. Or I had to leave. Because I felt stagnant and stale. Couldn't do it. I guess years ago I would have been called a nomad or a vagabond because I just want to be out going somewhere, doing something. Which is one of the reasons why we came to Oregon.
John Marshall | 19:38
Yeah, talk to me about that transition.
Patrick Geier | 19:42
We lived in this house for almost two years. Chantel cleaned it up. It was, her grandmother was a hoarder. Bye. Floor to ceiling, every room, the bathroom had caved in. In one of the bathrooms where it was completely unusable. Her grandmother wouldn't even flush the toilet unless the toilet was completely full because it was a waste of water. That kind of mental disorder thing going on with her grandma. Shantel Mooden. And helped her grandmother and started cleaning the place up. Her grandmother got moved in with her uncle. And we're there by ourselves. I had to redo some of the plumbing. Because, The pipes were just so old and broken that The bathroom leaked.
So I had to replace the diverter valve and rerun some of the copper piping. And then her grandmother ended up passing away on March 12th of 2023. I only know the specific day her grandmother died because her grandmother died on my birthday. We had just signed a new lease, and we do a three-year caretaker lease for the property. After a few months of probate courts.
Something happened. Chantel got basically ripped off. From the house because it was supposed to go to her because she's the one that's been taking care of it fixed it, renovated it, made it to where the city wasn't going to condemn it. But somehow her aunt got it.
And then her aunt said that we had to go. And started this lengthy, drawn-out court battle. Where eventually it went into an eviction court and the judge said, "Look, I'm not going to charge you guys any rent because the lease you have is valid, says you guys aren't supposed to pay rent, just keep everything up.
So I'm not going to charge you the back rent. And basically it said we just had to leave.
So instead of starting over. Around a bunch of people that we have just started developing a real hatred for. We just... Basically picked up a map. And something. It was a toss-up between three different Salem's. Because there's a Salem, Ohio. Salem, Massachusetts. Salem, Oregon.
And then Ashland, Oregon, or Ashfork. North Ashland. Ashland, Oregon, were the four places we were thinking about. And she started calling around and checking resources, found safe parking. And she said, that's where we're going. I said, okay, wherever you want to go, we'll make it happen.
John Marshall | 22:10
And what has been your experience so far in Salem, Oregon?
Patrick Geier | 22:13
Nothing bad so far, which for me, after four months is... Weird. I was pulled over once because I had a temporary plate and the cop told me it didn't look legitimate. But just said I needed to get an actual plate. I said, okay, whatever. This is an actual plate. It's good for a year. And he let me go and That's been pretty much it.
We spend, I spend most of my time at the center just because I like to be able to plug in.
John Marshall | 22:41
That's our safe parking day center.
Patrick Geier | 22:43
Yeah. Yeah. I'd, get up every morning about six, Even though we don't have to leave our spot until 7, I get up at 6. Because on 6.30, I have to be on the road to take her all the way up to Woodburn to drop her off for work. Gotta go back up to Woodburn again at 6 to pick her up when she gets off. 40 miles a day, every day, and most of the other time, waiting for my job at Amazon to come through because they just canceled my shift. They hired too many people. And I wasn't one of the ones whose background checks came back in time.
So now I've got to wait for another shift to come up? And then in January, I'm scheduled to start at Chemeketa. I'm scheduled to start at that community college for their CDL training program. There's been a lot of steps in the right direction up here.
John Marshall | 23:25
Yeah, one of my observations of you and Chantel is that you are very clear on what you want, and you will do the work to get there. Where do you think that drive comes from in the two of you?
Patrick Geier | 23:38
I can't answer for her. But for me, it's I don't want to be like my dad.
John Marshall | 23:42
Tell me how you and Chantel met.
Patrick Geier | 23:44
I asked her for a cigarette at a Circle K.
John Marshall | 23:47
This In Mesa? Yeah.
Patrick Geier | 23:52
Yeah, because I'd given her a cigarette a couple times, and then I'd ask her for one, because I usually have money of some kind, somehow, some way. I always got some money in my pocket. It's because I make sure I need... I have my needs covered so I don't have to rely on other people.
So The one time I asked her, she had forgotten about her house, and we went back to her house, and we just sat and talked for about four hours. And from that point on, we've just been almost inseparable.
John Marshall | 24:18
What has been the impact of that relationship and that inseparability, that goodness? What's the impact on your own story and your own sense of...
Patrick Geier | 24:28
I wouldn't have packed up and was halfway across the country. I would still be living on the couch at my ex-wife's.
John Marshall | 24:36
My assumption is that there is... A threat of healing in a relationship that is as good and stable as yours and Chintel's, is that an accurate assumption?
Patrick Geier | 24:46
I didn't understand. Like, I'm.
John Marshall | 24:48
Wondering if the story of relationship that you come from as a kid is one where you were... So present to partners mistreating each other.
And then I'm in... Now I'm trying to trace the line to the Patrick I know today, which is kind and patient and resilient and conscientious. And I'm. Curious if what you've experienced with Chantel has been a place of Healing and relearning.
Patrick Geier | 25:19
I, Wouldn't say relearning. Because I've never played been like my father.
I don't have it in my soul. To Bee. Hateful all the time to be angry and What I can say is some people talk about soulmates, right?
I'm not going to say soulmate. But If your computer... It breaks. It needs a very specific part to fix it. I believe every human on this planet is broken. And there is someone out there that can help them fix themselves. And that's what Chantel's been for me. She was that missing part of my life. She's added... The only stability. That I've ever truly known. And it's not because it's not stability and homelessness is not stability and anything else. It's just the fact that I know no matter what happens when I wake up in the morning, she will be laying right next to me. And whatever I'm going through, she's going to go through. And whatever she goes through, I deal with it. But it's much easier to overcome something when there's two people working on the same problem than it is just one.
John Marshall | 26:32
Yeah, that's really beautiful, Patrick. I'm really glad. That you two found each other. I'm really glad because I see the fruit of the goodness in the way that you two occupy space and the way that you interact with the world around you. I see people who trust that they're going to be okay, no matter what. And it's a gift from where I sit to just to watch, to observe.
Patrick Geier | 26:54
Because I've moved so much. And never have really been in one place. I kind of just go... Wherever the universe sends me. And she's never had that. She's been stable her entire life. She's lived in exactly two houses in her entire life, and that's it. Her grandmother's house or her mom's house? That's it.
So the whole universe telling me where to go thing, she really didn't buy into it. Until we started our road trip up here.
And then we're driving. And...
Something's going on with the car. Because I had just bought it. We don't know anything about this car. And it just goes, and like dies off on the side of the road. It's like, great, we're... We're stuck. We're stranded. I'm like, no, we're not. We'll be fine. He's like, what do you mean? We'll be fine. I'm like, the universe always provides. It does. And not a minute and a half later. An Arizona Highway Patrolman stops, asks us what we need, picks her up, drives her 8 miles into town, buys her 2 gallons of gas, drives her back so we can put it into the car...
So that we could get to a gas station and put more gas in the vehicle. We weren't parked on a side road for more than a minute and a half, ten minutes. We had lost a debit card. On our trip up here. And we... Had pulled in to a gas station and we had tried to buy some stuff. And we couldn't find a debit card. And it was only like three or four dollars worth of stuff. It's just, you know, little snacks to help us for the next leg of our journey. And because we couldn't find the card, The cashier's like, yeah, just go ahead. It's all right. I'll take care of it. And just send us on our way. There's not that many places that you can park a car to sleep at night. On the way up here. But somehow every night we'd manage to find a gas station where the gas station is like, yeah, just go ahead and park your vehicle. Just be out of here by six before a manager shows up. All right. Thank you. And even before that, I mean, what are the odds that she would have looked at any place on a nap. And picked one of the places that has a program that would actually be able to help us like safe parking. Odds are almost infinitesimal. You can call it God, you can call it the universe, Whatever, there's always been an angel watching over me.
John Marshall | 29:08
Well, speaking of the universe taking you places and providing, one of the places that it took you recently was in front of the Salem City Council as they were considering providing more dollars for the next year to support our program. Tell me about that experience. What was it like to stand there? And what was your testimony?
Patrick Geier | 29:26
You basically already heard the testimony while we were talking, because it was the same thing I told them about how we went through a lengthy court battle. We had to pack up everything and move, almost on a moment's notice.
I mean, we had like four days. To figure everything out. And if it wasn't for the safe parking program, we have no place to park. We would have gotten tickets or gotten arrested for vagrancy. Or my car would be dead on the side of the street because it's a miracle that even made it up this far. Because there were large chunks missing out of that engine piece that the mechanic fixed for us.
I mean, it should have popped off, you know. Before we came up here. But yeah, no, I just explained the story to him and told him that if it wasn't for the safe parking program that Chantel wouldn't be working at Amazon. I wouldn't be getting ready to go into my CDL program in January. I wouldn't be waiting on my Amazon job because we'd be too worried about finding a place to park, a place to sleep, a place to shower, food to eat. Yes, she gets a little bit of Social Security, But because of her job, it got cut back a lot.
So now if we don't keep making that, 20 mile trip to wood burning back every day or in a very bad situation.
John Marshall | 30:34
The reality is... That the Salem City Council said yes to continuing to fund safe parking for another year. I have to believe that That's... In no small part because of your testimony and your courage to stand in front of that group and to share your.
Patrick Geier | 30:50
Story. And I wasn't even supposed to speak. It wasn't me that was supposed to do that. It was supposed to be Chantel. But her mental issues prevented her from standing up in front of such a large group.
So I stood up and took her spot. Something told me to do it. The universe pushed me in a direction again.
John Marshall | 31:07
And I'm really glad that the universe did. And now my hope is that this is another moment where you get to share with the world. Your experience and your wisdom and the value of safe parking in programs like this.
So let's say someone walks up to you on the side, on the sidewalk or a side of the road. And hypothetically, the conversation turns to Social service programs like this that are helping folks living in their vehicles or just in places of need. Where do you start to explain that? The goodness and the value of a community. Supporting and funding programs like.
Patrick Geier | 31:40
Ours. Well, let me tell you from experience, because I'm staying at a church right now over in, I don't know what part of Salem that's considered if it's Capitol Park.
John Marshall | 31:49
Capitol Park, Wesleyan. Yeah, that's kind of south central.
Patrick Geier | 31:53
But we have random cars that come up and park. And try to hang out and... They see us do it.
So after I see them the second time, I pull them off to the side. I explain to them what safe parking is, what it can do for you, the other services Church of the Park has. Because the VOH, that's the tiny homes, that's a great program. Safe sleep, the food boxes and the food pantries that are provided not just through Church at the Park, but through other various organizations that We've actually gone to And I share all this information with anybody that comes to our church parking lot because... We don't all have to struggle. Why not take advice from someone who's already been through it? And I think that's the biggest thing I take from this is everything's a learning experience and anything I can do to help somebody else, I'm going to do it.
John Marshall | 32:40
Let's say someone who has money to give still isn't convinced that our programs are worth giving money to and supporting. Or let's just say that there's a human who doesn't think that. People who are living in their vehicles or living outside are worth time and compassion. Where do you start to... Maybe confront some of the misconceptions about what it means to be someone without a.
Patrick Geier | 33:04
Home. Well, I think the biggest misconception that a lot of people have is that if you're homeless, you're a drug addict. Not all of us are. I'm not going to lie.
Like I told you, I'm unapologetically honest about everything. I was a heroin addict for 15 years. I was a functioning addict. I woke up in the morning and I would take a big blast of PCP. Angel dust whatever you want to call at the time When I was growing up, it was angel dust. That's what we were using. And I'd go to work. I'd come home and I'd smoke some tar, lay down, go to sleep. And this was every day for almost 15 years. And I functioned like that, either work or when I was going out doing anything. I had to have these things. But I have now been clean and sober about 19 years with no wants to go back. All it takes is a little compassion, a little help, and a push in the right direction. Because like with me, I couldn't quit for myself. I've already admitted to everyone, you know, I hate myself. And that's because I've known me for 44 years. I know the things I've done and some things I just can't get over.
So when my daughter was born, I made the promise to myself that I would never let her see me like that. I quit cold turkey, everything. I quit drinking, quit smoking weed, heroin, PCP, all of it, the same day, same night, 9.31 p.m., July 21st, 2008. Just over 17 years.
John Marshall | 34:26
Yeah, by a few days.
Patrick Geier | 34:28
Because that was the day my daughter was born. I was the first person in the world to hold that little girl, the nurse. Didn't even pick her up, just kind of wiped her off and rolled her around, wiped her off and put on a swaddling cloth and handed her straight to me. I haven't been able to be in my daughter's life as much as I want to. 'cause she's still in Arizona now.
But nothing has been able to separate that bond that we've had. We still talk to each other on a daily basis. It's still... I love yous and not you abandoned me's. She is my biggest fan and my biggest supporter. And she really likes Chantel, which is a great positive in my book.
John Marshall | 35:08
What are some of your favorite things about your daughter?
Patrick Geier | 35:10
She has my looks and she has my attitude and her mom's looks. That's probably the best thing because I'm ugly.
But, no, she's... Extremely intelligent, she's never going to hear this because she's not gonna go look it up. But I She just graduated high school at 17 and is already enrolled in LPN classes at Mesa Community College. She's extremely intelligent. And probably one of the hardest working people I've ever seen in my life. I don't know where she got that from though.
So it wasn't me. The being smart learning thing, yeah, I can take a little credit for that because I graduated at 14, had my first degree at 16 before my life went completely to hell. And thinking about it, I never thought about it before until just right now. If I hadn't moved around as much, I probably wouldn't have graduated at 14. Because when you move to a new state, they do a placement test to figure out where you're supposed to go.
So every time I moved, they end up bumping me up a grade. Because... I do really well on my placement tests.
So I end up skipping like four grades total.
John Marshall | 36:12
I wonder if your daughter's life is a place where you find hope.
Patrick Geier | 36:16
Never thought about it that way. I know she'll have a better life than I did. She's lived in the same house now for 13 years, she lives with my mom. Because through a lot of what has been going on with me, I have, again, been homeless unable to take care of certain things. My mom is much more stable than I am. She owns her own home.
So my mom said she would take care of her. And I just go over and see her as much as I could. And now I call her like every other day. And again, if it wasn't for safe parking, I don't know how often I'd be able to call her. Or if I had the money in my pocket to be able to pay for my phone bill, to be able to call her. To pay for my internet.
So that I can jump online and we can play some games together on my Xbox, which is one of the main reasons why I have my Xbox is so that me and my daughter can jump in on the Xbox together and play a couple games of Fortnite or... Something. It's just a way for us to connect again. But yeah, like I started this conversation, We're not all drug addicts.
Some of us do want to move forward and Just we don't need a handout. We just need a hand up and a lot of people that don't know the difference. But, no, I mean, it's not that... We need something given to us. We just need, you know, steps in the right directions to get it done ourselves.
Like. You guys help repair my car. And now my car takes my wife to work every day. We're at a point where I need to fix my car, it's going to cost $200. Did I need to come back and ask... Safe parking to help with that. No, I scheduled my appointment. I'm paying for myself out of my pocket because it's my responsibility. I was put into a position where I could do that. And There are other people. That need that same help that aren't in the program because There's too long of a waiting list because we've got too many people trying to get in the program. I know of two that have been on the waiting list for... Six months to a year.
John Marshall | 38:15
Well, I'm really grateful for your wisdom and for your has only been good for me to sit and to listen, and I'm encouraged by who you are in the world and who you want to be in the world.
Patrick Geier | 38:18
Willingness. Yeah, it's the first time for everything. Most people don't like when I talk too much. This.
John Marshall | 38:30
You're a person who doesn't let your circumstances define your identity.
Patrick Geier | 38:34
No, that's because when I was, I told you I was seven when I met Blue. He was my babysitter back in Lubbock. The one thing he'd drove into my mind was a very simple mantra. You let your perception shape your reality. Don't let your reality shape your perception. And as long as you think it's going to get better, it will eventually get better. Might not get better exactly how you want it to. But it will get better in some way.
John Marshall | 39:00
And my hope is that just by virtue of who you are and your willingness to share your own story, that maybe... Not just others' perceptions, but others' realities actually start to get better, too. Because I think that what you've done today is dispel.
Some really common myths about what it means. To live outside of a... Borwald House. And to be someone who lives in their vehicle and to be experiencing homelessness.
So I'm grateful and I'm encouraged by who you are. Before we end our interview, we end every conversation with our guests in the same way with 10 rapid fire questions that are some of them are silly.
Some of them are a little bit more meaningful, but they're just intended to get to know your own humanity a little bit more fully. Are you willing to go through these 10 questions? Sure. Okay. Okay.
Well, Patrick, question number one is, what is the best banana split from dq i like that okay question two a genie grants you one wish what do you wish for That you never found the It's very fair.
Patrick Geier | 40:00
Dessert? God, there's so many. Bananas, plant, DQ.
That I never found the lamp. Lamp?
Yeah, because I've seen all the movies. Genies always screw up your wishes.
John Marshall | 40:19
They do tend to turn your words on you a little bit. Okay, would you rather go back in time and meet your ancestors or travel to the future and meet your descendants?
Patrick Geier | 40:29
Travel to the future. Life. Because then I couldn't screw nothing up. If I travel to the past, I might say something that stops me from existing.
John Marshall | 40:38
It's very fair. Cats or dogs?
Patrick Geier | 40:40
All dogs. 100%.
John Marshall | 40:42
Apples or oranges?
Patrick Geier | 40:43
Oranges, I have no teeth.
John Marshall | 40:46
Favorite smell. Etiquor. That's the smell of rain on the cement or.
Patrick Geier | 40:52
Asphalt? No, just the smell of rain before. Just the smell of rain?
Yeah, before it rains. Okay. That smell, because you can smell it when it's about to start raining, that's pedicure.
John Marshall | 41:02
What is one thing you would add to Salem to make it better?
Patrick Geier | 41:06
On a water park.
John Marshall | 41:08
Okay. Question eight. What piece of advice has helped you the most?
Patrick Geier | 41:11
Let your perception shape your reality. You don't let your reality shape your perception.
John Marshall | 41:16
What is your favorite thing about yourself?
Patrick Geier | 41:19
Heterochroma. For those that don't know what it is, it's the mutation in your eyes that give you two different color eyes.
John Marshall | 41:26
Finally, what is your biggest hope for your future?
Patrick Geier | 41:30
That me and my wife get back into a house. I hate to use the term, I really do, just because of my past, but... People call them forever homes. It's somewhere that's ours that we don't ever have to worry about losing.
John Marshall | 41:42
I hope that for you too. Well, Patrick, thank you again for being on the podcast. Thanks for sharing your story. I'm so grateful that you exist in the world. That you are who you are. That you allow the wisdom of your life. To make the world better.
Patrick Geier | 42:01
I don't know if this is okay or not But if anybody does want to reach out to me, You have my information. They can contact you and they know how to get a hold of your podcast. And you can put them in contact with me. I can answer any questions or... Move anything further along.
John Marshall | 42:18
Or it's a really generous offer to those listening to stay in relationship with you And if you are listening... Take Patrick up on it. He's a really good human who's worth I appreciate that.
Patrick Geier | 42:29
Knowing. Yeah, I will definitely talk to you about anything about my experiences or answer any questions that they have.
John Marshall | 42:37
So, for those of you listening, thank you for joining us on this episode of Humanity of Homelessness. Thanks again to Patrick for his vulnerability and courage to share his story. We hope his life serves as testimony to the rest of us that there is always good news to celebrate in hard places and that all of our neighbors are worth our time and attention. If you'd like to remain connected with us at Church of the Park or know how to connect with Patrick, please visit our website at churchatthepark.org. There you can find opportunities to volunteer, subscribe to our newsletter and weekly liturgy reflections, and stay in the know about our current and future projects. We have an online portal for financial giving. If you have questions for us or want to connect for a cup of coffee, we have lots of team members who would love to pay for your cup. Email us at info@churchatthepark.org. Again, that's info. I-N-F-Y. At churchatthepark.org. Thanks, y'all. Until next time.