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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
AAK_Ep36
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[00:00:00]
Small Town Holiday Traditions
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Sydney Collins: So, are you ready for the most small town?
Gus Applequist: Always
Sydney Collins: event? Okay, so, about, I don't know, month ago, month and a half ago, um, Madeline, who's in preschool, she just turned five. They were like, Hey, there's, um, we got asked to sing in the, what is it? What is it officially called the Carol Along. And I was like, I have no idea what that is.
Gus Applequist: It's like a sing-along or, or crisp. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: I've lived in McPherson for five years-ish now, and I've never heard of this thing.
Community Choirs and Performances
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Sydney Collins: So here's what it is. It is the 46th annual community, Carol along. A heartwarming holiday tradition at the Opera House, enjoying evening of festive performances from St.
Joseph Preschool Choir, the kids' campus choir, which is Madeline's class, [00:01:00] also preschool choir. The fact that they're calling it a choir is even more funny because it's just a bunch of preschoolers, hopefully getting the words right.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Jubilee, or I think that's how this pronounced. It's JU capital BELL.
So Ju Be, or Jubilee.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm. I have no idea who they are. Mm-hmm. Calvary Echoes, which just sounds Oh yeah. I like a bunch of really fabulous older men. I picture with really cool hats and beards for some reason.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: And then the central Kansas barbershop.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Is that Uhm Michael's group? That's what I wanted to know.
I think it is. Yeah. So I think it's of the Pie Michael's group,
Sydney Collins: um, friend of the podcast. So
Gus Applequist: fact check, imminent fact check. We'll,
Sydney Collins: we'll check it, but it says Raise your voice for Carol's between each act. So sip refreshments, nimble cookies, and say hello to Santa. So I'm [00:02:00] assuming that we'll have performances and then you're caroling in between each performance, which is interesting.
And then you quiet down for the performance. And then you, Carol.
Small Town Traditions and Expectations
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Sydney Collins: So my question is, is how many of these songs are gonna be like, does each, I don't know, choir or set, have to put in their songs so there's no overlapping songs?
Gus Applequist: I'm guessing that is probably not No. My concern, you may, you may have a couple duplicates and that's okay
Sydney Collins: that there's gonna be duplicates, but I felt like that is the most, we're gonna expect
Gus Applequist: a full report from you,
Sydney Collins: small town thing.
Yeah. And I'm really excited about it. So yes, I will give a
full report.
[00:03:00]
Welcome to Ask a Kansan Podcast
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Sydney Collins: Welcome to Ask
Gus Applequist: a Kansan,
Sydney Collins: a
podcast where we're uncovering, amplifying and connecting Kansas.
Gus Applequist: And today we've got a, uh, a little bit of a, of a, i, I'll just say a darker episode,
Sydney Collins: but in a light. So kind of one of the things that we've come across in. Yes, it's great to tell all the really positive stories throughout Kansas.
Mm-hmm. But reality needs a set in at some point. Mm-hmm. And one of those realities is foster care. So, um, we don't wanna give everything away, but if you have any triggers of either foster care or human trafficking or
Gus Applequist: suicide is also mentioned, suicide,
Sydney Collins: mental health. Mm-hmm. We are gonna talk about some of those topics today and give examples.
Um, so
Gus Applequist: if that is triggering may not be the episode for you. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm. Um, but [00:04:00] with that, it is a really inspiring episode, especially that we're in the holiday season. It's giving, it's being aware, being aware of what gratefulness is, and. Kind of taking those elements and kind of doing some self-realization.
Yeah. Um, so without any further ado, um, here is, um, our guest, Mitch
Introducing Mitch Dries
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Sydney Collins: Dries.
Mitch Drees: Thank you again for having me. Yeah. Thanks for coming. Mitch, you and I know each other. Yep. You've known me since I was very small. Yep. But Mitch, meet Gus. Gus, Mitch. Hi. Nice you, nice to meet you finally. Um, so for our audience, can you intro, introduce yourself for us?
Mitch's Background and Family
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Mitch Drees: My name is Mitch Dres. Um, I've been in this area, the Salina area for the predominantly most of my life.
You know, with college and some jobs that take, took you outta state a little bit, but came back to Kansas. Um, I kind of look at it like, took 20 years of growing [00:05:00] up in the area with parents and things like that out in the country a little bit, and then disappeared for about 20 years, going, traveling and, uh, work predominantly.
And then got to come back and got to buy some land and live out in the country and enjoy it quite a bit. Three children. it's starting to age me. Date me a little bit. I forgot. How old are you?
Sydney Collins: Um, I'm 33.
Mitch Drees: 33.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: So my oldest, Emma, is just turned 29. Mm-hmm. And has a little boy and, uh, married, lives in the area.
middle son Riley, 28. I think they were 13 months apart.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Oh wow. Yeah, that was, felt like twins there for a while. But, uh, getting a masters, WSU and the third one, Keenan, uh, 23 finishing up at K State. So that puts some age on me right there.
Sydney Collins: can [00:06:00] you tell us a little bit about Ember Hope?
Ember Hope: Past, Present, and Future
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Sydney Collins: Give us a little kind of the who, what, where
Mitch Drees: Ember Hope is going to be. Kind of, A lot of times when I speak to different groups, um, a theme that I have is kind of the past, the present, and the future. Mm-hmm. Of Ber Hope. Obviously it's a nonprofit and it serves children and families. That's the broad scope.
The past we're gonna celebrate a hundred years here in 27, obviously came into existence due to the orphan train. So children coming from the eastern part of the United States, many times by the thousands to the Midwestern part of the United States. there was a need. There was, uh, I could see there was a need for an orphanage.
Uh, board of directors was established. Um, a site was selected. City of Newton donated. This gets a little iffy, roughly around, I've heard up to 300 acres. orphanage was built. [00:07:00] We still operate on that same land. Oh, wow. In Newton. Not 300 acres anymore. About 30. Yeah. But, um, the, uh, the actual orphanage that was built is we are still utilizing it as offices, so it's been very well preserved and maintained.
but overall, right now, that's the past that brought us up to where we're at today, serving children. And I kinda like to label three buckets, foster care. we use a lot of acronyms, obviously. Uh, P-R-T-F-A Psychiatric residential Treatment Program, and those would be children in Newton. It's just girls and I can go into more depth, but right now just girls in Newton.
And then the third bucket currently, um, it's kind of, um, it's called functional family therapy, but it's where we go out to almost half of the state of Kansas. And, [00:08:00] um, we work in the homes many child, many times before the child is court ordered by a judge removing the home. So it's a progressive, um, type of, uh, service that we're providing with great results.
But those are currently the, um, the three types of buckets we're serving. The future. It's, um, there's a lot on the plate right now for Ber Hope. everything from, we're just now breaking ground for what we call Hope Estates, uh, for children aging out of foster care for very, very, very low cost to live.
That has a deeper, richer story. I can go into a little bit more. also looking at, um, probably in the next three, four more years, what is called a foster care community. So at the back of the property in Newton, they are looking at developing building homes, maybe duplexes or individual homes to, [00:09:00] you could, uh, a couple could live there.
And raise foster children.
Sydney Collins: Oh wow.
Mitch Drees: So at our expense, you will be given a, this, uh, place to live. We will still provide clinical services and then we, it's mainly meant for if there was a child or two or three or siblings. We wanna keep those siblings together so they would foster those children. So that's kind of the future with probably more, uh, mental health work.
And we have two campuses right now, actually Newton and we have one in Goddard.
Sydney Collins: Oh, wow. Okay.
Mitch Drees: So that's a fast version of past, present, future Ember Hope.
Sydney Collins: And how did you come to find Ember Hope?
Mitch Drees: Uh, well they found me, but they found me because of previous nonprofit, uh, children's work that I had been doing.
Mm-hmm. I have the luxury, some of your staff I've worked with in the past and, um, uh, that particular [00:10:00] organization, um, ran into some issues and some concerns and, um, had to kind of resize and regroup. Um, I came from corporate America and, uh, when that organization ran into some issues, I went back to corporate world, uh, then Ember Hope came.
Mm-hmm. And said, uh, we would really like you to come and help, um, work with us. And I was like, ah, I don't know. You know, it, um, the nonprofit world is, it is hard work, um, but it's very rewarding work. But yes. Um, was working for an organization outta Kansas City and. decided to go back and, uh, it's a good move, good feeling.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Good decision.
Sydney Collins: And what's your role with Ember Hope?
Mitch Drees: Right now I'm the Vice President of the foundation.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Mitch Drees: So Ember Hope's Foundation,
[00:11:00]
Sydney Collins: You spent a lot of time in, you said corporate America. You've also dabbled in both nonprofit. What's kind of the biggest difference that you've seen?
Or maybe not necessarily a difference, but what is something you've been able to take from corporate America and bring to the nonprofit world?
Mitch Drees: So I worked for, for many years, uh, a very UPS
Sydney Collins: mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Beautiful company. you know, miss 'em in a lot of ways and, um, you know, very good to me.
I tell a story that when I worked for UPS, they have, you know, like 400,000 employees across the world. They have a beautiful, uh, benefits plan and health and things of that nature. And they had, um, in their benefits plan, they had a, um, a you could take a year off [00:12:00] if needed, you know, and I always joke a little bit and I'm like, I wanna figure that out, you know?
Mm-hmm. And still have my job and things of that nature. But, you know, as the years went on, you know, you renew insurance and things like that, and that particular part always was interesting to me and they said, well, that's a mental health leave. Okay. So I was like, oh. So as you know, pressures of jobs and life and things like that can really wear and weigh heavy on people and, and, uh, but I was like, mental health.
Mental health. And so being old enough, um, I was like, well, it's, it's two different things. It's mental and it's, it's health. And if it's health, then you go get a bandaid or you go get it, uh, go to the hospital or in mental from the old school. Some of 'em, grandparents have fix it, figure it out.
Mental Health and Foster Care Challenges
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Mitch Drees: [00:13:00] So what I took the, what I learned and what I grabbed from that was that then I end up working for children and their families at Ember Hope and the mental health side of things is so, it is, it was such an eye-opener to me.
Okay. And Ember Hope, there's a lot of conversations, a lot of topics about the amount of foster care work we do. Mm-hmm. But my heart, sometimes it's the, it's the mental health work we do. So then I looked at mental health today versus the way. My mind thought of it back in nothing against UPS. It was just a different personality way I was raised and how they kind of just had it in the paperwork.
Mental health. Today it is in the, the, some of the things that I see some of our children that are, uh, working through and trying and needing help to [00:14:00] work through the mental health side. It was a wake up to me. It was. So I took from just corporate America, you have a mental health leave act and you could take and go to today.
I am like, I get it. I get the seriousness, especially in how youth and I look at my youth and, you know, like I carry around this, you know, this computer all the time. I didn't have that back in that day, so I didn't have that type of pressure. So I see the weight on the mental health side of things in children day, so that I took from what corporate gave, but now I see it firsthand in the nonprofit world of children services.
Gus Applequist: you know, in what percentage of the, of the different cases or families or kids mm-hmm. Uh, is mental health an issue?
Mitch Drees: so the colors bleed through each other a little bit. Mm-hmm. So let's, statistically Ember Hope is, [00:15:00] um, serving, let's say roughly about 2000 foster care children.
But on the mental health side, we could, at any given time, be serving on the. Several, the two different campuses, you know, 50, 60, 70 children just for mental health, just in, that's such a broad phrase, but foster care flows through that. a child and that's, their parents are just struggling. We don't know what to really do.
We need extra help that child flows through. Uh, there are then children that are, you know, more at a very severe level, already been removed from, it's not a foster care area. It's almost institutional flow through. So we have different levels of mental health work we do, but, um. It just, the colors flow through a little bit.
So there isn't just this child or this child or this child, Newton [00:16:00] as an example. We serve just girls there. You know, if, if we have 30 some young ladies, anywhere from eight to 18 at that given time, there, we have a couple, we call 'em cottages, you know. but one cottage might be, is labeled again, there's more acronyms than you need, a little more severe than the other one.
we give tours very transparent, but within the work we're doing, those girls there, um, any given time, statistics, just, I love statistics. On average, about 40 to 46% at any given time of those girls at that given time have been through human trafficking.
Sydney Collins: Hmm.
Mitch Drees: So. The mental health work, just human trafficking is an issue.
Mm-hmm. that's a, a lecture in itself. Uh, but then just violence [00:17:00] and it can be violence on themselves, adults, animals, uh, sexual violence, you know. And so the trying to get in there, 'cause when a child comes to us, um, you can imagine their body posture. Mm-hmm. They're chest tight. They're not gonna let, um, it's an adult that typically got 'em in the situation.
It's an adult that has removed them from the home. It is now an adult that's responsible for 'em. So they're adults are something they're just not going to. So now we are wanting to try to figure out how to help. We don't, we don't always know how clinically to, uh, start helping that. I will say on the mental health side, one of the things we do that, it just is fascinating.
Me again, was an eye eye opener coming from [00:18:00] corporate America. Very structured. I provide a service for your service. Very, you know, quid pro quo per se. Now they're on the campuses. We do a, we have a school, we'll have a school in Newton, ran by the Newton school district. Newton Principal Newton teachers.
one of the classes is, um, art class. Okay. Child. I mean, going to art, you don't have to do anything if you don't want, but you're gonna structure, you're gonna go to art class. Over time, you start to see it. It can come out in art.
Gus Applequist: Hmm.
Mitch Drees: It can come out in a design of something and you know, it could be in clay or paint.
It could be in so many different things they're doing. The, the thing that's fascinating is, so you have an art teacher.
Sydney Collins: Hmm.
Mitch Drees: It's got a degree to teach art also has a dual degree [00:19:00] in sight.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: So in studying the art, and I'll give you examples, um, I've seen, seen them, child built a replica of their home.
It is, it's, if I can just show you, it is about this big and about that tall. Cut the roof off. You look down at mm-hmm. Beautifully done. Furniture, everything in this part, I still see it in this part of the house was the bedroom where that child was at. That child was trying to commit suicide across the house in another bedroom.
Was the brother doing drugs? There was a living room, there was people in it and there was a back bedroom. And the mother,
the people, prostitution, so they have suicide, they have drugs, and they have prostitution in one home in Kansas. [00:20:00] So there's where our class, you see it and now they're like, we kind of now know where to start with that particular child. So the, the mental health side just has, you know, I do not work directly with children.
I'm not clinically, I'm not, those are not the talents that, um, I was put there for. But, uh, the, the story shared in some of the meetings I am in. Um, will just, um, just boggles me in in my simple life. I feel like, you know, um, I'll ask people sometimes in groups, you know, all ask 'em in the very beginning what cards were you dealt at birth, okay.
Where you dealt good cards, where you dealt bad cards. And I, I felt like I was dealt good cards. I still have, uh, my mother's alive. A [00:21:00] beautiful lady love her to death. I got two okay, brothers. But, you know, other than that, uh, a father that had some alcohol issues and um, uh, early in life is disruptive. But beyond that, uh, I was dealt very good cards.
Just up until a few months ago, there was a young girl. Early teens, uh, they could stay in our mental health program anywhere from, um, six months to two years. But this young lady, um, was put into human trafficking at birth. So in that meeting, you know, I remember that and I was like, uh, I want to hit the stop button.
And I said, well, just, can we just pause for a minute? I, I'm struggling with a couple things here. I'm struggling with the, the attraction [00:22:00] to that. But that being said, but how did the child, you know, at an infancy get away from the mother? You know, how does that happen? What was the grandmother that puts the child into human trafficking as a revenue source?
Because she had put her daughter in it for a revenue source. So it, it just. The dog just keeps chasing it down. Mm-hmm. And it's those things that I say, you know, why was I dealt such good cards and this child not even born yet then is born and goes into this type of, um, and then we work to how do we rewire, how do we even get that too?
That is not normal. These, these are what is more normal. You know? And that's, that's hard work. But she'd done very well, done very well and enough to advance and move on, obviously. And not that [00:23:00] care. She was previously it. Mm-hmm. Again, a child from Kansas.
Sydney Collins: Do you feel like you have a different relationship with your kids after taking this child?
Mitch Drees: Eh, well, it, uh, yes. Yes. like any kids, um. They need Nikes, they want that new iPhone. I don't know what, what it would be at that time. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, I will tell you that when I, I was approached by a very good friend and he said, please come do this work. And I'm like, no, no, no. I know this world, you know, I know corporate.
Um, I don't get that. I don't understand, you know, over about six months. They just, she work on you and I'm so glad I did it. And then when I did it, that's when I then, um, I remember first going to one kid was at one college, one was at another college and one was at home. But I [00:24:00] went to him individually and I said, Hey, your dad's gonna kinda step outside of his comfort zone here a little bit and I'm gonna do this.
And they said, two different kids, two different colleges, two different towns, uh, said. Maybe now you'll finally be happy in your career. And I didn't realize that. I mean, I thought I was very happy, you know, but what was their observation of dad working, working, working. And then, but I remember sitting him down and going, I don't ever want to hear you whine again about I need this, or I need that.
I'll take you to work and I'll show you how thankful you should be. So yes, I've had that conversation. They didn't buy into it at first, but it, but as most kids, yeah. Mm-hmm. They still need some funding. But, um, but I took them, [00:25:00] I took 'em eventually individually, and they've at a distance have been able to see, and I think it's impacted them, but they don't give dad much credit, so we'll never know.
Down the road maybe. Mm-hmm. But I did have a, uh, one of my children helped me. We talk about art again. We try to allow a child to express themselves is we give 'em a, a blank shoe, a to be a tennis shoe, a boot blank canvas. Okay. And it's called Walk a Mile. So you get it, walk a mile in their shoes and they can decorate it, design it any way they want.
Then we do a storyboard that goes with it. So I've taken these shoes and I ca I uh, I call it the walk a Mile tour, and we take it across the state of Kansas and display it. But these and my children help me at these events. And, uh, they read these shoes and they read these [00:26:00] storyboards behind them. They are just powerful stories. You'll see pill bottles, you'll see, uh, graves, you know, they design 'em. They're incredible what they do. Graves, uh, one shoe that just, or, um, drugs paraphernalia on it. one shoe that just stays in my mind. It was a, a tennis shoe, but they painted all black. And then around the sole red, no, around the sole.
They wrote Red Die, die, die, die, die. And then at another part on the higher part of the high top tennis shoe basketball shoe, it's, it was in white. And it said, grandmother, you saw what they did to me, but you chose to do nothing. I mean, and so there was another way where we use art to allow them to, and then they tell their story.
I was put into foster care at age five. One particular one is a young girl. [00:27:00] I think she was three, three or so, and, uh, or four, I don't know. But her and her mother went to the grocery store and her mother just left her. And it was 'cause the mother, who for whatever reason could not, it just, this is where I'm leaving you, and the, the authorities will come left her 3-year-old child there.
So you, you read these incredible stories and, um, so it just, you know, it, when I sit back and, you know, I think, or I go home to, you know, a nice house and a dog and a this and a that. Um, not so good on other parts of where I work.
Gus Applequist: You, you all confront such darkness in the work that you do. I, I imagine there's a lot of symbolism behind your name.
Would you mind sharing that?
Mitch Drees: Yeah, it, you know, we. For years, for a hundred years we were Youthville. But you know, that ember, that [00:28:00] spark, that hope, you know, that ember of hope, uh, anytime you do a name change it, it's rough. We've done that a few years back. But, uh, you know, all the, the work we're doing, I, I look at, right now, Abra Hope is approximately about 500 staff.
Sydney Collins: Wow. Wow. Yeah.
Mitch Drees: And, but in that staff, the different people, they range there is gotta be 20 some of 'em that have got just right at 30 years of work. You, I mean, and it's, it's a, it's just an amazing thing. Some of these people, they just don't leave it. Now. Some leave and they, the ones that are what I call really frontline and so I am not frontline, but those that are frontline.
Uh, it's taxing. It's wearing some, you know, and those, you know, you know, the cottages, um, they're, they're 24 7 medical and [00:29:00] clinical. Oh,
Sydney Collins: wow.
Mitch Drees: Uh, so these people, sometimes they'll take a break. They don't know they're taking a break. They're like, I, I can't, it's just been too much. And they'll leave and they go to work at a bank, they go wherever.
And about a year or two into it that, that, it just is like, what am I doing? You know, that is hard work, but I am not getting, I'm not feeding whatever I need fed. They come back and they stay. I was on a, um, uh, a zoom call meeting with a, a variety of clinical staff and this and that and, you know, you see all their faces.
Right. And I was looking at the one, I know her great lady. Been there a long time working with the girls and um, just. Eye was just black. Just black.
A Tough Job: The Challenges of Working in Foster Care
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Mitch Drees: And you know, you're wondering, you don't want to ask that, you know, you can't ask that, you know it, but you're just, what happened? It was [00:30:00] bad. One of the other workers before the meeting started said, you know, how's your eye?
And she said, oh, I went to the doctor, said everything's gonna be better and this and that. A girl hit her, you know, didn't wanna follow the rules or something of that nature. I don't know. But, um, you know, it's just, that's just tough work. That's hard work. Mm-hmm. Like a lot of things like law enforcement, you know, or, um, the civil services that people fire and everything that probably don't, aren't paid near what they probably do.
And I think a lot of the staff at it's, it's just that industry.
Innovations in Foster Care Facilities
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Mitch Drees: But, you know, I look at those cottages and they're just, you know, they're nice having upstairs and they have, they're each have their own room and stuff. I love telling stuff like this that, um, so they have bed checks every 15 minutes. I think it's mm-hmm.
So back prior, you know, how do you do that? You go [00:31:00] and you open a door and you peek in. So you think of some of these young, say the girls, 'cause we serve young men too. triggers
Sydney Collins: mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Trigger of that door opening that creek. It could just cause issues that e you know, we have these doors that we've had put in and, um, now the door, it can be changed and it can go either way, you know?
Mm-hmm. Because sometimes child will barricade themselves in
Sydney Collins: mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Oh, that's fine. And we're just gonna reverse it. It isn't gonna matter, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, but also then. There's louvers, so there's, and a key and there's just no more opening a door. You can just look at the louver, check on 'em, they're sleeping, go on.
Mm-hmm. Just little things like that amaze me on the mental health side.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Foster care side, [00:32:00] that is just a, a beast.
The Role of Ember Hope in Foster Care
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Mitch Drees: And, um, it is, uh, something that Aber hope was very large in for years and then downsized in, and the state said, we need you to come back. And, uh, Aber hope at first was, you know, and I agree with this.
When you're good at something, you know, be good at it, you know, be really good at that. But I was, um, gonna speak at a church one day and the, uh, pastor of that church did a prayer prior. That prayer is what changed my mind. He said, you know, are you, are you, um, stretching? Are you reaching? Are you, are you going outside your realm?
Ember hope wasn't. They needed to stretch. They were in a nice cocoon doing a very good job, but they took on more. And that's [00:33:00] where we're now at 2000, some foster care children.
The Growing Need for Foster Care Services
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Mitch Drees: But that animal, just Sedgwick County alone averages, just averages again, two children per day that are court ordered, removed from a home by a judge,
Sydney Collins: two per day.
Mitch Drees: And that's on the low right now. It's been about three and a half per day over the last three, four months. Yep.
Sydney Collins: Where do all these kids go?
Mitch Drees: To us. To Ember Hope.
Supporting Children Through Difficult Transitions
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Mitch Drees: And then there's where we have facilities that, so when a child is removed from a home, the standard mo, you know, they are given a black glad trash bag, uh, gather your belongings.
Uh, we have to go. And then they come to us with, that's, you know, what, whatever they put in it, pictures, clothing or whatever. So we do different things where, um, [00:34:00] you know, throughout the year, but they get a suitcase or they get a, you know A semblance of dignity. And so the get rid of the black Glad trash bag.
And so they have that, but there's, they're gonna be, we have facilities, so they're not, in the past, you may have read and different situations, children are sleeping on couches and this and that, and whatever. So we have stepped up with a second campus in making sure a child has his bed, has hygiene products, has food, has all that.
Then you move that child into the stages of very short term and then maybe long term, or in the best world, well, I was gonna say adoption, but the norm is to get 'em back in with blood. Mm-hmm. And so it could be that, but that's where Ember Hope comes into and works within the family. So there's, there's just so [00:35:00] many, uh, pockets of groups of individuals at Ember Hope, uh, working in the home and working with the child clinically and working in the court system.
And, uh, the Mach, it's a machine. It's a hard machine.
Gus Applequist: I know you said you had 500 staff and I've, I know there's other organizations of similar stature in the state doing similar work. is, is the need being met or is there, you know, are you guys operating beyond your capacity or
Mitch Drees: you could look at that to answer that.
What are your options? You know, you, if you are operating outside your capacity, you've gotta keep moving.
Addressing Systemic Issues in Foster Care
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Mitch Drees: but then I think the state, a few years back, I think about three to four years ago, uh, the state of Kansas was ranked very, very low in quality of performance and care and foster care. Very, very low.
not a good report [00:36:00] card or Kansas overall. And so I think that's when the state. Started coming and saying, you need to step up and, and, and rightfully so. We did, uh, from what we we're, like, any job you have performance basis, you have to meet. And those have been increased and rightfully again, so, and Ebra Hope is doing a very, very good job.
And, you know, the state is liking, but we're still not there. We need, uh, what that system is. I don't think that system has been thought of yet correctly, but, you know, really in honest honesty, it, it, it's, it's going way, way down there. It's going way back. But when you're on a third generation or you're, let's say you're going into a second [00:37:00] generation and you're putting a child in.
Human trafficking, how we can't get far enough back. So at some point you gotta draw the line. We gotta really educate. We gotta really this and that. And so there's so many moving parts just to educate what is proper, what's proper care of a child, and what don't you do in front of a child and say these things that we do or act or drink or, uh, not work or whatever.
you know, and, and if you wanna be honest, you know, when in the foster care, when it gets to, in hope, it's blown up. The home is blown up. so now you're putting out this fire, you know, and this legal, which is expensive, the legal side of everything. but you have this fire and you have this child that is in not the right place.
And so you got a home that's. It's disrupted a child that is off course [00:38:00] and how do you work with the home and how do you work with child? You know, that third bucket I talked about, the functional family side of therapy side of things. You know, they're gonna be in that home. Let's say child does go back to the home or the child leaves our, our mental, uh, health side of things.
You know, we're still in there, you know, weekly, Hey dad, um, do you have a job now? You know, how's that going? You know, so on and so forth. Mom. Um, are we not drinking? You know? Mm-hmm. Uh, junior, um, let's see. The grades, let's see. And that is really good. That's after the fact when a child goes back to a home.
But it can be the same like I had mentioned early for a child's taken out to keep. Them out of the court system, keep that finances on all of us from exploding. But right now [00:39:00] I have talked with the clinical side of things, the religious side of things, um, church leaders. And, um, there is, it's increasing children and frustration and anxiety and depression and it's, it's just increasing.
Is it increasing? Was it always there? Do we not know? I don't, I don't know. I mean, like, think about the orphan train. I can't fathom as a parent putting my child on something back east, sending them somewhere. I have really no idea and probably never gonna see the child again. I can't imagine the trauma on that child being put on a device they may have never seen or been on.
Going to a place they have no idea and leaving their parents, I pay respect to that trauma. It's just different trauma today we're dealing with. You know, [00:40:00] it's interesting when the children might come to us on the mental health side of the, uh, residential side as we would call it. Uh, like I said, they, they're against everything in this note.
But after a period of time, let's say like Thanksgiving's coming or Christmas coming or like, okay, hey, this, you're gonna go home and uh, spend some time with your family, you will see it in their latter part of their, uh, therapy. Some of 'em. 'cause they're like my best friend Susie's down the street, she's going to want to get together again.
I can, I can't go back. I can't go back or Dad is still drinking or whatever. Ember Hope has done something where we took one of our cottages, We refurbished it and there's probably, I apologize, but I'm gonna say six, seven different rooms. So a parent or parents, if they're in, you know, way southwest Kansas, something, they could come [00:41:00] and they can stay the weekend and the child can come from the cottage and stay in the room with them.
They can cook, there's a kitchen and everything. So it used to be we would have to maybe pay for hotel. Mm-hmm. For gas, for, you know, a lower income family. But now they could stay there. And that is really doing some pretty, pretty good stuff.
Sydney Collins: What are, some ways that people around Kansas can help
Mitch Drees: I was gonna [00:42:00] share with you we're building, um, approximate, I think.
Uh, please, I'll. Messes up, I think 39 units.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Hope Estates: A New Initiative for Aging Out Youth
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Mitch Drees: For these right now, construction, uh, these children aging out foster care. Okay. So, you know, why is that a problem of Ember Hopes they're 18 statistically? Um, more statistics, 71%, and I'm gonna try to answer your question. Mm-hmm. 71% of girls that age out of foster care, will be pregnant before, so they age out at 18.
Mm-hmm. They'll, 50, 71% will be pregnant before the age of 21. 50% of them will be unemployed. And so there, there's where Hope Estates comes in, you know? Mm-hmm. And things like, because a lot of [00:43:00] times when they age out. Sometimes there's outstanding foster parents.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: And it's just beautiful, you know, but it, it isn't a hundred percent and when it's 18, they're just, they, there is a huge statistic of percentage that Child ages out will go right back to that town they came from.
Mm-hmm. Not so good because they don't own a car, probably. Uh, they need to get a job. So this Hope Estate we're building, you know, allows them at a very, very low cost to live there. We'll still help 'em clinically, we'll still help 'em jobs, get the jobs, get to work, get back. But here's the twist, and this is being done a bit, a few times in the United States, we will also be having apartments for retired elderly.
Okay. Yeah, there's, there's where the mind and there's the twist, there's [00:44:00] the head turns. the way it works is the elderly, there are elderly that are retired, but like COVID and everything, just, everything's so expensive now. Mm-hmm. That they're saving in their saving and their finances didn't make, make the distance.
They get to live there at very low cost, not together.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: But, and they'd have their apartment, but the elderly that apply for it will be interviewed and through an application process. And then in theory, you're matched up with. This young man or this young girl, and they just kind of, it's the silver hair.
The grandparents, the old,
Sydney Collins: it's a mentorship without it being an official mentorship.
Mitch Drees: Yep, yep. It's like, what do you want, what do you thinking you wanna do? You know, I was a welder for 50 years. Uh, mama was a teacher, you know, uh, or it could be, uh, so are you taking their health insurance and this new job?
Mm-hmm. Anything, [00:45:00] it becomes this incredible senior mentorship and that is what we're currently building called Hope Estates. Um, and you still asked how can mm-hmm. You know, people help, but that's gonna be one way, you know, it's just like building the foster care housing possibly in the future in the bank.
We have to build it because it's just hard to find foster families.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Mitch Drees: Okay. So that can be a, an area. Where, how, you know, people will end up helping ber hope.
How You Can Help: Donations and Volunteering
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Mitch Drees: But you know, when you look at how do people help Ember hope, um, you know, it's typically, it's it's individuals. It's, it's a couple, uh, it's donations, you know?
Mm-hmm. They, they can support specifics art, um, they could support, [00:46:00] um, the mental health side or they could just overall help. And, and that's what my staff and I do. We show 'em ways and, um, that they can support. So there's the financial side, which is, you know, if ber Hope on average may have generated rough statistics in the, um, uh, previous fiscal year, let's say about 15, a little over 15 million, but the expense side, it's, it's on the higher end of 16 million.
So, you know, it is a nonprofit. Mm. You know, it doesn't mean we're shutting the doors, you know, but, uh, financial does help. We have volunteers come out, paint, build stuff for us, uh, things like that. you know, um, churches, uh, help a lot right now this Christmas. I mean, think about getting gifts, Christmas [00:47:00] gifts for several thousand children.
Mm-hmm. Some through the mental health side too, that are with us. you know, two, three presents each. We, the month of December is, is very fast. Uh, tomorrow I'll be in a U-Haul and I will be driving to almost the Colorado border, stopping one particular church out there has, uh, has um. $4,000 worth of diapers for us.
Sydney Collins: Holy
smokes.
Mitch Drees: Mm-hmm. In Sublette Kansas, $4,000 worth of diapers plus Christmas presents. And we'll go through those diapers, we'll go through them. We, we have, um, a hygiene room deodorants mm-hmm. And soaps and things that's bigger than this, uh, studio rim. And we will clean that out two, three times a year. So that's, sometimes people just [00:48:00] give mm-hmm.
Uh, backpacks to go back to school. Mm. Uh, every year, uh, we do a kind of a campaign. It's called back school and, um, pencils, erasers, everything, but we get what each grade needs and so on and so forth. And then. We do huge backpacking. Once we get all the supplies in, we pack '
Sydney Collins: em all
Mitch Drees: and we pack 'em all. It's this assembly line and volunteers come in and we just do an assembly line.
And then each foster care worker comes, you know, if it's uh, Joey's 15, he's gonna be over there and the boys from, you know, 12 to 16 or something, and vice versa. And, uh, that, that all takes several months of planning this Christmas event. It is, it is. And then we have a big event and all the f foster children come in with their foster [00:49:00] families.
Mm-hmm. And they get pres their presents, those specifics. So if it is Joey family, you know, 3, 2, 9, 8, um, you know, you gotta be vague and he wants this, this, this, and this. That is done, gift wrapped. Presented to, and it's, uh, that's coming up here in, uh, about a week or so. that is from 10 in the morning till 10 at night.
Several thousand children coming through there. So, you know, I always tell people, um, it's, you know, you can, you know, you just ask me and I'll guide you, you know, and it's just mre@emberhope.org, you know, and just, I'll try to guide you, I'll give you ideas, I'll give you directions, but, um, I travel the entire state.
I'll be, then on Thursday I go to Kansas City with that. My gosh, you're literally going from border to border. Yep. [00:50:00] In two days I'm gonna put on a thousand and some miles, but I will fill that U-Haul up, and so we just kind of all onboard. Mm-hmm. Kinda like the days of UPS since Christmas season.
Gus Applequist: Well, Mitch, thank you for Yep.
Giving us a window into, uh, the world of Iber Hope. Yeah. And, uh, letting us know of the tremendous needs that mm-hmm. Are there. And, uh, yeah, I hope, I hope our, our audience, uh, looks for those ways to connect and, and help and make a difference in, in these kids' lives.
Mitch Drees: Well, it is great. This, we, I couldn't ask for more than this.
This is, it helps us just every time I end up speaking somewhere, I always get somebody that says, I had no idea, and I didn't either until I stumbled into this work. So, no, thank you. Thank you.
Sydney Collins: It's a blessing.
[00:51:00]
Sydney Collins: Thanks for joining us, um, for that conversation. It's, it's very heavy.
Gus Applequist: It was,
Sydney Collins: yeah. Um, and. When chatting with Mitch as, um, so for those who, don't know, when we get done with an episode, we walk the guest out, we show them kind of our studio in the building and just kind of have almost like a little debrief.
It's kind of a good, like end cap,
Gus Applequist: rather than just like hard cut. They walk out the door. Yeah. Hard cut by. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: but the one thing, and I, I say this all the [00:52:00] time, the one thing that I love about people who come on, especially nonprofits that we have on, is the amount of passion that exudes from people.
And Mitch is just one of those people.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: And, um, backstory, I've known Mitch since I was little, so, um. I grew up in a radio station. He was at the radio station. Mm-hmm. Um, so he was, um, part of the sales team. So he watched me file pink slips when, you know, when I learned my ABCs, um, to help the sales team do all their filing.
And so watching the difference, granted I was little, so who knows what I was actually watching, but watching the difference between Mitch in corporate world and Mitch in nonprofit world is very interesting to me. And it's, it's a change. And he's still the same, you know, happy go lucky sales guy, but it's with a different,
I don't know what the word is that I'm looking for. It's with a different passion. I don't, I wish I knew a [00:53:00] different word than passion. I need a thesaurus. But I was
Gus Applequist: thinking about that when he was talking about his transition over just the, the priorities that you have in life. Mm-hmm. And how those just have to change when you go from a for-profit to a non-profit.
you know, in a for-profit you can, to some extent, and I'm not saying this is true for every job, but to some extent you can walk away from it. You can go home, you can, you know, your brain can go on to other things. And, and there's some nonprofits, and this seems to be one of 'em where, where this is kind of an all or nothing deal.
You know, like when, when you see stuff like that every day at work, those things like, they come home with you.
You know, and they affect you and who you are and your family, as he said, his kids are now part of it. And that's powerful. And I think, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's difficult to hear things like that.
'cause we, we, we live in our own little world sometimes, and we don't realize the struggles that other people are having. And, and I think part of [00:54:00] uncovering Kansas is uncovering those stories that we honestly maybe don't want to hear, but we need to, and we need to acknowledge that there's suffering and pain.
In our neighborhoods and in our state. And, um, anything we can do to, to alleviate that and make a, make Kansas a better place, I think we should do. Mm-hmm. I never hope seems to be
Sydney Collins: Yeah. For a hundred years, almost a hundred years.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. That's remarkable.
Sydney Collins: Which is wild for a nonprofit to even just be around for a hundred years in general.
So,
Gus Applequist: yeah. Well, hopefully we didn't Okay. Bog you down too much in heavy things today. Yeah. Um, you know, hopefully you found something, uh, and there was a lot there to find redeeming. Mm-hmm. Um, but, uh, yeah, hopefully you, you check out Ember Hope and, and the way different ways you can connect with them. Uh, we're gonna move on to, to lighter things for the rest of the episode, just to bring you back up and, uh, so yeah, the city of the high plane.
Okay. So we welcome back to another episode or segment of, uh, where in the rectangle. So picture this. [00:55:00] A small high plains town, so already a big hint for you With a classic brick downtown and right in the middle of the main intersection every holiday season, they build a 35 foot tall Christmas tree, made of real greenery covered in over 3000 lights.
The tree stands in the middle of town. I think we have a picture we can show, uh, resting under a canopy of heavenly blue lights and is topped with four ivory stars each about five foot across, around that tree. A four block downtown is dressed up with greenery, handcrafted reads, bells, bows, and thousands more lights.
Uh, it's widely known as one of the biggest Christmas light displays between Kansas City and Denver. And it all started way back in the late 1940s when two local businessmen, a hardware store owner who could build anything, and a banker who is also an artist, a teamed up
Sydney Collins: hold on a hardware store and a banker and an artist.
If that is not. Like a [00:56:00] trifecta. I dunno what it's, sorry. Go on.
Gus Applequist: And, and you know, it says a lot about a small town, right? Yeah. Um, so yeah, the first display was actually lit in 1950 and they've been turning on the lights every year, ever since 1950s. So the Saturday after Thanksgiving is when they light this up and, uh, and then it stays lit through New Year's.
There's often a, a bizarre, uh, kids activities, wagon rides, live music, and of course Santa in Mrs. Claus's making an appearance in a little North Pole pocket park. And, uh, over the decades, hundreds of volunteers working alongside city crews have maintained repainted and refreshed the decorations. And the town has probably embraced the title, the Christmas City of the High Plains.
And I wanna say that this doesn't just happen during the holiday season. Uh, Tanner was able to visit, uh, was it August? It was August and uh, they even have some Christmasy things going on in August. If you wanna go to the next couple slides here, uh, keep going forward. Yep. So they have the kind of the North, north, are they a little Christmas
Sydney Collins: village?
Yeah. [00:57:00] Yeah. Literally just, okay.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Okay. So Sydney, the question is which town and where in the rectangle claims the title? Christmas City of the High Plains.
Sydney Collins: For some reason, I wanna say amigo, and I don't think that's right, but the first thing in my that is a creepy Santa, he's like, shh.
I,
Gus Applequist: I couldn't help us uncropped your image a little. Yeah, that's a, that's a little rough.
Sydney Collins: Um, I wanna say Amiga, but I don't think that's right. Well,
Gus Applequist: I'm gonna give you a big hint. You've got the first two letters correct.
Sydney Collins: What a wa. Wisconsin Wa, Wisconsin wa
Gus Applequist: Smigel. Okay, I'll, I'll, I'll let you off this hook.
Uh, so the town in question is Wakin
Sydney Collins: Hui, like I knew it was a w mm-hmm. [00:58:00] Can we, I I at least got close 'cause how many other Wa cities are in? Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Not, not many Kansas. Okay.
Sydney Collins: Where is Wamego? Are they even close to each other's In Tra
Gus Applequist: County out there between Allison Grove, where Santa is on our Helpful
Sydney Collins: No.
Like, where's Wa Wamego Wa from Wa wa Amigo County's over,
Gus Applequist: uh, I don't know if it's in Potawatomi or Riley, but it's, it's over west, sorry. East of Manhattan. Well, uh, since this is our last episode before Christmas, uh, any big Christmas plans?
Sydney Collins: Uh, not right now, but usually what happens is we do Christmas Eve with mom.
It's always church lasagna, Christmas presents. And then. My dad's side always does like Christmas day kind of dinner. So it's usually, sometimes it's like ham and all the works, but lately it's just been pizza because there's, let's see, there's 10 adults and 10 kids. There's 20 people in one house.
Gus Applequist: Pizza is perfectly, so Pizza's great. Yep. That's [00:59:00] good. That's good. Yeah. We'll, we'll do a small thing here in Salina with my family, and then head out west to where Hannah's from and we go to a little tiny town in the middle of nowhere and we fill up, uh, an old church building. There's like a hundred people there.
Maybe not quite that many, but
Sydney Collins: yeah.
Gus Applequist: Um, so it's, it's really fun.
Sydney Collins: Not gonna lie. I thought you were gonna say, yeah, we go to this tiny little town and celebrate Christmas and I was gonna go What? W
Gus Applequist: Well, not too far from w It's, yeah. It's Jim, Jim, the wonderful town of Jim, Kansas. Yep. Okay. Yep. Out there on the planes, so.
Oh, cool. Yeah. So that brings us to the end of another episode of Ask Kansas.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Make sure to please like and subscribe. Um, leave a review on whatever platform you are listening or watching from.
Gus Applequist: And, uh, from all of us here at the FILI slash Ask A Kansan team,
Sydney Collins: merry, merry.