[Music] welcome back I’m Maggie the host of The Neighbors helping neighbors podcast from
father Joe’s Villages this is a continuing Series where we explore homelessness its causes and solutions to
the issue our guests include experts and leaders in the space folks with lived
experience and unique perspectives on homelessness to learn more about our mission please visit neighbor.org and
follow us on social media at father Joe’s Villages today we’re focusing on Outreach to our unhoused neighbors and
the impact of the Neil good day Center which father Joe’s Villages operates for those experiencing homelessness this is
often the first stop on their journey to explore this subject with me are Paul
delesio spearheading our coordinated Services Paul Sheek guiding our operations at Neil good day Center both
esteemed representatives of Father Joe’s villages with me always is my co-host deacon Jim the president and CEO of
Father Joe’s Villages a warm welcome to each of you welcome thank you for being it’s good to have you with us let’s
start with some introductions with who you are and the scope of your work at father Joe’s okay my name is Paul Sheek I’m
with the Neil good day Center I oversee the day-to-day operations wonderful how long have you
been with Father Joe’s 13 years wow all right great great and I’m Paul delesio
we love Paul’s at father Joe the Paul and uh I uh I’m a social worker I work
in at the day center with Paul here and then also in our Outreach our assessment center and then case management in our
palar Center and then over at Golden Hall wonderful and how long have you been with us I’ve been with US 23 years
I usually say I started in January keep myself looking young but January of 2001
23 23 years great great 23 and 13 years cumulatively you guys have a lot of
years with us yes a lot of experience lot of experience and I’m Deacon Jim as Maggie mentioned and I lead this great
organization I’m blessed to lead this great organization in addition to the Outreach efforts that we’ll be discussing today um especially at the
Neil good day Center we also have our federally qualified health center right and all the work that that the good work
that happens there not only within the brick and mortar and not only primary care but also Behavioral Health uh we
have our Behavioral Health Clinic we have mental health clinicians therein as well as our excuse me our dental clinic
right we also have our street health and our street health is meeting people where they are we know that about a third of the population out there won’t
access medicine a traditional way brick and water and so we go out to where they are and we find wounds and we dispense
medication whatever it takes right so there’s a lot of work that happens there medication just a treatment speaking of
medication right and we need people who offer substances that’s very important then we we love our children and we have
our therapeutic Childcare Center kids come to us uh delayed in many ways and so the work that happens there is
transformational for these kids and we help break that cycle of homelessness for them um and in addition to that we
have employment center our education employment center again with employment comes income and then comes
self-sufficiency so that’s absolutely very very critical and then Paul and Paul you know our shelter system more
best more than anyone else right and you know how crucial that is the Thousand beds we make available each and every
single night T thanks to people like you your teams and so that’s getting people off the streets in the immediacy and
trying to start helping them stay off the streets permanently that’s what it’s about and then we also de develop
housing and that’s at the end of the day that’s what breaks the cycle of homelessness housing such as St Teresa
of Kata Villa and so that’s what we um you know to round it all out you know
it’s the comprehensiveness and the holistic of our programs that makes a difference in keeping people not only keep taking them off the streets but
keeping them off the streets so it’s all absolutely absolutely critical well let’s get right into it tell me about
the basics of the Neil good day Center where is it um how long have you been operating uh we’re located at 2991 17th
Street I have been operating it for the last eight years um since November of
2015 um what we do there is we provide basic humanitarian services to give
people a hand up out of homelessness those Services include mail um showers
restrooms um respit phone charging storage case management we’re also an
entry point for the shelter system and we run an Outreach team out of there as
well that’s a lot that goes on in that place a lot yeah what kind of need are
you seeing in the area and how does that correspond with the purpose of the day center it’s an Ever growing need um
people need a place to be a place to go if you’re going to get out of homelessness you need to be able to have
a shower you need to have mail to to provide you with the documents you need
um sometimes it’s just a place to be so you’re not out causing trouble in the community and so what are you seeing
Paul we’re seeing the need right now uh is uh for Choice with a lot of our
clients uh there is shelter available from emergency shelter but a choice uh
to go into a lower barrier shelter for people that have a lot of barriers and
need and then also shelters that uh have employment Focus we have a lot of people
that show up that are looking for work that are looking to be clean and sober whether they’re in recovery or don’t
want to be around drugs and alcohol especially families and would like a shelter focused on on sobriety uh and
not one that requires you to go to classes uh or to be locked down for a certain
period those are definitely needed and from the day Center we get a lot of clients into recovery but just that
choice across the board and I think that’s one of the things the day Center does best is it invites people in as
Paul said you know we believe that humanitarian services are a human right just as housing is a human right and
both of those things we focus on at the day Center we provide humanarian services to get people into
housing uh when clients come in uh to look for showers which everybody wants
they get their mail not only is a link to housing but it provides us an
opportunity to talk to them about housing if that’s that their focus already Paul was telling me a story this
morning about a client that he’s working on a gentleman that’s been around for a
couple weeks you know and as Paul mentioned a lot of the clients that we we see would be out on the street and
some of them have higher mental health barriers some of them have higher addiction barriers and so those behaviors you see of people walking in
circles yelling they can come do that at the day Center you know we we run a safe
facility we have an incredible Security Department that is solution focused and uses motivational interviewing when
somebody’s uh accelerating and they they can really decompress a
situation but when clients need to come and just even walk in circles for a while they can come to our Courtyard and
they can do that and Paul’s working with a client right now that is going through that yeah he definitely has mental
health barriers and and uh behaviors that if you saw him outside you would
consider it unusual and just today I’ve
been kind of checking him out and just today he looked at me and said hey how are you doing today oh and I said okay I
this is it right here is the Breakthrough so in the next days I expect to
continue you know breaking through and we’ll talk about it and eventually the
conversation will come around to housing that’s my goal so that is that I love it
I I I I want to hear more as these days progress so let me know how how he how
you how you do with him right but it’s just what pops into my mind is the the word dignity you you’re treating him
with the dignity that he that he deserves right and and and so eventually you break through and and and there’s a
response there I love that I love that and it’s it’s but Paul you were saying about the it’s a holistic approach but
it isn’t a one- siiz fo all right and if people are at different different places in the in their Journey out of
homelessness I like to say and you have to meet them where they are right and and you’re right the diversity of
applications the diversity of shelters that we’ll need because someone may want a so sober living environment others may
may not be able to be in a so so just meeting people where they are this is what we do best and that’s why it’s the
the effectiveness there it’s great um I want to talk about the
services and not just that but the significance of these Services you mentioned a couple of them can you walk us through the services and the impact
that they have on folks uh well mail for instance like I mentioned to you it’s very important because it can keep them
in touch with their family and friends but also you need documentation for how you don’t just go and they hand you keys
and you move in you need Social Security you need uh driver’s license you need
this you need that and those things are not going to be delivered to you on the street so you can come to us set up a
mailbox it’s free and and get all those documents there so that that’s a very important service um if you’re working
some people pick their checks up there so and they get a mailed to them um the
laundry uh super important because you’re not going to do your clothes on the street either and if you’re going to
go for a job interview if you’re going to uh start your day if you’re going to
go to work I mean we all had a shower before we came in today right so it’s
important that we offer this to clients as well and I have seen the
transformation with with certain clients that maybe agitated having a a really
rough time and they go in they take a hot shower and they come out and they’re they’re literally a different person
after something like that so that’s that’s a very important service um storage is important because
people these documents that I’m talking about are frequently lost on the street so it’s a story I hear every day so they
can put that in a safe and secure spot um uh our case manager is like a triage
uh type of situation people she has a case load but it’s not uh she’s
generally handling things that happen in the now so for instance we had a client
today he’s in really bad shape he’s in a wheelchair he has a rubber wheel that’s falling off and so we decided you know
we’ been watching you it’s time to get you into some kind of Skilled Nursing Facility or something like that so I
just say Angie you need to go and take care of this for me and we’re in the process right now of he’s agreed to go
into assisted living so all we need to do now is bring the person in confirm what he needs to get in and hopefully by
the time I get back he’s in that’s great that’s great you know Paul you mentioned
you mentioned receiving checks employment checks in the mail there at the day Center yes I want to talk about
that a little bit because some people listening may think to themselves well wait a minute if this person has is has employment what are they doing going to
the day Center why don’t they get their mail in their own home right and right so when don’t we talk about that okay um
if I’m going down the right path it’s because it’s too expensive and the in the money that they make even people on
a fixed income too they receive their checks there but they are unable to afford a place of their own they’re
living on the street right that’s right it’s expensive to live here right an average rental here is about 2500 $2500
and the rental vacancy rate is very low about 3% it’s out of the means of a lot of people and now with increasing
inflation we see you’re seeing more people fall onto the streets as well and and and that’s the key I wanted wanted
us to to to I wanted you to mention that because some people may be wondering wait a minute if this person is employed
why don’t they have an apartment then right not that easy yeah it’s a two income City for sure and that’s how a
lot of people can end up on the street too a spouse passes away or right or something like that so that’s
right that’s how they end up there and uh on top of that also uh when we were
closed on the weekends recently uh a lot of clients were coming to us saying hey I’m working all week it’s very difficult
for me to come on the the weekends and so Paul would make special accommodations for them but we also see
clients that have moved into housing that choose to get their mail still at the day Center because they’re not comfortable yet getting their mail in
their apartment and so the day Center forms as a real an incredible
transitional place for when clients get housing they can ease into it they were used to living on the streets they’re
used to taking advantage of services like the day Center and for a while they’ll get their mail there because they don’t trust their new place yet and
it gives us an opportunity also at the day Center to have those conversations to motivate them to stay in the
apartments where they are stay in housing and eventually they’ll transition completely over to housing
but they’re comfortable with us and they’re comfortable getting their mail where with us and eventually they’ll be
comfortable in their housing that’s right with some some continued support that’s right I I just want to say that
the mail is where a lot of things start because we do do like 3,000 mail pickups a month so that gives us an opportunity
to have people come up and we get to call them by name and then you see them
and they start to gain trust in you and that’s where the Rapport building starts a lot of times is in the mail there’s a
lot of important functions that it does building relationship yeah absolutely you mentioned your wonderful security
team I have the pleasure of speaking with one of your security officers and he told me about safe sleeping at the
day Center or day sleeping at the day Center can you tell us about that yeah we have a a hill outside and they can
also lay down inside the day Center as well um and the reason for that is it’s not safe on the street you know that um
so rather than risk being attacked they’ll walk around all night and then come into the day Center once we open in
the morning and sleep sleep there at night there’s been times that we have had clients that come in that we’re not
able to find shelter for we know that they’re not going to do well on the street so we’ll tell them walk around
stay awake and then you can come in here tomorrow we’ll submit your name and then you can sleep um and it’s it’s a better
option yeah especially for women yes right because I hear the stories a horor stories of women being accosted on the
streets right at all hours of the day but particularly at night that’s that’s terrifying absolutely right right
another one of the services that I read about was respit services and that was profound to me because I saw it
described as giving our clients a legal place to be can you say more about what that means for the community we serve
sure so a lot of times you’ll see in the media when there’s a place when there’s
a lot of people outside on the streets the call is to have a day Center that we need a day Center for people to have a
place to be during the day and then when there’s a lot of people in the day Center the call is usually oh we need to shut down the day Center there’s a lot
of people hanging around uh which we know is not true in our day Center that we’re working with them towards housing
uh so uh right now especially with the camping bands uh there’s no legal place for somebody to be outside and day
centers have always served a dual nature the social service nature which what what is which is what we’re focused on
uh which is providing humanitarian Services while giving a hand up out of homelessness uh services that really
attract our clients inside one of those is respit that safe place to stay during the day or just a place
to decompress after being outside and trying to find places and to be safe uh because the day Center is a safe place
uh the what’s good for the community the second part of a day Center is that it gives people that place to be during the
day so they’re not forced to be in front of businesses or using uh business
bathrooms as showers or constantly using the bathrooms uh we have actually two
sites with bathrooms that are funded through our day Center and so it’s an incredible place to go uh incredible and
clean uh and it gives people that legal place to sit to be to rest to feel safe
while engaging in housing yeah it really stood out to me just kind of putting
myself in their shoes in a sense and imagining feeling unwanted and unwelcome everywhere I went at the park at the
grocery store at the coffee shop but that’s not the case at the day Center they’re welcome there they can hang out
they can decompress they can charge their phone call their family members call their case manager and have that
safe place to be right and connect to shelter right so what about that PA well and that goes a long way what you just
said Maggie actually one of the clients we’re working with right now at the day Center uh he was outside for a long time
and would be at the day Center daily and F we finally got him to housing uh he was housed for a while was working uh
locally actually and uh then became homeless again uh some barriers came up
in his life and he became homeless again but the face the place that he felt safe going to was the day Center so while he
was going through some of his barriers some of his demons he would come to the day Center and sit with us and just be
with us during the day and eventually as those demons and those barriers subsided a bit with us uh he was able to get back
into housing and back into employment and so it’s not only a safe place for people to come and just be during the
day but even when uh people fall down which we all do uh it’s a place to come
back to and get a second chance because you feel safe and welcome there right uh that we’re not going to judge you when
when after you know even the case managers work very hard to get somebody in a housing and it doesn’t work out
we’ll come back and we’re going to try again right you because a lot of our staff have been there and so we
understand what it is to fall down and we understand what it is to need a second chance a third chance a fourth
chance and so the day Center is that place for the second third fourth fifth
six 364 days a year and then shelter uh clients come every single day to look
for shelter you know we’re the biggest homeless uh provider for shelter in San Diego uh and so they they identify
father Joe’s Villages St vinc Paul with providing that shelter and permanent housing and so if somebody’s interested
in permanent housing they’ll come to us if somebody’s interested in shelter will’ll come to us so every single
morning uh we have uh shelter referrals from the day Center we takeen an extra
step uh we have an assessment center at the that’s stationed at the day Center that does shelter diversion
conversations so every time somebody comes and looks for shelter with us we try to divert them away from the system
we work with the regional task force on the homeless we have two uh certified trainers in shelter diversion at the
Village uh they actually both work at the day Center and so uh we train all of our staff on shelter diversion
conversations but our assessors are the are the people that are really good at it and diverting them to our pool can
you say what that means so there’s four different this is from the training there’s four outcomes that come to with
diversion training uh so the number one outcome that we see from the day Center is getting people back to family and
friends San Diego is a wonderful destination the majority of people that are homeless in San Diego are from San
Diego but we do have people come to San Diego from out of out of state usually that don’t expect San Diego prices so
they might come from uh Mississippi or they might come from North Dakota and
they’ll say oh I was paying $300 for a house in North Dakota I’ll probably have
to pay $500 for a house on the beach in San Diego you say well we can get you an Airbnb somewhere in San Diego for one
night for $500 but it’s not going to be on the beach and so uh they come to the
day Center and that that’s a theme throughout San Diego go to the day Center they’ll get off the Greyhound bus
they’ll realize that it’s too expensive they’ll come to the day Center and we’re able to work with them and get them back
to safe place with family and friends uh we also have had several clients uh Paul
had one recently that come to the day Center because they’re sent there by Outreach or by the law enforcement or by
a variety of sources they come to the day Center uh and they’re told oh you need shelter and we sit down with them
again we’re not just going to refer them right to shelter we sit down with them to start a conversation and find out
that they actually have housing uh in a nursing home oh you want to tell that
story yeah I can tell that story um there was a gentleman that came in and he went they directed him to the shelter
space and he went in and I just noticed him because he looked like he was scared
he was he was an older gentleman really really tall and so I kept kind of watching him
and then finally he was like sitting out in the day room and he was staring and
with big eyes so I thought you know what I’m going to go talk to this gentleman so I brought him into my office and we
began to talk and I could tell he had little confusion and some things like that and as we went along I found out
that he actually had a place he was actually staying uh in a in a nursing
facility they had dropped him off for a doctor’s appointment and and he couldn’t
remember how to get back so and he had no idea what to do so they somebody told
him go to the day Center and he thought he was following the right things and we were able to make a phone call and get
him out of there in like 20 minutes after after but those are the kind of things that happen daily at the day
Center just unusual situations that we’re there for so it’s not a matter of
just putting them into shelter the shelter system as you say and and I’ve heard you say before that of those every
day who go to day Center only 10% of them get into the shelter system any with because it’s just not enough
capacity not enough capacity and so uh that’s why shelter diversion is so important right and that’s why as you
mentioned building more housing is so important so we can get people out of the shelters and into housing also right
right right you also have an Outreach team tell us about your team and what they do um the Outreach team actually
works in the neighborhood of the day Center and um they take care of the clients
there’s a lot of clients that that live in and around the day Center um also
they work inside the day Center so I like to call it inreach and they are busy making contact with clients because
being that so many people do come there there’s there’s kind of a wealth of people and you don’t have to go out and
find them because they’re there um so they’re busy making contact identifying
the needs of the people and trying to take care of that for and the motto of our Outreach team
is to reach the hardest to reach okay and so when we have a new Outreach worker we say to them if you come to me
and say I have a hundred successes this this month I’ll ask you are you working with the right people because the
clients that we’re working with it might take a year to get them off the streets to build Report with them uh and then
motivate them uh into housing uh and so our teams are really focused on what we
used to call Diamond clients but they didn’t like that one so they change it to Club clients so they have certain
Club clients and the the motto is you know services are mandatory for the
staff but voluntary for the clients so it’s voluntary to have Outreach and case management for the clients but it’s
mandatory that the staff engage them and provide those services and so they’re they build rapport with them sometimes
over years we had one of our biggest success is with a was a client who’s considered the mayor of 17th Street and
uh she was outside for over 20 years and she was you know she would come into the day Center she would engage with us
regularly she was actually you know a very pleasant person most of the time you uh didn’t want but don’t you didn’t
want to mess with her and so uh age was really creeping up on her and so she uh
started talking to us about housing you know we finally got to work in about housing and we tried to get her into shelter she would accept some shelter uh
we we find that a lot of people will accept things like income shelter which we provide at father Joe’s villages we
the biggest provider of that in San Diego also and she eventually started talking about about housing and so we
got her on some lists for housing uh she wouldn’t go into shelter but she was very specific I want to live within two
blocks of the day Center I want to be right here all the time that was her community you know part of poverty is
that your community is local you know and you’re surviv is reliant on that community and so you’re not going to go
far uh unfortunately for us she was matched to Something in North
County brand new apartment wow you know and as you mentioned Deacon you know there’s there’s so many solutions to
homelessness and that’s what’s the difficulty in solving it too because our clients are all unique and so one
solution is not going to work right from a middle class perspective a new place brand new apartment you know in in a
nice part of town and new furniture and it’s brand you get the you get a key and you get to be
there right that is wonderful that’s the solution you know that’s homelessness I’d move in there for in a second from a
middle class perspective but when you’re Reliant for 20 years and surviving in one spot uh you’re not going to take
that it’s hard and so we were obligated to present that to her and she was obligated to fire
us and really you know why would I move there you know and then was matched
again to a place near uh Mesa college and we thought okay that’s a lot closer
closer we’ll get her out there we we’ll introduce her to the community and things like that fired again uh and so
we had to re-engage again re-engage re-engage with her and finally we got her a place right near us uh downtown
there and she was able to move in and she’s been very successful she said you know and and again working with people
to what to expect because after being 20 years on the street what do you expect inside and so it’s not only about just
giving somebody a voucher but working with somebody say okay this is what to expect when you move in uh you can’t
have a lot of people come see you you can’t have a lot of people in your apartment your belongings you really have to watch out for you know to have
your limit your belongings and so and she was really great she said you know what I’m gonna have a Super Bowl party
every year where people are going to come to but other than that nobody’s coming to my apartment and so she was great and she’s still stably house she’s
prospering that’s great I’m glad you told that story because it puts things into perspective I think in general
people don’t understand that right and why why wouldn’t she accept an apartment in North County or I wouldn’t why not in
lame Mesa what you know and yet people have to understand that these individuals just like all of us right we
have our preferences all right we have Community as you say after 20 years as community and so there’s so much set
that play here it can’t be just as simple as an apartment and that’s the end of it what would you say to somebody who
might be perceiving these Services as maybe enabling our neighbors who are living around the day Center how would
you help them deepen their perspective say we really know the
difference between charity and social work I’m a social work out of SDSU go
Aztec never been to a game but I really like SDSU and uh so the difference
between charity and social work is that charity is needed sometimes you know in storms or emergencies uh people need
charity we do some charity also you know but ours is mainly social work that we
focus on change uh that all of the services we offer at the day Center as we said the showers the mail the laundry
are to give people humanitarian services but also draws them in so we can talk about change even with harm reduction uh
harm reduction uh isn’t about just giving out Naran and Fentanyl test
strips harm reduction is about change it’s about talking to people about change and if you just do one part of it
you’re not truly doing harm reduction if you just do one part and give things out you’re not truly doing social work and
so uh when clients come to us we engage them not only with the humanitarian
services but the Housing Services that come along with that and uh the perspective on homelessness usually is
various as we just talked about that there’s so many solutions needed because our clients have such Variety in their
needs uh anything from a quick trip back home because they have a place to years of
Engagement because they have a long trauma history and when CL when we have
volunteers that come to us they usually have that stereotype in their head of what somebody looks like that is
homeless and when they meet somebody they always say oh this person’s an exception oh the next person’s an
exception and then the next person is exception and they realize that all of our clients are exceptional that’s right
that every one of them is exceptional and that humanitarian part of it comes in and when they learn this the history
usually of a lot of our clients especially the trauma history we mentioned women and the danger that they’re in on the streets then they
really learn and say wow I wouldn’t even have survived nonetheless just be
homeless if I had gone through what you’ve gone through right right and so giving the day Center again is about
giving that second chance third chance fourth chance but it’s always focused on social work and it’s always focused on
housing and social work is really hard right and so our staff down there work
very hard to keep that focus and it you know by providing these Services we’re
able to bring about that change with through events that we hold recovery
events through every week we have usually twice a week we have the EES
program that you mentioned before they come down set up a table they will
um actually do resumés right on the spot and set it up um so that the client has
a place to receive a phone a phone call about a job or something like that at the recovery events um they’re very well
attended we have speakers from all different modalities of recovery so we’re not just focused on one we want
people to have a choice so it’s not so easy to go oh I don’t want it I don’t like that um what is that event called
it has a powerful name called are you done are you done yet that’s right um and and there’s been times when I’ve
seen as many as five or six people leave those events and and leave with the providers that come in going to their
different recovery programs so if we’re not drawing people in these events then
people are never going to get to and the Partnerships are important that that you point we have a lot of Partnerships and
and those and and those who are able to get into recovery what a victory that is huh yeah and that’s a start and we know
it’s a lifelong struggle right for those who have had addictions but that’s a a lifelong struggle you know one and it’s
perceptions you talk about perceptions I I’ll share a perception that I had when I first arrived and I’ve been with
Father joose Villages about 10 years and and that’s when I was hit with the fact that people wouldn’t come off the
streets because there are some shelters not ours but there’s some shelters who don’t accept pets right I mean we we are
very welcome into shelters and I learned why right because people will stay on the streets if they can’t bring along
their animal and I have to tell you that struck me as very odd when I first arrived that said what is wrong with
these people I mean they’re going to stay on the streets just because they can’t bring in their animal and I quickly came to recognize the importance
of that and for some of them especially the trauma that they’ve had in their lives and and the disappointments and
the abandonments and yet this animal is the only thing that has stayed true and blue throughout the entire you know
something along the lines I mean so there’s so many perceptions that was my perception when I first arrived right
and there’s so many other perceptions that are out there that would be that people feel feel this is odd why would
you know and that’s why you don’t know and so you walk in another person’s shoes in a sense right you don’t know
what’s going on there and the reasons why and that’s why meeting them PE them when they are right and then working at
that place with them um and helping them that’s that’s what it’s all about yeah
such a non-judgmental accepting space that you all provide it’s wonderful that
I think that’s the most important thing that we do um is is provide that non-judgmental space because it allows a
ton of people to come in they feel welcome they know that nobody’s going to be looking down on them and so they come
in and they can come in and then that’s where we can start building those
relationships with them because they do feel welcome and and they don’t really have any place to go you know you
mentioned going places and being kind of shun and discarded and that doesn’t
happen where we’re at so you’re creating this well welcoming safe space for our neighbors every day but also in crisis
situations right like covid and the Hep A outbreak can you tell us about that yeah um you know during covid we were
one of the few places that stayed open we went into social distancing yeah um
they opened the convention center we provided the mail for the convention center wow yeah the the mail line was
crazy um during the hee we were Center for because so many people visit the day
Center on a daily basis they came in the county health nurses and set up vaccination tables right there and we
did vaccination events for the public so that’s and we’re available in any
upcoming crisis that well right um we just make ourselves open to things like
that there’s a lot that goes on in that place it’s it’s quite obvious and you just mentioned uh vaccinations it occurs
to me that our own federally qualified Health Center also provide services Outreach type services at the day Center
as well yes they do and not only do they stop bying their own but if we have a
serious case of somebody that needs to be treated we we can call them and they’ll come up they’ll come up in the
street Health van that’s great that’s a great it’s a it’s a great I mean because again connecting them to those types of
services Primary Care Behavioral Health whatever it is it’s absolutely key even
dental care right and you know a lot of times clients won’t go to the doctor so
to be able to have them to come up after we speak with them and they finally agree that could be life-saving actually
it’s really great I’d like to switch gears a little bit Deacon Jim if you could talk about the funding for the day
Center and how father Joe’s makes it work well the funding the good portion
of the funding comes from our relationship with the city and the City Housing Commission so we receive a level
of funding from from them and I’m appreciative I’m always appreci with that um and then we have funding
philanthropically because if the Gap has to be filled the the funding that we receive from the city and in most of our
programs it’s it’s not in its entirety it’s not 100% right so that’s where philanthropy comes in me the the reality
is that across the board in our organization philanthropy is the biggest portion of our uh of the dollars that we
have in order to provide services and programs right so the day sensor is yet another one so again it is City funded
and then supplemented by by philanthropy and as the CEO of Father Joe’s why was that important to you to fund the day
Center to make sure that it keeps its doors open and services are provided to provide the the Gap funding to provide
the philanthropy portion because of everything that Paul and Paul just just shared with us I mean think about it um
you have to you I listen to them I always gain an appreciation and respect for for the work that they do at the day
Center there it’s incredible I mean it’s and there are there’s so many aspects that we didn’t even get to today I mean
because there’s so much that happens at the day Center and a lot of it it’s at the spur of the moment a lot of it is oh
we haven’t been doing it but let’s do it now it’s that type of thing because again if the need is there you’re there
to meet that need and so because of that it’s important I mean when when the team came to me and said well Deacon the the
the city will fund this amount but we have a gap right and they said are we
willing to fill that Gap my response was absolutely I mean we number one the need
is there and number two we need to be the provider um providing these Services
because of people like PA and Paul you see the passion that they have for for the work that they do right in their
teams their teams as well Deacon kind of touched on his why what are what’s your why Paul and Paul
why do you love the day Center what do you see for the future of the day Center um well I hope it’s it continues that’s
for sure um but I love the day Center because of the kind of work that we do
it’s it’s never the same thing twice a lot of times it’s an emergency um it’s just it’s it’s a great
place and then we see people’s whose lives we help change and they show up with a set of keys and they go hey I got
my apartment I love um I I just there’s so many things uh so many reasons but so
many miracles happening there every day yeah a good way to put it how you know
as Deacon mentioned father Joe’s villages we have the whole gamut from Street Outreach to permanent housing and
recognizing that everybody’s going to need different support uh to get out of
homelessness the day Center is the foundation of that the day Center is the foundation of the village and the day
Center is the foundation of homeless services in San Diego I’d say it’s also
the so of the village that the day Center is where we meet the clients that we most focus on that that’s where we
meet the clients that are most in need and as I mentioned before you know if
some of us have been there before have experienced trauma and other events and so those are the clients where we really
have a passion to work with uh because you above everything it’s just about
being with people yeah it’s about being with people in that moment that might just seem silly to you you know as Paul
said to be the person to that somebody finally says hi to or just being there
to that person that says Ah just don’t walk away right now come on back and let’s fill out this paper so we can get
you on this weight list for shelter or for Recovery or for whatever it is it’s just being there with somebody in that
one moment that silly thing you might say that just makes somebody’s day or changes their trajectory so that’s what
I think the day Center does best so if you if there was a wish list if you had a wish list right and you said okay the day censor what else would you like to
do with the day centor um because you’re seeing certain needs right what what what would you do with it swimming pool
would be number one absolutely absent of a swimming pool
there’s no room for the swimming pool anyway you know for me it would be the number one thing would be to create a
safe space for women uh that we have some space at the day Center that’s a condemned shower area you we have an
incredible shower area that’s newly remodeled thanks to a lot of the work that Deacon you do uh with ph pH pH we
got it we got it and uh and getting grants that we have newly remodeled showers with bathrooms there which they
never had at the day Center we have bathrooms at the day Center but not in the shower area that area could be used as a safe space for women we could
expand our bathroom for women and have a safe space for women uh at the day Center I’d also like to see US expand
our recovery events uh we have our yet events as Paul mentioned and uh they
change lives when they happen uh and having a place also for people to go that need that lower barrier I know
we’re working on uh some housing for people that are working which is so
needed right now but also a place which we call a boun shelter for people to
spend a night that might be resistant to checking into a program so it’s a place that somebody could stay overnight and
we know the best time to get somebody that’s got alcohol and drug addiction is in the morning when they wake up it
might not be a morning it might be their morning so if we had a a place a c that somebody could stay every Dawn for them
would be a new hope hope because every time they wake up we could be there saying which door do you want to go out
one door goes into our our you know Med usually our Clinic uh to talk about detox to talk about alcohol and drug
recovery or you could take that other door which is usually half locked you know and doesn’t open as well uh and
that goes back to the street uh and they could do that time after time after time so they could have that hope every
single time and so that’s something I think would be a great opportunity us to have Deacon work on
that I’ll work on it a lot of possibilities that’s exactly right that’s a wonderful way to wrap up this
show I thank you all all three of you so much for the blessings that you bring to the Village every day and for truly
being a Beacon of Hope at our Neal good day Center so thank you for being here thank you for having us I share my
thanks and you Maggie as well thanks and thank you for joining in the conversation homelessness is a human
story and father Joe’s Villages is not just service provider we’re a movement
and a catalyst for change join us on our next episode as we bring more important issues and solutions to the table
because ultimately we’re all United as neighbors helping neighbors see you next
time how will you get involved join us and take action for our neighbors in need father Joe’s Villages is rebuilding
lives and you can make a difference whether it’s through cash donations volunteering your time contributing Home
Goods or clothing shopping at our thrift stores or online or participating in planned giving there are numerous ways
to get involved take action today at neighbor.org because together we’re all
neighbors helping neighbors
