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Series Code: TDYL
Program Code: TDYL240022A
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00:04 >> I want to. 00:10 >> Many 00:17 [MUSIC] 00:26 >> too. 00:31 [MUSIC] 00:36 >> I'm 00:42 and 00:47 I want to stand. 00:54 [MUSIC] 01:00 [MUSIC] 01:06 >> W***, welcome to 3ABN, a day like I love doing these live 01:11 programs on Judy Van, I do to you. You kind of never know 01:14 what's going to happen. Well, haha, probably folks like at 01:17 home to time, you know, but we thank you for joining us. 01:21 As you do each and every day and we we loved and the 01:25 programs. We love it when we can see you. But for instance, 01:30 we just had can't meeting on that last few weeks. So when we 01:33 look in the camera, we don't just see a camera. We say those 01:36 of you that we've been fellowship in with. So we feel 01:39 like that we're we're all brothers and sisters in the 01:42 Lord. And again, it's just a privilege. So thank you for 01:45 tuning into 3 ABM. For those of you who support, you know, 01:48 prayerful and financially. And tonight we're going to have 01:52 an incredible program. And the reason I know that some not a 01:55 prophet North side of a profit, but we already prayed and asked 01:59 for the annoying the Holy Spirit to be here tonight. 02:02 So we think something great and mighty marvelous is going to 02:05 happen. So we want you to stay tune right here. Call you 02:08 friend your enemies, everybody. You can think of turn on the 02:12 tree ABN because something great it is about to happen. 02:16 And Jesus as I've I've been lifted up from the start, 02:19 we'll draw 02:20 all and intimate. So before we introduce to our movement 02:26 called brothers and sisters, sometimes we say, guess what 02:29 her family are for. 02:31 >> You've got scripture for I do. I do. I'd like to read from 02:34 Matthew. 25 02:36 versus 31 to 40. 02:40 When the son of man comes in his glory and all the Holy 02:43 Angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 02:48 All the nations will be gathered before him and he will 02:50 separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep 02:54 from the goats and it will set the sheep on his right hand. 02:57 But the goats on the left, then the king will say to those on 03:01 his right hand com, you blessed of my father inherit the 03:05 kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for 03:08 I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you 03:12 gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked 03:18 and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in 03:22 prison and you came to me then the righteous will answer him 03:26 saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or 03:29 thirst and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger 03:34 and take you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you 03:39 sick or in prison and come to you and the king will answer 03:44 and say to them, I assure the I say to you and as much as you 03:49 did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it 03:54 to me, a man. And that just goes along with what we're 03:58 doing tonight. This ministry that we're featuring must talk 04:01 about. Yes, so we want to introduce you to our family, 04:05 our guest here, Eric Amadeo, who is the founder of Salt, 04:11 this wonderful ministry, its Salt outreach. He's the 04:14 president and founder and his lovely wife Mel. And she is a 04:19 Salt outreach board member that was so happy to have you here. 04:23 Welcome. Thank you. 04:24 >> Thank you for having us. Are really excited to be here. 04:26 Yeah. And you have to tell us what soft a stands for. I asked 04:31 Salt is an acronym for service and love together. So. 04:36 >> You know, we believe that you can't really 04:39 >> serve like 2. And there's people and what inspired this 04:42 is sometimes we see people serving. But there's no love. 04:46 They're right. You know, someone might share food with 04:48 the unsheltered might be hiding behind the table to 04:51 distributing food at not be interacting with the gas rhyme. 04:54 And then you have the other side where people might say I 04:57 love my neighbor, but they're not serving. Right. And so 05:00 having service and love together, we feel it really 05:04 exemplifies what Christ would do here on Earth in. I mean so 05:08 so, yeah, that's that's what it stands for. Yeah. 05:11 >> How did you get started with that would come from. 05:14 >> So saw when we started 05:17 and so is like 13 years ago. Now, about 13 years ago, 05:22 I had just become an avid is Christian. And when I when I 05:26 started to study the Bible, 05:28 you know, it's just I I really want to find my purpose. 05:33 You know, after after I started to follow Christ, I'm like, 05:36 okay, what is it you want to do with my life? So I tried all 05:39 these different outreach projects. You know, I just as 05:41 certain nursing home. And I went to, you know, we did some 05:45 sidewalks, cold outreach and, you know, on the street and 05:48 and, you know, want to kids at a section that complex. And, 05:52 you know, we did all these things. And and it ended up 05:56 evolving into a lot of young people helping in all these 06:01 areas. And one of the areas that I I was gravitated to the 06:04 most was serving the unsheltered population, people 06:07 experiencing homelessness. And, 06:10 you know, I think part of the reason why gravitated toward it 06:12 so much is when I was younger. When I was 20 years old, 06:16 I experience homelessness myself. So I I lived in the 06:20 car. I was in Chicago's in the middle of winter. And it was it 06:25 was it was tough, you know, but not having a a place to go take 06:29 a shower and I go to 7.11, bathrooms and clean up real 06:32 quick and I couldn't do laundry. You know, I have to do 06:36 that in the bathroom somehow, too, with some soap and water 06:39 and try to make that work. I was going to the Mexican 06:42 restaurants, eating the free chips and salsa and leaving, 06:45 you know, because I I couldn't I couldn't afford the food. 06:48 So it was a it was a it was a really at the time before it 06:53 was a Christian. I didn't really know why I was 06:56 experiencing. That's like what is happening to me. 06:58 But after becoming a Christian, you know, God always takes 07:01 those past experiences and and and makes and and does 07:05 something out of the right, make something out of those 07:06 experiences. I feel like that's why I gravitate toward says so 07:10 much to that project. So good. 07:13 >> We're going to have some special music just a moment. 07:16 But I want to say is what they do is is it is you're actually 07:22 some of us we can give some people can give financially 07:25 some people, you know, we pray. But when you're really get out 07:29 and meet the people, when you find the homeless people, 07:33 you're able to make a difference in their lives, 07:36 not only physically but spiritually and see people's 07:39 lives change because someone doesn't really care. I'm sure 07:43 if you're out on the street and somebody homeless, if you say, 07:46 look, I memorize the whole book of revelation, want to hear and 07:51 and they're like, I'm hungry. Yeah, I know. I'm I'm really 07:54 hungry. What can you need? So I I can just hear all pray 07:58 for you, the Lord to bless just somehow. And then I go the next 08:01 guy. And so what you all are really doing, what salt is 08:04 doing and what really Yvonne's runner first brought this Tim 08:08 and talk to him about it. And Jason, is the fact that 08:11 you're reaching people where they are. And so they're not 08:16 always that kind of people that some of us Christians like to 08:19 associate with their want to be around one to do so. It's a 08:23 special calling that you have. And so, but I believe that 08:27 every person watching this program tonight can help in 08:30 some way. So I got a few ideas myself. I may be later on, 08:35 be able to talk to you and maybe even challenges, you say 08:38 with certain things that we can do to support. But, you know, 08:41 if we look at the book and James and then, you know, 08:44 our responsibility is to help those who can't can't take care 08:48 of themselves right up to me there. So other words does 08:51 showing Jesus rather than tell somebody about Jesus. And 08:53 that's right. When you go to John Intel in Jesus loves you. 08:57 But you know, he's hungry, but it like for you to give him an 09:00 apple and then you give me an Apple. Would you give me the 09:03 apple? Well, Jesus loves me and he did. He want me. You're my 09:06 brother and the Lord gives you a chance to do something. 09:09 So what you're doing with so little is amazing. So we're 09:13 going to talk about the expansion of your ministry have 09:17 is grown. And I'm sure you probably got all the money in 09:20 the bank that you need and all of that. No, no Nyad has it. 09:28 But your fate. I always tell people your faith doesn't even 09:32 begin. Know your site and oh, yeah, oh, yeah. If you like 09:35 3ABN there's times we have no idea. People take it for 09:39 granted after all these years that the lights are on and 09:42 we're still, you know, satellites for going around the 09:44 world have no idea. There's times it's like Lord. And we 09:48 are to have, you know, we have to have money to pay this 9 09:52 different satellites, ransom, let alone the home ministry. 09:55 But God always comes through. So, yes, it strengthens our 09:58 faith, but we have and of course, we knew none of this 10:02 without cry. So we happen to have Jamie George that we love 10:06 and appreciate. I heard that you all do to Jamie is going to 10:10 be playing tonight. I think it's going to be done in Christ 10:13 Alone Christ along beautiful song 10:15 [MUSIC] 10:20 [MUSIC] 10:30 [MUSIC] 10:35 [MUSIC] 10:40 [MUSIC] 10:45 [MUSIC] 10:50 [MUSIC] 10:55 [MUSIC] 10:58 [MUSIC] 11:06 [MUSIC] 11:11 [MUSIC] 11:16 >> and these 2. 11:19 >> I do this years. My my stream. My psalm. 11:27 >> This. 11:34 >> Through the years is strong and stone. 11:44 [MUSIC] 11:49 [MUSIC] 11:50 >> Fat 10 mayo? And he and the dry highs too. 12:01 [MUSIC] 12:06 >> In crime or 12:11 [MUSIC] 12:16 [MUSIC] 12:21 [MUSIC] 12:30 [MUSIC] 12:35 [MUSIC] 12:40 [MUSIC] 12:45 [MUSIC] 12:50 [MUSIC] 12:53 [MUSIC] 12:59 [MUSIC] 13:04 [MUSIC] 13:09 [MUSIC] 13:14 [MUSIC] 13:20 [MUSIC] 13:25 [MUSIC] 13:30 [MUSIC] 13:35 [MUSIC] 13:36 >> to see calls home. 13:41 [MUSIC] 13:46 [MUSIC] 13:51 [MUSIC] 13:56 [MUSIC] 14:01 [MUSIC] 14:06 [MUSIC] 14:12 >> Pam and Jamie Beautiful. An incredible talent. 14:17 >> And I know as the makes its saying, yeah, you know, the 14:21 violin just under his hand that. 14:23 >> That's the hand of a man who those other singers, right? 14:26 And not all be on the well. Yeah. And who they are, we 14:31 should. So we're here with soft again. Yeah. And so I think you 14:35 have a video here in a bit. Maybe just an introduction. 14:38 Yeah, history. 14:40 >> So this video is kind of like a like a history video 14:43 like a story video kind of shows how south started and to 14:46 where we are today. So I like to play that and we can kind of 14:50 build off of that afterward. Yeah. Okay. That's too. 14:53 [MUSIC] 14:56 >> Homelessness is Central. Florida is just getting so much 15:00 worse 15:02 over the past 4 years about 75% of people experiencing 15:06 homelessness have been experiencing that for the first 15:09 time. 15:10 Shelters are at capacity. Grant is at all-time highs. 15:15 Every $100 increase in median rent equals a 9% increase in 15:19 homelessness. And there's been a $550 increase in the past 3 15:24 years. That means a 50% increase in homeless. And so 15:28 we're starting to see that now. 15:31 >> Saltes vision is that every metropolitan area in the U.S. 15:36 has a comprehensive drop-in center for people experiencing 15:38 homelessness. 15:40 As I became a Christian and started to think about how can 15:44 I take this energy that was putting into the world before 15:48 into something that 15:49 got to use. 15:51 >> So we're doing breakfast or serve about 15:54 8 to 16 at the time, 15:57 but that started growing 16:00 sorts. Then we were, sir, I think close to 200. 16:05 >> As we continue to share food, we didn't want to just 16:08 stop and food. 16:10 And so we start to provide clothing, hygiene products, 16:13 which ended up leading to its fundraising for clothing 16:16 trailer. We called our Change trailer. We didn't know at the 16:19 time, but that trailer helped inspire kind of our our model 16:23 moving forward and how we deliver our services. And then 16:27 the next big milestone was a shower trailer. Now we're 16:29 providing food. We start to bring in have barbers, hair 16:33 cuts. We're doing a showers. We're doing clothing and 16:36 hygiene products. And we start to add other services like mail 16:39 services. We added limited storage services charging 16:43 stations for the UN shelter. You sign up for showers but 16:47 there needed to be up comprehensive drop-in center in 16:50 downtown Orlando. Then there needs to be a front door for 16:53 people experiencing homelessness. One place where 16:56 someone can calm and say I want my homelessness to and and a 16:59 case manager can guide them through that process from 17:02 beginning to end 17:03 [MUSIC] 17:06 because of different red tape that a community might face. 17:10 The services are not being able to be offered. So being a 17:13 mobile center, we're able to get around a lot of that red 17:17 tape. We have a prototype that we've created. And once we 17:20 master this prototype, we're going to be duplicating and 17:23 metropolitan areas across the U.S.. 17:26 >> We all are just working together to help provide the 17:31 most vulnerable, not only with their basic needs, the most 17:34 basic human needs, but also to help and their homelessness to 17:38 to revive that, hoping that that one day they do have to be 17:43 in it living on the street. They can be in a home. 17:47 Our hope is that 17:49 you join us and becoming a part of that story here in central 17:53 Florida. 17:55 [MUSIC] 17:59 [MUSIC] 18:04 [MUSIC] 18:06 >> And that a man that is so powerful, what you guys are 18:09 doing meeting the needs of people where they are. How are 18:14 you including spirituality in this? 18:17 >> Yes. So one of the services we offer and and, you know, 18:20 all these basic services and like showers and laundry sa 18:23 basic. But these meaning these basic human needs, right? 18:27 They they build relationship interest and then we get them 18:30 to our case. Management team are spiritual care team. 18:33 Our mental counseling team are spiritual care team actually 18:36 help. They do group 5 studies 4 days a week. They do one-on-one 18:40 Bible studies for those that are interested. They do church 18:43 services on site. They'll do baptisms annually. They do a 18:47 call for baptisms every year and they do visitations for our 18:50 guests to go to the hospital. We had to guess that was was 18:54 working with our case manager moving along. Things were going 18:57 well, he's he got a job. And overnight while he was 19:00 sleeping, he got hit by a car was paralyzed from the neck 19:03 down. And so his whole world turned upside down right by our 19:08 special cares. He went to the hospital. They were visiting 19:10 with him, you know, continuing that relationship because this 19:13 we're not in it. There's no ulterior motive for what we're 19:15 doing, right. We just want to show that genuine love to the 19:18 people we serve and released exemplify who Christ is right. 19:21 And so so then, you know, our special care team may also 19:25 visit our guests to go to prison. You know, sometimes 19:28 some of our guests experiencing homelessness come from the 19:30 prison system, right? And so sometimes when they have 19:33 nothing else going for them, when they come out, no family 19:36 there living on the street, they might turn back to that 19:39 that life. And so they help to create relationship with that 19:42 group as well. If they end up back in prison, they going to 19:45 visit them to check in on them and so on. And then they also 19:50 do things like last year. He actually the 2 weddings for 19:53 guests that moved into housing. So they moved in the housing. 19:56 You met somebody, we're getting married. They called up. 19:58 They call their spiritual care team. He came to the wedding 20:01 for a city that 2 weddings last year and I and then he'll do 20:05 for a memorial services for guests that pass away because 20:07 unfortunately, when you exposed to the elements and you're 20:10 you're living on the street, things happen. And, you know, 20:14 we'll be telling the story of some stories about that later. 20:17 But things happen. 20:18 And, you know, they that they pass away he to memorial 20:21 services to help everyone have closure. And he does house 20:25 blessing. So I guess that we move in the housing they hey, 20:28 hey, can you bless our new home to us, our new place and we'll 20:31 do that. So it's really 20:33 the what what what happens on the spiritual care side is a 20:37 lot of people don't know how to process what they're going 20:40 through through that spiritual lands right there asking the 20:42 question, got, why is this happening to me like what 20:46 what's going on here? And so he's able to help them process 20:49 through that because a lot of the time they need to get past 20:52 that in order to end their homelessness. And so he's there 20:55 to kind of walk them through that process. Yeah, yeah, 20:59 I go back just a little bit as this. 21:02 >> The more I hear about it, this is not a little 21:04 organization tonight. Could be started off that way, but it's 21:07 continued to grow and a girl. So I'll tell us how how you you 21:12 guys at my house, you know, and then how you share the same 21:16 vision for ministry and give us a little bit of your back now, 21:19 because I know there's folks that want to know that and say, 21:22 well, now tell me background. 21:26 >> Yes, I actually met Eric through salt. I had just moved 21:30 to Florida and because God was leading me there to work as a 21:35 teacher on that one of our schools over there. And so and 21:39 I was praying and I said, Lord, I need you to help me find some 21:43 good Christian friends. You know, people that really serve 21:46 you cause that, you know who you're with is we have a call, 21:49 right? So I want to make sure that around good influences. 21:52 And so 21:54 a friend that I knew she said. 21:57 >> Whether you come to salt and I said, oh, I've been praying, 22:01 you know, to be able to volunteer somewhere and to be 22:03 able to me. 22:04 >> Christian godly people. And so I went to salt and then 22:08 I ended up meeting him. We became friends, you know, 22:11 and IBM to, you know, just continuously served through the 22:14 ministry. 22:15 >> And then eventually, you know, we fell in love. Haha. 22:18 >> We've got some leading. But yeah, it's been an amazing 22:23 and is to see the way that God has led salt to see the way 22:26 that he has grown the ministry to see just the miracles happen 22:30 time after time. I mean, it's been just an honor to see God 22:34 working through your teacher. Yes, so I was a teacher. 22:38 But now the school counselors still work in the schools, 22:41 but it was a school counselor. You know, a lot of you guys 22:44 been married for years the year. 22:47 >> Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. There's a lot of 22:49 marriages that come out of saw, you know, and 22:55 >> we I mean, wow. So Eric introduced and know where you 23:00 part of it to melt. 23:01 >> Of intrigue. Yeah. Haha using Jason, our son to palm to 23:07 his wife. Oh, yeah. That is on our board of directors. I so 23:12 you know, Jason makes a joke. He's like I'm at my baby and 23:15 assaults or Yahoo. 23:16 >> He did. He did. And but, you know, it's when you when you 23:21 get into ministry with people in your, you're really in the 23:23 trenches trenches with somebody and you know, and you really 23:27 get to see who they are. Yeah. And and so, yeah. So that 23:31 was been an amazing journey. Yeah, yeah. But some saw has 23:36 has definitely grown a lot over the years for sure. And she's 23:39 Sam big part of that. I have a map that I I put I created to 23:43 show kind of the different locations that we have. And so 23:48 where where and we have some different areas, those those 23:51 red pans are where we are. And so there's the Tampa 23:55 Daytona we go to once a month. We have some several different 24:00 locations in central Florida. And we accept a branch in San 24:03 Diego as well. They just got their first shower trailer 24:07 earlier this year. And so we're really excited about that, 24:10 too. And it's been, you know, it's it's been a journey. 24:14 God has definitely, 24:16 you know, I I remember we first started saw, you know, we had 24:20 all our leaders in Rome. We're up like a volunteer for 24:23 years. I mean, Till 2020, we're all volunteer organization. 24:27 But to make a bigger impact, we realize we need to hire some 24:29 staff, right? And so we ended up going that direction. 24:31 But 24:33 well, we are first starting back in 2011 are being in a 24:35 room with all of our leaders are volunteer leaders. 24:38 I told him I'm like, look, one day we're going to be serving 24:40 so many people that we're going to have to work for this 24:43 organization full-time and and, you know, and ended up 24:46 happening, you know, and and now we have 30 employees and, 24:50 you know, you know, a little over half or full time, we have 24:53 some part timers there operating all these different 24:55 areas serving, you know, at over 500 different people a 25:01 week with over 7,000, 1000 different services and 25:05 resources. And it's it's 25:08 it's been. Yeah, it's it's really humbling. Just to think 25:11 about, 25:12 you know, where God has brought us. Yeah, I'm out. If I'm out 25:15 on the street homeless in Florida where you all are, 25:20 how do I get introduced 25:23 to solve? Yeah. So you know, it's interesting. We do know 25:27 marketing for services like for the unsheltered population, 25:30 right? And a lot of the time, you know, maybe half of them 25:33 have some phones or government phones are not like smartphones 25:36 that can score on social media or whatever. So it's all word 25:39 of mouth. So I remember when we're starting with just food, 25:42 we start with just food word feeding 10 to 15 people 25:44 downtown Orlando. And and I remember we start with just 25:49 feeding 10 to 15 people and those 10 to 15 went to others. 25:53 And I came here come. The scoop really cares. They really care. 25:56 So more people came in and up. And in less than 2 years, 26:00 we had over 300 people are sharing food with with hundreds 26:03 of volunteers. 26:05 And, you know, the way that we grew was all data driven. 26:08 It was about asking what they needed. So we said, let's do a 26:11 survey. What do you guys need? You know what? What do you all 26:14 need? And clothing and hygiene was a big need, right? So then 26:17 we we got clothing, hygiene trailer that we did more 26:20 surveys. And we realized over half of the people are actively 26:24 looking for work that going on job interviews. But those same 26:28 people hadn't showered in 3 to 7 days. Some people going on 26:31 job interviews haven't showered in 3 months and there are going 26:34 on job interviews literally. Remember what the one guy did a 26:37 survey. 26:38 I'd see him all the time and he'd be like, hey, you know, 26:41 I I got a job interview. Pray for me and I'm like, 26:43 yeah, let's pray. No one. And then 2 weeks later, see him 26:46 again at that time were just sharing food every 2 weeks. 26:49 And I saw him again and get that one but got another one 26:53 coming up. So when I did his survey, he was one of them. 26:56 The hadn't showered in 3 months. And it's no wonder he's 26:59 not able to find a job, Brian, so that the surveys helped lead 27:03 kind of the growth of salt. Now we offer 12 different 27:06 services, actually have a little short video that shows 27:09 that those services. Yeah. 27:11 [MUSIC] 27:16 [MUSIC] 27:21 [MUSIC] 27:26 [MUSIC] 27:31 [MUSIC] 27:36 [MUSIC] 27:41 [MUSIC] 27:46 [MUSIC] 27:51 [MUSIC] 27:56 >> I've been in a ministry, but in ministry, it's also a 27:59 business and you have to operate it as a business. 28:04 I'm always a little bit. I don't want to say taken back 28:08 a little bit surprised that you say, well, we need we are 28:11 feeding this. Many people now are feeding hundreds and all 28:14 about this other trainer and then we booked this other. 28:17 We already established early on. You don't have like a huge 28:21 amount of money. You're not a multimillionaire. So. 28:25 >> I've got to find out a little bit. I mean, you're 28:28 you're starting and then you go into the OK now we've got cold 28:32 food, but now I need some calls. And now we need to Hi 28:36 Jane. Now an aide, you know, and you continue to go. Yeah, 28:42 how is this happening? I mean, somehow you've got to be having 28:45 people on that tonight. I don't want to rob anybody of the 28:49 blessing of being able to be a part of salt. So a bit we're 28:53 going to put up your Web site where people can donate. 28:57 Yeah, because what they're doing is incredible. And I 29:01 mean, we can send home. We can talk to people all we want to 29:05 and we can get on the phone or zoom and or Bible studies and 29:07 that's all good. That's all great. But to be able to 29:11 actually go to where people are on the street, they have no 29:15 hope. That's right. There's really many of these people 29:18 have no hope and they have nothing as you said some ago as 29:22 long as 3 months. And then as folks get a job, who's going to 29:25 want to hire you when you go looking like that? So tell us I 29:30 know that people are are helping, but how do you getting 29:34 this all together and how the Lord and yeah, God, God, 29:38 just as we as we dream about the need to want to meet for 29:42 somebody. I mean, like our mail service, we're doing mail for 29:45 over 400 people right now. We're like a little mini post 29:48 office, right saying that because a lot of people want 29:50 know what you're saying. So so when you're experiencing 29:53 homelessness, you don't have an address, right? And so they 29:57 need somewhere to put in something Nash put in their job 29:59 applications, right? They need they need an address to receive 30:03 their Social Security checks and then their paychecks could 30:05 a lot of time when you're experiencing homelessness. 30:08 You've already burned a bridge with a bank. You've overdraft 30:10 you're not a blow up an account. So you get those 30:12 checks sent to them. If if they're in the process of 30:15 getting approved for Social Security and up on top of that 30:18 mail to make sure that they're doing everything timely, 30:21 you know, pat medication that comes in the mail, there's so 30:25 many things. I mean, mail we found male was one of the 30:28 service's most correlated to getting someone over to case 30:31 management. And it's key in helping and homelessness so 30:35 well with mail. We just we're just offering it to like just, 30:38 you know, some was sharing his story with us. We're like, 30:40 yeah, I will receive your mail here. And then another 4 people 30:43 came and then another 50 and another 200. And you know, 30:48 and we're like, well, you know, we just got to keep going, 30:51 you know, put God continues to fill the gap. He uses people, 30:55 I mean, as an example. And this is a beautiful example. We 30:58 we've been visiting 3 of the and now with this ministry 31:01 since 2018, the viewers, the viewers at home, you have seen 31:05 this ministry grow from the beginning to now, actually the 31:09 viewers here at 3ABN paid for half of our first shower 31:12 trailer. And then we were on here sharing about the vision 31:16 to have a shower trailer sharing that that our guests 31:19 that are trying to get off the streets, shelters are full. 31:21 They can be in a shelter. They have nowhere else to go. 31:24 They just they they don't have the income. They need to find a 31:27 job and they have nowhere to shower, right? 31:30 We suites share that with the viewers here and they paid for 31:33 half of that trailer. And it was it was one of the most 31:36 beautiful things and in 3ABN, actually help kind of get us 31:40 going right cause and that bill grew into other things. But 31:43 but, yeah, that that's kind of how God he's been. He's just, 31:46 you know, as we dream about meeting more news for people 31:49 and bringing more people into the kingdom, God provides the 31:52 funds that are needed, you know, and it happened very 31:56 quickly in a short time in me from 2020 to to now 32:01 we've grown our side from 2019 through now. We've grown by 30 32:04 times. It's huge. Yeah, it's and so and only God can you can 32:11 have credit for that because we can't wait. I can't take the 32:14 credit. I I you know, there. I mean, I mean, a lot of 32:17 fundraisers, but to to to go from 90,000 the year in 2019 to 32:21 3 million in 2022, it's it's it's only God can do that. 32:26 You know? I mean, yeah, yeah. And where where you get your 32:29 employees from. So we we go. And we just we recruit on line. 32:35 We we interview everyone, you know, and and, you know, 32:39 a lot of our staff that in the beginning, they start as 32:41 volunteers. You know, they were doing this work for free. 32:44 So that no-brainers, like, yeah, let's let's bring on to 32:47 do this, right. But, you know, other times we go out and we 32:51 see who has the same values. And, you know, we've had times 32:54 where we've hired someone has people really good people and 32:57 they might not identify as Christian. Right? I remember we 33:00 had a an atheist on our team and then believe in God, 33:04 but he shoots heart for people, right? You wouldn't be able to 33:07 tell the difference right on. And so I remember we were 33:11 struggling 1, 1, time and we had run out of all supplies and 33:16 we didn't we. We're going through some challenges with 33:19 cash flow. And we're like, man, we just got to just going to 33:21 have to just wait when we don't have any supplies, you know, 33:24 to to do this. 33:25 And the next day, a church coms with 3, pat, we have prayed all 33:29 together as a team like God provides what we need because 33:32 we want to be able to to continue to meet the needs of 33:35 the people here because it we're seeing I don't often 33:38 mentioned as we see over 100 people a day, 5 days a week and 33:41 our main location sometimes up to hire 50 people in a day. 33:44 Every day we get someone new to our services, at least one 33:47 person up to 15 to 20 new people. And I and and so, 33:53 you know, it's it weighs heavy on us. We can't provide that 33:56 needed, right, because the need continues to grow. But our 33:58 budget doesn't necessarily grow as much as the is right. 34:01 So so we prayed as a team and the next day out of nowhere, 34:05 church comes in a box truck. 3 palaces, stuff. No one had 34:08 talked to them. I I go out there like what? What I like. 34:12 I did. You know that is like now what what are you talking 34:15 about? I'm like we prayed yesterday forgot to bring 34:18 supplies. And now you're here with 3 pounds of all the 34:21 supplies we need. And he's like and we're just clarifying got 34:24 together because that's just how God works. Right? But I 34:27 remember our employee that was atheist. He he was like man, 34:31 got really listen. This is you guys as prayers high. 34:33 >> I yeah. 34:37 >> You know so so anyway, we we 34:41 you know, that's kind of our team, our team, and they're 34:43 they're have huge hearts for people. And, you know, going to 34:48 like when it comes to like bringing hope, right? I mean, 34:51 you know, bringing hope to the people experiencing 34:53 homelessness is one thing bringing hope to our employees. 34:56 You know, it's another and bringing hope to just the 35:00 community at large. Has the community right now is is 35:02 really, really struggling on sheltered homelessness, doubled 35:07 in our area. 35:08 So like one thing that we do every year as we do these 35:12 baptisms, right, we do this appeal for baptisms. 35:18 When you went when someone is when someone gives their life 35:21 to Christ their resolve just skyrockets. They like they want 35:26 to see their case manager 3 times a week instead of the one 35:28 time when we can. I mean, and and we've seen so much happened 35:32 from that. I have a quick video of some recent Baptists. 35:35 We did. We just the other week we did about baptisms at our 35:40 site downtown. So we'll play that. 35:43 [MUSIC] 35:48 [MUSIC] 35:53 [MUSIC] 35:55 [MUSIC] 35:59 >> That is so and a flame and it's so beautiful. You know 36:03 what you guys are doing and the baptism the mean, some churches 36:06 and even that has a people in that and that's small amount of 36:11 time. So that's amazing. 36:13 Tell us about the growing issue of homelessness in that area. 36:18 What's going on with that? 36:20 >> So, you know, as as people saw on the video earlier, 36:24 they did a study and they found that every $100 increase in 36:28 median rent equals a for a 9% increase in homelessness. 36:31 So there's a direct correlation between rent, increase and and 36:35 homelessness increase. 36:37 And so what's what's happening in central Florida right now? 36:40 And and really all over the U.S. is shelters have been 36:43 consistently full for years. No one can get into a shelter 36:47 right now because of that, the unsheltered homelessness number 36:52 continues to rise because they don't have anywhere to go for 36:55 shelter. So they just end up having when someone experiences 36:58 homelessness today some became was tomorrow. They would either 37:03 be sleeping in a car on the street. They have no other 37:05 choice. There's no other option. So we're seeing single 37:08 moms that can keep up with the rising rent were seen on a 37:11 youth and young adults that that just don't have the income 37:14 or don't have family to support them that are becoming they're 37:17 literally sleeping on the street. I saw a young boy the 37:20 other day looked like he was 16 years old coming for a shower, 37:23 you know, and then we have we've seen a lot of seniors, 37:28 huge increase in seniors. 78 easier. 80 year, 80 years 37:33 old. We had a senior. She was 72 years old widow for the 37:38 first time experiencing homelessness the first time at 37:41 age 72 and she had her dog with her and she came to our site. 37:45 Rhett Reese like super read. And those because it's so hot 37:50 outside, she was overheating, the broader and side. And we 37:54 want we are team like they stayed over time. I mean, 37:57 you know, they stayed extra just trying to find a place to 38:00 put this woman 38:02 and there was no place to put her. There was no place we had 38:05 to we we we with the shelter is full. 38:09 We had to teach his this like so sad we had to teach or how 38:13 to survive sleeping on the sidewalk. That's a 70 to 2 year 38:17 old woman because there's nowhere else to put her. 38:20 Now, thankfully our team and as well with other organizations 38:24 gotten off the street. But she had to spend 6 months living on 38:27 the street because because of the lack of a permanent 38:30 supportive housing, the not no shelter, the rent, increase her 38:34 income. She saw fixed income. She can't afford the crazy 38:37 rant. So it's it's just it's something that we're just 38:40 continuing to see every day every day. 38:47 >> What about giving that? I do? You have support from 38:52 churches from Adventist churches, particularly like 38:56 what kind of support you getting? 38:58 >> Yeah, so you know, the Florida conference, they 39:01 support us every year that's been very consistent. Last year 39:04 they gave they actually gave more than any other church last 39:07 year. This Florida conference did. We do have avenues 39:11 churches that common volunteer they give. But we also have 39:15 other groups. We have a Jewish synagogue that donates food and 39:20 volunteers. We have a Muslim group that provides medical 39:25 services targets for free. We have, you know, churches 39:29 that worship on Sunday that donate money that they bring us 39:33 on their pulpit to to talk about the work we're doing and 39:36 and and give checks for the organization and volunteers. 39:39 And and it's it's it's really it's really cool to see kind of 39:44 everyone come together for this cause. 39:47 So, yeah, it's it's it's been good. And that's how we've been 39:50 able to grow, actually brought some pictures, some of the 39:53 trailers that we have to kind of give kind of like a like a 39:57 timeline of our growth and in the kind of in terms of 39:59 trailers. So like good. This was that first trailer on. 40:02 But we lost this in 2016. 40:05 It's literally just a utility trailer that we had carpenters 40:08 going. They build the inside of it to have clothes hanging know 40:12 they can distribute hygiene products and clothing from that 40:14 trailer. So then we did those surveys, right? We found out 40:17 that people were going on job interviews but has showered in 40:20 3 months. So that led to our shower trailer here that 3ABN 40:24 help to find. We're doing about 80 showers a day and that 40:27 trailer, wow, that trailer. You know what we've done 50,000 40:32 showers and the trailer since we've launched in 2018 as and 40:35 and this this trailer right here is our laundry trailer has 40:39 6 washers and 6 dryers and that there's a company that has 40:43 donated all the law. They didn't own a hard $50,000 worth 40:47 of laundry detergent every year. We do 50 loads of laundry 40:50 a day at our site by this week. So that's our laundry trailers. 40:55 It's probably our heaviest rain here. But it's a it's it's it's 40:58 a makes a big difference. We did a ribbon cutting with 41:00 that trailer and actually 41:03 after the ribbon cutting, you know, the mayor was there, 41:07 you know, the city commissioners, all that good 41:09 stuff. So the city actually made a proclamation that called 41:13 it's all day that day that we launched. They can see my wife 41:16 and palmetto. They're holding the proclamation day in the 41:20 city. So we do use that as a big kind of fundraising, 41:24 kind of, you know, event and things like that. So that was 41:28 when we start to really get a lot of support from like local 41:32 government and things like that. That's kind of our set up 41:35 in our downtown location. You see that building. There 41:37 was a another organization. Let us use that building for 41:40 free. And we have a shower and a laundry trailer there set up 41:43 outside 41:45 this trailer. Right here was our first trailer dedicated to 41:48 a new city. So this is about 30 minutes north of Orlando. 41:52 We call it 41:54 snow because it's why, you know, and we do have snow in 41:57 Florida. So, yeah. And so we that that trailer has 3 full 42:03 bathrooms with showers and that goes out to another county 42:06 that's north of us. This trailer right here have a story 42:09 with we launched this trailer. 42:12 And earlier this year, a real estate company actually gave 42:16 the money to purchase that trailer. So we're really I'm 42:19 really grateful. And, you know, again, just another way 42:23 testifying, how got kind of brings random people together 42:27 to help support the mission, the cause. But that trailer 42:30 when we first launched, remember, we did the ribbon 42:32 cutting and immediately after I got a call from another shelter 42:36 in the area 42:38 are women and children's bathrooms are down. They can 42:42 use the showers that case, the bathrooms, 42:44 we need your help. 42:45 So that trailer immediately after we snipped the ribbon on 42:48 that trailer, it went right out to that shelter to sport the 42:51 women and children were affected by that bathroom being 42:54 down, supported them for about a month. But like I you know, 42:57 and I guess before going to the thing I was going to share the 43:01 next trailer, actually, we call it a beast because it's a big 43:05 trail. Actually. It's one before that 43:09 the picture before that it's has both 3 bathrooms and 2 43:14 washers and dryers and there it is 2 washers and dryers in and 43:18 it's a it's a 31 foot trailer. But that's dedicated to youth 43:21 and young adults experiencing homelessness. We serve ages 16 43:24 to 24. That's also a five-day week program separate from our 43:28 main program because the increase is just so high in 43:30 central Florida for youth and young adults, unfortunately, 43:34 like, you know, youth and young adult, 6 escaping human 43:37 trafficking. You know, we have someone right now that we're 43:41 helping out of a situation like that young woman, 19 years old. 43:45 We have a youth that are kicked out of their home youth that 43:49 identify as maybe LGBTQ and they're they're kicked out of 43:52 the House youth that are runaways, a youth java foster 43:57 system. I mean, you name it. There's just so many reasons 44:01 there. But we did the ribbon cutting for that trailers. 44:04 Well, and right after the ribbon cutting, 44:06 there was a fire at another shelter, 44:09 all the man's beds, 250 beds for the man in that shelter. 44:13 We're we're gone overnight and they have to relocate many of 44:17 them and they put Simon in other shelters, but they had 44:21 150 that had nowhere else to go. 44:24 So they were trying to city was scrambling. What do we do when 44:27 you know, we don't want these hire 50 people to be back on 44:30 the street, right? So 44:31 so they ended up. I'm going to a church and church said, 44:34 yeah, you cannot stay here in the jam. You know, you can set 44:36 up your costs and all that. 44:38 But you have to get a shower trailer here because we don't 44:41 we don't have the capacity to handle that. So the city called 44:44 me and they're like, 44:46 Eric, we need your help. 44:47 You know, this is happening. We need more bathrooms here or 44:51 else. We can use this church and we can have a place to 44:53 house these people. And so thankfully we did that ribbon 44:57 cutting. So we're like, alright, yeah, cut the ribbon 45:00 and it went right over to that church to help with with 45:03 showers and bathroom use for those man. So but like thinking 45:08 about those things, I you know, I think about how when we 45:11 increase our capacity for God to fill with with just 45:15 blessings and things to do like he he answers like immediately 45:19 after those trailers are ready. 45:22 They were put into use. They were needed. Imagine if we had 45:25 did the ribbon cutting a day earlier or a week. I mean, 45:29 a day later, a week later and when that wasn't built at the 45:32 exact time, then we wouldn't have been there to be able to 45:34 help those 2 shelters. And it's just amazing how got kind of 45:39 times everything you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But 45:43 >> I'm really thinking right now. I'd like to get your dress 45:46 appear here. Yeah. Website. Maybe. And tell us how we can 45:51 donate if somebody wants to go the Web site tonight. Yeah. 45:54 So. 45:56 >> The the website is www dot salt outreach Dot org. And when 46:02 you go on the website they'll right away. See a window when 46:05 they scroll down a little bit of a donate box where they can 46:07 donate. They can also if some wants to give to the mission, 46:11 they can text 46:13 somersault to 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 46:17 If they text somersault to 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, then then they'll 46:22 get it linked to their phone. And they can view a current 46:24 fundraiser that we're running right now because of some 46:28 challenges that we're facing, unfortunately. And we probably 46:31 will go into a little later little deeper into that later. 46:33 We can talk about it not to where, where, where we're 46:37 needing help for sure right now. Yeah, we had there was one 46:42 of the trailer I forgot to mention to him. That was the 46:44 last trails on black. 46:46 It was the mental counseling trailer. So it's meant to help 46:50 it. So that trailer right there. I think I have another 46:52 picture of someone inside of that. 46:54 So it specifically for youth and young adults and that's to 46:57 provide mental health counseling to people on wheels. 47:00 We could literally meet them where they are and provide 47:02 counseling inside that trailer. Yeah, these trailers don't move 47:06 by themselves. They don't. They do tell me a little about 47:09 that. They take they take some big trucks. Some of them big. 47:13 Those are some big trailer. Yeah. So we have 2 trucks. 47:19 We definitely could use another one I think is where we have so 47:21 many trailers now. But we we we we use those trucks to 47:26 transport them. And and the unique thing about being mobile 47:30 is we can meet people experiencing homelessness where 47:33 they are. And, you know, a lot of time when you're 47:36 experiencing homelessness, you don't have a lot of 47:39 a lot of trust for the system. We've tried over and over 47:42 again. Going back to that hope aspect, right? 47:45 Someone asked me, we've served over 7500 different people over 47:49 the course of the last 4 years. Right? We send them over 47:53 300,000 times. Those 7500 people down. They asked Eric 47:58 what you see and comment like, what's what's the common 48:00 denominator between everyone experiencing homelessness and 48:03 that common denominator isn't necessarily, you know, mental 48:07 health. I, you know, addiction or or lost a job or new getting 48:11 in evicted from a home, 48:13 you know, is some people say, well, you know, mental health 48:16 is I mean homeless. This is caused by mental health issues 48:20 and 48:21 5% of the general population as a severe mental illness. 48:24 But not all of that 5% is experiencing homelessness, 48:26 right? So there has to be a difference. What's what's the 48:28 difference? 48:30 So what we realize is the difference is that when they go 48:34 through that mental health episode, when they start to 48:36 struggle with that addiction, when they get kicked out of 48:38 their home, when they lose their job, they have no one in 48:41 their life that is able or willing to care for them when 48:45 they're going through those times. So when people come to 48:48 us, they don't have anyone else in their corner. There have 48:51 anyone else in their corner that cares for them that loves 48:54 them or that is able to care for them. They don't have the 48:57 resources to care for them and they end up experiencing 49:00 homelessness. So a big part of what we do and who we are is is 49:05 building relationship 49:06 being the people in their corners saying, hey, we're here 49:09 with you, we're rooting for you. You know, we will be with 49:12 you every step of the way to get you back into a home. 49:16 You know. And I'm saying, yes, yeah, amen. 49:19 >> Share one of your own as well. A couple of your victory 49:23 stories. 49:24 >> Yeah, yeah. So one story that's that's always been close 49:28 to my heart is is is Patrick Mom. 49:32 So Patrick, we started to really start to us, hire staff 49:37 and Twenty-twenty. Patrick was one of the people we hired. 49:40 He was he was he would volunteer to help clean the 49:43 showers after each person. 49:45 And, you know, we had and about little over a year earlier, 49:49 and palm actually got to know him really well. 49:53 And, you know, he volunteer with us and he would he would, 49:57 you know, we hired him and he started to do these the do 50:01 these direct services and and and and help with the showers 50:04 and 3 months into his employment. 50:07 He start to lend and 50:09 we're like man, Patrick, is you get that checked out. He's like 50:12 not all good. You known as being the tough things are. 50:16 I'm still good. I'm good. And you know, he's he's maybe 50:19 in his 60's early 60's. 50:22 And, you know, we had celebrates birthday without 50:25 really got to know him. He became part of the family. 50:28 So about, 50:30 you know, after we noticed that he ended up can be in so much 50:34 pain. They couldn't walk anymore 50:37 and we're lie and he's like, OK, I get it checked out. 50:39 So we want to come to the hospital. 50:41 And he the doctor told him he only had a few weeks to live. 50:47 He was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that metastasized 50:51 and spread to his his hip. And that's why he was limping. 50:55 And, you know, when we when we start to work with us, we 50:58 actually ended his homelessness. You know, he's in 51:00 place and he's working with a son. 51:04 What we ended up doing is you want to be close to us and 51:07 closest friends who want to be in the hospital because this 51:10 was a time of COVID restrictions and things like 51:12 that. We want a hotel in downtown and 51:16 we moved them there. 51:18 You know, we we when we visited with him and nice was there to 51:24 we prayed with him and he's like, you know what? When he 51:27 once he got House 3 months earlier, he started studies 51:29 Bible. Lot more starts putting devotions posting devotions on 51:33 Facebook and talking about how God has been good in and and 51:39 he's like, you know what? Before I go, I want to be 51:42 baptized. And so we brought pastor over and he was baptized 51:48 in the bathtub of that room. 51:50 And a week later, 51:53 he was moved to hospice a my wife and I went there right 51:57 when he got there. And we were spending some time with and, 52:00 you know, just prayed with an talked with him a bed and the 52:03 next day, the next morning, Palm Meadows PA minus turn. 52:06 So she went to go and visit with him and 52:10 he passed away while wall. She was holding his his hands o 52:14 and more. And so, you know, that happened near the 52:17 beginning of our of our growth, you know, stage. And it really 52:21 help to put in perspective, really set the tone for what 52:25 we're about to get into and just think about about if you 52:29 hadn't been there. You know, this is so for the Kingdom of 52:34 heaven, that's why we only have about 5 minutes for this. 52:38 Our the end of the and I'm really impressed that. 52:42 >> There's people here and we don't do this very often. 52:45 Those of you watch him do a few 1000 programs. We don't do 52:50 magath on that on the telethon. They don't do those things. 52:53 But there's sometimes those spare really impresses you. 52:56 And I really believe there are people who can give as much as 53:00 $1000 tonight. I know for a fact the if I can use this term 53:05 dollars, Ron and totally on faith right now and know right 53:09 now because what you do, organizations grown so much. 53:12 Yeah, yet you're reaching more and more people and what you're 53:16 doing is exactly what Jesus told us to do it right. And yet 53:20 you're willing to do it where some of the rest of us either 53:22 camp we're not able to, but we can help not only prayerfully 53:26 the financially, and I would love to say and we've got a 53:30 number. You can text if you own and just even Texas or you 53:33 don't have to text us and tell us here you can just go to the 53:37 website and I could put that up on the screen again for a vet. 53:41 And when you go to that, how he's is it to donate. Yeah, 53:46 it's really easy. They just score a little bit click and 53:49 they can go ahead and do it right there. 53:50 >> Yeah, I really think we have the potential here to raise a 53:54 few $100,000 tonight. Wow. So as people there are some 53:58 that I believe can give 1000 at least tonight. And so I feel 54:04 very hypocritical. A fight in Sabha do that myself. 54:08 >> And I already know my loving wife of the least that much, 54:11 Donna. Yes, yeah. And so we're making commitment to our south 54:17 tonight and my own to do that all the time and and to that 54:21 amount. But I would love to see 50 or 100 other people that I 54:25 know you're in a position that you can do that. If you think 54:28 about the whole year, how God has blessed you, you had a 54:32 beautiful home right now. Your drive, beautiful car. 54:35 You have all the food that you want you're able to do. You 54:39 mean 54:40 I was sitting here thinking about ourself. We don't make a 54:43 lot of ministry, but we have a home. We have a roof over. 54:47 It was raining this evening. And so here we are, what we're 54:51 in the shelter when and when not, you know, we have air 54:54 conditioning. And so we're able to do you know, God has blessed 54:58 us. And and you know it, we're in for an mean it to me to 55:03 think about people living right now and the United States of 55:07 America on the streets, a two-year on 73 to understand 55:12 what that would be. I mean, going homeless right now for 55:15 the first time. And how do you react how you respond to that? 55:20 Yeah, how do you do it? And yet there's some of you can give 55:23 500 some of you may just give $5. But if we get 1000 people 55:28 giving $5 at mount up. So I really want to ask you to think 55:32 about it. And this is a play that I may very rarely on here, 55:37 but I believe that we can do something right now. It's 55:41 making a difference in people's lives. And we're glad that this 55:46 pair Chile, but we also need to help people physically. There's 55:49 where it starts to go help these people, you see them 55:53 moving the transition, able to get them is in their lives come 55:57 first of all, just to know somebody cares. That's right. 56:00 That you care no here. Who cares about me. I'm on the 56:04 street. Somebody cares. And then somebody else as well. 56:07 Hey, these people help me and salt. Help me. And it goes on 56:11 and on is says thousands of, you know, menace a meme and 56:16 significant but showers. Yeah, do that every day. 56:20 Twice a day if we want to you can to at home. Most of you 56:23 watching right now, I know that I want you to really pray 56:27 because I know you could give something I want to keep. 56:30 It's on the screen right now. The Salt outreach Dot Org. 56:34 And I'm hoping and praying that you listen to the Holy Spirit 56:37 tonight and say, you know what, we're going to take a break in 56:40 just a moment and maybe want to do it right then. Maybe you 56:43 want to do it after the program. And not only that, 56:45 I'd like for you to go to your church and encourage your 56:48 church members. Talk to the pastor, talked to the owners a 56:52 day. Can somebody and say, look, there's an organization 56:55 and we need to help we need to do. This is spreading out and 56:59 the more you give, the more it can spread out to different 57:02 areas and different states. A lot for you while we're 57:06 taking. We're going take a break and come back and Jamie 57:08 is going to another song for us. But we want you to pray and 57:12 say a quick prayer Lord. I just pray right now you'll be 57:15 with each person watching this program, potentially millions 57:19 around the world for those that can and will that do go to the 57:23 website right now and make that donation to solve them? So we 57:28 just thank you, Lauren, for hearing answering prayers. 57:30 We're going to have to take a break here in just a moment. 57:34 But we want to thank you for what you do. It's not easy. 57:37 It's a great sacrifice. And thank you. I know your support. 57:42 >> Yourself. We have to take a break. We'll be back just a 57:45 moment. 57:46 [MUSIC] 57:51 [MUSIC] 57:56 [MUSIC] |
Revised 2024-07-12