November 5, 2024 • 56 mins
The Carsons had “The American Christian Dream” of a nice house and golfing at the country club. But then their son spent a weekend as a homeless person and everything changed. They have since sold their dental practice, founded the Memphis Dream Center, and have lived life with people who didn’t look just like them.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Joe and Kelly Carson, right after these brief messages
from our general sponsors. So, you guys, soldier business and
(00:31):
you're picking up bread from Panera and you're not making
peanut butter and jelly because your son told you when.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He was except for us, that's about.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You're doing waters. You're cooking breakfast. You're actually trying to
build relationships. You're being consistent your motives. By the way,
the Turkey Person's story, if people serve in soup kitchens
or give turkeys on Thanksgiving, please don't stop doing that.
You don't misunderstand the intent of the story and the
lesson of the story. The lesson of the story is
(01:03):
what is your motive and how consistent are you willing
to be? And your motive has to be simply for
the edification of someone who is not as quote blessed issue.
So now you're there, but you don't have a thing
yet and just handing out free bread and eating breakfast
(01:24):
once a day. But good good on you doing more
than most. But I think you must something clicks in
your heads that says, well, this actually could develop into something,
and we need to make it bigger than just a
Thursday breakfast. Right? Is that the story?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Even I would say even more than that, It was
the sense of how do we how do we view
the challenges of our city from an accurate perspective? I
knew how to view them from a suburban perspective, and
there is an urban perspective that is just as tainted.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
In many ways. And so I think when I say an.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Accurate perspective, very few people take the time to ask.
We want to solve a problem, but we see a
visible problem. We see kids with those shoes, Well, we
need to go get shoes for the kids, And so
we think we're solving a problem, but you don't recognize
(02:34):
that there is something behind the reason that that child
has no shoes.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
One of my guests about six months ago said, I
think he quoted Bishop to too, but it was somebody
really smart, but someone like that. He said, we can
continue to pull kids out of the river and save
their lives, which is a beautiful thing, but eventually we
need to go upstream and figure out why they're in
the water in the.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
First place, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And so what we did is we literally really shifted.
So as we were meeting a tangible need, we were
really learning. So every week was a was a was
a matter of what's going on? How did it happen?
What are you doing about it? Where do you go?
And when they would say I don't know, then I
(03:18):
would start researching and so uh, and I will tell
you that so many who are lost in a in
a very precarious position don't recognize that we do have
many life preservers floating around in the water. They just
don't know where to go to get them.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
And they're not aware.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
They're not aware. And so in the seven years that
we did ministry on the streets, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You're saying the people you seek to serve, there's life
preservers everywhere, they just don't even know where to ground.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I don't even know where to ground.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And so like we were able to get twenty six
men and housed permanently off the street. None of them
had been on the street for fewer than five years.
We were able to get them permanently housed.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
The city of how long into this work several years?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
But all it was and we didn't provide them any
housing or any money. All we did it as we
we kept asking questions and we would introduce them to
the life preserver that was already there. And you just
continue to make those connections and many of them, Well
I was going to go to the soci security office,
(04:39):
but it didn't go, you know, and well, I'm a veteran.
I'm a veteran, and they told me I can't just
do this. Well, did you realize that veterans get in
a preference if you do if you take it this way?
And so just just walking them through all the hoops
that are there, but they need an advocate. Most people
(05:00):
that are are locked behind what they see as an
impenetrable wall simply need an advocate to show them that
there are doors already there.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
All right, So again I'm trying to keep it chronological
because before that, at some point you founded the Memphis
Stream Center based off a Los Angeles illustration. I think,
So take me to that to then get to where
(05:30):
we're going.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
So in twenty ten, and I want to say it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Was a bar chronologically, that's two years after selling the business.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was a twenty ten CENTUS.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yeah, but there was a study. I think it was
a barnut, but I don't want to I'm not positive
now I'm trying to remember. But anyway, Memphis was named
to the Hungry City in the Nation really and yes,
in twenty ten, meaning that we had food and security
rates higher than some world countries in certain zip codes
(06:03):
of our city. And there are several zip codes that
are complete food deserts still to this day, meaning they
have the residents have no access within that zip code
to healthy food. There are no groceries, you know, no
fresh produce.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So so if you don't have a car and you
don't have a way to get there, or if you
don't have gas.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You know, I mean, if I don't have money to
put gas in my car. So what we realized was
that families and children were literally walking to the corner
little market or gas station and that was their sustenance.
And then we began later absolutely hot Cheetos. But anyway,
(06:44):
so we had a school principle actually went to church
with that taught in a Title one school here in Memphis.
So we started asking her questions, that's really and she said,
you know, I have children that from the time they
leave school on Friday until they come back on Monday.
They do not have a meal. They may have a
bag of cookies or a bag of chips, but they
don't have a meal. And so we knew that some
(07:08):
people were doing the weekend backpack program that type of thing,
but they were only doing it for which it was good.
I'm not that in a criticism, but for say fifty
children in the school, the fifty children that needed the
most according to the counsel or whatever. Well, so we
started thinking what if and Pastor Matthew Barnett, who leads
(07:31):
the Los Angeles Stream Center founded it, said to our pastor,
what if you guys buy some old bread trucks or
some construction just start feeding kids, giving kids food. Your
kids need it, you know. And so we ended up
purchasing a fleet of old trucks and we started.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Truck stick shiel I was like the only one who
could drive. Nobody knew how to drive a stick ship.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So basically we started with this one school where this
prince was. She said, all of my children need push
on the weekend. It was at the time. It's now
a charter school, but it was Shannon Elementary in North Memphis.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
That's so yes.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
So anyway, so we started there two hundred and forty
two children, and we thought, what if we provided them
a food bag for the weekend that would cover seven
meals and five or six snacks I think. And that's
how we started. And so we started looking at what
could we put in there and that a child could
do themselves if a parent's working, because many of our
(08:35):
parents that are working, especially if their single moms are
working hourly jobs and they're working on the weekend. So
we did pop top tuna with crackers and you know,
things that would get them through a weekend oatmeal, that
could put water with and so we started doing that. Well,
it quickly turned into as schools began to hear about it,
Hey callin us, can you do my kids need this?
(08:57):
My kids need this?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
What did the money come from?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Well, so we started with our church just donating food
on the weekends. We wouldn't have a bag fill a bag.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Year and I had no budget.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Yeah, we didn't have a lot of budget. We and donors.
I mean, people are generous when you especially when you
start talking about children, you know. And so that's how
we started doing what we do. We founded the Dream
Center that year because we thought, and that was another
thing funding, we need to be able to sustain this
because more and more and so by the end of
(09:32):
that first year, I think we were doing about a
thousand children a week.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Are you kidding? No, a thousand children a week.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Friday we would show up to the schools with a
group of volunteers. We would hand up the bags. Of
schools were amazing the principles. They would left the children
up fifteen minutes early on Fridays so they could come
through the cafeteria and get their food bag for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Were the kids appreciative?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
They were? Now I will tell you a couple.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Of us went home and was stolen by older kids.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Well, we don't know, and that therein we don't know,
and so so so the kids. What we figured out
too was the children would take out the things they wanted,
and we started noticing things being thrown on the other road,
like can goods or different which a family could use.
The parents would love it, but the kids don't want to.
(10:24):
They want the because and we also realized we had
to put some snacks in there or they wouldn't get it.
They wouldn't want the bag. So we would put a
bag of cheetes, or is something fun for the kids too?
And so that we did that, and then that evolved
into some other things. So we'd call our feeding programs
feed Memphis, and we have several things that run under
(10:46):
that banner. But that's what we did for a couple
of years. Then we started realizing what was happening, and
so we.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It makes me angry when I hear what you just
told me, and I haven't no dog in the hunt.
Did it come on? You can't be that understanding that
when you drove down the street and you think about
all the work and all the volunteers and money that
other people could have been spending on their own children
laying in the gutter on the side of the road. Uneaten,
(11:16):
Please tell me that had to have bothered you.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
It bothered me. I don't think I was ever angry.
I think it bothered me because I knew that the
families and the parents needed it, and and the principals
were great. We went to the principals and said, hey,
this is what we're noticing. They called the kids in
and it stopped, which was crazy because they said this
one school in particular, he said, if you do that,
(11:41):
we will stop this. You will never get a bag again.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
And because they were throwing them out the bus.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Almost overnight it changed. Really we had a few like
on buses and used the chances, weapons, all the crazy
things with kids that could happen. So then we started
so that has evolved into a couple of other things.
(12:07):
So we do a monthly well and COVID like everything.
COVID changed everything because we could the schools weren't in session.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
COVID hit. We were doing about sixty five hundred.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Kids a week and we're like, how are we going
to be volunteers? Well, on Thursday evenings when we packed
the bags, we probably had about one hundred and twenty
volunteers coming out everywhere, and we had a food where
we have a food distribution warehouse and they would come
to the warehouse and.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You always packed the sixty five hundred bags we were
and arranged to get them to that had to.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Have been on every truck and then we would have
teams of ten volunteers go to every school school. Yeah,
to go to the schools and pass them out on
Friday afternoons and then COVID hit and we can't be
at school. So we started doing the drive through so
where parents could come drive through and we did it
at the schools and because the schools were providing hot meals,
(13:00):
the day they were giving out the hot meals, we
would go with the red bags and the parents could
take the bags home. Then during COVID, we secured a
partnership with DoorDash and they began delivering the red bags
to the homes for free and they pay and Amazon
did food boxes for us, and so what we did
(13:21):
family food buys. So what we realized and then DoorDash
said we are hiring. And so what was really amazing
is some of the moms who were receiving the red
bags began to drive for door Dash and it gave
them a job and they would come and pick up
their kids' bags and pick up twenty others and go
deliver them, which was really a cool.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It was really a great We got to see a
lot of things come together. But again that was ten
years of sweat equity, and.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
So that has but that has all of all. What
we realized at that point was if we can get
them to the doorstep of the family, no food is.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Wasted, We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So now we do several things. So we partner with
another organization that serves refuge Empowerment r EP and they
serve about two hundred children every afternoon and families in
the Binghampton area who are immigrants or refugees, and so
we provide food for them every month and they do
a weekly basically, it's like the weekly food bags. We
(14:34):
take the pallets of food to them and then they
distribute it. We have a pop up grocery once a
month and we literally transform the gymnasium at one of
our dream centers into a grocery store for families. They
where families get to choose what they want rather than
us just giving them something. We're like, we want, I
want to go choose what I mean. There are some
my kids may not want green peas, my family doesn't
(14:56):
neat that. I don't want to take that. And so
we've we've evolved as we've learned. We've evolved realizing it
if we can provide dignity and if we can provide
an experience, like we ask ourselves off and what would
I want? What would I want somebody to do for
me today? And so now families come in, we have
(15:20):
fresh produce fresh meat. Amazon provides us about twenty five
pallets of new returned items every month because they get
a lot of returns, and we pick up about twenty
five pallets a month from one of our local Amazon warehouses,
so families get laundry, detergent, hygiene products.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This is a pop up grocery store.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We call it pop up our pop up grocery, and
we set it up on Thursday and Friday. Families come
in on Saturday. They have shopping times, so they're signed
to time. They sign up for a time to come in.
They have about twenty minutes to go through and get
what they need. Yes, well, yes they do. On their
family sites our volunteers that they are no they have
(16:04):
a and we've tried to make it again where they're
not a number, and so they have a really tiny
little blue or yellow sticker and they just stick it
on and that way nobody has to ask them how
may you know? They just know as they come through.
Our volunteers know, oh they're a family of four under
their family a fiber above and they get their food
according to how many they're in their household, and.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
They get to choose it. And I think that's great.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And then we have a shopper that goes with them
and somebody to carry their groceries as they.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
So we load them in the car. So it's a
we try to create that five star experience, that's what
we like to call it, where they feel like they
are valued. We have people in the waiting area visiting
with them. We have snacks and drinks, coffee, water, so
that you know, and so they we want them to
come in and feel like you're the stars of the
(16:55):
show today. You know you're and so we do that.
Then we have food boxes and we do provide a
monthly food box and we pivoted to that and those
are all delivered directly to the parents or the caregivers.
So we do a couple of different things. So we
have the second Sunday of every month. We call it
doorstep Delivery, and on Sunday afternoon, volunteers sign up and
(17:18):
we have a box labeled with a family's name and
address and phone number, and the volunteer picks it up
and takes it delivers it to their doorstep. The goal
of that is that they're going to the same doorsteps
every month and they're beginning to develop a relationship with
that family, and then we deliver food boxes to several
(17:40):
schools and the parents come to the gymnasium once a
week and pick them up. One of the schools, we
actually take our trucks and park in front of the
school at the end of the day and the parents
pick them up come up there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
What is the Family Advocacy Center.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So our Family Advocacy Center we really that is our
Highland Dream Center. We have two locations and that is
an basically you walk in. We have a cafe, We
have an indoor playground, a trauma informed playground for children.
We have a laundry trailer where families can do their laundry.
We have a baby boutique. We provide school uniforms. We
(18:14):
have a small food pantry there and it's basically we
work a lot. We partner with DCS, so that's all.
Most of the families that come there are referrals from
Knowledge Quest, Agape, several nonprofits, and but a large percentage
are from Bethany Children's Services or DCS. And what we
(18:35):
realized when we open this, we started meeting with DCS
and we actually had in mind that we were going
to do something to support foster families because there's such
a crisis in Shelby County of children in the system.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's not just Shelby Country, yeah, not just Shelly Country.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And so what we realized as we began to meet
and talk with dcs, she began to talk about all
the kids in the system and we're going every day
and having to remove children from their homes and this
and that, and I just we're just sitting there and
I looked at her and I said, so, who's walking
with the families who are losing their children? Is anyone
(19:12):
walking them to a place of health and homeness so
they don't lose their kids into the system, Because we
all know once a child's in the system, I don't
care how good the foster home is. The statistics are horrendous,
you know, of being becoming an in at prison, homelessness,
never graduating high school. All the stats prostitutes, yes, that
(19:33):
go along with that. And she said, you know, that's
a good question. And I said, so what if we
you know that's a gap. We are always looking where's
the gap? Why don't we step into that world? And
so we now with our Family Advocacy Center, we focus
on the preventative side. So how can we walk a
(19:54):
family to health and homeness so that they won't lose
their child, or how can we support a kinship family
so the child can stay within the family and not
go across the town school. That way they can stay
at the same school, they get to see their family.
Because honestly, if a grandmother that's already living in poverty
gets a call and say, hey, we're gonna put you,
(20:16):
We're removing the kids, can you take them? You have
to have a bed for every child. There are four children.
You have to have a bed for every child. You
have to have some type of a chest or something
for them to put their clothing in, or we can't
bring them to you. So we provide now twin beds
and chess. We support a lot of kinship family so
the child can stay within the family unit, even if
they need to be removed from maybe mom or dad
(20:39):
it's not healthy. If an aunt can take them, if
a grandmother can take them, you know, something like that,
where they can be in a healthy home, they still
are within the family unit. And then we have what
we call parent cafes, and those are small groups basically
for it's pure support groups for parents or caregivers. Read
to Lead yep, oh no, that's the state.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
That's what That's the start out of everything we do.
I think it not only is the thing that we
do best, but it is the most important thing that
we do to change a generation.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Tell us, So Read delete is.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
An afterschool program, but it's all about literacy and leadership.
But honestly, we don't really focus a lot on literacy,
which is amazing because the statistics, let me get that
out right, The statistics tell us that if a child
can't read about third grade, you know the story I do.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
There's actually another really great organization that's nationwide now that
was started in Memphis called Coaching for Literacy that does
and has done an enormous amount of research and the
demographics that they throw out there, but they say, exactly,
if you boil all the research they've done down day,
(21:54):
if you're not reading on grade level by third grade,
you are like seventy percent. Yeah, more to be in poverty,
in jail or whatever. So about third grade. All the
work we do after third grade is great, but the
work up to third grade is really what's the most
important and formative. According to the metrics operis.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Up to third grade, you read, you learned to read.
Up after third grade, you read to learn. And if
you can't read, you can't learn. And so it is.
It is a true and so so this is.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Our ten start in twenty fifteen with twenty students, we
did a pilot a year. So, yeah, twenty second grader.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Twenty second grade.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I thought we start with second grade because that third
grade is the issue, right, So we started with second grade.
At the end of the year, eighty five percent of
those students could read that grade level.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
What was the starting percentage? Ten? Ten?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And basically none of them.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But just let's just hang on. Ye just fact that
in the United States of America that only ten percent
of second graders in a city school system can read
on grade level, That in and of itself should scare
us to death.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Well, I mean we're what we're ranked almost thirtieth I
think in the world now education system in America. So
our school systems are failing. I mean, there's no doubt
we've got to change something or we're going to continue
to fall behind.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And it's a whole it's not it's not the school system.
It really does take a village. It's all of us
working together, including the parents, the teachers, the nonprofits, the churches, whatever,
that reading stories at night. You know.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
No, it's interesting. Now, this is one of those up
a tree squirrel things. But I have an office in Shanghai,
have an office in Coachman. I do business in forty
two different countries. So I see the world as a
function of my business. There is poverty in Vietnam, unlike
(24:05):
y'all have ever seen in Memphis. It's even worse, but
in Vietnam, like ninety eight percent literacy rate. So it's
not just poverty. Yeah, it's also not just having funding
for schools, because the schools in Vietnam oftentimes don't have walls.
(24:27):
They look like a thatch hut. But their kids have
ninety eight percent literacy. So what's missing the family?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
That's exactly exactly. And and so for us even so
the kids. And then what we did was the first
two years we focused heavily on literacy and we added
We thought, we'll start in second grade, we'll add a
grade every year. And of course then we had other
schools calling, like we did with the feeding Hey can
(24:57):
my kids come? We want and so.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know, you're feeding the kids and teaching the kids.
When do they just say, why don't you just run
the school ahead?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Actually, sorry, they've tried.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
So this year we have two hundred three children in
after school program and we have two sites on yes
read to leave, one in Fraser, one in Raleigh. And
what we realized a couple of years in, we thought,
you know, let's have let's let's all sit at the table,
let's have parents, let's everybody, let's have school administrators, let's
(25:32):
have teachers, and let's have our team, and let's talk
about what the kids need. So I we as we
began to talk, I'll never forget that evening. They we
just started making doing whiteboard, start whiteboarding it. And we
have this whole list of things the kids, you know,
at list as long as my arm of things they
wanted from an after school program. I said, okay, we're
one program. We have the kids a couple hours in
(25:54):
the afternoon. Obviously we can't do everything. Tell me your
top three and they had different things, but everybody around
the table set exposure because they said the children never
many of them, never step outside their neighborhoods. We took
the kids one day down to the Pyramid bowling and
(26:14):
we pulled up on the bus and they were like,
miss Kelly, is that the ocean? Is that the ocean?
They had never seen the Mississippi River and they lived
ten minutes from it, you know, And so we realized,
So we developed an enrichment program along with the literacy
and the leadership piece, and so now our kids.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
It is phenomenal to me. I'm sorry to interrupt you,
but it is phenomenal me that a child growing up
in Memphis, Tennessee, I had never seen the Mississippi River.
It's only the biggest river, like, and it's only and this.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Isn't Memphil of Miles, this isn't just Memphis.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So one of my best friends grew up in Chicago
on the south side in Inglewood, got our son. He
lives here in Memphis now. He said, until he went
to the Army, he had never left a ten block
radius and had never seen a white man in person.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Only on TV.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I interviewed. I interviewed a guy early in this who
grew up southside Chicago and his dream, now this is
his life dream, was to see the Sears Dour. Yeah,
he grew up in Chicago. He couldn't even go outside
his three block radius. It was too unsafe to cross
(27:31):
his three block radius just to get to downtown Chicago
to see a building that was his. If your dream,
if your quest for life is to get across town,
how in the world are you going to have dreams
of being an accountant or a doctor.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
And the answer is you won't.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
You won't if you've never seen it in person, not
on TV. If you've never seen it in person, you
can't dream of yourself.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So it's interesting that even the parents said access or exposure, exposure,
access some things.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Yeah, So now the kids plant and grow their own garden.
They have music production classes, they have tap and ballet,
they have culinary arts classes.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
So they learned to get food on their own.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, and we're teaching them. Yes, all of this is
part So we do five days a week and now
we've expanded to three hours in the afternoon to fit everything.
And they get a hot meal before they go home,
and then the parents we do family dinner nights once
a month, so we're all sitting around the table eating
dinner together, visiting, talking. We have other things throughout the year,
(28:37):
field trips, different things like that, and then two years ago.
Have you ever heard of Ron Clark, the Ron Clark
Academy in Atlanta. Ron Clark, you should watch his story
on Amazon Prime. But he was a young teacher that
grew up in I think North Carolina, I don't know, somewhere,
ended up in Harlem, like his second year of teaching
(28:59):
and one of the worst classes this school. They kept
having teachers quit, and he began to realize, if I
can just number one bill relationships with their families and
number two teach them to their bent. These kids have
high trauma, high aces like I don't. They can't be
expected to sit in a desk for eight hours a
(29:21):
day and learn. So he developed all these alternative methods
of teaching, and now he has an academy in Atlanta.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I think this is stand together, yea.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
So we sent our team down there for training and
now we do something called we've done the last two years.
It's called the Amazing Shake, and it's something with the
Wrong Clark Academy and schools from all over the nation
participation and internationally actually, and so basically, the Amazing Shape
teaches kids life skills and soft skills. So so if
(30:00):
you walked into our Dream Center read to lead program today,
some of the children would probably come up, shake your
hand and say, Hi, my name is so and so
what's your name? Have you ever visited the Dream Center before?
Would you like to have a tour of the Dream Center?
You know? And these are third grader, fourth graders, fifth graders,
and so we began to teach that. Well, then the
Amazing Shake is a competition, and so the kids prepare
(30:21):
all year and in the spring we have Last year
we had forty entrepreneurs, executives, businesses come out and we
set up our gym and they have forty They had
forty stations. At one station, one of the Toyota locations
came out and had a car and the kids have
to sell a car. And so they go to there
and they have to learn to sell a car sales experience.
(30:42):
One was like the Tonight Show in their interviewed how
do they do an interview? And then the winner gets
to go to the national competition in Atlanta. Well, last
year our judges could not decide on one winter, so
they said, we want to pay for five kids to
go to nationals. One of our girls made it in
the thirty of the nation. We were so proud of her.
(31:03):
And it's all these competitions. They have to get up
and answer questions in front of the crowd, they have
to go to different stations. It's incredible. And our young guy,
I think he's thirty six now, that leads it, young
black man and Leno has such a heart for the kids.
But he's incredible. And so what we are seeing when
(31:25):
Jo said, we're not so focused on literacy literacy anymore,
what we're seeing is as we give the kids things
and we put things in front of it, and they
drive all of our enrichment classes. Whatever they want, we
do our best to get it in front of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
The robotics we've done, I mean it's hosting.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
All the things. But anyway, we let them whatever they want,
we do our best to get it there because then
they can start dreaming about their future. What we've seen
is now literacy rates grades are going up. So at
the end of last year, one of the schools, Coleman Elementary,
where our kids come from, some of our kids called
(32:01):
us and said, we want you to know that we
just got our test results back and every second grader
in your program is reading at her above grade level,
and they said, in every student in your program scored
higher than any of the kids in the school on
their math and literacy test. And it's not that we're
sitting every day teaching that. It's that we are exposing them.
(32:24):
We are getting them excited about learning, excited about their futures,
and they're dreaming about what could be.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Do you know who Gary Karpov is. He was the
world championship chess guy in the eighties. It was Kasparov
and Karpov, two Russian guys, And Karpov was a scientist
and he did a study and it was a twenty
year study. And his control group or kids that did
(32:55):
not play for us, who went through all kinds of
testing prior to the study, and his other group was
a group who tested just like the control group did
prior to chess, but then taught them chess and taught
them a lot of chess. And basically it came out
after three groups of like fifty kids each over the
(33:18):
course of five year studies, maybe it's four groups. At
any rate, it wasn't that smart kids played chess. It
was that chess made smart kids.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
And that's exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It's it's the it's the spatial recognition, it's the planning ahead,
it's the the ability to think about what your opponent's
next move is going to be. So it's anticipation. It's
in all of that exercises the synopsis in your brain,
(34:00):
and your brain is a muscle, and it actually increases
that muscle's ability to function. Yep, to me, that's exactly
what you're saying. That's exactly the same thing.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And we do a you'll need to come out this fall.
I have to make sure you get an invite, but
we do at the end of the year what's called
read to leads got Talent, So it's America's got talent
to read the leads got talent, and the kids get
to showcase everything like all of their enrichment for the year.
And so what was really exciting for us is two
years ago, a little girl sang a solo and a
(34:36):
little boy played the guitar he'd learned he had taken
the guitar class and played, and she sang. We had
a voice coach come out because she was really interested
in seeing So a FedEx executive cout came out once
a week and coached her and gave her voice lessons
and she sang and her mom was just was crying,
and we were like, oh, you so excited. She goes.
You don't understand, she said. When we brought her here
(35:00):
at the beginning of this year, she wouldn't even look
anyone in the eye. She was so shy. And now
she's up singing. And this last year she wrote her
own song and sang it because we did a songwriting class.
So the evolution is, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
That's a long way from taking one day open their
rolls and the outed apart.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It is, but we've allowed the people that we served
to could kind of tell us what the next thing was.
So really other than the guys on the street. Once
that study came out and told us told us how
much hunger you know that we were the number one
hungry city, we began like, Okay, what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Where?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Where are where are the food deserts? Where are the
kids really going cause? And so at the time North
Memphis three went away, Start I went away, seventy six
percent of seniors and children literally were what they called
considered hungry, food insecure, food food insecure. And so we
(36:10):
were like Oh that's crazy. I mean that aren't those
the people were called as believers to take care of
the orphans and the widow right, the seniors.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And the children.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
And so we just decided that we would we would
step in. Well, we called the school system when we
started with the red bags to say hey, we're just
letting you know. We started with the school with the
park next door. Hey, we wanted you to know, we're
going to go to the park next door on Friday
and we're going to hand these kids. So if the
kids run over here before they get on the bus,
just know what's going on. And they said, well, why
(36:42):
don't you come onto the school campus.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And then it was like, why don't you come inside
check them out early. We'll let the kids out.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Early on Fridays.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
And so the school system invited us in and then
one of the principals said, can you help us with
our literacy? So we started reading to them. Then he said,
what about an after school program?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
So we started.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So you're saying the principal and the teachers they actually cared,
they do care, But there's this out there that the
teachers in the schools don't there they do care, they're
just so under resourced, and they're dealing with the generational poverty.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
They're having to do everything except teach. I mean, they
really are.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
It's they're in such a challenging situation.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
So five plus million meals provided to children since twenty eleven,
six hundred and twenty one children have enrolled in red
Delete program. Since twenty fifteen, eighty three point three percent
of children in your program. I've seen an increase in
reading scores and a decrease in school suspension. Yes, more
(38:02):
than three hundred adults have graduated and received their high
school diplomas through your Family Enrichment Program, and over four
hundred families resourced, three hundred and fifty five school uniforms,
seventy seven twin beds, two in seventy eight baby store visit,
one hundred and fifteen food boxes and counting.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yes, those are old those are old stags.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Those are stats from ours I could get. But the
bottom line is this is a dentist and a mom.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Who had no idea what we're doing. We still don't,
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
But the point is our belief set that the thing
that's really going to change our culture, our siety is
an army of normal people seeing need and filling it.
It's exactly right, you are it. What does it make
you feel like?
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I think for me, it's extremely humbling. I think it's
humble that the families that we get to walk alongside
allow us into their world and allow us into their
lives and call us friends. I think for me, you know,
I have a group of moms that I get together
with about every six weeks and we go to we
have a girl's night out, we go to dinner, and
(39:17):
they're all single moms and whose kids are have been
or are in our program. And a few months ago
we were out and one of them said, miss Kelly,
thank you so much for doing this, thank you for
being our friend, thank you for being with us. We
need you. And I looked at her and I just said,
you know, Teresa, thank you for saying that. But I
(39:38):
want you guys to hear me, and I want you
to really hear me. I need you so much more
than you need me. And that's it for us. It's
our world has expanded, and I've learned so much from
the people I get to walk with every day. I've
learned that people living in poverty are some of the
(39:59):
most generous people you'll ever meet. I know that when
they bring me a gift, it is a true sacrifice
that they're giving up something to give to me. And
they are compassionate, They love their neighbors, they love us.
(40:20):
I've never felt so loved, so for me, it's it's
and I think I heard somebody say this recently, and
I'm going to steal it because I think it's I
would much rather focus not on what we have done,
but how much still needs to be done, because there
is great need and there are people every day that
(40:42):
just really need someone to look them in the eye,
to give them a hug and again say I believe
in you, I care about you. You know you ask
me how I feel. I think it's humbling, but I
don't feel like we're done. You know, there's so much
more to be done.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
We six to eight weeks ago to the segment on
care Portal and understand with aren't you guys working? How's
that work for you all?
Speaker 4 (41:10):
It's great. So we get referrals from Portal, probably daily.
I get an email or two, and if we can
fulfill the need, depending on what the family needs, whatever
is on the list, whatever they need. We've provided a
lot of beds through care Portal.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Are you aware of sleeping Heavenly Peace?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yes, we are. We've actually Alex and I have discussed
sleep well.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
What I was reading the twin beds and the bed
thing at all. Yeah, man, that almost seems to fly
right in.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
There are a lots of connections, like actually reached out
to them.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Yeah, And this is one of my passions, is connecting
because there are answers in the city.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It's just like you're talking about the life preservers that
nobody knows they're floating out there the can save.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And the challenge is is the people that have them
don't want to talk to the person who is another.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
One, and oftentimes there is the silent thing going.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Only just work together.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
The solutions are available and we are beginning to see that.
In the disaster world, we built an entire communication platform
just to deal with that, and we are now with
these last two hurricanes that have come in. Organizations are
working together now like they've never worked before, and you
just have to get people talking.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
But we're seeing that in the city. I think we're
beginning to see I mean, we have some amazing partners,
hope works a gop a knowledge quest. As I said before,
I need to stop naming because I'll miss somebody. But
beginning to work together, and hey, and we have a
whole for sure. We've made now that if I can't
(42:49):
meet that need or if I can't help you, hear
someone who can the connectivity Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
So, which is honestly what care portals about.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Exactly portals.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Not everyone is called to sell their business and jump
headfirst in.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No, you'd be crazy to do that.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
We've established that. But and I worry sometimes when we
tell these stories that people hear that, and while they're
inspired and feel amazed by the work you've done, I
don't want them to also feel like, oh, well, if
I can't do that, I might as well not even try.
(43:36):
I have a friend thought about becoming a missionary. He
grew up in the grew up in the foster care thing.
And a friend who is a pastor said, you don't
need to do that. You'd screw that up because you're
an entrepreneur and you're great at it. So this guy's
now a billionaire and he gives away every dollar. A
(43:58):
few years ago they he and his wife decided, okay,
we've got our investments. And not that he does not
make money, but at some point and then not too
long ago, they decided with their church and their organization
to give way every dollar profit they had from that
point forward, and he has. Now, if he'd have been
a missionary, he might could have helped have very many people.
(44:19):
But look what he was able to do by staying
in what his tools were. So, when you think about
your relationship with money, ability, and time, you guys, to
me are a really interesting example of someone who looked
(44:43):
at their relationship with their business and said, well, that's
encumbering me and I need to jump. But not everybody
can make that jump, and that jumps not for everybody.
But you still have a relationship with you, your money,
your talents, in your time. And I think a great
(45:05):
example of that is not the two of you, but
all the people who've surrounded you. You've got people all
around you who haven't sold their businesses. Yes, but without them,
y'all do nothing.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
We could not do it.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Yes, talk about that relationship with time, talent, and money,
not with y'all, but with your organization as a whole.
As an example for our listeners to say, well, I
don't have to always just jump at first like these
two crazy people did. But there's all kinds of places
I can get involved with crazy people and help.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yes, I would say, anytime there's a need, we immediately
go to what is the missing resource? And you mentioned
time and talent and treasure. We hear that all the time.
But truly, the greatest missing resource most of the time
is simply people.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Army of normal folks, the army.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Of normal folk.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
It's just simply we need. So if you were to
ask me today, what's the greatest need at the Dream Center,
I mean, I've got two hundred and four kids. What
if I had a mentor for every one of them?
What if I had a professional, you know, an attorney
once a week came in and took a group of
kids and did his own little hour with some of
(46:25):
our older seventh and eighth grader about about how the
world really works.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
What about a banker talk about financial literacy?
Speaker 3 (46:33):
So you know, I mean that so so the greatest
resource we have are people. Yes, money matters, and data
drives dollars, and we all know that you can't run
a nonprofit without money.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
But it's really Kelly mentioned something earlier.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I think this is probably the most important thing that
she said out of all the great things she said.
But it's not about what we've done, it's about who
have we yet to see make that transition. My goal
in life is to connect people to resources and people
to people, because.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
We know, and you know.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
That unless you're connected to a person, that door is
not going to open, no matter how talented you are.
And so sometimes, yes, I need a meal, but mostly
I need somebody to help me open that door. And
so I don't want to miss this opportunity when it
comes to what we have to offer. Our greatest gift
(47:39):
is ourself, our time, and the dignity we provide to
somebody when we make them more important than them so
than ourselves.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Do your neighbors think you're radical?
Speaker 4 (47:53):
No, I don't think so. I think they even.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
When there's a six eight god sitting up in your
son's bed.
Speaker 4 (47:59):
Well, maybe.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
I would say that radical could be your best compliment.
Speaker 4 (48:05):
Yeah, I think you know for me, and I've heard
it said before that you've never truly lived unless you've
done something for someone who can never repay you. And
I'm living that. I think Joe and I are living
the dream, really and we get to I would can
(48:30):
I share a story? Yeah. So we had a little
girl that started with us in second grade at our
after school program. We've walked with their family the first
year they were there. It's a mom of six kids,
single mom, and probably three months and I'm standing there
talking with her. She's picking up her daughter and I
(48:52):
look out in their cars being repossessed out of the
parking lot and I was like, oh my goodness. And
we pile in my car. We go down to Orange
Mountain where they're living and have to stop at the
laundromat and finish doing their laundry and then get them
all home. And the second year they come back and
we're still walking together, and I love this mamma so much.
(49:14):
And this little second grader's now in third grade and
I'm at their school and I hear kind of a
commotion around the corner and I look and it's this
mom and I'm like, what is going on? And she's
screaming and yelling and upset. And basically, Jada had had
incredible behavior problems at school and they basically had said
(49:34):
she can't come back next year. She's going to have
to go to another school. What I knew was Mom,
there's no way Mom is going to be able to
get to her job in the morning on time if
she's having to go to two different schools now instead
of one, and it's just going to be a hardship.
And so I talked to her. I go with her
the next day. Again it's one of these things. She
(49:55):
didn't know. I'm like, you, we can go to this
to the Shelby County School Bard and appeal this, see
if we can get her back to this school. And
so we went and did that, and we left there,
we filed the appeal, and then I said, now I'm
going to take you with me and we're going to
go to the school and you're gonna apologize to the
principal because what you did. You so you're asking them
(50:16):
for a favor. And Teresa, that wasn't you know. And
we have a talk about how the conversation should have gone.
We don't get mad, we don't scream, we don't curse
out the people. We want to help this, you know,
and maybe.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Our children will see that behavior improve exactly.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
So we go, we have a conversation, she cries, apologizes,
I talk with the principal if I walk with this
child and her mom, if they're in our after school program.
Now they've only you know, we're two months into the
school year, can we And they agreed to let her
stay at the school. She was failing. Her behavior was horrible,
(50:52):
but she would come in the afternoon. I mean, the
school would tell me about her behavior, and I was like, really,
because we have had a bit anything. You know, she
is amazing at the It was just it was so
crazy to me that But anyway, so now this girl,
fast forward, she's a junior in high school. Since her
(51:13):
freshman year of high school, she has been on the
principals list every quarter. She is an RTC. She now
has her first job helping pay the family bills and
is on a trajectory. Is dreaming about college. She wants
to be a doctor, she said, and she's gone. But
watch it. But again, this was seven eight, nine years.
(51:35):
I mean it's been since twenty fifteen, so nine years.
And so I tell people all the time, the work
we do is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And
so it's the consistency and you don't have to give
up everything. But guess what, we have an opportunity to
at our school program for we call it Mystery Reader Day.
(51:55):
You can come in and read a book to the kids.
It takes thirty minutes of your week or thirty minutes
out of your month. But the kids noticed that you
took the time to come in.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
And let's be candidate getting kicked out of school in
second grade and go on talk turn under the school.
You can just about guarantee you're going to add that
kid to the roles of the policy and the jail.
Speaker 4 (52:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
And now I'm so proud of simple intervention, had some love,
and it took me.
Speaker 4 (52:24):
It took me an hour to spend that time take
her to the and I didn't have to go back
to principal. And I'm not saying but it was a
lesson for mom, you know. And so I always say
that we're we're walking alongside the children, that were really
walking alongside the family, because if you're not touching both generations,
(52:44):
we can touch kids' lives all day, but if we're
not building that relationship with the family. Number One, we
don't know how best to walk with this child. If
I don't know what's going on at home, I don't
know what's going on. I don't know what's going on in.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
That child listening to us now, and you're not ready
to sell your business and jump there's ample opportunity.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Dot com just be part of that.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Well that was how do people get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (53:13):
You can go to Memphis Streamcenter dot com. That's our website.
There is a get involved button and it will take
you to all of our volunteer opportunities. You can also
email info at Memphis Streamcenter dot com for more information.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
Guys, amazing story, amazing service. I know you're going to
be just like every other guest we have that says humbly,
we get more out of it than we put into it.
And I think a lot of people think that some
aw shucks, false humility, but it really is the truth.
(53:51):
And that's kind of the secret, Sauce. As we beg
people to join this army of normal folks and get
involved in use your talents and sirius need and fill it.
Understand what you get out of that will be twice
what you put into it.
Speaker 4 (54:05):
And I think when you said earlier talking about you know,
everybody doesn't have to jump in and sell their business
and do this. But for me, when I you know,
recruit volunteers or whatever you want to call it. I don't.
I mean, we can do this with a few volunteers,
(54:25):
but I know the impact it's had on my life,
and I want that for other people. I want people
to get to be a part of this. You know
it's not We can do it whether you come or not.
But man, you're missing out.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
That's beautiful, Kelly Joe. I can't tell you how much
I appreciate you join us and tell us your story.
And if people are not inspired to get involved after
hearing your unbelievable story, I don't know how to inspire them.
So thank you so much for joining us so much,
(55:06):
and thank you for joining us this week. If the
Carsons have inspired you in general, or better yet, to
take action by doing something radical like they did, volunteering
or donating to folks, doing something radical, getting involved with
Memphis Dream Center, starting something like it in your own community,
or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love
(55:30):
to hear about it. You can write me anytime at
Bill at Normalfolks dot us, and I promise you I
will respond. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it
with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate
and review it. Join the army at normalfolks dot us.
Consider becoming a premium member There any and all of
(55:52):
these things that will help us grow an army of
normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs, I'm
Bill Courtney. I will see you next week. M
Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
And we continue now with part two of our conversation
with Joe and Kelly Carson, right after these brief messages
from our general sponsors. So, you guys, soldier business and
(00:31):
you're picking up bread from Panera and you're not making
peanut butter and jelly because your son told you when.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He was except for us, that's about.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You're doing waters. You're cooking breakfast. You're actually trying to
build relationships. You're being consistent your motives. By the way,
the Turkey Person's story, if people serve in soup kitchens
or give turkeys on Thanksgiving, please don't stop doing that.
You don't misunderstand the intent of the story and the
lesson of the story. The lesson of the story is
(01:03):
what is your motive and how consistent are you willing
to be? And your motive has to be simply for
the edification of someone who is not as quote blessed issue.
So now you're there, but you don't have a thing
yet and just handing out free bread and eating breakfast
(01:24):
once a day. But good good on you doing more
than most. But I think you must something clicks in
your heads that says, well, this actually could develop into something,
and we need to make it bigger than just a
Thursday breakfast. Right? Is that the story?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Even I would say even more than that, It was
the sense of how do we how do we view
the challenges of our city from an accurate perspective? I
knew how to view them from a suburban perspective, and
there is an urban perspective that is just as tainted.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
In many ways. And so I think when I say an.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Accurate perspective, very few people take the time to ask.
We want to solve a problem, but we see a
visible problem. We see kids with those shoes, Well, we
need to go get shoes for the kids, And so
we think we're solving a problem, but you don't recognize
(02:34):
that there is something behind the reason that that child
has no shoes.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
One of my guests about six months ago said, I
think he quoted Bishop to too, but it was somebody
really smart, but someone like that. He said, we can
continue to pull kids out of the river and save
their lives, which is a beautiful thing, but eventually we
need to go upstream and figure out why they're in
the water in the.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
First place, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And so what we did is we literally really shifted.
So as we were meeting a tangible need, we were
really learning. So every week was a was a was
a matter of what's going on? How did it happen?
What are you doing about it? Where do you go?
And when they would say I don't know, then I
(03:18):
would start researching and so uh, and I will tell
you that so many who are lost in a in
a very precarious position don't recognize that we do have
many life preservers floating around in the water. They just
don't know where to go to get them.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
And they're not aware.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
They're not aware. And so in the seven years that
we did ministry on the streets, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You're saying the people you seek to serve, there's life
preservers everywhere, they just don't even know where to ground.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I don't even know where to ground.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
And so like we were able to get twenty six
men and housed permanently off the street. None of them
had been on the street for fewer than five years.
We were able to get them permanently housed.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
The city of how long into this work several years?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
But all it was and we didn't provide them any
housing or any money. All we did it as we
we kept asking questions and we would introduce them to
the life preserver that was already there. And you just
continue to make those connections and many of them, Well
I was going to go to the soci security office,
(04:39):
but it didn't go, you know, and well, I'm a veteran.
I'm a veteran, and they told me I can't just
do this. Well, did you realize that veterans get in
a preference if you do if you take it this way?
And so just just walking them through all the hoops
that are there, but they need an advocate. Most people
(05:00):
that are are locked behind what they see as an
impenetrable wall simply need an advocate to show them that
there are doors already there.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
All right, So again I'm trying to keep it chronological
because before that, at some point you founded the Memphis
Stream Center based off a Los Angeles illustration. I think,
So take me to that to then get to where
(05:30):
we're going.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
So in twenty ten, and I want to say it.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Was a bar chronologically, that's two years after selling the business.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It was a twenty ten CENTUS.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yeah, but there was a study. I think it was
a barnut, but I don't want to I'm not positive
now I'm trying to remember. But anyway, Memphis was named
to the Hungry City in the Nation really and yes,
in twenty ten, meaning that we had food and security
rates higher than some world countries in certain zip codes
(06:03):
of our city. And there are several zip codes that
are complete food deserts still to this day, meaning they
have the residents have no access within that zip code
to healthy food. There are no groceries, you know, no
fresh produce.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So so if you don't have a car and you
don't have a way to get there, or if you
don't have gas.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
You know, I mean, if I don't have money to
put gas in my car. So what we realized was
that families and children were literally walking to the corner
little market or gas station and that was their sustenance.
And then we began later absolutely hot Cheetos. But anyway,
(06:44):
so we had a school principle actually went to church
with that taught in a Title one school here in Memphis.
So we started asking her questions, that's really and she said,
you know, I have children that from the time they
leave school on Friday until they come back on Monday.
They do not have a meal. They may have a
bag of cookies or a bag of chips, but they
don't have a meal. And so we knew that some
(07:08):
people were doing the weekend backpack program that type of thing,
but they were only doing it for which it was good.
I'm not that in a criticism, but for say fifty
children in the school, the fifty children that needed the
most according to the counsel or whatever. Well, so we
started thinking what if and Pastor Matthew Barnett, who leads
(07:31):
the Los Angeles Stream Center founded it, said to our pastor,
what if you guys buy some old bread trucks or
some construction just start feeding kids, giving kids food. Your
kids need it, you know. And so we ended up
purchasing a fleet of old trucks and we started.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Truck stick shiel I was like the only one who
could drive. Nobody knew how to drive a stick ship.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
So basically we started with this one school where this
prince was. She said, all of my children need push
on the weekend. It was at the time. It's now
a charter school, but it was Shannon Elementary in North Memphis.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
That's so yes.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
So anyway, so we started there two hundred and forty
two children, and we thought, what if we provided them
a food bag for the weekend that would cover seven
meals and five or six snacks I think. And that's
how we started. And so we started looking at what
could we put in there and that a child could
do themselves if a parent's working, because many of our
(08:35):
parents that are working, especially if their single moms are
working hourly jobs and they're working on the weekend. So
we did pop top tuna with crackers and you know,
things that would get them through a weekend oatmeal, that
could put water with and so we started doing that. Well,
it quickly turned into as schools began to hear about it,
Hey callin us, can you do my kids need this?
(08:57):
My kids need this?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
What did the money come from?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Well, so we started with our church just donating food
on the weekends. We wouldn't have a bag fill a bag.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Year and I had no budget.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Yeah, we didn't have a lot of budget. We and donors.
I mean, people are generous when you especially when you
start talking about children, you know. And so that's how
we started doing what we do. We founded the Dream
Center that year because we thought, and that was another
thing funding, we need to be able to sustain this
because more and more and so by the end of
(09:32):
that first year, I think we were doing about a
thousand children a week.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Are you kidding? No, a thousand children a week.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Friday we would show up to the schools with a
group of volunteers. We would hand up the bags. Of
schools were amazing the principles. They would left the children
up fifteen minutes early on Fridays so they could come
through the cafeteria and get their food bag for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Were the kids appreciative?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
They were? Now I will tell you a couple.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Of us went home and was stolen by older kids.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Well, we don't know, and that therein we don't know,
and so so so the kids. What we figured out
too was the children would take out the things they wanted,
and we started noticing things being thrown on the other road,
like can goods or different which a family could use.
The parents would love it, but the kids don't want to.
(10:24):
They want the because and we also realized we had
to put some snacks in there or they wouldn't get it.
They wouldn't want the bag. So we would put a
bag of cheetes, or is something fun for the kids too?
And so that we did that, and then that evolved
into some other things. So we'd call our feeding programs
feed Memphis, and we have several things that run under
(10:46):
that banner. But that's what we did for a couple
of years. Then we started realizing what was happening, and
so we.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It makes me angry when I hear what you just
told me, and I haven't no dog in the hunt.
Did it come on? You can't be that understanding that
when you drove down the street and you think about
all the work and all the volunteers and money that
other people could have been spending on their own children
laying in the gutter on the side of the road. Uneaten,
(11:16):
Please tell me that had to have bothered you.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
It bothered me. I don't think I was ever angry.
I think it bothered me because I knew that the
families and the parents needed it, and and the principals
were great. We went to the principals and said, hey,
this is what we're noticing. They called the kids in
and it stopped, which was crazy because they said this
one school in particular, he said, if you do that,
(11:41):
we will stop this. You will never get a bag again.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
And because they were throwing them out the bus.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Almost overnight it changed. Really we had a few like
on buses and used the chances, weapons, all the crazy
things with kids that could happen. So then we started
so that has evolved into a couple of other things.
(12:07):
So we do a monthly well and COVID like everything.
COVID changed everything because we could the schools weren't in session.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
COVID hit. We were doing about sixty five hundred.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Kids a week and we're like, how are we going
to be volunteers? Well, on Thursday evenings when we packed
the bags, we probably had about one hundred and twenty
volunteers coming out everywhere, and we had a food where
we have a food distribution warehouse and they would come
to the warehouse and.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You always packed the sixty five hundred bags we were
and arranged to get them to that had to.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Have been on every truck and then we would have
teams of ten volunteers go to every school school. Yeah,
to go to the schools and pass them out on
Friday afternoons and then COVID hit and we can't be
at school. So we started doing the drive through so
where parents could come drive through and we did it
at the schools and because the schools were providing hot meals,
(13:00):
the day they were giving out the hot meals, we
would go with the red bags and the parents could
take the bags home. Then during COVID, we secured a
partnership with DoorDash and they began delivering the red bags
to the homes for free and they pay and Amazon
did food boxes for us, and so what we did
(13:21):
family food buys. So what we realized and then DoorDash
said we are hiring. And so what was really amazing
is some of the moms who were receiving the red
bags began to drive for door Dash and it gave
them a job and they would come and pick up
their kids' bags and pick up twenty others and go
deliver them, which was really a cool.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
It was really a great We got to see a
lot of things come together. But again that was ten
years of sweat equity, and.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
So that has but that has all of all. What
we realized at that point was if we can get
them to the doorstep of the family, no food is.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Wasted, We'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So now we do several things. So we partner with
another organization that serves refuge Empowerment r EP and they
serve about two hundred children every afternoon and families in
the Binghampton area who are immigrants or refugees, and so
we provide food for them every month and they do
a weekly basically, it's like the weekly food bags. We
(14:34):
take the pallets of food to them and then they
distribute it. We have a pop up grocery once a
month and we literally transform the gymnasium at one of
our dream centers into a grocery store for families. They
where families get to choose what they want rather than
us just giving them something. We're like, we want, I
want to go choose what I mean. There are some
my kids may not want green peas, my family doesn't
(14:56):
neat that. I don't want to take that. And so
we've we've evolved as we've learned. We've evolved realizing it
if we can provide dignity and if we can provide
an experience, like we ask ourselves off and what would
I want? What would I want somebody to do for
me today? And so now families come in, we have
(15:20):
fresh produce fresh meat. Amazon provides us about twenty five
pallets of new returned items every month because they get
a lot of returns, and we pick up about twenty
five pallets a month from one of our local Amazon warehouses,
so families get laundry, detergent, hygiene products.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This is a pop up grocery store.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We call it pop up our pop up grocery, and
we set it up on Thursday and Friday. Families come
in on Saturday. They have shopping times, so they're signed
to time. They sign up for a time to come in.
They have about twenty minutes to go through and get
what they need. Yes, well, yes they do. On their
family sites our volunteers that they are no they have
(16:04):
a and we've tried to make it again where they're
not a number, and so they have a really tiny
little blue or yellow sticker and they just stick it
on and that way nobody has to ask them how
may you know? They just know as they come through.
Our volunteers know, oh they're a family of four under
their family a fiber above and they get their food
according to how many they're in their household, and.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
They get to choose it. And I think that's great.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And then we have a shopper that goes with them
and somebody to carry their groceries as they.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
So we load them in the car. So it's a
we try to create that five star experience, that's what
we like to call it, where they feel like they
are valued. We have people in the waiting area visiting
with them. We have snacks and drinks, coffee, water, so
that you know, and so they we want them to
come in and feel like you're the stars of the
(16:55):
show today. You know you're and so we do that.
Then we have food boxes and we do provide a
monthly food box and we pivoted to that and those
are all delivered directly to the parents or the caregivers.
So we do a couple of different things. So we
have the second Sunday of every month. We call it
doorstep Delivery, and on Sunday afternoon, volunteers sign up and
(17:18):
we have a box labeled with a family's name and
address and phone number, and the volunteer picks it up
and takes it delivers it to their doorstep. The goal
of that is that they're going to the same doorsteps
every month and they're beginning to develop a relationship with
that family, and then we deliver food boxes to several
(17:40):
schools and the parents come to the gymnasium once a
week and pick them up. One of the schools, we
actually take our trucks and park in front of the
school at the end of the day and the parents
pick them up come up there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
What is the Family Advocacy Center.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So our Family Advocacy Center we really that is our
Highland Dream Center. We have two locations and that is
an basically you walk in. We have a cafe, We
have an indoor playground, a trauma informed playground for children.
We have a laundry trailer where families can do their laundry.
We have a baby boutique. We provide school uniforms. We
(18:14):
have a small food pantry there and it's basically we
work a lot. We partner with DCS, so that's all.
Most of the families that come there are referrals from
Knowledge Quest, Agape, several nonprofits, and but a large percentage
are from Bethany Children's Services or DCS. And what we
(18:35):
realized when we open this, we started meeting with DCS
and we actually had in mind that we were going
to do something to support foster families because there's such
a crisis in Shelby County of children in the system.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's not just Shelby Country, yeah, not just Shelly Country.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
And so what we realized as we began to meet
and talk with dcs, she began to talk about all
the kids in the system and we're going every day
and having to remove children from their homes and this
and that, and I just we're just sitting there and
I looked at her and I said, so, who's walking
with the families who are losing their children? Is anyone
(19:12):
walking them to a place of health and homeness so
they don't lose their kids into the system, Because we
all know once a child's in the system, I don't
care how good the foster home is. The statistics are horrendous,
you know, of being becoming an in at prison, homelessness,
never graduating high school. All the stats prostitutes, yes, that
(19:33):
go along with that. And she said, you know, that's
a good question. And I said, so what if we
you know that's a gap. We are always looking where's
the gap? Why don't we step into that world? And
so we now with our Family Advocacy Center, we focus
on the preventative side. So how can we walk a
(19:54):
family to health and homeness so that they won't lose
their child, or how can we support a kinship family
so the child can stay within the family and not
go across the town school. That way they can stay
at the same school, they get to see their family.
Because honestly, if a grandmother that's already living in poverty
gets a call and say, hey, we're gonna put you,
(20:16):
We're removing the kids, can you take them? You have
to have a bed for every child. There are four children.
You have to have a bed for every child. You
have to have some type of a chest or something
for them to put their clothing in, or we can't
bring them to you. So we provide now twin beds
and chess. We support a lot of kinship family so
the child can stay within the family unit, even if
they need to be removed from maybe mom or dad
(20:39):
it's not healthy. If an aunt can take them, if
a grandmother can take them, you know, something like that,
where they can be in a healthy home, they still
are within the family unit. And then we have what
we call parent cafes, and those are small groups basically
for it's pure support groups for parents or caregivers. Read
to Lead yep, oh no, that's the state.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
That's what That's the start out of everything we do.
I think it not only is the thing that we
do best, but it is the most important thing that
we do to change a generation.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Tell us, So Read delete is.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
An afterschool program, but it's all about literacy and leadership.
But honestly, we don't really focus a lot on literacy,
which is amazing because the statistics, let me get that
out right, The statistics tell us that if a child
can't read about third grade, you know the story I do.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
There's actually another really great organization that's nationwide now that
was started in Memphis called Coaching for Literacy that does
and has done an enormous amount of research and the
demographics that they throw out there, but they say, exactly,
if you boil all the research they've done down day,
(21:54):
if you're not reading on grade level by third grade,
you are like seventy percent. Yeah, more to be in poverty,
in jail or whatever. So about third grade. All the
work we do after third grade is great, but the
work up to third grade is really what's the most
important and formative. According to the metrics operis.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Up to third grade, you read, you learned to read.
Up after third grade, you read to learn. And if
you can't read, you can't learn. And so it is.
It is a true and so so this is.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Our ten start in twenty fifteen with twenty students, we
did a pilot a year. So, yeah, twenty second grader.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Twenty second grade.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I thought we start with second grade because that third
grade is the issue, right, So we started with second grade.
At the end of the year, eighty five percent of
those students could read that grade level.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
What was the starting percentage? Ten? Ten?
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And basically none of them.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But just let's just hang on. Ye just fact that
in the United States of America that only ten percent
of second graders in a city school system can read
on grade level, That in and of itself should scare
us to death.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Well, I mean we're what we're ranked almost thirtieth I
think in the world now education system in America. So
our school systems are failing. I mean, there's no doubt
we've got to change something or we're going to continue
to fall behind.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
And it's a whole it's not it's not the school system.
It really does take a village. It's all of us
working together, including the parents, the teachers, the nonprofits, the churches, whatever,
that reading stories at night. You know.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
No, it's interesting. Now, this is one of those up
a tree squirrel things. But I have an office in Shanghai,
have an office in Coachman. I do business in forty
two different countries. So I see the world as a
function of my business. There is poverty in Vietnam, unlike
(24:05):
y'all have ever seen in Memphis. It's even worse, but
in Vietnam, like ninety eight percent literacy rate. So it's
not just poverty. Yeah, it's also not just having funding
for schools, because the schools in Vietnam oftentimes don't have walls.
(24:27):
They look like a thatch hut. But their kids have
ninety eight percent literacy. So what's missing the family?
Speaker 4 (24:37):
That's exactly exactly. And and so for us even so
the kids. And then what we did was the first
two years we focused heavily on literacy and we added
We thought, we'll start in second grade, we'll add a
grade every year. And of course then we had other
schools calling, like we did with the feeding Hey can
(24:57):
my kids come? We want and so.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
You know, you're feeding the kids and teaching the kids.
When do they just say, why don't you just run
the school ahead?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Actually, sorry, they've tried.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
So this year we have two hundred three children in
after school program and we have two sites on yes
read to leave, one in Fraser, one in Raleigh. And
what we realized a couple of years in, we thought,
you know, let's have let's let's all sit at the table,
let's have parents, let's everybody, let's have school administrators, let's
(25:32):
have teachers, and let's have our team, and let's talk
about what the kids need. So I we as we
began to talk, I'll never forget that evening. They we
just started making doing whiteboard, start whiteboarding it. And we
have this whole list of things the kids, you know,
at list as long as my arm of things they
wanted from an after school program. I said, okay, we're
one program. We have the kids a couple hours in
(25:54):
the afternoon. Obviously we can't do everything. Tell me your
top three and they had different things, but everybody around
the table set exposure because they said the children never
many of them, never step outside their neighborhoods. We took
the kids one day down to the Pyramid bowling and
(26:14):
we pulled up on the bus and they were like,
miss Kelly, is that the ocean? Is that the ocean?
They had never seen the Mississippi River and they lived
ten minutes from it, you know, And so we realized,
So we developed an enrichment program along with the literacy
and the leadership piece, and so now our kids.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
It is phenomenal to me. I'm sorry to interrupt you,
but it is phenomenal me that a child growing up
in Memphis, Tennessee, I had never seen the Mississippi River.
It's only the biggest river, like, and it's only and this.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Isn't Memphil of Miles, this isn't just Memphis.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So one of my best friends grew up in Chicago
on the south side in Inglewood, got our son. He
lives here in Memphis now. He said, until he went
to the Army, he had never left a ten block
radius and had never seen a white man in person.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Only on TV.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I interviewed. I interviewed a guy early in this who
grew up southside Chicago and his dream, now this is
his life dream, was to see the Sears Dour. Yeah,
he grew up in Chicago. He couldn't even go outside
his three block radius. It was too unsafe to cross
(27:31):
his three block radius just to get to downtown Chicago
to see a building that was his. If your dream,
if your quest for life is to get across town,
how in the world are you going to have dreams
of being an accountant or a doctor.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
And the answer is you won't.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
You won't if you've never seen it in person, not
on TV. If you've never seen it in person, you
can't dream of yourself.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
So it's interesting that even the parents said access or exposure, exposure,
access some things.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Yeah, So now the kids plant and grow their own garden.
They have music production classes, they have tap and ballet,
they have culinary arts classes.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
So they learned to get food on their own.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah, and we're teaching them. Yes, all of this is
part So we do five days a week and now
we've expanded to three hours in the afternoon to fit everything.
And they get a hot meal before they go home,
and then the parents we do family dinner nights once
a month, so we're all sitting around the table eating
dinner together, visiting, talking. We have other things throughout the year,
(28:37):
field trips, different things like that, and then two years ago.
Have you ever heard of Ron Clark, the Ron Clark
Academy in Atlanta. Ron Clark, you should watch his story
on Amazon Prime. But he was a young teacher that
grew up in I think North Carolina, I don't know, somewhere,
ended up in Harlem, like his second year of teaching
(28:59):
and one of the worst classes this school. They kept
having teachers quit, and he began to realize, if I
can just number one bill relationships with their families and
number two teach them to their bent. These kids have
high trauma, high aces like I don't. They can't be
expected to sit in a desk for eight hours a
(29:21):
day and learn. So he developed all these alternative methods
of teaching, and now he has an academy in Atlanta.
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I think this is stand together, yea.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
So we sent our team down there for training and
now we do something called we've done the last two years.
It's called the Amazing Shake, and it's something with the
Wrong Clark Academy and schools from all over the nation
participation and internationally actually, and so basically, the Amazing Shape
teaches kids life skills and soft skills. So so if
(30:00):
you walked into our Dream Center read to lead program today,
some of the children would probably come up, shake your
hand and say, Hi, my name is so and so
what's your name? Have you ever visited the Dream Center before?
Would you like to have a tour of the Dream Center?
You know? And these are third grader, fourth graders, fifth graders,
and so we began to teach that. Well, then the
Amazing Shake is a competition, and so the kids prepare
(30:21):
all year and in the spring we have Last year
we had forty entrepreneurs, executives, businesses come out and we
set up our gym and they have forty They had
forty stations. At one station, one of the Toyota locations
came out and had a car and the kids have
to sell a car. And so they go to there
and they have to learn to sell a car sales experience.
(30:42):
One was like the Tonight Show in their interviewed how
do they do an interview? And then the winner gets
to go to the national competition in Atlanta. Well, last
year our judges could not decide on one winter, so
they said, we want to pay for five kids to
go to nationals. One of our girls made it in
the thirty of the nation. We were so proud of her.
(31:03):
And it's all these competitions. They have to get up
and answer questions in front of the crowd, they have
to go to different stations. It's incredible. And our young guy,
I think he's thirty six now, that leads it, young
black man and Leno has such a heart for the kids.
But he's incredible. And so what we are seeing when
(31:25):
Jo said, we're not so focused on literacy literacy anymore,
what we're seeing is as we give the kids things
and we put things in front of it, and they
drive all of our enrichment classes. Whatever they want, we
do our best to get it in front of.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
The robotics we've done, I mean it's hosting.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
All the things. But anyway, we let them whatever they want,
we do our best to get it there because then
they can start dreaming about their future. What we've seen
is now literacy rates grades are going up. So at
the end of last year, one of the schools, Coleman Elementary,
where our kids come from, some of our kids called
(32:01):
us and said, we want you to know that we
just got our test results back and every second grader
in your program is reading at her above grade level,
and they said, in every student in your program scored
higher than any of the kids in the school on
their math and literacy test. And it's not that we're
sitting every day teaching that. It's that we are exposing them.
(32:24):
We are getting them excited about learning, excited about their futures,
and they're dreaming about what could be.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Do you know who Gary Karpov is. He was the
world championship chess guy in the eighties. It was Kasparov
and Karpov, two Russian guys, And Karpov was a scientist
and he did a study and it was a twenty
year study. And his control group or kids that did
(32:55):
not play for us, who went through all kinds of
testing prior to the study, and his other group was
a group who tested just like the control group did
prior to chess, but then taught them chess and taught
them a lot of chess. And basically it came out
after three groups of like fifty kids each over the
(33:18):
course of five year studies, maybe it's four groups. At
any rate, it wasn't that smart kids played chess. It
was that chess made smart kids.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
And that's exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It's it's the it's the spatial recognition, it's the planning ahead,
it's the the ability to think about what your opponent's
next move is going to be. So it's anticipation. It's
in all of that exercises the synopsis in your brain,
(34:00):
and your brain is a muscle, and it actually increases
that muscle's ability to function. Yep, to me, that's exactly
what you're saying. That's exactly the same thing.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
And we do a you'll need to come out this fall.
I have to make sure you get an invite, but
we do at the end of the year what's called
read to leads got Talent, So it's America's got talent
to read the leads got talent, and the kids get
to showcase everything like all of their enrichment for the year.
And so what was really exciting for us is two
years ago, a little girl sang a solo and a
(34:36):
little boy played the guitar he'd learned he had taken
the guitar class and played, and she sang. We had
a voice coach come out because she was really interested
in seeing So a FedEx executive cout came out once
a week and coached her and gave her voice lessons
and she sang and her mom was just was crying,
and we were like, oh, you so excited. She goes.
You don't understand, she said. When we brought her here
(35:00):
at the beginning of this year, she wouldn't even look
anyone in the eye. She was so shy. And now
she's up singing. And this last year she wrote her
own song and sang it because we did a songwriting class.
So the evolution is, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
That's a long way from taking one day open their
rolls and the outed apart.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It is, but we've allowed the people that we served
to could kind of tell us what the next thing was.
So really other than the guys on the street. Once
that study came out and told us told us how
much hunger you know that we were the number one
hungry city, we began like, Okay, what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Where?
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Where are where are the food deserts? Where are the
kids really going cause? And so at the time North
Memphis three went away, Start I went away, seventy six
percent of seniors and children literally were what they called
considered hungry, food insecure, food food insecure. And so we
(36:10):
were like Oh that's crazy. I mean that aren't those
the people were called as believers to take care of
the orphans and the widow right, the seniors.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
And the children.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
And so we just decided that we would we would
step in. Well, we called the school system when we
started with the red bags to say hey, we're just
letting you know. We started with the school with the
park next door. Hey, we wanted you to know, we're
going to go to the park next door on Friday
and we're going to hand these kids. So if the
kids run over here before they get on the bus,
just know what's going on. And they said, well, why
(36:42):
don't you come onto the school campus.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
And then it was like, why don't you come inside
check them out early. We'll let the kids out.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Early on Fridays.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
And so the school system invited us in and then
one of the principals said, can you help us with
our literacy? So we started reading to them. Then he said,
what about an after school program?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
So we started.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
So you're saying the principal and the teachers they actually cared,
they do care, But there's this out there that the
teachers in the schools don't there they do care, they're
just so under resourced, and they're dealing with the generational poverty.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
They're having to do everything except teach. I mean, they
really are.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
It's they're in such a challenging situation.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
So five plus million meals provided to children since twenty eleven,
six hundred and twenty one children have enrolled in red
Delete program. Since twenty fifteen, eighty three point three percent
of children in your program. I've seen an increase in
reading scores and a decrease in school suspension. Yes, more
(38:02):
than three hundred adults have graduated and received their high
school diplomas through your Family Enrichment Program, and over four
hundred families resourced, three hundred and fifty five school uniforms,
seventy seven twin beds, two in seventy eight baby store visit,
one hundred and fifteen food boxes and counting.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
Yes, those are old those are old stags.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Those are stats from ours I could get. But the
bottom line is this is a dentist and a mom.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Who had no idea what we're doing. We still don't,
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
But the point is our belief set that the thing
that's really going to change our culture, our siety is
an army of normal people seeing need and filling it.
It's exactly right, you are it. What does it make
you feel like?
Speaker 4 (38:55):
I think for me, it's extremely humbling. I think it's
humble that the families that we get to walk alongside
allow us into their world and allow us into their
lives and call us friends. I think for me, you know,
I have a group of moms that I get together
with about every six weeks and we go to we
have a girl's night out, we go to dinner, and
(39:17):
they're all single moms and whose kids are have been
or are in our program. And a few months ago
we were out and one of them said, miss Kelly,
thank you so much for doing this, thank you for
being our friend, thank you for being with us. We
need you. And I looked at her and I just said,
you know, Teresa, thank you for saying that. But I
(39:38):
want you guys to hear me, and I want you
to really hear me. I need you so much more
than you need me. And that's it for us. It's
our world has expanded, and I've learned so much from
the people I get to walk with every day. I've
learned that people living in poverty are some of the
(39:59):
most generous people you'll ever meet. I know that when
they bring me a gift, it is a true sacrifice
that they're giving up something to give to me. And
they are compassionate, They love their neighbors, they love us.
(40:20):
I've never felt so loved, so for me, it's it's
and I think I heard somebody say this recently, and
I'm going to steal it because I think it's I
would much rather focus not on what we have done,
but how much still needs to be done, because there
is great need and there are people every day that
(40:42):
just really need someone to look them in the eye,
to give them a hug and again say I believe
in you, I care about you. You know you ask
me how I feel. I think it's humbling, but I
don't feel like we're done. You know, there's so much
more to be done.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
We six to eight weeks ago to the segment on
care Portal and understand with aren't you guys working? How's
that work for you all?
Speaker 4 (41:10):
It's great. So we get referrals from Portal, probably daily.
I get an email or two, and if we can
fulfill the need, depending on what the family needs, whatever
is on the list, whatever they need. We've provided a
lot of beds through care Portal.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Are you aware of sleeping Heavenly Peace?
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yes, we are. We've actually Alex and I have discussed
sleep well.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
What I was reading the twin beds and the bed
thing at all. Yeah, man, that almost seems to fly
right in.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
There are a lots of connections, like actually reached out
to them.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Yeah, And this is one of my passions, is connecting
because there are answers in the city.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
It's just like you're talking about the life preservers that
nobody knows they're floating out there the can save.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
And the challenge is is the people that have them
don't want to talk to the person who is another.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
One, and oftentimes there is the silent thing going.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Only just work together.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
The solutions are available and we are beginning to see that.
In the disaster world, we built an entire communication platform
just to deal with that, and we are now with
these last two hurricanes that have come in. Organizations are
working together now like they've never worked before, and you
just have to get people talking.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
But we're seeing that in the city. I think we're
beginning to see I mean, we have some amazing partners,
hope works a gop a knowledge quest. As I said before,
I need to stop naming because I'll miss somebody. But
beginning to work together, and hey, and we have a
whole for sure. We've made now that if I can't
(42:49):
meet that need or if I can't help you, hear
someone who can the connectivity Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
So, which is honestly what care portals about.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
Exactly portals.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Not everyone is called to sell their business and jump
headfirst in.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
No, you'd be crazy to do that.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
We've established that. But and I worry sometimes when we
tell these stories that people hear that, and while they're
inspired and feel amazed by the work you've done, I
don't want them to also feel like, oh, well, if
I can't do that, I might as well not even try.
(43:36):
I have a friend thought about becoming a missionary. He
grew up in the grew up in the foster care thing.
And a friend who is a pastor said, you don't
need to do that. You'd screw that up because you're
an entrepreneur and you're great at it. So this guy's
now a billionaire and he gives away every dollar. A
(43:58):
few years ago they he and his wife decided, okay,
we've got our investments. And not that he does not
make money, but at some point and then not too
long ago, they decided with their church and their organization
to give way every dollar profit they had from that
point forward, and he has. Now, if he'd have been
a missionary, he might could have helped have very many people.
(44:19):
But look what he was able to do by staying
in what his tools were. So, when you think about
your relationship with money, ability, and time, you guys, to
me are a really interesting example of someone who looked
(44:43):
at their relationship with their business and said, well, that's
encumbering me and I need to jump. But not everybody
can make that jump, and that jumps not for everybody.
But you still have a relationship with you, your money,
your talents, in your time. And I think a great
(45:05):
example of that is not the two of you, but
all the people who've surrounded you. You've got people all
around you who haven't sold their businesses. Yes, but without them,
y'all do nothing.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
We could not do it.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Yes, talk about that relationship with time, talent, and money,
not with y'all, but with your organization as a whole.
As an example for our listeners to say, well, I
don't have to always just jump at first like these
two crazy people did. But there's all kinds of places
I can get involved with crazy people and help.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yes, I would say, anytime there's a need, we immediately
go to what is the missing resource? And you mentioned
time and talent and treasure. We hear that all the time.
But truly, the greatest missing resource most of the time
is simply people.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Army of normal folks, the army.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Of normal folk.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
It's just simply we need. So if you were to
ask me today, what's the greatest need at the Dream Center,
I mean, I've got two hundred and four kids. What
if I had a mentor for every one of them?
What if I had a professional, you know, an attorney
once a week came in and took a group of
kids and did his own little hour with some of
(46:25):
our older seventh and eighth grader about about how the
world really works.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
What about a banker talk about financial literacy?
Speaker 3 (46:33):
So you know, I mean that so so the greatest
resource we have are people. Yes, money matters, and data
drives dollars, and we all know that you can't run
a nonprofit without money.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
But it's really Kelly mentioned something earlier.
Speaker 3 (46:55):
I think this is probably the most important thing that
she said out of all the great things she said.
But it's not about what we've done, it's about who
have we yet to see make that transition. My goal
in life is to connect people to resources and people
to people, because.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
We know, and you know.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
That unless you're connected to a person, that door is
not going to open, no matter how talented you are.
And so sometimes, yes, I need a meal, but mostly
I need somebody to help me open that door. And
so I don't want to miss this opportunity when it
comes to what we have to offer. Our greatest gift
(47:39):
is ourself, our time, and the dignity we provide to
somebody when we make them more important than them so
than ourselves.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Do your neighbors think you're radical?
Speaker 4 (47:53):
No, I don't think so. I think they even.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
When there's a six eight god sitting up in your
son's bed.
Speaker 4 (47:59):
Well, maybe.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
I would say that radical could be your best compliment.
Speaker 4 (48:05):
Yeah, I think you know for me, and I've heard
it said before that you've never truly lived unless you've
done something for someone who can never repay you. And
I'm living that. I think Joe and I are living
the dream, really and we get to I would can
(48:30):
I share a story? Yeah. So we had a little
girl that started with us in second grade at our
after school program. We've walked with their family the first
year they were there. It's a mom of six kids,
single mom, and probably three months and I'm standing there
talking with her. She's picking up her daughter and I
(48:52):
look out in their cars being repossessed out of the
parking lot and I was like, oh my goodness. And
we pile in my car. We go down to Orange
Mountain where they're living and have to stop at the
laundromat and finish doing their laundry and then get them
all home. And the second year they come back and
we're still walking together, and I love this mamma so much.
(49:14):
And this little second grader's now in third grade and
I'm at their school and I hear kind of a
commotion around the corner and I look and it's this
mom and I'm like, what is going on? And she's
screaming and yelling and upset. And basically, Jada had had
incredible behavior problems at school and they basically had said
(49:34):
she can't come back next year. She's going to have
to go to another school. What I knew was Mom,
there's no way Mom is going to be able to
get to her job in the morning on time if
she's having to go to two different schools now instead
of one, and it's just going to be a hardship.
And so I talked to her. I go with her
the next day. Again it's one of these things. She
(49:55):
didn't know. I'm like, you, we can go to this
to the Shelby County School Bard and appeal this, see
if we can get her back to this school. And
so we went and did that, and we left there,
we filed the appeal, and then I said, now I'm
going to take you with me and we're going to
go to the school and you're gonna apologize to the
principal because what you did. You so you're asking them
(50:16):
for a favor. And Teresa, that wasn't you know. And
we have a talk about how the conversation should have gone.
We don't get mad, we don't scream, we don't curse
out the people. We want to help this, you know,
and maybe.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Our children will see that behavior improve exactly.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
So we go, we have a conversation, she cries, apologizes,
I talk with the principal if I walk with this
child and her mom, if they're in our after school program.
Now they've only you know, we're two months into the
school year, can we And they agreed to let her
stay at the school. She was failing. Her behavior was horrible,
(50:52):
but she would come in the afternoon. I mean, the
school would tell me about her behavior, and I was like, really,
because we have had a bit anything. You know, she
is amazing at the It was just it was so
crazy to me that But anyway, so now this girl,
fast forward, she's a junior in high school. Since her
(51:13):
freshman year of high school, she has been on the
principals list every quarter. She is an RTC. She now
has her first job helping pay the family bills and
is on a trajectory. Is dreaming about college. She wants
to be a doctor, she said, and she's gone. But
watch it. But again, this was seven eight, nine years.
(51:35):
I mean it's been since twenty fifteen, so nine years.
And so I tell people all the time, the work
we do is not a sprint. It's a marathon. And
so it's the consistency and you don't have to give
up everything. But guess what, we have an opportunity to
at our school program for we call it Mystery Reader Day.
(51:55):
You can come in and read a book to the kids.
It takes thirty minutes of your week or thirty minutes
out of your month. But the kids noticed that you
took the time to come in.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
And let's be candidate getting kicked out of school in
second grade and go on talk turn under the school.
You can just about guarantee you're going to add that
kid to the roles of the policy and the jail.
Speaker 4 (52:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
And now I'm so proud of simple intervention, had some love,
and it took me.
Speaker 4 (52:24):
It took me an hour to spend that time take
her to the and I didn't have to go back
to principal. And I'm not saying but it was a
lesson for mom, you know. And so I always say
that we're we're walking alongside the children, that were really
walking alongside the family, because if you're not touching both generations,
(52:44):
we can touch kids' lives all day, but if we're
not building that relationship with the family. Number One, we
don't know how best to walk with this child. If
I don't know what's going on at home, I don't
know what's going on. I don't know what's going on in.
Speaker 1 (52:58):
That child listening to us now, and you're not ready
to sell your business and jump there's ample opportunity.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Dot com just be part of that.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Well that was how do people get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (53:13):
You can go to Memphis Streamcenter dot com. That's our website.
There is a get involved button and it will take
you to all of our volunteer opportunities. You can also
email info at Memphis Streamcenter dot com for more information.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
Guys, amazing story, amazing service. I know you're going to
be just like every other guest we have that says humbly,
we get more out of it than we put into it.
And I think a lot of people think that some
aw shucks, false humility, but it really is the truth.
(53:51):
And that's kind of the secret, Sauce. As we beg
people to join this army of normal folks and get
involved in use your talents and sirius need and fill it.
Understand what you get out of that will be twice
what you put into it.
Speaker 4 (54:05):
And I think when you said earlier talking about you know,
everybody doesn't have to jump in and sell their business
and do this. But for me, when I you know,
recruit volunteers or whatever you want to call it. I don't.
I mean, we can do this with a few volunteers,
(54:25):
but I know the impact it's had on my life,
and I want that for other people. I want people
to get to be a part of this. You know
it's not We can do it whether you come or not.
But man, you're missing out.
Speaker 1 (54:41):
That's beautiful, Kelly Joe. I can't tell you how much
I appreciate you join us and tell us your story.
And if people are not inspired to get involved after
hearing your unbelievable story, I don't know how to inspire them.
So thank you so much for joining us so much,
(55:06):
and thank you for joining us this week. If the
Carsons have inspired you in general, or better yet, to
take action by doing something radical like they did, volunteering
or donating to folks, doing something radical, getting involved with
Memphis Dream Center, starting something like it in your own community,
or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love
(55:30):
to hear about it. You can write me anytime at
Bill at Normalfolks dot us, and I promise you I
will respond. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it
with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate
and review it. Join the army at normalfolks dot us.
Consider becoming a premium member There any and all of
(55:52):
these things that will help us grow an army of
normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs, I'm
Bill Courtney. I will see you next week. M
Host
Bill Courtney
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