I want to spend my life I 00:00:03.57\00:00:09.37 want to spend my life 00:00:15.18\00:00:17.81 I want to spend my life 00:00:36.03\00:00:39.37 I want to spend my life 00:00:46.78\00:00:50.48 Good evening everyone and welcome to 3ABN today. 00:01:06.03\00:01:09.03 It's Thursday night and I've got my lovely wife with me, 00:01:09.30\00:01:12.37 Angela. 00:01:12.37\00:01:16.20 Now tonight is about seasoning. 00:01:16.30\00:01:17.61 You'll find out what that means in just a moment. 00:01:18.24\00:01:20.08 We want to thank you for your prayers. 00:01:20.18\00:01:21.28 Honey, isn't it going to be a good program tonight? 00:01:21.71\00:01:23.24 I'm excited about tonight's program. 00:01:23.38\00:01:25.21 That's right. 00:01:25.31\00:01:28.82 little bit of salt. 00:01:28.82\00:01:29.55 Salt adds flavor. 00:01:29.95\00:01:31.65 I like to cook so you'll see why I said salt. 00:01:31.89\00:01:34.36 Exactly. 00:01:34.36\00:01:36.83 Not in the literal sense, but you'll find out why you need to 00:01:36.89\00:01:40.33 stay tuned. 00:01:40.33\00:01:43.43 well, how can the Lord use me? 00:01:43.60\00:01:44.70 Well tonight you'll find out how you can participate, how 00:01:44.80\00:01:48.14 you can get involved and you might be able to open doors in 00:01:48.14\00:01:50.97 your community to expand and make a difference through this 00:01:50.97\00:01:55.44 ministry. 00:01:55.44\00:01:55.91 What do you think? 00:01:56.38\00:01:57.01 Now last week, where were we? 00:01:57.08\00:01:58.65 We had a 3ABN rally in Jamaica. 00:01:59.21\00:02:02.65 In Kingston. 00:02:03.35\00:02:04.05 It was in Kingston and Mandeville. 00:02:04.19\00:02:05.95 It was in Andrews Church and at Northern Caribbean University. 00:02:05.95\00:02:10.46 We had a blessed time. 00:02:10.73\00:02:12.33 As many of you know, my roots is Jamaican so I was with my 00:02:12.63\00:02:16.23 people. 00:02:16.23\00:02:16.73 That's right. 00:02:16.80\00:02:17.27 And I enjoyed it, really. 00:02:17.43\00:02:19.33 It was a blessing. 00:02:19.37\00:02:20.34 So those of you in Jamaica, if you were there, thank you for 00:02:20.64\00:02:23.00 being there. 00:02:23.00\00:02:26.98 Northern Caribbean University and we're looking forward to 00:02:26.98\00:02:29.68 being in Jamaica later on this year. 00:02:29.68\00:02:31.18 So we'll work on that for the Lord's glory. 00:02:31.61\00:02:33.58 But tonight, we're not going to go to music. 00:02:33.58\00:02:36.62 We're going to go right to our guest so you can find out why 00:02:36.99\00:02:39.49 this is a seasoned program. 00:02:39.49\00:02:42.09 Good to have the salt director, Eric Camarillo. 00:02:42.49\00:02:45.23 Good to have you here again. 00:02:45.33\00:02:46.03 Yeah, no, I'm really happy. 00:02:46.13\00:02:47.76 Always happy to be here. 00:02:47.83\00:02:48.86 Always happy. 00:02:49.06\00:02:52.13 been following your track. 00:02:52.13\00:02:53.13 You're not a stranger to 3ABN. 00:02:53.30\00:02:54.84 You're not new to our family. 00:02:56.04\00:02:57.14 But every time you come, instead of repeating the same 00:02:57.51\00:03:00.34 program, saying the same thing tonight, you're going to 00:03:00.34\00:03:02.54 unfold. 00:03:02.54\00:03:03.18 This is going to be like a cauliflower art show kind of 00:03:03.71\00:03:06.05 program showing where you've been, how you got started, and 00:03:06.05\00:03:09.75 where you're headed. 00:03:09.75\00:03:10.69 Just kind of give people an overview of who you are. 00:03:10.99\00:03:12.99 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:03:13.12\00:03:14.96 So, you know, my name's Eric. 00:03:15.32\00:03:17.39 You know, I started the organization back in 2011, 00:03:17.83\00:03:22.83 September of 2011. 00:03:23.60\00:03:24.87 So we are talking, yeah, it's going to be 14 years this year. 00:03:25.03\00:03:28.74 And God just, you know, I experienced homelessness when I 00:03:29.20\00:03:32.34 was younger and it was about six months. 00:03:32.34\00:03:35.31 And so it really, you know, when I became an Adventist 00:03:36.21\00:03:40.05 Christian, it really kind of, you know, God was using that to 00:03:40.05\00:03:44.85 plant a seed for something. 00:03:44.85\00:03:46.15 You know what I mean? 00:03:46.29\00:03:51.96 thinking, OK, God, what is it that you want me to do with my 00:03:51.96\00:03:54.23 life? 00:03:54.23\00:03:55.36 Why am I here? 00:03:55.40\00:03:56.56 What can you use me for? 00:03:56.56\00:03:58.93 And, you know, all the stuff, you know, before you give 00:03:59.40\00:04:03.77 yourself to Christ, right? 00:04:03.77\00:04:06.21 There's all this stuff that you learn and that you go through. 00:04:06.21\00:04:10.25 And then when you come to Christ, then all that stuff 00:04:10.68\00:04:14.08 gets kind of repurposed and it's redirected for His Kingdom 00:04:14.08\00:04:20.89 and for His glory. 00:04:20.89\00:04:21.92 And so I was wondering, what is it that He wants me to do 00:04:22.06\00:04:24.43 there? 00:04:24.43\00:04:30.73 hadn't looked back, you know. 00:04:30.73\00:04:32.33 How did it start? 00:04:32.63\00:04:33.80 So, you know, I... 00:04:34.27\00:04:38.17 What is SALT? 00:04:38.17\00:04:39.04 What does it mean? 00:04:39.04\00:04:39.07 Yeah, so SALT is an acronym for Service and Love Together. 00:04:40.24\00:04:43.04 You know, we were just kind of looking in the community and I 00:04:44.28\00:04:47.38 became, you know, I came into the faith and I was seeing that 00:04:47.38\00:04:50.39 there were a lot of churches doing a lot of things, but 00:04:50.39\00:04:53.46 there wasn't a lot of unity. 00:04:53.46\00:04:54.66 There wasn't a lot of people, a lot of collaboration, as much 00:04:54.86\00:04:57.89 collaboration as I would have liked to see. 00:04:57.89\00:04:59.56 And so SALT really started as a way to get different churches 00:05:00.83\00:05:04.57 and different groups together for one purpose. 00:05:04.57\00:05:07.17 So combine your resources, combine your energy and let's 00:05:07.67\00:05:10.64 do this. 00:05:10.64\00:05:13.81 And so that's kind of, you know, we talked to some young 00:05:14.28\00:05:17.45 adults, we had an event, we kind of pitched the idea to the 00:05:17.45\00:05:20.78 young adults and then it just kind of caught on, you know, 00:05:20.78\00:05:24.29 and like Wildfire, other young adults were telling other 00:05:24.35\00:05:27.79 people and then about a year later, after that initial 00:05:27.79\00:05:31.86 start, we had about 850 young adults in the sanctuary all 00:05:31.86\00:05:37.27 wanting to do something in the community and make a difference 00:05:37.27\00:05:40.97 in the community. 00:05:40.97\00:05:41.84 And so that was kind of just, you know, what was a catalyst 00:05:42.24\00:05:46.11 that kind of spread and made SALT what it is today. 00:05:46.11\00:05:48.78 Wow, and so here we are seeing you married, you were single at 00:05:48.78\00:05:55.12 the time, you experienced homelessness and so the Lord 00:05:55.12\00:05:59.15 took your tragedy and turned it into a treasure that He's using 00:05:59.15\00:06:03.39 today. 00:06:03.39\00:06:03.93 Now tell us about your wife. 00:06:04.96\00:06:06.09 You have a wife, how long have you been married? 00:06:06.23\00:06:07.96 Oh yes, yes, I could talk about her all two hours if you want. 00:06:07.96\00:06:07.96 I love it. 00:06:11.17\00:06:16.14 Yes, good mix. 00:06:17.04\00:06:18.24 She's in Miami and spent some time in Puerto Rico as well. 00:06:18.24\00:06:21.11 She's a school counselor at a private Christian Academy, 00:06:21.68\00:06:23.98 Adventist Academy in Orlando and she does mental health 00:06:24.95\00:06:28.55 counseling in the evenings. 00:06:28.55\00:06:29.58 Very good. 00:06:30.19\00:06:35.26 tell her this all the time and she thinks I'm joking, I'm 00:06:35.26\00:06:37.63 like, man, if you didn't come in my life, I don't know, I'd 00:06:37.63\00:06:40.56 be, you know, work myself to death or something, you know, 00:06:40.56\00:06:44.90 but she's just... 00:06:44.97\00:06:45.93 She has balance. 00:06:45.93\00:06:50.81 one of our outreaches with The Unsheltered when we first 00:06:50.81\00:06:53.17 started and well, it was like 2016 or so when she volunteered 00:06:53.17\00:06:56.98 and you know, we just, we became friends and you know, 00:06:56.98\00:06:59.85 over time we got to know each other and you know, then next 00:06:59.88\00:07:03.28 thing you know, I'm popping the question eventually and then, 00:07:03.28\00:07:06.45 you know, we kind of go from there and got married during 00:07:06.59\00:07:10.96 the pandemic actually. 00:07:10.96\00:07:12.09 Yeah, yeah. 00:07:12.46\00:07:13.33 Oh my. 00:07:13.33\00:07:16.36 wedding? 00:07:16.36\00:07:22.14 know, hopefully I don't get these dates wrong, it was 00:07:22.14\00:07:24.74 scheduled for April 5th and you know, with all the shutdowns 00:07:24.74\00:07:30.35 and everything happening started around mid-March, you 00:07:30.35\00:07:32.81 know, and so the pastor that was marrying us, he's like, you 00:07:32.81\00:07:37.62 know, we call him Uncle Les, you know, he called us, he's 00:07:37.62\00:07:40.62 like, do you want to just get married tomorrow? 00:07:40.62\00:07:42.42 We don't know what's going to happen in two weeks, you know 00:07:42.42\00:07:45.23 what I mean? 00:07:45.23\00:07:47.66 The next day we just went in an empty field by Florida 00:07:48.03\00:07:52.80 conference office there in Orlando and you know, we had 00:07:52.80\00:07:56.37 about 15, 20 people there. 00:07:56.37\00:07:58.61 Outdoors. 00:07:58.94\00:08:02.88 the stuff together and friends rallied together and we got 00:08:02.88\00:08:06.78 some pictures and you know, friends brought food there. 00:08:06.78\00:08:10.42 It was just, it was very small. 00:08:10.42\00:08:14.09 We saved a lot of money. 00:08:14.82\00:08:15.76 It was very small, but it was really beautiful. 00:08:17.03\00:08:19.46 You know, we don't regret anything. 00:08:19.76\00:08:22.13 We really, that was a beautiful time for us, yeah. 00:08:22.53\00:08:26.13 Until he lights up. 00:08:26.17\00:08:27.20 Exactly. 00:08:27.20\00:08:27.87 When he talks about his wife. 00:08:27.87\00:08:28.64 That's right. 00:08:28.97\00:08:29.60 She's now the salt in his life. 00:08:29.67\00:08:30.91 Oh, okay. 00:08:30.91\00:08:30.94 I love that. 00:08:32.04\00:08:32.54 She seasoned it for sure. 00:08:33.14\00:08:34.44 It was real plain before her. 00:08:34.58\00:08:36.78 You know, salt is so diverse. 00:08:36.95\00:08:38.41 I want to let us go to this video and give our audience, 00:08:38.41\00:08:42.22 our viewing audience, if you're a listening audience, then you 00:08:42.48\00:08:44.99 might be able to hear some of it, but the viewing audience, 00:08:44.99\00:08:46.92 you'll see generally what salt is really all about. 00:08:47.09\00:08:50.76 Check it out. 00:08:50.96\00:08:51.63 Homelessness in central Florida is just getting so much worse. 00:08:55.43\00:09:00.50 Shelters are at capacity. 00:09:02.14\00:09:03.37 Rent is at all time highs. 00:09:03.97\00:09:05.34 Every $100 increase in median rent equals a 9% increase in 00:09:06.78\00:09:10.78 homelessness. 00:09:10.78\00:09:15.22 past three years. 00:09:15.22\00:09:15.98 That means a 50% increase in homelessness. 00:09:16.82\00:09:18.85 So we're starting to see that now, especially among youth and 00:09:18.92\00:09:21.82 young adults, seniors, you know, people 55 plus are 00:09:21.82\00:09:27.03 becoming homeless. 00:09:27.03\00:09:28.03 And, you know, I think a lot of the time people look at the 00:09:28.53\00:09:31.40 people that are living on the street and they think that 00:09:31.40\00:09:34.17 they've been there forever. 00:09:34.17\00:09:35.24 But over the past four years, about 75% of people 00:09:35.24\00:09:39.81 experiencing homelessness have been experiencing it for the 00:09:39.81\00:09:42.81 first time. 00:09:42.81\00:09:43.98 The story of salt is a story of God using average people that 00:09:48.95\00:09:54.49 have leaned on their faith and wanted to make a difference in 00:09:54.49\00:09:58.93 the community among people experiencing homelessness. 00:09:58.93\00:10:01.60 Before I became a Christian, I had experienced homelessness 00:10:03.23\00:10:05.73 myself. 00:10:05.73\00:10:06.33 I was about 20 years old. 00:10:06.33\00:10:07.70 And not having access to things like a place to wash clothes, 00:10:07.70\00:10:11.81 not having access to a case manager to help me understand 00:10:12.01\00:10:15.68 what services were available to me and what I qualified for, 00:10:15.68\00:10:18.65 and to help me navigate the system, it was really 00:10:18.95\00:10:21.68 difficult. 00:10:21.68\00:10:22.58 And I think as I became a Christian and started to think 00:10:22.88\00:10:26.09 about how can I take this energy that I was putting into 00:10:26.09\00:10:29.42 the world before into something that God can use. 00:10:29.42\00:10:33.26 So we were doing breakfast. 00:10:35.96\00:10:37.13 We would serve about 8 to 16 at a time. 00:10:37.13\00:10:40.90 But that started growing. 00:10:41.87\00:10:43.67 Together I got with some friends. 00:10:44.17\00:10:45.37 We came up with some names. 00:10:45.57\00:10:47.31 We took a poll. 00:10:47.54\00:10:48.31 And salt was the name that came out from Matthew 5.13 that we 00:10:48.78\00:10:52.28 are the salt of the earth. 00:10:52.28\00:10:53.25 So, yeah, like this was pretty much the OG group, 2012, 2013. 00:10:53.68\00:10:58.25 So, I mean, it was a bunch of different ministries and 00:10:59.49\00:11:01.76 outreaches that Eric and a few others kind of brought 00:11:01.76\00:11:04.83 together. 00:11:04.83\00:11:05.36 So it went from 16 to 20 to 50 to 100. 00:11:07.00\00:11:12.17 We didn't have enough benches to fit the amount of people 00:11:13.77\00:11:16.84 coming. 00:11:16.84\00:11:17.41 I didn't realize how fulfilled I felt by something so simple. 00:11:18.11\00:11:21.41 We were cooking out of restaurants. 00:11:21.54\00:11:23.04 We would have hotels send us food. 00:11:23.38\00:11:25.18 We'd have people bring food. 00:11:25.35\00:11:26.45 We'd have churches, other organizations donate food. 00:11:26.45\00:11:29.48 I kind of joke that making a peanut butter and jelly 00:11:30.09\00:11:32.79 sandwich kind of changed my life. 00:11:32.79\00:11:34.12 Towards the end, we were serving I think close to 200 on 00:11:35.22\00:11:39.16 Saturday mornings. 00:11:39.16\00:11:39.96 And as we continued to share food, we didn't want to just 00:11:41.93\00:11:45.13 stop at food. 00:11:45.13\00:11:46.03 And so we started to provide clothing and hygiene products, 00:11:47.67\00:11:51.11 which ended up leading to us fundraising for a clothing 00:11:51.37\00:11:53.71 trailer that we called our Change trailer. 00:11:53.71\00:11:56.08 But that started growing. 00:11:57.05\00:11:58.81 We didn't know it at the time, but that trailer helped inspire 00:12:00.08\00:12:03.28 kind of our model moving forward in how we deliver our 00:12:03.28\00:12:07.49 services by really just meeting people where they are. 00:12:07.49\00:12:10.93 And then the next big milestone was our shower trailer. 00:12:13.66\00:12:15.93 We found out that over half of the people we were serving were 00:12:16.60\00:12:20.50 actively looking for work, but those same people hadn't 00:12:20.50\00:12:22.64 showered in three to seven days on average. 00:12:22.64\00:12:24.47 There were some people going on job interviews that hadn't 00:12:24.91\00:12:27.54 showered in three months. 00:12:27.54\00:12:28.78 So we're like, OK, there isn't enough shower capacity in this 00:12:28.78\00:12:32.08 community. 00:12:32.08\00:12:34.88 And that's when we fundraised about $40,000 for our shower 00:12:35.18\00:12:38.19 trailer. 00:12:38.19\00:12:38.52 And now we're providing food. 00:12:39.19\00:12:40.59 We started to bring in barbers to do haircuts. 00:12:40.76\00:12:43.16 We were doing showers and we're doing clothing and hygiene 00:12:43.56\00:12:46.66 products. 00:12:46.66\00:12:47.13 We have the clothing trailer. 00:12:47.83\00:12:48.93 We're just giving out clothes, giving out clothes, giving out 00:12:49.06\00:12:50.90 clothes. 00:12:50.90\00:12:51.50 And it's just like, this is kind of wasteful. 00:12:51.93\00:12:54.44 Let's find a solution for that. 00:12:54.87\00:12:56.27 And that's where the laundry trailer came in. 00:12:56.27\00:12:58.21 And we started to add other services like mail services. 00:13:02.44\00:13:05.01 We added limited storage services, charging stations for 00:13:05.21\00:13:09.65 the unsheltered. 00:13:09.65\00:13:10.42 Are you already signed up for showers? 00:13:10.85\00:13:12.42 But there needed to be a comprehensive drop-in center in 00:13:13.29\00:13:16.69 the downtown Orlando. 00:13:16.69\00:13:17.53 There needed to be a front door for people experiencing 00:13:17.83\00:13:20.93 homelessness, a place where someone can come and say, I 00:13:20.93\00:13:24.00 want my homelessness to end. 00:13:24.00\00:13:25.33 And a case manager can guide them through that process from 00:13:25.57\00:13:28.44 beginning to end. 00:13:28.44\00:13:29.57 Let's really start attacking the roots of the homelessness 00:13:30.21\00:13:34.74 issue and let's really try to help them on another level. 00:13:34.74\00:13:37.88 Now, that case management program went on that year to 00:13:39.15\00:13:42.18 help one out of five people transition to shelter housing 00:13:42.18\00:13:45.59 and three out of four take the next step toward ending their 00:13:46.09\00:13:48.86 homelessness. 00:13:48.86\00:13:49.39 And since then, they're on track to helping directly end 00:13:50.06\00:13:53.16 homelessness for either one family or person a week and 00:13:53.16\00:13:56.73 divert people away from the system because our system's 00:13:56.73\00:14:00.34 already burdened. 00:14:00.34\00:14:01.17 This is the past, but I also see the future in these 00:14:02.10\00:14:06.04 pictures. 00:14:06.04\00:14:06.64 Homelessness in central Florida is just getting so much worse. 00:14:13.11\00:14:18.09 We are trying to do what we can to meet the need, to keep up 00:14:19.52\00:14:23.29 with the need, but it's just becoming overwhelming. 00:14:23.29\00:14:25.99 It's a lot. 00:14:25.99\00:14:26.80 Our community is just not able to handle the influx that we're 00:14:27.23\00:14:33.47 seeing right now. 00:14:33.47\00:14:34.30 It's not people that are there just all the time, you know, 00:14:35.40\00:14:37.94 and we're seeing a lot more first timers. 00:14:37.94\00:14:39.61 And so as God continues to write this story, we're hoping 00:14:42.21\00:14:46.08 that more people come together and want to be a part of the 00:14:46.08\00:14:50.72 story with us together. 00:14:50.72\00:14:51.82 We're so thankful that in January of 2024, we were 00:14:52.85\00:14:56.42 awarded a grant to work with homeless youth. 00:14:56.42\00:14:59.03 It's for unaccompanied minors from ages 16 to 17 and young 00:14:59.33\00:15:02.90 adults from 18 to 24. 00:15:02.90\00:15:04.40 We just got both of our trailers delivered yesterday. 00:15:05.73\00:15:08.64 This big trailer here is going to be dedicated to youth and 00:15:09.17\00:15:11.44 young adults experiencing homelessness. 00:15:11.44\00:15:12.87 We're going to be providing the case management support, the 00:15:13.14\00:15:15.64 day services support, the showers and laundry and all 00:15:15.64\00:15:17.85 that stuff. 00:15:17.85\00:15:22.12 trailer. 00:15:22.12\00:15:22.45 We're really excited. 00:15:22.95\00:15:24.15 We think it's going to make a big difference here, and that's 00:15:24.19\00:15:26.32 going to be five days a week. 00:15:26.32\00:15:27.56 So it's basically doubling our current five days a week here 00:15:27.59\00:15:31.19 in downtown Orlando to now an additional five days a week 00:15:31.19\00:15:34.40 across the central Florida area. 00:15:34.40\00:15:36.36 Yeah, you hear that all the time. 00:15:37.17\00:15:38.30 Like, yeah, I used to work in corporate. 00:15:38.47\00:15:40.30 I used to this. 00:15:40.44\00:15:43.20 until, you know, I got in a car accident, until I had a stroke. 00:15:43.30\00:15:46.88 It's just, it's crazy because as we see this increase in 00:15:48.21\00:15:51.35 homelessness, the increase in evictions, you know, the 00:15:51.35\00:15:53.75 increase in rent prices, we're not seeing an increase in 00:15:53.75\00:15:56.69 wages. 00:15:56.69\00:15:58.89 It's no longer just a homelessness crisis. 00:15:59.15\00:16:01.72 It's an emergency. 00:16:02.02\00:16:02.96 This is nothing new. 00:16:03.59\00:16:04.63 We're not doing anything new here. 00:16:04.73\00:16:06.83 This is what God has asked his people to do. 00:16:06.90\00:16:10.77 And we're just following that calling. 00:16:11.10\00:16:13.50 And we're excited because so many people have joined this 00:16:13.50\00:16:18.64 calling with us. 00:16:18.64\00:16:19.67 Every day is a new page in the story that God is writing 00:16:20.64\00:16:24.41 through Saul. 00:16:24.41\00:16:25.45 We all are just working together to help provide the 00:16:25.91\00:16:30.39 most vulnerable, not only with their basic needs, the most 00:16:30.39\00:16:33.52 basic human needs, but also to help end their homelessness, to 00:16:33.52\00:16:37.96 revive that hope in them that one day they don't have to be 00:16:37.96\00:16:42.46 living on the street. 00:16:42.46\00:16:43.93 They can be in a home. 00:16:43.97\00:16:45.30 And our hope is that you join us in becoming a part of that 00:16:46.37\00:16:52.11 story here in Central Florida. 00:16:52.11\00:16:53.41 Wow, I've known a lot about Saul, but this really has 00:17:10.39\00:17:13.93 impacted me seeing it in a broader view. 00:17:13.93\00:17:16.10 The eye-opener. 00:17:16.20\00:17:17.07 The eye-opener. 00:17:17.07\00:17:17.80 Eric, I mean, you're living this. 00:17:18.13\00:17:20.64 This is your heartbeat. 00:17:20.67\00:17:21.57 Yeah. 00:17:21.77\00:17:25.27 you, but look at all the lives you're touching. 00:17:25.27\00:17:26.74 How does that impact you when you wake up in the morning? 00:17:26.81\00:17:28.68 You know what, when we started Saul, we had a dream that one 00:17:29.21\00:17:34.55 day we would be able to have enough resources that we'll be 00:17:34.55\00:17:41.06 serving so many people that we would have to do this full 00:17:41.06\00:17:44.13 -time. 00:17:44.13\00:17:44.69 And that was what we envisioned from day one. 00:17:45.36\00:17:48.13 Oh, wow. 00:17:48.13\00:17:48.90 And God has done it. 00:17:49.93\00:17:51.33 Amen. 00:17:51.33\00:17:51.70 He's done it. 00:17:51.93\00:17:52.33 He's provided resources. 00:17:52.50\00:17:53.77 Many people watching right now have probably donated to Saul 00:17:54.30\00:17:57.61 at some point because we've been coming on here six, seven 00:17:57.61\00:18:01.21 years now. 00:18:01.21\00:18:01.84 It's great being able to see the ministry grow. 00:18:02.34\00:18:04.55 Now we have a team of 46 employees. 00:18:07.85\00:18:11.35 We're about to be in five locations five days a week 00:18:11.99\00:18:14.72 right now across Central Florida. 00:18:14.72\00:18:16.79 We have a two-day-a-week location. 00:18:17.03\00:18:18.99 We have a branch in San Diego, and we'll talk more about that. 00:18:19.29\00:18:22.06 But yeah, we can't take credit for it. 00:18:22.16\00:18:26.40 God comes out of nowhere, and He just comes out of left field 00:18:26.63\00:18:30.67 with stuff that we don't even know where it's coming from. 00:18:30.67\00:18:33.68 It's just Him reminding us, Hey, I'm in control. 00:18:34.41\00:18:37.31 I got you guys. 00:18:37.58\00:18:38.51 I'll provide. 00:18:38.58\00:18:39.38 You guys keep doing my work, and I will provide. 00:18:39.65\00:18:41.72 And that's the message He's been sending to us. 00:18:42.42\00:18:44.22 The work has been there, Ephesians 2, 10, for you are 00:18:44.62\00:18:48.19 His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works 00:18:48.19\00:18:51.79 which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in. 00:18:51.79\00:18:54.30 So this need was there. 00:18:54.46\00:18:55.76 The Lord was just looking for someone. 00:18:56.13\00:18:57.27 Who will we send and who will go for us? 00:18:57.97\00:19:00.84 And Eric said, Here I am. 00:19:01.14\00:19:03.47 Send me. 00:19:03.74\00:19:04.41 And this impact is amazing. 00:19:04.87\00:19:07.38 Let me talk about something that people watching may have 00:19:07.71\00:19:10.45 missed this. 00:19:10.45\00:19:11.11 People were walking up to the windows asking questions about 00:19:11.91\00:19:14.58 being registered, but there's a room that had all these files 00:19:14.58\00:19:17.85 in it. 00:19:17.85\00:19:21.42 So, you know, people experiencing homelessness, they 00:19:21.62\00:19:23.66 don't have an address, right? 00:19:23.66\00:19:24.89 So a lot of the time, they burn bridges with banks. 00:19:25.09\00:19:28.63 If they're applying for jobs, they need to put an address 00:19:29.06\00:19:32.13 down. 00:19:32.13\00:19:32.73 If they need to get their paychecks or Social Security 00:19:33.30\00:19:35.84 checks mailed somewhere, they need an address. 00:19:35.84\00:19:37.94 If their family or loved ones want to send them something, 00:19:38.21\00:19:40.58 they need an address. 00:19:41.08\00:19:42.21 I mean, it's a key piece in helping end homelessness. 00:19:42.21\00:19:46.08 Our data team actually looked at the strongest correlations 00:19:46.21\00:19:50.22 to getting someone to see a case manager. 00:19:50.22\00:19:51.85 We found that mail services was one of the services that was 00:19:52.42\00:19:56.19 most correlated to getting someone over to see a case 00:19:56.19\00:19:58.49 manager. 00:19:58.49\00:19:58.93 So that's why we continue to market that. 00:19:59.43\00:20:03.33 Yeah, it's the bridge. 00:20:03.67\00:20:04.37 Our outreach services, the showers, the laundry, you know, 00:20:04.83\00:20:07.57 they meet basic need, right? 00:20:07.57\00:20:09.00 And we're called to do that. 00:20:09.17\00:20:11.14 And it builds trust, it builds relationship, and especially 00:20:11.14\00:20:14.71 for our chronically homeless individuals, our guests that 00:20:14.71\00:20:18.41 are chronically homeless, it gets that trust to the point 00:20:18.41\00:20:21.25 where they will say, you know what, I'm done with this. 00:20:21.25\00:20:24.62 I want to get out of this situation. 00:20:24.85\00:20:26.92 And a lot of the time, they've tried, and they've tried, and 00:20:27.42\00:20:30.63 they've tried, and the resources aren't there, the 00:20:30.63\00:20:34.23 organizations have failed them, maybe they've been looked at. 00:20:34.23\00:20:38.23 You know, there was two brothers that came to us 00:20:38.23\00:20:41.60 recently. 00:20:41.60\00:20:42.24 This was about a month ago. 00:20:42.57\00:20:43.77 They came to us, and they sat with a case manager, they got 00:20:44.61\00:20:48.78 some basic needs met, and we were able to end their 00:20:48.78\00:20:51.75 homelessness. 00:20:51.75\00:20:52.15 And before they left, they came up to our team, and they're 00:20:53.31\00:20:58.35 like, you know what, we've gone to other organizations, like we 00:20:58.35\00:21:02.79 feel, you guys, like you don't look at our outward appearance, 00:21:02.79\00:21:05.76 you know, because they had tattoos, they had a history, 00:21:05.76\00:21:08.46 you could tell, there was maybe a history there, but our team 00:21:08.60\00:21:11.67 treated them with love, with compassion, and they were 00:21:11.67\00:21:15.47 almost in tears, you know, sharing how we just, we didn't 00:21:15.47\00:21:20.44 treat them any differently. 00:21:20.44\00:21:21.38 We treated them the way that we felt Jesus would want us to 00:21:22.34\00:21:25.98 treat people, how He calls us to treat people, and that made 00:21:25.98\00:21:30.02 a difference in their lives, and then they ended up getting 00:21:30.02\00:21:32.62 off the street, you know, so it's, yeah, it's an amazing 00:21:32.62\00:21:39.36 thing to be a part of, I feel blessed to be a part of it, and 00:21:39.36\00:21:43.87 yeah, I know our team is amazing, they're doing some 00:21:43.87\00:21:46.07 really good work. 00:21:46.07\00:21:51.04 they come and register, how does that work? 00:21:51.04\00:21:53.17 You know what, good question, I have a video that shows a walk 00:21:53.27\00:21:57.38 -through of our services, I'll show you what one of our 00:21:57.38\00:21:59.95 clients goes through, and you can literally see through his 00:21:59.95\00:22:03.72 eyes what it's like to be at S .A.L.T. 00:22:03.72\00:22:05.75 and get services. 00:22:05.89\00:22:06.65 Okay, let's go to that, let's go to that thing. 00:22:06.96\00:22:08.96 Oh, okay. 00:22:08.99\00:22:09.69 Hi, I'm Richard, this is how S .A.L.T. 00:22:10.56\00:22:11.86 has helped me. 00:22:11.99\00:22:12.56 You know, S.A.L.T. 00:24:33.23\00:24:34.44 is a world in a world. 00:24:34.54\00:24:37.11 I mean, let's just go over some of what we just saw in the 00:24:37.51\00:24:40.41 first and second video, because it just continues to unfold. 00:24:40.41\00:24:44.08 Honestly, Eric, I thought I knew everything about S.A.L.T. 00:24:44.98\00:24:48.12 We don't. 00:24:48.22\00:24:48.85 I really didn't. 00:24:49.02\00:24:50.35 What I'm seeing today is like, it's an epiphany, there's light 00:24:50.49\00:24:53.66 going off in my brain saying, wow, S.A.L.T. 00:24:53.66\00:24:57.26 is not just about giving somebody clothes and giving 00:24:57.29\00:25:00.30 them a sandwich or a snack to go along the way and have a 00:25:00.30\00:25:03.23 great day, not just about giving them a shower and say, 00:25:03.23\00:25:05.37 well, we'll never see you again, but let's just go to 00:25:05.63\00:25:07.57 another location. 00:25:07.57\00:25:10.57 lives. 00:25:10.57\00:25:11.04 Yes, life-changing. 00:25:11.11\00:25:12.07 You're talking about becoming their family. 00:25:12.07\00:25:13.34 Talk about that, because that's powerful. 00:25:14.14\00:25:16.01 Richie's story is just an amazing example of that. 00:25:16.58\00:25:18.98 Yeah, and you know, you made me think of something, because 00:25:19.15\00:25:21.95 really, we get a lot of questions. 00:25:21.95\00:25:23.79 We served over 7,000 different people in the last four years 00:25:23.85\00:25:27.89 or so, and people ask, what's that common denominator? 00:25:27.89\00:25:31.39 And I've shared it before, but I feel like it's worth sharing 00:25:31.73\00:25:34.50 again, is, yes, triggers to homelessness include things 00:25:34.50\00:25:41.24 like addiction, things like mental illness. 00:25:41.24\00:25:43.37 We're seeing a lot of evictions right now, people losing their 00:25:44.34\00:25:48.51 jobs, loss of income, of course, is a big one, but those 00:25:48.51\00:25:52.35 aren't necessarily the causes of homelessness, right? 00:25:52.35\00:25:55.42 So when you look at severe mental illness, for example, 5% 00:25:55.95\00:25:59.79 of the general population is severe mental illness, but not 00:25:59.79\00:26:02.12 all of them are experiencing homelessness, right? 00:26:02.12\00:26:04.03 So what's the difference there? 00:26:04.23\00:26:05.63 The difference is that everyone experiencing homelessness has 00:26:05.69\00:26:09.53 gone through maybe a severe mental health episode, an 00:26:09.53\00:26:11.87 addictive episode, they've gone through an eviction, they've 00:26:11.87\00:26:14.24 lost income, but they had no one that was able or willing to 00:26:14.24\00:26:18.01 care for them when they went through that situation. 00:26:18.01\00:26:20.44 So the people we see, people that come to us, they don't 00:26:20.51\00:26:23.71 have anyone in their life that is able or willing to care for 00:26:23.71\00:26:28.15 them. 00:26:28.15\00:26:30.25 So we feel called to be that group for these people. 00:26:30.55\00:26:34.79 We are in their corner. 00:26:35.12\00:26:36.32 We're rooting for them. 00:26:36.36\00:26:37.23 We're wanting to make sure, and we're sharing that love with 00:26:37.69\00:26:40.56 them. 00:26:40.56\00:26:40.90 Like Richie, for example, he came to us, he was experiencing 00:26:42.03\00:26:46.03 homelessness for two years before he came to us. 00:26:46.03\00:26:47.87 Doesn't have any close family relationships. 00:26:48.24\00:26:51.37 No one he could really count on. 00:26:51.91\00:26:53.34 He's kind of a loner, I guess you can say. 00:26:53.48\00:26:55.58 Young adult, and he started coming to us, he started 00:26:56.34\00:26:59.75 getting showers with us, he signed up for mail. 00:26:59.75\00:27:01.92 Some of the services you saw there. 00:27:02.25\00:27:03.82 Even cell phone charging. 00:27:03.92\00:27:05.05 Yeah, charging his phone, doing laundry, and you know, he 00:27:05.05\00:27:09.19 started that. 00:27:09.19\00:27:10.06 Then he started going to our group Bible studies first 00:27:10.36\00:27:12.09 actually. 00:27:12.09\00:27:12.53 And he started coming to our group Bible studies, and he 00:27:13.50\00:27:16.77 started creating a relationship with our spiritual care team, 00:27:16.77\00:27:19.10 and then the spiritual care team encouraged him to go see a 00:27:20.07\00:27:23.64 case manager. 00:27:23.64\00:27:26.01 Started seeing a case manager shortly after he got a job. 00:27:26.51\00:27:29.91 It was about from six months after we met him. 00:27:30.71\00:27:34.98 In between that time he got a job, and he moved into housing 00:27:35.85\00:27:38.49 six months later, his own place. 00:27:38.49\00:27:40.26 What? 00:27:40.29\00:27:40.52 And then about a month and a half later, he texts our 00:27:42.09\00:27:44.93 spiritual care team. 00:27:44.93\00:27:48.60 my job. 00:27:48.60\00:27:49.33 I got two people under me now. 00:27:50.30\00:27:51.87 And then after that, he started volunteering with us, you know. 00:27:52.27\00:27:56.64 Giving back. 00:27:57.21\00:28:01.24 with him, and you know, just build relationship with him. 00:28:01.24\00:28:04.68 But you know, it's been an amazing journey. 00:28:05.08\00:28:08.38 He's a really great example of someone that really just needed 00:28:08.75\00:28:13.25 someone in their corner, needed someone to believe in them, to 00:28:13.25\00:28:15.82 root for them. 00:28:15.82\00:28:16.56 To stand on somebody's shoulder. 00:28:16.62\00:28:18.03 Yeah, exactly. 00:28:18.16\00:28:18.96 That's a lot of the time, that's all people need, you 00:28:19.33\00:28:21.96 know. 00:28:21.96\00:28:24.70 I'm sure there's people watching that have been 00:28:24.73\00:28:26.84 involved in ministry for the unsheltered, right? 00:28:26.84\00:28:29.50 And you know, they are providing food and they're 00:28:30.21\00:28:32.24 providing clothing. 00:28:32.24\00:28:32.91 But they know that there's something more that needs to be 00:28:33.71\00:28:37.08 done there. 00:28:37.08\00:28:37.51 Yes, amen. 00:28:37.51\00:28:37.55 But they don't know how to do it. 00:28:38.38\00:28:39.51 They don't know what the next steps are. 00:28:39.51\00:28:40.95 That feeling when you have someone in front of you, you 00:28:41.18\00:28:43.95 give them food, you give them clothes, and that feeling of 00:28:43.95\00:28:46.15 like, there's more that's needed here. 00:28:46.15\00:28:49.62 What am I going to do? 00:28:49.66\00:28:51.03 They start asking questions. 00:28:51.03\00:28:52.29 They say they want to get into housing. 00:28:52.43\00:28:54.00 They say they want to get employment. 00:28:54.30\00:28:55.53 But you don't have the resources or the ability to 00:28:55.53\00:28:58.57 help them get there. 00:28:58.57\00:28:59.93 Right. 00:28:59.93\00:29:06.17 the next level and to continue growing. 00:29:06.17\00:29:07.74 Because when you're in front of someone, and we still face that 00:29:08.51\00:29:11.35 even today, we have, last year we served 3,300 people 120,000 00:29:11.35\00:29:16.89 different times, right? 00:29:16.89\00:29:17.99 Wow. 00:29:17.99\00:29:27.46 with kids come to them. 00:29:27.46\00:29:29.13 The next day was a Friday, had a mom with kids come to them 00:29:29.76\00:29:33.00 again. 00:29:33.00\00:29:33.60 Then on Monday had another mom with kids come to them. 00:29:34.17\00:29:35.97 Literally three days in a row, three different moms with 00:29:35.97\00:29:38.84 children experiencing homelessness. 00:29:38.84\00:29:40.71 And we didn't have the resources to help all three of 00:29:41.34\00:29:43.51 them. 00:29:43.51\00:29:49.18 one and a half, or maybe one. 00:29:49.18\00:29:50.65 And then this person will be on a longer plan. 00:29:51.15\00:29:53.96 Like that's stressful to think about, right? 00:29:54.26\00:29:56.22 Of course. 00:29:56.29\00:29:58.43 Right. 00:29:58.43\00:29:58.46 And that's what pushes us forward. 00:29:59.29\00:30:01.50 It keeps pushing us to grow, to pray, to take things to the 00:30:01.63\00:30:09.10 next level each year. 00:30:09.10\00:30:10.41 Because there are more and more people experiencing 00:30:10.57\00:30:12.84 homelessness. 00:30:12.84\00:30:13.34 They need more help. 00:30:13.84\00:30:14.84 They need more assistance to get out of the situation. 00:30:15.01\00:30:17.48 And so anyway, I share that because this work is tough. 00:30:17.48\00:30:25.29 Yeah, but as I'm looking at that, I'm glad you pointed that 00:30:26.42\00:30:30.09 out because there's nothing more self-defeating or you're 00:30:30.09\00:30:35.66 feeling, oh, why can't I help finish this story? 00:30:35.66\00:30:41.20 And the Richie story is, I could imagine it's like a, you 00:30:41.80\00:30:46.54 guys may not have this. 00:30:46.54\00:30:47.74 It's kind of a workspace thing. 00:30:47.74\00:30:49.18 But you guys should have something like ring a bell when 00:30:49.58\00:30:51.45 he gets a job. 00:30:51.45\00:30:52.21 Hey, let's ring a bell today. 00:30:52.61\00:30:54.15 One of our clients got a job. 00:30:54.25\00:30:55.48 Let's ring two bells. 00:30:55.55\00:30:56.42 People working out there. 00:30:56.92\00:30:57.89 Something to celebrate. 00:30:58.69\00:30:59.55 Ring a bell. 00:31:01.16\00:31:01.89 Hey, what's that? 00:31:01.99\00:31:02.62 Our client got a job. 00:31:02.72\00:31:03.99 It's a boost to say, let's just keep going, an incentive. 00:31:05.26\00:31:07.86 Let's just keep going. 00:31:08.23\00:31:09.10 Or take their picture and say, on such and such a date, is 00:31:09.90\00:31:12.53 this when they came to us? 00:31:12.53\00:31:13.64 This is the day he got his job. 00:31:13.64\00:31:15.40 This is the day he got promoted. 00:31:15.47\00:31:16.64 And you look at that and you think there are more Richies 00:31:17.14\00:31:19.31 out there. 00:31:19.31\00:31:19.84 There are more people out there. 00:31:20.41\00:31:21.41 When you get up in the morning, that will just drive you. 00:31:21.58\00:31:24.18 I may be suggesting something that you don't do, but... 00:31:24.31\00:31:27.45 I love that idea. 00:31:27.45\00:31:28.75 I like the bell idea. 00:31:28.82\00:31:29.85 We might just throw a bell in there. 00:31:30.45\00:31:32.29 We'll call it the Loma Cane. 00:31:32.39\00:31:33.46 Loma Cane Bell. 00:31:34.19\00:31:35.09 The LB. 00:31:35.49\00:31:36.06 Today Richie got a job. 00:31:36.32\00:31:37.29 Yeah, every time we hit the bell, Pastor Loma Cane's voice 00:31:37.56\00:31:40.90 will be on the... 00:31:40.90\00:31:41.96 One thing that we invest in that is hard for us to continue 00:31:43.43\00:31:47.84 to invest in, but we know it's needed, is our data team. 00:31:47.84\00:31:51.01 Our data team is what looks at everything happening. 00:31:51.64\00:31:54.98 They put it on paper and they communicate it to not only the 00:31:56.21\00:32:00.08 public, but to our staff. 00:32:00.08\00:32:01.78 They say, hey look, you guys are breaking records. 00:32:02.25\00:32:04.55 The amount of people they house in 2024 was a 69% increase over 00:32:05.59\00:32:09.82 the year before. 00:32:09.82\00:32:10.46 Amen. 00:32:10.46\00:32:11.03 They were excited to hear that. 00:32:11.53\00:32:13.60 They were like, wow. 00:32:13.76\00:32:14.30 Their goal was 100. 00:32:14.60\00:32:15.70 They housed 130. 00:32:15.93\00:32:17.67 They beat their goal by 30%. 00:32:18.30\00:32:20.74 Amen. 00:32:20.74\00:32:21.17 As testimonies happen, we try and circulate that among the 00:32:23.27\00:32:26.34 team and make sure that they know, hey, you're making a 00:32:26.34\00:32:29.81 difference here. 00:32:29.81\00:32:30.61 Because it can be tough. 00:32:31.15\00:32:32.51 Time after time, you get people in front of you, especially as 00:32:33.18\00:32:35.42 a case manager, and we see so many people and with the 00:32:35.42\00:32:42.26 limited resources, we have to, you know, that's the tough 00:32:42.26\00:32:46.13 part. 00:32:46.13\00:32:49.60 us going. 00:32:49.60\00:32:50.17 Now how many locations do you have? 00:32:50.87\00:32:52.77 So our main location right now is Downtown Orlando. 00:32:55.04\00:32:57.74 I actually have some pictures of some of our trailers. 00:32:57.84\00:32:59.74 Let's see. 00:32:59.84\00:33:00.44 So those are actually all of our locations right now in 00:33:01.31\00:33:04.31 Central Florida. 00:33:04.31\00:33:04.98 Where we serve right now, in the center there is where we 00:33:05.51\00:33:09.98 serve more frequently. 00:33:09.98\00:33:14.02 a month. 00:33:14.02\00:33:14.69 And then you'll notice there, that's Florida. 00:33:15.06\00:33:16.79 But then we have one in California there. 00:33:17.19\00:33:19.16 That's San Diego. 00:33:19.46\00:33:20.30 The San Diego chapter has been killing it. 00:33:20.43\00:33:22.26 They've been housing families already. 00:33:22.90\00:33:24.93 They had a family baptized recently. 00:33:25.53\00:33:27.67 So they're moving on forward and we're excited to have them 00:33:29.40\00:33:33.11 on the team. 00:33:33.11\00:33:33.74 But our vision is national. 00:33:33.74\00:33:33.78 Our vision is that we're in every metropolitan area because 00:33:35.58\00:33:38.95 every metropolitan area needs something like this in their 00:33:38.95\00:33:42.88 community if they don't have it. 00:33:42.88\00:33:44.49 One of the reasons why I'm so glad that 3ABN continues to do 00:33:45.95\00:33:48.69 this program, somebody one day is going to look at this 00:33:48.69\00:33:51.39 program and say we need to make this a franchise. 00:33:51.39\00:33:53.26 We need to make this every state. 00:33:53.96\00:33:55.40 Because things are changing rapidly. 00:33:55.63\00:33:57.93 Homelessness is increasing. 00:33:59.23\00:34:00.34 That video pointed that out. 00:34:00.70\00:34:01.70 That's not going to decrease. 00:34:01.74\00:34:02.87 The loss of jobs. 00:34:03.64\00:34:04.81 We're talking about people inadvertently being laid off. 00:34:04.81\00:34:07.41 Things are happening all around America. 00:34:07.74\00:34:09.51 Some people come to America and don't know what to do. 00:34:10.41\00:34:12.68 Many of them come legally and just don't know how do I get 00:34:14.48\00:34:17.42 started. 00:34:17.42\00:34:17.82 And so SALT has become this bridge in so many ways that I'm 00:34:18.62\00:34:21.42 learning new things about it today. 00:34:21.42\00:34:22.89 So what I'd like to see is some of your mobile devices. 00:34:23.26\00:34:28.06 How do you travel? 00:34:28.53\00:34:29.46 Let me see some of those. 00:34:29.50\00:34:30.50 Because I remember years ago when you said we just got our 00:34:31.10\00:34:33.47 first trailer. 00:34:33.47\00:34:34.40 We celebrated that with you. 00:34:34.70\00:34:36.24 Let's talk about the expansion. 00:34:36.40\00:34:37.54 Yeah, so one thing that is kind of unique about us is we can 00:34:37.97\00:34:42.94 provide everything we do in mobile fashion. 00:34:42.94\00:34:45.68 We can go somewhere and set up and provide all of our services 00:34:45.75\00:34:49.25 a comprehensive holistic approach just by setting up 00:34:49.25\00:34:52.45 somewhere. 00:34:52.45\00:34:52.99 We can set up outside. 00:34:53.02\00:34:53.72 So anywhere. 00:34:54.09\00:34:54.52 So let me ask a question. 00:34:54.72\00:34:55.52 Because you have a shower trailer. 00:34:55.66\00:34:57.19 So that means when you go somewhere you've got to 00:34:57.29\00:35:00.60 contract or agree with someone to either connect to the 00:35:00.60\00:35:02.90 hydrogen or connect to their water supply. 00:35:02.90\00:35:04.47 That's another thing. 00:35:05.17\00:35:06.10 So we can hook up to a hose at a building. 00:35:06.10\00:35:08.67 But there's also fresh water tanks on those trailers. 00:35:09.14\00:35:11.44 So they can run without being hooked onto a hose. 00:35:11.61\00:35:14.01 So I'll show you the first one here. 00:35:14.11\00:35:15.41 This is our very first trailer. 00:35:15.81\00:35:17.31 We call it, yeah, that one is our original trailer. 00:35:17.61\00:35:20.78 So we've done over 50,000 showers in that trailer. 00:35:21.55\00:35:24.19 What's in that? 00:35:24.72\00:35:25.59 So we have four full bathrooms. 00:35:25.72\00:35:27.32 Each bathroom has a shower, sink, and toilet. 00:35:27.52\00:35:29.89 You did over 50,000 showers already. 00:35:29.89\00:35:32.16 Over 50,000 showers since we got that in 2018. 00:35:32.36\00:35:35.20 Actually, 3ABN, half of the cost of that trailer was 00:35:35.43\00:35:38.53 fundraised by 3ABN viewers. 00:35:38.53\00:35:40.10 Amen. 00:35:40.17\00:35:40.60 Yeah, so that was the beginning. 00:35:40.97\00:35:42.77 And then, you know, a few years later we launched our laundry 00:35:43.54\00:35:47.91 trailer. 00:35:47.91\00:35:48.38 Okay. 00:35:48.64\00:35:49.31 And so it has six washers and dryers in it. 00:35:49.64\00:35:52.05 A laundry detergent company donates unlimited laundry, $150 00:35:52.51\00:35:55.95 ,000 worth of laundry to us. 00:35:55.95\00:35:57.75 Wow. 00:35:57.75\00:36:02.12 50 loads of laundry a day, about 80 showers a day. 00:36:02.12\00:36:05.06 That's how busy these trailers got. 00:36:05.33\00:36:07.13 So those two trailers work together in downtown Orlando. 00:36:07.20\00:36:10.03 So you have people that are manning these. 00:36:10.97\00:36:12.57 Okay, this is your, you do this, you do that. 00:36:12.63\00:36:14.60 And where do you keep all the detergent and things like that? 00:36:14.80\00:36:17.71 Yeah, so we wish we had a warehouse. 00:36:17.71\00:36:20.98 That would be something. 00:36:21.31\00:36:22.21 That's a dream of ours too, you know, because now we have six 00:36:24.25\00:36:28.22 locations in central Florida, and there's a lot of supply 00:36:28.22\00:36:31.59 going in and out to each of those locations, you can 00:36:31.59\00:36:33.79 imagine. 00:36:33.79\00:36:34.22 But yeah, that right there is kind of our Orlando setup. 00:36:35.99\00:36:39.13 We have obviously some case managers and things like that, 00:36:39.39\00:36:42.23 and I'll go into more on that location. 00:36:42.23\00:36:43.53 And you have a wide shower trailer. 00:36:43.57\00:36:44.90 We do, we do. 00:36:45.17\00:36:46.10 What is that? 00:36:46.27\00:36:46.90 So the next picture is our... 00:36:46.97\00:36:48.47 There it is. 00:36:48.47\00:36:48.94 So we experiment. 00:36:48.97\00:36:50.57 Each trailer we get, we try something new and just kind of 00:36:50.64\00:36:53.17 experiment a little bit. 00:36:53.17\00:36:54.11 So this is a carbon fiber, you know, shell. 00:36:54.11\00:36:56.81 Okay. 00:36:57.01\00:37:01.72 toilet. 00:37:01.72\00:37:04.85 It's a place called Sanford. 00:37:04.99\00:37:05.95 Oh, I know Sanford. 00:37:05.99\00:37:06.89 And so this trailer is dedicated there along with case 00:37:07.09\00:37:10.96 managers and other services. 00:37:10.96\00:37:12.23 Actually, that's the same trailer that our San Diego 00:37:12.66\00:37:14.63 chapter got too. 00:37:14.63\00:37:15.63 So our San Diego chapter has the same white trailer. 00:37:16.26\00:37:19.60 So give an estimated idea of what something like that costs, 00:37:20.00\00:37:22.67 because somebody might say, they need another trailer and 00:37:22.67\00:37:25.31 I'd be glad to donate the money for it. 00:37:25.31\00:37:27.21 Yeah. 00:37:27.38\00:37:27.91 You know, whenever we get... 00:37:28.04\00:37:30.85 We've realized that new trailers open up new 00:37:30.85\00:37:34.85 opportunities, you know, and like even... 00:37:34.85\00:37:37.65 You know, it's just how God works too, right? 00:37:38.45\00:37:40.19 When you prepare yourself, when you increase your capacity, 00:37:40.19\00:37:42.96 then God has more that He can fill, right? 00:37:43.53\00:37:45.96 And so... 00:37:46.09\00:37:47.03 You build it, we'll fill it. 00:37:47.03\00:37:48.00 Yeah, yeah. 00:37:48.06\00:37:51.13 I'll share a story on that in a second. 00:37:51.13\00:37:52.90 But yeah, the trailers, you know, if it's a three bathroom, 00:37:53.74\00:37:57.57 you're probably talking about 55,000 or so. 00:37:58.04\00:38:01.04 We started to add ADA bathrooms to our trailer. 00:38:01.94\00:38:05.41 So that next picture actually is a trailer that has an ADA 00:38:05.58\00:38:09.92 bathroom in the back. 00:38:09.92\00:38:10.89 An ADA bathroom, a handicap accessible bathroom. 00:38:11.52\00:38:15.42 And it has a wheelchair lift there too, so people with 00:38:16.16\00:38:19.63 disabilities can get in that wheelchair lift, they can go 00:38:19.63\00:38:22.33 into a bathroom, use the toilet safely, use the shower safely. 00:38:22.33\00:38:25.70 So we started to build those on our newer trailers. 00:38:26.57\00:38:29.07 So that is a little more expensive. 00:38:29.67\00:38:31.81 So that one we're looking at probably about 85,000, 00:38:31.97\00:38:35.21 something like that. 00:38:35.24\00:38:36.11 But you know, so many people experiencing homelessness right 00:38:36.78\00:38:39.15 now are our seniors. 00:38:39.15\00:38:40.48 Last year we served over 600 seniors, over 60 years old, 00:38:41.65\00:38:46.15 that came to our site experiencing homelessness. 00:38:46.29\00:38:48.42 Because Social Security doesn't keep up with the rent 00:38:49.49\00:38:51.99 increases. 00:38:51.99\00:38:52.46 And so people end up getting evicted. 00:38:53.73\00:38:55.43 I mean, the seniors, it's just, it's unreal right now. 00:38:55.63\00:38:59.30 Our Lake County branch has been seeing a lot of seniors too, 00:38:59.40\00:39:01.40 which I'll chat more about. 00:39:01.40\00:39:01.44 But you know, that trailer, for example, right, a real estate 00:39:03.84\00:39:07.64 company decided, you know what, we want to buy this trailer for 00:39:07.64\00:39:10.95 you guys. 00:39:10.95\00:39:11.68 We applied for a grant with them. 00:39:11.78\00:39:13.15 They gave us about 100,000 to get that trailer and get it all 00:39:13.65\00:39:18.52 set up. 00:39:18.52\00:39:19.02 Got solar panels on it too. 00:39:19.42\00:39:20.72 And we didn't have really, you know, a place to use it. 00:39:21.29\00:39:24.43 And so what ended up happening was we did the ribbon cutting. 00:39:24.49\00:39:27.60 And around the same time we did that ribbon cutting, a shelter 00:39:28.33\00:39:32.07 in Sanford had said, hey, our women and children's bathrooms 00:39:32.07\00:39:37.67 and showers are down. 00:39:37.67\00:39:38.81 We need some help. 00:39:39.81\00:39:41.34 You know, do you have an extra trailer that maybe you could 00:39:41.78\00:39:44.61 bring here to help with the women and children? 00:39:44.61\00:39:46.51 I'm like, actually we do. 00:39:46.51\00:39:48.18 Yeah, great, great timing. 00:39:48.38\00:39:49.72 We cut the ribbon and literally it went right to that shelter 00:39:49.95\00:39:52.75 to help the women and children at the shelter. 00:39:52.75\00:39:54.42 It was, and you know, it happened with one of our other 00:39:55.56\00:39:59.16 trailers I'll tell you about later too. 00:39:59.16\00:40:00.83 But that's just how God works. 00:40:00.83\00:40:00.86 You know, you build it and he puts it to work. 00:40:02.56\00:40:05.83 You know what I mean? 00:40:05.93\00:40:09.67 out? 00:40:09.67\00:40:10.14 How does that work? 00:40:10.21\00:40:10.47 Yeah. 00:40:10.47\00:40:15.18 spray all the surfaces. 00:40:15.18\00:40:16.61 We wipe it down. 00:40:16.64\00:40:17.75 We make sure there's not even a hair in that bathroom for the 00:40:17.88\00:40:20.82 next person because it's a dignity thing for us, right? 00:40:20.82\00:40:23.45 If we wouldn't feel comfortable showering in it, showering in 00:40:23.52\00:40:27.16 it, then we, then, you know, it's not clean enough. 00:40:27.16\00:40:30.49 We got to work on it more. 00:40:30.93\00:40:32.69 So that's another reason why we need staff too because that's a 00:40:33.06\00:40:37.17 lot of work. 00:40:37.17\00:40:37.60 Maintenance. 00:40:37.77\00:40:41.80 But that's what we feel. 00:40:42.20\00:40:44.24 That's the level of service, of dignity we want to provide to 00:40:44.24\00:40:51.15 our guests because, you know, yeah, we're serving people 00:40:51.15\00:40:54.42 experiencing homelessness. 00:40:54.42\00:40:55.35 I think sometimes some organizations are kind of lax 00:40:55.55\00:40:58.69 on the customer service. 00:40:58.69\00:40:59.92 But, you know, that's not how it should be. 00:41:00.72\00:41:02.59 You know, our team is there to provide exceptional customer 00:41:02.62\00:41:06.33 service to our guests because that's part of showing God's 00:41:06.33\00:41:08.63 love too, right? 00:41:08.63\00:41:09.50 Yes, it is. 00:41:09.50\00:41:13.77 something that's important to us. 00:41:13.77\00:41:14.94 Now, what do you do with the seniors that need a place to 00:41:14.94\00:41:17.67 live? 00:41:17.67\00:41:17.91 How does that work? 00:41:18.21\00:41:19.04 So, you know what? 00:41:19.07\00:41:20.21 It's a really sad statistic, but in Central Florida last 00:41:21.81\00:41:25.61 year, 50% of all the seniors experiencing homelessness were 00:41:25.61\00:41:30.72 able to fit in shelters. 00:41:30.72\00:41:31.95 The other 50% had to be outside. 00:41:32.59\00:41:34.96 There was no other option for them. 00:41:35.69\00:41:37.69 There were no programs, no shelters for that group of 00:41:38.16\00:41:40.50 people. 00:41:40.50\00:41:41.20 And so what ended up happening, we had a 72-year-old come to us 00:41:41.73\00:41:44.20 with her dog. 00:41:44.20\00:41:44.87 She was a widow. 00:41:45.93\00:41:46.53 You know, she was in, you know, they were kind of old school in 00:41:47.60\00:41:51.81 a sense, you know, where, you know, the husband was taking 00:41:51.81\00:41:54.18 care of all the bills and doing all that, you know, knew how to 00:41:54.18\00:41:56.75 work the computer. 00:41:56.75\00:41:57.58 She didn't really know how to do that, you know, so after he 00:41:58.01\00:42:00.72 passes, she's really kind of stuck. 00:42:00.72\00:42:03.65 You know, she has no one to go to, no one to go to for 00:42:03.75\00:42:06.39 support, so she ends up getting evicted from her home. 00:42:06.39\00:42:09.16 She finds out about salt, she comes to salt. 00:42:09.89\00:42:11.59 She's 72 years old now with a dog, just recently widowed, and 00:42:11.69\00:42:16.13 she's bright red when she comes to us, because you know how hot 00:42:16.13\00:42:19.00 it gets in Florida, and so when you're older, you're more 00:42:19.00\00:42:23.84 susceptible to heat stroke and things like that, heat-related 00:42:23.84\00:42:27.51 illness, and so we brought her inside, you know, tried to get 00:42:27.51\00:42:31.01 her an A.C. 00:42:31.01\00:42:37.45 woman into a shelter, but all the shelters were full. 00:42:37.45\00:42:40.86 We couldn't, she had to sleep outside, and we didn't have the 00:42:41.79\00:42:44.89 resources to, you know, to put her up somewhere, because we 00:42:44.89\00:42:48.86 see so many people that are in that age range that need help, 00:42:48.86\00:42:53.00 you know, and so, but I will say this, it took a few months 00:42:53.13\00:42:57.94 to get her into a shelter. 00:42:57.94\00:42:58.87 We finally got her into a shelter, and we ended her 00:42:59.07\00:43:01.94 homelessness after six months. 00:43:01.94\00:43:03.41 The six months from when she first came to us, six months 00:43:03.51\00:43:06.55 later, she was in housing, but you know, it's really, it's 00:43:06.55\00:43:11.69 really hard. 00:43:11.69\00:43:14.49 just simply say, well, let's trade places for six months, 00:43:14.49\00:43:18.53 just imagine in just a brief moment, for the next six 00:43:19.43\00:43:23.43 months, I have no place to sleep. 00:43:23.43\00:43:24.70 I wake up in the morning, and like, wherever I am, that's it. 00:43:26.23\00:43:29.20 My day just begins and ends the same way for six months. 00:43:29.80\00:43:32.47 That's a tragedy. 00:43:33.11\00:43:34.14 I must ask this question. 00:43:34.14\00:43:35.91 So there are people that know where you're going to be 00:43:36.08\00:43:37.95 showing up on those particular days. 00:43:37.95\00:43:39.45 Do you ever get there, and there are people waiting for 00:43:39.55\00:43:41.55 you? 00:43:41.55\00:43:41.88 Oh, yeah. 00:43:41.92\00:43:42.35 Oh, yeah. 00:43:42.68\00:43:47.42 people lined up ready for service. 00:43:47.42\00:43:49.29 Yeah, every day. 00:43:49.46\00:43:50.46 So we're still getting the numbers on this from 2024, but 00:43:50.86\00:43:54.83 in 2023, we served 3,000 different, 3,089 different 00:43:54.83\00:43:59.30 people, and 2,000 of them were new to our services. 00:43:59.30\00:44:03.14 Wow. 00:44:03.14\00:44:03.61 So about 70% of everyone experiencing homelessness in 00:44:04.51\00:44:07.51 Central Florida each year is experiencing it for the first 00:44:07.51\00:44:10.51 time. 00:44:10.51\00:44:11.21 So every day, we get someone new. 00:44:13.01\00:44:15.22 When we recently moved location, I'll talk more about 00:44:15.68\00:44:18.39 that later, but when we got to that new location, the first 00:44:18.39\00:44:20.96 five days of operation, we had 77 new people to our services. 00:44:20.96\00:44:24.33 Wow. 00:44:24.56\00:44:24.99 And I'll show a word of mouth. 00:44:25.66\00:44:26.63 Some people say, hey, you know, hey. 00:44:26.73\00:44:28.83 Do you have business hours, too? 00:44:28.83\00:44:30.40 Yeah, we have business hours. 00:44:30.50\00:44:31.97 We set up on Google, you know, so people will know where we 00:44:31.97\00:44:34.74 are, what days, and all that, so that, you know, people can 00:44:34.74\00:44:39.67 come and get the services they need. 00:44:39.67\00:44:42.21 I must imagine with your staff, you know, you have counseling 00:44:42.51\00:44:45.18 available, you have prayer, those who wanted to have Bible 00:44:45.18\00:44:49.02 studies. 00:44:49.02\00:44:49.48 These are not imposed services. 00:44:49.72\00:44:51.62 These are elective things. 00:44:51.72\00:44:52.85 Yep, yep. 00:44:52.85\00:44:53.86 You know, it's not precursors to getting any service. 00:44:54.02\00:44:56.99 But talk about some of those days when, and I'm sure you 00:44:58.56\00:45:02.26 probably had many of these instances where just the story 00:45:02.26\00:45:06.03 you just heard just breaks you that day, and you say, we got 00:45:06.03\00:45:09.50 to keep going. 00:45:09.50\00:45:10.07 Yeah, oh, yeah. 00:45:10.31\00:45:11.57 We, I mean, every day almost feels like that, you know, I 00:45:13.48\00:45:17.71 mean, where we hear a new story, we see a new person. 00:45:17.71\00:45:22.55 I mean, we have our Youth and Young Adult program, which is 00:45:22.68\00:45:26.62 actually, which I'll talk more about in the second half, so, 00:45:26.62\00:45:30.99 you know, people are listening, you know, second half, you'll 00:45:30.99\00:45:33.29 learn more about that program. 00:45:33.29\00:45:34.10 But, you know, especially with the young people, you know, 00:45:34.66\00:45:36.70 Central Florida has one of the highest concentrations of Youth 00:45:36.87\00:45:39.43 and Young Adult homelessness. 00:45:39.43\00:45:40.54 Wow. 00:45:40.70\00:45:41.04 Homelessness? 00:45:41.77\00:45:42.24 Homelessness. 00:45:42.54\00:45:42.97 16 to 24-year-olds. 00:45:43.24\00:45:44.57 And so we have a dedicated team for that demographic. 00:45:45.17\00:45:48.11 We have dedicated space and trailers for that demographic 00:45:48.41\00:45:51.38 to make sure that they could have their own space, because 00:45:51.38\00:45:54.12 the causes of homelessness for that group are so different. 00:45:54.12\00:45:56.75 You know, they're aging out foster care, they're escaping 00:45:57.62\00:46:01.82 abuse or human trafficking. 00:46:01.82\00:46:03.83 Human trafficking is really big in Florida. 00:46:04.06\00:46:05.96 Or they're maybe identified as LGBTQ+, and they're kicked out 00:46:07.86\00:46:13.27 of their home, or they're running away, or a combination 00:46:13.27\00:46:16.40 of any of those things. 00:46:16.40\00:46:17.34 I mean, they're out there on the street. 00:46:17.44\00:46:18.91 So even, you know, when you see kids out there, I mean, it's... 00:46:19.47\00:46:23.45 It's heart-wrenching. 00:46:23.45\00:46:24.35 It's heart, yeah, it's heart -wrenching, for sure. 00:46:24.55\00:46:26.25 Now, sometimes people don't know about your service, and 00:46:26.35\00:46:29.18 the most unlikely person will say, You mean, you haven't 00:46:29.18\00:46:32.62 heard about SALT, and you're an Adventist? 00:46:32.62\00:46:34.99 Talk about Miss Betty for a moment. 00:46:35.12\00:46:36.89 Yeah, yeah, so, you know, we just expanded to a place called 00:46:37.36\00:46:43.83 Lake County. 00:46:43.83\00:46:44.67 You know, there's a lot of places there, you know, and 00:46:45.00\00:46:49.37 it's a pretty big county. 00:46:49.37\00:46:51.37 And so, actually, I have one picture I want to show real 00:46:52.27\00:46:54.88 quick to kind of show some of the team, the leadership that 00:46:54.88\00:46:57.25 started that chapter. 00:46:57.25\00:46:58.45 So Miss Betty attends a Presbyterian church. 00:46:59.21\00:47:03.32 You know, that's them right there. 00:47:03.59\00:47:04.62 So the second to the left is Miss Betty, and the third to 00:47:05.22\00:47:08.92 the left is Kelly. 00:47:08.92\00:47:10.09 She's the one, and the fourth to the left is Nancy. 00:47:10.29\00:47:13.90 And so they... 00:47:14.73\00:47:15.90 Kelly and Nancy kind of are, you know, and Miss Betty are 00:47:15.90\00:47:18.53 kind of spearheading this over there. 00:47:18.53\00:47:20.00 And so we named the shower trailer they got Miss Betty, 00:47:20.44\00:47:24.37 because Miss Betty is not an Adventist Christian, right? 00:47:24.37\00:47:28.08 She's Presbyterian, and she has a homeless ministry over there 00:47:29.64\00:47:33.82 in Lake County. 00:47:33.82\00:47:34.58 And so, and she, you know, Nancy and Kelly will attend 00:47:35.48\00:47:40.02 that ministry, and they would help, and they'd work together 00:47:40.02\00:47:42.16 and serve the unsheltered. 00:47:42.16\00:47:43.63 And one day Miss Betty's like, hey, you guys should call Salt 00:47:44.03\00:47:47.46 and bring them over so that we can start doing showers and 00:47:48.10\00:47:51.10 things like that. 00:47:51.10\00:47:51.80 And they were like, who's Salt? 00:47:52.13\00:47:53.54 And Miss Betty's like, what? 00:47:53.54\00:47:55.64 They're an Adventist ministry, and you guys are Adventists. 00:47:55.70\00:47:57.81 You don't know them? 00:47:57.81\00:47:58.54 Shame on you. 00:47:59.07\00:48:00.14 And so anyway, we, you know, Kelly ended up calling me. 00:48:00.84\00:48:03.78 We talked about just, we kind of dreamed together a little 00:48:03.88\00:48:06.18 bit. 00:48:06.18\00:48:06.92 And I ended up going to the church where they do the 00:48:07.32\00:48:11.25 outreach, which was a Presbyterian church. 00:48:11.25\00:48:12.82 We had different churches around the table there 00:48:12.95\00:48:15.99 represented, not just Adventist churches, but different 00:48:15.99\00:48:18.73 churches there. 00:48:18.73\00:48:24.30 about their vision of wanting to bring a shower trailer to 00:48:24.30\00:48:26.70 Lake County. 00:48:26.70\00:48:27.17 Wonderful. 00:48:27.67\00:48:32.21 came out of nowhere for us, right? 00:48:32.21\00:48:33.24 We had a plan of what we were gonna do. 00:48:33.24\00:48:35.14 And I was like, look, I love the idea. 00:48:35.54\00:48:38.25 We don't necessarily have the capacity to provide a lot of 00:48:38.71\00:48:41.72 support here. 00:48:41.72\00:48:42.48 We don't have the resources to provide. 00:48:42.95\00:48:45.55 But you know what? 00:48:45.92\00:48:47.09 You know, and we, you know, we all prayed together in that 00:48:48.19\00:48:51.29 room. 00:48:51.29\00:48:51.93 And we said, you know what? 00:48:51.93\00:48:53.96 Let's just see what God does. 00:48:53.96\00:48:55.10 Right when I left that meeting, someone had donated, you know, 00:48:55.43\00:48:59.57 and I don't wanna say her name because I don't think she'd 00:48:59.57\00:49:01.37 want me to share it, but someone had donated $20,000 00:49:01.37\00:49:03.91 toward the shower trailer. 00:49:03.91\00:49:04.74 Right when I left that. 00:49:05.01\00:49:06.31 And it felt, you know, we believed it was confirmation 00:49:06.54\00:49:09.61 that God wanted this to happen. 00:49:09.61\00:49:10.88 In three months, this is record time for any salt trailer, in 00:49:11.48\00:49:15.05 three months, they raised the money for that trailer, for a 00:49:15.05\00:49:18.72 shower trailer. 00:49:18.72\00:49:19.32 For Lake County? 00:49:19.32\00:49:20.06 In Lake County. 00:49:20.09\00:49:20.82 Wow. 00:49:20.82\00:49:23.12 They named it Miss Betty because Miss Betty helped 00:49:23.26\00:49:25.36 introduce everyone to salt, you know. 00:49:25.36\00:49:27.40 And yeah, it's just been, it's been really, really great 00:49:28.23\00:49:31.83 there. 00:49:31.83\00:49:35.10 of our guests there that we're serving. 00:49:35.10\00:49:37.71 And then the next picture there is Nancy praying with one of 00:49:38.71\00:49:44.61 our seniors experiencing homelessness there. 00:49:44.61\00:49:48.02 And so, and then we have Richie who's also, you know, a leader 00:49:48.02\00:49:51.95 and a huge help in the ministry there, kind of consoling, 00:49:51.95\00:49:56.02 comforting one of our guests that's going through a tough 00:49:56.22\00:49:59.29 time. 00:49:59.29\00:49:59.89 You know, it's, yeah, they're seeing a lot there, especially 00:50:01.00\00:50:06.90 a lot of seniors as well. 00:50:06.90\00:50:08.57 I was just talking to her today. 00:50:08.64\00:50:09.64 They're seeing a lot of seniors there, sleeping in their cars. 00:50:10.01\00:50:12.14 But you know, a beautiful thing that we're seeing there, which 00:50:13.68\00:50:17.08 is really cool, is that there's so many groups and churches 00:50:17.08\00:50:21.75 supporting this effort in Lake County. 00:50:21.75\00:50:23.72 It's just really, it's just... 00:50:24.22\00:50:26.05 Collective effort. 00:50:26.05\00:50:30.46 to the table to help. 00:50:30.46\00:50:31.29 I mean, the Presbyterian Church has donated. 00:50:31.59\00:50:33.73 Yes. 00:50:33.80\00:50:34.46 The Baptist Church has donated. 00:50:34.46\00:50:35.56 The Unitarian Church, you know, invited Kelly to go speak and 00:50:37.40\00:50:41.54 donated. 00:50:41.54\00:50:42.10 I mean, it's just been, it's been... 00:50:42.50\00:50:44.94 You know, the sheep I have. 00:50:44.94\00:50:46.01 Yeah. 00:50:46.07\00:50:46.44 Here it is. 00:50:46.44\00:50:47.41 Yeah, yeah. 00:50:47.68\00:50:51.15 you know, the Church of Latter -day Saints kind of selected 00:50:51.68\00:50:55.75 SALT to fundraise at the end of the year to help us continue 00:50:55.75\00:50:59.32 our mission as well. 00:50:59.32\00:51:00.22 LDS? 00:51:00.22\00:51:00.62 So yeah, yeah. 00:51:01.12\00:51:02.19 So it's just been, you know, that's a really beautiful 00:51:02.29\00:51:07.20 thing. 00:51:07.20\00:51:08.20 Yes, yes. 00:51:08.33\00:51:09.23 And acronym for SALT is Service and Love Together. 00:51:09.36\00:51:12.63 Together. 00:51:12.80\00:51:16.60 ministry. 00:51:16.60\00:51:17.04 We all come together. 00:51:17.17\00:51:17.87 We do Matthew 25 ministry. 00:51:18.34\00:51:20.08 That's right. 00:51:20.08\00:51:20.51 And it brings everyone together. 00:51:20.88\00:51:22.64 And so yeah, that's been a huge blessing. 00:51:23.11\00:51:26.51 Yeah. 00:51:26.78\00:51:31.49 the kingdom. 00:51:31.49\00:51:32.05 And they said, then he tells them the reason why. 00:51:32.85\00:51:35.32 And you're checking all the boxes. 00:51:35.32\00:51:37.19 Yeah. 00:51:37.23\00:51:37.79 And God put that on your heart. 00:51:37.93\00:51:39.33 Yeah. 00:51:39.33\00:51:41.30 But James talks about the functional Gospel. 00:51:42.36\00:51:45.90 If you see somebody hungry or naked or need clothing and you 00:51:47.10\00:51:51.74 dismiss them, you are a respecter of a person. 00:51:51.74\00:51:56.04 And you look at the ministry of Jesus, He modeled of that. 00:51:56.48\00:51:59.68 He fed the hungry, clothed the naked, raised the dead. 00:52:00.52\00:52:04.25 Now you don't have resurrection services. 00:52:04.62\00:52:06.72 Yeah, yeah. 00:52:06.89\00:52:07.92 We haven't raised anyone for the dead yet, but you know. 00:52:08.09\00:52:10.13 But the Lord will raise them up. 00:52:10.16\00:52:12.09 But He's raising people up literally out of the gutter. 00:52:12.23\00:52:15.80 Well, and you know, you remind me of a testimony that our Lake 00:52:16.03\00:52:20.24 County leader Kelly was sharing with me later. 00:52:20.24\00:52:23.20 And so earlier today, so there's a young person they've 00:52:23.54\00:52:27.78 been ministering to that they've been serving at the 00:52:27.78\00:52:29.61 Lake County Project and the chapter. 00:52:29.61\00:52:31.91 And you know, one of the people involved in the ministry used 00:52:32.61\00:52:37.02 to be an addictions counselor. 00:52:37.02\00:52:38.29 And she's there. 00:52:38.52\00:52:39.42 She's talking with this guy who has an addiction. 00:52:39.55\00:52:41.99 Young guy has an addiction. 00:52:41.99\00:52:43.73 And she shares with him some of those, you know, as an 00:52:44.43\00:52:47.50 addictions counselor helping him to process that and 00:52:47.50\00:52:50.27 hopefully give that up, right? 00:52:50.27\00:52:52.77 Because it's, you know, of the destructive nature of this, 00:52:53.03\00:52:57.24 right? 00:52:57.37\00:53:01.04 care and we want God to get the glory for everything we do. 00:53:01.04\00:53:03.91 So he knows we're a Christian Adventist organization. 00:53:04.01\00:53:07.12 And so he ends up two days later, after this, after this, 00:53:07.78\00:53:13.89 he overdoses. 00:53:14.22\00:53:15.02 He almost dies. 00:53:15.22\00:53:16.09 He gets raised back to life. 00:53:16.09\00:53:16.12 Someone brings him back to life using, I think they use Narcan 00:53:17.53\00:53:20.40 or something to get him back to life. 00:53:20.40\00:53:21.96 His life literally flashed before his eyes. 00:53:22.60\00:53:25.23 He comes out of that and he comes back to the ministry. 00:53:25.63\00:53:28.10 And he's like, ever since I got back, I've been thinking about 00:53:28.80\00:53:33.14 those words you told me the last time. 00:53:33.14\00:53:35.28 And he's like, I want to give this up. 00:53:35.98\00:53:37.55 I need to go to detox. 00:53:37.61\00:53:38.78 And so our branch there, our leadership there is getting 00:53:38.78\00:53:42.38 them over to detox and continuing to minister to him 00:53:42.38\00:53:45.69 and help them through that process. 00:53:45.69\00:53:48.39 But in this case, someone had said, I heard it somewhere and 00:53:49.16\00:53:54.00 I can't remember where, but that the opposite of addiction 00:53:54.00\00:53:57.83 isn't being sober. 00:53:57.83\00:53:58.77 The opposite of addiction is community. 00:53:59.03\00:54:01.10 Love that. 00:54:02.24\00:54:06.01 to someone that's in addiction is so healing. 00:54:06.01\00:54:09.14 It's so healing. 00:54:09.44\00:54:13.45 pray for him. 00:54:13.45\00:54:14.68 And we'll continue kind of walking with him in this story. 00:54:18.15\00:54:21.82 I love that. 00:54:22.19\00:54:23.06 The opposite of addiction is community, not sober. 00:54:23.29\00:54:26.73 That's beautiful. 00:54:27.60\00:54:28.33 Eric, you're just laying the foundation. 00:54:28.80\00:54:30.27 So if you're watching the program or listening to the 00:54:31.60\00:54:34.44 program, you've seen this artichoke over ministry just 00:54:34.44\00:54:37.77 continue unfolding and unfolding. 00:54:37.77\00:54:39.37 And it'll be wonderful. 00:54:40.14\00:54:41.91 We're going to talk about in the second hour how you can 00:54:42.74\00:54:44.88 volunteer. 00:54:44.88\00:54:45.48 But before we end the first hour, say you have a 00:54:45.95\00:54:49.58 circumstance or situation, there are people that you can 00:54:49.58\00:54:52.99 partner with. 00:54:52.99\00:54:53.92 Are you looking into how to partner with somebody who can 00:54:54.59\00:54:57.16 provide housing, who can begin to build those bridges? 00:54:57.16\00:55:00.43 That may be another facet. 00:55:00.50\00:55:01.66 Yeah, we're always looking for partners. 00:55:01.90\00:55:04.07 We have tons of partners we work with. 00:55:04.13\00:55:06.13 Every partner we have, we vet the partners too and make sure 00:55:06.13\00:55:09.14 that they're legit and providing Christ-centered 00:55:09.14\00:55:14.41 services. 00:55:14.41\00:55:15.88 Because sometimes some places are a little... 00:55:18.21\00:55:21.55 But yeah, we have tons of partners we work with to help 00:55:21.55\00:55:25.05 get people from experiencing homelessness to housed. 00:55:25.05\00:55:28.62 And then our spiritual care team. 00:55:28.72\00:55:30.16 Last year, 18 people were brought to Christ through 00:55:30.49\00:55:33.96 baptism. 00:55:33.96\00:55:34.50 Amen. 00:55:34.60\00:55:39.33 studies, the church services, has been a really, really key 00:55:39.33\00:55:43.41 point too, especially even on the addiction side too. 00:55:43.41\00:55:46.24 Because God is the one who helps to break our addictions, 00:55:46.88\00:55:49.51 right? 00:55:49.74\00:55:50.45 We're all addicted to sin, right? 00:55:50.55\00:55:52.21 And God helps us to overcome that, born in sin. 00:55:52.21\00:55:55.55 So yeah, always looking for collaborations for sure. 00:55:56.52\00:56:01.76 That's beautiful. 00:56:02.39\00:56:03.29 We'll talk about that later on in the program. 00:56:03.43\00:56:05.33 But you know, salt, you all have the salt of the earth. 00:56:06.03\00:56:07.96 If the salt loses its savor, what purpose does it have any 00:56:08.16\00:56:12.83 longer? 00:56:12.83\00:56:16.71 but you're just about getting ready to expand. 00:56:16.87\00:56:19.31 And we know that what we're seeing here, Eric, is you look 00:56:19.77\00:56:23.45 back on your inception and look at where you are today and to 00:56:23.45\00:56:27.75 say, I wake up every morning supercharged, ready to go. 00:56:27.75\00:56:32.19 And I know when you pull up and you're hooking up those hoses 00:56:32.39\00:56:35.69 and stabilizing the trailer and you see the people gathering, 00:56:35.69\00:56:39.09 it's like, thank you, Lord. 00:56:39.73\00:56:41.63 Another life is going to be changed today. 00:56:42.20\00:56:44.63 Yeah, yeah. 00:56:45.00\00:56:45.70 God is doing something here. 00:56:45.80\00:56:47.40 And again, He put it on our hearts to grow and to expand, 00:56:48.34\00:56:52.87 to help even more people, more places. 00:56:52.97\00:56:54.88 But not just in a wide sense, but in a deep sense. 00:56:55.04\00:56:59.61 That's right. 00:56:59.78\00:57:01.98 And, you know, so we're excited to see that. 00:57:02.82\00:57:05.55 And we'll continue serving and sharing Christ's love with the 00:57:05.69\00:57:10.36 people we see that are most vulnerable on our street. 00:57:10.36\00:57:12.19 Quick question. 00:57:12.23\00:57:12.99 How many days a week are you open? 00:57:13.06\00:57:14.46 So we have five, so by the, probably another three months 00:57:14.76\00:57:18.70 we'll have five locations five days a week in Central Florida. 00:57:18.70\00:57:22.54 Crazy. 00:57:22.80\00:57:23.07 Yeah. 00:57:23.10\00:57:25.41 think we're just about done, we're just getting started. 00:57:25.41\00:57:27.91 You do not want to miss the second half. 00:57:28.21\00:57:29.91 We're going to be talking about the ministry to the young and 00:57:29.91\00:57:32.85 so many more things. 00:57:32.85\00:57:33.85 So we're going to take about a two minute break. 00:57:33.92\00:57:35.45 Don't go away. 00:57:35.98\00:57:37.02 There's more salt to come. 00:57:37.29\00:57:38.92