The Bowery Mission

Tim: Thank you Rachel. I really appreciate that. So, how you doing?

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: I'm sorry. My wife says the more I'm around a certain group of people and the more I spend time with them, I tend to talk like them. And so I have to watch myself on that, I really do. 

But I don't think... If I stay in New York 50 years, I don't think I'll ever truly be a New Yorker. I am an Oklahoman and that's it. So.

Audience:  Yay (Applause)

Tim: As Rachel said I am Oklahoman born and raised. So is my wife of 27 years. We're both small town people. I was raised, I don't know, 50 miles or so east down the road, down I-40 at Seminole. I was born in Seminole County. Born and raised there. I lived my first 18 years in a small school named New Lima.

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: Small. Graduated in a class of 18. So that's how small. That's how small. My dad and mom both are retired school teachers. That's all they've ever done. I ended up being a school teacher after a long road of doing different things. But I grew up playing ball. And just I loved being in a small school. I loved being in a small town. I later ended up playing baseball under the legendary coach Gary Ward. I don't know at Oklahoma State University. I see a few heads nodding out there. Most of you are old enough to remember that. But that was quite an experience. I went on to play a little bit of ball in the Baltimore Orioles Organization. That was fun. 

I quit that and then came back to Oklahoma and did a few small business start-ups. I got some experience doing entrepreneur stuff. It was fun. But then I said, "Okay, it's time to settle down." And I needed to settle down at that point. So, I went back to Oklahoma State, got a teaching degree, took off for the hills, the sticks of southeastern Oklahoma where I lived for the next 20 years. Got married, settled down, raised a family. Had three kids - a son and two daughters. And then we moved to New York City. 

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: Just to live. 

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: I'm serious. Not to work. Just to live. Just to experience a completely, radically different kind of life. Didn't know what we were going to do when we got there. Crazy, right?

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: You know, everyone that knew me I believe, family especially said, "What are you thinking? Why are you doing that? That's Babylon. How can you do that?" We really didn't know all the answers to all the questions. We weren't even asking all the questions. We just knew we wanted to experience life in a different place. When my wife and I mentioned that to the girls they were actually excited about it. They were 11 and 13. They were game. They wanted to go. My wife had never lived in another community outside of the one she grew up in Southeastern Oklahoma. New York's her second place that she's ever lived. So it has been an experience. It has been one of the most stretching things that we've ever done. 

You know, my first mistake was when I said at an anniversary, "Susie, we've got to go somewhere. We've done three anniversaries without a trip. Tell me where you want to go." She said, "I'll get back with you on that." And so about two weeks later she said, "I know where I want to go." I said, "Alright. Tell me. We're off. We're going." And she said, "New York City." I said, "Is there anywhere else?"

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: I didn't want to do that. I mean, I really didn't want to do that. I felt, I was like, "Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" But day one, 6-8 hours into the day, we knew that that's where we were going. That's where we were going to live. Four months later we found ourselves tugging two pieces of luggage each down the street, sticking them into a cab at the airport at La Guardia and then heading for the upper west side because that's where we had rented an apartment. Weird, right? Absolutely been an experience. 

It all started off... And there's a reason I'm telling you all this. I know it's not all that interesting.  My little personal story about a move to New York. How many people have been there? Wow. I'm amazed. I'm amazed. This is an unusual group for a group of typical Oklahomans, right? I would say not that many average, small towners have been there. But there's a reason I'm telling you all this. And, you know, it all started when my son went to college and then my wife and I are like, " Ugh," when we dropped him off in Seattle and on that long drive home we began talking about what next because, you know, because very soon the girls are going to be gone too and then what next? How many empty nesters do we have here?

Audience member: Yay

Tim: I heard a Yay down there, didn't I?

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: Well, quite frankly it scared us to death. And the idea of not having kids at home shook us up. We began thinking, "What are we going to do?" And that's how we ended up settling on the move. Right? Began looking and thinking about that, then of course, the mistake was going to New York. 

So, that's where we ended up. You're wondering why is he telling us all this. The reason is first of all, like I said, like Rachel said, I am an Oklahoman, alright? Secondly, I was totally and completely un-exposed to things like homelessness, right? Boy did I get a lesson. Did I get an education in social ills and poverty like never before. Like never before. My early New York experience was going there with Susie and then that was only four or five days. We came back ready to go and then I went back a few months later to rent an apartment and one of the first things that happened was I realized, "Man I can't go two blocks down the street without having to step over homeless people laying on the sidewalk." Or having homeless people walking up and pan-handling and wanting money and if you made eye contact it was a done deal. They're going to come to you and start talking to you. You've experienced it if you've been there, right? You sure have. 

Well, one of the first things I did was started a relationship. I began visiting with this guy that was on the street, 26 year old guy named Eddie. He'd been out of work for three years, been on the street three years. Due to a work-related accident he lost his job. Then his wife left him because of the struggles with finances and then with family gone, no job, he couldn't pay for his apartment. There he was. He'd been there for three years. But pan-handling was getting him by, you know?

But getting to know Eddie and then getting to know a couple of other people my eyes were opened in a way they never had been before. I began to view homelessness in a way I'd never looked at it, you know? I've had many conversations with people. Before I went I was one of those people who said things and asked questions like, "Why don't they just get a job? Why are they so lazy? Why did they choose to live on the streets? Good grief! Why do they beg? Why are they always asking for money? Don't they have any pride?" I asked those questions. But upon going to that city, developing a couple of relationships with a couple of them, I realized these are real people. Their situations are complicated. There are so many things that may contribute and do contribute to people ending up on the streets. I began to realize that my perceptions going there were actually misconceptions. They were misconceptions. 

I believe that now, after having been there this long and having worked with the homeless, I believe that until we rustle with and resolve our misconceptions and our wrong perceptions we're never going to be able to treat homelessness. We're never going to be able to get to the bottom of the problems. Because until you dive deeply into these issues, until you listen hard and do the hard work of trying to understand what it is that contributes to people ending up on the streets, ending up jobless, homeless, addicted, mentally ill, etc, etc. Until we begin to struggle with those issues we'll never ever, we won't be able to ever solve those problems. We've got to understand. We've got to understand. 

There are many roads to homelessness. Many paths that lead there. Many factors. I want to tell you a few stories, if I may. Alright? I'm going to put a few faces on the screen. And if I can figure out how to do this. I'm going to put a few faces up. Somebody is. Maybe. Maybe. I bet we can figure it out. What I want to do is tell you about a few people. And I had it in mind to put a few faces up because what I want you to do is see. Look at that.  

Michael Robles. Michael's now one of my closest friends in New York. Believe it or not, he's kind of rare for a guy to look 30 when he's actually about 45. Pretty rare. Most of the people that I deal with, a lot of the guys that I deal with, men, they'll look, I'll guess them to be about 45 and they're actually 25 because they've been on the street for 6 years. That's very common. 

But I want to tell you about Michael. Because Michael came to us after several years of incarceration. Probably had been incarcerated seven of his last nine to ten years because to begin with at age 14 he ran away from home. He had a very abusive home. Step-dad beat him. Rough on him. Bad place to live. He lived in the Bronx so he went to the streets. It was better than being at home. So being on the streets, he had no place to live. He bounced around from house to house. He had no money so he began selling drugs. Drugs is the best way to make money on the street, by far it's the easiest way. And you can make a lot of money. He did quite well with that. Until of course he got arrested. He did a short term in prison and came out. And then because he couldn't get a job now he's a felon. So now he can't get a job so he goes back to selling drugs. He goes back to prison. He comes back out of prison and then begins doing drugs because now he's depressed about his life and his direction. And so Michael found himself again after about seven of his last nine-ten years in prison he found himself at the end of the road. He came to us and I remember the day he walked in. He sat down with me and said, "Mr. Tim, if I don't turn this around I'm going to die. I'm not going to make it." He said, "I've got to change." 

Charles. Great guy but from about age eight to about age 12 he was sexually abused. Seriously, harshly sexually abused by his dad and his grand dad. All his life he's been in and out of prison. Struggling with mental illness. Struggling. I mean struggling. 

This is my assistant. He helps me in the career training center. Big-hearted happy dude. David. David Solese. Came over from Puerto Rico. I've got to tell you this story. He came over from Puerto Rico at about age 12. Taught himself English within a year. Began dealing drugs. Got involved in gangs a little bit. Started dealing drugs. Did pretty well. Landed in prison. One of his first drug deals gone bad. Three guys grabbed him, severely beat him, threw him in the car, took off across the Bronx Crosstown Expressway at about 70 mph and kicked him out. Got up and walked home. The next drug deal that he had that went badly. Two guys irritated about him ripping them off with some drugs, shot him three times. Left him for dead. He survived it. The last drug deal that went bad on David. Three guys, two or three guys grabbed him. Upstairs, they busted in his apartment, stuck a gun in his mouth, pulled the trigger. Miraculously he just lost his hearing. It went out low. It didn't kill him. David found himself in prison a bit later for having beaten a guy to death. Somehow the lawyer got him off but while he was in prison he was mentored by 
a guy that was a computer guru. An amazing computer freak. Taught him how to steal identity. He came out. He got out miraculously. Started doing identity theft. One day as he was watching the news he saw a story and he later looked up the article about that. He found out that it was about a guy that jumped off the GW, we call it. The George Washington Bridge. He committed suicide after becoming an alcoholic who'd lost his wife, his business and his family because some guy had ripped off his identity and emptied his bank accounts. And David who was reading this was completely struck with the idea that he had done it. And he said, "How many more have I done that to?" It changed his direction entirely. And now he's a transformed happy-go-lucky guy, giving it up for others. And it's just an amazing story. 

I want to tell you about Pamela. Because Pamela came through our system as well. After 15 years of prostitution to pay for her drug issue, thievery, all kinds of other things. She came to the Bowery Mission, got involved in our program. Was really tired of her life. She now has a Bachelor's, a Master's and is working on her PhD. I'm really glad that our organization was there for her and cared enough to invest in her to the point that she said the sky's the limit. 

Leon. I also work with now. He's on staff with us. Great guy. Leon was doing fine. Had a good life, M.B.A., doing well. Until his wife tragically died. Very happily married. He plunged into alcoholism. Found himself two or three years down the road without a job, without a place to live and spiraling. That's when he came to us. 

This guy simply lived with his elderly mom. Jim. Lived with his older mom. She died. He'd been downsized so he lost his job. He's an English Professor at one of the Universities there in New York. He could no longer pay the bills. Found himself on the street. Came to us. 

Mannie. At about age 14 there in East Harlem, very near the site where I spend a lot of my time. Mannie was involved in heavy, heavy gang warfare that lead to the deaths of countless people in that neighborhood right there. Over a three year span, just numerous convictions. He was one of them. 
Spent quite a bit of time in prison. Somehow got out. He had started his own gang by the way. He was so successful in that realm. But he came to us and said, "I can't do this anymore. I'm ready for change." This is an amazing story to me. I don't want to go on too long about these things but I want you to understand. These are real people with real issues. 

Louie found himself in the hospital. Woke up, literally woke up in a hospital. He was a career truck delivery guy. Owned his own truck, CDL - Commercial Driver's License - good work history. Was doing super well. Really doing well. Until he got hit by a cab. He spent months in the hospital. Many surgeries. Lots of rehab. In the process of them cutting his clothing off of him so that they could address his wounds, he lost his bill fold which had his green card, his social security card, his driver's license. When you're from a foreign country it's really difficult to get a birth certificate. And without a birth certificate you can't get those things. You understand? This is one of the biggest obstacles that we face - are immigrants who've lost green cards or are trying to get a work permit or trying to get a green card. It's such a vicious system when it comes to that. It's very difficult. The documentation that leads to getting those work permits is the biggest problem. How do you call a place in Ethiopia and get a birth certificate. Seriously? It's a challenge. He's waiting and waiting and waiting. 

Joseph was living with his mom at about age 19. 18 or 19 she was severely mentally ill. Kicked him out. After spending two years on the streets with no family. Literally slept on park benches in the parks. We're talking about a young guy. He finally came to us and said, "I heard you guys could help me." We're helping him. 

It's an amazing story. Charles. Construction engineer. Great work history. Great job. Doing well. Making 80 grand a year. Pretty good job. He stumbled down a flight of concrete stairs. Hit the bottom with about four crushed vertebrae. A year of surgeries and therapy and hospital stays later, his wife had left, they didn't retain the job for him. Life goes on for the company, you know. New York is a rough place when it comes to work ethics. Employer ethics those types of things. It's not unusual at other places but it's especially tough there. He's finally back to work and has a decent job. It took some doing. 

Charlie. This guy is something else. He's got personality you wouldn't believe. Charlie was kicked out at age 16 because he got his girlfriend pregnant. Mom and dad wouldn't let him back in the house. So what do you do? I've already talked about it. Started selling drugs. Found himself in prison. Get out, go back in. Can't get a job. You've got felonies. Anyway, it's a long story. He's still in the midst of that. 

Isaac. Awesome. Just got a culinary degree. I won't give you his background. Happy dude. He's a happy guy. 

Pete. Believe it or not, this guy had a very successful small business going. He's doing awesome. And then things went south for various reasons. Not addiction. No criminal background. It just fell through. It just failed. Found himself on the streets, came to us and he's doing okay. He's doing alright. 

Paul. Incarcerated for credit card fraud. He said it was the stupidest thing he's ever did in his life. Really didn't want to do it he just was out of money. He was just in a bind. He owed people money so he did it. So he did it. And he got caught. He did a few years, came out and said, "Not going back. Not going back. Help me out." Well, he now has a certificate for substance abuse counseling. It's fantastic. He's working on his Master's. Doing well. 

And then there's Zane. You wouldn't think it to look at him. Very successful restauranteur. He's done everything in the restaurant. He's good. Very good. He's made a lot of money. He also got an inheritance from his family. From his dad. Pretty substantial. He gambled all of it away. He's an absolute addicted gambler. Can't stop. This guy on numerous times has gambled his last car fare home away. And had to stay on the streets until he makes his way back. That's a long way from the race track at Long Island back to Manhattan. 

Alright. Again, I just wanted to share those faces with you because they're real people. And when we begin to look at the issues that these real people have and realize that these things truly happen and it's not always the result of bad character. It's not always the result of stupidity. Sometimes things are done to them. Yes, sometimes we just make a bad call. Make a bad decision. You know, I've come to realize - and to me it's an essential part of working where I work - it's realizing that I'm not that different from these guys. The main thing that's different, no, the only thing that's different, same decisions, some of the same calls, some of the same blunders, some of the same stupidity. The difference is the consequence. I escaped the consequences and these guys didn't. They got caught. They got thrown out. I didn't. I did some stupid things. My parents helped me through it. They did some stupid things. Their parents kicked them out. See what I'm saying? I did some illegal stuff and got away with it. Too many times they don't. 

Again the misconceptions; we've got to deal with those so that we'll begin to understand the issues. There are many, many factors that contribute to homelessness. One of the most overlooked and this is something that we've not only have to deal with on the institutional level, etc., on the government level, on the program... Really even within our own lives and families we've got to deal with this issue. There's a lot of trauma in this room. A lot of us have experienced a lot of stuff. A lot of hard stuff. These guys have experienced stuff that we can't even imagine. Trauma is just an ordinary response to abnormal circumstances. It's all it is. Trauma is what leads people to become mentally ill. It's what leads people to the place where they begin to want to medicate and escape and get away from it. It causes all kinds of issues. We must deal with trauma. We must do it.

Mental health is a huge factor in homelessness. We believe that 30-40% of the homeless are mentally ill. But that's not really a good statistic because of the street homeless it's much higher. It's much higher. Of homeless with families, adults with families, it's way lower. It's far lower. You take the average guy walking the street in New York or downtown Oklahoma City that's panhandling, among that demographic, mental illness is massive, it's huge. It's something that so many of them are dealing with. 

Addictions are big problems. And here's the thing about addictions. If you've never had an addiction, you don't relate to this at all. But if you've ever had any sort of addiction, what you realize is that it's bigger than you are. You don't just decide one day, "I'm going to stop drinking." Well, if you just having a drink or two a day maybe you do. You say "I need to stop this" but if you're a binge drinker and when you start you don't stop for three days and you do that every week; if you're that person, it's bigger than you. And you don't stop it without help. You don't get out of that until somebody comes along 
and helps you out of it. Pulls you out of it. That's the only way that you can do. You've got to decide that you need help. Yes. But you don't just, (snaps)"Ah, I think I'll stop being an alcoholic. I think I'll stop doing heroin." You know, Michael Robles did heroin for years and he said, "Tim, I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop. I hated it. I didn't want to keep doing that but I couldn't stop." Until you get help. If you're addicted, you don't make progress. You can't pull out of it. 

You know, mental illness is the same way. My dad suffered with depression. Clinical depression for years. He hated it. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to suffer from that. But you know he couldn't say, "I'm tired of being depressed. I think I'll stop this." It doesn't work that way does it? Many of you have experience with mental illness in your own families. It's bigger than you are. Definitely is. One of the biggest issues, one is incarceration is a major problem for homelessness. You know, simply put one of the biggest issues: affordable housing. Until you get the homeless housed you can't begin to deal with their issues. Similarly, until you get them fed and get them well, you can't begin to deal with their issues. But that's hard work. It's difficult. It's painful. It really is. It's rewarding but it means brushing shoulders with a lot of really grimy people sometimes. Sometimes you're not at all. I'm going to say this more as I talk. I really believe that understanding the issues that contribute to and surround homelessness is the key to treating it successfully. And treating the issues. But it takes a lot more housing assistance, mental health care/treatment, vocational training. There's so many things that we have to do if we're going to stop, make progress on, relieve this growing issue. And it's growing right under our noses because we don't look long at those that are tough to look at do we? We don't. It's easier to turn away. Nate, my son and I were talking about the homelessness in Stillwater. We're saying, "You know, I bet most of the people in Stillwater have no idea there are any homeless there." He does. He's spent four or five years out in Seattle. There's plenty out there. He's got exposure so he's aware. The rest of us need to become much more aware. Because it's prevalent and it's growing. And it's becoming a bigger and bigger issue right under our noses. 

I want to share just for a bit some stats on homelessness. I'm not sure if you're aware but there are over 600,000 homeless in the nation right now. Over 600,000 people are without a home. Entirely. Obviously it's a much bigger problem in the cities. Especially the big cities. That's why it's a growing problem here. I'm not sure why they tend to come into the cities and then isolate themselves while there. But that's what happens. New York City and L.A., two rather large cities, account for about 20% of all the homeless in the nation. In NYC, in New York City, last year over 110,000 people visited our shelters. I didn't realize this about Oklahoma City, or, New York City but greater New York City is not as big as Oklahoma City. But there's 22,000,000 people there. The population density is nuts. I live an area of Manhattan where there are 72,000 people per square mile. That's a bunch. That's why when you go on garbage days you see all the garbage stacked on the streets and it's like this high. Because of all those people. It's incredible. 

Over this last year, I'm moving to more of a present day... Oh, by the way, 40,000 kids homeless came through the shelter system as well. Out of the 600,000 and I think I got those out of order there. I'm pretty smooth at this. But, at the present, 60,000 people in shelters. That's the highest number since the depression. It has been growing astronomically. In fact, since 2002, 91% growth rate. 91% more homeless people in New York City than in 2000. That's not that long. That's a major, major increase. 25,000 of these are children. That's 14,000 families. When we think of the homeless we think of the grimy guy that lumbers down the street, asks for money right? It's bigger than that. It's much bigger. Much bigger. 

Something else about Manhattan. Manhattan is an island. It's only 13 miles long. It's about on average two miles across. It's 26 square miles. Not very big. It's just a little swath. So when you have 7,500 homeless people on Manhattan Island they're everywhere. It seems like it. That's why you walk a block down the street and you have to step over homeless. That's why if you go to certain places at certain times there are a bunch of them. Because they tend to congregate towards safe areas, etc. The police give them fits. Especially in some of those wealthier areas. You know the two most wealthy neighborhoods in the United States right now are the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The police in those areas get substantial pressure from the community to "Get those homeless off our streets", right? "Quit letting them hanging around in front of my store. Get them out of our neighborhood." That's the pressure that they receive and so they get harsh treatment, they tend to congregate in other areas where they don't quite get that kind of treatment. 

There's a recent study done just this last year. It's a very dark study.

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: But I'll tell you about it. You can go ahead and turn that off if you want to. Recent study. This was kind of surprising to me. You guys have heard of food banks, right? Food banks provide food for food pantries all over the nation. Feeding America is one of the largest food banks in our country. It feeds, it supplies 58,000 food pantries across the country. Over the last year, they did a study called Hunger in America. They found that 46 million people, that's one out of seven Americans, are dependent upon food subsidies through the food pantries supplied by the food banks. One in seven. There's a lot of poverty in our country. There's a lot of hunger in our country. A lot of help is needed. Oklahoma is not exempt from that list. It's not exempt from that list. 

And here's something... I thought I would share this with you: We tend to have certain stereotypes about demographics in our minds from time to time. But of that one in seven of that 46 million people that are dependent upon food banks, 43% are White, 26% are Afro-American, and 20% are Latino. It is affecting every area of our country. It really, really is. 

I would like to now... I want to shift gears, alright? I want to shift gears. Should we all stand up and...? No, let's not do that. If I were still in my classroom that what I would have you do after sitting this long. I would like to show you a video about where I work and the organization that I'm involved with. It's called The Bowery Mission. We are a 100% privately-funded organization. Come on up. Again, we're 100% privately funded. And what's interesting to me, being a full gospel recovery admission, 75% of our funding comes from the non-evangelical, non-believing public in New York City. I think it's fantastic. I think it's fantastic. Are we ready?

Catherine: The projector's warming up.

Tim: Okay. Alright. This is only three or four minutes long but it gives you a very good idea of what we do and you'll hear another story or two as well. So.  It's warming. It's warming. Alright. The Bowery Mission, by the way, are. There we go. I'll let you watch.

(Video Plays)

Man: Before I came to The Bowery Mission I was homeless. I was caught up in drugs and alcohol. I was sleeping on the train. I had nothing to live for. 

Woman: I had been in and out of treatment centers. Trying to get my life in order. And that pattern has been with me for most of my life. 

Young Man: I grew up in the Bronx. My neighborhood could be kind of violent. It's gangs. I didn't really have a good childhood. For my father not being there for me. My mom had to be a mom and a pops and that's pretty hard on someone.

(music)

Narrator: Since 1879 The Bowery Mission has helped New Yorkers in times of need. Assisting hundreds of men, women and children every day. With tangible expressions of God's love. Food, clothing, shelter, medical care, counseling, jobs and housing.

Woman: I was tired, I was hungry and I was scared. I knew there was a red door. I couldn't even remember the number and when I found the red door I felt safe. I felt love. You know, before they even opened the door.

Man: I said wow, there is people that care. There is people that love me. I see the love of God in people here and I want some of that.

Narrator: The Bowery Mission's five residential recovery programs offer men and women a second chance. Transforming lives from homelessness, abuse and despair to stability, opportunity and new hope. And the Bowery Mission offers a positive first chance to New York's most at-risk children. With summer camp and educational opportunities that open the door to a bright future. 

Young Man: Before I came to camp I really didn't really know how to swim at all. Learning how to swim here was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.

Narrator: Today the mission is expanding from lower Manhattan and the East Side. Adding a new program for men in East Harlem, a home for women in Central Harlem, and a city camp for children in the South Bronx. 

Young Man: It's just teaching us to be men and women of integrity and how to grow up and treat people. I'm going to use those skills for when I grow up to be the dad that I never had.

Man: It's been four years and my life is not the same. Now I'm a chef cooking for the homeless. My family has been restored and that came by the miraculous. I am a miracle.

Woman: The Bowery Mission has saved my life. I don't feel like I'm lost anymore. I don't feel empty inside. I feel like I have hope. I feel confident. I feel alive. For once in my life there's something worth living for.

Narrator: The Bowery Mission couldn't do any of this without you. Thousands of supporters pray, volunteer and give generously to make sure every adult has a second chance and every child has a positive first chance. Won't you join the Bowery Mission to offer new hope in New York City. 

(NO AUDIO)
Narrated by Kevin Kern
The Bowery Mission
Rebuilding Lives Since 1879
www.bowery.org

Audience: (Applause)

Tim: You can learn more about the Bowery Mission if you so have the desire. You can go online Bowery.org. Guys want to do it again?

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: Alright. As I was saying earlier the Bowery Mission is 100% privately funded. We're the most visible mission in New York City. Every year we receive four and a half million dollars' worth of gifts and kind donated to us by the people of Manhattan. We're a drop off point. Which is awesome because we give the clothes to our people in recovery as well as the street homeless that come in. They need a change of clothes they can get it. They can get a shower, three meals a day. 900 meals a day that we do. Over 600 volunteers come in our doors every month. Every month. It's hard to get a spot. If you want to come volunteer at The Bowery Mission I can get you in.

Audience: (Laughter)

Tim: I know a guy. But it's hard to get in. Thanksgiving alone - last or week before last. Thanksgiving is the biggest time of year for us because we feed over 10,000 meals just during the week of Thanksgiving. We cook some 800 turkeys. It's an amazing time. Over 800 volunteers work there on Thanksgiving Day alone. For staff it's about a 14-hour day. It starts early and ends late. Our facility, our chapel  will only hold 150 people so to feed the 2,500 meals that we fed on Thanksgiving Day: run them in, feed them, give them blessing bags, give them free coats that are donated to us. When they finish they leave, you clean up, you bring them in again. It's all day long. 2,500 meals. It's quite a day. It really is. 

Our program, I'm not here to sell the Bowery Mission but I want you to know what's going on in this field and the steps that we are taking to do something about the homelessness that we're seeing and that we're experiencing and that we're witnessing around us. We have five facilities. We have six programs counting the kid's camp. The kid's camp serves 1,200 kids a year. They're all out of the South Bronx. The poorest neighborhood in the nation. Which is right next to the Upper East Side which is the wealthiest neighborhood in the nation. Such disparity. Door to door. I mean, side by side right there. The richest and the poorest. We serve 1,200 kids. Mentor them and tutor them all year long. And for committing to that program, then they get to spend the summer in the Poconos at our camp; Mont Long Camp. It's a great program. 

The five facilities are two women's facilities, three men's facilities. In all about 450 beds. Where we have recovery programs. Now the residential recovery programs give the opportunity to people who really want to change their lives. They're tired of being homeless. They're tired of being jobless. They're tired of not being connected. They come in and they're willing to stay sober because we will test them randomly. We're going to help them stay sober. It's our commitment to them when they come in. And you know when they violate and they relapse, we don't say, "You're gone." We just realized something about you that we can now treat. We just learned something about you that will enable us to get to the root of the problem because as long as the guy looks healthy and happy, we can't deal with these issues. You understand that? It's a lot like parenting. We don't want them to just look happy. Right? We want to get under that and so we take a very similar approach with them. 

And so, the recovery programs offer them the opportunity through six hours of classes a day that are required. They must attend. They have on-site or in-house work assignments. It's like I they tell them, "This ain't no charity program. The charity happens downstairs where we feed the community; the street homeless. That's the charity thing. You are here to work. You're going to earn your way." It's the first dignity that they get back in years. You know what I'm saying. When you know you have a meaningful job. Even if it's in a program like that. Maybe even a... especially if it's in a program like that, it begins to change everything. It really does. They're contributing, they're helping, they're serving. We think it's a major reason why our programs are very, very successful. 

My job is career training and education. So, my goal is by the end of six months I want to have a guy licensed, certified, trained and in a job. Career development, career identification, career assessment. We do those things during that six months. And the training. Because we want them to go to work after six months and graduate from the program and now they're free to work and save money and stay another six months. Because the idea is housing. And so we want to get them into housing by having money saved at the end of that 4-6 months so that they can walk out, get a room, get an apartment and they're re-entered. 

That's the whole idea. The training aspect is... the vocational aspect is the final link in the cycle and in the process. It is, we found it to be just incredibly important that we get people back to work in meaningful careers and jobs and there are a lot of areas that we have to address. We have a very holistic approach to the whole thing. We begin with the spiritual. We believe it's foundational. And you know what? There's an incredible openness in these people. We find that for many, many, many, they don't realize God is what they need until God is all they have. And so it's life changing to receive that kind of input. At the same time receiving character development. At the same time working on your issues whether that be mental or physical. At the same time receiving training, getting ready to go back to work. It works. It works beautifully. 

We find that 85-95% of our guys who are eligible to be at work; in other words they finished the program and they ought to be working. We average about 90% of them staying employed. It works. I don't know of a program that is even above 50% in the city. We believe what we're doing is making a difference. And we love doing it. 

But it's hard work. And it requires that you do things like say no blanket policy we deal with every case. We'd look at every individual to see what his issues are, what her issues are. What is her success level? How well is she achieving? How well is she doing? Again, blanket policy says, "You relapse, you're gone." This, what we're doing, says we're going to look hard at every situation and decide what to do and decide what's best for you. I think it's a level of care that is often absent - well, it's almost always absent - from the city-run programs. We have this ability, this flexibility, to do it our way and it's working. 

I believe that homeless prevention is an absolute must. I believe that eyes are opening in Oklahoma toward these issues. They need to. Need to all over the country. Not just Oklahoma. Not just in cities. But all over. I believe that things are changing. Again, homeless prevention means digging deep, diving down into the issues that we're seeing, and going to work on them. And it's tough. 

As a society we must care, we must find solutions because we have the resources. We have the financial resources. It's going to take a lot of money. It's available to us. It really, really is. If we'll be innovative and creative in finding solutions, then they'll come. But among the resources that we have that I believe are the most important are people. We must inspire people. We must inform people. And we must invite people to go to work. Get their hands dirty and do what they can. 

Thanks for your time.

Audience: (Applause)