Passing the Mic: Shannon, Johan, and the Heart of Neighbourly
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Description
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Neighbourly launches its first conversation with hosts Johan Heinrichs and Shannon Steeves, explaining the shift from “Journey With Care” to a new focus on everyday community stories. Shannon shares her heart for building bridges in Winnipeg and why listening to ordinary people matters. The team outlines how listeners can expect a mix of in-depth interviews and quick “Neighbourly Headlines” featuring positive Canadian news. Real-life accounts, from waiting to deliver groceries to single moms to participating in a Cost of Poverty experience, reveal the sometimes-messy but always powerful impact of patient, neighbourly love.
Time Stamps
00:30 Why Our Focus Shifted
06:32 Amplifying Personal Stories' Impact
09:12 Highlighting Positive News Stories
11:12 Canadian Engagement Podcast Plan
15:54 Everyday Neighbours Building Community
19:56 "Encouragement and Empathy in Action"
21:25 Patience and Connection's True Value
26:07 Caring for Neighbours' Impact
30:20 "Cost of Poverty Experience Expands"
32:39 Join Neighbourly: Share Your Story
Other Links
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Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.ca
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
Transcript
I says, why don't we just drop them in the entrance way like she had
Speaker:asked? And she says, no, we're gonna wait. It's important to have connection.
Speaker:And I really learned something there, you know, about being patient, because
Speaker:I think at the end, this single mom felt she was worth the
Speaker:wait. All right, here we
Speaker:are. If you've been listening for a while on this podcast feed,
Speaker:you probably noticed something a little bit different when you hit play today.
Speaker:This is no longer a Journey with Care anymore. It
Speaker:is now Neighborly. And we wanted this first episode just
Speaker:to sit down together and tell you why. So here I am with
Speaker:my friend and colleague, Shannon. So we're going to talk
Speaker:just about the shift and why we're doing it, and maybe a sneak peek
Speaker:into what you can expect from Neighborly in the coming months and
Speaker:hopefully years. As long as you guys are sharing and listening to,
Speaker:we'll just keep going. So, Shannon, welcome to Neighborly
Speaker:Podcast as one of our main hosts. Thank
Speaker:you. I am so excited about this
Speaker:because today this is less of an interview and it's just
Speaker:a kitchen table chat. We're just going to be sharing what's
Speaker:changing, what is staying the same, and
Speaker:what people can really look forward to with Neighborly.
Speaker:Well, our audience probably doesn't even know who you are. You were a guest on
Speaker:the podcast at one point, but maybe just share a little bit about who their
Speaker:new host is and, like, who is this person that's interviewing
Speaker:people and that they're going to get to know a little bit. Well, like
Speaker:Johan said, my name is Shannon and I
Speaker:get the honor of being a part of this team. I'm only working
Speaker:on our Care Portal network here in Winnipeg. So
Speaker:officially, I'm the Care Portal regional manager here in the
Speaker:Winnipeg area. And that just gets. That means I get to have a
Speaker:lot of conversations with people, with
Speaker:churches, with pastors, with people in the
Speaker:congregation. And then I get to meet a lot of
Speaker:incredible agencies that are doing amazing work
Speaker:in the city, working with kids and families, you
Speaker:know, expectant parents or people working with grandparents
Speaker:who just took in grandkids that they're caring for and really just
Speaker:trying to be the help bridge. People that need help with people who want
Speaker:to help. And I love that part of what I get to do.
Speaker:My heart is for people. I feel like growing up in
Speaker:just the family that I was in, we were
Speaker:always with people, doing things with people. My
Speaker:parents were really adamant about just
Speaker:instilling that importance in my brothers and I. I've got two older Brothers.
Speaker:So, yeah, I learned to be tough. So I'm so excited. I'm so excited
Speaker:to hear more stories through this podcast and bring them to
Speaker:light those. The stories that I get to see every day. And
Speaker:yeah, can't wait to be doing it with you, Johan. And
Speaker:that brings us into a little bit of the why. So if you've been following
Speaker:Journey with Care over the past several years, you'll notice we've
Speaker:covered an array of topics. We've talked to
Speaker:leaders, we've done stories, reconciliation, mental
Speaker:health, all sorts of things, trauma care. And we realized that
Speaker:we were reaching very broad, but not very specific,
Speaker:which is why we brought you on, because you are really boots on the ground
Speaker:doing the Care Portal in Winnipeg. Here you're on the front lines,
Speaker:hearing the stories, getting people activated, and you
Speaker:get to hear those amazing stories that people get inspired by, to
Speaker:hear, get involved in their community, which is why we shifted to neighborly.
Speaker:We really want to bring these stories out and inspire listeners to love
Speaker:our neighbors better. And people are going to start asking, okay,
Speaker:but you had Wendy on here as your main host for so long. Why is
Speaker:she all of a sudden disappearing? Do you want to answer that one?
Speaker:Wendy's busy. No, that. That shortens
Speaker:it way too much. Wendy is spearheading so
Speaker:many things in the direction of car, our impact, and
Speaker:all the different avenues that we're trying to grow in and expand in. And
Speaker:so she will still be on here and there, I'm sure.
Speaker:Maybe I'm volunteering her for that, but she's
Speaker:still very much with us and a part of all of this, just taking a.
Speaker:A different, I guess, seat at the table when it comes to the podcast.
Speaker:And so I'm not trying to fill her shoes, because those are only shoes
Speaker:she can fill, but just trying to bring a voice to, to the
Speaker:stories that we hear and that we see and really trying to
Speaker:broadcast those out to those that need to hear them.
Speaker:Yeah. And if you've been following anything Care Impact related,
Speaker:following us on social media and our website, you'll notice that there are
Speaker:a lot of big projects that are coming out this fall and that
Speaker:we've been working on. And Wendy, being the director of Care Impact,
Speaker:really needs to focus in on these things to make them happen. So just
Speaker:this allows her to really focus in on those things as well. And again,
Speaker:we'll have her on for sure once in a while to share some stories and
Speaker:share what's happening. So, Shannon, you might have answered it already, actually,
Speaker:but what are you looking forward to the most in hosting
Speaker:the podcast. And I mean, first of all, like,
Speaker:I'm not going to be on with you every episode like this. It's mostly going
Speaker:to be you, like, getting people's stories. Those ones that have those
Speaker:Frontline stories I'm going to be doing every other week, and
Speaker:I'll talk about that a little bit later. But what are you most looking forward
Speaker:to in. In doing these interviews? You know, I've been thinking about this
Speaker:quite a bit lately, and I think at the heart of it,
Speaker:I. I love learning why people
Speaker:do the things they do. I was with my dad recently,
Speaker:and he was a math major, and he's very, like, kind of black and white
Speaker:when it comes to. To just, like, how things work. And so he'd be,
Speaker:you know, helping me with my math, but I'd always be like,
Speaker:why? Like, why is, you know, 0.5
Speaker:times 0.75, whatever it is? And
Speaker:he's like, because it just is. That's just how the numbers work. But
Speaker:for me, I always needed to understand why, like, why does it work that
Speaker:way? And I think that then kind of drives
Speaker:me into this. I want to understand why people
Speaker:care, and more importantly, I want to
Speaker:help unlock for other people that in themselves
Speaker:that. I think each of us has a. We each have a
Speaker:story, and that story then can
Speaker:do something in someone else's life and speak to
Speaker:maybe those parts of ourselves that are
Speaker:hurting or broken. I just think our stories are powerful, and I
Speaker:want those to be shared, and I want to be able to ask people questions
Speaker:like, why did it matter to you when you saw that person and you needed
Speaker:to. You felt like you needed to step in or, you know, someone
Speaker:did something in your life, like, why was that so impactful? And I
Speaker:think that's really what I'm most excited about. What I'm most looking
Speaker:forward to is getting to amplify
Speaker:other people's stories. And I think there's so much power
Speaker:when we can relate to someone. You know, we can scroll on social media
Speaker:and be influenced by all the quote influencers out there.
Speaker:And for. For better or worse, you know, I'm not saying those are bad, but
Speaker:I think it's really beautiful when we get to hear from the average person.
Speaker:You know, when we get to hear from. From Tom, who cuts
Speaker:grass but has these amazing stories or, you know, whoever
Speaker:it might be, maybe those. Those uncommon people.
Speaker:I'm. I'm just really excited to share those stories. Is there anything
Speaker:about this that intimidates you or you feel A little bit scared about it. I
Speaker:mean, it's your first time hosting a podcast. We just kind of threw you into
Speaker:it, right? Yeah. You know, Johan, I think I got, I got a
Speaker:message and someone was like, hey, can you hop on this call? We're going to
Speaker:talk about the podcast. And I was like, sure. And by the end of the
Speaker:podcast, I had said yes to co hosting. Yeah. There
Speaker:definitely are parts that feel a little intimidating.
Speaker:People's stories have weight to it, and I wanna, I want
Speaker:this to be a space where it really does feel like a conversation.
Speaker:And, you know, practically. A podcast is such a great way to be able to
Speaker:share widely with a wide network of people, but
Speaker:it's. We're not sitting across from each other at a table. You know, I'm on
Speaker:my laptop. Maybe it's five kilometers away from you, but still it
Speaker:there, it can be a little awkward. And so I really am just hoping and
Speaker:praying to cut through some of that just like tech awkwardness.
Speaker:And I really just want people to feel comfortable. And it might take a little
Speaker:time to get there, but I'm a little nervous about it. But we'll get there.
Speaker:It'll be good. Yeah, for sure. It's intimidating for even
Speaker:people to tell their story, but I'm sure it's going to be awesome. We
Speaker:already have some people lined up, I think. Yeah. So, Johan, tell us a little
Speaker:bit about neighborly headlines that is going to be our
Speaker:segments or our episodes on the weeks where I'm not interviewing someone.
Speaker:So tell us a little bit about what those are, why
Speaker:we're doing that, and why they matter. Yeah. So we,
Speaker:we realized, even doing Journey With Care, that setting up interviews
Speaker:every single week is a monumental task, even for
Speaker:scheduling. So we wanted to make sure that we were still being consistent in getting
Speaker:out content. And one of the things was there are so many
Speaker:bad news stories out there. I just realized, like, going
Speaker:through my news feeds is just. It weighs on you after a while. And
Speaker:it's really hard to be even a good neighbor when you just see so many
Speaker:negative things happening and not seeing those stories that we want to
Speaker:highlight. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to look
Speaker:through the news and trust me, I've been doing this and
Speaker:it's not an easy task to find those good
Speaker:neighbor stories, those positive news stories that we
Speaker:get inspired by hearing about people, how they're helping their communities,
Speaker:how they're getting involved. Society doesn't like to highlight these stories. So I
Speaker:feel like we want to create a space where we can highlight these things and
Speaker:be inspired on a positive end of things. So we want,
Speaker:we want this podcast to really inspire us to love our neighbors well and
Speaker:be better neighbors. And these are, these are going to be shorter episodes, like five
Speaker:to 10 minutes on alternating weeks where we're not getting those
Speaker:interviews with you and your guests. These are going to be Canadian
Speaker:stories. Obviously, we want to keep it community oriented and
Speaker:encouraging. So that's what you can expect every other week. So
Speaker:if our listeners, if you come across any stories, any
Speaker:headlines that you feel would be a great fit, that will save me
Speaker:hours of research, and I would love to highlight those stories. So
Speaker:please send them to me. PodcastAreImpact CA.
Speaker:Or you can just go on Neighborly CA and, and submit them there. Well,
Speaker:that's another note, actually. So we went with neighborly.
Speaker:The problem is, like, Americans don't spell
Speaker:neighborly with you. So, I mean, we're
Speaker:going out on a limb here saying, hey, we really want to tap into this
Speaker:Canadian audience because they're the only ones that are going to find us, right?
Speaker:That's right. Although we did, we did get the URL for the American
Speaker:spelling as well. But you can't do two different names on the podcast
Speaker:itself. So we're, we're going out on an lin here saying, hey, our
Speaker:Canadian audience is going to be engaged. They're going to share the podcast.
Speaker:We're going to get some amazing stories on here to encourage, to
Speaker:encourage communities in the body of Christ. So you heard about neighborly
Speaker:headlines, and, you know, we're doing some interviews with Shannon. So
Speaker:what can our listeners expect from these interviews? Are they going to be like hour
Speaker:long? Like, how do you envision your episodes going?
Speaker:Yeah, these episodes are going to be a little bit longer than neighborly
Speaker:headlines. They're going to be around 20 minutes. And we really want
Speaker:these to be accessible. You know, you're driving on your way to work, or
Speaker:maybe you're picking kids up from practice or whatever. It might be that you don't
Speaker:have to sit down for, you know, 45 an hour long to be
Speaker:able to listen. So about 20 minutes every other week. And every single
Speaker:episode is always going to begin with our signature icebreaker.
Speaker:I don't know how people feel about icebreakers, but I personally love them. I'm
Speaker:a two on the Enneagram, if anybody knows. So, yeah, so it's going to be
Speaker:growing up who was a neighbor you'll never forget. Just
Speaker:to really intro our conversation, because this is called Neighborly.
Speaker:So it's a perfect place to start. And guests, then we'll have the
Speaker:opportunity to answer that question. And we really,
Speaker:beyond that, want to hear stories from our guests that. That
Speaker:are examples of ways that either
Speaker:they impacted somebody else or someone
Speaker:impacted them in their life. Stories of being a good
Speaker:neighbor. And we really want to hear that with dignity
Speaker:and with honesty from our guests, and that
Speaker:ultimately, listeners can walk away feeling encouraged
Speaker:and that there's one simple, practical step that they can put
Speaker:into action. We don't want this to be a podcast where it feels like you're
Speaker:hearing so much and you're like, this is all great, but what do I do
Speaker:next? This is practical. This is grounded. This is real
Speaker:life. And you're going to walk away feeling empowered. That's our
Speaker:goal, that you'll feel empowered to step out and to act
Speaker:right in your neighborhood. Okay, so I'm going to jump ahead here, Shannon,
Speaker:and ask you, who's a neighbor that you'll never
Speaker:forget? Yeah, I vaguely remember this as
Speaker:a memory, but I remember it more as it being told to me that this
Speaker:is what happened. I was around 5, and
Speaker:there was a family that was, like, up the street and then on a
Speaker:side street that lived a little ways from us. And
Speaker:apparently the mom in that house told her
Speaker:daughter, her name was Sydney. She was 4.
Speaker:She said, you need to go make friends. So she sent
Speaker:Sydney out on the street in the neighborhood, I think by
Speaker:herself. Maybe her mom was with her. I kind of hope her mom was with
Speaker:her. She's four to go make friends. And so
Speaker:I'm just, you know, in my house, and there's a knock on the door,
Speaker:and I open it up, and it's Sidney. And
Speaker:she's there to make a friend. And from that moment on,
Speaker:Sydney and I became some. Just one of my best friends.
Speaker:And I got married last year, and getting to invite her and
Speaker:her family to my wedding was just so
Speaker:cool because eventually she moved out of the neighborhood.
Speaker:And. But, you know, we had to drive to each other from now on.
Speaker:But still we kept that relationship. And,
Speaker:you know, years later, to see her at my wedding and to
Speaker:really credit that to her mom for sending her out to go make friends in
Speaker:the neighborhood was really just such a special thing.
Speaker:That's a nice, happy neighbor story. But there's also bad neighbors
Speaker:out there, so I'm sure we're going to hear a lot of those as well.
Speaker:I mean, I. You know what? I was probably the bad neighbor when I was
Speaker:a kid. Oh, no, I remember three separate occasions kicking a
Speaker:soccer ball through my neighbor's window at least three times. And my dad had to
Speaker:go over there and repair the window. So I was probably that bad neighborhood kid.
Speaker:I just like soccer. I wasn't mean or anything. I wasn't trying to,
Speaker:but, you know, I didn't have great aim. It's okay. You know,
Speaker:Johan, that reminds me. Like I said, I have two older brothers,
Speaker:and I vividly remember the day that my oldest brother
Speaker:decided it was a great idea to spray paint his name
Speaker:in red spray paint on the curb really big.
Speaker:So he spent many hours after that trying to scrub that. That
Speaker:prepaid off of the curve. He was a bad neighbor.
Speaker:Yeah. All right, so we're. So who do we expect to listen
Speaker:to this podcast? What kind of person might enjoy these stories?
Speaker:Well, given the title, I picture everyday
Speaker:neighbors, regular people, especially people who might
Speaker:not think of themselves as, quote, world Changers,
Speaker:but people who just care about showing up for the people
Speaker:around them. I think about the church folks who, you know, they
Speaker:bake the casseroles and they show up when the new baby's born
Speaker:with a meal. You know, people who care about building community.
Speaker:I often picture, you know, in some neighborhoods, they've got the basketball
Speaker:court and all the. The teens are out there playing basketball in the
Speaker:neighborhood. Or I think of anyone hungry for hope in the
Speaker:middle of ordinary life. That's really what this is about.
Speaker:This is for people who wonder if the little things that they do
Speaker:actually matter. Yeah. And they need the reminder
Speaker:that, yes, those things do matter. That's who I
Speaker:picture listening to this podcast. Yeah. They all build up for sure, those
Speaker:little things. For me, it's a little bit different. I
Speaker:feel like it's for those who actually stretch thin because I
Speaker:think a lot of us have good intentions. We want to be good
Speaker:neighbors. We want to love our neighbors like Christ told us. But we
Speaker:feel so stretched thin that maybe
Speaker:me being a good neighbor is going unnoticed. But
Speaker:we still want to make a difference. We still want to impact our community. We
Speaker:want to love our neighbor like Christ told us to do. So it's for
Speaker:those folks who want to live out their faith in more practical ways beyond Sunday
Speaker:mornings. People who can use that encouragement that they're not alone and
Speaker:that ordinary. Okay, yes. Those small things that you mentioned, even
Speaker:checking in on our neighbor, they have that ripple effect,
Speaker:and we don't often notice that. But if we hear story after
Speaker:story of these small things and the ripple effect that it causes,
Speaker:I think that's Going to encourage us to keep doing
Speaker:those small things and to keep loving our neighbors.
Speaker:So, all that being said, let's get into a little bit of a sneak
Speaker:peek of what people can expect. You're not going to interview someone on this
Speaker:episode. They can expect that in the coming weeks.
Speaker:But we have an audio clip of someone that shared a Care Portal
Speaker:story. So this is the kind of story that we're looking for. So even if
Speaker:you're listening to this and you've had a similar experience
Speaker:like reach out to us, go to Neighborly ca. You can
Speaker:leave a voice message on there. You can message us from there.
Speaker:We would love to hear your story, too, and maybe even have you on the
Speaker:podcast, but let's listen in. So the
Speaker:experience with the Care Portal was very encouraging,
Speaker:but it was also a learning lesson where I see why they like
Speaker:to train people. Because we had done grocery shopping, we were all
Speaker:excited to drop off the groceries for a single
Speaker:mom who had a couple children, but she was not initially
Speaker:able to come to the door. She was saying that she was helping put her
Speaker:child down. And because there was three units, we were a little
Speaker:uncomfortable to leave this stuff in the entranceway because,
Speaker:you know, obviously there was gift cards in there. We wanted to have the connection
Speaker:and give it to her personally. So we waited, waited. Nothing
Speaker:was happening for quite a while, 15 minutes. But then
Speaker:she got honest and said, you know, I don't know why, but I lied.
Speaker:I'm actually not there. And so we still waited and
Speaker:her parents actually dropped her off and we had the
Speaker:connection. And I think what was very impactful in the 30
Speaker:minutes we waited was Deb, who was with me. So
Speaker:says, why don't we just drop them in the entrance way like she had asked?
Speaker:And she says, no, we're going to wait. It's important to have connection.
Speaker:And I really learned something there, you know, about being patient, because
Speaker:I think at the end, this single mom felt she was worth the
Speaker:wait. And also it gave Deb the opportunity to check in and say,
Speaker:hey, are you coming to the mom's class this Thursday? And I
Speaker:think there was a much more higher chance she would show up to that based
Speaker:on that personal interaction. So I really learned a lot from
Speaker:Deb. It was wonderful to go with someone. And I can see how
Speaker:there's different scenarios you encounter. And therefore, it is nice to
Speaker:have someone with you, standing with you in sometimes the discomfort or
Speaker:disappointment or it didn't go the way you thought it would, but it was just
Speaker:a very encouraging experience. Yeah, So I think what
Speaker:encouraged me, despite initially feeling a
Speaker:little bit even disappointed or disrespected because
Speaker:there was some lying or not truth, but Deb shared
Speaker:with me that there was one person that her boyfriend had
Speaker:always answered the door for a year before a
Speaker:particular single mom started to trust. And
Speaker:it just showed me, you know, maybe for me, it's easy to just
Speaker:have a cup of coffee with another woman so naturally
Speaker:or experience giving or hospitality or
Speaker:generosity, but for another person, they've never, never
Speaker:experienced it. And so I can see now where you really
Speaker:have to sort of accept and appreciate where someone
Speaker:is at and to still do your role, no matter what
Speaker:you're feeling. You certainly got to acknowledge and work through any feelings
Speaker:or of judgment, but to change that to curiosity, you
Speaker:know, and step in their shoes for a moment. The other thing
Speaker:was that that ended so beautifully was I know that I
Speaker:put some cookie dough in the bags in the
Speaker:groceries as just an extra thing for her to do with the kids.
Speaker:And she had actually sent a picture to Deb with those
Speaker:pictures. And it was really encouraging that of showing the
Speaker:cookies that she had made. And so I feel she really was
Speaker:appreciative that we came, that we waited, and she was
Speaker:worth the wait. I think the.
Speaker:What it meant to me personally was I
Speaker:learned a valuable lesson to be able to sit in
Speaker:discomfort, to sit in the letdown, because, you know, I was all
Speaker:excited, you know, to give and you want a certain reaction, hey, thank
Speaker:you. So good to see you, and thank you so much. And that didn't happen
Speaker:initially, but I liked that because it taught me
Speaker:to work through some emotions and go to curiosity,
Speaker:to wait, to be patient, and
Speaker:that the connection was the most important thing, not just the
Speaker:task we did, but to connect and to help
Speaker:someone feel they were worth the wait.
Speaker:So there you have it. That's. That's actually a clip that happened from
Speaker:our Decadent Care summit that we did just
Speaker:before the New Year last year. We had some people go out and do some
Speaker:care portal requests. So that was her first time at Careportal. These are an all
Speaker:clean, amazing encounters with
Speaker:people because loving our neighbors is often messy, and we know
Speaker:that. But I think a really amazing experience that she had.
Speaker:One quote that stuck out to me was, you certainly got to
Speaker:acknowledge and work through any feelings of judgment, but to
Speaker:change that to curiosity and step into their shoes for a moment,
Speaker:and that's always been the mantra of Journey with Care
Speaker:podcasts even, is to. Is to stay curious.
Speaker:And that's really what it's all about, like, let's be curious about our
Speaker:neighbors and those around us, because curiosity takes us
Speaker:into those stories. It takes us into empathy and loving our neighbors a little bit
Speaker:better. Shannon, did you have any thoughts after hearing that clip? Yeah,
Speaker:I think that line she said she was worth the wait.
Speaker:Yeah. Is so. It kind of stops you in my tracks,
Speaker:really, because it reminds me of Jesus,
Speaker:that Jesus took time and he
Speaker:waited for people. And,
Speaker:man, I think in today's day and age, we
Speaker:live in a world where everything is so fast and we want things
Speaker:quick and we want, you know, if it's not worth our time, if it's. If
Speaker:we, you know, if we could do. Be doing something different, that's more worth our
Speaker:time, we're going to do that thing instead. And yet when we
Speaker:stop and we pause, man, so
Speaker:much happens there. And I think
Speaker:slowing down and to maybe ask the
Speaker:Lord, ask Holy Spirit to speak in those moments,
Speaker:I think we miss a lot when we don't do that. And
Speaker:the beauty of. In this story that she was worth the
Speaker:wait, something relational happened, that it wasn't just a
Speaker:transactional giving an item and being on the way.
Speaker:It was about seeing her, seeing the person.
Speaker:And at the end of the day, that's what Jesus
Speaker:did. He. He saw people. And I think
Speaker:we have so much to learn when it comes to this.
Speaker:So much to slow down and just
Speaker:wait. I'm reminded of the first time I did a care portal request.
Speaker:We went to the single mom that had. I think she had three kids. We
Speaker:go to her door, we have the item. I think it was a winter coat
Speaker:or something for her kids. And we knock on the door and
Speaker:she opens it a crack. And I think she said, can
Speaker:you just leave it at the door? She didn't want to open her door up
Speaker:wide for us to see inside or have the kids run out or something,
Speaker:or maybe it was the dogs, I don't know. But we did that and we
Speaker:said, okay, we'll leave it here.
Speaker:We hope you feel blessed or whatever. And then. And then we get another
Speaker:request for the same mom. She might have even talked to
Speaker:us and said, hey, is there any way I could get this and this? And
Speaker:we looked into it. So we came back a second time, and the door was
Speaker:open just a little bit more. So we provided that request.
Speaker:And I think it was the third time that we came, she had
Speaker:another request. So we came and she opened that door
Speaker:wide. One of the kids came running out and grabbed
Speaker:my leg, and I'm like, what is happening here? This is crazy. So
Speaker:it's really that consistency of showing up, that's what people are looking for.
Speaker:And these stories, I think hearing the hard
Speaker:parts are also encouraging because it means we're not alone when we
Speaker:have trouble loving our neighbors. That's right. Yeah. That's beautiful,
Speaker:Johan. And I think that really gets to the heart
Speaker:of, of why caring for our neighbors matters
Speaker:so much. I think it can be really easy, I think,
Speaker:to look at the world and get overwhelmed about where to start
Speaker:because there's needs everywhere, really big needs,
Speaker:affordable housing, childcare, food, like all of these
Speaker:big issues. And you know, I can
Speaker:just get so restless on my own thinking like, what
Speaker:am I gonna, how do I, how do I have an impact here? And yet
Speaker:I think God's not calling us necessarily to
Speaker:impact these huge systemic issues.
Speaker:He's just calling us to see the people right there. He's calling
Speaker:us to go back to the woman a third time
Speaker:and see her open that door wide because she trusts you now
Speaker:and that her life, maybe even in just a small way or maybe
Speaker:in a big way, is being changed simply by showing
Speaker:up. I think that's what we're being called to.
Speaker:Yeah, it's beautiful. Now we're going pretty long here, but
Speaker:we're not done yet. During that conference that I'm talking about, we also
Speaker:did what is called the Cost of Poverty experience. And this
Speaker:is something pretty new for Care Impact that we're offering exclusively.
Speaker:Care Impact is offering in Canada. So if you're listening
Speaker:and you want to do something like this, reach out because we want to run
Speaker:a Cost of Poverty experience in your neighborhood as well.
Speaker:But it was really impactful. I mean, this first one that we did,
Speaker:we've Canadianized it since, but we, this was, we've. We had some friends
Speaker:from the States come up and they help us run this one. And we had
Speaker:some impactful stories from that. And I'm just going to share a couple. It's a
Speaker:very short clip. This was a debrief that we had after doing the Cost
Speaker:of Poverty Experience. So this is a poverty simulation. We're going
Speaker:table to table. You're taking on a Persona, you're given a role
Speaker:to play and you're walking in someone else's shoes.
Speaker:And by the end of it you very impactful, whether you're hosting a
Speaker:table or one of the participants actually participating in the
Speaker:experience. So here you go. I was a five year
Speaker:old boy and I just felt the pressure of this being dragged along
Speaker:with My parents, everywhere we went. It's like the first day we forgot to go
Speaker:to work, it was like, what the heck was that? And then all of a
Speaker:sudden we're just getting dragged around everywhere and yet taken to agencies
Speaker:and how they would treat my parents. I didn't like that. And they were just
Speaker:giving pat answers. Sometimes I was just like, just, just get on with it. And
Speaker:I was going, come on mom, let's just keep going, let's. Because we got, we
Speaker:got more important things to do than talk about to the church people. Like we
Speaker:have things we need, so let's keep going. And I just, even as a five
Speaker:year old, I felt like I was taking that on. And I work at a
Speaker:family support center and I see these five year olds that come into my office.
Speaker:So I'm just going to be doing a little shift on that, like what is
Speaker:that little five year old feeling? And it's really important.
Speaker:I'm the husband of a pregnant wife and a
Speaker:young man that's in school and has got ADHD and I
Speaker:don't have a job. And we were given a notice for eviction for our place
Speaker:and I went trying to find a job and I felt powerless,
Speaker:powerless to change my destiny. And in the end we ended up in
Speaker:the bus depot. Sheltered overnight now and just the
Speaker:realizing, you know, I couldn't take care of my child
Speaker:and the only place he got a solid meal was in school and
Speaker:my wife was around, pregnant wife was around trying to hustle up food
Speaker:for the groceries that we had and we ended up having no home. So
Speaker:very, very powerless. So there were
Speaker:dozens of those stories in the debrief actually that we recorded.
Speaker:But the reason why I'm playing that is because we're not just getting care portal
Speaker:stories on here. We are really getting interviews with people that are
Speaker:having these, these impactful stories, whether they've done a
Speaker:cope. And maybe we're going to get some, maybe we're going to interview some people
Speaker:that have done a COPE as well, a Cost of Poverty experience and they're sharing
Speaker:their experience through that. We really just want to encourage people in
Speaker:whatever capacity to love our neighbors better, whatever that looks like. So
Speaker:hoping we can get some more COPE stories in here as well.
Speaker:Yeah, Johan, I'm so excited for the Cost of Poverty
Speaker:experience to expand across Canada. I
Speaker:think most people have not heard of this before
Speaker:and it's such an impactful way to get a
Speaker:little bit of an understanding of the cost of poverty.
Speaker:It's in the name. This is an experience where for a
Speaker:couple of hours, maybe on a Saturday morning with your church, you
Speaker:can have us come in and we'll take you through this experience of
Speaker:walking through what maybe a month looks like in the life
Speaker:of someone experiencing poverty. You'll receive the name
Speaker:and the information of a family, a real family that
Speaker:shared their story to help build this experience. And
Speaker:you'll go through some different tasks that you would do throughout the
Speaker:month. Going to get groceries, filling out paperwork for
Speaker:assistance, different things like that, to get a look into what is it,
Speaker:what does it feel like to be experiencing poverty
Speaker:today? And after that experience, you'll have some
Speaker:time to debrief from that and process
Speaker:your experience with others who went through it and have some
Speaker:guided discussion about, you know, what does this really look like for
Speaker:the people next door, the people in our lives that this is
Speaker:a reality for? And what I like about that is that it's really
Speaker:low risk. Like, there are real experience.
Speaker:Like you can go to some organizations in your city that'll actually take you on
Speaker:an overnight poverty experience on the
Speaker:street. And that's a big ask for some people. Like, that's just
Speaker:scary. They're never going to do that. But this is something that's held in a
Speaker:facility, a gym. So it's very low risk
Speaker:but high reward. Like you still feel the impact of it.
Speaker:That's what we heard from a lot of those testimonials is people are really
Speaker:impacted from doing the cost of poverty experience. Even though they
Speaker:didn't actually have to go through it, they really felt the weight of it.
Speaker:Absolutely. All right, so I think we're ready to wrap up this
Speaker:introductory episode. This is kind of a one off. You're not going to get episodes
Speaker:like this all the time. They're not all going to be over half an hour.
Speaker:What do we want to leave our audience with here? I think starting next week,
Speaker:we're already going to get going on the first real episodes.
Speaker:So what do we need from our listeners? Yeah, we would love to
Speaker:hear from you as we get started on this. Here's a few really
Speaker:simple ways that you can join in. Please tell a friend
Speaker:or a neighbor about neighborly. You can
Speaker:visit our website at Neighborly ca and just drop
Speaker:us a note, share what you're excited about, your questions, or maybe even
Speaker:some suggestions for future episodes. You can actually
Speaker:leave a voice message right there on our website. Um,
Speaker:we'd also love for you to share any news in your community.
Speaker:So we talked about those headlines, episodes, news stories that
Speaker:show ordinary neighbors offering extraordinary care.
Speaker:So please send that to us. Neighborly CA or
Speaker:podcastarempact ca. And if you're on Facebook,
Speaker:come join our Care Impact podcast group. That is a great
Speaker:place to connect and to share stories. And maybe
Speaker:even you'll be asked to come on the podcast after you share a story.
Speaker:But we just want you to be a part of this. That's what this is
Speaker:all about, is real stories, real people. And
Speaker:we are so excited to bring you in on that.
Speaker:Awesome. And again, you can find CARE impact on social media,
Speaker:too, if you want to follow along that way with all the other things that
Speaker:we're doing. But this is a big part of what we're doing because we believe
Speaker:that impact comes with sharing our stories. We can share
Speaker:information all day long, but what really
Speaker:impacts people are the stories. All right, so next
Speaker:week, you'll hear it. Tune in. You can stay on this podcast feed. You
Speaker:don't have to go anywhere. If you're not subscribed, subscribe. But if you're here,
Speaker:well, you don't have to do anything. Just listen. Right?
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Turning over tables Breaking all
Speaker:chains When I see you in a
Speaker:stranger I'm no longer asleep
Speaker:Turning over tables Tearing
Speaker:down walls Building up the
Speaker:bridges between the stones
Speaker:of these Turning old tables
Speaker:Breaking all the chains.
