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
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Mentioned in this episode:
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Skip The Dinner is CareImpact’s year-end Christmas campaign, a fundraising non-event. You keep your time, and you give from wherever you are. Right now, every year-end gift or pledge is DOUBLED by a generous donor, so your giving goes twice as far to help strengthen CareImpact’s work with churches and community partners across Canada. Each donation will be matched before January 1, 2026.
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.
