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© 2024 Friends In Deed Podcast
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Friends In Deed (FID) is an interfaith organization that provides supportive services to our homeless and at risk neighbors to help them rebuild their lives. Each week, FID Executive Director, Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, talks about our programs, interviews clients, has conversations with staff, community leaders and commentators around issues of poverty, homelessness, religious values, morals and much more! Learn more at www.friendsindeedpas.org, follow us on Instagram @friendsindeedpas, or visit us at facebook.com/friendsindeedpas.
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It is often said that "dogs are a person's best friend." This is certainly true, and perhaps more so, for our unsheltered neighbors experiencing homelessness. On this episode, Rabbi Joshua speaks with Christine Kim, founder of a non-profit called My Dog is My Home, which does advocacy work around the issues of emotional support animals specifically for the population living on the streets. In addition, he is joined by Nora Mathison, the current MSW intern in The Women's Room, who has focused her attention recently on the ladies who have dogs and how TWR can better support them. This is a really interesting conversation!https://friendsindeedpas.org/https://www.mydogismyhome.org/Closing musicThe Black Crowes
In this special episode, Rabbi Joshua talks at length with Anthony, a man our Street Outreach team worked with and helped get permanently housed. He has a pretty inspiring story, albeit difficult, which includes his incredible son winning chess tournaments while sometimes living in a motel with his dad. This is one you won't want to miss--and will want to share!www.friendsindeedpas.orgMusic in this episode:The Allman BrothersThe Uninvited
Welcome to 2024! In this first episode of the new year, Rabbi Joshua talks about the Bad Weather Shelter as this is the first time we will be operating in 3 years! There is a new location, Trinity Lutheran Church, and so Rabbi Joshua has a conversation with Pastor Sharon Richter, who shares her faith journey and why the church is so supportive and excited to be the new host. Learn more about Friends In Deed and Bad Weather Shelter:www.friendsindeedpas.orgTo learn about volunteering, please email Laura Van Alstine:laurav@friendsindeedpas.org
For this final episode of the year, Rabbi Joshua shares some of the numbers and highlights of how our services were provided this past year. It was a record year in all of our programs, both in number of people attending and in the new ways we have been able to serve. Our staff has grown, our budget has grown, our visibility has grown, our volunteers have grown, we have new board members and we are in the midst of a serious strategic planning process. 2024 is set to be a big year!Closing music on this episode is 'Acceptable' by Craig Taubman.www.friendsindeedpas.org
We are back! After a bit of a hiatus, we are thrilled to post a brand new episode. After sharing some updates and highlights from the past few weeks, Rabbi Joshua has a wonderful interview and conversation with Jane Armbruster, The Women's Room Program Manager and Case Counselor. Jane shares deeply about her life story, which includes being a professional vocalist and stage performer, struggles with addiction and finding recovery, and how she made it to Friends In Deed. www.friendsindeedpas.org
In this very special episode, Rabbi Joshua has a wide-ranging interview with Steve Lopez, an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, who has been a columnist with the Los Angeles Times for nearly two decades. Mr. Lopez is the author of the book, The Soloist, which chronicles his journey with a man he met on the streets, Nathaniel Ayers, who was playing a 2-stringed violin in Pershing Square. In 2009, the book was made into a movie of the same title, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez and Jamie Foxx as Ayers. Friends In Deed will be showing the film as part of their upcoming event, Stories from the Street, on October 14th. This is a longer than usual episode, but well-worth the entire listen!About Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.orgAbout 'The Soloist'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/
In this episode, Rabbi Joshua talks with Ondina, a guest in The Women's Room who worked with our staff first to find a domestic violence shelter for safety, and then locate permanent housing. Ondina is an inspiring and energetic woman who shares her story with passion, emotion and immense gratitude. You can't help but be moved listening to her share her journey in her own words, telling us that TWR is "like heaven."www.friendsindeedpas.org
In part 2 of the conversation about the National Low Income Housing Coalition's report, 'Out of Reach," Rabbi Joshua dives into the wage rate needed to live in and around Pasadena, which is 3x the rate of the minimum wage! The statistics aren't pretty, but they are real.During the break, learn about FID's upcoming movie night fundraiser, Stories from the Street, where we are showing The Soloist, a 2009 film based on true events of LA Times columnist Steve Lopez meeting a homeless gentleman named Nathaniel Ayers. To learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.orgTo learn more about National Low Income Housing Coalition:nlihc.org
In the first of a multi-part series, Rabbi Joshua begins to unpack a report called 'Out of Reach,' published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which tracks the cost of rentals in every state, and compares them with the wage rate need to afford a modest one or two bedroom home. This episode focuses nationally, hence the title of 'Don't Make $24/hr,' and lays out the report's approach and the history of this organization. SPOILER ALERT: In California, the wage rate is at minimum double the national rate. This episode spells out the real statistics, and tells stories of real human beings, of the housing crisis that face our nation, and are the number leading cause of homelessness.Learn more about Friends In Deedwww.friendsindeedpas.orgLearn more about the National Low Income Housing Coalition:https://nlihc.org/oor
We are back after a few weeks hiatus! On this episode, Rabbi Joshua talks with Olivia Esteb, the Substance Abuse Specialist on our Street Outreach team, who shares her story of growing up in Pasadena, having health and personal challenges as a kid that led her to a dark place, heroin addiction, homelessness, prison. And how, after many stints in rehab, love from her family and support of therapists and mentors, has found her way back to a stable, sober life, a wonderful marriage, motherhood, and a career helping those in need, just like she was. It is an inspiring and moving conversation.Learn more about FID:www.friendsindeedpas.org
For this very special episode, Rabbi Joshua speaks to one of the guests in The Women's Room, who opens up about her life and experience of being homeless for the past 5 years. Having had a stable upbringing, a career and loving parents, the death of her mother sent her into a downward spiral, causing PTSD, which led to the loss of jobs, inability to pay rent and eventually homelessness. The idea that "it can be anyone" has never been more palpable. Learn more about The Women's Room:https://friendsindeedpas.org/programs/the-womens-room/
Continuing with Mental Health Awareness month, Rabbi Joshua is joined by two experts, and local celebrities in the work of homelessness and housing, Dr. Joe Colletti and Dr. Sofia Herrera. In this wide-ranging conversation, we hear about the latest data from around the state; a focus on women and their unique struggles; the benefit of tiny homes and transitional housing; the difficult aspects of dying on the streets; and close with where they each find hope and faith in the work. There is a lot to learn! We finish with a special song, so listen to the end. Learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.orgLearn more about Joe and Sofia's workwww.urban-initiatives.org
May is Mental Health Awareness month, so Rabbi Joshua is talking with Tish Strickland, Program Director of FID's Street Outreach and Housing. Tish is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a speciality in mental health. The conversation covers mental health stigmas, trauma-informed care, street medicine opportunities and how we best care for, and offer treatment to, those suffering on the street. Please share this important episode with friends and family.www.friendsindeedpas.orgLearn more about homelessness in our nation:https://endhomelessness.org
In honor of the holiday of Passover, Rabbi Joshua discusses the concept of leaving the narrow places, a key theme, as it relates to our thinking around homelessness and potential solutions. We need to have a more expansive approach to using empty building for housing; empty storefronts for mental health clinics; closed nursing homes, hospitals and motels for bridge and interim housing. This episode explores the spiritual concepts and applies them to current challenges. www.friendsindeedpas.org
Today, Rabbi Joshua shares the wisdom and thoughts of Matthew Desmond, Professor of Sociology at Princeton, who has a new book called Poverty, By America. His previous book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, won the Pulitzer Prize. Learn about the billions of dollars collected each year from the poorest Americans by the fees and interest rates they get charged. The "War on Poverty" has been an abysmal failure, but there are some basic solutions to finally winning, and ending systemic poverty in our country.Learn more about Professor Desmond and his books:https://matthewdesmondbooks.comLearn about FID's Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance Program:https://friendsindeedpas.org/programs/eviction-prevention-and-rental-assistance/
On this episode, Rabbi Joshua discusses the recent homeless count, which is a national "point-in-time" count that seeks to identify as many of those living without shelter in the cities across our nation. We are joined by the Pasadena Housing Department's Homeless Programs Coordinator, Jenni O'Reilly-Jones, who shares her knowledge and expertise about the count itself, as well as the data they are looking for as they prepare the report. The 2023 report will be released in a few months.To read the full 2022 report:www.pasadenapartnerships.orgTo learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.org
On this episode, Rabbi Joshua speaks to a few people at our Bad Weather Supplies distribution, including a 71 year-old Pasadena native living on the streets, and one of the Azusa Pacific Nursing students that provide care each Thursday night. The title of this episode comes from a story related to us by the groundskeeper at First United Methodist Church; be sure to listen until the end. Learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.org
With the winter months bringing cold and rain, Friends In Deed is operating its Bad Weather Supplies distribution, and emergency motel program. With all of the press about this last week, Rabbi Joshua wrote an op-ed in Pasadena Now, which he expands upon in this episode. One potential solution: like the city of LA, might there be a motel open to a master leasing contract that would offer all of the rooms, year-round, for clients transitioning to permanent housing. Learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.orgRead Rabbi Joshua's Guest Essay:https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/guest-column-rabbi-joshua-levine-grater-friends-in-deeds-emergency-motel-program-a-few-updates-and-clarifications
Recorded on MLK Day, Rabbi Joshua welcomes Dr. Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics at Occidental College, and Ryan Bell, Southern California Regional Coordinator at Tenants Together, to discuss the recent passing of Measure H, a Pasadena ballot measure approving rent control. Both Peter and Ryan were active in the organizing effort that helped pass this measure, and the conversation discusses rents control in general, what this measure means for the city, and how Dr. King's work on Fair Housing is directly related to this issue.To learn more about Measure H:www.pasadenatenantsunion.orgTo learn more about Friends In Deed:www.friendsindeedpas.org
Rabbi Joshua shares some thoughts about President Biden's newly released strategic plan to end and prevent homelessness, $8.7 billion, especially as it relates to the newly passed Pentagon budget, $858 billion. www.friendsindeedpas.org
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