Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guest and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through the community.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Hi, my name is India Nguyen. I am an advocate for houselessness, veterans, LGBTQ youth. I'm here with ride along to take our action, social justice, from words to the streets.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Hey, this is Alex Stone. Welcome back to the ride along. We have an amazing guest today, India win. I'm gonna let her give a little background, but former marine, former houseless, former gang member, turned their life completely around, living the dream and helping other people, especially veterans, live their dream. India, why don't you introduce yourself to the guest?
[00:01:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Hi. My name is India Nguyen.
As Alex said, I'm a Marine Corps veteran, served 2000 to 2005, two tours in Afghanistan, was in the latin kings by the age of twelve. Got out of the Latin Kings, went to conversion therapy after becoming a born again christian, signed up for the Marine Corps, and then ended up being houseless on and off for about ten years.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: Wow, that's a powerful story. So let's take it back to the beginning.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: So you're. You're Puerto rican.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Yes, Puerto Rican. From New York.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: From New York. And you. You grew up in a life that eventually led to that being in that life. We call being a part of an organization that life.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: I know what I mean. We call it being part of the familia.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Exactly. Right. So you ended up in that life, obviously. What, you know, that's pretty destructive. There's going to be a lot of trauma there for, you know. I know there is for me and other. Other folks.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: What led you to that place?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: I had a mother that loved to date really, really abusive men, men that had all kinds of addiction issues and were very sexually aggressive with my sister and I. So I went to the Latin Kings as a way to get protection. And I remember when I joined, I told this woman, Tina, who was the head of our chapter of the Latin Kings, that I didn't want to be afraid anymore. I didn't want to be afraid anymore. I wanted people to be afraid of me.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: That's what's up.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: So that's what led me to it. And then I think it was at the age of 17, I was in a car with three other Latin kings. Three guys. And I decided for some reason, to get out of the car, and 20 minutes later, China had put a hit on them, and all three of them were murdered. And that's when I was like, I can't. I can't do this anymore because I can't even trust my own gang members.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah. You went there for safety.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: And they became the abuser.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: So very common in that life.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Because there's no trust. Yeah. And then I had an aunt that was really deep into the church, so I became a born again Christian and then was sent to a home in Tennessee called Mercy ministries. Home for girls. Mercy ministries, Tennessee, from New York. Well, first I went to Louisiana.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: How old were you at this point?
[00:03:43] Speaker B: 1818.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: And so you completely lost your family, almost abandoned by your family.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Hopped on a greyhound bus to a.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Culture that you know nothing about.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: No.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Okay. Louisiana was a culture shock for me, and Christianity was a culture shock for me, and it was very much about wearing dresses. And, you know, I didn't come, except I didn't know or accept the fact that I was queer back then, but I still dressed exactly the way I dressed.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: You knew it, though, in your heart?
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I wanted to be the Fonz as a kid.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Like, he was my hero.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: You did it.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: I know, right?
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Here's my hero. Jukebox.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: That's it. You know, hit the jukebox.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Lights, dim leather and a motorcycle.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Exactly.
So I went to Louisiana and went through this program, and then the woman who was the head of it said if I went to Dallas Baptist university and got a degree in theology, I could come back and work for her. So that's what I did. But throughout the journey at college, you know, once the trauma or once the hold from the Lion Kings was off of me, I was like, oh, shit, I am so gay. I am so gay. And, you know, obviously, in Christian south, that's not really accepted, especially now.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: I know you look like you're 25, but you're not 25. You're. You're older than I am.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm 47.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Nineties. Right?
[00:05:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: You're talking 95.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: 96.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: And it's not that there weren't. You know, it's not that if people were definitely less accepting of people from that. That culture.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Right. And. And that background, people who are living in that life openly.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: It wasn't really a thing. Right.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: I know. I mean, south. I came out the same year that Ellen did, and we all know how that went for her at first. Like, she lost her career.
So I came out and I tried to resign from my job, and the woman that was head of the program wouldn't accept it.
And then two days later fired me.
So, you know, what does someone do when their degrees in theology won't get them a job pretty much anywhere because they're gay. I joined the Marine Corps. I mean, I always wanted to be in the Marines, though. I was like, if I'm going to the military, you know, no offense to you for being in the army, but.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: You know, hey, in the army, you know, we're practicing Debris Marines, so.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Yeah, because you aren't ready to be a Marine yet. That's true.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Well, once they removed the bottle and the diaper, we're almost there.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Then you get the crayons.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: So I decided to join the Marine Corps in 2000.
Loved it. I loved every bit of it. 2000. Joining the Marine Corps wasn't the best idea since we all know what happened in 2001.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: So this is like that don't ask, don't tell error.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it was like I had to sign. This is when you have to sign a forum, when you join, saying that you will not engage in a same sex relationship. You're not trying to get married to someone of the same sex. You had to sign that to join. But, I mean, I looked exactly the same way I do now. I'm like, dude, you knew. Come on. I look gayer than Ellen, you know? So. But it didn't seem. I mean, it didn't seem to be a problem at first.
And then a female marine had gotten in trouble for talking, spreading a rumor about another gunny.
At first I got called into the office, and they start reading me my rights because she said that I had done it. And the gunnies in the room looked at me and, like, you can tell Wynn has no idea what the fuck we're talking about.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. You're like, what are you talking about?
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Wynn has no idea what the fuck we're talking about. Like, win squared away, so she finally admits, okay, Nguyen didn't say it. And then she's like, but when is gay?
And so I had to go to the JAG office and, you know, got the whole spiel about, all right, they're going to do an investigation as long as you just don't go anywhere that's gay or do anything that's gay.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: So it's don't ask, don't tell, but.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: They'Re asking as soon as someone accuses you.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: How does that work? I mean, if the Jag. If they're going to investigate you for quote unquote, being gay, they couldn't ask me. They can't ask you about it, but.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: They couldn't investigate me, so.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: But isn't that really the same thing?
[00:07:48] Speaker B: It's. Yeah, it is. I mean, he said, don't.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Kind of fucked up, right?
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Yeah. He said, don't do anything that's gay. And I was like, that's. That's what? So I can't breathe because, I mean, I. I am gay.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: And then she spread the rumor on base, and this female. This female. Yeah. And I.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: She's in hot water. She's trying to, you know, put it on you.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: She chose someone that she felt was an easy target, probably because she thought you were gay.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Right? And she goes, I'm gonna get. I'm gonna wash out this gay marine, and I'm gonna stay clean in this.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And, I mean, it pissed me off. Of course it pissed me off. Cause I was like, you know, like you didn't know when I signed up, but, you know, I have.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: You're trying to serve your country. You're doing the right thing.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: And I was a good marine.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: I mean, nothing in your jacket? No.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Squared away, ready to.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. But so she. She accuses me and then spreads it around base. And these. I start getting threatening phone calls in the barracks, saying, or, we're gonna fucking straighten you out. You dike. You know, we're gonna handle you. So my chain of command said that they were gonna look into it, that they were investigating. Of course, you know, this.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: The harassment.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Yeah, of course. You know, that's never happened. So, one night I go on a beach run because it was Pensacola. You know, I was in j barracks. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Erase my barracks. And right across the street was the beach. So I'm on a beach run one night, and, see, this is. This is the mentality of a victim in my mind. I'm like, you're so stupid. Why'd you go on a beach run at night by yourself when you knew you were being threatened? And three guys came up behind me and attacked me. One hit me with a two by four, I think. I don't know. Cause it was from behind me, but that's what it felt like.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: This was on base.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: On base at the camp, yeah. And brutally, brutally raped me. The three of them. I ended up in the hospital for two weeks. I barely crawled back to the barracks. I was in the hospital for two weeks. And then chain of command comes in because you know how you know. I know you know how the military treats sexual assault. Sweeping under the rug. Can't have this bad press. And some colonel over in Okinawa at that time had gotten in trouble for sexual assault. So they were like, you know, this is. You're a good marine. We want to protect the corps. This isn't a really good time for this to come out, so just let us handle it internally. And I got no counseling. I got a bottle of Zoloft and sent right back to my barracks. And then, no 911 happened. Like, I was in the chow hall watching as 911 happen, and, you know, some of my friends were like, yo, win, your city's on fire. I'm like, what? And, you know, the first plane had hit, and I was like, that's terrorists. And like, oh, you're fucked. You're paranoid. I was like, bro, I'm from New York. Planes don't fly that low. That low. And then stood there drinking my coffee as the second plane came in. And instead of counseling, I got two tours in Afghanistan. And then. Sorry, if you hear any noise, that's my service dog behind me.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Beautiful puppy you have there.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: And so then.
So then I got out and still had no. No support.
I had one suicide attempt while I was in the Marine Corps.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Were you conus? Oconus?
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Were you conus?
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Conus? Okay, so this is after a deployment?
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So I had one. One suicide attempt while I was in the Marine Corps. And they sent me to an air force base in Missouri, I think, to.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Check in with the hospital there.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: Yeah, they put me in a psychiatric ward for, like, a week. And then I was on the phone with someone, and I smiled, and they're like, you're smiling. You're feeling better. Sent me right back to base, and then at one point, they said that they were going to transfer me so that I wouldn't have to be, you know, because some of the people that were in the air wing with me, I didn't know who my attackers were. So I was like, I just don't want to be on base with anyone that was on base with me when it happened, 100%. And I even got to speak to a major, and he's like, we're going to handle this. And nothing ever happened. So when I got out, there was no resources, and so I just went back home and started bartending and drinking and, you know, doing anything I could to numb myself. And that's when I started getting into drugs, the substance use, to numb myself. I loved it at first. Like, I was just like, this is great. I don't have to feel anything. And then, you know, ecstasy was really big back then. And, you know, if you know anything about ecstasy, it'll make you feel really good for like 5 hours, and then it'll make you feel like the lowest low you can ever feel.
I kept drinking and doing drugs because anytime I started to get sober, like, I would feel fine, and then I would get sober and just, right, just scratch underneath the surface. And all that pain, all that pain, all that anger, all that self hatred because I blamed myself for what happened to me.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Of course.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, with conversion therapy, I was like, why did I have to tell him I was gay with the Marine Corps? I was like, why did I have to take that beach run?
[00:12:58] Speaker A: You know, everything was always your fault.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: Yeah, because we always blame ourselves for the things that happen. Whenever there's any abuse, you know, whether it's a child or an adult, we always think, well, as a child, we're like, oh, well, a lot of times, like when I was a child, my mom's boyfriends were coming onto me or, you know, being abusive towards me. I was like, well, you know, maybe I dressed too provocative that day, which I know I didn't. I've dressed like, you know, what people would say as a boy my entire life.
And the abuse in mercy ministries, I was like, you know, well, I could have just kept my mouth shut, but I couldn't because I couldn't get on stage and tell people out there that, you know, mercy ministries saves you from being gay knowing that I was, you know, couldn't be a hypocrite. And then with the Marine Corps, it's just, you know, why didn't I grow my hair out? Why didn't I make it? I knew it was don't ask, don't tell. I knew that I could have been a target. Why didn't I grow my hair out? Why didn't I learn how to do makeup? You know, why didn't I dress a little bit more feminine?
It's just the, it's the mentality of a victim to always blame ourselves for what the choices that we made led to the abuse or led to the attack.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: So at this point in your life, you're self medicating.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: And you get out in what?
[00:14:14] Speaker B: 20 10 20 05 20 00 to 2005.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: 2005. And so you start self medicating. How long are you self medicating for?
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Up until 2015.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: And so during that ten year period, you were essentially homeless yeah, right.
[00:14:30] Speaker B: I, uh. I never had it. My. I never had my own apartment I went from either.
And I was homeless in different states because I would pack up and move my couple suitcases with any friend that was moving to a new area and think, you know this, I'm gonna kill myself if I stay here. So maybe I go to a new area. It'll. It'll be different. I can be different. I can be different.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: So you're emotionally or on the run?
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I was like, I can reinvent myself. I was constantly on the run. I always thought, if I leave here, I can be different. I'll be different. Things will be different, but those external.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Circumstances will change me somehow.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but, you know, they. You know, they say wherever you go, there you are.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, right. You're right there in the mirror every time you wake up and look at yourself.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: But, yeah, it was sometimes living under the bridges, sometimes sleeping in parks, which adds a whole nother layer of abuse that happens out there. I'm fortunate that I was never sexually assaulted on the streets, but as far as getting beat up and ending up in the ER with a fractured bone in my face, stuff like that happen all the time.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: I'm so sorry you went through that.
[00:15:41] Speaker B: It's made me who I am today.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Word? Yeah.
So you're for that ten year period, you're essentially on the streets.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Right. What does that transition look like? Because when you were talking earlier, you weren't really counseled by the military.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: I got no counseling. Not one single session, not even five minutes.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: And so were you aware that you had benefits available to you because you were assaulted?
[00:16:07] Speaker B: No. When I was discharged, they gave me one little pamphlet that talked about the medical insurance, and that was it. That was it. I had no idea.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: No counseling about the VA. Gosh, okay.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: I didn't even know. I mean, I was so naive. I thought the VA was only for older veterans. I knew nothing about it.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: People who got their 20 and retired.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Like people who were in Vietnam, you know, or were, you know, in the Gulf war. I had no. I always associated the VA with older veterans because my uncle. All my uncles served in the military. Um, of course you're rican. Yeah, but all army, only Marine, because.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: You'Re a Puerto Rican.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: But. So I had no idea what the Va even was. And they didn't offer that. I mean, they don't offer you. It's like all these benefits are out there, but they. They don't offer them to you. You have to figure it out. And then come and try and seek them. So for ten years, I'm living that life or not living.
You know, I had. I think I had slowly dying. Yeah, absolutely.
I had four suicide attempts. And, you know, it's funny, we talked earlier about it being a slow death, and I think that the reason that sometimes we choose that is because if you try to commit suicide, they will move heaven and hell to stop you.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: But if you slowly die through substance abuse and living on the streets, they will let you do it. It's totally acceptable.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: Smoke fentanyl for two years.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I could go outside right now, shoot up heroin for months to slowly kill myself, and no one would try and stop me. But if I go out there and put a gun to my head, the whole world will stop and try and stop me from doing it. So my last suicide attempt was May 26 of 2015. And my sister and I, who is the most amazing person in my life, she is my best friend in the world.
She has literally stepped in front of bullets for me before.
She found me at a friend's house where I was just, like, sleeping on the floor. And that day, I had decided, this is it. And I was running around. My friend was at work, and I was running around grabbing every pill bottle I could. I didn't even know what I was taking. And I started swallowing it all with a big bottle of gin, but I wanted something to mix it with. And all she had was carnation incident breakfast, that chocolate shit. So I sat there and mixed up a big bowl of gin and carnation instant breakfast while swallowing pills. I had a workman's comp case from hurting my knee, bartending. And I called my lawyer because I was like, I need more money. I need more drugs. I need more money. So he could tell that something was wrong. And he was friends with my sister because she was paralegal, and he calls her, and somehow she found where I was. I mean, I don't know how. Cause she didn't know that friend. She didn't know where I was crashing.
And she takes me in the emergency room. I spend some time in the emergency room because of the damage I had.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Done to myself back in New York.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: Yeah, because the damage I had done to myself. And then I come to, and my sister's like, you know, they wanted to check me in the psychiatric hospital. And my sister's like, please, please go. So I signed myself in. I'm like, if nothing else, I'll get to sleep for a few days, get some free food. Yeah, and then, you know, and it's like zombies in there, you know, like, everyone's angry. People are fighting. Some people are just walking circles, you know? It's just so. Yeah. So she finds me, and then I'm at the hospital, and this social worker named Kate, and I've tried. I don't remember her last name. I would love to find her and let her know how much she changed my life.
[00:19:53] Speaker A: Kate, if you see this, reach out to us, please.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: But you can't call the. If you call the hospital, they don't tell you. They won't tell you, of course, the names of the workers that work in the mental health area.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: So, 2015, Kate, social worker, New York working at what hospital?
[00:20:10] Speaker B: It was metropolitan.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Metropolitan?
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Kate, if you're out there, let us know.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: So she sits down next to me, and I'm like, oh, here we go.
And she's like, how about this? You just tell me your story. No judgment. I was like, I'll tell you. I will tell you what a horrible piece of shit I am. I was like, I am not a good person. I am not a good person. And she's like, you know, why were you trying to kill yourself? I was like, I'll tell you exactly why. Cause I'm the problem. I was like, everything I touch, I destroy. Every single person that loves me, I destroy. I hurt. I was like, I'm hurting everyone around me.
You know, I can't stop because it's. I'm the problem. So I was trying to get rid of the problem. I was like, no one will let me just die.
And so I told her, you know, my story about being assaulted in the military, and she's like, you know, you have benefits available to you? And I was like, no, I don't.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: So this social worker knew that she did.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: And she's not even a social worker that works with veterans.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So she's like, you have benefits available to you? And I was like, no, I don't. She's like, yeah, you do. I was like, no, I don't. If I did, someone would have told me. And this is where my motto, answer the call comes from. She's like, do they know how to reach you? I was like, I called the suicide hotline a week before I tried a week before I tried to commit suicide, and they told me to go to a shelter, and that was it.
So, yeah, they know I'm here. They know I'm asking for help, and they did nothing. And if I. I told them my service record when I served, my Social Security number. So if there is stuff, if there's resources out there for me, they would have told me, and they didn't. So you're lying.
And she's like, do you mind if I call the VA, a veteran caseworker? And I was like, no, go ahead. They'll tell you the same thing. To send me to a shelter. And if you're gonna send me to a shelter, I'll find a better way to do what I just tried to do.
And so she gets ahold of this veteran caseworker. I talk on the phone with him, and he says, you know, it says in your. In your marine Corps record that you were attacked. It doesn't say the full details.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Oh, it was in your record?
[00:22:15] Speaker B: It was in my record that there was a brutal attack, but not that it was rape, because they even sent me home after.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: That's amazing. So for the people who don't understand this back home watching, if it's not in your record, it didn't happen.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:22:29] Speaker A: Like, if you get trench foot or something and it doesn't get marked because you're in jungle warfare training, and if that's never diagnosed and in your record, and you don't get that in your record, if you try to claim it later on, good luck.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: It's not on paper. It never happened. Doesn't matter what it was.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: So this assault was actually on record?
[00:22:45] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: And they didn't really investigate that.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: It was on record as an assault, but not as. Not as a gang rape.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. The military calls it a.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: They call it now military sexual trauma. Yeah.
Really pretty way of saying you, you know, were raped. Because, I mean, I'm saying the word rape now, but I actually, other than when I'm speaking about my story, can't really say it.
But, yeah, it's just mst. Military sexual trauma. It sounds. I mean, that's just. It's ridiculous. It means that people are being raped, correct. Yeah.
So he says that there. You know, I'm gonna have to put that. That's exactly what happened to you in there. And apparently the law changed in 2000.
Dianne Feinstein is the one who changed it.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Good job, son.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: Where now, if you have military sexual trauma and your military record, even if there wasn't an investigation, you can get benefits, which is awesome. Cause as you and I know, the military almost never investigates, and 80% of victims don't even report it because of the fact that they don't investigate it.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Feinstein was on the Armed forces services committee.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: I mean, basically, her entire.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Basically.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: She's still senator, I think, right?
[00:23:59] Speaker B: Yeah, she is.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: She's about to transition.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: I think she needs. She needs to go home. I mean, she's lived a very long.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Beautiful, served, and there's. We need to open it up for new folks.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And she needs to be able to, you know, enjoy the rest of her life.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: She's back the military a lot, though. She's known for backing the military, that.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: If she had not changed that policy, I wouldn't be here today.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: I'm not talking about the rest of her service. You know, her record. Her record.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Her work on that. On that committee.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: Armed forces service. Armed sources.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Armed Forces committee.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah. And she's backed bills like this and sponsors bills like this a lot. Military members.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Absolutely. So they fight. They tell me that I can get benefits, and so I have to do so sit there and be evaluated as to whether or not I have PTSD.
So I do the 90 day program. And I told you at the beginning, there was a peer mentor who told all the other residents that they need to pray for me. I must be gay because I was. And the VA. Yeah, he worked for the VA. Wow. That I was assaulted as a kid, and that's why I was gay. And they need to pray for me. Cause there was a demon of homosexuality below.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: In the VA.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: In the VM.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: In this program.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Okay. Wow.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So. And he didn't get fired for this.
The other residents turn him in. He admitted it. And then he says to me, you're gonna have to talk to me sometime. And I'm fucking. I'm a marine, and I'm stubborn and from New York. So I was like, is that a dare or double dare? So I didn't talk for two weeks. Not one word to anyone, which is not very conducive for counseling. No, that's horrible. But also, they got me a medication for being. For PTSD. They got me a medication. Turns out I'm also bipolar, which I did not know, which also, and I said this earlier, some people, when they get those kind of diagnoses, it can be devastating. But for me, a person who thought the entire time that I was the problem, that, I mean, I hated myself. Every time I got clean, I would get clean for, like, 20 days. And every time I did, you know, I'd reach for a glass of wine. And the whole time, even as I'm swallowing it, and part of me is thinking, this is delicious. It's gonna numb me. The other part of me hated myself. I was like, I can't. Why am I such a despicable human being? Why am I such a failure? Why can't I get my shit together?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: And this is what people on the street, almost everyone feels. They have no sense of worth or agency.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And when people would, you know, whenever my sister would try and help me, I'd be like, I just. I'm like, I didn't. Sometimes I would set up like, I'm gonna move in with this person, you know, a friend that was. Had their stuff together, was like, I'm moving with them. They're gonna help me. And I wouldn't show up because I was like, I'm. And I'd go get high instead. Cuz I'm like, I'm gonna disappoint you.
Even though the opportunity, like, there was a room there, there was safety there, there was food there.
I wouldn't go because I just. The thought of trying to be a better person was terrifying because I knew I couldn't.
So he tells me, you're gonna have to talk eventually. So I didn't talk for two weeks and they sent me to art therapy. And the art therapist was like, what do you want to do? And I was like, I don't know. I did graffiti a lot as a kid, so I was like, what? Graffiti?
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Oh, of course, yeah.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Puerto Rican, New York.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Like bombing stuff.
[00:27:26] Speaker B: Yeah, tagging.
So I was like, I guess I'll paint. So she gives me a canvas and some oil paints.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: And I start painting. I go there every day. I don't say a word. And, you know, all the other veterans are there. And it was such an assortment, you know, it was like, some from Vietnam, some from the Gulf war, some OIF, some OEF, in case you don't know, Operation Iraq Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom. This is Afghanistan, which is what I am.
But they were just all talking and sharing their struggles. And, I mean, they all were still struggling very much, but showing up every day for art therapy and cheering each other on and, you know, cake for people's birthdays and stuff. And I was like, oh, my God. I related to their struggles. I was like, not only is it not just me, but it's not me, you know, it wasn't me that was the problem. And it was so hard for me to accept that.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Because you had a true diagnosis.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: And that diagnosis, you know, for a lot of people, it finally gives you a target. You're like, well, now I have something to work towards. I did not. I didn't know because once, you know, I thought I was just so broken. Yeah, I couldn't be fixed. But now I have a target. I have something I can work on.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: You know, to put it into, like, Marine Corps mentality. Once I know the enemy that's attacking me. Yeah, I know how to. I know what tools I need to fight against it. And one day I just decided, I just put my. The painting down and I started talking and realizing that my, you know, I wasn't the only one sexually assaulted in the military.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: That's right. And very common for.
For all people in the military.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. What most people don't realize is that there is a. The number, as far as the percentage wise, there's more men assaulted in the military because sexual assault is not about sexual attractions, about power. And there are more men in the military.
They just. Obviously, if females are afraid to report it, men are definitely more afraid to report it. And there's a whole other element of shame that comes with that. You know, I work. I've worked with veterans who are like, I don't. I need benefits, I need help. I need help, but I don't want to put military sexual trauma in my. In my. On my record because I'm a straight man.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: So the social. The social worker that was a head of art therapy had gone to Portland State University here. And, uh, the program that you were.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: In in New York.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah, the. Yeah, back in New York, the art therapist there had gone to Portland State University here to become a social worker.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Which has an amazing program.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's one of the best in the country. And I was like, I'm gonna be a social worker. I'm gonna be a social worker. I had the 70% PTSD rating, but then I also got unemployability, which means that I. My trauma is so severe that I. The military has decided that I should not work, that well, actually, that I cannot work ever.
Which, you know, some people, you know, that I was. God, that was. Oh, my God, that was eight years ago. So I was 39, you know, 39 years old with a decent pension. You think, oh, yeah, I don't ever have to work again.
But for me, I knew there was hope. And, you know, coming from a background in theology as well as a Marine Corps background, you run into the fray, you know, you have to help.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: That's right. So you wanna serve.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: Exactly. I was like, I know there's hope. How do I just sit at home? You know, how could I. How can I just not share that? How can I not tell people how can I not sound the alarm?
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Yeah. You're like, my life has changed. How many veterans are out there that don't know this? Right?
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: I mean, how many people need that diagnosis to give them the hope they need to live in victory?
[00:31:18] Speaker B: I mean, I didn't even know what post traumatic stress disorder was. I had no idea what that was. And when I first heard it, I thought it was only for, you know, like, Vietnam veterans.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Yeah, shell shock.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Shell shock.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: Which is what we used to call it.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Veterans are really misunderstood.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: If you ever see a veteran, just have a conversation with them and get to know they're just people. We're all just people.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Yeah. And a lot of veterans are just people who are, you know, coming out of a. Like me. I was coming. I came from a very, very low income background. You know, there's. It was me, too.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Same.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: And circumstances led to that was, you know, degree in theology. Being queer in 97 wasn't going to do anything for me in Marine Corps. The military was the only way to have a career and be able to give back and support myself.
So I'm on campus and everyone's like, you need to go to the veteran resource center. You need to check it out. So I go, and I'm like, oh, my God, I can't be in here. I can't be in here. It's just too much military talk. And, you know, I had still. I had. This is. I had only been off the street a year at this time before I came here.
So only a year of counseling. And then finally I met this guy Lenny, and he sees me and he's like, why aren't you coming in? We're family. And I was like, I can't do it. And he's like, you know, do you have MST? And I was like, yes. And then he shares with me that he also did, which to me was amazing because this guy was, like, 280 pounds and solid as a rock, and he does something that I wouldn't recommend doing to anyone. It just worked out well for him. Picks me up, carries me into the VRC as I yell, put the lesbian down.
And he made me laugh and he made me feel safe. So I started hanging out there. And then because of all the help that I got getting my benefits and how well it was explained to me, I was able to start helping other students get benefits.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: So you became like a peer counselor?
[00:33:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I started like, people would come in, be like, you know, I'm trying to. I'm married, I'm trying to get my. I said before I got out that I want to transfer my benefits to my wife. They're saying I can't. Like, well, if you did before you get out. Yes, you can.
And then I get talked into running.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: For student government, of course, because you don't want to. Do you want anything to do with veterans or politics?
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
No veterans, no politics. I'm a student senator, and then I'm working, hanging out at the VRC, and then I applied for the bachelor's of social work program.
You have to apply sophomore year. And I get in.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: And very hard program to get in.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: Very well respected program.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: I worked my butt off to get into that straight a's, volunteering. I was volunteering at the time at new avenues for youth down here, which is amazing organization. You should check it out.
And then junior year, you go through your junior year, and then senior year, you get put into an internship. It's a year long internship. I'm on the beach with my partner at the time. Refreshing, you know, my student account to see where my internship is. And it says, senator Wyden, veteran casework. And I was like, what? I can cuss as much as I want, right?
[00:34:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:33] Speaker B: I'm like, what the fuck? This is exactly what I did not want. It's politics and veterans wrapped up in one. A week before I'm supposed to go in for an interview, I get called from this amazing Multnomah county field rep, Grace Stratton. Shout out to her. She's phenomenal. Does a ton for the community.
So Grace calls me, and I was like, yeah, hell, yeah, I'll stand beside the senator.
And then she asked me to share my story with her. So I do, and she's like, oh, my God. Can you put together a two minute speech? And I was like, yeah, I could do that. So I stand by the senator, who was amazing. So I give my speech, and then Grace and this guy Allen, that was a veteran caseworker at the time, was like, why does your name sound familiar? And I was like, I'm supposed to interview next week for an internship. And they're like, yeah, okay. We think you're gonna get it.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Check. You're hired.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So I started working with them as an intern and then.
Loved it. Absolutely loved it. And their office is amazing. It's like a family. They were so supportive. They let me get. They were like, anything you're interested in, you know, let us know. And coming from the. All the different areas of trauma that I've come from, I was like, I'm interested in youth mental health. I'm interested. Interested in housing. And they would let me go to all the round tables and, like, in immigration, I got to be part of a ceremony and hand out, you know.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Certificates, you know, for people getting their citizenship.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: It was phenomenal. There's like a little two year old in the onesie, you know, just amazing opportunities to help in all of these things. And I think because all my trauma has so many different, you know, tentacles is why I was interested in so many things. But they gave me all those opportunities to help, and that became my new drug, you know, helping other people and seeing that there is hope. And, you know, I have a big another. My big motto is answer the call. But my other one is that humanity is not an inconvenience. And so then, no, we're here because.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: We'Re here for each other.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Absolutely.
So then they didn't have a master's. I got into the master's program and social work. They didn't have a master's program, master's internship at the center's office. So they created one for me, which was phenomenal.
So then I start, you know, I get accepted in the master's program.
But a week before that, I was in DC. It was 2020. I was in DC protesting with thousands of veterans after George Floyd was murdered. I fly back, go to the VA for an exam because I wasn't feeling great. And stage three colon cancer, turns out.
So senator's office was amazing, actually. Lisa, state director, even though it's during COVID she convinced the VA to let her come and visit me. The senator called me immediately. It was like, you know, we've got your back, anything you need.
And then I call, you know, all my. I call PSU, and I'm like, hey, this is what's going on. Like, do you want to, you know, step back? We'll hold your spot if you want to come back. The MSW program, I was also doing the advanced program. So instead of three to four years, I was going to do it all in one year. And they're like, we'll hold it for you. And I was like, no, you know, I'm a marine.
We never go to. We never go to sick hall. So I was like, no, I'm gonna go until I can't go anymore. When I can't go anymore, then I'll stop.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: You know, you're at sick call if you're a marine. If they're already digging you a grave? Yeah, that's like. That's sick.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: So I go ahead and I continue doing my internship with the center's office. They were incredibly supportive. I probably would not have gotten my degree without them. I do the master's program after this. As I told you, I'm going in for my two year scan to make sure I'm still two years in remission, because cancer picked the wrong bitch.
You know, colon cancer scared the hell out of me. I mean, that's what killed Cerec Boseman.
But.
So now that's where I am. I'm at right now. But my plan was, after I graduated master's, my master's program, I was gonna go get my doctorate, and then I was gonna hope, you know, go work in DC for the senator.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Cause you hate politics.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: Cause I hate politics. Yes.
It just turns out I'm good at it.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: Right. The reason I think I'm good at is cause once you learn how to get around the bureaucracy, get through the red tape and people who are calling the senator's office, the senator has amazing caseworkers for veterans, Social Security IR's, and people are calling, needing help, and it's because they don't know what resources are out there. And if they do, they don't know how to get. How to obtain them, whether it's veterans or any other, you know, any other group, especially marginalized communities, which veterans are. No matter how many politicians say, you know, we support the veterans, veterans are becoming a marginalized community.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: They are.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: I mean, our numbers of houselessness and is steadily rising. Our number of suicides is going up. And believe it or not, even though there's more awareness about sexual assault, the sexual assault in the military is going up. I believe that.
[00:39:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:47] Speaker B: So I just. I love when any human being is struggling up against a wall, and I can help knock down that wall for them.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: I love that. So, to track back right to the beginning of your story, there was about a ten year period where you were. You were completely at the end of your rope.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:40:09] Speaker A: And you needed someone like this social worker. Right. To step in and to say, hey, there's a way forward.
You need to know some things about yourself. Right. And then you need to know about some resources, and we can get you on the right track here.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Right. Absolutely. And as I said, I had one suicide attempt in the marine Corps, but I had at least four. I mean, some.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: You were living a lifestyle of suicide.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:40:37] Speaker A: But any moment, you could have been hurt, killed, stabbed, beat up.
[00:40:41] Speaker B: Oh, I was definitely. I was in the emergency room a lot for fights and brawls and stuff like that. But the crazy part to me is now, as a social worker, looking back after every single one of my suicide attempts, there was no counseling, there was no talking. It was just, they got my body so that, you know, it was.
I was able to walk again and physically okay, and then just put me back on the street. There was never a conversation about why. Never a conversation about what led you to this never conversation. Like, sometimes I would have suicide attempts, and I know I'm reeking of alcohol, or, like, you know, they knew. They'd ask, and I would be honest, you know, they'd ask me, what drugs are you on? And I'd be like, oh, I did an eight ball last night. You know, they would never. There was never a conversation about trying to help me. It was just patch me up bandaids and put me back out there. And as a social worker, now, that blows my mind that that would happen, because the lack of caring, that that shows, you know, why are you putting me back together if you don't give a shit about what got me here? Cause you put me back out there, the problem's still there. I'm just. All I've learned from this is that I suck at killing myself, so I'm gonna go and do it better.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. God, that's so sad to hear that. So what we try to do is to stop that narrative. We take that trauma informed approach, that holistic approach, and we spend the majority of our time on the streets, and we go to people every day, and we make that contact every single day, and we tell them, hey, we know your name. Hey. Hey, Mike. How's it going? I want to let you know I'm here. I'm hanging out with you today. Here's a cigarette. Here's some water. How you doing, man? You doing okay today? And just get to know them, build that relationship, and over time, through that relationship, through building worth and agency into them, trying to then leverage that relationship, to say, hey, you know, I can get you into resources. There's a tiny home village. There's an rv village over here. There's a Bipoc village. I mean, I can help you out. I got you. I can make this happen for you. And so last month. Last month we transitioned 152 people.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:42:48] Speaker A: To detox, to unity or manual to tiny home villages, to shelters. Right. Even faith group shelters, or even back to family members. Right. And so we're doing this, like, 150 times a month.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: It is amazing. And this is where it needs to happen, though. It's an urban refugee crisis. You're not gonna.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: I love the way you put that.
[00:43:11] Speaker A: It is. That's what it is.
[00:43:13] Speaker B: You know, when you say the homeless or houseless, there's this negative connotation that people have in their minds. They think, oh, you know, a burden on this system, a burden on society. But if you say, you know, refugees are, you know, from Somalia are wanting to come, people will jump on the.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: Bandwagon, oh, my gosh, you'll open my house right now.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: But we've got refugees right here in our own city, on our streets, and that's exactly what they are. So our church.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: We can put ten refugees in our church right now.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. Will you open it up for the homeless? No, that's. What is a refugee?
[00:43:44] Speaker A: That. And you're like, what are the complications? They're urban refugees. Right. And are within our own homeland.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: And we need to help them.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Absolutely. And when you say 152, what I immediately hear in my mind, because I think about is the ripple effects of those people. Those people that you, you know, that you help. Because, you know, I said earlier, I believe that the.
The value and the ripple effects of helping one human being, it can't be quantified because, I mean, you never know how many other people that person's gonna reach. And not that I am in any way a super saint or anything like that. You know, I still struggle. And that's why I said earlier, yeah, my story is amazing, but I'm only able.
I'm only able to continue being of service and. And also just keeping myself alive and being a healthy human being because of the resources I have. It's not like I graduated with my masters, beat cancer, got off the streets, and I do own my own home now, but that's only because I have continuous resources that I'm allowed to use. I have mental health resources. I have healthcare services.
I have my disability pension, which makes sure that my lights stay on. And I have, you know, you have.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: An ongoing positive network of relationships and resources that are tied together.
[00:45:11] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: Those relationships and resources are the same network. Right, right.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: You can't just, uh.
You can't just put, you know, a broken leg in a splint and think that you're done.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: You can't give someone a relationship and no resources. And you can't give them resources without the relationship.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: You need both.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: Absolutely. And, you know, people say, you know, there's this whole conversation about how much money it costs, you know, to help out people who are houseless. But actually, when you really think about it, and I think there was a study in Ohio that proved it, when you. When you help people, you know, get off the streets and not just get. It's not just about get off the streets, but be able to become whole.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: And heal whole and heal worth and agency so that they can live their dream.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: And it's. I know, for me, spreading that hope is intoxicating.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: It is.
[00:46:04] Speaker B: You know, you can't. You can't not let people know. You can't not spread it.
[00:46:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:46:08] Speaker B: So I think you say. You say 152 and I hear 1500.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I love it. So let's. I want to. I want everyone to know about this. Changing the narrative.
[00:46:18] Speaker B: So there is this collaboration with street Roots.
This doctor, Casey, who works at PSU, came up with this idea of changing the narrative. And, you know, the graphic novels are being used a lot more in social justice arenas, especially in areas where the media and the press are regulated, which hopefully we won't get to that point, but changing the narrative is. It's this comic book that was put out, and it was distributed by street roots, and it's different stories of students and their experience with houselessness daily. My service dog and I are in here, our stories in here. And with my motto, answered the call because of the suicide hotline that told me to go to a shelter and didn't answer the call.
But we put out thousands of these and the hands of street roots vendors, and I put thousands of dollars in the hands of street roots vendors and got this story talking, you know, changing what people think. Like, there wasn't one decision. It wasn't my decision, actually, that led to my houselessness. There was abuse after abuse after abuse after abuse that led to my situation. And not one person on the streets or who's houseless woke up one day, thought, I mean, maybe some. There are some nomads, but for the most part, we don't wake up one day thinking, I'm just gonna go sit on the corner and do heroin, or I'm gonna do an eight ball at night. So this is putting faces and stories onto people. And so we're doing a second version of it. We're gonna try and get it translated and sent overseas.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: That's wonderful.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:04] Speaker A: India win, I want to appreciate you coming into the studio today.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: I know that telling a traumatic story, it's not very easy.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Definitely have to do self care.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: A lot of self care before and after.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: Right.
[00:48:16] Speaker A: And I appreciate your courage. I appreciate your service to our nation.
[00:48:20] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: And I really appreciate the fact that you're working inside the system where you really didn't want to be, but you're doing it for the right reasons.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: And for everyone out there, if they want to find you, is there any platform they can find you on if you're blogging?
[00:48:36] Speaker B: I'm not blogging. I'm about to start with the colon cancer thing.
[00:48:39] Speaker A: Okay, great.
[00:48:39] Speaker B: But you can find me at Indiawind, w I n d s on Instagram, or India wins is my name on TikTok as well? On TikTok, I'm getting more. That's where my blog is about to be. And that's where I got a couple posts about sexual assault in the military, foster care, and adoption.
[00:49:05] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:49:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: Love it. Well, we're gonna go hit the streets. We're actually gonna go do what we say.
[00:49:10] Speaker B: Let's do it.
[00:49:11] Speaker A: I'm the type of person, I don't want to be in an office all day. No, I want to go out and actually do solutions on the street. So how do you feel about that?
[00:49:19] Speaker B: I'm not enlisted. I mean, I'm not an officer. I'm enlisted. So let's do it. Awesome.
[00:49:23] Speaker A: This person right here, they work for their money. That's what that means.
[00:49:27] Speaker B: I'm enlisted.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: Let's go. Let's do it.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: All right.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: So we're right here. We'll jump in. Your dog can fit in the middle for sure.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: Okay. Daily jump.
Good girl, good girl. Lay down.
She's like, I've never been in a van before.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: And then this was actually my brother's van. I told you about Andrew the seal.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: Oh, that's dope. You haven't.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: We're in the van with India and daily. Because he saves lives on the daily.
[00:50:10] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:50:11] Speaker A: And we're headed to meet up with Bach. We're gonna get some zip reps on just all the different folks on the streets we've been working with. And then today's mission is to take calls. Right. So we're taking calls in the downtown corridor, focusing mostly on old town.
And our mission is, again, community engagement.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: So who is Bach? What is Bach being?
[00:50:36] Speaker A: Bach was a reserve deputy for many years. Decided he. And he was an EMT. He worked at the emergency room at Emmanuel hospital.
[00:50:44] Speaker B: Okay. Oh, that's right. You said that.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: And very well qualified.
Still an EMT. And he runs our PI division. He decided law enforcement really wasn't for him. He wants to help people and serve, like, and be able to track that transition.
[00:51:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:51:01] Speaker A: And, you know, in law enforcement, that's not your job. You have a criminal mandate. Your job is to put bad people away. Right. And so he really wants to do more of the humanitarian work. And so he's our training director or one of our training directors for the company. And a lot of what we do is that humanitarian base, even security calls, the majority, the calls we get are really mental health calls.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: People in crisis, people in drug and dose psychosis. Psychosis, things like this.
So we're here at our hq to meet up with Bach and he'll be here in a second, hopefully. And so we run our own resource center. When we're ready to transition somebody, we can take them and let them shower, let them get clothes, food. That way when they're going to that new place, it's all new items, all new clothing.
[00:51:48] Speaker B: Right.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: So they're actually going with stuff.
[00:51:50] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Building agency.
[00:51:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:53] Speaker C: Worth.
[00:51:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:51:53] Speaker B: Because I, I've walked into some, you know, some nonprofits back in New York where you just can't explain the feeling of being able to be clean, have clean clothes and have clean clothes that don't remind you of, you know, your trauma or, you know, feeling like you're. They give you a sense of worth just that little bit, just a little small step.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, also, we don't want people to show up and then have to worry about showering.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: Right.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: And all of that can, you know, before they even know if the place is safe.
[00:52:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: We want them to feel like, you know, you're good, you're squared away.
You have food, you have items, you have property.
[00:52:39] Speaker B: So.
[00:52:39] Speaker A: Bob. Hey.
[00:52:40] Speaker C: Hi, everybody.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Hey. Bob, this is India. India, Mike or Barc.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: Hi, Bob.
[00:52:45] Speaker A: Taz. I heard. Taz, cefie, ethiopian guy. I heard that he actually was able to get checked into a hospital, but he eventually left.
[00:52:52] Speaker C: Okay, I did not hear that.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So. So he should be back on the streets. I believe that he is. He has some vision and one eye.
Do you have any other updates? I know Sonny od the other day.
[00:53:03] Speaker C: Sunny od got transferred hospital. We were able to contact his mom. His mom wanted an update back in Las Vegas. Correct.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:09] Speaker C: So I've got mom's phone number, his.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: Mom down to let him fly home.
[00:53:11] Speaker C: I haven't talked to her yet.
[00:53:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:13] Speaker C: So I'm hoping to check a couple spots, maybe run by and see if he can find him. If not, we'll just keep looking for him. But I mean, hopefully we can help get him motivated to get into a detox system.
Heard we had one set up for him already, like earmarked.
[00:53:28] Speaker A: Tiffany got that correct.
[00:53:29] Speaker C: Yeah, it's on Sikh. Apparently, it's a detox program that.
[00:53:32] Speaker A: Oh, the escaped program is great.
[00:53:33] Speaker C: Yeah, she said six months, and then we can say, hey, look, you get through here and we can get you home. Yeah, but you can't fly for a whole myriad of reasons in your condition, buddy. We got to get you off, up on your feet. So hopefully that he'll take that. We'll see.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
[00:53:48] Speaker C: We can take a look around.
[00:53:51] Speaker B: Boc. This is Daley, my daily dog, because she saves my life on the daily.
[00:53:55] Speaker C: Oh, great.
[00:53:55] Speaker B: Hi.
[00:53:56] Speaker C: Daily looks very mellow.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: That's only because the vest is on.
[00:54:00] Speaker C: Oh, really?
[00:54:00] Speaker B: Yeah. When the vest is off, she's a very different dog.
[00:54:03] Speaker C: No kidding.
That's great.
[00:54:06] Speaker B: I got her through a study the VA did years ago.
[00:54:10] Speaker A: That was Alicia back there to see.
[00:54:12] Speaker B: If service dogs would help veterans with PTSD, which obviously they answered.
[00:54:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:17] Speaker B: But because we did the study, President Biden signed an executive order that all veterans who have PTSD now can get a service dog, and the VA will pay for it. The problem is, like, we're talking about people not knowing about resources. Most veterans don't.
[00:54:29] Speaker A: I never heard that.
[00:54:30] Speaker C: Yeah, I didn't know that either.
[00:54:32] Speaker B: But again, like, we're talking about resources for people, you know, that they don't know are available. And even though this, like, landmark policy got changed, you know, Bill got signed that veterans can get service dogs through the VA for free, it doesn't benefit anyone if they don't know it's a no.
[00:54:48] Speaker A: You gotta get the word out.
[00:54:51] Speaker C: If it's okay with you, I'd like to just hop out real quick when we get up close to blanche a just to cruise through, because if I can connect Sonny to his mom, if Sunny's not here, then I'll just come back and we can keep rolling. I'm not gonna stay there for long.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: Go do some recce and give this.
[00:55:05] Speaker C: Sit rep. Yep, sounds good.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Bob just got back doing some recce. Give us a sit rep. What about Sunny?
[00:55:33] Speaker C: Sonny's in there. Sonny and I had a short conversation. Is he sober right now? And he agreed to meet us out here in a few minutes.
[00:55:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:55:40] Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome.
[00:55:41] Speaker C: But he agreed to meet us out here in a few minutes so we can talk some more, but.
[00:55:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:55:44] Speaker C: I'm hopefully hoping we can convince him. I'm gonna call Tiffany and give her an update on what's going on and just say, hey, here. We're here. We are with him. And, man, I'm hopeful that he'll agree.
[00:55:56] Speaker B: To get some treatment if he is sober.
What are the concerns about putting him on a plane? If they say that they agreed that he doesn't have to go to detox and him having gone through withdrawals in the middle of the flight.
[00:56:12] Speaker C: Yeah, essentially, we don't want to have a situation where we've generated a medical emergency where we can't, he can't care for himself.
[00:56:18] Speaker A: It's at least a six hour flight to Anchorage, I'd imagine.
[00:56:21] Speaker C: I would think so.
[00:56:22] Speaker B: I don't know, five to 6 hours. Yeah.
[00:56:24] Speaker A: Let me go talk to him.
[00:56:27] Speaker C: You want to swing on the other side of the van where we can talk in the shade?
[00:56:31] Speaker A: Sunny's pulled knives on us in the past year, too.
[00:56:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: As a company, we have a long term relationship.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: Sonny, I care about you a lot.
[00:56:41] Speaker A: The best thing for everybody is for everyone to be living their best, right? Because that's what community transformation looks like.
[00:56:49] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:56:50] Speaker A: Everything's one life at a time.
Yeah.
[00:56:57] Speaker C: Okay. Hang in there, okay, buddy?
You should breathe. Okay? It's okay to hurt. I hurt, too. I heard all the time. And me and your condition would hurt just as much, too, if somebody, somebody had stole something so precious. I would hurt, too.
Sonny, I want to be honest with you about some things, okay?
And I want to be honest with you because I care about you. Okay? As a man. Brother to brother. Okay? Man to man. You ready?
The reality of it is I want you to be healthy.
I want you to be free.
And I want you to feel strong again.
And I know that right now you probably don't. You probably feel alone.
You're a stranger in a strange land. You're not from here, but you're stranded here, stuck here, okay? And some great big security guard that you don't even really know is the one who's pouring into your life right now saying, my brother, I'm rooting for it. Okay? I am. Okay.
I want to be honest with you, Zen. You do need detox.
You need detox because you overdosed. And I can show you the photographs. They would probably be freaking scary, but I can show you. You can. I can show you on the ground.
[00:58:17] Speaker A: On how I wasn't wanting those kind.
[00:58:18] Speaker C: Of course not. Of course not. Okay. Nobody wants that. I can get you in today.
It's a place in Instakata. It's a six month program.
I can cat. I can make it happen, man. I've got the people with the connections. We can make it all work out.
Yes, sir. This place is not a frame to you. And a good friend would tell you the truth. Okay.
[00:58:43] Speaker A: I don't want to get the fuck out of here.
[00:58:45] Speaker C: You do. I believe you.
And I've already proven I can make that happen with the help of others. People that do care about you.
Do you want me to put your sister on the phone?
I haven't called her yet. I haven't called her yet.
[00:59:05] Speaker A: Who did she call? Like, how did you know she was looking for me?
[00:59:08] Speaker C: I'll call her right now. Hello? Is this Lisa?
Lisa, my name is Michael Bach.
Hi there. I am a security guard and I work in Portland, Oregon.
I have befriended Sonny.
Sonny's standing right next to me.
He is alive right now and we are working, helping him as best we can, coordinate some options to get him some treatment.
He's here. Right here. Would you like to talk to him?
Okay, let me put you on speaker.
Hey, Lisa. Yes, Lisa, it's Sunny's right here.
[00:59:48] Speaker A: What's up?
[00:59:51] Speaker D: What's going on with you here?
[00:59:53] Speaker A: I just got stranded here in Portland.
[01:00:00] Speaker D: You're alive and you're okay. And what is the plan here, Bob?
[01:00:06] Speaker A: I just want to get home. So that's good.
[01:00:12] Speaker D: You may be looking to go into some sort of treatment.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: I don't really want to.
[01:00:18] Speaker D: Well, wanting to and needing to and doing are three different things there, Sonny. You are too young, you are too talented, and you have a lot going for you. Agreed shit figured out before you get any older and before you can't and before there's no time left. Sonny, like, please, I'm begging you.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: I don't need to go to treatment.
[01:00:37] Speaker D: What do you need then, Sonny? What is it that you need?
[01:00:42] Speaker A: I just need to get where I can get on my fucking feet and get a job again.
[01:00:47] Speaker D: And how do you suppose you're gonna do that if you're not clean?
[01:00:52] Speaker A: I can be clean.
[01:00:55] Speaker D: And how are you going to stay clean? What is your plan? You need to have a plan, honey.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: All right?
[01:01:04] Speaker D: Like, you can't just come home and things.
You can't fall back in the same footsteps that you were stepping in once you get home.
[01:01:11] Speaker C: Lisa, I also wanted to give you a little bit of background here. I met Sonny on a sidewalk and we struck up a short little conversation and a friendship. We had it all in line to get him a flight home at the time. Okay, Sonny, bless your heart, okay. He showed up to the meet and he was not able to fly. We have seen and met each other several times around a local soup kitchen that offers food. And the other day, Sunny, I'm gonna be blunt with you, okay? Sonny. Sonny overdosed, and one of my fellow guards saved his life, and they transferred him to a hospital, okay? And so I. Listen, Sonny, a real friend, tells you the truth, okay? He doesn't hug you while you're drowning. He helps to save you, okay? And I care enough about you, even though you're a complete stranger, okay? I care about you. We have had, what, half a dozen conversations? A dozen now, okay? And I'm looking at you, and I'm looking at all this mess around us, and I'm saying you're somebody I can help. I can't help all these other people around here. Lisa, I also wanted to. It's Lisa, right?
[01:02:16] Speaker D: Yes, sir.
[01:02:16] Speaker C: Lisa, I also wanted to tell you that that same nonprofit has him lined up for detox here in Oregon. And it's a. It's a six month program, but Sonny would have to be willing to participate. I can coordinate transportation, the whole nine yards.
And it's a. It's a pretty awesome program. But getting him from here to there requires a willing heart, and it requires him to be able to accept the situation that he's in. We're looking at a human being here that is too valuable to let the city of Portland and the disaster that has become this place eat him. And I don't want to see that happen. I don't want to see you hurt on the sidewalk, buddy. Okay?
[01:02:53] Speaker D: Sonny, I'm begging you. Please take this opportunity to change your life around. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Sunny. Please do this. I'm begging you, brother. I'm begging you. I don't want to see you end up dead. And that is what is going to happen if you don't start changing your ways of changing them right now.
[01:03:10] Speaker C: So if you think nobody cares about you, there's somebody on the phone that does, and there's me in front of you right now, okay?
[01:03:18] Speaker D: He's got six other sisters that are here in Alaska that are worried sick about him.
[01:03:22] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:03:33] Speaker A: I don't want to do treatment, sir.
[01:03:35] Speaker D: Could you please let me know what happened and what's going to happen with him? Can you please keep in contact with me as best as you can so I can let the other family members know that he's like.
[01:03:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I.
[01:03:51] Speaker A: Enough that I already know how to play that game. And that's exactly what I'll do.
[01:04:04] Speaker C: Hi, Lisa.
I lost the count, the call.
[01:04:14] Speaker A: I'll try treatment, but I'm telling you right now, it's not gonna help me anymore.
I'm just gonna take a spot from someone that it really will help.
[01:04:23] Speaker C: Sonny, I'll. I can make the call, man. And I believe you. I believe. Believe in you. I believe in you.
I can get a cab. They'll come by. We'll get you out there.
[01:04:35] Speaker A: All right, let's do it.
[01:04:40] Speaker C: You too. It doesn't. Hey, listen, you know what? I'm not. After the multiple times you done it, I'm looking for the one time that you do it and it works. I'm looking for the win, buddy. Okay? I don't care what the scoreboard says.
I care what the scoreboard's gonna say.
[01:04:56] Speaker A: Getting into a house and getting a job. Yes, I'll quit the drugs and shit.
I just want to get on my feet and be on my own.
That's all I want. And I'll quit doing drugs. That's part of it.
[01:05:10] Speaker C: Hi, Lisa.
[01:05:11] Speaker A: I have to quickly do that.
[01:05:13] Speaker C: Hi, Lisa.
[01:05:13] Speaker A: I just want to get on my feet and be on my own.
[01:05:15] Speaker D: There we go.
[01:05:15] Speaker C: Hi, Lisa. Sunny's agreed to go to treatment.
[01:05:20] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much.
Sunny, listen to me. If there's anything that I can do to help you, to help you succeed in this, please let me know. I will do anything that it takes to help you get where you need to be and not more. Team up on.
[01:05:41] Speaker C: Sonny. We're gonna. We're gonna make a phone call. I got a bed for you with your name on it, okay? Sonny needs a hospital right now, and that's gonna be something that's gonna rebuild you and get yourself back on your feet, buddy. I'm excited for you, okay?
It doesn't matter if you've tried it several times before. It's the times where you're saying, I'm sick of living like this.
This is not. Not good and you know it. It's not. It's not what you want in life. And nor it's it. Is it going to end up being a fruitful place for you to be. I want hope and life for you and I want you to enjoy it.
[01:06:14] Speaker A: I lost grandma's Bible just so that.
[01:06:19] Speaker D: You guys don't know it's coming right now.
That can't be replaced. But your life, more importantly, can't be replaced either.
[01:06:28] Speaker B: Okay?
[01:06:29] Speaker D: When you give you another rival, it's not gonna be around the Bible. But we give you another bible, we can't get another sunny back to the world.
[01:06:35] Speaker B: So I beg you to please do.
[01:06:37] Speaker D: What you need to do and let this gentleman, as friend, as you, guide you and bless you and lead you to your desk. Please do what you need to do.
[01:06:50] Speaker C: Okay, buddy.
Lisa, I'll call you and give you an update. Let me make some phone calls again. A cab coming. Okay.
My name is Michael.
You betcha.
All right, you got it.
Hey, give me, give me ten. Give me 10 seconds. I got people yelling here. Hey, guys, I got a favor to ask.
I got a favor. I'll give you a cigarette. I just need. I got to try to make a phone call. You guys want a cigarette?
Can we cut? Can we bring it down? Thank you.
Okay. Hey, hey, Tiffany. Hey. Sonny's agreed to go to treatment.
Hey, here, I'll just put you on speaker. You can tell him, Tiffany, you're on speaker right now.
[01:07:37] Speaker A: How you doing? You doing good?
We all live together, baby program that.
[01:07:47] Speaker D: We take care of, and it's the best one out there.
[01:07:50] Speaker B: And they will provide you extra services and they'll get you, like, get you.
[01:07:56] Speaker D: Back to where you need to be.
[01:07:57] Speaker B: Okay?
[01:07:58] Speaker A: All right.
[01:07:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:07:59] Speaker C: All right.
[01:08:00] Speaker B: And by the way, we sent two other people, two other brothers from the street.
[01:08:03] Speaker D: We sent them out there and they.
[01:08:05] Speaker B: Are doing really well. I checked on one the other day, and they're. They're thriving. Okay?
[01:08:09] Speaker D: And I would prefer.
[01:08:11] Speaker B: And not just I want you to get detox, but I also want you to get services, right? I don't want them to clean you up and then put you back out on the sidewalk.
[01:08:19] Speaker D: I want them to actually get you.
[01:08:20] Speaker B: To recover and then we could talk.
[01:08:22] Speaker D: About getting you to Alaska after that.
[01:08:24] Speaker B: Okay?
[01:08:25] Speaker A: If I don't get back to Alaska, that's fine. I just want to get on my feet and have a job working and doing, you know, this program will do that for you.
[01:08:32] Speaker B: Okay?
[01:08:33] Speaker C: You got a. You got a future, my man. Okay? And it's important, care about you.
[01:08:37] Speaker B: So I'm gonna go ahead and give Michael Bach, Michael.
[01:08:41] Speaker D: A phone number to call with you, and they're gonna ask you a series of questions.
[01:08:45] Speaker B: And then when you're done, I'm gonna.
[01:08:46] Speaker D: Call radio cab and have you sent out there.
[01:08:48] Speaker B: Okay?
[01:08:49] Speaker C: All right. I'm super stoked for you, Sonny.
[01:08:52] Speaker A: I mean, I graduated college. I have a degree down here for two years. And we're getting him to detox and then getting him to take it back to home.
[01:09:11] Speaker C: I'll send you a text message in a couple minutes.
[01:09:13] Speaker A: How'd you end up on the street?
[01:09:14] Speaker C: All right, bye. Bye.
[01:09:15] Speaker B: I lost my fiance.
Cranial surgery is pretty expensive.
[01:09:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
[01:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah. They don't tell you that, you know, they ain't gonna make it the end of that.
[01:09:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:09:27] Speaker B: Out here, you know?
[01:09:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:09:37] Speaker B: I came back here.
[01:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's hard.
Well, I'm Alex. That's my cousin JJ, if you ever need anything.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so we own a security company. This. These are all our clients, but our nonprofit called loving one another and that, you know, we got 152 people in the shelter last month, so if you ever want a shelter, you know, big Spencer drives a black truck. No, if you want a shelter, let us know. We can help you, get you. Get you into a shelter, okay. Because, you know it ain't safe out here. I know, you know, that should be going down every day, you know?
[01:10:20] Speaker B: I do know that.
[01:10:28] Speaker A: I want her to have everything.
[01:10:30] Speaker B: She's not eating.
[01:10:31] Speaker A: She's just badass kimbu. Huh? What's that short for?
Kimbu sabi?
[01:10:38] Speaker B: No.
[01:10:38] Speaker A: Okay.
Yeah.
So we shoot a documentary about homelessness in Portland to bring awareness, because, you know, all these nonprofits, none of them are on the streets talking to people where they live. They want you to go steal a shopping cart, put everything in a tent, and go find them wherever they are.
That ain't the right. That's not the right thing to do. If you want to help someone, you got to find out where they are, come meet them and say, hey, kimu, you're important.
You know, you have value.
You have worth.
I love you and respect you, and I want to help you. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to meet people on the street and trying to re educate the industry and saying, having a building somewhere and expecting someone to come come find you, that's not the way to do this. You got to come on the street and be with the people and talk to him directly.
[01:11:42] Speaker C: He was parking up.
[01:11:45] Speaker A: I appreciate you talking to me.
Yeah. So you're a 503. I got you, man.
You good? All right.
That was good. Anytime, Kim folk in time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Hey, homie. I was homeless for, like, two years, homie.
You ain't gotta call me sir.
Yeah, my name is Alex. Nice to meet you, bro. Easy.
I talked to your dad yesterday.
Talked your dad for an hour yesterday. I got him hooked up. I got him a doctor's appointment, too, for his eyes.
They're gonna stop by tomorrow, and I know you don't like to go see him. Yeah, I'm sorry.
He's a good man. He's been through a lot, but, Keisha, there's hope for you.
You know, I lived at the McDonald's on Eon Avenue for two years, right there in the parking lot.
Okay. All right. Who else is going?
Oh, look at you.
All right.
Hell, yeah. That's what I'm talking about.
[01:13:01] Speaker C: Look at that.
[01:13:02] Speaker A: All right.
[01:13:03] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
People care about you, bro.
[01:13:06] Speaker A: I love it, man. I love it.
[01:13:07] Speaker C: And you ain't alone out here.
Yeah.
[01:13:10] Speaker A: All right.
[01:13:10] Speaker C: Well, it's great.
[01:13:11] Speaker A: We're filming a documentary.
I know. That's fine.
You know Sonny over there?
We've known Sonny for three years. He actually attacked us with a knife just, like, a couple months ago. He's good. We're getting him into detox today.
[01:13:29] Speaker B: Which one is Sonny?
[01:13:30] Speaker A: Native American. Ghana. Right? With the green shirt on. Yeah.
And then next week, he'll be flying back home to Alaska.
So y'all need anything? Y'all know Big Spencer. That's who I work with. So, bro, you need a job?
All right. Go talk to Spencer. Not today. Monday at 330 at our resource center at first 1st in cooch. Yeah, bring them by. Yeah, bro. We'll hire you one, two days a week and see how it turns out, see how you do. But basically, we just need people to walk around and do what we do.
All right.
I love it, bro. I love it. Yeah. Easy. That's easy, broo. Box.
Well, you can get one today. Terrence is working big, black, and beautiful.
[01:14:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:14:29] Speaker A: He making me look ugly.
I know.
He's an underwear model. You know that? He's like a model.
Yeah, he's dope. He's good people. He's from Houston. Me and my cousin, big Mexican back there. And Terrence, we're all from the h, so it is nice.
[01:14:54] Speaker C: Okay. So we were able to connect to sunny this morning at Blanche house. Sunny met us here. This is his cart. Sonny said that he didn't want to go to detox.
Through an interesting turn of events, though, I don't know how it all connected. We were able to get ahold of his sister Lisa in Alaska and speak with Lisa. Lisa encouraged him to go to detox. We have a detox bed set up lined up for him, and we're hoping that in a little bit, we'll be able to actually put him in that bed. We've got a radio cab lined up as well.
We just got to do the paperwork on their end to get. Get him registered and so forth. So we're waiting for me to make that happen.
It's essentially where we're at right now them to pick up the phone.
That's. That's what we're waiting on.
Howdy.
What's that?
Until Tuesday.
Okay.
Okay.
Oh, that's heartbreaking. Okay.
Okay, okay. Okay.
[01:16:18] Speaker A: All right.
[01:16:18] Speaker C: Well, you know better than I do. I'll just wait to hear from you.
Okay, boy.
All right, hang on just 1 second. Let me. Let me get everybody here an update.
[01:16:27] Speaker A: She's homeless.
[01:16:32] Speaker C: Okay, so we. Tiffany had a spot for an adult teen challenge on estacada.
[01:16:37] Speaker A: Oh, perfect.
[01:16:39] Speaker C: But they're closed.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: Vancouver.
[01:16:41] Speaker C: They're not. Except Vancouver has 124 hours a day detox. Which one?
[01:16:44] Speaker A: Vancouver, Washington.
[01:16:45] Speaker C: Tiffany knows because the adult teen challenge isn't accepting new patients until Tuesday, apparently.
[01:16:49] Speaker A: Radio cab to Vancouver.
[01:16:51] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:16:51] Speaker A: All right.
[01:16:51] Speaker C: I'll text her.
Okay. Which. What's the name of it?
[01:16:55] Speaker A: I. Tiffany knows. She's a registered nurse. She's on the back end.
[01:16:58] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:16:59] Speaker A: She's all paperwork.
[01:17:00] Speaker B: Cool.
[01:17:04] Speaker A: We spoke to Keisha. Keisha actually came on video two weeks ago and gave a full interview.
[01:17:08] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
[01:17:09] Speaker A: And so yesterday, her dad's been homeless in Seattle, and he just got into housing right down the street, and we helped. I helped him get a doctor's appointment with Tiffany because he has chlamydia. His eyes are really messed up. So we got street medicine checking on him today.
[01:17:25] Speaker B: That's amazing. You said Keisha's, like, teeter tottering, right?
[01:17:28] Speaker A: Yeah, she's right there.
All right, boo. Love you.
[01:17:35] Speaker B: Nice to meet you, Keisha.
[01:17:36] Speaker A: There's only 124 hours hour detox.
It's amazing to say this.
[01:17:41] Speaker B: And it's in Vancouver, Washington.
[01:17:42] Speaker A: Yes. There isn't even one in Portland.
[01:17:44] Speaker B: You're familiar with Portland having what is known as one of the most.
[01:17:48] Speaker A: Yeah. The highest level of overdose per capita.
[01:17:50] Speaker B: And one of the highest in the world. Number of houseless per capita.
[01:17:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:17:55] Speaker B: There's. There's not a 24 hours.
[01:17:56] Speaker A: No. In order to go to detox, you have to get there between 730 and 09:30 a.m.. Because.
[01:18:02] Speaker B: And typically at that, addicts over to sun is perfectly timed.
[01:18:05] Speaker A: Yep. And if you want to get into detox, you have to have a bed waiting for you at another location when you get out.
[01:18:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:18:10] Speaker A: So you have to do the paperwork for the bed, and then the paperwork for the detox, and then you got to show up the next day with the proof that you have a bed, and then you get into detox.
[01:18:18] Speaker B: See, back east, the one time I tried to go into detox, my friend Tara tried to bring me in a. I was. I was by Keisha. I was like, a complete mess. And she brought me to detox. Detox. And they were like, no, you can't come in here. You're not sober. And Tara was like, if India could get sober, if India could get clean.
[01:18:37] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:18:37] Speaker B: They wouldn't need detox. What are you talking about?
[01:18:39] Speaker A: That's exactly what's.
[01:18:40] Speaker B: If they could. If an attic could stay clean, they wouldn't need to go to detox. But. But that. That's how it was in New York when I. The one time I tried to go.
[01:18:49] Speaker A: Pretty standard. Yeah.
[01:18:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:18:51] Speaker A: We had someone that hadn't used in like a day. The full day, they hadn't used. And they were jonesing, and we wanted to get them into detox. And they literally told us, well, if they haven't used in the last 6 hours, we can't take them.
[01:19:02] Speaker B: See, it's just the. There needs to be. There needs to be a standard. There needs to be a standard. And to me, any addict that wants to go into detox should be allowed to. Because for me, sometimes I could stay clean for a day, two days rarely. But at the same time, I was white knuckling it the entire time because constantly I'm thinking, don't get high. Don't get drunk. Don't get high, don't get drunk.
But sometimes it was. I could barely get through an hour. Like, I'd wake up and be like, I'm not gonna drink today. I'm not gonna get high today. And by 09:00 a.m. I'm downing wine, you know, or I'm saying hitting up my friends, going, can you bring me some molly? You know, that's ridiculous to me that detox should be. Have any kind of rules like that, because any, to me, any addict in the moment when we say, I want help right now, that's when you gotta go.
[01:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah. For me, like, I wish we could have something in the medical profile that said, hey, I've been drug addicted in the past, so it's on my medical profile if, when I need to check in, I need to check in.
[01:20:01] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[01:20:02] Speaker A: Should be that easy.
[01:20:03] Speaker B: It should be.
[01:20:04] Speaker A: We should probably go. Let's maybe check in with sunny.
[01:20:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:20:07] Speaker A: Right. And then see what kind of ETA we have on his ride.
[01:20:11] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:20:12] Speaker A: Hey, guys.
[01:20:12] Speaker C: Hey. Hey.
[01:20:13] Speaker A: Hey, sonny. I'm Alex. Alex, remember Alex, you remember me from the other day. Oh, cool. Okay, good. This is India.
[01:20:19] Speaker B: You don't know me, but nice to meet you, sonny.
[01:20:21] Speaker A: India does social work.
[01:20:23] Speaker B: This is my dog Daley.
[01:20:24] Speaker A: And we've actually both been homeless, so I've been homeless on the streets of Portland. India was homeless for ten years as well. And all we do is try to help folks get off the streets.
So we're here to help in any way. What's the plan?
[01:20:37] Speaker C: Waiting for here from Tiffany right now. She's calling other, other detox centers.
Yeah, that's what we're waiting on.
[01:20:44] Speaker A: All right. Yeah.
[01:20:45] Speaker C: Still moving forward. The one that you suggested was full.
[01:20:48] Speaker A: Oh, in Vancouver.
[01:20:49] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:20:50] Speaker B: Sunny, do you like dogs? You want to say hi? She's a service dog, but you can say hi daily because she saves my life on the daily. Daily.
[01:21:04] Speaker A: This is one of the main issues we have on the street is once someone's ready to go, then you gotta get the plan, the ball rolling. Yeah. Right. And so every place is different. There's no central tracking system. There's 2200, 2300 beds.
[01:21:19] Speaker B: Right.
[01:21:20] Speaker A: But no one has the central trekking system.
[01:21:22] Speaker B: That makes no sense.
[01:21:23] Speaker A: That makes no sense. Maybe the senator.
[01:21:26] Speaker B: Can we talk to Senator Wyden about it?
[01:21:28] Speaker A: We get to sit down with Senator Wright. If we can make this happen in Oregon, this would be amazing.
[01:21:32] Speaker B: Trust me. Houselessness is a huge, it's very heavy on the heart of Senator Wyden and.
[01:21:38] Speaker A: We know he cares.
[01:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:21:39] Speaker A: So this isn't a knock on him?
[01:21:40] Speaker B: No. No.
[01:21:41] Speaker A: I mean, it'll take two years to implement it too, so. But if we get the ball rolling. Well, Sonny, we're gonna roll out.
Box is gonna stay with you.
India's gotta get back. She has some personal stuff in her life. She has a doctor's appointment that she's gotta go to, so.
But you're important to us. We're here cause you're important and I want you to know that. Okay.
[01:22:02] Speaker C: So, Sunny, the deal is that the detox center in Estacada is closed until Tuesday. They can't accept new people until Tuesday.
There was another location and another location and another location that we've tried and we've gotten the door slammed in our face for a variety of reasons. Tomorrow morning we can get you into Fora.
[01:22:21] Speaker A: Where do I need to be?
[01:22:22] Speaker C: We can take you there. So we can get you to Fora. Get you in Fora till Tuesday. Then from Tuesday we can get you to the program we were just talking about. What we want to do is everything that we want to do. We want to upgrade every single step. Okay. I don't want to take a step down. If I have to take a lateral move to go up that ladder, great. But let's go up at each step.
[01:22:44] Speaker A: You don't have to sleep on the streets. We can get you a hotel room at value in.
[01:22:47] Speaker C: Okay?
[01:22:48] Speaker A: We can have Tiffany reach out to Terrance. I have Terrence pick him up in the morning when he shows up.
[01:22:53] Speaker C: That's awesome. Let's do that. Because the hotel needs a shower.
[01:22:55] Speaker A: Yeah. We want you to feel clean. We want you to feel happy.
No, no, no.
We got you. Got you right down here by PSU. So you'll be there. We'll get you some food. We'll get you a hotel room, and then Terrence can come pick him up and take him over there tomorrow. Legit, first thing in the morning.
[01:23:11] Speaker C: You like Terrence. You're going to love him. Great, dude.
[01:23:13] Speaker A: And then. Then we can pick back up from there.
[01:23:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:23:16] Speaker A: On Monday.
[01:23:17] Speaker C: Yes. Okay, buddy.
[01:23:21] Speaker A: Yeah, man. You. You are worth it, bro. Your life is special. You're important. There's no one on this earth that's ever lived that is sunny. And there's no one that's ever going to live. That's you. You are here and you're important. We're here on the streets, and we've been looking for you for two weeks because you have value.
[01:23:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:23:39] Speaker A: Okay. You are important and.
[01:23:46] Speaker C: We believe in you, buddy.
[01:23:47] Speaker A: I have 100% faith that you got this.
[01:23:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:23:49] Speaker A: We believe in you 100, bro.
[01:23:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:23:52] Speaker A: Anytime, bro.
[01:23:54] Speaker C: Yeah. So let's make that happen.
[01:23:56] Speaker A: Awesome, man. You good?
[01:23:57] Speaker B: Sonny, I want to thank you for allowing them and trusting them enough to help you.
[01:24:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:24:01] Speaker B: Because I know that's not easy. It wasn't easy for me.
[01:24:04] Speaker A: Ride along Portland. We're on the streets. We're here with India Wynn today. She's been killing it on the streets with us. You've seen us in the studio, now you see on the streets. Any last words you want to say?
[01:24:16] Speaker B: This has just been a really incredible experience.
You know, I never experienced anything like this when I was on the streets. I never had anyone tell me I'm getting choked up.
I never had anyone tell me that I had value, you know, that I was worth it. Like what you just said, there's only one sunny. There's never gonna be another sunny.
[01:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's okay.
[01:24:39] Speaker B: I made it the whole day without crying.
Hey, Marine Corps, you know, military bearing.
I just think, you know, I had had that, I might have gotten off the street sooner.
[01:24:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:24:55] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:24:56] Speaker A: Yeah, totally awesome. Well, you have an important meeting to get to.
[01:25:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:25:03] Speaker A: So we're gonna check out for now. But this is not the end of the ride along.
There are more people on the streets, there's more guests to come.
Every step towards community transformation is personal transformation, and we're gonna document every step along that way.
Awesome, cousin. You good?
