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 guests and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
It 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.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: I'm Spencer with loving one another.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: And I'm Terrence.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: We're the street crew for the nonprofit here in Portland. We're here to do a ride along with Alex today and get out there on the streets and see what we can do. So let's get it.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: Hey, Alex Stone here. Welcome back to the ride along. Today we have two fantastic guests, actually, two of my best friends on this earth, amazing men. They're out on the streets every day doing the work that needs to be done. They came into the studio today. I know that you've probably seen them when we've been out with other guests. Fantastic guys. Spencer and Terrence, they're with loving one another. They're part of that nonprofit outreach program that we work in parallel and in sync with echelon Protective services in the field. Hey, gents, why don't you introduce yourselves to the audience?
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Go ahead.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Well, my name is Terrence. So just a small kid from Rustin, Louisiana, just came down here just to do a little bit more bigger mindset, just bigger dreams. Just come out, try to get some accomplished in the world today.
Come from a very small christian family that take care of me, love me very much.
Just out here just trying to do. Just try to be a better person of myself. Just a better person in the world today.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Nice. What about you, Spence?
[00:02:10] Speaker B: My name is Spencer. I was born and raised here in Portland.
I played high school ball here in Portland. Played college and professional basketball in Europe.
So I've been all over the world.
My first job out of college, I was a mental health therapist at Emmanuel hospital, where I did a lot of the one to ones with some of the more violent psych patients. Yeah.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: And that's kind of the major psych hospital, right?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: In the area, yeah.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Emmanuel would house some of the most violent psych patients until they were ready.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: To go to the state hospital.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: So I worked a lot in the ER. The ER is where they do the eval. So I'd work in the ER quite a bit. So realized that field of work was we were putting a small band aid over a big wound, and things weren't getting done the way they should. So I left. I went back into what my other degree is in physical fitness, and I was running the health and motives programs for legacy health system.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah. You definitely work out.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: I used to a lot, but not anymore.
So I did that for a little bit.
In 2008, when the economy went under, I lost my job and I went to law enforcement, where I thought, well, law enforcement is a good job, good retirement, all that kind of stuff. Was in law enforcement for about six years, six or seven years, was not able to help people the way I.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Wanted to, especially coming from a mental health background.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Correct.
So I was able to get a job actually doing executive protection, which I really, really loved. I was protecting a lot of high profile clients.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: And you worked for one of the. Probably the company, we're not going to use their name, but the company in the industry, you were their number one asset on the west coast at the time.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Big client names, famous people.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Pop singers, athletes stuff. Athletes, ceos, things like this.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Correct. Did a little bit of everything with that. I really loved the job.
And then when Covid hit, people weren't traveling very much, things weren't going on.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Especially in the northwest.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Correct? Yeah. And to be quite honest with you, I didn't like being away from my kids as well. So that was kind of a struggle for me. My family comes first, my kids come first.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Anyway, because you were traveling to Africa?
[00:04:28] Speaker B: No, I was traveling mostly to West Coast. West coast stuff, going to LA, quite.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: A lot of film shoots probably.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Anyway, so I was doing a lot of travel on the west coast a lot.
And then people weren't traveling very much. And so that's when I was working for a different company. And that's when you guys got a hold of me and wasn't sure if I wanted to do it at first. And I came down, saw the business model, and I thought, this is something that it's going to be fun, challenging.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: We said, give us 4 hours.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Yeah, you said 4 hours. I said, okay, I'll give you 4 hours. And I ended up going out with Reed for, after 2 hours of being with Reed, I knew this was something I wanted to do. So I knew it was going to be an incredible challenge, but I knew at the end of the day it was going to be rewarding.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: It's awesome. So we hire you on, I think you're employee probably number five. And right around that, Eric. Right around that.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I was one of your first ones that you hadn't had from holdover some other ones.
[00:05:27] Speaker A: That's right. So you were on the ground floor?
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Ground floor.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: And I think the pandemic was still going on.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: The riots were still occurring. So Portland was a no go zone, essentially, especially at nighttime. And we decided you come over almost immediately. I think it was a two week transition.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Two weeks.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: You come over and we have our very first patrol in old town.
Why don't you take us back to that time and explain what happened that night?
[00:06:01] Speaker B: That was a wild night.
After that night, I was wondering, man, I don't know if this is going to be a successful model or not. The first night we had the owners that were sleeping in their coffee shop because.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: They were getting broken into every night.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: And riots on the streets.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Riots on the streets.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Buildings on fire.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Buildings on fire. Covid constantly. Criminal going on.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Criminals everywhere.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Tents lined every sidewalk.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Every sidewalk. 450 tents. In old town alone?
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Yeah, just in old town.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: You had to watch where you walked. There were feces all over the ground. Needles everywhere.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Needles everywhere. This is before whites and blues. People were still injecting. They weren't smoking their fentanyl.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: And people always kind of lump security in with police. So they hated us right off the bat.
It was interesting. It was mentally exhausting, emotionally exhausting, and physically exhausting. So I knew that if we were going to be successful, we had to do something different.
We had to do something on the ground floor.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: And I didn't realize it was going to be as successful as it has been.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: So the coffee shop owners are sleeping in their coffee shop. It's probably, what, midnight.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: Midnight. 01:00.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Yeah, 01:00 a.m.. Almost. Yeah. And then what happens?
[00:07:27] Speaker B: So shot goes off.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: It was the owners. They were giving a warning shot to the people across the street, a bunch of gangsters across the street that were robbing them and stealing from them and stuff. And they just had enough. And they were sleeping in their coffee shop.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Because they couldn't handle anymore. So, yeah, shot went off. Police came out, and the owners actually ended up getting in more trouble than the people across the street.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: So it was an eye opener, man. It really was.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: They had been robbed, I think, two days prior.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: And found the cash register in the tent across the street of the shot collar. That block captain who lived across the street.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah, it was interesting. And I remember going home that night thinking, we're going to get this done. It's going to be tough. We're going to get it done.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: And we were being asked at the time to transform. To essentially transform the old town neighborhood, which is roughly 70 blocks. Right.
It's historically underrepresented historically, I would say overlooked in the downtown corridor. It's not a high end business district. It's not a high end retail district. Historically minority neighborhood. Right. I mean, it was japanese town, and then when the Japanese were forced into internment camps, the Chinese came and bought everything on pennies, on the dollar, and then it became Chinatown, essentially, in the. They're very insular. So it was their neighborhood. People kind of stayed out of it, and over time, it became a place for prostitution and for gangs to kind of run the streets. And up until recently, this has also been the case.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Right? Correct.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: So we get called to go into this area. All these property owners are expecting us to transform this neighborhood.
And how far along was it until you came to me and said, alex, we need to do something radically different here?
[00:09:29] Speaker B: I think I was about two weeks in, and I go, hey, do you trust me to do what I feel like what we need to do to make this work? And you're like, hey, man, do whatever you think. And the thing is, I had been around between security and law enforcement. I think at that point, I had already had 20 years in.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: I'd seen the old school method of doing security, and I kind of saw the transition over years on how we're kind of going to a different way of doing security. And I know that a lot of security is observing report.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: And this is not that kind of security.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: No, because no one's going to come.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Right. And these businesses were losing money.
And then my compassionate side, I'm like, you know what? These people are suffering, and they're being taken advantage of.
There's a lot of wolves down here, and there's a lot of sheep. And somebody had to come in. Somebody has to be the sheepdog.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: So I took my vest off, I took my gun off, put a black shirt on and my pants, and I walked the street, man. And I just started talking to people, like, understanding why they were there, understand their story, figure out. Every day, I try to learn at least two names every day.
When it started, that was real easy the first time, then my memory is not real great, so it got a little bit harder. But learn two names every day. So after two months, you're learning. That's 120 names.
Two months would be 60 names. Sorry, got that wrong. I went to school in Portland. That's why my master.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: And so it was just different, man. These people, they're not going to do anything with you or work with you until they trust you. And it took a long time to build that trust until I really knew that I cared about them. And it wasn't just about helping the business owners, it was about helping them as well. That's right. So that's when I was like, I'd make a phone call. So we wanted to go into a shelter, right? Hey, can you get me into a shelter? I'd make a phone call.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: How'd that first phone call work?
[00:11:25] Speaker B: It was horrible.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: It was.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: It was terrible. You call these different shelters and. No, because at that time.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Who are you?
What do you want? Security. This is a security company?
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: You want to get someone into a shelter who's homeless? Click.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So I had to start developing relationships with each shelter, going there, talking to them, because I didn't want to. You never promise anything, budy on the street. Something you can't do, cut through with.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: And I was getting a little discouraged because I'm like, we got it. The only way to solve this problem is for the community to come together and to solve this. And I felt like everybody was kind of wanting to do it their way instead of what was the right way for the people on the street.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Yeah, these organizations are definitely siloed. They're working alone. They have their money, whether it's grant money or money, they're raising as nonprofits, and they don't want to have to compete with other people. Right. If they're seen networking too much, they're seen as almost obsolete because they're not doing a unique thing that is their own. And so we kind of had to push through those barriers, convince people it's okay. We're not coming for your business.
We're going to make you look good, we're going to fill up your beds, and we're going to bring you people that will actually graduate your programs. Correct?
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Well, the funny part was we built partnerships with people, and they knew me personally. They're like, wait a minute, we heard you working for a security company. Is that right? I'm like, yeah. They go, hey, man, they thought, we can't work with you now because you work for a security company. And it was really discouraging. I'm like, I'm just out here trying to do the right thing. I just want to help people.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: We're getting people that are on the streets, living in tents, drug addicted, possibly being trafficked commercially, sexually exploited persons. Right. And we're just trying to get them back on the right track in life. And we're being shut down by these nonprofits and county and city organizations because we're, quote unquote, a security company.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. It was discouraging.
I think over time, we had to learn to kind of go around, do what we could do. And then we had a shelter that gave us 15 beds to fill a shelter in Old Town, and we filled those, we had those beds completely full every night, getting people off the streets. And then we had new management come in and they took those beds from us.
I think at that point, that was when we decided that I decided that I need to do something even different and go into nonprofit work almost full time.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: That's right.
And here we are. You came to me and Reed and said, reed's the other business partner in Echelon, and said, hey, we need to do this full time.
And we were like, well, what does that look like? And you said, we need to hire guys like me that know the streets, that understand what's going on, and we need to do this full time.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: And I think that's the hardest part, is working.
When you're working in this industry, you work in the gray area a lot. Right. You have to do everything that's legal, moral, and ethical in the gray area. Right?
[00:14:43] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: So how do you do that? How does that work? One, you have to understand the streets, how they work, the nuances of it.
It's a very tight knit group community. Right.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: The social dynamics of dealing with gangs, drug dealers. Drug dealers that aren't gangs, everything. Pimps, prostitutes, or sexually exploited persons. Right. Yes.
And how to navigate all that in such a way where we want to get people into shelters, so we're actually taking the customer away from the drug dealer without getting the drug dealer upset with us.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: And I think that's where the relationship building comes into play. Right.
You have to have a working relationship with the pimps, the drug dealers, and the criminal activity. You have to have a working relationship, a respect and understanding.
And if you don't, you're just going to be beating your head against the wall. So you do everything that's legal, moral and ethical while working in this dark industry that we work in down here. That's right. It could be very difficult.
But in order to do that, like I said, in order to do that, you have to develop those relationships with people that you wouldn't go out for lunch with or you wouldn't hang out with. Right. But you have to have that relationship with them on the streets.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: As this model kind of grew, we filed for the nonprofit. Right. We get our tax filing. That took forever. Right. And as this model grew, we kind of realized it had to work in succinct with some type of intelligence service. So a network of private investigators, or specifically one investigator that could constantly allow information flow when you're getting information. When we have information for security. Right. Understanding who is who on the streets, we also had security. So knowing when security was needed and wasn't needed when kind of that nonprofit would be a better match for that incident. Right. So learning how to triage calls, all this is going on. Let's fast forward. And again, we're not going to mention names, but we have an incident, and it's a call that the director of Salem actually took. It was a shoplifting call at a store in Goose Hollow.
And we identify the individual as a missing person out of Pennsylvania. Right. This person is the son of an elected official.
And so kind of tell us that story and how we were able to help that person.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that was a pretty interesting story, actually. So I get a call from an echelon officer, that is a guy here that needs some help on the bags that he was carrying. That he had with him was a name, wasn't his name. So he wanted to find out if they were stolen or what. So we called this number.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: They were nice bags.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: They were really nice.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Matching luggage. Yes.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Not something you normally see on the street.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: So we called the number, and the lady answered the phone, and I'm like, we got your name here, some luggage, got your name on it.
And we're with this guy's name. She's like, you're with my son.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: And I go, well, what's your son's name? And she told me, I says, what's your name? He told me.
And I'm like, yeah, we got him right here. And she starts crying. And she's like, I've been looking for him for a long time. We lost contact with him. He was living in Los Angeles. He came up, lost his job, came up here, came up to Portland. And he'd only been on the streets in Portland for a couple of weeks, and he was this close to going in so deep that he would have never came back out.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: He had just transitioned from heroin use to fentanyl use.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Like, within what, a week period?
[00:18:51] Speaker B: I think. Week period, right.
So we worked with her mother, with her and the father, and we were able to get them in a hotel that night because they can say they want to go home or they want to change, but you let them off the hook and they're going to be gone. Right. It happens all the time. And so we got him a hotel that night, so we knew exactly where he was.
Mom and dad bought a flight for the next morning, picked him up, took him to the airport, got him on the plane, went home, and they put him right in a drug rehab.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: It's great, man. And he's still clean, right?
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Last I heard, he was.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: I haven't had a conversation with them for probably six, seven months, but last I heard, he was doing fine.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: And so this is normal daily activity for us as a company. And so what we realized was kind of like in overseas operations, just having a security component. You can't just send the military in to a nation, right. And think if you take out all the bad guys, that you're going to transform that community. And the same is true here, right. We can't just send the law enforcement agents in and put all the bad guys in jail and think that somehow is going to reengage community. It's going to make everything flourish and make that area transformed.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: It actually makes it worse.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: It does. Because it just creates a vacuum. And typically, you get a worse. True criminal organization steps in, you get crips, bloods, you got the Aryan Brotherhood. Someone will step in and take that vacuum over.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Right. Because they see a large territory and they're like, I want that. It's money. Right. And so you mentioned earlier, part of our job is to become friends with drug dealers. Right.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: Working relationships.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: You have to. Yeah, right, yeah. Working relationships. Not friends, but. Yeah. And there was a drug dealer, Paul. I think he might have been engaged in pimping activities. But you developed a three year relationship with this individual, and you were actually able to transition him back home as well, correct? Yeah. You want to tell us a little bit about that story?
[00:21:02] Speaker B: Well, this guy was doing. He dabbled on a lot of different things.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Right?
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Chop chops.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Nothing like this.
I don't think he ever pimped, but I know he sold and he did what he had to do to survive. Right?
[00:21:15] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: And I talked to him.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Og. He's an OG.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: And I talked to him all the time.
I think that's the main thing about what loving one another does, is we contact people every day on the streets. If I contacted you yesterday, I'll contact you tomorrow and the next day, the next day to see if there's anything you need.
So I made contact with this guy. I happened to be working on my day off.
I didn't know that I happened on my day off. I came in, and I drove by to go, hey, go, what's up, man? How are you doing? Og kaikon Og. He's like, I'm not doing good, Spence. And I said, okay, what's going on, man? Stopped, got out of my car, and he's like, I can't do this anymore, man. I've been down here for 20 years on these streets, and I can't do it, man. I'm like, well, I know you got a daughter back in New York. I go, let's call her. Let's just see what's up.
So we called, and she answered the phone, and he talked to her. And there were some pleasantries and tears because she hadn't talked to him.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: It had been years.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Long time. Four or five years, long time. And I said, so I got on the phone. I said, hey, he wants to come home. She's like, there's no way. I've been trying to get him home. And I can't believe this is happening. I want him home. Like, I need to get him home.
And she goes, last time I talked to him, he wanted to come home, and we just didn't work out, right? Couldn't get him there because he's getting high all the time, right? You forget. You get high, and then all of sudden, a. You've also been there for 20 years. So that's a hard transition, right?
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Hard. 20 years. 20 years on street.
[00:22:51] Speaker C: Streets.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: That's hard, man.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: I mean, there's people that can't even go stay in a hotel because it's too quiet for them, right?
So I could tell he was ready to make a difference or ready to go home. So we bought him a bus ticket, put him in a hotel. Want to make sure he was good.
Bought him a bus ticket. It was three days on bus. Three days to get back there. And the reality of it is, this guy's not going to make it back to New York. Three days on a bus. If he can't use.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: Oh, for sure.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: There's no way he'll lose his mind. He'll get off in Spokane or Utah to find a fix. And so the reality of it is, the family has to send him money to where he can get enough stuff to get home so he can get into rehab.
And that's what happened. And he made it home. He's clean. He's got his own apartment. He's got his own car.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: It's awesome, bro. Got a job.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Got a job. He's doing really well.
And that just comes from one gaining their trust, right. Letting them know, when I first got down there, this guy didn't like me at all.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Three years.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mean, I had a really good. It took me six months to build a good relationship. Right. And then keep building that. Right?
But it took time. It took a lot longer than I thought. I'm a six four white guy, 350 pounds. Right. These people on the street aren't going to. They're not going to trust me.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: And you look and smell like a cop.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's what people thought. I was a fed for a long time.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: They didn't believe me.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Me, too.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Reed as well. Yeah, especially because we drive sprinter vans.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Correct.
But to work down here, I have people spit on me, call me names, all that stuff. And that's okay. You have to have thick skin. If you don't have thick skin, you can't work down here. If you can't be called a name, you can't work down here.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: If you can't handle getting spit on without losing it, you can't work down here. See, the old model in security was, somebody's in a doorway, you drag them out. Right. Yeah. That's not humane.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Pretending to be law enforcement. Correct.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: And that's not humane. It doesn't work. All it does is create problems.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: Well, they'll get upset, and when no one's there, they'll just come back and break windows.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: But if I can learn this guy's name who's strung out, who's just trying to find a dry place to sleep, and I can say, hey, Tom, listen, man, I know you're just trying to find a place to. I said, they're getting ready to open up business. Hey, man, you want some coffee? You're hungry?
[00:25:21] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: And guess what? Now they know you care. Right? Like, I really talk to somebody for 30 minutes than ever put my hands on somebody. Won't happen.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: And this really is. You kind of mentioned it. The business model. It's transformative, right? Most nonprofits, they had that field of dreams model where they say, we're going to build something great in a building somewhere far, far away. And what we need you to do is we need you to pack up everything you own, go steal a shopping cart, put it all on the shopping cart, push it for an hour, and then wait in line for five or 6 hours with a 50 50 chance that you'll get in.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: And people have lost hope because that model doesn't work for everybody. It might work for 15 or percent of the population on the street, mostly the people that are transitory, the mom, the kids who got kicked out of their apartment last night because of a domestic violence situation. The sheltering system works very well in that regard. But when it comes to someone who's been engaged in criminal activity for 30 years on the street, that doesn't work.
These folks in these tents, they have no sense of agency. They have no sense of worth. And so you and Terrence, you're going by these tents. And we're not just in Old Town now. We're in multiple neighborhoods across Portland, even Vancouver. Even Vancouver, Washington, right across on the river. And we go by these tents every day and get to know people, just to have a conversation. Right. Give them a cigarette, maybe a bottle of water, check in on know. Maybe they need wound care.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: You can just hear in their story.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Just to listen. Right. And over time, that relationships becomes leverage.
Right. We're building a bridge away from a subculture that's keeping them enslaved almost, right. And we're building them that bridge of a relationship to a new identity, to a new sense of purpose where they can believe in. They can believe in that and almost sense it, right? And they're like, you know what? Spencer, he can help me out. Terrence. Terrence can get me help. And as soon as they're ready for help, we act and we get them into a shelter. Right. So the sense of accomplishment you must feel is different than when you were in law enforcement. Right, and mental health. Can you just kind of speak to that? Because I want the audience to really understand, like, the people you protected, these were people of high net worth. Like, you were sought after by ceos of major companies, major performers. I mean, like, platinum level performers, the greatest people that are performing right now on stage. You were running their security and their security teams, not just at concerts, but video shoots. You had major athletes that still, to this day, know you by name. Right. And so you gave all that up. And a lot of that. I mean, I hate to say it, man. A lot of that's fame. It's not just money, but it's the fame of knowing all these people. I mean, you kind of gave all that up to help out people that are dying on the street, man. And so what did it take emotionally for you to make that decision? And how do you feel about that?
[00:28:44] Speaker B: You just threatened me right there. Yeah. I tell you.
It started when I was a kid.
I can remember my dad. I try to get emotional here.
I have wonderful parents. Wonderful parents, and they were givers. And I remember my dad when I was 16, he told me, he said, son, you want to find out who you are? Lose yourself in helping others.
And so I always took that to heart, like my dad was. I mean, I'm a big guy. My dad used to make me look tiny, right? He was a monster of a man, but he had a bigger heart. And for the time I was little, my dad would take me on service projects every weekend. We're going.
And so my whole life, I mean, this is the role models that I had, right? We're here to help. That's what we are as human beings. We're here to help others. That's the whole reason that we're here. We exist is to help others. And so I had that example. And even when I was doing other jobs that I cared for that much, I was still trying to find ways to make a difference, right.
Because it's just who I am. It's how I was raised.
That's why when I met Terrence, I was working for, what, a year by myself, alone, solo. Solo. And I was running and I was gunning everywhere. And it was taking a toll on me.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you're working 80, 98 hours a week sometimes.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was taking its toll. I mean, I had to find a way to try to fill my cup.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Right. And you're being surrounded by folks who are overdose people we've developed relationships with. Just overdose.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: We're losing people we know every week.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Every week.
And so when Terrence got hired on, I saw the way that he worked with people, because the thing is, this job's tough because you can hire somebody that's really a really nice person, a great person, but if they don't understand the streets, they're not going to be successful.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
[00:30:51] Speaker B: And so you have to be very particular in who you hire to do this job. And when I met Terrence, I'd been around him for a long time, for a good six months, and I'm like, this is my guy, right? Know, I go, this is my guy, right? This guy. This guy's got compassion. He's got love. Terrence understands.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Terrence worked at the security company Echelon, right.
And obviously, he was one of the top performers at Echelon.
And Spencer comes and says, hey, yeah, I need him on the team.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: I said, no, you're going to get me? This guy?
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And I was like, bro, you just want all the all stars on your.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Team, bro, just this one.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: And he was, no, no, he's different, bro. He's special, man. He gets it. And I'm like, I know that's why he's at Echelon. And you're like, no, bro, I need this. So, you know, we raised the money and we got there, but ultimately, it was Terrence's decision. And so how did you feel about the. You're at the pinnacle. I mean, you were killing it. Everyone loves you at Echelon. And you're like, hey, to the point where we wanted to bring you into leadership, we saw you as long term running a.
You know, you also had to step away from that. So how did that make you feel? What was going through your mind when you were talking to Spencer about all this?
[00:32:20] Speaker C: So, when I first came in, Echelon, great group, came through. Made me feel like family.
Never had anyone that down here in Portland that treated me like you guys.
It was a wild ride. Very fun. Interesting.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: Good group.
[00:32:40] Speaker C: Good group. Just made me feel like I was at home. Didn't discriminate people of all kind. Just loving.
Made me feel like a family. I first got in good company, barbecue.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: We did it good.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: It was great. So it was just a bunch of family. Just made me feel like home. And then what really brought me into more when I start, I really got deep off into it when I just saw I really met you guys individually. I started meeting you guys one on one, and something deep down inside me just knew that you guys was like a different you was different from everyone else out here. You took me in as a little brother, showed me the right path. Just both of you. Not just one of you, but the company and Spence alone.
But it was a certain thing that really got me more into doing outreach. So when I first came in with echelon, I was just doing my everyday.
So I was meeting up with Spence on my breaks. We would go get lunch or anything. And then just one day, I had a bad day with work.
I was going through a little stuff back home, some deep issues, and nobody had never saw me really get on his side. But one day, I'll never forget, I was on the side of Lansu garden, and I was just stressed out. It wasn't anything in particular to work, just long day, and I was crying. I had actually lost someone. I was crying, man, and Spence snuck up on me. I was sitting in my car, man, just having a bad day, man. He just came and talked to me, man, showed me the way, man. I never felt, like, love in that particular time down here. Just being away from family and just being down here a long time, it really takes a toll on me.
Been away from my family for, like, two years.
Rare visits, barely go down and visit them. So when I do go down, it's like a special moment, but not to get off into that, but back into the main focus.
So, yeah, we was on the side, and Spence would just pump me up and motivate me every day to just push. And he really just gave me that strong urge to just be a better person in particular. It wasn't just so much on the just compassionate side, but it was also, like, loving and caring for one another. I never felt someone that gave me and led me in another path, know, spread that love on one another like Spence did.
He showed me every way, whether it was just going out and doing outreach or just loving one another or just talking to somebody. He showed me that special love that everybody needs in their life, and it's just different. That's how I can see him aside from everyone else. And not just him, just everybody. Everybody in the company made me feel that type of way, whether it's staff, security, leadership, everybody. So the companies along just great. Showed me good ways all the way around, and I could never ask for more or better.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: And so kind of your background, you've modeled.
You have a huge following on TikTok, like 80, 90,000 followers. Right.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: Big fan base.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: You're growing with one. I mean, we're in six states already.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:36:22] Speaker A: So you're growing with one of the fastest growing companies in America, and you're like, I'm going to do nonprofit work. I'm going to work with homeless people.
And I tell you, man, it's a testament to your character that you made that decision.
So essentially, you sacrificed your.
I mean, you had a lot going for you, actually.
[00:36:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:45] Speaker C: Because I also played basketball, too, coming up. I was a college. Yeah, big time athlete in the state of Louisiana. I went down. I played Juco. I was first team all state coming out of high school, first team all conference, moved down to Baton Rouge, played the ball, and I actually came down here at first to get a partial scholarship with Portland state, but somehow it didn't work through, but sacrificed a lot of things to do the good work out here in the streets of Portland.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: It's amazing, man. I appreciate both of you. So we could probably stay in studio and continue to just tell stories, but I think what the audience and what we love to do and what the audience wants to see is just us hit the streets hard and show them what we do right now. What do you think about that?
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Sounds good.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: Sounds all right. It's the ride along for a reason. We're going to hit the streets. You'll see us when we get there.
[00:37:42] Speaker B: Hey, where are you at? We'll meet you over there. All right, bud.
They're up here, pearl place, by the mid spa. That's 14th and what?
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Gleason.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: Just south of Burn or north of Burnside, right? Yeah. Okay.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: So we know everybody on the street because we've been doing this for several years.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Got it.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: And what I tell people is, you should really come and do a ride along. If you do a ride along, you'll see kind of how we work and what we do. But last month alone, we transitioned about around 120 people into shelters, tiny homes into detox, some type of program or facility.
We only partner with people that have success rates of 80% and higher. Okay, so, like Union Gospel, Mission city team, victory outreach organizations that are pretty historical. Salvation army. Right.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Okay, so you partner with them?
[00:38:47] Speaker A: Yeah, we partner with them. We also get people into city and county beds.
So we're meeting up with Bach.
He had a guy we're trying to help out. So we just arrived. We're about to hook up with some folks, and hopefully we can talk to these people right here.
[00:39:08] Speaker D: Hopefully loa can pay.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: Nonprofits don't pay for cigarettes. No.
[00:39:14] Speaker A: Kind of hard.
We're working around it.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: We're trying to figure it out.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a definite workaround, bro.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: All right.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: We buy in bulk, and we have a lady who makes it, but then a lot of the guys have spend their own cash on them because there's no reimbursements for that.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Yeah. You need it? It's a definite need.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Hey, my man.
Hey, it's Michael. Hey, I got some shoes here for you, bro. You want a couple of them?
I got some shoes. I got a nine and a half and a ten.
Which ones do you think will work? You want to try nine and a half or ten?
[00:39:52] Speaker A: How you doing?
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Remember Spencer?
Yeah, I think I've met you before. How you doing, brother? Good to see you again. You can have them. Okay. All right, bud. Okay, good luck. You got enough water on you?
I'll bring you some water. Hey, also, we have a resource center off of first and cooch northwest. We have clothes, shoes, blankets, tents, stuff like that. If you need something, let us know. Okay. You come by, we're usually there about 330 on in the afternoon. Okay. All right. Okay, thanks. A t shirt then, Mike. T shirt and water. T shirt and water. I can give him water. All right.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: So this isn't a client.
[00:40:27] Speaker C: This is a client.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: We're just watching out for folks. Yeah, I love it. I love it.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Yeah, he just got posted this morning. In fact, they just tore it down. Well, he got posted. He got posted? Yeah.
[00:40:39] Speaker A: Whip up a hole, they essentially have five days.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: Yeah, 72 hours.
[00:40:44] Speaker A: Well, unless it's the Sydney posting it, then they have five days and then it's a crime.
Well, no one knows anything. Right.
It could have been rapid response or it could have been.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: It was rapid. We saw them. Okay.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: It's probably 72 hours. Probably, but I didn't look close to it.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: You want to go check on that guy passed out in the tent?
[00:41:02] Speaker B: Which one?
[00:41:03] Speaker A: There's a guy around the corner passed out.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Oh, I did already.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: Okay, good.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: But I need to go up to Mark Spencer hotel.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: Okay, Roger, let's go.
So we already checked out Bach. Already checked that guy out. He's squared away. He's good to go. No OD.
We got a call. That was Bach. He had a guy, he's on a building, he's in a tent. He got posted. So he has 72 hours to move. And so we came by. He needed some shoes. We brought him some shoes. The idea is that hopefully we can use that to try to get him into a shelter. Spencer gave him the address of the resource center. Hopefully he'll come by and we'll be able to talk to him and say, hey, man, you're going to get moved. Why don't you get off the streets? So everything is a conversation starter. We're always trying to have a conversation with somebody. Right now we have another call. It's kind of urgent. We're probably going to miss the call.
Right.
So boxing downtown today?
[00:41:55] Speaker B: I think he is, yeah.
[00:41:56] Speaker A: Okay.
So I think we roll over there.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: No, I think he's downtown, too.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: Downtown, too?
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Yeah, because I think Printle's downtown.
[00:42:08] Speaker C: Yeah, correct.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: All right, we're going to break off. We're going to try to meet up with them. Sounds good. All right.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: So we just jumped out of the car. We didn't get a lot of time.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: To get the video up and running.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: But we had a couple of guys, they were under a Jacket to catch the smoke.
You crush up your pills, your whites or your blues, you put them on a foil piece of foil, and then you light up from underneath. It's like a makeshift kind of like pipe, right? And then you just inhale the smoke through a straw, and then you catch the smoke so it doesn't leave weight. I get you high, too.
So we just stopped to talk to these guys, Spencer and Terrence. They already knew who they were, so that kind of made it a little bit easier.
And they didn't want any help, but they moved again. Like, it's essentially decriminalized. You're not supposed to use narcotics in public, but it's decriminalized for possessional level, so people just do it.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Can you put your seatbelt on?
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we never break traffic laws on the ride along.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: They might take you through this life.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: Wake up here.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: That long?
That's probably who they're calling for.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is their hotel parking lot.
Doing okay?
[00:43:39] Speaker B: What's going on, man? I got a call. They were worried about you. It looked like you were down, like maybe you were sick or something.
[00:43:46] Speaker E: I can't hear you.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: What's that?
[00:43:48] Speaker B: Do you need a cigarette or anything?
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Need some help up?
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Okay.
Good day. Okay.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: Timor it.
I think that he's.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: He hungry? Anything like that?
[00:44:17] Speaker A: Some dude used.
[00:44:18] Speaker C: He did not. All resources.
[00:44:19] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: Yeah, he has a brand new. He has a brand new haircut, bro.
New underwear, new clothes, new shoes.
So he's recently houseless or he's not. He's just used and needed a place to chill because his haircut is like brand new. It's fresh.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: His clothes are real super clean.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Super clean.
No.
And he had no sores anywhere.
[00:44:45] Speaker B: I didn't recognize him.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: Me neither.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: 90% of the people down here, if.
[00:44:48] Speaker D: None of you guys know him, that's a pretty good.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: Yeah, right? Cool.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: All right, good talk.
[00:44:55] Speaker A: We're going to go to twelveth and Taylor. So that guy, he hasn't been on the street long, right?
Fresh haircut, brand new clothes. So probably a guy who just got used to using. He didn't have any sores on his body, so he wasn't interested in talk.
That dude Eli seems pretty legit, right? Yeah, he lives here.
[00:45:20] Speaker B: Oh, does he?
[00:45:21] Speaker A: Yeah, he lives in Portland. He's like, dude, from what everyone tells me in Portland, y'all are doing the only thing that's working, and he goes, I think every major city needs this. La, San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix.
He's like, so I'm going to do this thing, man. Hopefully we can change the world, basically.
All right, so we got here. The call ended about 30 seconds before we arrived.
When you call for backup, it's usually an interesting, weird situation. I guess the original guard was able to de escalate it.
Box been riding around with the New York Times, so he's going to go drop them off. They're done. They've been up all night following our team around. So we're going to break from here. We're going to head back to the van, and then we're going to go help some folks, because that's our mission. All right, good talk. All right, good times.
[00:46:22] Speaker B: Good times.
[00:46:24] Speaker A: Double wave.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: We do need to go over and talk to that gal over there off of 237 Broadway or discount auto. What size shoe are you?
Oh, we got a pair of shoes for you. You want a pair of shoes?
I got an extra pair in the van.
[00:46:49] Speaker C: She didn't want some clean ones.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: What's that?
[00:46:54] Speaker B: He's right there.
Okay.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: So I'm going to go tell him the situation.
[00:47:03] Speaker C: She didn't want him.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: So this is a client. Obviously they don't know a bunch of properties in the area. And early this morning, late last night, a dude rode up in a hatchet and just attacked the guy's van. We had the video. Spencer actually caught the guy in video doing give it to the producer, but.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: Trying to keep trying to help the.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Guy out, but at the same time, we want him to move because they're bringing a lot of attention to a property that we want to keep clear.
These are all of our properties. That our property? That's our property. That's that. This, that over there. That over there. We got a bunch of properties all around here?
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Hell, yeah.
[00:47:42] Speaker C: Trying to duct tape it up.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Duct tape, baby.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Fixes everything, bro.
[00:47:48] Speaker C: Make it all around.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: Sure it does.
Whatever you need, just let us know. We'll help out with that. I mean, I know you love your chocolate donuts.
[00:47:59] Speaker D: Ashley's.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: He'S with us. He's doing a thing on our nonprofit.
[00:48:07] Speaker C: Next time, please.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry. We're doing our nonprofit stuff.
Just documenting us, that's all.
Boston cream still has chocolate on it, though, bro, doesn't it?
That's my favorite. I get one of those in the morning time, too. I love Boston cream.
[00:48:24] Speaker C: Yeah, it got chocolate with the filling in the middle.
[00:48:27] Speaker B: Hey, have you ever been to the. What's that donut shop we go to down here, right off of Burnside? Is it Annie's?
[00:48:33] Speaker A: Annie's donuts. Annie's best donuts.
[00:48:36] Speaker B: So if you go over Burnside bridge.
[00:48:37] Speaker C: That'S what we eat every Sunday at.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: The church by the Platt pantry.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: Oh, for real? Yeah.
So is this dude going to come back. That's what I'm worried about.
[00:48:46] Speaker B: No. So what happened was there was two kids that came to the van on bicycles. They don't stay here. They stole something from him, and the bag was right here. So he came back and he took it to take it back, and he got mad and just smashed the windows out. This one right here. And that's kind of how it went. Then I jumped out of the truck and. Hey, man, chill out. You know, relax. Because he was going to keep going.
[00:49:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
And Teresa, she don't want no help.
[00:49:15] Speaker B: No, we need to call east side central. East side. And have them come pick up the trash, too.
[00:49:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Actually, let me get the number for that.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: So who's standing there?
[00:49:30] Speaker B: That's Teresa. Both of them?
[00:49:32] Speaker A: She's still.
[00:49:37] Speaker C: Two.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: She got the tents from urban league. They're trying to help her get her an apartment.
[00:49:42] Speaker A: Urban league?
[00:49:44] Speaker B: Yeah, trying to help her get her an apartment.
[00:49:46] Speaker A: But I told her, I said, get.
[00:49:47] Speaker B: Her to a tiny home, but she doesn't like to be around people on that side. Yeah, that's not ours. Yeah, we push it down there. Her cat never really goes anywhere. It just stays around here. Never runs. Never runs off? No, it's hers.
[00:50:08] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:50:11] Speaker B: That's your cat, right?
What's the cat's name?
Trixie. She never even wanders off, does she?
You know what would be really cool for this van is to put some paneling on the side or some to make it more homey.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: Trixie. Trixie.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: They're tearing this building down.
Trixie, come here. It went back to the bank. So now the bank is our client, and they're going to tear it down. It's going to be like a parking lot.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: Well, that's another good way to do it.
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Easier, easy to manage.
[00:50:49] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. Until they start camping in the field.
[00:50:53] Speaker A: I think they're going to wait for the market. They're tearing that down.
[00:50:56] Speaker B: They are tearing this down? Yeah.
[00:50:57] Speaker A: They're going to have, like, just vacant lot, and then when the market comes back, I think they're going to put some apartments there or something.
[00:51:04] Speaker B: That makes sense. Who owns that?
[00:51:06] Speaker A: The bank owns it now.
[00:51:07] Speaker B: Oh, the bank does?
[00:51:08] Speaker A: It went back to the bank.
[00:51:09] Speaker B: So we are doing security. We do screen.
[00:51:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
They're really happy.
Are they?
[00:51:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:16] Speaker A: I mean, they were like seven or eight tents around there the other day.
[00:51:20] Speaker B: There's one under the side that just popped up, though.
[00:51:22] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. We got to go take it. One popped up, actually, this morning.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: You want to walk around there real quick and just talk.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: Let's go. We're going to roll.
[00:51:30] Speaker B: Be right back, budy.
[00:51:31] Speaker A: Okay, so the goal is to this guy right here.
[00:51:37] Speaker B: I've known him for three years.
[00:51:39] Speaker C: Yeah, we've been knowing him for a minute, but I killed. It's another one that look exactly like him as well, but I think his name.
[00:51:46] Speaker B: He lives off chocolate donuts.
I bought him a dozen donuts one time, bro.
He helped me relocate like six tenths.
[00:51:54] Speaker A: Yeah, this is a good.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: He's a good dude.
[00:51:56] Speaker A: Power.
[00:51:57] Speaker C: Yeah, he's gone.
[00:51:57] Speaker B: He's got. He's gone.
[00:51:58] Speaker A: He's locked up.
[00:51:59] Speaker B: So he buys and flips cars.
[00:52:01] Speaker A: He's got a whole generator, bro.
[00:52:03] Speaker B: He's got a camera on the back.
[00:52:05] Speaker C: Yeah, he got a camera on the back end.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: He's not home now, but this guy owns all these cars actually.
[00:52:11] Speaker B: And there was one up here, two more up here that he owned. Yeah, and he's one more back there. He must be driving. So he just flips cars? Yeah, he goes to the auction, buys them. Flips cars. So he said he's going to relocate his motorhome.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: They did a good job.
I mean, it's not bad looking.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: No, it's not.
[00:52:34] Speaker A: It looks a lot better than it did.
[00:52:35] Speaker B: He's asking 7000.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: For what?
[00:52:38] Speaker B: For that Honda.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Kind of worth it.
[00:52:42] Speaker C: And like foe for the red one, right?
[00:52:44] Speaker A: Is it stolen?
[00:52:45] Speaker B: No, he buys them at auctions.
[00:52:46] Speaker C: He bombed me.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: All of them.
[00:52:48] Speaker C: Come.
[00:52:53] Speaker A: That is passed out.
[00:52:55] Speaker C: He missed him right there since this morning.
[00:52:57] Speaker A: You good?
[00:52:59] Speaker B: Hey, what's up, man? How are you doing?
Yeah, just your tent right here?
[00:53:05] Speaker D: Somewhat like that.
[00:53:06] Speaker B: Somewhat like that. All right. We just blocking the sidewalk.
[00:53:09] Speaker D: So we're trying to get proposed and shit in because I had no sticks so I could move it.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: Oh, got you from the sidewalk.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:53:18] Speaker D: I just got the sticks together, man. I was running behind schedule.
[00:53:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I hear you move it.
[00:53:26] Speaker D: I can move right out.
[00:53:28] Speaker B: Oh, you're going to go to the.
[00:53:29] Speaker D: Street right here so the sidewalk will be free.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: Okay.
Yeah, the building was kind of.
They're going to sell this building and tear it down.
Good for you, man. That's what's up.
You got to get there early in the morning.
[00:53:47] Speaker D: Yeah, I know. I used to work in my first job here, man. Look, we end up never saying never, but I had to get from around the circus over there so I can get over there in the morning.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:53:58] Speaker C: And that's one step closer to where you need to be. That's good.
[00:54:01] Speaker B: What's your name, bro?
[00:54:03] Speaker D: JC. They call me pops, man.
[00:54:05] Speaker B: Pops. All right. Spencer.
[00:54:06] Speaker C: I'm Terrence.
[00:54:07] Speaker D: Terrence.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: Alex.
[00:54:08] Speaker B: Alex.
[00:54:09] Speaker D: Yeah, man, I done did it all, man.
[00:54:11] Speaker B: Hooper.
[00:54:11] Speaker D: TPI bud. Commons. Doreens, into the basement.
[00:54:20] Speaker A: Drive.
[00:54:20] Speaker D: Then when I let them youngsters, man, get it off my kitchen table. And it ain't been right since they trapped out the bathroom. And then everything else went on.
[00:54:29] Speaker A: That's a new download about that method.
[00:54:32] Speaker D: I come out of the cocaine area.
[00:54:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:37] Speaker D: I didn't know I was jumping through hoops, man, when I was tap dancing.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: You know what I mean, right?
[00:54:47] Speaker D: Stuff like that, man.
I brought my son out here. Keep family, then you don't know how you got to keep them. It's the other way around.
[00:54:56] Speaker B: Anything we could do for you, man? Anything you need?
[00:54:59] Speaker D: I don't know, man. What could I need out here?
Stay out the way.
[00:55:04] Speaker B: Well, there's that.
[00:55:06] Speaker D: But what kind of services you all be offering?
[00:55:10] Speaker B: We have a resource center. We have clothes. We have shoes. We have blankets. We got all kinds of stuff.
[00:55:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:55:17] Speaker B: We can get you into a shelter. We could try to get you into a tiny home. We could try to get you into tiny home.
[00:55:22] Speaker D: Be good if I got to wait till I get in here. I just got out, man.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: I'll tell you what. Let's do this then. Let's.
[00:55:37] Speaker D: Grab it over there, man.
[00:55:39] Speaker C: How about we get them downsized, too?
[00:55:45] Speaker B: You want a new tent? A little bit smaller tent for now.
[00:55:49] Speaker D: I got spinal problems, so I can't keep bending over.
[00:55:52] Speaker B: That's why I had.
So, what did you say your first name was again?
[00:55:56] Speaker D: John.
[00:55:56] Speaker B: John. Yeah. You got disabilities, but you can move, okay?
You can get to the bathroom, all that kind of good stuff.
Okay.
[00:56:06] Speaker D: I got your spinal thing, telepathy thing, and I just had hernia surgery under my grind.
[00:56:15] Speaker B: You got a phone number?
I got to go.
[00:56:19] Speaker D: My phone, it got pretty banged up, so it went off. I didn't use it. Free phone. You didn't use it?
They charged me $18 to get it back on or something like that.
[00:56:30] Speaker B: Three four nine. What?
[00:56:31] Speaker D: It's on my phone right here.
[00:56:33] Speaker B: Okay.
Yep. Got it.
All right. We'll get to Hooper in the morning.
[00:56:48] Speaker D: Yeah, man.
[00:56:49] Speaker B: Get in there, and then when you get out, we'll get you inside.
I got your number. I'm going to send you my. My name is Spencer. I'm with loving one another.
I'm going to text you my number, okay? So you got to let me know, all right?
[00:57:02] Speaker D: You don't like turning? What state?
[00:57:06] Speaker B: Not familiar.
[00:57:08] Speaker D: Just open up home. What is it going home or something.
[00:57:12] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:57:14] Speaker D: I had just got out, so I signed with them, but I got to go to Hooper first before they could do anything for me.
[00:57:19] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:57:19] Speaker D: What's up?
What is it?
What's on MLK?
[00:57:26] Speaker C: What is it?
[00:57:27] Speaker D: Voa?
[00:57:29] Speaker C: Dhs?
[00:57:31] Speaker D: Voa? Is it volunteers of America?
[00:57:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:57:35] Speaker D: They had a place for me, but I got to go to Hooper first, so I had to make that connect.
[00:57:40] Speaker C: That's what they do out in the park, right?
[00:57:42] Speaker D: Boa volunteers of America. But it's Harry Watson house. It's an african american house. First one to be away sponsor. But I never made it to Hooper.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: I think Pastor Hendis is involved.
[00:57:56] Speaker B: So Hooper is what, four weeks?
[00:57:58] Speaker D: Hooper is only five days.
[00:57:59] Speaker B: Oh, five days.
[00:58:00] Speaker D: Yeah. Clean out.
When they dropped me, they didn't have the people come get me, man. So I was in the street that weekend. It was a holiday and they're supposed to have people come get me from the PO's office. Nobody never came. So they let me out for the weekend and all. Help after eleven months.
[00:58:23] Speaker B: Well, I'm going to send you my number. So when you get out, you call me. I'm going to make sure you get inside. Okay. All right, man.
[00:58:28] Speaker D: Appreciate it.
[00:58:28] Speaker B: All right. God bless.
[00:58:29] Speaker A: Nice meet you, pop, man.
[00:58:30] Speaker D: Thanks for coming around, man.
[00:58:31] Speaker A: Always one love.
[00:58:32] Speaker D: Yeah, man. No doubt.
You don't want to do.
[00:58:40] Speaker C: Yeah, man.
[00:58:41] Speaker A: They are going to be tearing this building down soon, right here.
[00:58:43] Speaker D: But I should be out over there next day or so.
[00:58:46] Speaker C: All right, well, let us know if you need anything before you go in, brother.
[00:58:50] Speaker D: He's going to give me the number, right?
[00:58:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:58:52] Speaker D: All right.
[00:58:53] Speaker C: No problem, man. All right, pops.
[00:58:55] Speaker A: Yes, right.
[00:59:00] Speaker B: Thank you.
I just saw her home.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: She probably popped up in the window.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: We probably got to go today. Cubbies. To where?
[00:59:13] Speaker C: To their window.
[00:59:13] Speaker B: Hey, anybody home?
[00:59:14] Speaker C: Yeah, she right there.
[00:59:16] Speaker B: Hey, Spencer.
She said he's. What? I can't hear you.
[00:59:23] Speaker C: What?
[00:59:26] Speaker B: Okay. All right. So I'm just waiting for the confirmation and. I mean, I know you're in, but I just got to get a confirmation. On what day?
Okay. And if it doesn't run, we'll get it towed.
Okay.
Give John a call.
Okay, I'll do that. Thank you.
[00:59:45] Speaker C: Get that piece.
[00:59:47] Speaker B: I'm asked John. She doesn't really want to talk right now, so I'm just going to let.
[00:59:50] Speaker C: Her be smoking right now.
[00:59:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just going to let her be.
I got them into Sunderland RV park.
[00:59:58] Speaker A: Okay, good.
[00:59:59] Speaker B: I'm just waiting on because today they opened it up and they're only taking like ten a day.
[01:00:04] Speaker A: Well, they got all the people already lined up.
[01:00:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but they're not taking all those people.
[01:00:07] Speaker A: Oh, that's good.
[01:00:08] Speaker B: So they have 68 spots and I think there's 43 rbs over there. So I called in a favor and I was able to get them in. Nice to Sunderland.
[01:00:17] Speaker A: Does it run?
[01:00:19] Speaker B: He said it does. They just need something for it. I got a part for it.
[01:00:23] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:00:24] Speaker B: They'll tow it.
[01:00:25] Speaker A: All right. And we got pops. He's going to be moving. Hopefully he'll get into detox. You think he meant victory outreach? No, volunteers of America over on MLK.
[01:00:36] Speaker C: He definitely mean that. That's what Tennessee do out here, take care of pops in the church.
[01:00:44] Speaker A: The Sunday Samaritan thing? Yeah. We need to talk to Teresa, see if Teresa's willing to move.
[01:00:51] Speaker B: Well, she wants to relocate.
[01:00:54] Speaker C: Yes, she told us she did.
[01:00:58] Speaker B: Thing. Here's the thing. I just talked to her. She's in a mood right now.
[01:01:03] Speaker A: Okay?
[01:01:03] Speaker B: So I don't want to push it.
[01:01:05] Speaker A: And burn our breath. I get it.
[01:01:07] Speaker B: So I'll come back later, talk to her. Some people are turned off by cameras, right?
[01:01:13] Speaker A: Always.
[01:01:14] Speaker B: So I'll come back and talk to her. She said her PTSD from military is really high right now, so she doesn't want to deal with certain things. So I'm going to respect that if you're cool with that.
[01:01:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm done.
[01:01:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:01:34] Speaker A: Are we going to push old buddy?
[01:01:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I was just going to say he needs some help.
[01:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to go talk to him right now.
Yo.
[01:01:48] Speaker A: I think I might have a cordless. Let me check. Let me check.
[01:01:54] Speaker B: So do you guys want to try to push it today down there? We got a lot of people here.
If you need to push it, we could do it.
You guys could just even go right across the street over here if you wanted to. Not to even go that far.
[01:02:10] Speaker C: Okay. If you could do that, we could back it up and help you push it along right fast.
[01:02:15] Speaker A: Back it up?
[01:02:17] Speaker C: Yeah, push it forward.
So if you can hop in the front and put it in neutral and we'll push it out for you.
[01:02:37] Speaker B: We're just going to help move it across the street. Oh, yeah. Those are pretty cool.
[01:02:42] Speaker A: You got that inner tube.
[01:02:47] Speaker B: So you got to put the, um.
[01:02:54] Speaker A: Oh, there you go.
[01:02:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:03:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[01:03:02] Speaker C: See my shit on pop.
[01:03:08] Speaker B: Hey, let's go.
How high do you got a ticket?
Oh, you're looking for a hole.
[01:03:20] Speaker A: Well, my concern is that there's a dude with a hatchet that already attacked the vehicle.
[01:03:24] Speaker B: Right.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: Getting him the furthest away from this point seems.
[01:03:28] Speaker B: Yeah, because they were all sitting there watching it.
[01:03:33] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
Good. Yeah, I own the security company that has a contract here, echelon.
So this is a nonprofit, so we're trying to get these folks to choose another place to go, especially after the hatchet thing.
Just too much, bro.
And then that's Teresa. She's a vet. We got her place. We got her shelter to go to. So she should be gone in the next day or two.
[01:04:00] Speaker B: Wow.
[01:04:00] Speaker A: There's another huge tent. Just another box down.
[01:04:03] Speaker C: That's right behind the store. That's what we try to.
[01:04:05] Speaker A: Way down there.
[01:04:07] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what we try to do. Let it build up right there so much, because if not, they're going to be right there. Properties and. That's right. Get it across the road.
[01:04:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
Crazy.
It just goes down every block, man. Just covered.
[01:04:28] Speaker B: That would be covered.
[01:04:31] Speaker E: I mean, if I had to.
[01:04:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Let me.
[01:04:36] Speaker A: I guess he borrowed that tool.
Oh, he's trying to get the cat.
[01:04:40] Speaker C: Trying to catch the cat without him running away.
Cat almost got him.
[01:04:51] Speaker B: Hey, do we have any spots for a woman readway?
[01:05:04] Speaker D: No.
[01:05:07] Speaker B: Okay. All right.
[01:05:11] Speaker A: Do they take pets or.
[01:05:12] Speaker B: No. When are they going to open up the Clinton triangle up there?
[01:05:15] Speaker A: So he's taking a call.
[01:05:17] Speaker B: Are they going to have any spots open there?
[01:05:18] Speaker A: Trying to get shelter space for the female that's in the vehicle.
I think I mentioned earlier they were attacked by a guy with a hatchet earlier this morning, really early.
[01:05:31] Speaker B: What day?
[01:05:32] Speaker A: Probably the space isn't safe. This is a client. They don't want that happening here.
They're in a vehicle. They're illegally allowed to live in a vehicle. So there's no laws or security issues really going on. But we just want the safe outcome for everybody.
[01:05:47] Speaker B: Right. Okay, that's cool. All right. I'll just wait to hear from you then.
All right. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate you. All right, bye.
Well, he's stressed out.
Okay.
[01:06:03] Speaker A: Stressful work.
[01:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:06:06] Speaker A: So the negotiation, because they're not doing anything illegal. So the negotiation is always the hardest part. Right. You're out on the streets, you're trying to do the best thing for everybody.
And so that just takes having a long conversation with people, being diplomatic, making sure that they understand we're just trying to help.
[01:06:25] Speaker B: Right. Oh, he was fired up.
I thought he was just going to start swinging that thing through the window, like at people.
Yeah, he pulled that hatchet on, just smashed that window and was just swinging around.
[01:06:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:06:45] Speaker E: Is he back in there and okay.
[01:06:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. In fact, a guy with a hatchet attacked him earlier this morning.
[01:06:52] Speaker E: Yeah, he got fucking shot like a month ago or something right here.
[01:06:56] Speaker A: Right out here.
[01:06:57] Speaker E: And it was like we all thought he was dead. So it was a little od. So I work over here.
[01:07:01] Speaker B: It's wild out here.
[01:07:03] Speaker A: It is wild out here.
[01:07:03] Speaker E: It's wild.
[01:07:04] Speaker A: So I own a security company. They're my client. They're my client. They're my client. They're my client. They're my client. They're my client. Right.
[01:07:12] Speaker E: This is our shop. Luckily, we have a guy who's down on his luck who's staying actually in his van, working for us, right in front of us. So he's kind of our security right now.
[01:07:22] Speaker A: Oh, that dude right there. Okay, cool.
[01:07:24] Speaker E: But this here, this one over here, that's the fent tent right behind.
[01:07:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:07:31] Speaker E: They're selling shit all day, all the time.
[01:07:33] Speaker A: Who's in there?
He works across the street?
[01:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Like five people.
[01:07:38] Speaker A: So the guy in this van, he actually is working for them right now. Yeah, he just down on the. Just.
[01:07:43] Speaker E: He's moving to Alaska. Had a transmission problem. Knows how to build transmissions. So we said, if you work for us, you can build your transmission. So he's going to be probably leaving soon, sort of thing. He's on his way to Alaska.
[01:07:55] Speaker A: He said this guy was, like, shot.
[01:07:57] Speaker E: Maybe a month ago, less than a month ago.
[01:07:59] Speaker B: This guy surprised me. I've known him for two. Couple of years. Yeah.
[01:08:03] Speaker E: So he got shot, and they quarantined off the whole area and everything. I was assuming it was probably the fent tent that's down the way here. Because these guys are always having problems. Stealing bikes, stealing all kinds of shit all the time. It's a wrecking yard, basically.
I've just been kind of keeping an eye, like, is this guy ever coming back? Or whatnot? And then I see everybody here, and I'm like, something happening again?
[01:08:25] Speaker B: This morning, some Guy was standing right here in my car, and there was a guy that came with a hatchet where he broke the window out and was yelling at him and stuff.
[01:08:32] Speaker E: It's fucking wild out here.
[01:08:33] Speaker B: It's wild.
[01:08:34] Speaker E: I had to stop a lady from getting her purse snagged right in the middle of the street. She clearly had a drug problem, too.
This dude's probably your guys'size. She's a little thing, and he's wrenching on that fucking person. She's fighting fight. And I come running up because I'm out here having to smoke. I come running up because I just.
[01:08:53] Speaker B: Can'T not do anything.
[01:08:56] Speaker E: So I come up, and I'm ready to fucking let him have one. And then he lets go of the purse and wants to start swinging a chain at me and shit. That's just day one.
[01:09:05] Speaker A: That's like every day in Portland, baby.
[01:09:06] Speaker B: Fucking.
[01:09:06] Speaker E: I got to stop a dude who's chasing another. It's insane.
It's insane.
[01:09:12] Speaker A: It is.
[01:09:13] Speaker B: Yep. It is.
[01:09:14] Speaker A: It is insane, bro.
[01:09:15] Speaker B: Every day, man.
[01:09:16] Speaker A: You looking for a job?
[01:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I wish.
You don't have a tow rope, do you?
[01:09:21] Speaker E: Yeah, I think we might have a tow rope. Are you trying to get this thing out of here?
[01:09:23] Speaker B: Yeah, we're going tow it down the street.
[01:09:25] Speaker A: That's a good idea.
[01:09:27] Speaker E: We might have one. I'll check.
[01:09:29] Speaker A: Dude, let's just push it, bro.
[01:09:31] Speaker C: Well, we can push it, bro.
[01:09:32] Speaker A: It's three of us, man.
[01:09:33] Speaker C: It ain't that serious.
[01:09:33] Speaker A: It's a workout.
[01:09:36] Speaker C: It won't take that long to push it.
[01:09:37] Speaker A: So we're moving him down the street?
Because we need safety, bro.
[01:09:43] Speaker B: Ready? Make sure it's in neutral.
[01:09:45] Speaker C: Let me tell him it's in neutral. You got in neutral. Hold the brake down. He's going to come get put in neutral.
Is you on the brake? No, not the gas, the brake.
Put in neutral.
[01:10:09] Speaker B: The key in there? No, key is not the ignition. You got to have the key in there first for it to do it.
[01:10:15] Speaker C: Oh, you got to flip it over.
[01:10:17] Speaker A: So, apparently that guy was saying he was in a shootout. I don't know if you got that, but three weeks ago, that dude whose car we're pushing was shot. All this was cordoned off, and so he just got out of the hospital and just came back. That's why this has been such an issue.
I'm wondering if the guy who shot him came back today with a Hatchet, because he just came back to this location.
[01:10:41] Speaker B: You pushed it without the cube.
[01:10:43] Speaker A: So we definitely don't want that type of violence happening in this area. He needs to get to a place where no one knows where he's going.
[01:10:51] Speaker C: Put in neutral.
[01:10:52] Speaker A: Without one. Right.
[01:10:53] Speaker B: You got to have a key to put in neutral.
Can I open this door?
[01:11:00] Speaker C: I guess certain cars. Because mines don't need no. Mines don't need no.
[01:11:04] Speaker A: We're going to push.
[01:11:06] Speaker C: You got to find the key to turn it over.
[01:11:09] Speaker A: What is it?
[01:11:09] Speaker B: You're just trying to get the neutral.
[01:11:15] Speaker C: But you can't get it flipped over.
[01:11:20] Speaker E: Might have to push the brake down.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: While you do that.
[01:11:23] Speaker A: Cool, man.
[01:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:23] Speaker A: Nice to meet you. Yeah, you too, bro. Seem like a good guy.
I would be a flathead.
So we're stuck in gear.
[01:11:35] Speaker B: I will come back tomorrow. Okay.
Find the key. I'll come back tomorrow. Okay. All right.
You got it? Yes. Give me a call. Thanks.
When they get the key, they can find the key.
I'm not going to sit here and waste an hour. So we'll get it done tomorrow.
But they can't get it neutral until they find the key.
It's a mess.
[01:12:01] Speaker C: The only way to get that would be towing it.
[01:12:03] Speaker B: That's the only way.
Well, even towing it, you have to get it like a wrecker because you have to get the front wheels off the ground.
[01:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah, you do.
[01:12:11] Speaker B: Like with my Honda, there's a blue button I can push, and it will go into neutral.
[01:12:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:12:16] Speaker C: See my Pontiac? I could just switch it straight into neutral right now. Like, not even turned over.
[01:12:21] Speaker B: Nothing.
Something wrong with that then.
[01:12:25] Speaker A: Shouldn't be able to do that.
[01:12:27] Speaker B: Should be able to go to neutral. Unless the key is turned on.
[01:12:29] Speaker A: Let's give them five more minutes. Find that key.
[01:12:32] Speaker B: Okay.
I think their friend has the key.
[01:12:36] Speaker A: Do you all think you all have the key? Because if so, we'll wait around a little bit.
[01:12:41] Speaker E: I don't have the key.
[01:12:42] Speaker B: And she does, though. I'm just looking there real quick.
[01:12:44] Speaker E: Takes forever to get here.
[01:12:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:12:47] Speaker B: I want to see. There's a little button you can push to put it neutral.
[01:12:50] Speaker A: That's how shit is.
[01:12:51] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll get it tomorrow. All right, well, let me know when you got that key.
[01:12:57] Speaker A: We came here. A lot of people need help. We have a parking lot just one block away that probably has 30, 40 people living in it. We have some veterans here, people that are being attacked in the middle of the night, getting a shootout tacked with hatchets, and it's not safe. We're trying to help people relocate. They can't get their van out of gear. The gear is locked. There's another person that they're associated with that kind of lives with them. That person actually has the key to the van and she's not going to get here anytime soon.
[01:13:26] Speaker B: We'll come back tomorrow.
[01:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah. The only other choice we have is to come back tomorrow and tow it or push it into a safer location.
You'll probably bring your truck and tow it.
[01:13:36] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[01:13:38] Speaker A: So that's what we're doing here today.
Great episode, right? It was good to be out with Bach. Little busy today, right? Always. We're going call to call to call. So we have some issues. But let's talk about the future of loving one another. Right. What is your dream?
[01:13:57] Speaker B: Well, our dream would be to open up our own shelter here exactly the next year, probably. And if we can get that where we can get people in and get them safe and kind of run things the way we feel like it needs to be ran, that would be amazing.
I think that can happen.
[01:14:12] Speaker A: And we're currently working on that. We're currently working on trying to open up a women's shelter on 400 acres out in Columbia county. It's an accounty adjacent to Multnoma. And that's just the beginning, right? Virtually. We want a shelter also in the city that can accompany both men and women, and then that would be a kind of a feeder system to a long term residential solution. And we're working on that now. But right now, we're just on the streets every day contacting people. As you can tell, we were in three major areas. We were in the Pearl district, downtown, and over here on the central east side, and we had a cop drive by. But no one stops and says anything, right?
No other nonprofits out here. There's no one walking around meeting people where they're living on the street. We have a veteran right behind us. No one's contacting that person on a regular basis except us. It is a little scary.
Got a drug situation, gang situations. You got people getting attacked with hatchets, people getting in gunfights. So understandably, it is a scary situation. But at the end of the day, the only way we can help people is to meet them where they are. And they live in tents and they live in cars, and they're on the street. And so as loving one another and as echelon, that's where we go, right?
[01:15:29] Speaker B: That's right.
[01:15:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So thanks for sharing.
Donate to loving one another. Become part of the cause.
We need all the help that we can get. We do have fundraisers every year, but loving one another.
Our website is loapedx.org. Check us out. And we appreciate you coming on the ride along with us today. Thanks.
