Making a Difference in Cheyenne

Homelessness is not just something we see on the news in urban centers in other states; it is an issue right here in Wyoming. Robin Bocanegra, the Executive Director of COMEA, sheds light on the extent and causes of homelessness in Cheyenne and what COMEA is doing to offer solutions for those in need.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Myra and I'm Tressa, and we're fancy marketing people with Union, a Wyoming based telecommunications company. Yes, Wyoming really does exist. And we proudly serve the Rocky Mountain region. On this podcast, we will feature businesses, organizations, non-profits, and influential people from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Our mission is to highlight those that inspire their communities daily. We believe this makes us truly authentic because a journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step.
 
 Hi, Tressa. Hey, Myra. How are you doing today? I'm great. It is a beautiful Monday. It is? It's been a fast paced Monday. Yes. As I, I don't know why I packed my schedule so tight today, but it's where we're at. So. Yeah, I did too, but I think I packed my schedule tight. Based on you, I think I was trying to.
 
 Well, you're blaming me for blatantly. Exactly. I, I knew that your calendar was crazy the rest of the week, and so I tried to make sure I stick today appropriately, I think. And, I was. Yeah. And, I don't know, I was thinking about it this morning and I'm like, do I have to be there today? Do they need me today?
 
 It's not necessary. Yeah. Feeling a little sick today. And I'm like, oh, but yeah, no. Next Monday I'm off because Magnolia starts kindergarten. And so I'm taking the whole day to grieve and cry and be normal and happy and not have to think about other things or try to deal with me crying in between work calls, you know?
 
 So, yeah, like I have to be there today. Yeah, yeah. I can't be there two days. Yeah. I can't make it a habit. So yeah. Well, we've got a lot going on and I'm taking Thursday and Friday off to go see my mom. It's her 72nd birthday, so I'm just going to fly into Vegas, spend the day and evening with her and come home Friday.
 
 So yeah, when you miss a couple of days, you're trying to pack it all into the first few days of the week. It gets hectic. Yeah. Are you doing anything special for her birthday? I'm flying to Vegas to see. That's it. I feel like that's special. Yeah, I like your idea better. I don't get to say I'm flying in to see my mom now.
  
 I know, right? Yeah. She. Joan is turning 70. And so when, October 24th. So guess who's throwing her a 70th themed 70th birthday party? Me, me. And guess who's brothers are not helping much. Yours. Yeah. So, like. Oh, I really hope you like me, mom, because, No, it's, she just wants a birthday party, and I do her a 60th birthday, and, it was actually, she turned 60 the year my dad passed away, and they were only a month apart, so they would have turned 60 together.
 
 And so I did her a surprise party, you know, something to kind of lift your spirits up. And. Yeah, it was fun. And she remembered it. So she's like, hey, I think you should, have me a 70th birthday. And I'm like, you know what? I'm kind of thinking we should. So it's fun. It'll be fun. But I've just laughed because I don't really know why I'm the one doing it all, but, hey, here I go.
 
 So here you go. Oh, I love it. At least it's not a surprise. She knows she wants to have it. You don't have to try to figure out the logistics of a surprise party, because I think that would be difficult with Joan. It is hard. And so on Facebook, you know, you can email, you can make an event.
 
 Yeah. And, it says, like, I'm the host. And, she kept trying to get me to add all her friends on Facebook. And I'm like, mom, I do not want to add all your friends on Facebook. I love you and those people. I love them, too, you know? I know some of them, but I don't need all that.
 
 And I'm like, let me make you a co-host. No, that doesn't look right. And I'm like, mom, it's a Facebook event. It's not your actual birthday party, you know? So let me do this. And, finally, she gave you an. So now it's been a little easier because she can add the people she wants to add. That's funny.

 Yeah. Well, so, yeah, I'm an only child, you know that. But it sounds like if I would have had brothers, I'd be doing it all by myself anyway. It wouldn't matter. Yeah, that makes me feel better. Yeah. Don't worry about it. You're fine. Yeah, yeah. No. No. Different. Nah. They're different. They're supportive. But it's. Yeah, somehow. Here we go.
 
 But we've we've made it 70s themed, so I don't know if people will dress up or not, but I love that. Yeah. Bring it back. The 70s are back now anyway. Right. Bell bottom. Oh, yeah. Those were for girls. She graduated high school in 73. So she is, those are her years. So some she wants a DJ and I'm like, who's paying for this?
 
 I was paying for the day and the catering for her birthday parties. More fancy than my reception. And so I'm like, I don't think I even had this for my wedding. So, yeah, I love it. Okay. But anyway, y'all thought I was bougie. Oh, now we know where you get up my roof. Yeah. Well, anyhow, I'm excited for today's episode.
 
 Today we have a special guest, Robin Bocanegra. She is the executive director of Kamiya and Cheyenne, and, Hello, Robin. Hi. Hi, Robin. How are you guys today? Good. How are you? Good for a Monday? Yeah, we were just talking about that. Well, Robin, interesting. I'm not sure how long this has been there. Kamiya, am I saying it correctly?
 
 Yes. Okay. Because I've lived in Wyoming basically my whole life, and I didn't know that this was even here in the state. Do you want to tell us, like, the background and a little bit about it? Yeah. I actually opened its doors in 1982. Goes back as far as the 60s, I think it was 1965. A group of churches in town established Come Here, which stands for Community Ministry for Emergency Assistance.
 
 Okay. And so the purpose of it was to find a way to coordinate services in Cheyenne. They felt as though people in need were going to the same churches in the same area and kind of constantly asking for help. So it was meant to be kind of a clearinghouse type of a deal. And then, in the brown, you know, 81, whatever, they decided, well, we really need a shelter in town.
 
 And so they found a very small location on Lincoln Way and opened up the first be a shelter in 1982, December 3rd, they opened their doors, and I believe they had like six people stay the first night. And it was really rustic in comparison. What we have now, they had no beds, they had no bedding, no towels.
 
 If you came, you had to have your own blanket. If you wanted to take a shower, you have your own towel. They basically it was a spot on the floor to lay down and get in and out of the elements. There was no food offered, there was no staff. It was all run by volunteers. And then over the years, things just progressed.
 
 They realized that and everyone who came could only stay one night. Well, like people are homeless one night. But then it was it was a transient type of a thing. So people were constantly passing through. So then the next step was they they were given beds by the state Surplus Division. And so they had beds. Then they added, they started bringing in crock pots and serving soups and snacks and things like that and all.
 
 After just a few years, they decided or determined that that location wasn't big enough. So they came. I believe it was in the very early 90s, maybe even the late 80s. The history wasn't very well recorded, but they they purchased this building, were in now and started adding a little bit of staff. So fast forward, I came in 2010 and I believe we had seven staff on duty at that time.

 And now today we have 21 staff and we have three buildings, and a number of programs. So we've definitely grown over the years. Wow. That's amazing. Are all of the, shelters there in Cheyenne or do you have them statewide? So no, we on three properties when they're all basically adjacent to one another. So we really call it more of a campus that we've tried to develop.
 
 I think we're very similar to the Casper mission, only they have far more property than we do. But it's nice to have everything within, you know, a tight geographical area. It saves on your overhead costs, your, employee type of a thing. When everything's together, you don't have to double up on on certain positions. So the main shelter is in the middle.
 
 And then in 2019 to 20, we purchased a restaurant that was next door to us and turned that into a family shelter. That's a really great story because we were it was right. During Covid, we were picked up by a reality TV show, and they did one of those seven day makeovers. And so we had our family shelter was completely made over in seven days.
 
 Oh my God. Yeah, that was that was quite an experience. It's just like what you see on HGTV. We felt like we were right there. As they unveiled everything to us. And so that was a fun experience. And then, in 2022, the mayor offered there was, Covid money from the American Rescue Program, and the city purchased a motel on the opposite side of our main shelter.
 
 And we're right in the middle of rehabbing that and turning that into housing. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. And I was actually researching some of your services and programs because I wasn't familiar with Kimmy until just recently. And, another reason why we wanted to have you on the podcast is we think this is amazing and we want more people to know about it, because I didn't even know about it.
 
 And, do you want to talk about some of your programs? Because I noticed you have a journey program, a paid a stay. You have transitional. You have there's so much depth to this that I didn't really realize, there were so many layers to a shelter. And I don't know if this is common or if this is something special to COMEA.
 
 Or if you want to talk about the services and the programs. Sure. Well, you know, and shelters have changed over the years. So when I got here in 2010, there really were no programs. Residents could come in and stay, and I believe they were given, 60 days a year. And it didn't matter if they used them in a row, they could use one day and then leave for a week and then come back and of course, we had no computers.
 
 And so they had postcards with the person's name on it. They actually made a hashtag every time they spent the night. And that was kind of the record keeping. And so that was part of the reason that the board, I think, hired me. I had come from a shelter in South Dakota where we had developed some similar programs to what we have here now.

 We just felt like, you know, just allowing people to come in and stay randomly wasn't getting them off their feet, wasn't giving them any kind of consistency. So we looked at, you know, what do we need to do? Well, we need them to come every day. We need them to, you know, instead of discouraging them from being here, which is kind of the old side is, you know, just stay for 1 or 2 nights.
 
 We want them to come and stay for as long as it takes for them to escape homelessness. Otherwise, we're defeating the purpose. And I think that was the mentality for a long time is you're just providing shelter and food. It's a Band-Aid on the situation and people would continue to rotate. We called it a revolving door, you know, they truly would just cycle in and out, in and out and we'd see the same people for years.
 
 So the programs are meant to put a stop to that. We really have to keep a hold of these people long enough to even identify what their issues are. Why are they homeless? Why are they staying homeless? And so the journey program was developed, and I believe this is you're going to find these same programs in a lot of shelters.
 
 I know the Casper shelter. They're a faith based. So theirs is operated a little bit differently. And theirs is very much geared on on religion and faith. But the concept is still the same. Get people to come in and get them to stay there so you can get to know them and develop the trust, the rapport, and then start bringing in the services.
 
 So our journey one program is really the entry level. That's where people say, yeah, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm ready to get off the street. So we bring them in and we give them 30 days, and in that 30 days they meet with a caseworker and they are, you know, we count on them to disclose to us all of their issues, which can be challenging because, you know, in 30 days somebody is going, maybe even going to say, I don't trust you enough to tell you anything.
 
 And so that can be the hardest one. And sometimes it takes off right away, and sometimes it ends up taking way longer than 30 days. But the whole concept is that they come in, they share what they need. What can we do for them? What services can we hook them up with. And and then we go from there.
 
 So let's just say, for instance, this is a person who really doesn't have a lot of challenges as far as substance use or disabilities or limitations. They just somebody who fell into homelessness, maybe, got divorced and somebody has to leave the home. And so, you know, it might be a guy who saying, I just need a place to start over.

 This is perfect for him. He comes into the journey. One program. He's got a place to stay. He can immediately go out and look for a job. So we're going to pretend that he gets lucky and finds that job right away. So and then the next program he moves into his journey to now he starts to make a list of any debt he has.

 Maybe he's paying child support. Maybe he has to pay some alimony. He's got some legal fees. You know, he still needs to pay for his car. So he lists all of his all of his debt, and he listed income, and they put together a budget, and they start to figure out how realistic is this, you know, are you going to be able to get out of here and make a living, support yourself on on what you make as opposed to what your expenses are?
 
 We find a lot of times, and in these situations, it looks pretty hopeless because a lot of these guys don't make enough money to hardly pay their child support, let alone live. And we've had guys live here and choose to live on the street so that they can pay their child support. We had a young man who came through the shelter in and out, in and out for years, and I asked him, you know what, what's it going to take?
 
 Well, he was on disability, so he had he made like $900 a month and his child support took half of that. And I said, well, you know, a lot of people would just not pay the child support. He says, I won't do that. My child is going to know that I paid my child support. So he lived on the street till the day he died, just to make sure.
 
 And probably a year before he passed, he complete. His daughter turned 18 and he had paid all of his child support. Any back pay he owed. So, you know, when people say they're all deadbeats, not all of them are like that. So back to the programs. So you going into journey to now and you've got your budget and you're working and you're paying off your debt.
 
 That's another 30 days. And so if you've been pretty successful now we're going to offer you the pay to Stay program. Pay to stay is another area of the shelter. It's kind of a semi-private dorm. They have cubicles to sleep in. They have their separate from the rest of the shelter. They have another private bathroom. They have a kitchen, living room, laundry room, and they live down in that area.
 
 They can live. We limit it to six months, but we extend them longer if they need to. But down there, they pay $250 a month for that semi-private space. There's ten men that live in that space, and then the women's pay to stay is for four. In that time, we expect them then to continue paying their debt, put money away in savings.
 
 They shouldn't have to spend any extra money because they have their rent. They can eat in our dining room. They can, you know, get on a, a budget now and include groceries and do some of their own cooking. But, you know, we're wanting them to really save money. And this program has been extremely valuable. We find a lot of folks with with the very limited barriers do well in this, because it's just that place for them to get back on their feet.

 They don't have the pressure of too many expenses. They can, you know, really meet the, the debt that they have. And so if someone were to say to me, gosh, I have so much debt, I'm doing well, can I stay longer then absolutely will extend that state, because, again, we want them to be successful. What we will offer to though is let's say they've completed the pay to stay, but they're not quite ready to move out.
 
 And usually we save the next level, which is our transitional living. We try and save that for folks. It's not just about finances. That is particularly for folks that have bigger barriers. So maybe they have a strong substance issue or some kind of a disability. Maybe it's a mental health issue or a severe criminal history. You know, it's, folks who have to register as a sex offender can't get housing.
 
 People that have drug offenses, you know, they can't get some of those services. So if they can't afford to just move out and get an apartment and pay their way, they don't make it. And so we move them upstairs into our studio apartments. That's our transitional living program. They can live up there. We have a two year limit, but again, we let them stay as long as they need to.
 
 And up there they have a true studio apartment with their own kitchen, bathroom, living space. They pay $400 a month for that. And that is also a sober environment. And so all of this is is located within our main building. And so they can go quite far, you know, just in this building with the housing programs. But we've also found that some of our folks will say to us, you know, I'm not an alcoholic.
 
 I'm a grown man and I can't go have a beer after work or sit and have a beer or a cocktail in front of my TV watching a football game. I don't want to live like that, you know? I don't want to be treated like I have a problem when I don't have a problem. We've also had folks say to us, you know, I'm a dog lover or, you know, cats have always been very therapeutic to me.
 
 If I could have a pet, I would be so much better. Or I have a partner that I really want to live with. But we need this kind of program housing. So when we got the Stagecoach motel, we decided these are the three biggest barriers to why people refused to stay at Kamea. So let's get rid of them.
 
 So over at the stagecoach, we allow substance use if the substance is legal and if you can manage it. And we have caseworkers that will visit their clients at least once a week, if not more frequently, to make sure that if they are using, if they're drinking or whatever, that it hasn't affected their work, it hasn't affected their, you know, or their ability to go to work and pay their bills.
 
 They're keeping their apartment clean. They're not having parties. They're not selling illegal substances out of the apartment. As long as they can maintain that, like a regular adult, we allow it. They can have pets. We have two residents over there now. One has a cat and one has a dog. They're doing great. We so far have not had any couples, but some of the units are big enough that we could put a queen sized bed and allow couples to live in there.
 
 So, you know, we're trying really hard to find the gaps. What are the reasons why people just don't want to stay at a shelter and are those reasons unreasonable, or is it something that we can somehow work around? And so we've been able to do that at the stagecoach and then our family shelter, that came about for years.
 
 We were serving families here in the main shelter, and it was not at all a good environment. You know, those little kids would go into the dining room with their parents to eat and some adult who might be mentally ill, you know, goes off on somebody else. And now there's yelling and screaming and know you have to call the police.
 
 And it just wasn't an environment we wanted kids to be around. It's it's frightening enough to be homeless. We wanted them to have a really secure and comforting environment. So when we when we acquired the old, restaurant and had this group come in and remodel it, it's just a beautiful building. They have four. There's there's room for four families.
 
 We have four private sleeping areas, but they have enough beds in there that we can fit large families of like six and eight people, so many families. And then they have shared kitchen, living room. We also have three full bathrooms with complete with showers and whatnot and then some quiet spaces, case managers office, a front entrance. So it's it's really comfortable.
 
 And there's a even though it's small and you feel like, why don't you put four families in this room, there's space for them to kind of go off away from one another and spend time alone. We have a nice deck out in the back with a barbecue grill, patio furniture. There's a playground for the kids. So it's nice and and homey.
 
 And we've got, we think, enough separation that the kiddos are safe because we do allow sex offenders in the main shelter. So we do a good job of keeping that separation so that we, the families, don't feel uncomfortable. And none of our our single adults could be falsely accused of something or be tempted. You know, we're trying to protect everybody, so layout works really well.
 
 Wow. That is unbelievable. It's so great that you guys are now trying to solve the root of the issue, right? Like you were talking about. Yes, they need shelter or food or whatever, but that was kind of a Band-Aid to getting them back into living a fulfilled life. Right? Right. So I love that you've implemented these programs, and it sounds like in a pretty short time span, you've made some really drastic changes.
 
 So, Robyn, at the beginning of the podcast, you talked about, like, the revolving door, right? You just see the same people. And so since these programs have been implemented and you've been able to expand, the scope of what you do, are you seeing that lessened? Are you seeing people being very successful in getting out on their own and not having to come back to your program?
 
 Yes and no. The success rate is still very tiny. And the reason for that is we're still not meeting the need. So right now the gaps are mental health and substance use. Wyoming as a state does a really poor job of addressing substance use and mental health. And, you know, I think part of that is money.

 You know, it's expensive. It costs money. We're spread out over this large geographic area. And so, you know, a lot of the folks that come to us are coming from outside of Cheyenne because where they live, there are no services. So Cheyenne and Casper are the only two really full service shelters in the entire state. Most cities have 2 or 3 shelters just in one community.

 We've got two in our entire state. And so for these smaller communities, you know, their folks are having to come to Cheyenne or go to Casper and it's the process of getting the help you need is so problematic. So in order to get Medicaid, which would pay for someone to go in and see a doctor and get their mental health or their substance use treated, you have to be on disability.
 
 You can't just say, I can't afford health insurance and go get on Medicaid. We've voted against Medicaid expansion year after year after year. So first the person has to prove that they're disabled. Well, a lot of our folks aren't disabled. They want to go to work, but they don't make enough money. And yeah, you can go on the marketplace, but they still can't get the insurance they need.
 
 Some of them aren't employable, you know, and that's the problem. So the process of getting on disability can take two plus years. So if someone comes to the shelter and they apply for disability, they're going to expect to live here for at least two years because they're going to get denied the first time, just guaranteed they're going to get denied.
 
 
 
 Then they apply again. They might have to apply a third time. So three years. Yeah. They're finally on disability. Now they're making $750 a month. Well, you all know what rent goes for. And they can't find a place to live. So they might go to the doctor, but then they have to pay for their mental health meds, and they don't have a place to live, so they're either still in a shelter, or they've chosen to leave and have moved into something uninhabitable.
 
 
 
 And so the likelihood that this person is going to get the treatment they need get on medication, stay on medication, and become a functioning adult are slim to none. So we've taken one more step. It's still not great, but we now have an onsite therapist. Excuse me. One of our caseworkers had, just recently, and I believe it was just this.
 
 
 
 Mae graduated with her master's in counseling, and she's working on her license to be a therapist so she can practice under the supervision of another therapist. And so we moved her from case management into therapy. And so now she sees clients here, and we don't charge them anything. We just pay her a salary, and she sees them as a therapist.
 
 
 
 That's great for someone whose issues might be some depression. Anxiety, things like that. But if someone's full blown schizophrenic or bipolar and they're not medicated, therapy isn't going to do them a bit of good. They're going to go into her office and it's going to make any sense from one day to the next. So, you know, therapy is great when you're on medication and you're working towards that healing.
 
 
 
 But there's just so much that has to happen in between. So the successes we see are still the people that have those minor issues. They became homeless, lost a job, maybe got sick and couldn't go to work, had to start over divorce, relationships, things like that. Those are the reasons that people escape homeless homelessness rather quickly. Those are our success stories.
 
 
 
 We have a few that come from prison and have made that decision that, you know what, I'm done with that life, and they work their way back out, but they they aren't severely mentally ill. They aren't a 20 year, you know, drug user or alcoholic. They're not, physically disabled. These are folks that have finally made the decision, I'm going to go get a job and I'm going to work my butt off.
 
 
 
 I'm just going to change my ways. Great success with that. But that number is getting smaller and smaller. Mental health is is blowing up. Substance use is blowing up. And until we have the resources, you know, to to really treat those and start seeing them like diseases, like we would treat, you know, a heart attack or diabetes or something like that.
 
 
 
 These folks are never, never going to get help. And so they're going to continue to be circling and cycling through shelters. I had someone at the newspaper called me a while back. There was a, Supreme Court case in Idaho or somewhere that, the Supreme Court stood by a community's decision to say that it was illegal to camp in public places.
 
 
 
 And so the the, our local paper wanted to know how I felt about that. And I said, you're asking the wrong question. Why would why should anyone have to sleep in a public place? That's the question that should it be legal? But why should they? And these are the folks that we can't even keep in the shelter. We've got, oh, at least a half a dozen people, if not more, right here in Cheyenne, who are so mentally ill that they can't behave themselves properly in the shelter.
 
 
 
 And so we can't keep them here because they're such a disruption to the rest of the the residents. There's a young woman right now, I've been trying to help for about a year. And finally today I got her to sign a release of information so that I can start reaching out to people just to ask about, you know, what connections they've had with her.
 
 
 
 And the conversation with her was so riddled with delusion that I could hardly make sense out of it. She all of her medical records are classified. Even the president can't have access to them. And they are in China and so oversees all of her medical records or oversees, her family. When I asked her, I said, well, I see you talking to people and you're looking at someone, they're sitting in the chair, you're talking to them, but I don't see them.
 
 
 
 But you do. Who are you talking to and how are you communicating? And she said, well, that's my family. We're communicating, through what did she use virtually. We're communicating virtually. And she's on medication that her family gives her virtually. And, you know, and I she's never she said she's never been to the hospital. I don't know if she has.
 
 
 
 She gets arrested frequently. She we've tried to keep her in the shelter, but when she has these communications with her family, there's a lot of very vulgar language. Yelling and screaming happens at all hours of the day or night. And so even if we bring her in during bad weather, we end up making her leave, usually around 11 or 12:00, because she's keeping everyone awake.
 
 
 
 So right now, she comes to the shelter in the morning and we give her something to eat. She comes around lunchtime, we give her something else to eat, and she comes back at dinnertime. We feed her again. She comes in a couple times a week for a shower, and we keep a supply of clean clothes for her. And we do our laundry, and then we have her come in and just kind of hang out for a while.
 
 
 
 But we can't keep her because she just can't hold it together. And so I asked her today when she signed the release of information, I said, if I could get a doctor to see you, would you go? She said, well, my parents don't want me to see a doctor because, you know, a doctor tried to kill me once.
 
 
 
 And so there's a lot of paranoia. There's a lot of, you know, all of this such a delusion. And where do I begin? Number one, I don't have any money to pay for it, so I'm going to have to come up with thousands of dollars to get her in to see a psychiatrist. Yeah, she can go to community help, but they're not going to have a psychiatry list.
 
 
 
 Who's going to see her on a regular basis and make sure she's medicated? You know, maybe if she was on medication, she wouldn't be doing the yelling and the the seeing these people and having these conversations. But how do I get her to that point? Like I said, we've been working with her for an entire year, and we just now finally are able to sit down and have conversations, even though they don't make sense, she will at least trust us enough to sit in my office and have a conversation.
 
 
 
 She told me if she went to the doctor, she would want me to go with her and she would trust me to do that. But think of how much time we've put into this already. And you know, and when you ask about her family, they all live overseas. There's no one here but yet other people, other residents say they know her and that she has family here, but we can't really find anybody to reach out to.
 
 
 
 She's been arrested, like I said, numerous times. And that's just one situation. We have another young lady who's dying of Huntington's disease, and she's in the final stages and she's starting to develop dementia. But because she also acts out in violent ways, nursing homes won't take her, even though she's on Medicaid and has disability, and her parents are willing to pay out of pocket to put her in a nursing home, none of them will take her because of her violent outbursts and because she smokes and she refuses to give up.
 
 
 
 Her cigarets are kind of her thing. That's what she has. We had another man lived with us for two years because he had dementia and couldn't go out and work, but we didn't have money. We were paying little at a time to have a doctor see him, but we needed a CT scan. We needed all of these expensive medical tests to actually diagnose what he had and figured off one day, and we haven't seen him now for three months.
 
 
 
 You know, these are situations that people don't understand that homelessness is not the guy down the street panhandling because he's a drunk and he's he just doesn't want to stop using. That is not your typical homeless person. Those are actually the exceptions. And and that's the really sad reality. Yeah it is. And it's really interesting to to learn more.
 
 
 
 Robin. And I was telling Keith, our producer, before we started the podcast, that I felt a little bit ashamed to think. I didn't really think this was something that happened in rural communities, like where we live in the state of Wyoming. Right? We just associate it to urban areas, you know, major metropolitan cities. So, I was really glad that we were able to have you on the podcast to get this message out, because I'm sure that most of your funding is volunteers or donations.
 
 
 
 Yeah. And so two properties, our operating budget is $1.1 million. That's wow. I mean, when I got here in 2010 was our one little shelter and our seven employees and our operating budget was under four, $400,000 a year. But when you've got 21 employees and three buildings and you know, and you're trying to serve 100 people a day with all of these programs, it takes a lot of money.
 
 
 
 We are not on our city's budget. We are not on the state budget. The only money we get, government wise, is if we write a grant, strictly grants, and they're competitive. So the you know, we do write other grants, foundation grants. But again, you have to have a very specific program. You have to identify how you're going to serve the clients.
 
 
 
 No one wants to pay for salaries. And salaries are our biggest expense. You know, our our rural budget is like $650,000 a year. Sure. We we're employing, you know, 21 people and we're, you know, that's helping the city's economy. But we don't offer any benefits. None of our employees get any kind of health or dental or life insurance or anything else.
 
 
 
 Only our full time employees get paid holidays and and sick pay. So they're working here for not great salaries. You can make more money working in McDonald's and you can working at Columbia. So you truly have to be here because you want it to, you know. So yeah, if it wasn't for our community, it's private donation is really what drives us.
 
 
 
 And that's very scary because when the economy gets tough, people are going to start holding their money close because they have to feed their own families and they have to pay their own mortgages. And, you know, and we can't fault them for that. I do the same thing, you know, I have to watch out for my family. So we give what we have left over, and you know, so we we just have to keep telling our story and let people know that what we're doing does have an impact.
 
 
 
 We do have success stories. We we do our big fundraiser every February. It's tacos and tequila, and it's become a great fundraiser in town. And this last February we made $100,000. So it's really huge for us. But every year we bring back 2 or 3 of our graduates to tell their story and talk about what they, you know, how they got back on their feet.
 
 
 
 And, and this last year, one of the guys, his name is Clark. He, he's completely full blown schizophrenic, hears voices all day long, every day. He's on medication, but he makes $100,000 a year. Right now, he's a mechanic, but he works on the computers of of the newer cars. And so he makes a great living. But he works for me part time, not because he needs the money, but he just like staying connected to us.
 
 
 
 And so whenever I have somebody call in sick, I just call Clark, and he comes in and and fills in. But to hear him speak and talk about what it's like to go to work and, and always have those voices running through your head. But that's what he likes about the work he does, because he has to focus so much on the computer and technology of the cars.
 
 
 
 It helps keep the voices at bay because he has to focus. But if he can do that, I use him as an example. I'm like, wow, if Clark can do this, there's a lot of folks out there that I think with the right support could do it. But he had to get on disability first so he could get insurance.
 
 
 
 So he went through all these steps. It was years in the making for him to get to this point. And you know, so it it just takes people want to see everybody recovering in a matter of months, you know, oh, you're in the shelter to build it, you know, get it out and get that done. And it can take years, literally years for people to become healthy.
 
 
 
 Yeah yeah yeah, yeah. That's it's it's a lot more complex, than I obviously people understand. Yeah. Well, Robin, we're at the end of our episode. Thank you so much for being a part of this podcast with us. And something that we ask our guests before we're at the end, is how do you stay authentic? Robin?
 
 
 
 You know, I rely on my face. I, I was lucky to find a really great church when I came to Cheyenne. And I had found one right before I left my home in South Dakota. And so I was really on the fence about whether I should even leave. I thought, God, I really found this church. Maybe this is a test I'm supposed to.
 
 
 
 You know, I know that's not true. God wouldn't do that. He knows I need to. I need to make a living. So I came and found this amazing church, an amazing community. And you know, I just you have to have something that you can lean on that kind of fills your tank and that you can unload on. And, you know, God gets an earful every night.
 
 
 
 I mean, it's not always pleasant. I unload a lot. I count on my staff, my board. I'm surrounded by amazing people. I didn't do this myself. You know, I'm one of 20 plus people, and I have a board of ten people who hear me. They listen to me. They, you know, they they really listen when I'm asking for things that are a risk, that are taking money that they might think isn't necessary.
 
 
 
 I'm fortunate. And then we have a community that really listens to. And that's that's a big part of it. So it kind of goes from there. Yeah. Robin, just before we end to, do you want to tell people how they can find out more information or if they want to donate? And then we can also, put any links in the show notes.
 
 
 
 Sure. And the best way. Yeah, the best way to keep in touch with, for what's going on is Facebook. We use Facebook in a big way, and we have a lot of followers. We tell story upon story upon story, and we always tell happy stories. We tell when we screw up. We tell the story when somebody else does.
 
 
 
 But we like to share when good, bad, ugly, whatever you want to call it. Our Facebook is pretty transparent. We we do a lot on there, and I hear from people that they appreciate that. Our website is just can be a shelter.org. Very simple. You can give on our website. You can people drop off cash, people mail checks.
 
 
 
 But the website is really, you know, the easiest way. Of course, you know, when you do those online giving, they take a percentage of it. So yeah, there's always that little donation that you're giving to someone else. But, and the other thing I always offer, but rarely does anyone take me up on it, but come and see us.
 
 
 
 You don't have to make an appointment. You can drop by. You can be driving by on Lincoln Way and pull in. Come in to the front door and say, can somebody give me a tour? I would really like to see what you do here. There is not a moment in the day that at least one person can't give up 30 minutes.
 
 
 
 I mean, my janitor can give a great tour. He's a former resident. My assistant can give a great tour. I mean, our kitchen chef can give a great tour. Everybody who works here knows the ins and outs of how we work, and they know our clients. They know where the money comes. They know what we do. And so just come by.
 
 
 
 If you really want to know, we'll show you will, you know, you can see residents here. You can come and volunteer. I hate to push people to volunteer because it's not for everybody. You know, the TV shows, you see where homelessness is, everyone's grateful and everyone's warm and fuzzy. That's not the case. Some of our folks are very angry.
 
 
 
 And and because of their mental illness, they can be a little scary and a little bit aggressive. And, you know, so we want to make sure people are very aware. But then there's also people that will just melt your heart and capture your heart. So it goes from, you know, the complete extremes. You'll see it all, but you know, or pick up the phone and call and ask a question.
 
 
 
 If you hear something in the news or you heard somebody say something that doesn't make sense about, that doesn't sound very good, doesn't sound very nice, call and ask. We're human. We make mistakes. There's been times that we've done some things that we have to go back and apologize for, just like anybody else, but we try really hard not to do that.
 
 
 
 Yeah, absolutely. Well, I so much appreciate this conversation today, Robin. I appreciate you having me. Thank you. I've enjoyed it. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much Robin. 

Well until next time.

Stay authentic.