EP 36: Serving at Front Porch

We're back again on the Grace Church Members Podcast with the

third installment of our Front Porch Housing Celebration

series. Today, we're sharing stories

from several of our incredible volunteers, starting with Katie

Jacobs, a community leader who supports our residents in a

crucial way. I also got to talk with Savannah

Robinson, a high school student and one of our childcare

volunteers. And finally, Kevin and Mary

Talley have served as missional residents for about nine months

and continue to lend their advocacy and expertise to the

financial coaching program at Front Porch.

Hope you enjoy these conversations.

I'm here today with Katie Jacobs, who is a volunteer at

Front Porch Housing. Katie, thank you so much for

joining us today. Thank you for having me.

Absolutely. Well, first of all, we'd love to

just hear a little bit about your background and the kind of

work that you're already doing all the time, even outside from.

Porch. Oh, awesome.

Well, I'm Katie Jacobs. I'm originally from Saint

Thomas, Virgin Islands, born and raised.

I came to South Carolina to further my education so attended

Clemson University. I received my bachelor's in

psychology and also a bachelor's in elementary education.

Later on I got my master's from Webster University in Greenville

in human resource management and management and leadership.

So I've been everything from a regular Ed teacher, special Ed

teacher. I've worked with severely

emotionally handicapped individual.

So my whole life mission is to serve others, and I actually

started the business, Anger Management of the Upstate as a

result of working at a nonprofit.

While I was there, people were calling in for classes to meet

court order requirements and we were turning people away.

And I realized people were being held in contempt of court for

something they could not find. So I decided to go down to the

solicitor's office here in Greenville County and asked what

do I need to do to become a qualified provider and was told

what the credentials were needed and experienced.

I had that, but I needed to get certified in that specific area.

So I went ahead and got my national certification and anger

management. And then later on they reached

back out to me and asked me what I expand to do domestic

violence. So I added that as well.

I'd already been certified doing parenting, so I had already been

teaching those classes originally.

The goal was to, you know, help solve a problem we saw here in

our local community with the increase of violent crimes.

Initially we're going to offer the classes from the courthouse,

but of course COVID came. We were already offering the

parenting there. And so I did a hard pivot and

decided to just step out on faith and said, you know what,

I'm going to find a brick and mortar and offer the classes

from there. So literally from 20/19 to

20/21, it was a search and we're able to open the doors in August

of 2021. And part of what I wanted to do

was not just serve in the capacity of meeting court

ordered requirements, but being able to serve in helping people

to improve their quality of life and whatever opportunities

presented themselves, you know, allowing just by faith to say,

OK, I'm going to accept that opportunity, that challenge.

And Fort Porch happens to be one of them.

Yeah, well. Yeah.

Tell us a little bit about that. How did you get involved with

working at Front Portage or serving there?

Well, I actually was had done a presentation with the Greenville

Society of Human Resource Managers and someone heard me

speak there and referred my name over.

And so I had the pleasure of meeting Leanne Calvin and we had

a meeting and she said this is some of the things we want to do

within our ministry, helping our residents really transition and

learn how to acclimate to communal living.

And so I said sure. And of course, we started with a

blank slate. Right.

Sounds about right, yeah. So we, we came up with the name,

talked about it and we said we'll call our workshops culture

of kindness. And so we started developing

topics that and of the issues that we know people normally

have when you come into communal living, Never known about

communal living, right? You know, just the common

courtesies. So we started off with topics

like nice neighboring. I mean, that might sound very

simple, but having those topics of what it is like to just be

considerate of others in shared spaces, right?

And then we talked about topics like loving thy neighbor.

Even for those who may not exercise a lot of the common

courtesies. Sure.

How do you practically do that to be supportive rather than

judgmental? And then we expanded on a whole

lot of other topics that as issues and concerns arised, we

tackled. We've tackled topics, everything

from a certain communication, how to be assertive, stating

your position without being threatening, emotional

intelligence, understanding, just not from your perspective,

from other person's perspective, learning about how to understand

self understanding, how you erase impacts, how you interact

with others, what things affect you, how much does it affect

you, how to reflect and use that as a, a, a platform to for

growth, Having difficult conversations.

I can go on and on. And a lot of the topics actually

came from the residents participating in the classes and

saying I want to learn more about this.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And that's so much of what Front

Porch is doing is like you have this background, you have this

way that God has given you skills and abilities and

education and training. And a lot of that does just look

like faithful obedience, Like let me hold out what the Lord

has given me and let me steward that for the sake of someone

else. What what has that experience

been like for you, Just as you've been able to engage with

our residents and walk them through some of these topics?

It's been very interesting because the first class I was

actually surprised. I can't believe it's over a year

that I've started doing this. The class had all males in

there, so that was kind of interesting.

And here comes this female and it was, I was like, are they

going to be really open to this? You know?

But honestly, even though the session was scheduled for an

hour and a half, how many of the residents stayed over just to

have conversation? That was amazing to me and that

they were more than just interested to me.

It was like a little hunger there to know more to, OK, I'm

there's nothing wrong with me. I'm just part of this growth

process. And everybody's a different

stage or phase in growth. So that has been very

interesting. But what I think is most

rewarding is when I attend and then somebody tells someone

else, say you got to take that class, you got to come on.

And having others join as a result of the encouragement of

others. But also I think what's also

rewarding when a situation is brought to my attention and

people are open to say, do you mind assisting?

Can we, there's maybe a a conflict with this particular

apartment. Do you mind speaking with the

residents? And whenever that opportunity is

there, I just jump in and I meet with them.

And I think with God's grace and mercy, really the fact that it

does not matter what the age difference is, the gender

difference is the cultural difference.

For them to have an open air for somebody who I feel, I guess I

can't call myself an outsider from outside the walls of your

everyday daily activities to be open and receptive and then be

willing to implement it. To me that's so rewarding

because so many times when someone that appears to be from

the outside of your community, whatever that is, many people

are not very open and accepting, much less receiving from

something from someone outside. So that has been amazing to me

and the fact that they haven't tired of me yet.

They haven't, I got tired. They still look forward to the

classes every 3rd Saturday. Yeah, we really, we we have to

brag on our residents Like they are committed, they are doing

the work and yeah, they're coming in ready to receive, you

know, whatever it is. Like they're just aware of the

ways they need to grow and they're committed to working on

those, You know, and it, it does just take a lot of courage, a

lot of humility to do that. And to your point, I mean,

depending on the situation that they may be coming from, you

know, just experiencing hurt from other people.

And it can be very difficult to trust someone from the outside.

And in many cases, they they have learned to protect

themselves by not trusting people.

So for them to be in a space where they make a choice to step

forward and to trust someone who's willing to speak in

encourage on your part to say it, to speak in and to say truth

and to help them. It is a two way St.

And both sides are really leaning in towards one another

to receive good things and to be able to move forward and grow.

And that's why this works. But it's not easy.

And we want to, we want to recognize all of that.

What have been just some of the other wins and celebrations

you've seen with some of our residents as they've gone

through these classes and trainings?

I'm thinking of 1 gentleman in particular.

He was attended the first class ever that when I started the

series and he would even every now and then send a text or

e-mail saying I remember exactly.

And he would quote and I'm thinking I can't even remember

Rick verbatim. And you would bring that back to

my remembrance and that you actually applying it.

I think those are the real special moments that, you know,

it makes a difference. But I think what also helps a

lot for making a difference is showing humanity not coming in

as I know it all, but sharing some of the challenges and

struggles that I've had and how I'm sometimes in some things I'm

still a work in progress and other things I've overcome.

So speaking from that in that tone, I think also makes a

difference for them, yeah. And what like a true experience

of a teacher, you know, that you get to see your student really

getting it and like applying it 'cause they can just regurgitate

to you all day long. But when they're able to go and

put that in their life and they're like, hmm, this worked

really well. You know, like, that's a

exciting moment. Those are the moments that

teachers live for. But then, yeah, also for you to

come as a student and to recognize we're still learning,

like we never fully arrive. We're all still growing.

And that just lends an approachability to our

residents. And that's encouraging to them

as they are continuing to pursue all of these things.

But what do you think is just unique about this work that

Front Porch is doing what they've taken on?

I think it's highly unique in that it's one of the few places

I've ever experienced that to me, ministry has legs.

When I say it has legs, it's walking it, it's talking it.

I've been in in places and spaces where you pray about it,

but you know somebody else is going to do it.

You might offer moments of time, donate money, but to actually

take on the holistic approach of not only addressing problems

that people everyday existence meeting the basic needs, but

then assisting them in allowing them space and time to grow and

develop. And when they get strong enough,

giving them the launching pad to get there.

Because to me, it has all the components.

I've, I've participated in other organizations where you have

portions of those things, but I've not been a part where you

have it. From literally what I consider

from the cradle to the grave, you have all components of it

being there, being a part of not only giving you something, but

being there to be supportive while you're there, right?

So yeah, it's ministry with legs and I absolutely love it.

Good yes no, that's a great way of saying it.

Ministry with legs and even as we're just thinking about the,

the parts of being, you know, or if it's the hierarchy of needs,

whatever framework you want to use, that front porch is really

working to meet the physical, the spiritual, mental,

emotional, which is so much of the work that you're doing.

And, and like, you do have to have all of those things.

Like if we just hit one of them, that's really great and that's

valuable, but then we're missing out on all of these other things

'cause we're whole beings, all of those things are always

interconnected. And so you can't heal one part

without healing the whole. And so, and you have to start

somewhere, you know, you can't do all of it at once.

And to your point, takes time. The way that this is set up is

for our residents to have time to work through these things and

to process them and to practice them.

That is what contributes to their ability to succeed.

And then just having support, like we keep using that word,

but that they have people who are helping them, you know,

because none of us get to where we are on our own, and we always

need our community and friends to help us out so well.

Katie, I'm just so thankful for the work that you're doing and

just your willingness to be involved in this ministry.

Really just the ways that you're being faithful again, with what

the Lord has given you in this space.

Is there anything else you wanted to say or talk about that

we didn't get to? I just say, if nothing else, I

hope Front Porch continues from years to come.

I want to see 1015 years from now some of the former residents

come back and become part of the culture of what Front porch is

of the front porch of tomorrow. Yes, absolutely.

Well, I can absolutely attest just the blessing that you have

been to that community and that is always the goal is to have

sustainable ministry. That's what we're working

towards is that at some point this thing is just going to keep

running itself. And so that you're just such a

key part of all of that, that healed people, help heal other

people. And that's, that's the good

work. So thank you so much for being

with us today. Thank you for having me.

I'm here today with Savannah Robinson, who is a volunteer at

Front Porch Housing. Savannah, thank you so much for

joining us today. Of course.

So go ahead and tell us a little bit, just what has been your

experience serving at Front Porch?

My experience has actually been really good overall.

I work in the after school program, so I go from three to

six once or twice a week and just get to hang out with the

kids. And it's really, I think it's

the fun part. Like we literally just hang out

with the kids and play outside and help them do art and

homework and I really just hang out.

So it's been really great. The kids are all so sweet and

fun and a little crazy, but they're good.

It's fun, that's right. How did you get started to serve

at Front Porch? So I went to Kenya over the

summer and I really just had a want to keep serving with kids,

I guess when I got back and Front Porch was kind of newish

and I didn't really know much about it, but one of my friends

was volunteering there every week.

And so I decided I would try it since I'm a senior and I have

lots of time. Yeah.

So I just started going and that's how.

Yeah, yeah. How it started.

I just. Kept up with it.

That's awesome. Yeah.

What have just been like some of the wins and celebrations that

you've gotten to see while you've been there?

I definitely would say actually yesterday was a big win.

All the kids were really just chill and no one was fighting.

It was pretty outside. Like the days when the kids are

really listening and attentive and you can just have a smooth,

easygoing day was are always a win.

And personally, when they started remembering my name,

that was a big win for me because I remembered their name

from day one. But like I had to keep showing

up so they would remember mine. And it's just been cool to see

that relationship with them grow.

Yeah, 'cause how long have you been serving with them?

Since September or maybe August. Probably September.

Yeah, so definitely a few months at this point and there's so

many serving roles like that is how you really get to build so

much credibility and when favor with the kids especially because

they're like, okay, we want to see somebody who is really

invested in US and is here and I know that that means so much to

them to like have a familiar face.

Yeah. What is just unique about Front

Porch and as you've been serving in childcare, how have you just

seen some of that? I think for childcare, it's

really cool what they do because it's a time for their parents to

like get their house clean, to study for the school that

they're in, to get work done and all the things.

And also let the kids have another place to be that's not

just their house and school. It's not just the same thing

every day, but it gives them. They get to hang out with these

other kids that are there and then they get to hang out with

new faces 'cause there's different volunteers every day.

So it's just fun for them. But I think it's cool that they

have that for the kids so that they can for them have something

else to do, but also the parents can get stuff done when they

don't have kids running around everywhere.

Yeah, absolutely. If you haven't had the chance to

be at Front Porch, it's great. We have this big open courtyard

and there truly are if, if the weather's good, there are kids

outside and they are playing and they're having fun and it's

really great for them. Just that they can be safe, that

they can have fun and be supervised.

But childcare is such a huge resource for parents that they

are able to take that time to take care of other things once

their kids are home from school and just know that somebody else

is looking out for their kids and helping develop them,

helping train them, helping them have fun, making sure that

they're safe is just such a huge gift.

So what has been? What has God been teaching you

as you've been serving at Front Porch?

I really think for me that I've always thought serving God means

doing these big, huge things. Like I have a purpose and it is

just this huge thing that I need to do.

But when I started serving at Front Porch, it's not this big

huge thing. It's just this sweet, simple

thing of just showing up for these kids.

And I feel like God has really been showing that in my heart

that to serve him I can just love on these kids.

And I'm serving these parents by just playing with their kids.

Like it's not these big, huge things that we have to do.

And I think it's cool that we get to love on these kids like

Jesus loves on us because we're just kind of here and Jesus

still loves us. And some of these kids, they're

just here and we just get to come up and hang out with them

and be a safe space for them. And that's just been one of the

things that's been really evident, I guess, while I've

been serving. And also just the joy that they

have. It's very like that childlike

faith, that childlike joy and getting to see that, especially

being like in stressful, like times, I guess for me, college,

like going away, all this stuff. But like these kids are also, I

don't know, they could have stress, they could have anxiety,

but they're still so happy and just joyful at all the little

things. And it makes me want to have

that too in my own life. Yeah.

I love what you said that this is just kind of a small thing

that you're just able to be consistent in.

And I mean, it's really the case for a lot of serving roles.

And I think what we would love to encourage everyone listening,

we would love for people to get involved.

And it can just look like small little things.

Whatever it is for you, whatever space you have, whatever gifts

and talents you have, you can just bring that to bear.

And whether it's once a week or once every two weeks, once a

month, just showing up and doing something small.

And that is how God asks us to serve right as he's like, yeah,

just be faithful with these little things that I've given

you. And when all of that's put

together, like he's doing a work, that's going to create

movement and blessing upon people, upon front porch

housing, upon our community. But all that happens just with

people doing small things. Yeah.

Why would you encourage other people to get involved and to

come be a part of this? I definitely think it's very

worth it for me. At the beginning it was hard to

like want to show up and want to go 'cause sometimes 3 hours can

seem like a lot with a bunch of little kids.

But now I go and like, I want to be there and I want to hang out

with him. And, but it's definitely just a

way, an opportunity to serve God and see how he's moving up front

porch because it's just cool. There's so many different

varieties of people there and you just get to hear their

stories and like where they're from, and it's just cool to be

around all those people. And I would definitely encourage

students and adults to do it because I served with both and

we all love it. Hi, my name is Kevin Talley and

this is my wife Mary and we attend the downtown campus.

So we had visited and for us to come to Greenville, we had

visited a couple times here. Mary has a younger sister with a

family that we care a ton about that we had come to visit.

And it's hard not to love everything about Greenville, but

coming from Chicago, we really love the weather and just the

kindness of of everyone here. So when COVID hit in 2020, we

had just left here visiting to see if our youngest could go to

Clemson University and see if we can somehow establish residency

here, which that was out of the question.

But it did allow us to fly back the first week of COVID and

start packing our drawers and getting ready to sell our home.

And we thought we would come here for about a year and just

sort of try it out. And here we are.

What we left in Illinois was a, you know, a decent sized home on

some acreage that we took care of and we had a lot of fun stuff

that we raised a family on. And we came here and moved into

1600 square feet. And that's where we lived for

almost three years downtown and and we enjoyed it.

I was able to put on some weight very successfully, but through

all the restaurants and we got near the end of that second

lease and we had had a couple conversations with people over

at Front Porch that said, you know what, you guys ever think

about helping us just maybe encourage the people with their

finances. And we went over there and we

just, they didn't know what they were going to do.

We had no idea what we were going to do.

But they were just like, what if you just meet with them and hear

where they're at financially? And so we did that and several

weeks later when our lease was up, I came home one day and I

said, Mary, if we're going to jump in over there.

And at this time we had started coaching, I don't know several

people, we're nearing double digits at that point.

And we're like, well, if we're going to be over there coaching,

why don't we, instead of renewing this lease, why don't

we see if they would let us move in so that we could be more

engaged in the community? And, and, and just getting to

know everything that goes on over there, all the different

ministries that go on, all the volunteers, all the staff, all,

all the, just, all the people that come in, in and out of

there all the time. And it just allowed us to to

learn things a lot quicker than if we would have just been

coming in a day or so a week volunteering.

We were really drawn to Front Porch because in our mind it was

the closest thing to the church here in Greenville or anywhere

really, just everyone supporting one another and loving each

other right where they're at, meeting them, where they're at,

and just helping them take the next step.

And so we were really encouraged by what we saw throughout that

entire ministry. But we did feel like we had some

experience with financial coaching and credit building

that we could potentially offer a hand there.

So as we started to coach more and more people, we really saw a

need that they're to duplicate ourselves and to find other

people who are passionate and committed to, to really dig in

with us and start standardizing a process to coach these

residents along from the point that we met them until the time

they were ready to transition to their next home.

And I think it's a huge step for the residents, too.

I mean, most of them are coming out of some kind of trauma and

for them to open up their lives to us takes a ton.

And it's not about a math equation.

It's not a really about finances.

It's just about walking alongside someone and

encouraging them where maybe they didn't have that

encouragement from anywhere else in their life.

But you know, they come. Many residents come from other

awesome programs that are getting people back on their

feet and those ministries are are laying that groundwork and

planting the seeds and, and we don't know, did did Miracle Hill

plant the seed? Did did one of the coaches at

front Porch plant the seed? But that's all that's all we're

doing with our faith, right? We sometimes don't see the

blossom. We just, we plant the seed and

just give someone. I think what we heard a couple

weeks ago in church is it give them, give them hope because

that's what regardless of what station people are in life, to,

to, to give them hope. And part of that hope is having

financial hope that they can see themselves going back into

society and, and surviving instead of having to return to

maybe the elements that created some of the problems that

started maybe a downward trajectory at some point.

But they've given more to us than we've given to them by far.

Once you start pouring into someone, there's probably

nothing more rewarding in life than to than to to pour into

them, because then that makes us want to grow more in our faith.

And as we grow more in our faith and we want to serve more.

And that's the kind of good things that snowball.

One, one of the coolest things that we're seeing right now is

as we have graduates and seeing people have success, we're

having them come back and give their testimonies, not just

their faith ride, but their financial.

And we just had our first one and it was I mean, it's amazing.

That's, that's someone that's when they enter, they can't look

you in the eye. They don't want to talk about

anything. They don't trust another human

being. We didn't coach them.

Someone else coached them. Just took a little bit of tidbit

from them. And she, she got in that

classroom and spoke to 13 other residents and you could have

heard a pin drop and you couldn't have written a better

script for what she wrote or what she said when she just

shared from the heart. And it's it.

She has more than hope now. She has a plan.

It's just that's, that's, that's the most rewarding part.

And it's even more rewarding to us when it's not, well, none of

This Is Us. This is all God, but we never

want to take credit for, Oh, like we coached this for.

It's so many other volunteers, not just from grace, even other

churches now that are signing up to coach these people, the, the

residents. And a lot of them sign up

because they have a financial background, because they think,

oh, this is in my wheelhouse. That's 10% of what we do and

that's what they realize. If someone would have told me

five years ago I'd be praying in public, let alone praying with

other strangers, I would have said, no, you got me mixed up

with someone else. I would have never done that.

And that's really all we ask is for someone to volunteer, pass

the background check, be willing to pray with them and encourage

them and meet with them. That's that's that's really the

only requirement. We are both prone to be self

reliant and so we have, we, we went to Front Porch thinking we

had a plan in place that this is going to work.

We can do this and that and get an app and plug them into that

and it'll all be great and they'll just be off and running.

And God has slowly shown us that we are not capable and we are

not equipped and we don't have the experience to do what it

takes to really break into this world with someone with their

finances was just such a personal part of your life.

And so he has really been working on us with that, I

believe, because we want to plan, we want to be in control,

we want to know what's going to happen from A-Z and everything

in between. But He's taught us that our

availability is much greater than our ability.

And so if we just take a step and we're called to be obedient

and available and faithful and to to seek him when we're doing

these kind of things, and then he shows up in a big way and

it's totally different than what we thought, but it's so much

better. So I think we're learning that

to be less self reliant and more God reliant and that being God

reliant is a lot less stressful. So I think that's what I've

taken from the last 10 to 12 months.

I I had a lot of changes to do because I was my picture was

next to self reliant in the dictionary.

But more so than even self reliant, just my entire identity

was tied up and having graduated from West Point, being a

business owner, being an athlete, being all these other a

parent, a volunteer running all these different things that we

always just because we were sort of go getters type A, we went

out and volunteered for all those things.

And when people ask me, oh, what's your favorite Bible

verse? I can Oh yeah, Philippians 413.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

But if you were looking at a picture on the wall that would

have looked like me out front with I'm really important in the

front of my chest with God being like this wind behind me.

And at the age of 54, I lost a job.

And it's harder when you're 54 to lose a job.

And I hit rock bottom very quickly and wasn't totally

devastating. It was devastating to my ego And

I had a choice to make. And I I got with some guys a

little older than me that were way ahead of me in faith.

Started started in a Bible study and stuff.

And then if you could change that picture.

Now I see him out front and we're blessed to have had all

these experiences that we hope that we can use those

effectively to just maybe through God's word to speak to

those people and say, you know what, you know, we've been

there. We've we've been through some

really incredibly traumatic things, but they don't define

us. The good things no longer define

us any more than the, the bad things, the hurtful things that

have happened to us because our identity, our identity isn't one

thing. And that's refreshing.

And that's where we, we want to spend our time.

You know, when I lost my job, I was 54, I thought, well, my life

might be almost half over at 54, so I better get straight.

So that was a big, that was probably the start of all this

for me. But that's, that's what we're

asking for humility and, and guidance.

And we have met so many incredible examples.

We can't use names because we'd leave someone out, but there's

people way beyond us that have been serving for 30-40 years at

a pace that I'm not sure we could ever do.

And they're, they're rewarding to be around because you know

what? They never talk about what about

them? They're talking about who

they're pouring into. Moving into front porch was just

an act of obedience. We've never, ever described it

as making a sacrifice. We were already living in 1200

square feet. The only thing I lost was my

patio with a grill. And if I really wanted to do

that, I could arrange to get the grill from the clubhouse.

We never looked at it as a sacrifice.

We looked at it as an opportunity to do something a

little bit more intentionally and to be completely sometimes

submerged into into the community there because it it

is, it's it's messy, it's not perfect.

It's it's all the things that but, but there's just so many

people over there pouring their hearts in into others that their

their lives are changed. And that's that's where the word

gets out. But also the word gets out When,

when a when a couple residents that we could write a book

already just on the the the experiences we've had and the

other coaches have had with you don't know when you meet

someone. I mean, it's, it's super clear

over there that no one has status.

The only status that we share is that we're children of God.

Because whether you live on the 1st floor or third floor, you

still live in the same building. So it's not any of the things of

this world that we're competing on.

We're just trying to be saved and we're trying to get our

finances straight. And there's a lot of that going

on in the real world too. But what we found that made what

all the coaching over there has done, the residents are much

more open and honest and vulnerable with with us than

perhaps what most of the people in society and at the normal

campuses are. And it's just so much easier.

If someone comes to you and says, this is this is where I'm

at, is there any way that I can get to that point?

And then they've never had a positive balance in their

checking account all their life. And now they're coming to you

with a 724 credit score, they've given up some of the vices in

their life and they have two or $3000 in their savings account.

That's that is life changing for all involved.

I think something really attractive about being involved

at Front Porch is just the genuine relationships that you

develop. I would much rather sit on a

bench in the common area with someone who's going to be

completely honest and genuine and real with me that I would

anywhere else in the world. And we've been able to develop

some really meaningful friendships where we're praying

for one another and we're encouraging one another.

And they're asking what's going on in our life just as much as

we're looking to see what's going on in theirs.

And that's really refreshing. And I think that's relationships

are what matter in this world, not the things, not where you

live, the car you drive. It's those genuine relationships

where I know that I could reach out to any of a number of

residents that we've coached that are now our friends and

they would be there for me. And I'm hoping that I can always

be be there for them, whether that's while they're in the

program or long after they leave.

We hope you have enjoyed this three-part podcast featuring

stories of those that work, live, and serve at Front Porch.

Why did we share this with you? Well, we unashamedly do not want

you to miss out on the ministry that is happening there.

In addition, Front Porch Housing is a nonprofit organization that

needs the support of the entire community, not just Grace

Church, to be successful. Churches and businesses have

partnered, but we need many more to effectively serve the 400 on

site residents. So will you do us a favor and

share these stories? If you were interested in

volunteering, please visit the website or grab a few friends

and coworkers and come for a tour.

Visit Inspire Coffee in the Clubhouse and soak up all the

energy of Front Porch. And as you have heard many

times, housing is just the beginning of holistic care.

The supportive services offered to each individual and family

are costly. Residents pay their rent and

utilities, but monthly donors are critical to the continued

success of the program. Your monthly donation of 25, a

hundred, $250, or anywhere in between will help cover

counseling, transportation costs, health services, and so

much more. Giving online is easy at Front

Porch, housing.org, back slash Give.

Please check the show notes for all these resources and more.

And a special thanks to our producer, Whitney Manus, for

these interviews. We'll see you again soon on the

Grace Church Podcast.