hi i'm mandy pryor and welcome to spotlight on pittsburgh spotlight on pittsburgh is a program about pittsburgh most fascinating people and what they do to make our city an amazing place to live and work when we come back i'll introduce you to dietrich director of residential programs from city mission later we'll introduce you to david kane of wounded warrior project in this special episode dedicated to our  vets thank you so much lia for coming on day and for having us were so excited that i was able to come out today so if you can tell me a little bit i guess first about your role and city mission infinite city mission for about seven years now and throughout so i've had the opportunity to really learn and grow about the homeless populations that we have in this area and i've kind of transition so i started out as a counselor and now i'm the director of residential programs and that means i oversee all of the residential beds and city mission and all of the programming that's happening there so we have about one hundred sixty residents all in and twenty two of them are better and so and we're so excited to talk about that program today wonderful so what can you tell me the city mission has gone through some enormous changes just a little background on city mission and what it's what its actual mission is absolutely so city mission is essentially were homeless rehabilitation program and that really means that we help individuals who come from all different backgrounds whether it's drug and alcohol mental health maybe medical issues domestic violence in some cases and we have them come to us they provide them with service so for the first thirty days they come into our program and we assess them we assess whatever needs whatever barriers they have and then work on devising a plan to meet those needs and remove those barriers so we spend the first six to nine months while they're with us in what we call our life for cover a face we provide them with classes and programming counseling case management and we really work on a good plan to get them to stabilize and to prepare for the future they spend time in our career center getting services to a medical clinic and then whenever it's time we move them towards our reentry phase and that's all about finding employment or finding education that meets their needs and sets them up for a successful future our goal is sustainability with everyone so we allow them to stay with us for six to nine months after they find work to allow them to maintain that stability have the first argument with the boss have a first disagreeing with a  coworker and save money so that when they leave they're not only able to pay their rent but they have a little bit of a question to prepare themselves for the future we never know what's going to happen in life and i think that that's a good way to balance those concerns and deal with those issues and so how many how many vets are you able to and i guess homeless as well how many are you able to house at this point so all and we have capacity for one hundred sixty residents across four programs w have women with children's program the holds about thirty five individuals eleven families we have a single women's program that holds about sixteen women we're currently over capacity at twenty one and there's a growing need for that population and we have  program they can hold up to ninety individuals and then we have our veterans program which houses twenty two and it's a very special program our two newest programs are women with children and veterans and the veterans program has been a long time coming and this is our newest population to serve we're very excited about that and can you tell me a little bit about the veterans program in itself absolutely so our veterans programs a little different than some of our other facilities each of the vets come in and they follow the same basic structure but we're able to address some of the issues that veterans struggle with early on in their stay so a lot of veterans come back for more with some wounds that aren't visible to the eye they come back with s d and some trauma and sometimes they can struggle to really feel like they fit into society so what are programs meant to do is number one we try to come at them with veterans and veterans works best with other veterans they feel more connected and ca e so we've separated that program into its own facility so the crabtree committee check patriot houses the full name of the facility and it's beautiful of us two floors the first floor has a quad space and that's where the folks come when they first come through our doors they go into a quad with with three other guys and we find that that's a really positive things they feel supported they're not alone and that allows us to assess for p depression as suicidality in veterans is very very high twenty two veterans die each day and i actually did the push up challenge for the twenty two and twenty and twenty two and twenty today twenty two you should do twenty two push we're going to do anything yes yes yes yes yes i've heard of that and i think that it's so important we bring awareness and that campaign helps to bring some serious awareness to this need and that's one of the reasons why we have twenty t in the facilities to represent and to allow us everywhere we go to speak about the fact that there's just such a great need for this population so after we assess them in those spaces they actually get to move into a private room so they have a bedroom space that is private and then they have a common area for things like restrooms and also for their common living space and kitchen that we do not have a kitchen facility in that building because we serve all of our residents in a common dining hall we believe that one of the best ways that we can heal is in community and having all of our residents together for for a meal is or is a great way to kind of build bonds that's wonderful and so your other programming you have a men's program as well as the brand new women's and children's shelter as well yes i have the opportunity to tour the facility it's beautiful and what a great space for families to come when they're in need can you tell me a little bit about those programs as well absolutely so each of our programs is focused on what those specific needs are so for veterans we focus more on p t s d and we focus on adjustment back into society we use programs like  like a rap program that specifically for veterans we're also starting to do some other programming that focuses on veteran needs and our men's programming program and our single women's program we focus on drug and alcohol and mental health and we focus on just finding ways to help them address whatever brought them to us drug and alcohol addiction is so common with opiate epidemic in this area we have specific programming meant to address and reduce the risk of relapse and we believe that one of the other ways that we can help reduce that risk is by involving people in service so not only do people come to volunteer at city mission but our residents volunteer throughout the community so  veterans actually participate every month they adopt a difference a soldier abroad and they send a care package filled with letters and some snacks and yeah absolutely and they feel really passionately about that but they've done a lot of different things different service projects are men and women do the same r c are willing to learn to program our newest program is a bit different in that it focuses more on parenting so we help our moms to learn how to be moms may in some cases they haven't had their children for for some periods of time for treatment or domestic violence issues and they're really reconnecting so we teach them how a whatever those issues may be that their population faces and we always try to relate to people and i mean every individual that comes to us has a story and a different background and and different needs so the program is always the same but then there's elements that we add to me those those specific needs those specific challenges and so what are ways that people can get involved what do you have coming up at the  city mission or about to celebrate through the holidays are six days of thanksgiving so there will be six days of meals coming up in the next week we're also going to be serving about three hundred meals that we're going to take out into the community wow so we're serving thomas kimball partment and washington also ark and our residents and our staff and volunteers really coming together to produce thanksgiving meals huge meals every day we typically serve about three hundred meals a day on an average day in the next couple weeks we'll see that on was double so we're excited about that we also have some christmas events coming up for our residents and we also do an angel tree so if anyone's interested we have angels that you can adopt you can adopt one angel or hundred angels would be happy to have any of those things and those are christmas gifts not only for our residents but also for children within the community so we host a same as workshop a vent every where we give away hundreds of toys to individuals in the community that might not be able to give their children a christmas this year and we think it's film porton that not only bless the residents that we have but we also are able to reach our hands out and help the community wonderful well thank you so much for the leader for coming on we'll give more information on how you can donate in get involved with the city mission after that you thank you so much  the volunteer opportunity or donate please visit city mission dot org when we come back we will have david kain of wounded warrior project and welcome back so unfortunately david couldn't make it today so we're going to keep leon and talk a little bit more about city mission i do want to say if you want to learn more about the wounded warrior project and what they're doing to contribute to our community please go to wounded warrior project dot org welcome back thanks so much for staying thank you man you're welcome so maybe we could go on a little bit more and talk about what you do out in the community that you serve absolutely well one of the things we're getting ready to do with things with the thanksgiving season is we're getting ready to distribute two hundred fifty boxes of love into the community and that's a further out really really nice to hear just you box love or give a box of love that's great absolutely so what that includes that includes an entire uncloaked thanksgiving meal so it allows you to have the fun of cooking and stuffing a turkey which i know is something that we all love to do so it provides you with the turkey stuffing potatoes even a dessert and a board game so it's great only allows people in the community who might not have the means to provide a thanksgiving meal to their family to be able to do that we're really excited this is our second year doing that outreach and we've actually increased the number of boxes of logs so we have a whole bunch of turkeys right now which were grateful for and we've had volunteers that have actually provided all of that food and donated the funds to make that program happen but on a daily basis even beyond boxes of love we provide individuals in the community with with food that may not have food we have a food pantry service and we also offer clothing vouchers so a lot of individuals donate clothing to the city mission and sometimes you'll see those those items of clothing in our hidden treasures thrift stores that the proceeds all go to suggest that our very large thrift yes yes we had a our house sale and we were actually able to make ten thousand dollars which is amazing wow we're thankful to those that came out and also those that give because those products go to support the programs that we run for our folks but our clothing we actually do a closing voucher program so individuals who need clothing for themselves or their children are able to shop at our hidden treasure stores at no cost so we give them a gift certificate and they're able to go down and get what they need we also offered to our our neighbors in need the opportunity for cold weather shelter through our summer in care program and a warming center so it's cold out imply and even with one hundred sixty beds there's still a need in the community in pittsburgh and washington in green westmoreland county we have residences far from as far away as florida if you wouldn't believe that and and from everywhere in between so we're happy to be able to serve the community and to keep people warm on days like today when it is freezing outside i would hate to see anyone be there absolutely so during the day folks can come to our summer and care center and get warm have coffee have a time to just be with others and those folks and actually helping with our food pantry distribution and they're helping with boxes of love right now putting things together for the community so that's just one way we're able to help it's nice to hear that there's a place where people can walk in feel cared for and the sense of community and that you know there's there's still surviving and things can be better absolutely we try to give hope to everyone that comes through our doors at the city mission believe it takes courage to change and it's important that we are are there with our own arms outstretched and ready to accept those in the community that need that help and so your volunteer or community outreach programs how can people how can people get involved how can people get to know you and i guess is it more of a one time thing can they volunteer on a consistent basis is there both there's definitely both options so we have some volunteers the volunteer every day you would have no idea that they weren't a full time employee at the city mission because they're just so dedicated and they help us to do things that w otherwise be able to do so they're able to really allow for some of these outreach opportunities that we have some folks that might be one a volunteer one day maybe run a server meal or you want to volunteer at a thrift store but then there are ways to stay involved on the on a consistent basis and really there's such a need for both that i would encourage anyone to come down volunteer she look ok it is our volunteer coordinator and she's fabulous she will get you connected and she will make you feel like you're really a big part of the team and we couldn't do it without our volunteers how many of them and if you don't know the number i understand how many volunteers would you say you have a city mission in a given year wow i can't tell you exactly how many volunteers do i can tell you that we have about twenty five hundred hours of volunteer service every month as city manager so our volunteer numbers i believe it's  around twelve hundred a year but don't quote me on that i could be wrong i know that it is really drastically risen in the past here and she was a huge part of that our team works really hard just to engage the community and we're thankful because more and more folks are getting involved especially from peters township area towards despard people are coming down to washington and getting involved in the city mission and we're so so thankful because there's ways to get involved that are maybe even more a part of the program we have folks that are volunteering to teach t v now which is a great piece to our career center we have nurses working in a drug free pain management clinic we have quite possibly  employment could be of you know huge help in a different way than volunteering traditionally absolutely they have everyone from physicians to counselors to to everyone in between that it's coming in and being a part of what's happening  mission and you know i have two jobs and a toddler and this community t v show so i'm a busy person i'm i'm constantly going can barely find time how else can i help like how else can i without having you know the time to spend what else can i do or how else can i do i mean absolutely we accept a nations of any kind financial donations or what keeps our doors open there are ninety nine percent privately funded and that's something that not everyone knows about city mission so this is not a government funded program the only government funding we received is for an eighteen bed shelter plus care permanent supportive housing program that is eighteen units in the community that we help individuals to to find apartments and then we provide them with case management that's the only funding that we get and that's just to cover the rent for those apartments so we need the support of donors and we also appreciate for anything that people can donate even prepared food some people will donate prepared food left over from a birthday party or an anniversary party and to our kitten and those are all donations that we can use and we're grateful for and how do they get in contact with you do they just bring it somewhere or do they get on line what's the price going to go to city mission dot org it will explain to you the different ways that you can give as far as food or we'll take that any time through our our kitchen area and if you come to our campus we have a campus map that will show you exactly where to drop off certain donations get i know some people myself included get a little lost whenever i get it would be a place has come through the city mission arch and you will find you'll always be able to find someone who will direct you well is there anything else today that you'd like to share with our audience that maybe they don't know about the city mission also where you're located absolutely so city missions located at eighty four west wheeling street and washington were in the heart of washington we'll notice the campus whenever you drive near it it's all red buildings and we have a beautiful arch that was just installed so please come on in one c c s and we'll be more than happy to show you around and give you a tour whenever whenever we talk about city mission there's one area that we sometimes don't talk about and it's one of our newest programs and it's really impacting veterans we started a program called drug free pain pain management clinic and we have a full service medical clinic on site that some individuals don't know about so so once a week on wednesdays we have this clinic and it's meant to address people with chronic pain a lot of veterans come back with chronic pain a lot of residents coming with chronic pain and sometimes we we have individuals that struggle with addiction to pain medicine trying to get rid of it and absolutely they're taking it in their own hands trying to find professional help absolutely so one of the things that we help individuals to find is pain relief without medication it's called drug free pain management and that's exactly what it is so we have physical therapists nurses and an athletic trainer that come in the physician and we have some other specialties that come in at times as well and we assess people's pain and then we use different modahl of these to help them to find pain relief and one of the things we've started using is al and that's a it's if you've ever had a tens unit attached to it any point in time for physical therapy it's meant to help to relieve pain by the use of electric current ok system works in the same way but with a different way fatter and it actually treats anxiety insomnia and chronic pain i don't so a lot of veterans struggle with sleep sometimes they struggle with anxiety in the form of  d and sometimes they struggle with pain and we're able to treat all three with this tiny little machine we just had some more intensive training on it yesterday but the v a s actually started to use it to treat better ends and we started to do it eight weeks ago so it's very exciting and we're seeing some really great results with folks but we're just so excited to be able to provide that because some of our residents don't have the means to get treatments like that and to be able to offer it on campus we've been able to help forty two residents with that so far and a lot of our veterans are in that forty two so we're just excited about the wonderful things that are happening and the opportunity to really serve people in ways that maybe are nontraditional we do we try to offer a holistic program with everything from spiritual ality i mean the city missions founded on faith and addressing all of those other needs is important to us as well so we're really trying to do everything we can to help people to remove those barriers and change their lives forever craig must be very fulfilling to work there and work with the community as much as you do absolutely and love it well i am so glad we got to hear more about city mission you're located in washington correct yes but you have residence everywhere all the way to florida so you know you're really reaching out to a lot farther than we can think and we thank you again so much for coming on the show today and hopefully everybody hears your story and they find a way to donate or they find a way to volunteer to help as well and really help the community thank you so much and we thank everyone in the community that's already giving and without the community we couldn't do what we're able to do every day and we're just so blessed to do it thank you thank you so much as a spotlight on pittsburgh we want to thank all the veterans for their time in service to our country once