Rita Chambers and Jason Hynson

[00:00] RITA CHAMBERS: Rita Chambers, 62 years old. And name of the interview partner?

[00:07] JASON HYNSON: Oh, yes. My name is Jason Hynson and I'm 42 years old. And it is Monday, April 25, 2002, and we are in the Ozarks in Missouri, southwest Missouri. Very excited to be here. And we work together.

[00:27] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes, we're colleagues.

[00:30] JASON HYNSON: Yes, we do. And I don't know, I was thinking about this because I don't know if you knew this or do you remember me calling you in January of 20? Goodness, when was that? 2016. Do you remember me calling?

[00:46] RITA CHAMBERS: I don't remember you calling specifically, but you've mentioned that before, and I always wonder, what? Was I busy that day and pleasant, or I busy that day and unpleasant?

[00:56] JASON HYNSON: Did you get my resume? Because I wanted to work at the place. So we get to work together, and we've been working together for almost six years.

[01:07] RITA CHAMBERS: Almost six years.

[01:08] JASON HYNSON: That's crazy.

[01:09] RITA CHAMBERS: November.

[01:13] JASON HYNSON: I mentioned that in our staff meeting earlier. I said, you're like my work wife.

[01:18] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes. I'm not sure how that term flies these days, but, yes, it does.

[01:24] JASON HYNSON: But we have to. You get to help. I don't know. Tell me what you do. What do you think you do when you work for a victory mission?

[01:35] RITA CHAMBERS: Victory mission. When people ask me that, and someone did just recently, I was like. I feel like from the beginning, I was kind of a catch all. I just. What everyone else couldn't do or wouldn't do kind of fell into my office. And still, to some degree, that's it. I still feel like I'm always learning new things and frustrated by technology at my age and just pushing through things. But I feel like there's still some of that, that I'm like, the problem solver. People are confused or anxious or lost. It's like, ask Rita.

[02:12] JASON HYNSON: Go to Rita. That's so funny. I think about that, too. I think that's why we did. Director of support services.

[02:21] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah. It's kind of all encompassing. It's a catch all. You know, nothing demeaning by that by any means. It's important, but it's not one specific duty. It's human resources and some safety and some admin and definitely some executive assistant role to you.

[02:40] JASON HYNSON: Yes. Yeah. Well, when you think back, I remember walking in that first day and, like, you and Jim Edge were deciding what bills to pay. I thought that was.

[02:59] RITA CHAMBERS: That was an everyday thing. And then knowing when payroll was looming, can we do this and still do payroll? And. Yeah, that was what we were living and breathing at the time. Surviving. Yeah, it was a hot mess. It was survival.

[03:17] JASON HYNSON: Well, we. I thought this would be fun because I think for us to think about five plus years in everything that's happened at victory and all the staff that have come and gone and people that are no longer with us and the different challenges, even Covid, all the things we did with COVID so. Hmm.

[03:41] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, there's been a lot of changes. I mean, that 1st, 18 months or so, there was a lot of tough decisions that you had to pull the trigger on, I guess. Yeah, I think they were decisions that a lot of the staff that had been here for a while thought needed to be done, but had never been followed through on. I think even the staff that had come and gone knew a lot of those things. They just didn't move forward on it for whatever reason. But they were hard decisions. And staff changed and came and went.

[04:15] JASON HYNSON: And there was no money. I think about that all the time. Yeah, I remember my wife, I went home and Tiffany said, can they even pay you to work there? And you guys had already felt that, though, before I even got here. Hey, don't cash your check.

[04:32] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah. Every payday, we were asked to hold our check for as long as we could bear it.

[04:39] JASON HYNSON: Did people respect that, you think?

[04:41] RITA CHAMBERS: I think people resented it, the ones that had been here a long time, because I don't think they felt like they had a voice in how the money was being spent and the money. And there was money coming in always. We've had faithful donors, you know, for the entire time I've been here, which has been eleven years this fall, so. But. So I think there was some resentment, but I think there was even at that time, probably not as well. Definitely not as much as now. But back then, there were still people here who were here because they felt called to be here.

[05:12] JASON HYNSON: Sure.

[05:12] RITA CHAMBERS: You know, so I'm speaking for myself. That's why I stayed, even though more than once I had to go back to the bank and try again. Cause unfortunately, yeah, well, I banked at the same. I banked at the same bank as victory. And they would immediately check the victory account and they're like, we're sorry, we can't cash this today.

[05:35] JASON HYNSON: Oh, my goodness. You never told me that story before.

[05:37] RITA CHAMBERS: More than once. Yeah. So I would wait a few days for as long as I could. You know, people would ask me, why do you work there if you don't know your checks kind of cash? And I said, I'm not always sure, but I feel like that's where I'm supposed to be. I feel like I'm called to be there. So I would wait.

[05:58] JASON HYNSON: That is the strangest thing. I worked one summer at another rescue mission, and we had that. There was one time where they said, hey, if you guys can wait. We were like, of course, we're living at the camp, so it's like they're feeding us, and we had shelter there, so it wasn't like it was a big deal. Yeah, I. I think what's fun about this story and just us sitting here is thinking about, like, you know, we have this unique time when it was. It was crazy. But how many of the staff are now? We've got a great culture and our, we balance our budget every year, so there's always extra that's coming in. We've paid off all the long term debt, so we've done these things. But it has been a group effort.

[06:51] RITA CHAMBERS: It definitely has. And people have waited. We've increased salaries from an HR standpoint to be more competitive and with the market locally. And I think people have waited patiently for that. So there's been a lot of changes, and it is a collective effort.

[07:10] JASON HYNSON: So when you think back on five years or six years, really? Almost six.

[07:16] RITA CHAMBERS: Almost six.

[07:17] JASON HYNSON: What just, like, jumps out that you're like, I can't believe we did that.

[07:23] RITA CHAMBERS: I think it's our. Maybe this isn't the way to describe our end product. I think before we were doing good and we were helping people and possibly even enabling people. But now I see lives change. I see men that are men, that they have jobs and they take care of their families and their children and they love their mamas, and they realize they're. I'm all about the mom because, as you know, I have a son that ideally should be in a restoration program, but he's not. So I'm always rooting for these men because of the moms and the grandmas, because I know how their life change impacts generations. So that's what I see. It used to be we had men graduate our programs, but they would just go away and you'd never hear anything. You'd never have any follow up. You never knew if they stayed sober, whether they went back to jail or back to the shelter. And in some cases, we knew they did. But there wasn't visual, concrete success stories. You could say, I know this man, and I know his life has been changed by what he's been exposed to at victory.

[08:40] JASON HYNSON: Yeah, I was down there one day at the shelter, and there was a guy that said, all these guys are back, like ten years ago. All these guys were coming back that had graduated or whatever it was that we helped at Victory mission, they were coming back. So they're still homeless or they're back to chronic homelessness or they just made a circle. So I think that's what's interesting is, and I remember thinking that before at another nonprofit, like, how do we sort of put ourselves out of a job? Shouldn't that be the goal of every, like, if we, if we're doing our job right, there should be new people, but we shouldn't serve the same people.

[09:22] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, potentially. I mean, there's always going to be the poor and the broken and the homeless. I just, I don't think you can avoid that to some level. But to not have that constant circle, that recycling of the same people is what's different now. Yeah.

[09:40] JASON HYNSON: Yeah. And even the guys, some of our guys were just in here recording with us. But I think about that. Like, those guys didn't do what we wanted, but they're working, they're productive. They're taking steps in the positive direction.

[09:56] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah.

[09:56] JASON HYNSON: And isn't that what we should all really want?

[09:58] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, I think you want change for the positive. And, yeah, you're right, some of the guys don't finish the restoration program as we describe it, but they're all taking steps. They're all moving forward to better choices and more responsibility and doing what society expects of them, if nothing else. I mean, there's always the spiritual aspect, the christian aspect that we try to. Well, we do expose the men to. If they stay with our program, they don't have to in those early stages, but it changes some of the men's life in a way that's different than some of the men that just, they come in and get the tools, they get what they need, and they walk away and they, you know, their lives are changed in a positive way, but it may not be the full, complete life change that we want for them and that we pray for them.

[10:51] JASON HYNSON: You know, something stood out to me that you said about the moms. And I think about it from a different perspective because I think about raising kids. So you're on a different place. So you're 20 years, 20 years my senior.

[11:06] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes.

[11:08] JASON HYNSON: But when I think about my kid, like, I'm raising a 16 year old, I got seven kids. I got 1614, 1210, seven, four and nine months. And when I think about my children, I don't want them to be in the shelter. Right. I don't want them to be homeless. I want them to be productive citizens. I want them to be like, where, what's your kids up to these days? Oh, one's over here, and he's an astrophysicist. And this one over here is a nuclear biologist or whatever we want. These are big titles. And I think about that with what you're saying is you're on a different spot, thinking, man, I wish my son would be here. And then now you're raising your grandson. And even what you just heard, like, if people don't do their spot, their responsibility sort of, to the human experience, then they miss. They're creating an extra burden for somebody else.

[12:07] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, almost.

[12:08] JASON HYNSON: Yeah.

[12:08] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I raised two sons, and one's your age or nearly your age. He's in, you know, he's in Utah. He's a teacher, and his wife is successful, and his children are healthy and happy. And then there's the other son who I love dearly, who has made bad choices and has drug issues. And, yes, I'm raising his son at the moment. And grandparenting as a parent, which is, you know, it's been a blessing because I feel like I'm doing it right this time, because, as you know, you live through life, you have lots of regrets. And I wasn't a believer when I was raising my children, so I think I neglected them in that way. So you just. Yeah, it's a burden and a blessing. And you want to. You want to do better this time around. For however long, I'm still praying and hoping that my son gets his life in order and raises his son to adulthood. I mean, that's still the prayer.

[13:13] JASON HYNSON: I think that's powerful, because I think no matter what relationship you have, like, even the fact that we show up here every day, day and hope that the people we interact with at the mobile food pantry on the street downtown that are unsheltered and stuff like that, like, everybody really wants the same things, right? We want happy, full lives. We want people that, you know, that we can have other relationships with. And so I think about that in both the global sense, but also in the very personal sense, that, man, I want my kids to not. Don't squander your life. But how do you inspire that? That's the crazy. I think if we could figure that.

[14:04] RITA CHAMBERS: Out, I think if you could figure that out, we wouldn't be out of business, but to be a less clientele, to come to our shelter and our programs. But, yeah, that's what you hope. That's what I hope and pray for my grandson. I mean, obviously, the ship has sailed with my adult children. They are where they are, and they're adults. They have to make their own path and have made their own path. But when you're molding a child, it's a huge responsibility. I think almost, it's a heavier burden when it's not your child, in this case, grandchild. You know, it's just you don't want to fail them. You know, you kind of feel like they started in the negative zone, whether that was, as a mother, it's always your fault. Society says it's your fault, you say it's your fault. So you don't want that to be where they start. So you're constantly trying to lift them up. I don't know. I think I'm rambling at this point.

[15:05] JASON HYNSON: But I like it because you're exactly right. Like, we have to believe that we have a role to play, and at the same time, their choices aren't our fault.

[15:18] RITA CHAMBERS: Right, right.

[15:20] JASON HYNSON: So it's like that bout that tension that's there is, I think, the struggle. So then where does, from micro standpoint and macro standpoint, like, how do you impact someone's life? Just like, does it matter what you do on a daily basis? And then, yes, it does. And then it almost feels like it doesn't.

[15:41] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah. Yeah. Luckily, toddlers are pretty resilient on those days where it doesn't feel like it's working.

[15:49] JASON HYNSON: But do you remember me coming in and asking you guys when it was like paycheck, literally paycheck to paycheck and bill to bill and payment to payment and thinking, why do y'all stay here? Do you ever think about, I mean, obviously that big motivator is that you're the people we serve, the men we serve, the women we serve. Those are somebody's daughter, those are somebody's.

[16:18] RITA CHAMBERS: I think for me, that was the calling for me is those men and women are somebody's child, you know? And I can only imagine the mothers or the men that we've, men in particular, since that's been the emphasis until this past year. Those mothers have to be just euphoric. They have to know that that was a blessing and a miracle from God for their children who have been addicted, who've been in prison, who've lost their children, and in some of their cases, raising their grandchildren, that's a miracle, you know? And that's why, when you say, why'd you stay? And people ask me, I'm like, because I feel like I'm a little part of that, even though I'm not on the front lines with the men, and women. I'm back in the office doing the support stuff that I do. There's still a part of me that when those men go up and they tell their story at the celebration that we do at the end of their program, that I had a part of.

[17:13] JASON HYNSON: That, you know, in a big part, because somebody's got to make sure our accounts are paid.

[17:22] RITA CHAMBERS: And all those pieces, hands and feet, we're all a part of it. Everyone, you know, from the janitor services that the men provide. And, you know, you're out there talking to people, which, you know, that's your gift. It's meeting people and telling the stories, and I'm behind the scenes trying to free up your time to do that. So it's all connected.

[17:48] JASON HYNSON: We have a list of. Did you know we have questions?

[17:52] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, I actually read those before, even though I didn't get my forms filled out in time. But I did read some of the questions. Questions.

[17:59] JASON HYNSON: It was funny experiencing miracles. Have you ever experienced a miracle? That one stood out to me because I thought of my son. I don't know if you knew that or not, but Titus, did I tell you about his seizures?

[18:12] RITA CHAMBERS: I knew he had a seizure issue, and I felt like you told me it had resolved through various natural homes.

[18:21] JASON HYNSON: He does not have them any longer. So I think that's pretty fantastic. And seven years old and being amazing. Yeah, I just think it's. I found this. I find this really interesting, the fact that for really, for six years, almost six years, like, we show up every day, care about people, care about what we do, try to run a good business. I feel like we're like the business people. You know, between everything that you do on a daily basis and what I do, a victory. And all the, gosh, just running that monster. It feels like a monster. Operating the business.

[19:08] RITA CHAMBERS: It is a business. Even though it's a nonprofit, we still have to be good stewards and respect the people who are giving us, whether it be a dollar or $1,000 or whatever the number is. We have to be good stewards and run a business, if not profitably, financially, at least to break even and spend their money wisely. So there's a lot involved in making sure staff get paid and utility bills get paid and the funds are coming in and lots of little pieces, because it is a business. Nonprofit, but still a business.

[19:43] JASON HYNSON: Yes. Yeah. Nonprofit means tax status.

[19:46] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes.

[19:47] JASON HYNSON: Not how you operate.

[19:48] RITA CHAMBERS: Right. Right.

[19:49] JASON HYNSON: So what. Let me ask you this question number. It says, what's the. What is your. Oh, number twelve. What is your favorite memory of me.

[20:01] RITA CHAMBERS: What is your favorite memory of me?

[20:03] JASON HYNSON: I'll answer the same.

[20:04] RITA CHAMBERS: Oh, really? Oh, gosh, I. Favorite memory of Jason.

[20:11] JASON HYNSON: I'll go first.

[20:12] RITA CHAMBERS: Okay. Yeah, you go first. Since you put me on the spot, I need to mull that one over.

[20:16] JASON HYNSON: Favorite memory. I think one of my favorite memories is when you do. When you push back really hard on something you feel strongly about, and I love it because I think I respect that about people that, you know, you can have all these organizations in a lot of ways people don't want to. Well, I can't go against what everyone else is doing, but, like, even, you know, we were talking about staffing things. I'll say, hey, I like to do this with somebody. And you're like, no, you can't. You can't do that, because if you do that, then this has to happen. And just from an HR perspective, like, trying to make sure we're. We're fair, but nothing, you know. You know, we can't show favoritism. We have to be fair, but we also have to know, hey, there's unique people there, and if somebody needs something specific, we try to meet that need, or, you know, but I just. When those little moments where you're kind of like, I'm gonna have to disagree, or I think. And I'm always like, yeah, thank you. Thank you for having a backbone and not.

[21:26] RITA CHAMBERS: I don't think I've ever been a yes Mandev, but that's been so needed.

[21:31] JASON HYNSON: And I think that's why you stayed and kind of were willing to fight through, because you're a fighter.

[21:36] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes.

[21:37] JASON HYNSON: I love that.

[21:37] RITA CHAMBERS: I would say that. I don't know if it's a memory, but I think something I will always remember is your energy and the fact that you're always reading and listening to multiple books, and you have seven children and a home and a wife. I don't know how you find the energy or the time, but you're always absorbing new materials. You know, as I said in the meeting we had this morning, it's like, I love listening to you guys because you guys are doing more reading and thinking than I do. My life's a little, I think, a more simpler level. But it's fascinating to me on how you find the time. I often wonder. I know you don't watch a lot of tv, so I think that would free up a lot, almost the world's time. And I, you know, we can all work on that. But still, I'm not sure you sleep either.

[22:32] JASON HYNSON: I do. I do like that. Though I do. I do like learning. I think that's what I got from my dad, being an ever, ever professor, always learning. He always had books, and so I remember not liking to read, though, then audiobooks, and I found audiobooks, and that was.

[22:50] RITA CHAMBERS: You didn't like to read.

[22:52] JASON HYNSON: I didn't. I never. I don't think I read a full book unless I had to in high school for any reason.

[22:58] RITA CHAMBERS: Wow.

[22:59] JASON HYNSON: Yeah.

[23:00] RITA CHAMBERS: That's crazy.

[23:01] JASON HYNSON: I didn't feel like I was a good reader. You know, those, like, things you believe about yourself, like, oh, you're not a good reader, so you don't.

[23:09] RITA CHAMBERS: I used to read all the time, and now, as I'm older, I don't read as much. I miss it, but it's hard to find the time and the energy.

[23:17] JASON HYNSON: Yeah.

[23:18] RITA CHAMBERS: So. But, yeah, I just. I think it's amazing.

[23:21] JASON HYNSON: So when you think about your work history, and I know some of you, I remember some of your things, you worked. You know, I actually met a guy that worked at sife, Rob Presley.

[23:34] RITA CHAMBERS: I don't know if we're supposed to mention names in the interview. Yes. He actually came in and bought a couple of books, and I recognized him and just verified his name.

[23:42] JASON HYNSON: And I think he was Adam. He was at. He does consulting now.

[23:48] RITA CHAMBERS: Okay.

[23:49] JASON HYNSON: And I met him at that Baron's thing down at.

[23:51] RITA CHAMBERS: Oh, maybe it wasn't. Oh, Bruce. Bruce maybe. Bruce Nasby.

[23:56] JASON HYNSON: Yes. Nasby. Yes.

[23:59] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah.

[23:59] JASON HYNSON: So did you know him?

[24:01] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, I work for him. Mm hmm.

[24:03] JASON HYNSON: He was the guy that owned the environmental company, or.

[24:06] RITA CHAMBERS: No, he was with Scythe.

[24:08] JASON HYNSON: So this is the Walmart thing, right?

[24:10] RITA CHAMBERS: Yes. Well, they're strongly affiliated. They were. Walmart was a big donor for them, supporter. So, yeah, I helped manage a grant, and my direct supervisor reported to him, so. Yes, but, yeah, I've done a lot of things career wise. When I first, you know, went, I didn't finish a four year degree, college, but I had business training, and my first job was with an environment, not environmental, a marketing company. Where I started out, I always start out at, like, the low level admin, either receptionist or executive assistant I'd moved up to by the time I started here, but I moved from that to media buyer at the marketing. So I was buying tv and time and newspaper ads and stuff. And then I left there because I wanted to stay home more with my children and worked part time at an environmental company and stayed in the environmental industry for 1820 years, you know, became a certified, associated environmental professional, and, you know, also I became a certified professional secretary, which is, you know, all of testing and memberships and things that you had to qualify for. And then I lost my last job with the environmental company unexpectedly. Even though I was praying, I was like, dear lord, I can't cry on another Monday. Going to work. Help me. Help me. I can't close this door, but please open one. I did for. I did for years, but it was just, you know, my personal life. My husband had passed away, and a few years after that, I just was at a point where I just, I just couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't that anybody was doing anything wrong, or I wasn't. I had good pay, good benefits, but I just wasn't happy anymore. And I was so. Walked in on a Thursday, and I was let go for no reason. It wasn't a bad reason. I hadn't done anything wrong. They were just restructuring, which they weren't restructuring, but it was a very cordial goodbye. And then I had been praying about traveling, and I ended up at seif, the organization you mentioned. And I got five years of traveling places. I would have never thought this little country girl would have ever gone, you know, Paris.

[26:39] JASON HYNSON: What was your favorite place?

[26:41] RITA CHAMBERS: London. But that may have been because I went there more often. I made several trips to London and got to spend a little more extended time there. Now I'm jealous, you know, but it was an answer to prayer. I had been praying to the Lord, I want to travel more. And I don't know. I was widowed at the time, and I was thinking, how am I going to travel by myself? And I did. I'd only been on a plane a couple of times before that, just here, you know, domestically and never alone. So it was quite the adventure at Seif. I enjoyed it, you know, till the, the last year, and that just wasn't a good fit for my personality. And so.

[27:20] JASON HYNSON: Well, so you think about that, like, in the business world, you know, like, you have all those experiences, and it is, it builds on just like, I've kind of been the nonprofit guy, right? I worked at the Boy Scouts, and I worked at a boys ranch helping kids, and then I, you know, like, you go work at the university and then at camp serving people with disabilities, so you kind of evolve through those, and you have to either grow or you just stay put.

[27:51] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, I think if you're willing to learn and evolve, you can move probably from industry to industry if you want to. But I know I wanted to stay in nonprofit, so the environmental company I helped, I was the first employee at environmental Works, and sadly, that Robin Melton, the founder of that company, has passed away, but I helped her and the other female partner at the time build that company. I mean, I was the first one I held down the office when they were out taking soil samples and just doing the grunt work and loved it for a long time, but as long as you're willing to learn. But anyway, they made a lot of money. Very successful, still in operation. They have multiple locations now, and I didn't want to do that anymore. I wasn't worried about making money for someone else or for someone to get rich. I wanted to do something where I felt like I was contributing, which is why I took the nonprofit job at Scythe and worked my way up there and enjoyed it and traveled. And then when that ended, I kind of just. I actually worked in a tea room as a waitress because I've always wanted to try that, too. And I did that, and it was fun.

[29:02] JASON HYNSON: I need to do the server thing because you told me that once before, and I remember thinking, I've always wanted.

[29:07] RITA CHAMBERS: To be a server. It's fun.

[29:08] JASON HYNSON: I never was.

[29:09] RITA CHAMBERS: It's fun. I probably could have made a really good living at it if I'd done it when I was stronger and younger, because it's a physically trying job, and with the pricing of salaries and things going up, it's probably maybe more profitable. I don't know. So, anyway, I saw this job as executive assistant to the former director, and I had applied for a few jobs, but nothing that I really cared whether I got an interview for because I was getting unemployment. You know, I was kind of riding that out while I did the tea room and took my partial unemployment and got an interview and started here. And I've learned a lot. Even here, even though a lot of it's still just administrative, it's just a different ball game than a for profit company, you know?

[29:58] JASON HYNSON: Yeah. You have to wear. I think I've. The one difference I would say, would be that is the. The multiple hats. Right. You have to wear all these different hats. Like. Like, you get to combine all these different entities. Like, you do a little HR and you do the. It and the accounting for. And the different kind of third party vendors, because we don't. We don't have a CFO.

[30:27] RITA CHAMBERS: No.

[30:28] JASON HYNSON: You know, we don't. We don't have these. We don't have an it guy on staff who's going to run around and make sure our computers aren't. You know, we have all those as vendors. So it is. It makes it harder to operate. And at the same time, we're not, you know, if something goes down, it's not critical. I mean, we provide shelter for Mendez, do long term programming for men and women coming out of drugs and incarceration, and we try to say, hey, there's an opportunity for your life to get back on track if you follow what we say. Yeah, you walk with it, and you're.

[31:00] RITA CHAMBERS: Willing to show up, learn. Yeah, absolutely.

[31:04] JASON HYNSON: So wearing those multiple hats like you're supporting all those different avenues. So what's the last thing if you. This is when we do those interviews. What would you tell somebody who said, hey, why would I work at a place like victory mission? Why would it matter? What would you tell them?

[31:29] RITA CHAMBERS: Oh, I think because you do feel like you're contributing to someone's bettering someone's life. I think that's really the bottom line. I think everybody, whether it be someone answering the phones that's sending, maybe we can't help them at victory, but they'll send them down the street to someone who does provide that service. Or it's on a day when they need food and we're not operating our pantry because it's a mobile pantry. But I think very rarely does anybody leave their position here at the end of the day and think, I didn't do something worthwhile.

[32:01] JASON HYNSON: Yeah, I think that's a good answer. Yeah, I think about that, too. I think about the culture, too, the kind of family that we create because it is hard. And so there's days that, you know, somebody might call you and be upset that, oh, well, they kicked me out. I was just thinking the most recent one. That guy was mad because we asked him to leave because he was actively using drugs. And it's like, wait, what? But you're still not ready to walk out a different path. So then they call and complain, but it's really like, look, I can't help you because you weren't ready to do anything to help yourself.

[32:43] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah, we can't do it for them. No, I mean, you know, I keep a picture of one of our former men that were in our restoration program that we thought was thriving. We thought he was thriving. And then he odd, you know? And it broke. It broke all of our hearts. I don't think there was anybody that worked with Travis that wasn't heartbroken and felt somewhat like, what'd we miss? What did we not see? And we all had little stories later. Well, maybe that was a sign in its own little piece. There's no way we could have ever put it all together but that also keeps you coming back so that the next one doesn't slip through the cracks on us.

[33:28] JASON HYNSON: I didn't think about that with all the stories during COVID And everybody was so isolated. And you think, man, I would have been willing to do this or that or the other. And then. But when we don't. When we don't say something, when we don't have a relationship with somebody, then you lose it.

[33:46] RITA CHAMBERS: Yeah. And that's what it boils down to as relationships. We all need them. I think victory offers people who don't have family, that don't have people they can count on. We give them that. They do. They know they can come to any one of the staff, even someone in the back office.

[34:07] JASON HYNSON: Yeah. Who's just taking their rent program fees for the week.

[34:13] RITA CHAMBERS: Exactly.

[34:13] JASON HYNSON: That's right. Because it is. Because if you are willing to show up, then people will get to know you. And then together, hopefully, we can build a brighter, more powerful community together in the Ozarks.

[34:29] RITA CHAMBERS: In the Ozarks.

[34:34] JASON HYNSON: Are we done?