Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Life Reviewed, a podcast by Hope House Colorado, where we invite you into conversation with teenage moms and the people who champion them. These stories of struggle, overcoming and perspective shifts will challenge you to review life as you've known it. One story, one person, one conversation at a time.
Hello and welcome back to our podcast, Life Reviewed. I am Lisa Stephen, the founder and executive director at Hope House Colorado. And I am super excited to be here today with one of my favorite people, a former board member and also a fellow former teen mom, Lindsay Burnham. Thanks for coming and joining me today on our podcast, Lindsay.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Thank you. I am so honored. And just to clarify, I'm a grownup teen mom. I am not a former teen mom, so.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Oh my gosh, I love that I.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Have to have to classify that.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: That is going to be my new way of introducing myself. A grown up teen mom. I love it. That's the best. So remind, we were just kind of talking about how did we even meet each other? How did we come to be connected at Hope House? Because you've been around and on the board while you were on the board a few years ago, but probably what, 13, 14 years now.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know exactly the amount of time, but I do know, as you mentioned, I'm a grown up teen mom. So when I felt I was established enough in life, I heard about Hope House through my mother, actually, who worked at First Bank. First Bank's been a great champion for you all for many, many years.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, so much.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: So. She knew a lot about you all. And I just dabbled and did a little introduction with you and the other Lisa. And we just started kind of, you know, seeing what you had to offer and what I had to offer. And I think very quickly thereafter, I joined the board. And it was still, I wouldn't say you were young then in Hope House, but there was still a lot ahead of you at that point.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I remember, I think when you joined the board, we were still, gosh, there was still times when we were worried we were going to make payroll.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: Oh, for sure.
We had full prayers of we need a check to come in the mail. This week we were meeting over at Regis.
We had borrowed space.
This was before the resource center, before the elc.
It was a while ago.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Miracles in the mailbox, we used to call it. We still like miracles in the mailbox. For anybody out there who's listening, always, always, please. So, Lindsay, one of the things that, I mean, I remember that first lunch, just connecting with you and hearing your story of being a teen mom and just connecting on a heart level, because we both were teen moms. And for me, it's so important for us to have somebody in leadership on our board who was a teen mom because they bring such a sense of understanding of what it's like, so that the board has.
Their decisions are sort of informed by somebody who knows what it feels like. So maybe you could share a little bit about your. Your story and your journey as a teen mom.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah. So I actually was very blessed to grow up in a nuclear family.
Most of my time was spent in Nevada. So I'm. I'm local, and I had very supportive parents. Always, you know, sports, school, everything. They always told my sister and I we could be anything we wanted to be.
So, you know, just a very loving environment.
And my senior year of high school, I found out I was pregnant and had been with my boyfriend for about three years at that point in time.
We were young, obviously, and I would say, you know, very scary time, very unknown. But also, if I compare and contrast it with my later years when I was married and had kids, I would say I was probably less fearful about raising a child. I was very determined, probably naive, and thought, you know, I'll do this. I will. I will make this happen. She will have a great life.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: One of the things I love most about you is your determination. You literally, like, no mountain stands in the way.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: You're a force. Just do it. And I couldn't articulate back then all the God moments, But you and I have talked about those a lot. Like, you know, whether I got myself in stubborn situations or, you know, life was. Was just challenging.
God showed up for us a lot the entire time. And so the end of my senior year, I had my daughter Regan, who is now 24 years old and married with her own kids. So she is just such a blessing.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Such a wonderful human. What's your grandma name?
[00:04:34] Speaker B: I'm Mimi. So we have Mimi and Poppy.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: Mimi and Poppy.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
So we love being Mimi and Poppy. She's just amazing woman. She has an amazing husband who's fit into our family perfectly. So very blessed there. But back to. To when I had her senior year, my parents were, you know, they were heartbroken for me. They were sad. They were disappointed, I'm sure.
But they also were like, okay, this is happening, and you're going to go to college and you're going to have a job, and you're going to pay rent, and you're going to raise this kid, and. And we're going to Help you and my daughter's other grandparents. Same. Like, we are here. We're going to help you.
And so I had my own family version of Hope House. I had a lot of support. I had employers that were supportive. I had friends. I mean, like you guys always say, it takes a village. It took so many people to get me through college to get me to be, you know, self sustaining and be able to provide for my child.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: But how was that going to college? Like, did you. Did you feel like you didn't fit in with the other college students? Or what did it feel like for you?
[00:05:43] Speaker B: So I went to CU Denver, and at the time, I don't know what it's like now there, but at the time was more of a commuter college. So it was people that had been in, you know, jobs and then were going back to school or people that were living at home. So we had a nice melting pot of people at various stages in life. So I think in that environment, it was very supportive because everyone was walking a different walk.
There were literally professors that let me bring re into class.
And she would sit there in color and I would sit in class. And I had a great advisor who was determined to get me to graduation.
And it just, like I said, a lot of people around me, my employer was very flexible about taking classes in the morning and at night and on the weekend. Weekends and online school was just taking off. So that was helpful.
So I think in that environment, I was just so busy with work and raising Regan and classes that I was just trying to keep my head above water.
But it took me probably a smidge longer than traditional students, but I got it done.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Of course, you moved that mountain.
You became one of the 2%. I always love when we have a teen mom who graduates college and they put on their graduation cap on the back of the cap. I am the 2%. Yes. I love that so much.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Spoke at the golf tournament a couple years ago. She was.
She was graduating, and I want to say she wanted to go to law school.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I mean, that's big. Yeah. So we have actually. That's awesome that you brought that up. So Hannah Jernigan, she. It was probably several years ago now that she was at the golf tournament when she spoke, but she went to.
I can't remember if she went to CU Denver maybe as well, but she became one of the very first, like, maybe in the first three paralegals who got there. So there's a new designation for paralegals that. And I'm gonna forget the name of it. It's a designation where you're allowed to practice family law. So even though you haven't gone completely through law school, you are practicing family law. So she just started her own law group with an attorney called the Jane Law Group.
That's awesome. Hannah is practicing family law and is. She actually volunteers here and helps some of the moms that we serve. And I think she might be going to speak at the Gal.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Okay. I have chills, because that's. I mean, that's beyond, like, you're the 2%. And then she just kept going.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: And her speech at the golf tournament was just amazing.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: Amazing. I'm so glad you brought that up. I forgot about that. That speech at the golf tournament, I was gonna say when you were talking about your family and them being supportive, it really reminded me of, well, comparing and contrasting, as you said. So many of our moms don't have that family support. They just don't have anybody who believes in them and nobody in their world.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: And you need one. You need one person. I mean, I'm glad I had a lot and. And I still do. But you need literally only one person to say you can do it to. To pick you up, to tell you to keep going.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: You just need one. Oh, my gosh. I remember.
So, as you know, we have a GED high school program, and then we also have a college and career program. But one of my favorite memories was a volunteer named Craig. And when we were back in our little warehouse resource center, our small space, you could always hear everything because we were all in the same space all at the same time. So he was tutoring this young la, and his voice was really booming, and he just kept saying to her, you've got this. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe you just did that. Math problem. You are doing so great. And you could just see her, like, sit up straighter and, like. Wait, what?
You're telling me I'm smart? Like, it just took one person to say, you've got this and you're smart and you can do it, and you.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Carry that with you forever.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Yeah, you do. You carry that with you forever.
When you were speaking, it also kind of reminded me telling my parents. Well, my parents, I was never. So I wasn't too worried about telling my parents when I got pregnant.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: But John's parents.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: But John's parents, I did not want to tell.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Okay, like, you didn't want to break their heart. You didn't. What were you feeling?
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah, my parents. I didn't Have a great. They were divorced and I didn't have much relationship with them at that point, but John's family were like the perfect nuclear family in my, you know, eyes. From my kind of very discordant background. I looked at them and was like, wow, like, they don't yell at each other.
His mom and dad respected each other. They ate dinner at the table every night as a family.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Sounds like the core of everything you guys built here with like healthy relationships.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. I'm gonna tell my mother in law this time.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: I know.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Seriously, that's the best.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: That's where you were like learning it.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. So when we. I was sharing this story at the Colorado Prayer Lunch and I think it's the first time that I've shared it out loud. But when we went to tell John's parents. So my mother in law had a kidney disease that caused her to be on dialysis. And so my father in law would help her with dialysis at home. They could do it at home. He would put the needle in her arm and everything. And they would do it at home and watch a movie while she was doing dialysis. So John, in his infinite 17 year old wisdom at the time thought it would be a great idea to tell her we were pregnant while she's on dialysis. So we're standing in the basement on the yellow shag carpet watching this movie with them and like just standing there and he's not saying anything for like a full half hour. Like, they have to know by now. They probably guessed by now. And I'm like, okay, her blood is literally going through a machine right next to her.
This cannot go well. And so he finally blurts out, she's pregnant and like points his thumb at me. And I'm like, first of all, dude, you were part of this.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: We are pregnant.
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Exactly. We are pregnant. But literally, what I said at the prayer lunch and like, I think I witnessed like the single act of the greatest act of parenting in my life to date was that moment. Because they did not like yell or act disappointed or start crying or all of things I'm sure they probably felt later. But in front of us, they just. It was what you said, it was like, you're going to get married, you're going to raise a baby. Let's talk about marriage. Let's talk about what parenting looks like.
Like, how are you going to do this and how are we going to support you? They literally made sure that we knew that we were still loved and that God still loved us. And had a plan for us, which is what we try, you know, today to instill in our moms that God still loves you and he still has a plan for you, and there's literally nothing you've ever done or that's happened to you that's so bad that God would stop having the plan for your life or a plan for your baby's life. So that parental support can make all the difference in the world between whether a teen mom and teen dad are successful or not.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, completely. 100%. And like you said, a lot of our girls, they, they don't have that. And so Hope House, whether it is an individual relationship here or their peers, like, they are getting so much community in various forms, they're seeing good examples set for them. And so it's, it is a game changer for, as you always say, multiple generations.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Just like you said. I mean, it is so trite now to say it takes a village, but it really does take a village.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: I think it takes a village for anyone. I don't think it's specific to us being teen moms.
A woman raising children, raising children in a nuclear family. It just takes a village.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: That's so true.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: We all need help.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: That's exactly right.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: And we need to help each other.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: Exactly. So tell me about being a part of our board of directors and some of your, like, maybe funny memories, but also, what are some of the things you remember that you loved and what were some challenges of being a member of the board?
[00:13:14] Speaker B: I don't know if you can confirm this or not. I don't know if I was the first younger teen mom, you know, adult. I, I, I do know when I joined, I was very intimidated, and everyone was wonderful, but they were very established in their careers and families, very professional. I was, you know, starting my profession. I was stable and, and did. I was married and three children at that time.
I do have three children. But I was very intimidated.
I did feel, you know, the, the stigmas of, you know, are you good enough to be this? Can you, can you add value? So I think those insecurities, they pop up here and there, and I remember that very clearly. But the board was so loving and accepting, and I felt like my gift at that time, similar to, to what you bring, is just to say, okay, let's take a step back and let's think about sometimes these girls just need food and sometimes.
We always talked about the dip a lot, and the dip was where you're doing great and you're one moment away from Chaos or, you know, having no money in the bank or, you know, losing your house because you can't pay the rent. And so the dip is real. I went through the dip. I'm sure you and John went through the dip, where you're like, we are not making ends meet. What do we do? So I think there was a perspective that I could share of, you know, this is what they're feeling. This is what's going on right now. But I would say, as an organization, you all always came with such amazing ideas. You would pivot constantly, and I love that you're like, this is working. This isn't working. Girls need help with housing assistance, so let's pivot there. And when I started, it was just ged, and then it was like, well, why not college? You know? So everything was always building. And so I think being young on the board, it was fun to see the growth and the innovation. And I always felt like you all just, like, picked yourselves up by the bootstraps and would pivot and figure out anything that needed to be figured out and. And something. I don't know if I've ever shared this with you, but when a bunch of colleagues and myself started a firm in 2018, I channeled you every single day.
Because I was like, Lisa would just be like, oh, we can figure that out. Oh, we can go research that. Oh, what do we need? We need to, like, move the house. We'll move the house. We need to, like, finish the resource center, and we don't know if we can finish the basement. We'll figure out how to finish the basement. Like, everything was constant.
It was never a no. It was never, we can't do it. It was, we'll pray about it, but we can do it. So let's just go figure out how to do it. Oh, my gosh. And so I channeled you again and again and again because I just watched you, like, get it done. Like, don't worry about this. Just go get it done. Focus on the forward.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: I love that. It's so funny that you say that you were like. That you felt sort of intimidated when you first started because you. You present yourself with so much confidence and so much grace. Like, I literally never knew that you felt that. But what I loved was, like, one of my favorite memories of you on the board is the first time you spoke at a GED graduation and you sharing with the moms. I think you had come straight from work, and you were in a pencil skirt and a tailored blouse, and you just looked all Put together and beautiful as you always do, and the mom's just kind of looking at you, and then you starting to share your story and talking about having been a teenage mom and graduating with a baby and just the way their faces changed from. Oh, not really sure I'm connecting to. Wait, what? Like, you were a teen mom?
Like, you. You presented them this. And so many of our past board members who have been teen moms or even just women on our board, when they speak at the GED graduation, open up this whole new, like, worldview for our moms, like, change their lens. Which is one of the favorite things that I think that we do at Hope House is, you know, our moms have such a narrow worldview. They've grown up in just, you know, households where there's a lot of chaos, typically generational poverty.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: And it's survival.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: And it's survival.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: It's not thriving.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah. I mean, they've never been on a college campus. They don't know what a Pell Grant is. They don't. They just have no idea. They even have the opportunity to go to college, just even based on the fact that there's a Pell Grant available that they can apply for. So to see a teen mom who did graduate college, who now has moved on to a career and is encouraging them that they can do the same is, like, mind blowing for them.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. And you look out in the audience, and I mean, for. For you, for me, all we see is potential, you know, and they just need. They just need to hear that.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: I love that. Because everywhere they go, people see, you know, they get judged. Everywhere they go is that judgment and that stigma. And what people see is, oh, you're a teen mom, you're just going to be a statistic, or your child's going to be a statistic or worse. Like the doctors who literally, you know, say things they shouldn't say to them. Like, you do know how this happens, right? Like, I can't tell you how many doctors I've called and read them the riot act because they were super inappropriate and judgy to our teen moms. But for those of us who are talk about, like, life reviewed, like, those of us who know teen moms who actually have met a teen mom and see what they are capable of, we look at them and see nothing but possibility.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: So I would bet on. First, I would bet on a mom any day, but I would bet on a teen mom any day. Because all we want is for our kids to have the best life and we will do anything.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Yeah. I say all the time, if you want to hire a great employee, hire a teen mom, because they are multitaskers, problem solvers, determined. Like, literally, I will leap tall buildings in a single bound if it'll make.
[00:18:59] Speaker B: And if you're loyal to them, they will be so loyal to you because they just want someone to believe in them and. And, you know, show God's love to them. And so they will be the most amazing employees.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So talk to me about that a little bit. Tell me about your faith journey. How did you come to know that God loves you?
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Well, I was raised. We were raised between, like, Lutheran and Methodist, and so we, you know, you went to church on Wednesdays and Sundays and went to the potlucks and. And had a youth group and everything like that. So it was always around us. And I think in my young, um, I felt God's presence, and I definitely slipped away from him, you know, in my teenage years and my. In my early 20s. But like I said at the beginning, when I can articulate now, going back in time, like, where God had his hand on everything, he was just. He was always there, and he. He was always like, I'm here when you're. When you're ready. And so my faith just grew more and more and more after I had Regan.
The most fascinating thing we'll talk about, like, generations is that Regan was a very faithful child, like, immediately like, she is, you know, such an amazing person to look up to because of her strength and her belief in God. And that was. That happened. That wasn't even taught her. She just had it. She was just glowing with God all the time.
And her husband is a very strong man of faith. And they had their first baby, and he was extremely medically complicated, and it was. It was a very scary time for them. And. And they were so faithful, and they have used their faith. You know, he's gone through multiple surgeries over two years, and they use their faith every single day. And it's just. It's an honor to, like, watch them and. And see how that's the center of their life. And their son now, who is two and just finished up another major surgery, he sings his praise songs and he prays for everyone every night. And so, I mean, you just. Just see it, like, you see it through the generations, and it's the most beautiful thing. And they're constantly teaching us to be stronger in our faith when, you know, when they're going through stuff and they're just, you know, standing there you know, strong in their belief. And we're kind of okay, like, are we. Are we losing hope at this point in time? Are we losing. And they're like, no. And she told all of us at one point when they were at the nicu, like, you come in here with faith and positivity or you don't come in here. Oh, and it's beautiful. It's beautiful. I mean, you've been around her since she was probably five years old. Like, she just exudes faith abs.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: She absolutely does. It's really what you said, that she just glows. That's. That is true. She really does just glow with. With love for Jesus. And I mean, that is something most of our mamas, when they come through the doors, they either feel like if there is a God, he must hate me, or he's super mad at me because why does my life look like this? Or there's no, you know, there is no God.
So to.
I mean, our hope and our prayer always is that they would bump into Jesus. We say at Hope House that they would somehow see through all of us. Because the way that we share our faith at Hope House is so gentle. Like, we're never gonna hit them over the head with anything. I mean, some of our moms have experienced some pretty terrible judgment in church if they were in church when they became pregnant.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: But it's just love like Jesus. Yeah, that's it.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Just love like Jesus. Yeah. We just finished Faith Week, so we do a whole week of. Of. It's like VBS for our teen moms, and their little ones have it at the same time. And my favorite thing is that one of my favorite things this year, we have just opened the early Learning center in October. And this year is our first summer camp for the school age kids of our teen moms who are going to the licensed early learning center now. And one of the little boys who's old enough to read walked in and the theme this year was, you are loved. And so we had these banners everywhere that say, you are loved. And he walked into the early Learning center and just stopped right at the front desk and looked at the banner and he goes, yes, we are loved. And he did a fist bump.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: It was so cute. I'm like, that's the best.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: And as my daughter always says, the little ones tell the truth, they speak the truth.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: That is true. Yeah. There were 39 girls at Faith Week this year, so the most we've ever had.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: And we also had our very first kind of official baptism. We've had moms who've chosen to get baptized for, you know, all through the years. But we had our first kind of Hope House baptism at a local church, four Cs. And Clarine Shelley, who was our board chair way back in the day, our very first board chair, is now the chaplain. Well, she works at 4C's part time and she's our workplace chaplain at Hope House. So she did the little ceremony for the girls who got baptized. And it was just beautiful to watch the children watch their mothers. So when you talk about Regan glowing with faith, you maybe didn't see that you were also growing and glowing in your own faith, but Regan saw it. So I'm sitting there next to this little girl who's like four, and she's holding her mom's phone and videotaping her getting baptized. And she kept going, you got this, mom. You got this. It was so adorable.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: I do think some of the beautiful moments, I mean, my kids were all, we baptized them when they were born. That was part of the tradition in our family. So they, you know, got to wear this hundred year old gown and you know, it was, you know, it was a very big deal, but they all chose to do it on their own own. And I remember Kinsley, my youngest, being baptized at Flatirons. That was, and it was so spontaneous. It was such a beautiful day. And then my son, he was baptized at Camp Timberline in Estes. And my kids have loved like Camp Timberline has been amazing for, for my children.
Just they have great community that continues after the summer with Bible studies and all sorts of great things. So we've had, we've had again a great community and village around us to help us raise these kids.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: I love that. Well, we're going to take a quick little break here and when I come back, we're going to learn a little bit more about Lindsay's story.
[00:25:03] Speaker C: Hi, everyone, it's Celeste, development coordinator at Hope House Colorado. We have an awesome group of 233 champions called our Bedrock Builders who donate monthly gifts and we would love for you to join. This group is super special to our moms because it provides them stable support through an income stream that they know they can always count on. If you'd like to become a monthly donor, please visit hopehousecolorado.org donate now and make your recurring donation today. Thank you so much for empowering our teen moms.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Welcome back to Life reviewed with Lindsay Burnham. Hey, Lindsay, I wanted to ask you about giving you and Eric have been super generous and just such a integral part of the, of the work we do at Hope House in so many ways. And one of those ways is, is through your giving. And I love, I love walking by our playgrounds and seeing your family's name on two of our playgrounds.
Tell me a little bit about why you guys got involved financially. Like what led you to, to give.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: I think is so important that the young women can feel supported, loved, they can get through their tough times.
I think not only did my family believe in me, but when I met Eric, he believed in me. That's very, very important.
He wanted to build a life together. He had no problem jumping in. He wanted to be Regan's dad. He is, as he, he's raised her.
It's such a beautiful thing. And so for both of us, we fully believe in education.
We fully believe in the support you all provide.
We, we want the girls to know that God loves them, that their community loves them. And it always resonated with me when you said we are breaking the cycle of generational poverty. And that is, that is so important. And I think as people see that there's more opportunity out there, they just, they give more to their families, they give more to their community. And as you know, they all give back to Hope House with time, energy and money. So I think we have to put our money where our mouth is. And it has been so easy to, to give here because you just see people transform. Like my husband was transformed by this place, you know, and whether it be like listening to people's stories or you had not done a capital campaign before and we were doing the capital, we were starting the capital campaign for the resource center. And Eric was your test run?
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: And he was like, oh, they got this. And he was, I mean, he was just like, let's do this and why wouldn't we do this? And so, and I was so nervous.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Like that was, I was like so nervous to have that meeting with you too and to. Because, I mean, I kind of had. I knew Eric a little bit, but I really knew you. I didn't really know Eric. And so I was like, oh man, this is so scary.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: No, it was, he was just like, yes, like we would. We. We have to be behind this 100%. So I think it's been, it's just been a no brainer for us. You are touching so many lives. You're touching so many generations. I do believe you're touching the generations of these girls, their parents, because I have watched people come to graduation and be moved and want to be, you know, want to have a healthier relationship, want to do better. And so you're going up and down, and, um, your champions, whether it's with time or energy or money, they are moved every single time they come in this place. So it's. We talked about it. I. The name is slipping for me, but we talked about it's transformational giving.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: And that resonated with me so much when I was on the board.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: I love that you brought that up, that it. That Eric had, you know, a transformational experience through being involved with Hope House. Because that's. So we always say it's our secret mission, is our champions, because they're champions of our cause. Like, we don't call them donors. We call them champions.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: Champions, always.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: You're champions of our teen moms. And we want our champions to experience God as much as we want our teen moms to experience God. And Eric was a little bit younger in his faith, I think, than you were when you guys came to Hope House. And so getting to watch him grow in his faith sort of beside you was like a total gift. And. And, you know, you don't.
I was the founder of the organization because I had an amazing heart for teenage moms. It never occurred to me that I would also get to have an amazing heart for champions. Like, I love our champions, like, only a little bit second to our teen moms.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: But every. Every event, whether it's here or we're at a hotel downtown or at the sanctuary, how many of those people are crying? I think the entire room is. I mean, we're. It's just so moving. It's so beautiful.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Yeah. When the girls tell their story, it's. It is something. And I love that they get to have that impact where I'm coaching with the young lady who's going to speak at the golf tournament this year. And she, you know, she's telling some really hard things. And the moms, usually, we always say, only share what you want to share, and we can help you share it in a way that's not, you know, too painful to say. We don't want you to share, like, deep, dark, hard things. But she. They always want to tell the real, true story of kind of what they've been through. In this particular case, this young mama lost her own mom when she was 14 years old. Her mom died of cancer, and she was the one who had to make the decision to take her off of oxygen. And at 15, she dropped out of school at 14 to start driving her mom to doctor's appointments and caring for her younger brother. So they have these difficult life stories, and when they share them so vulnerably, it moves our champions, obviously, so much. But what I always want our mamas to know is your story. You know, people come into a golf tournament or the gala, and maybe they look all put together and they look all fancy.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: No, we all have a story.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: We all have a story. We all have a story. And your story is going to touch the heart of somebody else who also, who maybe needs that little bit of hope and reminder that maybe they look like they have it all put together, but maybe they have a baby in the NICU and they need to be reminded that God is. Is present and God is strong and able and can create miracles. And that's what Mirea is the mama who's speaking. That's what she's going to share. And it's. It's so amazing. We're going to miss you at the golf tournament.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's my favorite event.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Oh, it's.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Well, no, actually, I. We have so many favorite events because I will say that you have allowed my family, everyone's families to come in here. And so my kids have cooked for the girls and their children. We've sat on the floor and played games. We've been in and, you know, the. When it was a child watch when the girls were doing their Christmas shopping and we were watching the kids.
We've done Santa pictures, we've done Halloween decorated kids. My kids have been. Yes, my kids have been a part of so many memories here as. As Hope House has grown. And so they. They love it.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: I think your son may have carted out about 20 bags of garbage.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: It was great. That was great for him.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Like, yeah, oh, gosh, buddy. Just carting out the trash.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: I love that they have. They have such good memories of coming here. And so I think that's important that they know that. That they are helping, you know, the girls, they're helping their children have, you know, a better life as well. And so as. As you're talking about, like, transformation for people. Like, my kids have been transformed as well.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: I love that. And I wanted to circle back to something you said about, you know, having. Having you guys name on a playground or, you know, we have a donor in each of our buildings, the resource center and the Early Learning center building that have the names of people who've given for capital campaigns and every single person who has their Name on something, didn't want their name on that something for their own selves. It's always because we want to be able to point to those names and tell our mamas, look, your community loves you and they believe in you. And you know, sometimes the people that were God intended to care for you either couldn't or wouldn't provide for you the way that you should have been provided for. But there are people in this world who believe in you so deeply that they, they are investing in your future by providing this. And I love telling those stories because, you know, back in the day when we were in the little tiny resource center and it was, it was the.
[00:33:44] Speaker B: One in Westminster, we're talking where the crock pots and the, the closet was for meetings and.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Yeah, you're not going where the, the crock pots were plugged in under the desk, are you?
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Because I'm pretty sure that never happened. That never happened.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: But now they walk into this resource center and it's beautiful and put together. And I mean, our capital campaigns have been so successful, we have no debt on any, you know, all three buildings in our campus and all of the buildings are so incredible. And I think now the moms walk through the doors and it's like coming to a school or something where it's like, oh, this just magically exists.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Pride and ownership.
[00:34:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: Right.
Like they take pride in this place because this place has given so much to them.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:34:25] Speaker B: And I remember you've, we, we've talked a lot about how hard housing is and you have reminded us time and time again, let's give them a beautiful place to call home.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:35] Speaker B: To lay their heads. Because that just shows them, you know, what to reach for, what to go for. It shows them the sky's the limit. You always say, make them this, give them this environment that is productive for their future. And they model it. They will model it. And they will. And they will do that. They will model healthy behaviors. They will model a clean house and healthy eating and, and all of these things if you show it to them.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: Right. Healthy routine. Exactly. I mean, they want those things so badly, but they need to see it done. It's really hard to do something that you've literally never seen done. So if you've, you know, grown up in a home where 12 people sleep in a two bedroom apartment and, and nobody has a routine, there's no such thing as a bedtime routine for your child. And you eat dinner whenever and you don't, you know, you eat in front of the TV all The time or those, if that's what you've had modeled, that's just what you think is normal. So having a place that's orderly and beautiful and free of chaos is modeling for them. And. And we want them to know, like, it's not like we magically. These. This beautiful space for you doesn't magically exist because the government gives us money or something. It exists because those individual people in our community invest in you. Whether that's, you know, the vast majority of people who give to Hope House are monthly donors or they give a thousand dollars or less a year. And that all, like, every little bit adds up to being able to provide for more and more moms every year. This year, 280 teenage moms.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Is what we'll be serving.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: How many kiddos?
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. I don't even actually know the answer to that. I want to say close to 400. And always just kind of depends on how many of the moms. So, you know, Lindsay, but for our podcast listeners, we serve moms. They come into our program between the ages of 15 and 21, having had their child as a teenager, and we serve them until they turn 25. So some of our moms have two or three children and they've gotten married or they're in a long term, healthy relationship.
And speaking of that, so as we're kind of coming to the close of our time together, what would be one thing you would say to a brand new mama coming to Hope House? A teen mom who, like, heard about Hope House? Maybe a friend told her about it, but she's super nervous and, like, I don't know. I don't want to get judged. Like, what would you say to her?
[00:36:44] Speaker B: I would say, take that first step in the door and take a deep breath and let yourself be loved. And these people here, all of you will teach them how to love themselves. And when they love themselves, they will continue to thrive. They will want a better education, and they will want to provide. They already want to provide for their child. But part of that is, you know, all the stigmas that come with being a teen mom. You're just carrying all of that and you have this chip on your shoulder, and you're fighting so hard to.
To get any shred of respect. This place is just love and respect and support. And so let. I think it's hard to, like, let that guard down and let people love you. Just come in and let Hope House love on you. Let them take some of your burden, Let them walk with you and help you carry the burden. Like, you do not have to do this alone. There is an amazing community here to do that.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Could not have said that better myself, mama. If you are out there listening, come to hope house and let yourself be loved.
Thank you so much, everybody, for listening and joining Lindsay and I. Again, just one of my favorite people. Thank you for being here with me, Lindsay.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: This has been amazing. Thank you so much.
[00:37:52] Speaker D: Joy is full? My joy is full?
Precious soul?
The things I didn't know? The things I didn't know? About you?
Oh, precious soul?
The things I didn't know? The things I didn't know about you?
About you?
Sam.