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.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Good morning. Welcome back to Life Reviewed here at Hope House Colorado. We're super excited this morning. I'm having Emmy Blomster join me, who is our development officer here at Hope House. I'm Lisa Schlarbom, our director of development. So welcome, Emmy.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: I am super excited to talk to you about everything development oriented here at Hope House and about our moms and all the experiences we've had. So thanks for joining me this morning, Emmy.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: Of course. I'm excited to hear some of your stories as well as I know you have, you have a lot of them.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: I have to pair this back since it's only 40 minutes or whatever, but I'll try to stick it. Stick to the right stories that are on par to our topics today.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Yes, yes. I'll try to help. I'll try to help, too.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Great. Well, why don't you give me a little bit about your background, Emmy, Like I know you're from Texas and talk about your upbringing a little bit and what you brought you to Colorado.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I grew up in Texas and McKinney, which is just north of north of Dallas. And I came out to Colorado to play soccer at Colorado Christian University and really enjoyed that. I got my degree in health sciences, which is kind of interesting and not nonprofit related, but I really enjoyed my classes. And then once I graduated, I kind of realized that I maybe wasn't interested in the medical field as much as I thought.
So I graduated in December of 2019. And then of course, Covid happened in March, and it was really hard to find a job and kind of figure out what my next steps were. But I knew our communication manager, Dana, because she was my coach at CCU and got connected to Hope House and I came in for a tour. And I know you don't remember this, but you actually gave me the first tour because Dana was brand new and hadn't given a tour before. So you led that tour.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: I don't remember that at all.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: I didn't really remember. I didn't know who you were.
I don't think when I was taking the tour that I was like, wow, I'm with the director of development. I just thought you were some lady.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: I guess one of The Lisas at Hope House.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: One of the Lisas. But it was such a great tour. And I just remember feeling so inspired.
The high school that I went to in Texas had a lot of teen moms, and I didn't really take time to think about it at the time. You know, I was a. A teenager, and you just kind of see other teen moms but don't. Didn't understand what a.
How much they were accomplishing or what they were going through. And so being at Hope House, I learned a lot more about that and just, like, was able to have just so much respect for our teen moms. And so taking that tour with you is just really eye opening.
And just seeing what God was doing at Hope House was so evident. And so I remember after that tour being like, feeling like I need to work here. And that was such a moment of clarity after kind of not knowing what my next steps were going to be. And that was.
I was so thankful, so thankful for that. So kind of to jump into my Hope House venture. I first applied for the admissions and activities coordinator role, and I, you know, I had a great interview. I thought I was. Met the qualifications. I had Dana on the inside. So I was, like, feeling super confident. And then I didn't get it. And I was like, I was so frustrated.
And the person that got the role was perfect for it. She had great experience. And so that was definitely the right call by Hope House. But I remember. I remember once again thinking, like, I just want to work at Hope House. Like, this is such a great place. So I ended up applying to be the residential. A residential advisor, and got that job and was so thankful and so thankful for the experiences of getting to work directly with the teen moms. Yeah. Which was so amazing and so pivotal for my experience, for my role now as the development officer, having that background.
And I just want to take a second to give a shout out to all of our residential advisors, because I think that is one of the hardest roles. Yeah, it is. You're trying to build relationships with teen moms, but also uphold standards, and you're in charge of the safety for the entire house. And so I think that role sometimes doesn't get enough credit because, man, that's a hard one. And we have some amazing residential advisors that do such a great job.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: We do. I've had the opportunity to do a couple things with our moms that live here at a Hope House, and everybody that works here is really good about boundaries. And one of the things I'm not very good at Doing, like, they asked me one time, a long time ago to take one of our moms shopping, make for makeup and toiletries and stuff like that. And I think our bill was like, $500 at Ulta because I couldn't say no to anything.
So I don't get asked too often to come alongside like that.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: That doesn't surprise me.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: I was like, yeah, sure, put that in the bag.
That's great.
So I. When I hired Dana, she was the first soccer person I hired from ccu. So I think, what am I up to? Like, three soccer people from CCU currently.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: But we have five on staff that played soccer at ccu, so we've got the pipeline.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: I wish years ago I would have realized that if I hired somebody that played sports in college, like, one, they're team players. They're competitive as all get out.
That seems to be the secret sauce for being on the development team. If you've got that kind of spirit where you're that competitive and you like winning and you like achieving your goals and you want to do it all over again the next year and stuff like that, that's. I think it's hard to be in development and have that sort of mentality. But definitely, if you. If you're a soccer player like Whitney.
[00:06:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: You're a really good fit for the development team.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's worked well. We sure. We've sure had a lot of fun. I do. I remember. I guess it was two years ago you made some bet with me that you could do more pushups than I could do. You remember that? We never actually faced off, but it was like, if I won, you were gonna donate to my fundraising page, and if you won, I had to donate to your fundraising page or something like that for the 5k.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: I thought it was like, what's that exercise call where you're planking?
[00:07:00] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, it was a plank.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: It was a plank thing. A plank challenge.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: So maybe we need to bring that back.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: I haven't really been planking as much as I was a couple years ago.
[00:07:09] Speaker C: We'll think of something else.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: We'll think of something else.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: We'll report back on who wins that.
But I think that's a good segue into then. I was a residential advisor for about five months.
That's about it. Because, like I said, it's a hard role.
I think that I learned a lot. But looking at the RAs that we have now and their skill sets, I didn't have that. Like, I was not as well cut out for it as the ladies that we have doing it now, they're phenomenal.
So then the volunteer coordinator role opened. And at the time, that role reported to you.
And so my boss at the time, Brittany, she was my boss when I was an ra she was so encouraging and encouraged me to apply for it because she knew that that was something I was interested in, which is such a beautiful thing, because I know that that leaves a big hole in her team because the house has to be staffed 24 7, and somebody's got to cover it. And so I think that was just.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: A great response to zero regrets about poaching you for Brittany. Let's be clear.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: Yes. And she'll do it again, so watch out.
But so then I came on your team as a volunteer coordinator, and, man, that was.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: How many years ago was that now?
[00:08:23] Speaker C: Four.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Four years ago.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: Almost exactly four.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
So that was such a good. I just learned.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, you did a really good job.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: I learned so much.
I don't think I really even interviewed that well. Like, I don't think I had that great of an interview, but you still took a chance on me, so that was. That was good. Thanks for that.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: I think being part of the development team, if you're able to talk freely. Right. And connect with people, I think that's really powerful. Like, being able to do those two things is really important and stuff like that, and you do that really well.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: So thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it's been. I've really loved your management style, one, because you're really direct. I respond well to that. Like, I know, like, what you're telling me is what you think. You're not gonna. You're not gonna sugarcoat something. Which.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't do that very often.
[00:09:09] Speaker C: Which I appreciate if I'm trying to.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Pull one over on you. Maybe I sugarcoat at the end, but otherwise, I'm not gonna do that.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: Yeah, but. And so with that, it's been great because you've helped me move into other roles. So I started as the volunteer coordinator and then moved into the volunteer manager role, which just meant I took on some more responsibility, some more fundraising responsibility, and then moved into the development relations officer role.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Okay, Just made that one up.
[00:09:36] Speaker C: Yeah, you made that one up. That was great, though. And then I moved into the development officer role, and so I think you've always done such a great job of.
I'm such a planner, so I'm, you know, thinking ahead to the next thing and thinking, okay, Hope House is a growing organization, but it's still small. Like, what's my path here? And like not seeing any roles above me that I could take. But you did a great job of finding ways for me to take on more responsibility, take things off your plate. So you were freed up a little bit more, which I think is just such a great skill to have in your role. Because I know like hiring for development can be really hard, or nonprofit in general can be hard hiring sometimes. So you've done a great job of kind of keeping the people in our team and giving more responsibilities and moving people along so that we have such a solid team now of people that have been here for a long time.
Yeah.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: I'm always amazed that the average tenure on development team is like 18 months.
And I heard that way back when I first started.
And I just recently read another article, they quoted the same stat that the average person in development lasts 18 months.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Which is so hard because it's so relational. And I've seen that over my four years on your team is that it just gets easier as you have those relationships and have people that, you know, we needed diapers recently. Right?
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:56] Speaker C: And so we can, we have people we can call or email and say, hey, we're really needing diapers and get those fulfilled. So it just gets easier.
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Or car seats or whatever, those smaller.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: Assets gets easier as we're in it longer. So that's hard if you have that much turnover. But all that to say that you've done, you've done a great job keeping our team intact.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: I'm moving us pretty proud that we're above 18 months on our average. So that's a, that's a good thing.
I'm always trying to figure out like why that 18 month tenure is a thing. And I think about in the state of Colorado, there's 25,000 nonprofits, but only 10% of them are over that million dollar mark. So you've got, you train somebody up and then there's all these other smaller nonprofits where you can move up to the next level rather.
[00:11:42] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Rather quickly and stuff like that. So I think, I think that's part of.
I also think the job itself is really. It's difficult. Right.
I joke a little bit about how we're used car salesmen.
We hit our goal come the end of the year and then every month we're like on goal or off goal or whatever. But then in January you start all over. It doesn't matter how great your year was the year before, you just start all over.
And more than likely your goals are going to go up, they're not going to stay the same. And so you're just constantly trying to figure out how you can be better, do better, raise more money, make more connections. Like it's, it's constantly changing and stuff like that.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And so you've been doing it for over 13 years.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Yeah, going on 14.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Yeah, on 14. And we have, you know, our 5K, our golf tournament, our gala every year. It's pretty cyclical. So can you maybe share a little bit about how, I guess, your mindset when you approach those. Because it is kind of hard, you reset, you got to get sponsorships all again, you got to plan the event all again. So how have you kind of stayed competitive and in that.
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Boy.
So every single year you're gonna up your goal. Like, like our goal for the 5K this year is what, 125?
[00:12:59] Speaker C: 120,000. Yeah.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: And last year we did 105. 105. Okay. And when I look at that, the cost to participate in the 5k is a pretty small amount, right? We do that. That's our backyar.
Anybody can come and do that. The diaper dash is.
It's free, right?
[00:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it's free.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: I don't want to say anything in public. That's not true. But you can be in the diaper dash. I'm sorry, but if you're over 5, you can't be in the diaper Dash.
[00:13:27] Speaker C: But which, to clarify, the diaper dash is a little 10 yard race with babies crawling.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:35] Speaker C: Toddlers barely walking. It's a lot of fun.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: It's very fun. Very fun.
I think every single year we try to figure out, like, how we're going to raise more money. So we added that peer to peer fundraising piece. So if you're going to be that running the 5K or walking or whatever, you can like, put together a page and you can fundraise for Hope House on that. So that's probably 20. 20% of our overall income comes from the peer to peer fundraising page.
Then we've got sponsorships. Right. So that seems like that's the easiest thing to bump up is just keep recruiting more and more sponsors each year.
And I think that's, that's been the key to our success, to keep moving that up and everything.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: So how do, how do you approach it, though? Like when, when we've got a new 5k ahead of you.
You've done it.
This is your 12th 5k that you've done. So, like, how do you, how do you just stay competitive, I guess, and not you know, I think.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: I think what we have to do is. I think we're constantly looking at new donors that have joined our bandwagon and looking at them and seeing if they, you know, maybe you're a new company out there and you want to put a piece of swag in our 5k swag bag, you know, or we've just met you. And what I love about the 5K sponsorship, it starts at 500 bucks, so that's a pretty low entry into being a sponsor on the 5K, and then it goes on up from there. I think you encouraged me last year to add two different levels to the 5k so people have an opportunity to move that up a little bit and everything. So I think that's. That's part of it. And we'll probably have close to, what, maybe 500 this year.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Which is great.
Which. That's a great plug. Our 5K is coming up on Saturday, May 3rd, at the Apex Center. So tell me, since you've. This is your 12th, tell me your favorite 5k memory.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
Well, way back in the day, at the very, very beginning, we would. We did like, a superhero theme, so all the staff members dressed up as superheroes, which is pretty hysterical. I think I was a female Batman or whatever. That's pretty funny. I still have the pictures. Like, my son, who's 20. Could he turn 21 this year?
He's been to most of the 5K. Last year was the first year he missed because he's off at school. But I have pictures of him being a little, tiny, little, tiny guy and running and stuff like that. It was pretty funny. So that was a really great memory. And then last year, I don't know if I should tell the story, but I'm going to one of my former employees.
She has twins, and we're running and we're filming that.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: The diaper dash.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Right, the diaper dash. And the little boy took out. No, the little girl took out the little boy. It's like she put her hand down, he fell down and started crying and stuff like that, but we couldn't. It happened so fast that none of us really knew what happened until we went back and looked at the video.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: And she did it on purpose, and.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: She was not gonna let him win. I love that.
Anyway, they are welcome back this year to, you know, run and stuff. But that was so, so fun.
[00:16:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Watch out if you're in their age division. That's crazy.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: That's right. That's a very competitive group. I think there'll be like four. So the four year olds are going to be super competitive this year.
And luckily, you know what? We've never been rained out or snowed out that first Saturday in May. It's rained or snowed in the afternoon, but never the morning of our race, which not gone. What? Yeah, please, God.
Rain or snow on that day. But I love that event. It's been fun and I love watching the girls, like, girls will train for that event. And last year I had a friend who bought all the girls tutus that were training and they were super cute. We had really great pictures of the ad. The mom's training, the mom's pushing their. Their toddlers and stuff like that. And I love that that's an event where our moms can come too and everything.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: That. Yeah, that is such a great community event and family family friendly.
[00:17:33] Speaker B: Absolutely. Sure.
[00:17:35] Speaker C: Could you tell me. I know like I said, you've got a lot of stories. Tell me maybe one of your favorite donor stories.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Oh, boy. I got.
I think of a lot or event.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: You could, you know, favorite donor or favorite.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: Favorite event. I'll never forget this. This was right when I was stepping off of the board of directors and Lisa called me up and she said, hey, there's this bike or poker run.
Would you mind, like, taking that off for me this year? And I was like, yeah, sure. My husband rides a Harley. I ride with them. And we're super excited about going to that event. And so I'll never forget, we would stop at different.
What's the right word? Taverns, and you get a different poker card or whatever. And.
And you would, like, settle up at the end, like what your hand looked like and everything. But I'll never forget at the end, I got to speak at one of the establishments in Golden, Colorado, and tell a little bit about Hope House. And on the way home, I was just like, yelling on the back of the bike, I'm gonna get paid for doing this.
It was like, so great. I loved that event. That event went on for, like, I don't know, 10 years or whatever.
All the girls that were. All the women that put that event on were awesome. It's just so awesome. I love doing that. I met some really great people and stuff.
[00:18:58] Speaker C: It was awesome. It's cool to see just the wide range of people that come out to support our community.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: They were raising, like, almost $10,000 on random Saturday afternoon. So that was pretty cool.
[00:19:09] Speaker C: That's incredible.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think one of my favorite.
Do you want to ask me, Lisa?
[00:19:18] Speaker B: Okay. What's your favorite event?
[00:19:20] Speaker C: I'll ask myself the question.
I think one of my favorite donor experiences recently, we started offering. I mean, I guess we had offered it before, but offering it again that you can sponsor one of the moms living at the house here, and you can take them shopping. And so I connected with one of my. With one of my champions. And. And we went to HomeGoods and went shopping because the whole idea is, you know, they move into our residential program, and we have everything for them, but then when they go to move out and into their own place, sometimes they don't have stuff of their own to furnish their own apartment or whatever it would be. And so we go shopping for stuff like bedding, towels, decorations, really anything like that that they can use here while they're at the house, but then it's theirs, and they can take it with them.
And so I went shopping with a champion and a mom at HomeGoods. We had a great time, and she walked away with just amazing things, like just stuff that she's gonna have for a long time, and was so excited to be able to take that into her. Her own place eventually. And. But on the drive back, she started kind of crying and kind of getting. Tearing up and talking about. And she shared with me how nobody had ever taken care of her like that. She had never seen or witnessed such generosity. And it was such a great moment that I got to tell her, like, you deserve this. You've worked so hard. You're such a great mom. And the champion had, you know, told her that, too, had said when she thanked the champion profusely, the champion was like, you are such a great mom. You deserve this, and all these things. So that was just such a cool moment that she was willing to share that and kind of be honest that she's like, I've never felt this generosity. Like, usually I'm the one helping take care of my family.
And just being able to reiterate that this isn't just a handout. This is because you've been working so hard, right? This is because you. You deserve it, and you've created such a beautiful wife for your daughter.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: I think our moms are so used to taking care of their families, so used to taking care of their child or whatever. So when someone shows that type of generosity back to them, they are. It's often unexpected and stuff like that.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: So. And it was so cool. She even shared. She's like, I want to be able to do this for someone someday. And so it gave her Kind of like this new level of motivation. You know, we talk about mommy motivation all the time, and she was motivated to build a better life for her kid, but now she has this other motivation to want to get to the level to where she can bless others. Yeah, like that champion blessed her. So just. That's just such a cool, great opportunity. And what a blessing that I got to kind of be a fly on the wall and get to, like, help organize that. That was awesome.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: Very cool.
At our annual gala, we've had a couple moms that have gotten up and spoken at the gala, and at the end, you know, they've either said out loud or they've said to me or Lisa afterwards, saying, hey, I want to be sitting here one day at a table sponsoring the gala and stuff like that.
I can't wait to see that happen and stuff. So last year at the golf tournament, we had one of our moms speak. Her name is Myra, and I think she's done a podcast recently, too. And I'll never forget, like, she came back after the golf tournament and was like, I got to meet some of the golfers. And what was pretty cool is some of the golfers were so moved by her story that they invited her to take a picture with them. So she was super excited. Here's, you know, 20 golfers and their spouses and stuff, and here's Myra taking a picture with them and then coming back and telling all the other girls and moms and stuff that she got to meet the golfers and stuff. I don't usually get to do that, but that was so cool. I love that.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: I think maybe you've talked about this on. On another podcast, but do you want to share a little bit about transformational giving and kind of.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: The impact of that and. And maybe just explain it as a whole as well.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: So when I was on the board of directors for hope, I was. Prior to being on staff, I remember going to Colorado Christian University and attending my first Mission Inquiries foundation transformational giving seminar. And it really. It really resonated with me. Like, the difference between transactional giving and transformational giving is completely different. Like, you probably have gotten those appeal letters in the mail, like, from. I'm not even going to pick on. I won't say out loud what any of the associations are, because that one's not fair. But we've all gotten those letters in the mail from other nonprofits, and basically, they're asking you for money. It's usually a.
You know, it's on a white background, black font or whatever. And it's.
There's rarely a pic, Sometimes there's pictures, sometimes there's not asking you for money. And if you feel so inclined to give to that charity or whatever, you'll write out a check or whatever, and you'll probably get in their donor database and they'll keep sending you letters and stuff like that. Well, here at Hope House, if you give us a check, we're going to make sure that we thank you in person or we thank you over the phone, where you're getting a phone call from us.
And then afterward, after that, you're going to get a handwritten thank you note, which I think is a lost start today. You know, you just don't get those anymore.
But we. In addition to that, we want to know what you gave.
Like, is there a teen mom in your family?
Do you, like, go to a church where we've spoken at? Or how did you get connected to us? That's what we want to know. And I think that is the difference between transformational and transactional. We want to get to know you.
We'd like you to come take a tour, see where your money is invested in and meet some of our moms on staff and see what you do. Every time we give a tour, like, people can connect and see what we do. Like, you can talk about it, but they can actually be here and see it.
That's a big deal.
So it's pretty cool to watch people transition from participating, coming to the 5k or playing in the golf tournament to. All of a sudden, you've done that two or three years in a row. You've taken a visit to Hope House, you're getting our mail and our direct male pieces. Always tell a story. Like, you're gonna hear about one of what transformation is going on with one of our moms. And these are not stories we're making up. These are real moms, real names. They're real stories. We're authentic about that. Like, I. Drives me crazy when I watch the news and a commercial comes on for a nonprofit. And it's all these sad faces and stuff like that. And it's. There's one in particular where it's the same darn kids every Christmas. And it's like, okay, that's. That's not authentic, but that's. And I'm really passionate about that.
[00:26:11] Speaker C: Yeah. And making sure that our. Our moms are portrayed in a way that's empowering. Right?
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: Yeah, correct. They're overcoming the obstacles that are in their way. And They're. They're moving forward and everything. And I think that's the difference between some of those other nonprofits that are out there and what we do.
[00:26:31] Speaker C: Right. And that's how we're getting people more engaged. So kind of like you were saying, moving them from that participant to what we'd call someone who's engaged.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: And then eventually to an owner. Right. Owning the cause. Owning.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: Sharing Hope House with your friends and family. You're bringing them in, you're cooking a meal together.
You're doing a supply drive for us. You're hosting a group at that gala or the golf tournament or whatever. Yeah, Yeah. I love that.
[00:26:55] Speaker C: And I think one of the best examples of that is. Is Betty. Right. We got to bring up Betty.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Well, you took Betty recently for a little shopping outing.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah. So Betty's awesome. If you haven't met her, she's just an amazing champion of ours and has been able to connect so many different people to Hope House.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: She goes way back to the beginning.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. And she's. She's just a lot of fun, man. She comes in and always gives me a hard time and is me, too. Yeah, she's great. She's great.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: We had, like, a surprise birthday party for her a few years ago, and I had those T shirts made up that said be Betty. Hashtag be Betty. And we were able to pull that over on her. That was. She thought she was doing something else, but then she went and did something, and then she came back and was completely surprised.
[00:27:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, that's. And we did another surprise for her whenever she. She has a bench outside of our early learning center that's named after her, and I had to lie to her then, as well, to get her to show up. So she's kind of. Probably kind of mad at me. So this is me apologizing, Betty, for lying to you.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: We're sorry, Betty. We love you.
Yeah. What did she say to you when you pulled up in front? And she was, like, surprised to see all of her family out front. She had taken one of the moms shopping and stuff.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: Yeah. I think she turned to me and said, I'm gonna get you back, or something like that.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: So sweet.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: Endearing.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. My.
I would like nothing more than in my next career or season of life to be Betty, where I'm the one writing the checks and going in and harassing you if you're the director of development or whatever.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Well, I love that we've had this time together.
Any other questions or anything we haven't talked about?
[00:28:45] Speaker C: No, I think it goes. I think it's just amazing to see God move through Hope House and in all facets. Right. Like moving through the lives of our moms, but also in the lives of our volunteers and champions and knowing that he's at the center of what we do. And I think why we're successful and why we're able to build great relationships is because that's because we're Christ centered.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: And I definitely think God has a heart for teen moms here at Hope House. And we see that play out over and over again.
Like this past weekend, we put on social media that we need size 5 diapers and pull ups and I dropped some stuff off on Sunday and there's like a stack of cases right out front the door that somebody just dropped off. I don't know who they came from or anything, but they clearly saw our social media post and took it to heart and lo and behold, there they were Monday morning.
[00:29:40] Speaker C: Yep. Yep.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: Well, thank you for joining me today on Life Review. Demi. I really appreciate it.
It's been fun to kind of remember that I gave you that tour way back when. And it's been fun to watch you progress and everything through Hope House and all these different roles that you've had and connected with a number of donors that we just love and adore and thank you for that. I appreciate that.
[00:30:05] Speaker C: Of course. Thank you, Lisa. I feel like we try not to compliment each other publicly if we can help it, but I think we're all.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Caught up now, aren't we?
[00:30:12] Speaker C: I think we're all caught up for the year. Right? We've had enough compliments, but I really appreciate your leadership style and your management style and just the way that you're. You're leading our, our development team every year to bigger goals.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate your support. And yeah, we got like just under $4 million to raise this year, so.
[00:30:32] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: And get back to work.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Right, Right. And that's my final plug for the 5K. Saturday, May 3rd. Please come show up.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Thank you, everybody. We'd love to have your support. Support on that event. That'd be great. Thank you.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Precious. So the things I didn't know the things I didn't know about you oh, Precious. So the things I didn't know the things I didn't know about you about you.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: You.
