 Good morning everybody, just want to thank everybody for coming out. Thank you for coming to celebrate with us. Have me a little speech prepared. I'm gonna try to go buy it before I introduce our mayor. Just say good morning and thank you to everyone for coming out to celebrate with us. I'm excited and grateful for the team I have and being a part of such an amazing group at the city of Columbia. Over these past 12 months we stood up a shelter and created an environment where individuals feel safe and included. We could not have done that without our case managers, the shift staff, security, and our community. And I want to thank the mayor and the city manager, Ms. Teresa Wilson, for giving us the opportunity to serve one person at a time. And I'm not gonna take up much more time and introduce our mayor. Mayor recommend. Good afternoon everyone. I hope you're doing well. It's an exciting day here and I think about 14 months ago this was a conversation of hey we can do this, we can prop this up, we can make this happen. And it shows how our ability when necessary for the right reasons can get things done very quickly. But I also think it's very important as we continue to talk, and I think Camisha started talking about it, everybody here, is everybody's a piece of the puzzle. We cannot do this alone and having the right partners, the right staff. Everybody plays a role and that's how we make a difference. And what I think was so special is what you said, which is one person at a time. Having being able to change one person's life, one person's time, the ability to move people from being unsheltered into a permanent living situation, along with the wraparound services and an opportunity to move and move upward. And in changing their life, I think it's so important as we continue, this is only the beginning. Rapid shelter is just one piece. This was never supposed to be the end all. This was the beginning of a journey that we're all taking together to improve the quality of life, to move folks as we move towards hopefully one day, a hope center that allows us to provide all the services, everything in one place and give people an opportunity to choose their path as they get to move forward. But those personalized services, those resources, the ability for all the community partners to come together and be part of this, I think is what's so special. I really want to thank the city manager, Teresa Wilson, our city council, our staff, because when we put everything together and we said we wanted to do this, there was no hesitation, there was no pushback. It was all right, let's get it done. And to build something like this, to put the whole program together and have it done in 90 days was pretty special. I think it's one of our best accomplishments that we've had in our city, and I hope people feel that way. But when we look at the participants and the folks that have been here, the referrals, being able to get people from here into permanent housing and having a place to start that conversation, I think is pretty special. So I want to thank each and everyone who's here today for being part of that. I want to thank the residents and the folks who have been coming to the Rapid Shelter who are being referred here and being part of it for taking a chance and working with us because we really do want to make a difference. And I think this is step one. So let's get on the train because we got step three and four to go. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Kamisha. My heart is really full. So give me a moment because I'm thinking about this time last year when in the matter of literally days, I think every department and employee at the city gave of themselves to come and help literally build our pallet units in just a few days. So like teamwork makes the dream work, right? I'm just so excited because it's amazing what we can do when we put our hearts and minds together. And the mayor touched upon that. I guess I just said I'm Teresa Wilson, city manager. I think three things from my perspective happened a year ago and leading up to this, but our mayor and our city council and Reverend Medall, Councilman M. And Medall is here. And I don't know if any of our other council members are. Oh, and Councilman Tina Herbert's here. But these council members, these policy makers, right? So in a city, you know how this works. You've got your mayor and your policy makers or council members. And they were very intentional about figuring out with the data, with the other providers, with the unsheltered population of Columbia, what can we do? Not meaning it was going to solve every problem. It's such a big issue. But what can we begin to do to move the needle and be collaborative and touch lives in a way that truly made a difference? And so between all types of task force meetings led by Dr. Audity Bussells on council and that committee of council members who met with providers and others, like I said, came out a lot of information and data and research. And so from there, number two, any good city manager or administrator is usually a solutions-oriented person. And so my team knows that I kind of get my mind on something. And council has said what they're looking for. And so we didn't keep going in a continuous cycle. I just started thinking about what could we do, literally tangible, that isn't meant to solve every problem, but it does move the needle is what they're asking for. And we started doing our research and we saw what was happening maybe out on the West Coast with these individual units that took people out of the congregate communities and really poured into individuals, meeting them where they are individually in a safe, compassionate space. And wow, this model really works, y'all. I recommend it for other communities and it's scalable and the mayor touched on this a little bit. You know, our community's going to have to have a deeper conversation about what that looks like. Because here is the proof that individualized services with everyone partnering with all the providers working together works. And then number three, we had the team work and it made the dream work with our staff. Our staff at the City of Columbia support services. I won't start naming departments, but a lot of them are in the room from public words to parts in red to Columbia. I mean, I procurement, I mean, everybody at the city touched this and we got it done as Mary Rickman said in 90 days. So imagine what we can still do. And on top of that, the council gave me the autonomy to push even further and hire a professional, a licensed social worker in Camisha Hepard to see this through on a daily basis. And then we hired Mackinwall and Nyjah Franklin. These three ladies were the first of a staff that we put together at City of Columbia for homeless services and then they began building on that staff. We have case managers now, the shift workers, the security and support team and all these volunteers in the room. Please give yourselves a hand. I mean, we could not have done this without that support and we can keep doing it and we can model this and we can scale this up. So we're so thankful in the season of thankfulness and Mackin told me today's theme is gratitude. So I'm so thankful and I want to make sure that we give thanks to the three ladies, Mackin, Nyjah, Camisha come up here. My grandmother taught me to give people their flowers while they are here with us. There is no way I try to get down here when I can, but these ladies are here every single day doing the work, keeping our residents safe, pouring into them with their team members. I love these ladies and I love their spirit. Thank y'all so much. I just want to say thank you to Ms. Wilson and I said I wasn't going to cry, but whatever. I'm not going to take up any more time. I'm going to hand it over to Mackin Wall who is our project manager and Nyjah Franklin, our program specialist. They put together an amazing program and here we go. Good afternoon everybody and everybody back there. I see you. Thank you all so much for, hey Kylie, thank you all so much for coming out today. It means so much to have such a huge and wonderful crowd of faces that I have gotten to know this past year. So I truly cannot believe it's already been a whole year. It's been a year full of challenges, obstacles, and occasionally frustration just occasionally. But more importantly, it has been a year of joy, growth, and gratitude. Our word for this year in today's theme is gratitude because there is a lot to be thankful for and it's November 1st so Thanksgiving is coming up. Nyjah and I want to take this time to thank and recognize our wonderful community partners, volunteers, sponsors, and all of those who have made this first year such a success because it has been a success. It's been a reminder that the popular saying it takes a village, but in this case a community is absolutely true. First and foremost I want to thank Rapid Shelter Columbia Shift staff, our lead house manager Thomas Thurman, and our wonderful case managers Ayanna, Haynes and Trina Gary. They're somewhere in there. There they are. They work every single day directly with residents to make sure they're reaching their goals and doing everything it takes to secure permanent housing and recently we got our very own social work interns, Ira, Anna, Abigail, and Uno who have a very bright future ahead of them and have been a huge help today and thus far in there in the front row. So here at Rapid Shelter we have partners who come onsite each and every week to provide direct client services. Our partnership with the RAIDAC has been wonderful. Ron Hicks is a peer support group specialist who leads a group every Monday morning for those who are living with substance use disorder or any type of addiction. Our residents always enjoy attending his sessions. They leave with hope for the future in a sense of belonging, knowing that they're not alone. Thank you to Ron and Ms. Wendy Hughes and the RAIDAC for your continued support. Mercy is Columbia's mental illness recovery center. Under the leadership of Ms. Julianne Avon and Ms. Diane Fields, Anita and Alicia provide outreach services here at Rapid Shelter every Wednesday. They always show up, rain or shine, to engage with residents and make sure their mental health appointments are scheduled and that they're receiving the services that they need to be successful. I cannot say enough about Abraham Lewis. For those of you who know Abraham, you know what I'm talking about. He works for Cooperative Health as a community health worker for healthcare for the homeless. He truly does go above and beyond to help Rapid Shelter residents with their appointments, medications, health insurance, and just general support. He often stays after five o'clock and sometimes even comes back at dinner time to deliver medication. As he works, his compassion shines through and any bystander would be able to see how much he genuinely cares. Big thanks to Miriam Eschenfelder as well, Healthcare for the Homeless program coordinator for the constant support. Rachel Jackson is the program manager for Trinity Recovery, which is a program through Lutheran Services of the Midlands. Not only does she come onsite every Wednesday to facilitate an NA meeting, but she assists us in placing residents into long-term sober living facilities. She donates lots of supplies when needed. She shares resources and so much more. She's here today. She has a table set up in the back. She's distributing Narcan and fentanyl test strips for anyone who might want some. She's compassionate. She shares her personal story with residents, giving them the encouragement that they need and reminding them that recovery is possible. Just last month under Rachel's leadership, Trinity Recovery partnered with Deodes, which is the Department of Alcohol and other drug abuse services. To host an awesome cookout, you'll see some pictures on the slides. Here at Rapid Shelter, in celebration of Recovery Month, which is September. Broderick Anderson with the Department of Mental Health has been with us since day one. He often brings his mobile unit and completes intake assessments with residents to make sure that they're receiving mental health treatment as soon as possible. When he's not in his RV, he brings new residents to Rapid Shelter to make sure they already have their medication and appointment set up. He follows up with everyone every week, and he refers new residents and engages with new clients as well. We're so thankful for him, as well as his supervisors, Miss Cappy Hug and Allison Smith, and everyone at the Department of Mental Health who make this partnership possible. Pastor Eric Archer, I don't know if you're here. I think he is. I think I saw him. He's also been with us since day one. He leads our Bible study every Friday morning. He brings donuts and coffee, and he and his family, he has the most beautiful family, and church members make sure that we have an unlimited supply of laundry detergent, which we're forever grateful for. They donate gifts, and they truly make an effort to show their love and acceptance. Palmetto Church of Christ has always amazed me between serving a delicious homemade breakfast once a month to donating hundreds, quite literally a bus passes, and helping with rental assistance. There is nothing they are not willing to do. A few months ago, we had a resident who was expecting her first baby with little to no help. Members of Palmetto Church of Christ met her at breakfast one morning and took it upon themselves to host a beautiful baby shower for her. She received the most thoughtful gifts. And to this day, she still reaches out to me and asks me to thank them for that wonderful day. They continue to step in wherever help is needed, donating and delivering furniture that is very heavy, and even making the desserts for today's events and serving our chili. We are so grateful for them. Part of Rapid Shelter's program is helping residents who are able to work find employment. Though this can be challenging, it has been made easier through our partnership with Fast Forward, D-Albritton, and the entire staff have worked tirelessly with Rapid Shelter residents to assist them with resume building, certificate programs, bus passes, and finding and attaining employment. They've made it possible for our residents to use technology on site to accomplish their goals through donating Chromebooks and Kindles. They also have two office cats who we love to visit. There's a picture of one of them on here. Lakeland is here. She is the jobs program coordinator at Transitions Homeless Center and she is now working with her second group of Rapid Shelter residents to assist them in finding employment through weekly meetings and workshops, and we are so thankful for her. The Goodwill Senior Employment Program allows residents who are 55-plus to work on site. They help with landscaping, cleaning, and organizing, and this has been such a great opportunity for some of our residents. I think Dan Kitchens is here. He is our Prisma PACE program partner, and PACE has done wonderful things for Rapid Shelter residents and wanted to make sure to give them a huge shout out. Ms. Kristen Connors and the whole supportive housing services staff have been just that supportive. They assist residents who have disabilities to obtain permanent housing and provide ongoing case management. K&M Community Health and PALS, which is Palmetto Aid Services, bring their mobile units on site once a month to provide healthcare screening and preventative services, as well as HIV services. Sarah Pregno graciously volunteers her time twice a month to teach and lead music therapy. She teaches them how to combat their negative feelings, whether it's through lyrics and songwriting or singing and rapping. Thank you, Sarah. I would be remiss if I did not mention the Salvation Army. Major Craddock, Nicholas, Maya, and their staff provide three meals a day without missing a beat. Good, healthy food makes all the difference in day-to-day life. We cannot live a full life if we do not have a full stomach. And thank you, Salvation Army. I couldn't mention Salvation Army without giving a shout out to Ms. Melanie Miller. She is now living the retired life, but she was such a wonderful support to us at the beginning. Additionally, I promise I'm almost done, y'all. I want to thank Transitions Homeless Center staff, the Housing Authority, TN Development, the Public Defender's Office, the Rainy Day Fund, the United Way, Christ Central, the Richland Library, and Catholic Charities and probably even more for their partnership and support. They are all among those who have had such a positive impact on rapid shelter this first year. We have two amazing outreach specialists, Alicia. Alicia and Larry, who work every day in the field, boots on the ground to engage with those who may not know what resources are available to them. So as you can see, we have a lot of individuals and organizations to be thankful for. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank the City of Columbia. Mayor Rickinman, Ms. Wilson, Council members, Chief Holbrook and Major Roberts, and employees from other departments have welcomed the Homeless Services Department and Rapid Shelter Columbia with open arms. We receive words of encouragement and support each and every day. The procurement and contracting even welcomed us onto their floor at 1800 Main. And I got a goodie bag yesterday for Halloween. Kelvin and Stacey, along with their entire team at support services, never complained when we send over a work order, which happens to be quite often, including this morning when I got a phone call at 6.30 saying all the power was out. That was wonderful. Stacey answered immediately. All this to say, Columbia is a city that cares. This has been evident to us in the past year. Not a day goes by that I don't receive a phone call or an email from somebody wanting to volunteer or donate things. I truly believe that a strong community is what it takes to make a difference in individual lives. It provides a sense of identity and belonging that encourage and push us to become our best selves. The Latin meaning for the word compassion is suffering with. In a world where suffering is all around us, a community that stands together is putting compassion into action. Now, Asia is now going to share some remarks and then introduce our last guest speaker. Good afternoon. All the speakers before me were great, so I may be repeating some of the things that they already stated. My theme is gratitude, so I am really thankful. For our partners and our case managers, I just want to start by reiterating what Mackin stated. It does take a village, and in our case, it took a community to be able to do the work that we do. This is a hard job, but working in it is doable. Through the awesome work of our case managers, Ayanna Haynes and Trina Gary, we have made a total of 276 referrals to partners, which led to 41 residents obtaining health insurance, 48 residents obtaining employment opportunities. We have been able to connect 76 clients to peer support groups, along with referring them out to detox programs through Trinity Recovery and Laredoc, and we have been able to connect 52 clients to mental health providers. We are intentional with making referrals because the goal is to prepare clients for their new life. The case managers provide intensive case management, and they take an individualistic approach when dealing with our clients. With that being said, and with the connections that we connected our clients to, 34 clients have been permanently housed by Rapid Shelter as of today. Now, just a year ago, it was hard for me to see that being new to this population and getting in two case management. I was like, ooh, this is hard, weightless, just minimal opportunities, but it is possible. We do serve a unique population, so housing does look different for our clients. We have clients that have been housed in apartments with or without ongoing subsidies. We have clients that have been placed in nursing home facilities, boarding homes, Oxford homes, whatever is appropriate to meet that client need. Once the resident is housed, we continue to support them because the goal is not only to obtain housing, but to maintain housing. So case management does not stop once our residents are housed. Rapid Shelter continues to support clients within their first year that they are housed. We do that by doing phone visits, maybe once or twice a month. I stopped by, I went by somebody else this morning to drop off some bus tickets, a system with recertification with SNAP benefits, whatever they need. So I do aftercare, my phone ring nonstop. On the weekend, I answer just to make sure our residents have what they need. Aftercare also cannot happen without the help of our partners. They get us furniture, they help us with eviction, prevention, everything. So I'm really thankful for the partners on that as well. I'm excited what we accomplished this far at Rapid Shelter, and I'm looking forward to next year. I'm hoping that we can expand our difference that we're making right here at Rapid Shelter Columbia. Before I go, I want to introduce our next speaker, Mr. Allen, who I had the honor of case managing while he was here. Allen is a former resident of Rapid Shelter Columbia, and he will share his story and his experience here at Rapid Shelter. Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. As my case manager, can't say anything else about her. She's right. Her phone's nonstop. I'm actually a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. This has some major problems in my life. At the young age of probably about 18, I left my house. I left my parents because I had that alcohol problem. Me and my father actually physically got into an argument where the cops were called that evening. Luckily enough, neither one of us went to jail that night because somebody obviously could have. Yeah, this is harder than I thought it would be for me. Like I said, I've been through a lot. At the age of 18, I came out with my parents. My father served 23 years in the military, so being homosexual was not something that was accepted in my house. Was not accepted by my parents or my family. I kept on drinking to that point where I started using marijuana. Marijuana turned into cocaine. Cocaine turned into crystal meth. I ended up meeting my husband at that point. Kept on using crystal meth, using pills, anything I could get just to numb the pain of what I was going through. And one afternoon, he came home from work and said, I'm done. And at that time, I tried to commit suicide. I ended up being hospitalized. At the same time, I was hospitalized in a middle ward. I was also served by the Mecklenburg Sheriff's Department in North Carolina with a restraining order that my husband put on me. And at that time, I went to the doctors and I said, okay, enough is enough. I knew if I didn't get help at that time, there was going to be no help for me. I spent roughly 60 days in this program, give or take. But there was one major huge problem after going into this program and going into rehab. I become homeless. What do I do now? Where do I go? I was lucky enough to have a great friend here in Columbia that offered me a place to stay. But then, you know, and I thought everything was great until that friend reintroduced me to crystal meth. I ended up homeless. I was sleeping under a bridge on the streets, anywhere I could find to lay my head at night. Lucky enough, in November of 2022, the city announced the opening of the Raptor Shelter of Columbia. And at this time, I definitely want to take the time, the staff, everybody here. Because if it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you. In November of 2022, I was finally admitted here. They opened me with loving arms. I was nervous, of course. It's a big difference from going to the streets than actually having kind of like your personal own space. I didn't know how to live. Unfortunately, during that time, in November, my partner at the time, his father was hit by a vehicle in Orlando, Florida, and died there on scene. So I started drinking again. Even more heavy. Started doing crystal meth. More heavier. My partner at the time, with Barry and his father, I was here at the Raptor Shelter. I so wanted to leave, y'all. I so wanted to leave. I remember calling Miss Macken and saying, Miss Macken, I'm done. And she's like, no, Alan, you can't leave. I stayed as bad as I wanted to. At that time, I ended up making arrangements to actually go to Florida because I wanted to support my partner at the time. It wasn't because of the death of his father, but it was because at that time, I was the only person he had. And I would also like to mention that my partner at the time was also an alcoholic. But he seemed where I came from, from the streets, growing up to the person I am now. Unfortunately, March 25th, 2023, my life changed again. My partner committed suicide by drug erotos. He had fentanyl, cocaine, crystal meth all in his system. I was so numb. I didn't know how to live. At that time, yes, I still had the support. I even, after I left the Raptor Shelter of Columbia, I still had the support. But he was the one that, he was my rock. He was my everything. I ended up reapplying back to the Raptor Shelter of Columbia. Why? Because I know this is places where I've belonged. I knew this is where I could get help. No matter what the problems were, no matter the time of day it was, all the staff here, they were right there beside me. Every step of the way. I came back, got healthy. Just not physically but mentally healthy. Which is, with a lot of the clients, that's their main problem. They're not physically or mentally healthy. And all the organizations that actually help the Raptor Shelter of Columbia actually makes that available to all of us. I actually started working with USC Housing as a support. Support as housing. Which is all in the second row. Thank you all for being here today. I made all my appointments. They busted their butt just to get what they needed. And September 1st of 2023, I signed my one year lease. I have a roof over my head now that I can call my own. I don't have to worry about where my next meal's coming from or where I'm going to lay my head at night. And if it wasn't for USC Supporting Housing, the City of Columbia, our Mayor, the Raptor Shelter of Columbia, none of this would have been available. I'm going to go ahead and close this so we can go on for the event. But again, I just really, really want to thank everybody that has supported just not me, but all of the clients here. And again, thank all of y'all from the bottom of my heart. Because if it wasn't for y'all, I know for a fact this man that I am today would not be standing here. I hope everybody has a great afternoon. Thank you again. And y'all have a great day. And thank you again for being so vulnerable and open and honest with us. And I hope that you all got some encouragement and some inspiration from that because your life can change. And so in closing, thank you all so much for being here today. We have Chili that's going to be served out of the kitchen. Palmetto Church of Christ is volunteering to serve that. We've got drinks, a dessert table, and we have activities and games outside. So please make yourself at home. And I hope y'all have a great, great first year around the shelter. Thank you.