 and I'm excited to journey with you as we learn how to take our health back. Streaming live from studios in Think Tech, Hawaii in downtown Honolulu. Today, we will hear from Paul Gates, who is the executive director of the River of Life mission and chocolate on a mission. So let's welcome Paul Gates. Aloha, Paul. Aloha, thanks for having me on. Thanks for having me. That's great to see you. Thanks for being here with us. Before we get started, let's learn a little bit about Paul Gates and your beautiful family. I love to start there. So tell us about them. Yeah, so, you know, I tell people all the time that I definitely married up in the food chain. And my wife, Shauna, is incredibly, just incredibly beautiful, not only beauty on the outside, but beauty on the inside. She is, I call my wife, Salt of the Earth. And we have an incredible story. We won't get that today, but God just redeemed both of our lives. We're actually a blended family. So Shauna had four kids, I had two, and then we had little Sienna together. But we don't really talk about it like that anymore. We have seven kids and all our kids love Jesus serving the Lord. And we're just really thankful for what God's done for us. But my wife, Shauna, is a huge part of that. Really, really thankful for her. Wow, that's beautiful. I love to hear when families get together and they blend so well. When you don't even know, yeah, as you said, you don't call them blended. But being the baby in the family, the little baby in pink, I understand her name is Sienna. Share a little bit about her. What are, what's so special about Sienna? Yeah, so Sienna, you know, we, Shauna and I love kids. I'm one of those crazy guys who are, I even love the infant stage. I don't mind diapers. I'm like, ah, get me in there. I'll change diapers, no problem. But Sienna, we just decided to have Sienna and there's a whole story to that as well. You know, I had to go get him a Sekmi reversal and so we could have Sienna flew to Oklahoma to do that. And I'm not sure if I didn't have a vet take care of that for me, but anyways, we got Sienna out of it. And she is an absolute gem. And the kids just adore her. We have four kids that are back in California. They call Sienna all the time on FaceTime. It's so cute. She holds the phone and they're kissing each other. So we just love family. And Sienna honestly is a big part of that. Wow, precious. So I've been working a lot with the River of Life mission for a few years. And I know that our pastor Bob needed to retire and return to his other days of life and his other duties. And there was a call made out to you to become our new executive director for the River of Life mission. Please share with us a little bit about what really goes on at the River of Life mission. Yeah, so Bob was honestly, Wendy, as you know, really a legend, just an amazing man. So I'm not trying to fill any shoes here and wouldn't try, you know, but as you said, Bob was ready to retire and the van that I'm driving now shows that. Bob was a man that loved to laugh. And so Bob, as he was getting older and aged, swiped every side of the van that I still drive today. And so he was ready and, you know, my wife and I just felt like God was calling us here. I was born in Papua, New Guinea. We'll talk a little bit about that. My parents were Wycliffe Bible translators there. So I've been, you know, saying to a lot of my friends, say I was born on an island and back on an island. And my wife and I just, I'd always had a heart for the homeless, even in my early 20s. And five years ago, my wife and I came to Hawaii with a mentor couple. And we went off on her own and talked about five things on her own that we really felt like God may be stirring in our lives. Then we came back together and shared those five things. And one of those things that she felt the Lord leading and I felt the Lord leading five years ago is that we would move to Oahu. And my wife, Shauna reminded me the other day that actually three of the five have come to pass since we did that strategizing, dreaming with this mentor couple here in Hawaii and we're here and we love it. And River of Life is just, as you know, Wendy, I don't even have to say a lot other than I have absolutely fallen in love with this place. Falling in love with the team, falling in love with the volunteers, falling in love with the board, falling in love with what we do. And I don't think a lot of people understand what we really do here at River of Life mission, but in the month of August, we picked up giving out meals for another organization that had to shut down because of COVID. And we were basically preparing and giving out 1,300 meals a day. And I looked it up in the average restaurant in America, it gives out 300 meals a day. And we were doing 1,300 with one chef. And so this team worked so hard, but the whole reason we do it is to share the love of Jesus. That's our theme verse is first John 419, we love because Jesus first loved us. And that's why we love what we get to do is we love to love on others in the name of Jesus. Well, and I gotta give a shout out to your chef Hilda, who is a member of your staff at the mission and she has a great story. And I love one day to bring her back on to share her mission and her story and how God used her in miraculous ways and then brought her back to the mission as she fulfills her lifelong dream of being a chef right there for the people who need her the most. Fabulous and love her spirit, love her heart. You know, whenever I talk about the mission, everyone refers to it as, oh, the building with all the people standing in front on Hawaii street. So Paul, what are they waiting for while they're waiting in line there? They're waiting for some love. And Wendy, that's why you love River Life so much and why we love you at River Life is you're such a lover of people. I mean, even your smile right now, you're such an amazingly, genuine, loving person and on Thanksgiving, I was serving with you and your daughter was there serving and the way you introduced your daughter to me and just loved on your daughter and seeing her celebrate that she was there serving with her mom just really touched me. So the people, you know, the mission we give out, you know, regularly about 700, 800 meals a day. But even today as I've been forgiving Tuesday out interviewing guests, I've been saying, asking the guests, what is it about a meal? And they've all said it's not the meal. It's that somebody calls me by name at River Life. We have thousands of guests that come in and out of here on a rare daily basis and our staff knows their name and gives them love and just showers them with something that is not a part of their typical day. Just to put it lightly. If you can imagine, you know, I've really been impacted even today thinking about what it must be like to live on the streets and not knowing if you're gonna get beat up or robbed or worse. And to have a place where people love on you, that's why there's lines here. Right. People coming there, not just for the meals, but yes, to be called by name and just to be acknowledged as a human. And so that's what the mission really represents is that your doors are open and love exudes out. And that's what they know. I mean, they probably don't even need anything. Sometimes they just knocking on the door because they just want that door to open and say, whoa, what do you need? Hey, Johnny, what do you need? So, oh, they called my name. I'm good, I'm good now, right? And so that goes on throughout the course of the day, I know. And the spirit of your workers or the staff members in the mission is amazing. And I've probably been with the mission, maybe at least a good 20 plus years and never faltering in either any which way. They may have a bad day at home but when they come to the mission, they really realize that somebody else is having it worse. And so their troubles are left behind and now they too put on smiles to help those who have less. So that's what they're looking for when they come in, they're standing on the street there for the door to open. So a blessing for you, Paul, to receive and then a blessing for the mission to receive you as the next leader to guide us through the next 20, 30, 40 years. So yeah. Keep on going. So you've got more than seven kids now. You've adopted many, many more. You honed the rest of us to be under your leadership and we so are grateful that you stepped to the plate. Truly, truly grateful. So thank you so much. You know. Yeah, and the only way I'm gonna make it to that 30, 40 years whatever you just said is to go boogie boardin' with you or surfin' with you, right? Hallelujah, yeah. You gotta take the time. That's why he made that beautiful blue ocean. It's for us to rest and relax. And it's all for free. I love it. I agree. Right, right on. So, you know, I have a question from the audience and they wanted to know, how did COVID impact the mission? Yeah, you know, so we've been seeing COVID as a blessing and we, you know, but it has caused a lot of organizations to adjust. And, you know, I'll give you just a little bit of the landscape when COVID hit, we lost almost all of our volunteers. So if you can imagine, you know, going from hundreds of volunteers a week down to almost none, that was a real hit for us. And then also we couldn't have our guests into the dining room and, you know, talkin' to Chevy and Tracy, some of the legends here at Riverlight Mission, talkin' about how that dining room experience was just an opportunity for some reprieve for our guests. And I've really taken that to heart because it was the one moment they could come in and not watch their back, especially for females living on the street. And so it has caused us to adjust, but here's what's amazing. Last year in 2020, in the pandemic, our meal distribution increased by 30% with hardly any volunteers and existing staff. So that shows you how hard our staff works. But one of the things I wanted to share with you, and the board and I really been talking about this, that we actually believe that our ministry opportunities have almost grown by handing meals out the door instead of having people in the dining room. And we really mourn the fact that we don't give our guests an opportunity for a reprieve to come in even under this air conditioning, you know, and to not have to watch their back. But because we're serving a meal out the door, we believe we're getting more one-on-one time with our guests. And so we're trying, we're telling our staff if, hey, if David or Angela gets engaged in a conversation, somebody else has to step in and fill their job and let them take that moment with that guest. And we've had story after story after story of people being reunited with their family. I can tell you about a guy, Larry, who are one of our staff guys, Eleni, got reunited with his family in North Carolina and he's back living in a family home in North Carolina. He sent us a letter saying, thank you. And now we found out he's starting to write music again, which we celebrate like crazy. And so, you know, I think our impact in COVID because of this one-on-one industry is even greater. And I could tell you more stories, but I'll stop there. Okay, I know we could go on and on because every day there's another story or 10. But what other services do you offer our friends that visit the mission? Yeah, so what we're really trying to do, Wendy, is one of the things we've gotten involved in is the HMIS system, which is, we're getting trained on that where we can see what services our guests have actually already accessed. And so we're trying to work with other government agencies and other ministries and NGOs on the island. And one of the things I've always said is you can't be a professional in every area. And so one thing we need to do is learn our limits and partner with other professionals in their area. So one thing, you know, we do some housing here at River of Life Mission, but we don't have a massive capacity for that. And so we've been working with Hope Center over in Kailua and getting men over to Hope Center to go through a one-year discipleship program or get them over to IHS. Connie and I at IHS have been spending a lot of time together. And how do we collaborate? And so I really believe that it's not one organization trying to do everything. It's all organizations doing everything together. Working together, yes. Well, you figured it out and early in the game. So that's amazing. I love that forward-minded thinking. So I know that we always are looking for donations. Yes, monetary donations are always welcome, but we also look for donations of all kinds, soap, socks, underwear. So how do you get these donations and how do we get them out to those in need? Yeah, so I mean River of Life's a great place to give your donations. In fact, we had a guy that's filming for our Giving Tuesday Live Day today, brought at 4.45 a.m. today a bag full of men's clothes. And then it was the coolest thing. We were up interviewing Noel, who does our clothing. And Noel said, yep, I already got your bag and I already distributed your clothes. So the one thing I want you to know, and I told Jordan now when he was donating the clothes, I go, we'll use them quick. And so just to let you know, one of the things we really need is actually men's clothing. We have a lot of women's clothing, but men's clothing is one of the biggest needs. And then with food, you know, we'll take, that's the beauty of, you talked about Hilda, we'll take any kind of food. We have sometimes people just pull up with fresh fish and then Hilda makes fresh fish dish. You know, one thing is, you know, talking to Jeremy and Chevy, they say we're always short salad, which I never imagined that. I would have never guessed it, but salad is one of our, you know, and I'm not sure how the donation works with salad. You probably have some of them, but you know, we can accept donations pretty much from nine a.m. to five p.m. every day and just come up to the front door of Riverlight Mission and just knock on the door and say, I have a donation and we'll take them. And we've been here for so long. Everybody to do that. Or I'm also the drop off point, they drop it off to me, then I go knock on the door and say, hey, I got more bags. And I said, I don't need a receipt, which I know you were very loving to give us a tax receipt, but most times I don't even need that. I just want to drop off and get them on the people's back. So it's a great source for us to come to help in indirectly, as well as physically come to volunteer. And I know that you use all kinds of God's helpers in any which way that comes to your door. So please share with us. I know that you like to reach out to assist those in need. So you're always, always helping with people in need. Tell us more about that. Yeah, I mean, so we have talked a lot as a staff that there's three questions that we ask all of our guests. And one is if they don't know their name, first is call them by name. If they don't know their name, ask them, what's their name? And then secondly, how can we help you? And then the third question is, tell me about your family. And that's just a big priority for us to try and make. I interviewed this morning, Orlando, who's actually on the screen right there. And this is actually a screenshot of Orlando on a Zoom call with some of his children and grandchildren that he hadn't seen for 20 years. And Orlando in the, I'm looking at the screen in the bottom right hand corner as his mask on his chin. He was a world champion boxer. He fought with Muhammad Ali and he legitimately won a world title in boxing. He fought 47 fights and 30 knockouts. But he lives on the street. And it was because of a family rift that separated him from his families, from the Philippines. And he just left his homes and all his money. He said, give my money to my grandchildren for education. He educated 30 of his children and grandchildren. And until we got him on a Zoom call that you just saw a screenshot of, you didn't even know that he had educated his children and grandchildren. One of his sons is a police officer in Australia now. One of his daughters is an Uber successful business woman in Florida. One of them's a nurse in San Diego. And we got Orlando on a Zoom call and he's crying. And he's just saying, I love you. I love you. And they're all crying. And I'm holding the computer and I'm crying. You know? We're still making strides to reunite Orlando with his family. But we just use, we believe that Jesus- Ideally it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. Yeah, Jesus largely use questions. And so we just ask questions. And one of those is, how can we help you? Yes, wow. So another question coming in from the audience real quickly. How does one get to volunteer at the River of Life mission? Great question. We just redid our website. So if you just go on our website, which is riveroflifemission.org and right on our website, we just redesigned it to be an engage page. And so right when you go on on our home screen, there's two buttons that says I need help, which is anybody that needs help. And then underneath it says I want to help. And you just click I want to help and we'll get you onboarded and get you in serving. We've got a whole new system for it that's all virtually done. So there's no paperwork. It's awesome. It's really streamlined. I mean, obviously with COVID now and protocols, there's a little bit more to it. So we tell people just be patient with us. But basically just go to our website, riveroflifemission.org, click on the button I want to serve and we'll connect with you. It's as easy as that. Well, that's the key word. That's the key word, easy. You know, make it simple and they will come. And they will be coming even more. And usually during this time of the year, everybody has the servant's heart and they really want to come out. But we just want to encourage everyone to come out throughout the course of the year and serve every day because I tell you the rewards coming back is much greater than whatever hour or time you could give. You're going to receive even greater than what you give. Promise. I promise you. I believe it. I believe it. Now I know that there's a sweet side to your job. So that word, there's word on the street that you have a chocolate factory on the third floor. How many years has it been now that the mission has been making Hawaii smile with chocolates? It's, I think it's been about 11 years. Now I'm still claiming a little bit of new guy status because I don't know exact dates. You probably do because Wendy, you are a huge part of this at River of Life mission. And I love it because I've been encouraging nonprofits, you know, all over the mainland even and here in Hawaii that you have to have a social enterprise. And that means to have, you know, some type of self-sustaining business that helps fund what you do. And chocolate's been a big part of that for River of Life mission. And we've just rebranded our chocolate and there's some of the chocolate right there. And I'm telling you, our chocolate is amazing. And let me tell you, let me tell you why it's amazing. A lot of people don't know this, but our chocolate was put in private label boxes for years and years. There was high-end private label that they thought was a certain brand, but it was actually River of Life chocolate. And so that when I heard that, it immediately told me our chocolate's good. And then I tasted it. Our chocolate is a blend of milk and dark chocolate. So people who love dark chocolate love it. People love milk chocolate love it. We have bars, we have barks, we have bombs that are coming out soon. So look out for that. We have a new retail space on Monicaia Street. And so you can come in and get your chocolate. You can get chocolate for your corporation, for your office, for Christmas gifts. Get them in early because Christmas is a really busy season for us. But we're having great success with our chocolate right now. It is cranking. We've got a young team behind it. So get your chocolate now. It's chocolateonemission.com. Our website's brand new. Our packaging is colorful and beautiful Hawaii. And we say it's handmade and helping Hawaii. It doesn't get any better than that handmade and helping Hawaii. Wow. It's better than a Willy Wonka story. I know you have a picture here of one of your head chocolateeers. I'm not gonna call her an oompa loompa. I'm just gonna call her a Willy Wonka-like chocolateeer. And so I know she's very dedicated. She has many, many years of service in making chocolate. So shout out to Anna, who is doing a fabulous job. And previously you did see her, one of the other staff members, which has his name is Justin. And Justin is doing also a very fabulous job manning the fort of there and putting out Hawaii's best chocolate on a mission. So- Yeah, they've been here since day one and they're a mother-son combo, which I just think is awesome. Oh, I mean, really. Once a son hits normally 18, he wants nothing to do with mother, but this young man is just loving to be working there at the mission with the mission in his heart alongside his mother. And so you've got a great team there working on chocolate on a mission. And I just commend and continue to promote it because I tell everyone, if we look at the next slide, there's a picture of a gift box of chocolates and I wanted to throw that in for all the companies looking for gifts for Christmas time. Instead of buying a mainland company buy local, support local, support the mission. And it is the best and the best part about it is made fresh daily. I mean, I could almost say that sometimes when I pick up my chocolate, I know that it was just made sealed box and I'm waiting downstairs for the door to open for me to receive all my goodies. So yes, go and get your chocolate on a mission. It is the best, the best. Door open and then mouth open, right, Wendy? Yes, amen. You know, one of our best sellers. Everybody says, oh, but I cannot find parking in downtown. I'm like, no need to find parking. You call it in, you pay online. You drive up on Pawahi Street. You let them know you're there. They open the door and voila, all comes the best chocolate in all of Hawaii. So. Herb side. Herb side and with a smile. And you know what, if you want, you can talk story with the staff and hear their story as well. And you're going to be even more touched. Yeah, so it's a blessing. They, you bless and they bless us. So great partnerships. So now I really want to get, spend some time talking about Giving Tuesdays, which it is today. And you also have another campaign, More Meals Before 2022. So I know that you're going virtual today, all day from this morning till, I think it's 12 hours of going virtual, promoting the mission for that straight on 12 hours. But I wanted you to just take a break, 30 minutes and just share your heart with us here on Think Tech Hawaii and share the heart of the mission. So please tell us a little bit more about More Meals Before 2022, the campaign and what it is really all about. Yeah, thanks Wendy for having us on. I mean, this is a really big day and we just wanted to show a live event. We're calling it a day in the life of River Life Mission. And we just really wanted to show people what it's like on the streets, interviewing our guests, we interviewed staff members, we even interviewed a board member. It was awesome as a board member came up, he actually got down on his hands and knees and actually cared for a woman who had some injured, some injuries on her legs. And before I could even interview him, he was down on the sidewalk helping care for this, this lady who had some really significant injuries on her legs. And it's just been a really special, special day. And, you know, if you want to watch it, you can watch it even after the show you can get on live right now, it's riveroflifemission.org slash live. And it shows live there and you can donate towards meals there. But you know, I was reading on Giving Tuesday and it's incredible that 2.47 billion dollars was given in 2020 on Giving Tuesday. And I was like, that is awesome, the generosity of people to help others in need. And I was just like, I just want to do a live event on Giving Tuesday. So we just went for it and God has been so good. I mean, we've literally had some incredible interviews, God has just showed up, but you can still tune in even up until sundown, 6 p.m. at riveroflifemission.org slash live. Super simple, go there, you can help us raise more meals going into 2022. And we would love it, we'd love for you to be on. Wow. And you know, Paul has invited everyone to go on to watch the balance of the live virtual feed there. But even after the 12 hour, the heart of the people of Hawaii and the people of the world will continue to shine. And please don't hesitate to continue to donate even after the 12 hour. We're always looking for donations, hearts, time, money, underwear, men's clothes, whatever you need to share with the rest who have less, we always welcome it at the riveroflifemission. So Paul, right now our time has come to an end. You've been watching Taking Your Health Back on Think Tech Hawaii. Mahalo to you, Paul, the executive director of the riveroflifemission and chocolate on a mission. Thank you for talking story with us and sharing the heart of this mission. Hawai'i's Mahalo's all to you and your team for doing this daily. I'm Wendy Lowe, we'll be back in two weeks with Auntie Melvin Lee as we close off for the season for 2021. Aloha and Mahalo to you, Paul and the riveroflifemission. Aloha.