Changemaker Rich Schaus, Executive Director, Gospel Rescue Mission

Addressing homelessness requires more than temporary solutions — it requires hope, accountability, and community collaboration.

In this episode of Agency for Change, Rich Schaus, Executive Director of Gospel Rescue Mission, shares how his organization helps individuals experiencing homelessness rebuild their lives through relationship, responsibility, and practical support.

Rich explains how their programs focus on restoring hope, developing job skills, and helping people move toward meaningful goals and long-term stability.

Connect with Rich and Gospel Rescue Mission at: 

·       Website – http://grmok.org/

·       Get your FREE gift: https://grmok.org/freegift/

·       Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/grmok1931

·       Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/grmok1931/

Transcript

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Meet Rich Schaus And GRM’s Mission

Rich Schaus 0:00

Discipline is more powerful than motivation.

Announcer 0:06

Welcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlove that brings you the stories of change makers who are actively working to improve our community. In every episode, we'll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call homes.

Lyn Wineman 0:29

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Agency for Change podcast. This is Lynn Weinman, president and chief strategist at Kid Glove. So today I am talking with someone who is using the power of hope, relationship, and community collaboration to alleviate the problem of poverty and homelessness. My guest is Rich Schaus. He is the executive director of Gospel Rescue Mission. And I can't wait for you to hear about his innovative and compassionate work. Rich, welcome to the podcast.

Rich Schaus 1:05

I'm really excited to chat with you and get this conversation out there and maybe help some communities move forward and actually do some great work and helping those who are homeless quit being homeless.

Lyn Wineman 1:14

I love your energy, Rich. And you know, I talk to a lot of nonprofit leaders. And the one thing we all want is for the problem that we are trying to eliminate to be eliminated. So I can't wait to hear your ideas and what you've what you've got going. Let's start by having you tell us more about your organization, Gospel Rescue Mission.

Rich Schaus 1:37

So Gospel Rescue Mission Oklahoma, we exist to help individuals and our community to flourish with God leading the way. So we are a faith-based organization and we just look to God for wisdom. We read the scriptures and try to get ideas and thoughts from that. But our goal is to help these individuals accomplish great things. They weren't designed to live on the streets. They have so much more inside of them, they have some great value, and I want to help them do that. But I also want to support our community. If if our my my homeless folks, and I get they become my folks, I didn't use that term. Uh people in the community said, Well, your folks did this or did

Accountability And Making Amends

Rich Schaus 2:10

that. Uh, but our community needs them to be our folks need to do the right things, right? Right. And so when they're trespassing or they're uh shoplifting or doing those things, that hurts our community. And so I really coach our folks, you know, don't trespass on somebody's property. Uh, if they do happen to do that, we will actually take them over to meet with that homeowner and say, I am sorry that I did that.

Speaker 1 2:32

Wow.

Rich Schaus 2:33

I apologize for that. And if they're not willing to do that, then we may not be serving them because we really want to support our community. Uh, same thing with shoplifting. Uh, if they shoplift, the store send me a picture and I say, Yeah, that's that's my friend Joe or Jacob or whoever. Uh, I will take them over there and they will repay. Uh, we we always require them to do double whatever they stole. So man Jacob, who stole a bag of potato chips for you know 75 cents or whatever it was, small bag. Uh, he had to take a dollar fifty, give it to that store owner, and the store owner didn't know what to do with that.

Lyn Wineman 3:05

Right. I'm sure they didn't. Like, I don't know how to put this in the register, I don't know how to figure this out. Yeah, but also, I mean, think about for a dollar fifty, think about what a meaningful impact that was. I mean, I hate to say it, but that's better than any advertising you could buy, Rich, to have that interaction with that store owner.

Rich Schaus 3:28

Yeah, we had a and I learned this. Uh, we had a young man who was here and he had been in and out of prison. By the time I met him, I actually picked him up at jail. And if I can tell your listeners, just one piece of advice if you're going to go pick up somebody from jail, make sure you know who they are.

unknown 3:40

Okay.

Rich Schaus 3:41

I was picking him up because his mother said, Can you pick up my son?

unknown 3:44

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 3:44

I said, Sure. And I at the time I didn't think until I'm sitting in the parking lot saying, I don't know what he looks like. Wow. So I showed up, picked up some random guy off the streets, and I bring him to my place. Well, we have a class called Forging Past the Felony. And in this class, I I encourage uh them to make things right wherever you have made a mistake, whether that's an apology to family or friends or or neighbors or whatever it needs to be. But sometimes if you've stolen something, you need to repay it. Just kind of I was just talking about with our local store owners. And as he's sitting there, he had this realization I stole about $500 worth of material from Walmart, you know, shampoos, soaps, you know, whatever small little things, but added up to about $500. And at this point, he's got a solid job. I said, Well, let's get you $500 worth of cash and let's go over to Walmart and meet with that Walmart manager, and we're gonna give him that money back. And he was he was nervous, and this is a jail-hardened man with all the jail-hardened muscles, every stereotype of a prison guy. This is him, right? And we walk in, and this little I mean, he's probably 22, 23 years old, uh, not all not very muscular, probably more intellectual than physical. Yeah, and and my friend is like trembling. Oh, Rich. He's just a little guy. What do you he goes? This guy's gonna put me back in prison.

Lyn Wineman 5:01

Oh, and he doesn't want to go there. I get that.

Rich Schaus 5:04

But when he made it right, the manager had his first of all, I had to help him pull his joint chin up to because Walmart never has that happen. Yeah, and the manager said, You know, if more people did this, uh we would be able to hire more felons and help more people along the road. It became a statement to him, but for this man, it changed his whole heart. He's like, you know what? I was treated with respect. I I did the right thing, I didn't go to jail, which probably helped out the whole situation, right? And today that young man uh has a he works 40 plus hours uh working as an electrician in Arizona, amazing, and he could do more if he wanted to. He just says, Oh, 40 is good enough for me. I already own my home, he's got it paid off.

Lyn Wineman 5:43

Good for him.

Rich Schaus 5:44

Enjoy this life. But it all started with making it right.

Lyn Wineman 5:48

I love it. So, Rich, you're providing curriculum, you're helping people. Tell me more about Gospel Rest Rescue Mission. Like, what are the programs like? What does it look like? Uh, tell me more.

Rich Schaus 6:00

Okay, so we get to know the men women when they come in. They they check in, we check in every single day, Monday through Friday, 12:30. Anybody in in the area who needs a place to stay, needs a roof over their head, needs meals, they can show up and we're gonna provide that for them.

Speaker 1 6:13

Wow.

Rich Schaus 6:14

We're also gonna provide guidance counseling for them.

Speaker 1 6:16

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 6:17

And over the first three weeks, they just get kind of a taste. This is how this is supposed to work. Uh, they can learn classes, it's they can try out uh the we have a work training program, they can try that out. Nice. Uh, they if they do have a felony, we encourage them to try our felony class, uh, help them move forward with that. Uh try out the meals. Yeah. We we serve meals to 75 people uh every single meal. And so uh some meals people say, Well, that was terrible. And the same same meal, somebody said that was the best meal I ever had. Of course. So that's the way that goes. And then uh, can you sleep in a barracks with 15 other men or 15 other women? That not everybody can pull that off, right? Right. So they try it all out for three weeks, and they're also building relationships with the staff and with the other guests, and so at the after three weeks, they will meet with a panel of three guests and two staff. And I want to highlight that just three guests and two staff, and they're gonna vote on whether they continue their stay.

Lyn Wineman 7:14

Oh wow. So the guests have a big part in this, and because they see them day to day, they see them all the time.

Rich Schaus 7:23

They can fool me. Uh I'm kind of gullible in a lot of ways. They they trick me all the time, but they're not gonna fool these men and women from the streets, they're they're more observant than most, yeah, probably because they've had to to survive,

Program Structure And Peer Panels

Rich Schaus 7:35

right? But they also see them when I'm not looking. Well, you know, when you're not looking, they're actually dealing drugs. When you're not looking, they're uh bullying other people, yeah. Or you know what, you don't see them doing this, but they're secretly doing good stuff around the shelter, they're cleaning things up or making a bed or whatever. They're doing they're helping, like, oh okay, good, and that helps us get good, better data. And five people are gonna be wiser than any one of us, yeah. So they will they will have a conversation, it's not just uh uh vote just randomly, it's a conversation. They have some interview questions, uh practicing for a future job interview, and they'll say, Okay, this is who I am, this is what I want, what's my hope for the future? And then that panel will vote. Yeah, it could be three guests outvoting both staff, and it that has happened from time to time. Most of the time, though, it's all five one way or another. Everybody's kind of seeing the same sort of things. And then after that, they'll have a foundations uh curriculum that we developed, you know, basic conflict resolution, you know, basic uh study habits, uh basic, you know, how work should be feel how you should feel about work, uh, and some other little small thing, just to kind of get them a base under their feet. And then after two weeks, we meet with them and we say, Okay, what is your dreams? And we do a full assessment physically, mentally, spiritually, socially. Uh what are your barriers? Uh, who are you? What are your hopes and dreams? I really love the hopes and dreams. Oh, I love that.

Lyn Wineman 8:59

Hopes and dreams. That just almost seems so far. Like, but once you can open someone's mind to think about hopes and dreams, that's a game changer.

Rich Schaus 9:08

It's huge, but we can't do this. I've learned this when we first started doing it. I would ask them that the day they checked in.

Speaker 1 9:13

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 9:13

Well, they're just coming off the streets, they they can't even imagine hope.

Speaker 1 9:17

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 9:17

So we've given them five to six weeks to kind of figure out you know what, I do want something better, I can have something better. And so when I asked that question, they actually have an answer.

Speaker 1 9:26

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 9:27

And it's a realistic answer most of the time. Uh, and so then we'll set up a personal program to help them move toward that hopes and dreams. So, our work training program will somehow uh, like for example, we had a young man who wanted to be a celebrity chef. I didn't even know there was such things, so he shared that with me.

Lyn Wineman 9:43

That's a big dream to be a celebrity chef, but it really gave me some uh I looked into it.

Rich Schaus 9:48

I had a research that was a real job.

Lyn Wineman 9:51

Yeah, right. Not very many people can get the job of celebrity chef because first you have to be a celebrity and a chef.

Rich Schaus 9:58

Yeah. And so uh he so he became our food service workshop job training program. So he's working in the kitchen, learning all those job skills to learn the basics of how you do the kitchen, moving toward being a chef.

Speaker 1 10:10

I love it.

Rich Schaus 10:11

And then eventually, and then as things were going along, he would show different behaviors saying, you know what, that probably won't work for you to become a celebrity chef or to keep a job or or his other dream was to be reunited with his family.

Lyn Wineman 10:23

Oh, well, that's a good one too.

Rich Schaus 10:25

And so we would say, How does that behavior gonna get you back with your family? How's that behavior getting there? So instead of a really a punishment, saying your behaviors are now keeping you from your dream.

Speaker 1 10:34

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 10:35

And it's not just random, it's we know you, we want to have a relationship with you, and we want you to fulfill your dreams.

Lyn Wineman 10:41

I really like it. I like it. Rich, tell me this. So obviously, you are doing a lot of work with homelessness and poverty. Why is this work so important right now in 2026?

Rich Schaus 10:53

Oh, I mean, from late 60s, we started this war on poverty. Yeah. And we have put billions with a B into this. Uh, some experts are saying even trillions of dollars into this.

Lyn Wineman 11:05

And it doesn't feel like it's getting a lot better, does it?

Rich Schaus 11:07

Uh, it's getting worse. Yeah. In a lot of ways, it's because uh we don't actually expect anything out of these men and women. We don't see the value in them. Say, oh, they're just poor little boobaloos who are living on the street. Uh, we need to pamper them and get them into a home and get them going forward. And so we've kind of wasted all this money. And the longer they're out there, the more ingrained they get into street life.

Speaker 1 11:29

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 11:29

And I get really nervous when they've they're when they've been out there for three to six months. I start to see a change in their thinking and their dynamics. Uh, and I I got it takes a long time to shake that out of them. Right. And so now is the time to pull this off because the problem is getting so big. I don't know how long we can wait. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a person who wants to take action now.

Lyn Wineman 11:50

I feel that about you. And actually, that leads me to my next question for you, Rich. Like, how did you come to this line of work? Like, what shaped your calling to be in this space?

Rich Schaus 12:03

Well, many years ago now, uh, I was in the army. Uh, it was uh early 2001, and uh I was having a time of prayer, and I wrote out a description uh of a shelter. I said that that I didn't even know these sort of things existed. I had volunteered at one before, uh, but

Hopes, Dreams, And Job Training

Rich Schaus 12:20

I wanted something more, something that could really enhance the value and encourage people for men, for women, uh help restore relationships, uh, get them back out into community and just be an everyday person. And I wrote this uh just as a during a time of devotion and prayer. Well, as I'm getting ready to get out of the army, I decided uh I'm just going to just try to I need to find a job because there wasn't a job in homelessness. Right, right. I don't know, I didn't have no idea. And I in a way I had also kind of forgotten about that vision, that dream that I had written and all. And I kind of just put it in my journal and said, uh, that'll be someday.

Speaker 1 12:54

Yeah.

unknown 12:55

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 12:55

And I applied, I got out of the army. I I was a college graduate, I had was an army officer, and I could not get a job. It's 2001, it was shortly after. I mean, I got out. I was actually at my out processing during the whole 9-11 attacks. And three months later, I'm out and trying to find a job, and and everybody rejected me. And I my heart broke when I got turned down to be a mall security guard. Wow, yeah. See, I am a defending the nation, but I can't defend them all. Can't defend them all. But anyway, so I started applying for a job. One of those jobs that I had applied for turns out to be a homeless shelter. And I at the time I didn't realize it was a women's shelter. Because I probably would not have put my name in it. I just assumed no man is ever going to be hired to work at a women's shelter. Right, probably not. Uh, but it turns out that they had had a conversation as they were looking to hire this position, saying, you know, it would be really great if we can find a healthy male to hang out with these ladies because most of these ladies have been hurt by a male. So the easiest way to get to healing is for them to have a healthy relationship with a male to move them forward. And so when they interviewed me, they they interviewed me for three months.

Lyn Wineman 14:07

That's a long time.

Rich Schaus 14:09

It was over the course of three months, and I thought, man, I I got to get a job because I got to get these right. I got two kids, I gotta get them fed, I gotta get them diapered, clothed, and you know, they're growing. What am I gonna do? But eventually they hire me, and it was really gonna be my short-term gig. I really had dreams of being a pastor or or some other leader. Uh, I didn't really think that I could handle this working with these ladies. Uh, my first night working with the ladies, I was an overnight manager. Wow, I was terrified. I was thinking, I've gone into semi-conflict res uh situations, and I was less scared than being with this group of ladies because they can destroy my reputation in a heartbeat. Oh, right. I'm thinking of my own temptations, my own flesh getting in the way, and I thought, I am doomed. But the truth is, I did really fall in love with these ladies. Wow, they're incredible. Some of them, many of them, are still my friends in social media. That was in Washington, I'm in Oklahoma now, so yeah, distance separates us. But uh, I I love uh their the possibilities and potential inside of them. I love the things that are really important to them. Uh, I remember one lady, uh Pamela Joe, her her nickname was uh PJ because she loved peanut butter and jelly, and also went with her name, obviously. But she threw the biggest tantrum over we ran out of peanut butter one day. It's like, well, we still got jelly.

Speaker 1 15:28

Yeah, right.

Rich Schaus 15:31

Uh, but just the fun and the excitement, the stories they would share, uh, the the things they would try to get better. Yeah. One lady, she did she said, you know, I could walk into a room with a with 99 healthy, good for me men, and one guy who's gonna treat me like dirt, and I'm gonna be the one who's gonna treat me like dirt. I will grab onto him. And I she goes, so her plan was I am not going to date for the next uh, I can't remember, it's like six months out, and I'm going to study healthy relationships and how to identify healthy relationships. Wow. And so she took some online classes that were kind of new at the time. Uh, she took some uh went to a local college and took a psychology class, trying to figure out why in the world she's doing this, had her own counselor. Uh, she invested in that. So six months later, she started dating and said, Nope, not for me. And she figured out date one, he's not gonna work. Date two, for somebody else. Nope, not gonna work. Eventually found a good guy, but she did the training before she went back out in the pool.

Lyn Wineman 16:26

Yeah, you know, Rich, because this is a podcast and people are listening while they're driving and walking and doing dishes and all the things people do when they listen to podcasts, they're not gonna get to see you. I see your face light up when you talk about potential and possibilities. And when we started talking, one of the things you said is

Why The Crisis Demands Action Now

Lyn Wineman 16:45

people who are experiencing homelessness are not helpless. Like, talk to me more about that because I do think that is a common misperception that you wouldn't be, and I might get myself in trouble, but I'm just gonna be really authentic. People, I think, think you must be helpless or you wouldn't be in this situation. Tell me how wrong I am.

Rich Schaus 17:09

Oh, uh you're your your wording is so close. With their own, they're feeling hopeless. Ah, and people who feel hopeless don't want to try, they don't want to take a chance. They have they have tried, they have tried a hundred different things, a hundred different relationships, and all of them have failed, and they take it inside. It was all me. And in some cases, there was a piece that is them, and in most cases, it's gonna be an element of them, but they have these incredible skills and abilities uh to actually make our society better, uh, but nobody's giving them the chance. So the first thing I have to do is I have to help reinstill that hope inside of them. Uh, I don't know if you or your listeners have heard the rat uh experiment that they did. Uh if there's any rat fans listening, maybe they might not want to tell me. Tell me more.

Lyn Wineman 17:54

I'm not sure if I've heard this one or not. Tell me more, Rich.

Rich Schaus 17:57

So they did this experiment where uh they took a rat and they put him in in water and had him swim as long as you can swim. And it turns out the average rat can swim about 15 minutes, okay, which is pretty good for a mammal. Yeah. Without stopping, 15 minutes. And I mean, it's literally swam to death. I mean, that's kind of cool. Maybe it's like a rat fan, you'd be upset right now. Right, right, right. But round two, they put the rat in, and about 14 and a half minutes, they pulled the rat out and they said, Real rat, you are a good little swimmer. I'm so proud of you. You're really good. And I don't think they speak English, but they talk nice to them. 30 seconds to a minute, they put them back in the water, and they kept going. And then, so they the the thing is that it wasn't just another 15 minutes, it was four days. Four days of swimming from that, you know, two minutes, so a minute and a half of hope given to them. And the same thing happens with these men and women. If they are given that hope, these are men and women who one time wanted to be doctors and lawyers, and yeah, they want to be business people, and uh, they have creative ideas, they want to be marketers. Uh, one guy wants to be a DJ. I talked about the uh celebrity chef. Uh, some of them just want to be a garbage man. Wow. They're like, well, that's great. We need that. We do. Uh, we need plumbers and electricians, and we need all those skills. You know, I grew up in an era where you're a college prepper, you were nothing. Right. And I think we're paying a price for that right now. That's a whole different conversation.

Lyn Wineman 19:20

Uh there's a lot of good jobs out there. Oh, there are high-paying jobs for people that take alternate paths. And there's a lot of people with expensive college degrees that aren't making enough to pay their student loans, right? So there's both sides of that equation.

Rich Schaus 19:35

Yeah, the guy who's who's fixed my dishwasher when it broke, he is actually an accounting major and he's doing this to pay off his accounting uh college fees.

Lyn Wineman 19:43

I love it. I love it. So, Rich, we've got a lot of smart listeners, people who want to make a difference in the world. What would you like to let community leaders know that they should do differently or maybe more effectively to address this problem?

Rich Schaus 19:58

Well, first of all, it's a team effort. It's going to take a lot of different ideas. You need to have the business people at the table.

Speaker 1 20:04

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 20:05

They're the ones with the money. Uh, I think we also need to recognize uh, so you have those, you have uh business owners, you have to have some church leaders. Uh and that not just, I mean I'm Christian, so I'm my brain automatically goes there, but you know, you can have the Muslim and the Jewish leaders, whatever kind of faith-based groups you have, they are designed for charity and care and compassion and virtue, right? All those sort of things. Uh, you need to bring in school leaders because this is impacting the children

Rich’s Calling From Army To Shelter

Rich Schaus 20:30

of the home.

Lyn Wineman 20:31

Absolutely.

Rich Schaus 20:32

And then obviously the social workers are going to be there because that's what we do. We want to be part of that conversation. But what tends to happen is the business leaders say, Oh, you social worker, you know what you're talking about. And sometimes we do. The conversation needs to be how does this impact our community and our society? So, leaders of the of the whether city or county, they need to bring them all together and say, How can we work together to really not just manage the situation, yeah, but to help them grow and prosper and flourish. This is one of my favorite words that we use here is flourish.

Lyn Wineman 21:04

Flourish. I love it. It's a different word, which means people take a moment to think about it, right? When you hear a word that you haven't don't use every day.

Rich Schaus 21:14

And I think of that with uh when my daughter was three, when she's all grown up, she's getting ready to have uh by the time this airs, I'll have five granddaughters. She's getting ready to have congratulations. Uh thank you. Uh, but when she was three, we were teaching her how to plant things. And so she would get beans and you know, different kinds of flowers. She was all excited about this. Well, one day I took her to the store and we walk past and she her eyes get real big and she gets all excited and she sees bird seed. And we've taught her that apple seeds grow apples and flower seeds grow flowers. And so, I'm gonna grow some some birds, dad. And I'm at that point, I'm a new dad, and I love my princess. And I'm I'm gonna buy her the bird seed, we're gonna Grow some birds. Oh my goodness. Because I can't break her heart. Well, we take that bird seed home and we you know put it in the dirt, and there's a whole lot that goes with that, but I'm expecting nothing to happen. I'm going to put down a stuffed bird or something four or five days later. That's my plan. Right. However, something sprouts. And I thought, I know it's not going to be a bird, but what is happening here? And we wait, waited and watched and let it grow. And that ended up being a sunflower. Really? And that sunflower blossomed and grew, and eventually we had to take it out of the pot and we had to put it into a garden. Wow. And then at the end of that season, we took the seeds and we planted it in the garden next year. I love it. It became that was flourishing. You can either have growth or you can have flourishing.

Lyn Wineman 22:49

And you know what happens when you grow a sunflower plant? I've tried before, and it's not that easy because birds and deer all come and try and eat the seeds, right? So I do.

Rich Schaus 23:00

That worked out because we're in the city and it we had some protections there, but yeah.

Lyn Wineman 23:04

Very nice, very nice. So we talked about like what would you tell community leaders and and talked about bringing lots of people together. What if I'm just one person, just one person, I'd like to make a difference. What advice do you have for that one person who wants to make a difference in the world?

Rich Schaus 23:22

So when you see that person, yeah, look at them in the face. Yeah. We tend to look away. Uh one day I took a bunch of people, uh, our folks out, and we had them all in dress suits, interview clothes. Yeah. And they were gonna stand out of the corner, same corners they have been panhandling out, but now we're gonna hand out resumes.

Speaker 1 23:39

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 23:39

And I'm out there with them, I'm dressed up just like them. I'm not handing out resumes, just in case my board's listening. I wasn't handing out resumes. You're not looking for a new job. Not looking for a new job, but they were. But what was interesting is I'm standing out there, they're the people who pull up, they would look away, they wouldn't look at them.

Speaker 1 23:55

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 23:56

And I thought, how does that gotta feel after 30, 60, 90 minutes of this? Because I'm feeling like dirt. I have a home, I have a job, and I'm feeling beat up after just a little while out here to look at them. And then if you do feel compelled to give them something, I highly recommend getting two sandwiches and sitting down and talking to them.

Speaker 1 24:17

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 24:18

Hearing their story, get to know them. Obviously, I want you to be safe too, so don't do this in an unsafe way. But uh, but if you can and it is safe and it's daylight, sit down and hear their story. You're gonna learn some new things and interesting things.

Speaker 1 24:31

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 24:32

I remember we're sitting at a at a restaurant, my wife and I was one of our anniversary meals, and my wife gets used to this, it's unfortunate for her. But I'm looking out the window and I see someone panhandling out in the corner, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm on a date. Yeah, I'm not going to look. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going out there. I'm not going to go out there. I don't know this particular person, which that's kind of a draw when I don't know who they are.

Speaker 1 24:53

Right.

Rich Schaus 24:54

I can resist a little bit when I know who they are because I know I can have a conversation later, but I don't know this guy. Well, I decide I'm going to go over there and talk to him. I said, Is it all right? And she's okay with it. I go out and talk to him. And I find out he was actually from another community. He was being bust in by some organization that was trying to get money. They were using him.

Lyn Wineman 25:11

I was like, that's not right. That is not right. That is why people are skeptical, right? That is why people are skeptical. Yeah, yeah. Wow, Rich, that's crazy. All right. So the advice is look people in the eye, talk to them, hear their story, pay them with respect. I have to admit, I am guilty of that because I feel bad. I don't know what to do. I don't, I feel bad and uncomfortable. So I look away.

unknown 25:37

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 25:37

Well, that's the other thing, too. People say, Well, what do I want to talk about? You ask them what you know, what's your story? Yeah. That's all the question you have to ask. And they will take it from there. Yeah. And I also got to warn you, you may not get the truth. You know, that's why we kind of give them five weeks, and then they can trust me enough to tell me the truth.

Lyn Wineman 25:55

Good point for me to ask, Rich. What's on the horizon for gospel rescue mission?

Rich Schaus 26:00

Well, right now I'm putting together a committee within our community, within our county. I I in Oklahoma, I tend to think county-wise. We have 75 or 77 different

Helpless vs Hopeless And The Hope Effect

Rich Schaus 26:10

counties.

Speaker 1 26:10

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 26:11

And I've done a study and figured out how many homeless are in each county. Wow.

Lyn Wineman 26:15

Because that is a hard thing to do. Those kinds of counts are not easy to do. Or maybe I misunderstand it. Maybe you've got an easy way to do it, but there is no real easy way to do it.

Rich Schaus 26:25

And I'm pretty sure that my numbers are still wrong.

Lyn Wineman 26:27

But they're probably a good representation, right?

Rich Schaus 26:30

It gives me a good picture, a good idea of how many are in each county. And what we did is we actually called county commissioners and sheriffs in each county and got those numbers.

Speaker 1 26:39

Well, that's probably a really good way to do it.

Rich Schaus 26:41

They do a one-day count every year. Yep. However, that is they don't always get everybody. And somehow just when I do it over one day, they're going to miss a lot of people. So the numbers are not very accurate.

Speaker 1 26:53

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 26:54

But that's what's used by most government officials.

Speaker 1 26:56

Yeah.

Rich Schaus 26:56

So we've done this research, we've called each of these counties. We have a pretty good number. And we're going to, and this is just our one county, we're going to try to figure out how would we serve our 85 homeless folks? And I know our numbers are actually higher than that. Our real numbers are closer to 120. Okay. But our one-day count's going to be 85. So I'm going to say, well, putting together this committee working through a process that we've developed, uh, how do we help those 85 and we want to get to know them by name? Um, how do we get to know their story? How do we get to help move them forward so they're not going to be homeless three months, six months, a year from now?

Speaker 1 27:29

Right.

Rich Schaus 27:30

So we're putting together a strategic plan. Uh, in November, we're electing a new governor in Oklahoma. And I want to have a plan together so that way somehow in that first three to six months of whoever wins. Well, we don't even have, we have a couple candidates, but we don't have all of them.

Lyn Wineman 27:45

Yeah, but you have a plan. I can tell. I love it.

Rich Schaus 27:48

And I'm gonna I'm gonna our group is going to present a plan to that new governor and have that for their whole time in office working on this plan and offering our services. Uh, because our goal is that we would do this in such a way that doesn't cost the state extra money, right? We're already spending a certain amount.

Lyn Wineman 28:04

We don't spend I think most states would be very grateful for that because there are very few states at this moment in time that have a surplus. And if Oklahoma does, they're one of the very, very few.

Rich Schaus 28:17

Uh they say they have a surplus sometimes, depending on who's in office.

Lyn Wineman 28:21

Yeah, that's right. Depending on who's in office and how close the election is. So, Rich, you have a great story. You're doing really innovative things. I love, I love hearing about your work. For our listeners who would like to learn more, maybe send you a donation, maybe just tap into some of your knowledge. Where can they find more information about Gospel Rescue Mission?

Rich Schaus 28:43

Well, first they can go to grmok.org. Grmok.org. That will give you a general picture. You'll see some opportunities to donate. You also hear some stories, some part of who what we're doing and who we are. Also, contact information if you want to contact us directly, our social media, all those things. All of our social media are on Facebook and Twitter and or X, sorry, uh, all those different social media is grmok 1931. We've been around since 1931. So you can find all those. But also for your listeners today, I want to offer a special gift. Uh, it's uh a guide for how to do this either for helping an individual or for your community. Wow.

Lyn Wineman 29:19

How do they tap into that, Rich?

Rich Schaus 29:22

So go to grmok.org backslash free gift. Okay. And then they'll give you an option. Do you want the individual one or do you want the community one? Cool.

Lyn Wineman 29:33

I'm gonna be the first person to sign up. It would be beautiful. All right. We will, for our listeners, we will have both of those links, the um grmok.org and the link for the free gift on our website with the show notes. So if you didn't catch that, or if you're walking or driving, uh, we will have that out there for you so you can can catch that link. All right, I love it. Everything you've you've said here is just so inspiring. But I want to ask you my favorite question next. And Rich, that is I would like a Rich Schaus original quote to inspire our listeners.

Rich Schaus 30:13

Oh, I'm gonna caveat this with saying a lot of people think motivation is what they need to get moving forward with life. Yeah. When I feel like it, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna be a hard charger, gonna change the world. But one of the things I've taught taught my children, and that I've I have to remind myself, is motivation isn't gonna get you there. Discipline is gonna get you there. So, discipline is more powerful than motivation. That would be my my quote of the day. Really funny story is that my son was going through some challenges and uh he was feeling

A Whole-Community Strategy To Flourish

Rich Schaus 30:40

a lack of motivation. So, I of course I shared that with him again. You remember it's not about motivation, it's about discipline. You just get up and you do your job and you do the right things and you eat right and exercise and do these basic things. Uh, and I didn't think he was really listening because he kind of said, Oh, yeah, dad, I've heard that. He kind of blew me off. Yeah. Well, my wife was talking about not being motivated one day, and my son goes, You know, mom, motivation only gets you so far. Discipline is more powerful than motivation.

Lyn Wineman 31:05

I was like, Yes, I love it.

Rich Schaus 31:07

The boy was listening.

Lyn Wineman 31:09

You know, parent parenting is a difficult task, and when you get those wins like that, it just propels you forward. Uh you could swim for four days after that, I bet, right? I bet. I love it. Rich, such a great conversation. As we wrap up our time together, I'd love to hear from your perspective what is the most important thing you would like our listeners to remember about the work that you're doing.

Rich Schaus 31:35

Well, I have a different categories. I've been thinking about this a little bit. So if you are someone who's a social worker or someone who's working with the homeless, don't give up. There are days where you're gonna feel like quitting. Uh, I've been to more funerals for drug overdoses in my career than I can count. It is heartbreaking and devastating. Uh, you you have to rejoice in them being in jail because you know where they're at and they're safe or okay at least. So if you're a social worker or somebody working with the homeless, don't give up. If you're a community leader, I would love to help you out. You cannot do this on your own. You have an expertise on governing your community, but you cannot be everywhere doing everything. So find someone like myself or someone else who can be an expert for you to help you do it. Very nice. And then if you're an individual, don't just do a handout. That is so demeaning and it hurts them in the long run. They will take that stuff because they they feel like they need it. But really, what they need is relationship. In America, we are not uh material uh poor in any way, shape, or form. Even those who are homeless are not materially poor, they are relationship poor. Yeah, so give them relationship, get to know them, hear their story, reconnect with them. You can do it over a meal, you can do it in a shelter, you can do it all sorts of places, but build a relationship first and foremost.

Lyn Wineman 32:54

Wow, great advice. Rich, I really enjoyed this conversation. I fully believe the world needs more people like you, more organizations like Gospel Rescue Mission. Thank you so much for taking time to talk with us today.

Announcer 33:09

Thank you for having me today. We hope you enjoyed today's Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities, or to nominate a change maker you'd love to hear from, visit kidglove.com at kidg-lo-v.com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you've heard today, be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.