Meet Sydney Roberts & Jenny Angius with Urban Roots, a Reno-based nonprofit striving to change the way our community eats and learns through garden-based education. Their many programs - including farm camps, monthly workshops, preschool programs, and even a Dead Plant Society - enrich lives and create friendships for all ages. Whether you don’t know where to start with gardening in the high desert or are a seasoned green thumb, Urban Roots provides many ways to get outside and grow.
Learn more about Urban Roots and get involved at https://www.urgc.org/
Additional links from the episode:
We welcome Sharon Chamberlain to the podcast this week. Sharon is the CEO of Northern Nevada HOPES, a community health center in Reno providing affordable, high-quality, medical, behavioral health, and support services for all. What started as a single-room clinic to serve those with HIV/AIDS has expanded to providing comprehensive, patient-centered healthcare for 14,000 people in our community. Through their presence on 4th Street, they are turning a healthcare desert into a “Corridor of Hope,” including northern Nevada’s first bridge-housing community called Hope Springs and the new clinic being built across the street projected to open summer 2024.
Learn more about Northern Nevada HOPES at https://www.nnhopes.org/
Meet Mallory Morgan, Youth Outreach Coordinator with Destiny Church. Destiny has a heart for young people and for outreach, and they dream of using their building - Destiny Center - as a Youth Center. Mallory walks us through “the beginning of the beginning” of the Traner Project, as she recruits a team to build relationships with students at Traner Middle School.
Learn more about Destiny Center at https://destinyreno.com/
Contact Mallory to get involved at mallory@destinyreno.com
Financially support Mallory at https://giving.ag.org/donate/700001-299915
Additional links from the episode:
- Youth First of Reno/Sparks: https://www.youthfirstreno.org/
- Youth First episode of Hope, NV: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2aQNrHsoF5Olx6YWi7B5E0?si=5978e06126ea47ed
- Lectio 365 app: https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/
- How to be Unsuccessful: An Unlikely Guide to Human Flourishing by Pete Portal: https://www.amazon.com/How-Successful-unlikely-guide-flourishing/dp/0281088179/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+to+be+unsuccessful+pete+portal&qid=1700174774&sr=8-1
- "The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2: https://youtu.be/kFkClV2gM-s?feature=shared
This week we get to learn from Maricela Gutierrez, Executive Director of the JustIN Hope Foundation. This foundation builds a community of inclusion, empowerment, and support for families and individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities of all ages. She has an impactful and personal history with the foundation and is driven by the potential to meet real needs through sustainable and collaborative partnerships. Their program Hope Works is responding to the youth unemployment rate crisis for individuals with disabilities, benefiting employers and participants alike. As Maricela says, this is more than employment. It is empowerment! Maricela’s passion is evident, and our city is better because she and JustIN Hope are a part of it.
Learn more about the JustinIN Hope Foundation and get involved at justinhope.org
Meet Marie Baxter, C.E.O. of Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada. They are a major operation of impact, responding to unmet human needs. With food, clothing, shelter, and a helping hand, they bring hope to people in order to build spirit and self-reliance within them and within our community. Recently, they launched an initiative to interrupt general poverty, and the ways that volunteers can get involved goes on and on. If you have wanted to serve our community and haven’t known where to start, this episode is for you.
Learn more about Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada and get involved at https://ccsnn.org/
Additional links from the episode:
-Economic Mobility Pathways: https://empathways.org/
RISE - Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality
"You don't need permission to get involved." Meet Benjamin Castro, the Executive Director and founder of RISE, the Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality. What started as a community potluck has turned into an organization cultivating a greater sense of dignity for our unsheltered neighbors by providing equal access to shelter, knowledge, and opportunity. RISE seeks to create a stronger community through the use of shared resources and mutual aid. This led to the low-barrier and unique shelter - OUR Place, the largest emergency housing provider for women and families in our community. Ben stepped into the opportunity and invited us to do the same.
Learn more about RISE and OUR Place at http://www.renoinitiative.org/
Meet Amy Dewitt-Smith, executive director of Neighbor Network of Northern Nevada, or N4. The N4 village connects Northern Nevadans for inclusive, community-based services from volunteer opportunities to affordable transportation. Through this episode, we glean from Amy’s 20+ years of experience working in aging and disability services. The village of N4 is relational, reciprocal, and offers person-centered support for members.
Learn more about N4 and get involved at https://neighbornv.org/
Additional links from the episode:
-CBS News “Aging in America: Stuck in the Middle” feature: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aging-in-america-stuck-in-the-middle/
-Beacon Hill Village: https://www.beaconhillvillage.org/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=332658
-HourWorld: https://hourworld.org/index.htm
Boys & Girls Club is way more than a day care - and Amber Seifert is here to tell us about it. Amber is the marketing coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, where each location creates a place for kids to feel safe and connected, finding a place to belong and a place to become. Their over 50 locations serve 13,000 youth annually throughout our region. A resource center for families and the community, they provide low-cost childcare, homework help, scholarships, meals, hygiene supplies, sports leagues, youth leadership development, and more. No child is turned away from the Boys & Girls Club due to inability to pay.
Learn more about Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows and get involved at https://bgctm.org/
Meet Paula Jones and Jan Wise, representing the Assistance League of Reno-Sparks. Assistance Leagues across America engage and empower volunteers to strengthen their communities. They do this through conducting community needs assessments and developing programs to meet the needs they uncover. If you have wanted to volunteer in our community and didn’t know where to start, here is your start! Whether helping children receive new school clothes, working with veterans, or delivering food to homebound seniors, there is no shortage of ways to assist our community - and build friendships along the way.
Learn more about Assistance League of Reno-Sparks and get involved at https://www.assistanceleague.org/reno-sparks/
Additional links from the episode:
Meet Halie Meiners, Executive Director of Scarlet Hope, an organization committed to sharing the hope and love of Jesus with exploited and trafficked women in Reno. Every Thursday night, Scarlet Hope volunteers bring trays of food, meet needs, and build relationships with women in the adult entertainment industry. The scope of the number of women being exploited and turning to the sex industry to survive may shock and disrupt you. Halie and the Scarlet Hope team is paving the way for us to follow Jesus into the shock and disruption with humility, hope, and active love.
Learn more about Scarlet Hope and get involved at https://scarlethope.org/reno/
Let’s talk addiction, empathy, prosocial activities, relational resources, and being parental with licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Jolene Dalluhn! Jolene is the co-founder and Executive Director of Quest Counseling. Quest brings hope, recovery, and healing to our community by providing comprehensive, caring, and quality behavioral health treatment to each person and family seeking services.
Learn more about Quest Counseling and their many treatment services at https://www.questreno.com/
Additional links from the episode:
-Solace Tree’s episode of Hope, NV: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lCsaet5wQCeLWhymDrqUH?si=b88ec84d087646d9
-Jennifer Garner on why her teens aren’t on social media: https://youtu.be/QZb8BLek1S8
-Jeff Foxworthy at North Point Community Church, talking about his experience at the Atlanta Mission (starts around 15:20): https://youtu.be/UZiHJ5wWkvU
This week we had a conversation with Samantha Perez, volunteer coordinator for the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army exists to meet human needs wherever, whenever, and however they can. Every program is rooted in the passion to serve God by serving the lost, vulnerable, needy, poor, hurting, helpless, and hopeless.
Learn more about the Salvation Army and get involved at reno.salvationarmy.org
Meet Scott Nessel, director of the Reno Adolescent Boy’s Center through Teen Challenge - a unique and successful long-term, residential recovery program. Scott describes Teen Challenge as more of a discipleship program than rehab, approaching recovery through mentoring, education, training, and spiritual direction. What started as one pastor’s desire to see young men have the opportunity for restoration rather than incarceration has turned into nearly 1500 residential recovery centers around the world. The NorWestCal-Nevada region has ten Teen Challenge centers that welcome men, women, teens, children, and families facing addiction, substance abuse, and trauma. They put hope within reach.
Learn more about Teen Challenge and get involved at https://www.teenchallenge.net/
Meet Susan Nissenbaum with Washoe CASA Foundation - and a CASA herself since 1995. CASAs are Court Appointed Special Advocates speaking up for abused and neglected children. Assigned to a child for the duration of their court case, the CASA may be the only consistent adult in the child’s life in an unfamiliar world of social workers, lawyers, judges, and courtrooms. The foundation is on mission to support the CASA Program through fundraising, advocacy, outreach, and community awareness.
Learn more about the CASA program and the foundation at: https://washoecasafoundation.com/
Schedule a Virtual Coffee with CASA to learn what it’s like to advocate for a child in our community at: https://washoecasafoundation.com/get-involved/coffee-with-casa.html
Sophie Moeller is back! This time, she tells us about Reps 4 Recovery, which strengthens the sober community one rep at a time. They strive to strengthen the sober community and health of recovering persons through fitness coaching, community, and mentorship.
Learn more about Reps 4 Recovery and get involved at https://www.reps4recovery.org/
Additional links from the episode:
-Biopsychosocial approach to well-being explained: https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-the-biopsychosocial-model-7549226
-Reno Food Systems: https://www.renofoodsystems.org/
Meet Sophie Moeller - program director with the Northern Nevada Ronald McDonald House Charities. She sums up her job beautifully as, “I get to help families.” Located in Reno, the Ronald McDonald house lodges families living more than 30 miles away with a child receiving treatment at an area hospital. Doing so eases the emotional and financial strain families experience when children face health complications. In addition to the house, they offer additional programs bridging service gaps for families including the Ronald McDonald house, the Family Room at Renown, the Care Mobile, and the Travel-for-Treatment program.
Learn more about Northern Nevada Ronald McDonald House Charities and get involved at https://rmhcnnevada.org/
Additional links from the episode:
-Step 2 episode of Hope, NV: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tcPXosskO96bWh6aABAJ0?si=5e5df09a283f4af5
-Teen Challenge: https://www.teenchallenge.net/
Meet Kathleen Teipner, program director at Community Services Agency - which exists to help people get out of poverty. Empowering individuals and families to become self-sufficient through advocacy, results-based programs, and community partnership in Northern Nevada, they offer a wide variety of programs from Head Start, Energy Efficiency, Victim Advocacy Program, Employment Assistance and Training, and Free Income Tax Preparation. Kathleen says this non-profit work needs to be “in your blood” - and you will hear through this episode, it is definitely in hers. We are a better community for it.
Learn more about the Community Services Agency and get involved at https://www.csareno.org/
Meet Emilio Parga, the founder and Executive Director of The Solace Tree, as well as Solace Tree participants and advocates - sisters Hailey, Lily, and Chloe. The Solace Tree provides grief and loss support for children, teens, and families. They have much to teach us - and you will love learning from their wisdom and experience! Through their peer support programs and education opportunities, children and teens learn to cope and adjust to the many changes in their lives associated with grief - because as Emilio teaches us - “if children are old enough to love, they are old enough to grieve.” Whether you are grieving or love someone who is, this one has value for us all.
Learn more The Solace Tree and get involved at https://www.solacetree.org/
Additional links from the episode:
TIP (Trauma Intervention Program) episode of Hope, NV: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cPu4rmofgVc6Is0zLqwNq?si=a18a3f59205a4dac
The Dougy Center: https://www.dougy.org/
On Mortality seminar: https://www.youtube.com/live/nTMzuIpQMy0?feature=share
Girls on the Run episode of Hope, NV: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xAYWH5h9rdjz9Ba1Q3AyU?si=4351aac672104065
Meet Michelle Rector, Executive Director of Seniors in Service. Their mission is to engage vibrant and experienced volunteers to enrich Northern Nevada communities one life at a time through their Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program, and Respite Voucher Program. They insist on having fun along the way!
Learn more about Seniors in Service and get involved at https://seniorsinservicenevada.org/ or call 775-358-2768.
Meet Miriam Esparza, marketing and communications coordinator for the Domestic Violence Resource Center. They provide free services for people experiencing family violence, with a mission to advocate for victims and rebuild safe and hopeful lives.
Learn more about the Domestic Violence Resource Center and get involved at https://domesticviolenceresourcecenter.org/
Additional links from the episode:
-AmeriCorps: https://americorps.gov/
-Domestic Violence & Evangelical Churches podcast w/ Pastor Neil Schori: https://untangledfaithpodcast.com/2023/05/10/79-domestic-violence-evangelical-churches-guest-neil-schori/