Ep 37 | How to Get FREE Emergency Supplies in 24 Hours

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We went in with our idea of oh we'll help them with uniforms and we'll bring them clothes. But when we got there, that wasn't the need. The need was they just needed their basic needs met. It was many kids coming to school had not brushed their teeth because they didn't have a toothbrush and they didn't have toothpaste. Their hair was not comb simply because they didn't have a brush or comb. And they came in, maybe sometimes disruptive in the class, and it was a lot of times it was because they were hungry.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. If you've ever been in an emergency with limited resources, you know how important it is to get the support you need quickly. Whether it's a hurricane, flood, domestic abuse situation, or sudden child placement, a delay in resources could mean rapidly compounding problems. My next guest is a former quality nurse at Sacred Heart. And since retiring, she's taken her skills of efficiency and community organizing to meet the needs of Pensacolians in crisis who are overwhelmed and underfunded. What started as a grassroots campaign has become a systemized effort to meet critical needs within 24 hours of reporting. Today she's going to share how and when to access the support and how it's helping kids in Escambia County. Partner in Crisis, Proud Mom of Two, Next Step Distribution Director Aurelia Laster. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

You know, a lot of people when they retire, they don't start other projects. I think this is an odd decision to launch forward with what is notoriously a taxing uh area nonprofits. What made you decide to start next step?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Well, actually, I started next step before I retired. For the last 32 years, I have been going out into the community, helping when I see needs. And with working as a nurse, I had the opportunity of being a school nurse at one time. I worked with Sacred Heart as an urgent care supervisor where I had a lot of people coming in and out, including kids. And just seeing the needs in the community, I knew I had to do something. I just could not have kids coming in and not having their basic needs met. I saw the need and decided, hey, I'm not going to just talk about it. Let's do something about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

And when did that go from being kind of a thing you did on your own to a more formalized partnership?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

About three to four years ago, um, next step was partnering with another community nonprofit, Pensacola Dream Center, and we kind of outgrew the space. And so I know that I needed to branch out. We wanted to contact so many others, just not just kids in school, but um seniors in the community, um, ladies in shelters, and people even coming out of jail. I was also uh a chaplain for a local jail for several years. So I saw the need. What happens to the kids and what can we do to help?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

That is a major coming out of jail is that is um a huge need no one talks about. Right. Right? Because we kind of dismiss people who have that experience, whether we think it's because they deserve it or whatever. But recidivism happens when there's, you know, like I said a minute ago, it's like that uh compounding problem that happens when you don't have your needs met. You know, you go right back into bad situations, and the bad situations become worse situations. And I'm sure you see that all the time. Yes. So you uh support kids, people leaving prison. Who else?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Um ladies and shelters. I'm connected with several shelters. They will call me if they have a need for a specific clothing size or shoe size, um, and also seniors. We saw the big need of seniors because we have a large amount of grandparents in this community raising children with no type of support, financial support from agencies. So we wanted to jump in and help them, whatever we could do.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Wow. Okay. And when did the partnership become official with Escambia County Public Schools? Was that also three or four years ago?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

That was about three years ago. Right around COVID. Yeah, right before COVID. Okay. We um established that relationship with one school and the navigator at that time. It was just in the preliminary stage, and at that time we said, well, we're gonna focus on this uh one middle school that was on the west side, and we're gonna see what we can do. So we went in with our idea of, oh, we'll help them with uniforms and we'll bring them clothes. But when we got there, that wasn't the need. The need was they just needed their basic needs met. It was many kids coming to school, had not brushed their teeth because they didn't have a toothbrush and they didn't have toothpaste. Their hair was not combed simply because they didn't have a brush or comb. And they came in maybe sometimes disruptive in the class, and it was a lot of times it was because they were hungry. And we saw that need, and we after collaborating with the school and the navigator, hey, what can we do to help this? So we were able to bring in snacks for the schools to have for the students that if they came in to the counselor or to the navigator and having problems trying to find the core of it. But we wanted to focus on the basic needs. Um, we know people when they're in a crisis, if their basic needs, or anytime, if your basic needs are not met, it's hard to go to another level. It's hard to stay focused and do your work if you're hungry. It's hard if you think you're gonna get bullied because your hair is not combed or you don't have on the right type of clothing. So we said, let's start as a nurse. I was trained with um man's low hierarchy of needs. And so the first thing is that you gotta have air, you have to have food, you have to have those basic needs met. So our first focus was snacks and food and also toiletries. Let's get the basic toiletries and just to see their faces um come in, and the teachers would let us know which students at that time before COVID, we were able to set up in the cafeteria at the end of on the Friday. And we were able to give them those items. But then after COVID, we had to find out okay, the needs are still there, they're back to school now. What can we do to help? So that's when we established the relationship with not just one school, but with others, with the navigators and with the Children Home Society, we set up uh a protocol that the supervisor would gather the needs for all the schools and email it to us on a Monday. And then that Thursday, the navigators actually come to our location and line up and we give them the bags of items that they need for their school.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Oh wow. So it really is specific to that school. We did uh we interview people from the Navigators and the Children's Home Society, and so for listeners who have listened to those episodes, they're already familiar with how that supports kids in a school without telling them what they need, they instead listen to what they need. Um do I have that right from that relationship? Yes, okay. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, and we love it. It has worked out very well, and especially when the navigator um identifies a family. So we're not just focusing on that one child in the school, because if there's a uh family situation, a crisis, we've helped um families who've had fires, families who've been evicted, families that are in hotels for long term. I mean, they're in there for a long term. We have one example of a family, a lady of four children, and they were in an extended stay hotel for over four months. And so we realized helping them was great for that one time, getting their toiletries and everything. But this young lady didn't have any other support. Um she's um she was from one of the islands, so she didn't have a green card yet. So it was a lot of things she needed. So we decided we couldn't do it for all the families in all the schools, but this one particular family we helped throughout the whole four months. And then when she was able to get a home, then we were able to um rally up support from our church members and from friends to help um furnish her house. So now she has furniture and she has um all of her kitchen items that she needs, and we selected her for Christmas, and we had other people who wanted to partner, and they made sure that the children had a great Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Wow, that's so interesting because is that because you can do all that because you're a smaller organization? Because that sounds like a big pivot because you normally help in more of an acute situation, like there's a crisis, okay, we're gonna meet this need, and then that is enough of a boost to get the person to the next place. Right. But it's so this is not the typical situation.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

That's not the typical situation. That's just one that we realize hey, we can help, and we can do more than just help one time. And so when we put the needs out to the community and said, hey, we have a family that have this need, they were um very, very supportive and helping for this family. So we can't do that for every family, but this particular family stood out, and we know this uh mother, the single mom, was trying to do the best she could. But I can't imagine being in a hotel with four kids for four months.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

No, and keep sanity. And keep sanity. Oh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

And one of the children were in diapers.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Oh my gosh. Yes. So the silent game wouldn't even work. Did your mom do that? Like, we're gonna play the quiet game. Whoever can stay quiet the longest lives. Why did that work on us?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

It worked. But at that time we had other things at work too that they don't use now.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

I feel you. I feel you. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

But with my mom, it was just the stare. That's all you had to get that little bit. She had powers. Yes, she had power.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Interesting. Wow. Well, you said something earlier that I think is important to revisit, and that is that it's not just about that one kid. It's about the family. And I would say it it seems, tell me if I'm understanding correctly, but it also seems like it's about the whole classroom. It's about the whole the whole school. Because if you have one kid who's distracted, et cetera, then it's you know how kids are? Yes. They're gonna it's everyone's distracted.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

They are. And so when when you're able to fulfill that need, especially if the kid is hungry, you know, they may have come to school late. Free lunches may have been free breakfast, but now they've come in late, distressed, hungry, and so they get in the classrooms and you know, they act out sometimes. And so when we find out, it's not, I think our kids are being exposed to so many adult type problems. Then when we were children, we were children. But now these kids are having to handle things such as evictions and not having enough food and not knowing where they're gonna stay the next night. So those are adult type of situations that we have we have problems dealing with. And so for a child to have to encounter that, sometimes it comes out emotionally different ways. And so we just want to see what we can do. We can't do everything, but we can be there to help with the basic needs to get them started and be able for them to go to the next step.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I've noticed that in the last two years, that, and everyone's noticed this, but the housing situation has been really chaotic. And it's not uncommon for a landlord to tell a good tenant, a paying every month tenant, uh, that, oh, I'm sorry, you gotta go. This literally happened on my street, you know, single dad, two kids, you have to be out by Christmas, which was three weeks from the date that he told them. And so it's it's interesting the different flavors of crisis that can happen. And it's not always one size fits all. I know another family who um it was after Hurricane Sally, and then months had passed after they had asked for repair. Once, you know how that it was so delayed. After they got the re approval for repair, they kicked the family out. And so they're not e that kid wasn't even the same school district. They had all kinds of needs. And so I I think it's interesting when we think about crisis. I don't know, I think I can speak for myself. I definitely have had tunnel vision on what that looks like. Okay, somebody's beating up somebody, you know, something like that. Like that's a crisis. But crisis can just be, you could be on the edge of crisis at any moment. So have you seen a lot of a lot more of the the housing type crisis since that's that's probably the number one need for the families is housing.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

And so some of the families are being displaced and placed in um extended stay hotels. And we have um, unfortunately, we have families in Pensacola that are staying in cars. And so that type of environment uh and don't know when that's gonna end. And so, and some of the families I've um encountered, they have had that challenge with housing. Then they've gotten approved for the um amount that the government will help and assist with, and then they can't find a person a house. Because if you have five, six, seven kids, and we do have quite a few families with large families. I just encountered a family with 11 kids.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Eleven.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Eleven kids, a single mom. And no judgment, but the thing is that now who who what um landlord wants to rent for a family of 11? And then so some of the guidelines is that you gotta have such so many bedrooms for so many children. And so that has become a challenge. And so unfortunately, some of the families have had to split up and go to a friend or go to a relative house just to be able to stay in their school district to have some type of normacy in their life, especially with the um adolescents. They're already going through hormonal changes and all this other stuff. And now they have the challenge of what are we gonna do? Yeah, um, we have grandmons that's trying to figure that out. I had a 75-year-old gentleman contact me several weeks ago, and he said, Hey, I just got custody of my grandchildren, and I had to say yes or they were gonna be going to foster care. And he said, I don't know what to do with a five and six-year-old. And so he had nothing. He said, I don't even know. I had to describe to him, I said, go in the back of their shirt and see what size they wear. And so we were able to help him, helping his wife get the clothing that they needed. And he said, What kind of toys do they need? I said, Well, let's get the basic stuff, let's get underwear and socks and shoes, and then we'll help with some of the toys and and items. And we were able to at that time have some items that can help them as far as furniture, because they didn't have beddings for them. So that was um that was really kind of I I thought about myself, okay, I'm retired. What would I do if tomorrow I have a five and six-year-old to raise with the husband? You know, that would be.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

I just hook up an IV drip to coffee. Just like hook it up, you know, you're gonna need it. Yes. Wow. I mean, I can't imagine what that would feel like.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Is it mostly physical supplies or do you make connections with local resources also?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

It's physical supplies, and I make um connection with local companies or local um partners because some of um some of the local businesses here have found out about us and they have been supportive for us. And it's usually because of one of their employees will go in and tell them, hey, we got a local nonprofit that we want to try to support. And a lot of the businesses, Life Storage is one of them, who have said, Hey, you're doing stuff in the community, you're 501c3, we see that you're getting it out to the children in need, and we want to help it right here in Pensacola. And so they have been supported for us. And working as um a nurse and retiring as a nurse, I actually did this while I was working. And as yes, I would do it on weekends and I would do it in the evening, and it was it would be so funny that any given time at the urgent care when I was there, uh, someone would come in and the child didn't have the appropriate clothes, and they run into my office. Hey, what do you have in your car? Conveniently, I had something in that car that that child could put on or connect with them, they get them shoes or whatever is needed.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Oh wow. That's amazing. So when you mentioned support from the community, how is the organization funded? Where do the goods come from? Where does the labor come from?

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, one of our um biggest um partners is with Good 360, and that is an organization set up for nonprofits where companies like the Targets and the Walmart and different industries send all their returns and all of their um penny items to them. And what we do is we pay just the shipping fee. So, um example, two weeks ago they had on the website, hey, we have Nike shoes. And so with those shoes, I can order that, and all I'm paying is for the shipping fee. And so for that, I'll have whatever the need is at next step, right then. Those are the things that I'm looking for. And then we have local partners with other churches, maybe a bigger organization, and they also are connected with 360, good 360, but they want to deal with the appliances and bikes and big items. So they said, we got the clothes too. We're gonna partner and we're gonna um be able to get this out to you so you can also give the clothes and the shoes and the items out. So we have donations like that and just individuals. We have um partners who found out about us. We were on uh news three, we were featured about a little over a month ago, and so people in the community heard about the needs and they start calling me and saying, What do you need at this time? So I have a secret shopper right now who every Sunday when I get out of church and go over to the warehouse, it is something on that front step. And if it's diapers that I need that week, she just I've never met this lady. And she just leaves packs of new diapers and whatever the need is, and that's what it's about, all of us working together as a community. Next step can't do it alone. But we know our portion is for clothes and shoes and toiletries and food. So our church next um to the warehouse, Wild Lake Church, they also are big partners. And so we are able to every week, we had a uh ladies' group yesterday that had us come to a luncheon and they presented us with uh monetary gift, bags of food, and bags of all brand new shoes. Because this month I knew that kids from the beginning of the year and to now, their shoes are pretty worn out. So we've been able to give shoes, new shoes to kids. And we had a large outreach outreach last um Friday in a local housing area, and we went there and each child got two pairs of um shoes, new shoes, and they got two pairs of um outfits, new outfits. Wow. They were ecstatic, they were so happy. The one little girl walked in and she said, Okay, tell me how much all this costs. I said, It's free. She was like, free. Her face just started shining, and she went out to tell the whole neighborhood, hey, it's free.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Oh, that's so cute. So you're not just um working with navigators in Escambia County Public Schools, but you're showing up at apartment buildings and communities where you feel like there is a need over overall.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yes, we do weekly outreach over in the Montclair area. Every Saturday morning we partner with another church, Kingdom Harvest. It's called Harvest Community Outreach. They give out boxes of food every Saturday morning at 7 30.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

So it really is a lot of people in different corners of Pensacola helping out a little bit. Yes. So are you the only official staff person?

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

But I have great volunteers.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I see that. That's what's so impressive. Is usually it's like you've got, you know, a handful of worn down employees and nonprofits, and then people that you have to convince to participate. But yours is pretty much the inverse of that. You've got all these people contacting you to participate so that you know they can help families and the kids in the area.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Yes. And um what's so good about this is that we have a lot of retired school teachers. So they saw the needs while they were working, and so they get it. They're like, okay, yes, we're gonna help these students because we know they can't be successful without having their basic needs met. So we have retired nurses and retired school teachers. And now we're starting to get men who want to, what can I do? What's the physical work I can do? What can I do when you go out for the outreaches? And it's been very successful with that.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Wow. And how do people qualify for the Goods and services?

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Well, we don't have a pre you have to pre-qualify. If there's a need, then you qualify.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Okay. How is there a certain way the needs assessed?

SPEAKER_00 22:10

No. Well, I what I do as far as with families, the navigators pretty much do that as far as with the schools. They find out what children are in need and they and we're able to help them. As far as in the community, a lot of like we've had in the last several months fires, and they've been connected to us, and they said, we just had a fire and we're at the hotel and we don't have anything. So we're able to help them immediately have some items, clean clothes, new items to start again. And then as we know when the immediately after the fire, the acute need is just the basic needs. But then as they get housing again, then we also will step up and if we have the furniture donated to us, then we will go ahead and donate it to them.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

So if people are in need and they need help, what's the process to reach out?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

They will reach out to our local number that I'll give out.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, you can give it now. I'll I'll also put it in the episode description.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

It's um 850-723-0475. They can also reach out on our Facebook page, Next Step Distribution Facebook page, and they can leave us a message there. But then I will contact them back and actually find out what is the crisis. That's our question. What is the crisis that you have going on right now? And so at that time, we uh we want to be assistance for patients for um people. I always call them patients because that's not my background. So, but we also don't want them to feel like that this is a place that you call every month to get your diapers. Or, you know, because that's not our purpose. Our purpose is to help people in crisis to get to the next step. So you may have needed diapers this month. So what can we do to help you? How, who do we need to refer you to? All of our community partners, who can help you with that? And so that's what we try to do.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

And that's so smart. I love the way that you're doing that. Is the number that you said, do they have to everyone texts now? Can they text the number or something?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

They can they can text. Okay. They can text me the information, their name, and what the need is, and then someone would get back with them.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Oh, that's so simple. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

It is very simple. We don't try to make it complicated.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Well, so many of um, you know, nonprofits are not all their fault, but it is, you know, as someone who's tried to help people in crisis and you know, in different moments of my life have had significant needs, it's like once you get up the courage, right, to go seek out the help that you need, they're like, great, we'll put you on the wait list. And uh, you know, four months from now, we may have the help that you need. And that's just really not the nature of crisis.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

It's not, it's not. And that's why we try to. If I'm not available, I do have some of our board members and some of the volunteer leaders who would take the phone and they will make sure that someone returns that phone call. And we get calls from people that are getting out of jail and they may need more clothes because we do support the the jail, local jail, with bags. We call them hope bags. And the hope bag will have a pair of pants, a top, and some toiletries to get them started. Why? Because they get discharged from jail at 12 o'clock midnight here in Iskan Bay. Which is cruel. It is. And so when they came in, they may have had bloody clothes on, or they may have been in the um jail for six or seven months. They can't even fit in their clothes anymore. So we just want to give them hope to go to the next level. Don't return back to the streets where you were doing that got you in here. So that has been successful working with our local chaplain and um making sure that the children, a lot of times the chaplain would contact me about uh father may be concerned that his children are, he's still incarcerated, but the children have needs and they don't know what to do. And so we will follow up with that family and see what we can do to help.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Wow, that is so comprehensive. If someone wants to donate to Next Step, how can they do that?

SPEAKER_00 26:10

They can use that same number, contact me, and then what I do, I do ask them what type of donations do you have? Because we do take gently used clothes, but I mean just gently. So we don't want the garage sale leftovers. We and that's not trying to sound cruel or anything, but we want something that you can ask yourself your question, would I put my child or um my my mother in this? And if no, if it needs to be repaired, they can't do that. We need something that's ready and clean. And so what I'll do is screen when you come in, when you call in, and I'll let you know. Right now, we're just taking men jeans and t-shirts because we're in the need of men's clothes. For some reason, men don't like giving away clothes.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

But that's because they wear them just a reality. It's because by the time they're done with them, they don't look like clothes anymore.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Yeah. So we're in need of men's jeans, and and those are the kind tails that we um that we're out in the um community with. So we don't want fancy suits. And yes, we'll take a few maybe suits to wear for a job interview, but we don't want a whole big abundance of that. Basically, they just want clean items to put on. And with our seniors, they are they look forward to getting things like that. I go every week to this area. And the the seniors, like, hey, one lady came to me not long ago, she said, Hey, look at me. I said, Hi, you look good today. She said, No, look at me. She said, Next step, dress me from the top of my head to my head. And I was that's worth it all. That's so good because that grandma wasn't gonna be able to go out and buy anything for herself.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

But uh dignity.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

Yeah, it is, it is. And so if you can make a person feel good about themselves, if a child can come to school with a new pair of shoes on, they may most likely be so proud to be able to sit in class and like, yeah, I have on a new pair of shoes today, and I feel good about myself, and that's important. If someone wants to donate cash, yes, we have a Cash App account, and that is next step distribution, Cash App, and we have a PayPal, which is also just next step distribution. They can go in and it's gonna say my name, Aurelia Lastor, under that um capture, but they can donate that way. If you have a small business, and we had a lady right after COVID had home business, and she was selling um new dresses, female clothes, but after COVID, she said, I'm not up for it. And she just came and gave us her whole inventory. Wow. So anytime that you have that type of thing where you have a quantity of items, we had a lady at the um about a month ago, she said, Hey, I had this coat. She had collected all these brand new coats for something, and it didn't pan out. So she bought me 50 new coats, children's coats. Wow. Children's coats. We just had a local bank to contact us last week. They had an event and they had shoes left over, and they were all brand new shoes. And that was just the week that someone had called and said the family with 11 children had a fire, and those shoes were able to go directly to them. We don't like to store stuff. That's why we call distribution. We want to get it out to the kids in need.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

I love that. Thank you so much for everything that you're doing. I love it. And thank you for being here today.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.