Welcome to another episode of the Beef! Visiting us today is Kristyn Stillwell from HTX Hope Haven. Tune in to hear the story of how she built Hope Haven with a view to empower the homeless to get off the streets and build a better life. She shares what led her to discover her gift for supporting the homeless and where it all started, why she believes in feeding ministries, and why she is committed to not making people comfortable on the street. Hope Haven aims to build relationship, plant seeds of hope, and encourage folks to want more for their lives. They do this by supporting clients through life transitions, providing housing programs, and enabling people to enter the workforce. We touch on the process of acquiring resources to sustain the business throughout the pandemic through government and church relationships, and how the program has been carefully curated to provide people with incremental freedom, before letting listeners know exactly how they can help out. Thanks for tuning in!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The most embarrassing music she likes to listen to: “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus, Lauren Daigles “Trust in Me”, and “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten.
- Kristyn’s story of growing up as a tenacious child and eventually starting a consultancy.
- How she wouldn’t have been able to start Hope Haven without a supportive husband.
- The story of how she met four other families with the same heart to help the homeless.
- Where it all got started: 249 on Hope, and how they got over 70 people off the street.
- Why she believes in feeding ministries but not to make people comfortable on the street.
- What they hand out with a view to building relationships, planting seeds of hope, and encouraging folks to want more for their lives.
- The client transition piece and future planning that Hope Haven helps people build.
- The housing programs and success community that Hope Haven facilitates.
- How they found resources through the commissioner cable office during the pandemic.
- What their partnerships with local churches and individual funders look like.
- Future plans for Hope Haven: the Back to Work program with Work Faith Commission, and the transitional living center they hope to set up, especially for families.
- How a transitional living center can help break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
- Why the extra programs are important to empower people to work and not live for free.
- The progression that is worked into the program to provide incremental freedom.
- How you can help out: share their social media content to spread awareness, offer your business services at a discounted rate, pray for them, and donate what you have in excess.
Tweetables:
“In that five-year time period we had gotten over 70 people off the street, and today I can tell you, 45 of those are still off the street. And that’s when friends started saying, and pastors were like, ‘Wait a minute, what you’re doing is working!’” — @krystinstill [0:11:44]
“I don’t believe in making them comfortable out there because in my Bible it says that God has plans to prosper us but not to harm us so in my optimistic mind I believe that nobody’s supposed to be there.” — @krystinstill [0:13:46]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
