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Paula Tours the Union Mission Parker’s House - The Parker's House is helping the homeless in Savannah with their brand-new women's shelter in Savannah, GA. Take a tour of it now!
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#pauladeen #loveandbestdishes
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0:01
- Hey, y'all.
0:01
I'm bringing y'all today to a facility
0:04
that we're real proud of here in Savannah,
0:08
and it's called Union Mission.
0:10
And it has helped many people
0:14
through the years that are homeless
0:19
and there has always been one for me and y'all,
0:23
but the building that we're coming in today
0:26
is not quite complete,
0:28
but for the first time there's going be living facilities
0:32
for women as well as the men.
0:35
So, that is wonderful that that's happening.
0:39
And, you know, I have a foundation,
0:44
my company has a foundation called The Bag Lady Foundation
0:49
and our Bag Lady Foundation supports Union Mission.
0:56
We try to help them as much as we can.
1:00
See construction's still going on.
1:02
So come on in and we're gonna meet the people
1:05
that make this happen.
1:09
- Hey!
1:11
- [Mike] Welcome!
1:12
- So, friends y'all come on in, this is Suzanne.
1:16
This is Mike, you know Theresa, and this is Mark.
1:22
So, I explained to people where we were coming.
1:26
And I explained to 'em that we believe in y'all so much
1:30
that the Paula Deen Bag Lady Foundation helped
1:33
support y'all as we can do it.
1:36
So, tell everybody,
1:39
and I also explained that there's never been lodging
1:43
for women up until now, and it's almost completed y'all,
1:48
but the men's has provided that since very first happening.
1:53
- Yeah so, Union Mission started out as a soup kitchen
1:56
and Grace House across the street accommodated men,
2:01
and you know,
2:02
homelessness has really been focused around men.
2:05
- Right.
2:09
- Right now there's a lot of families that need help.
2:11
And there's a lot of what we call intercom homeless women,
2:14
which are single women that are out on the street.
2:16
And where we live 180 on average night
2:19
here in Chatham County.
2:20
- 180 Women.
2:23
- Women are homeless in Chatham County on an average night,
2:27
and there's no facility just for single women to come to.
2:31
- Where are they staying?
2:33
- They're staying on the street, they're staying on sofas,
2:35
motels, in their car,
2:37
et cetera, under bridges.
2:39
- I've noticed that one of the bridges is,
2:42
looks like a hotel.
2:45
- But this is gonna be a great thing,
2:47
'cause we're gonna serve 100 women a year
2:49
and our job is to help them find stable housing.
2:51
And we do that through our wraparound services,
2:53
with mental health counseling, food, transportation,
2:56
clothing, job assistance, job skills, assessments and all.
2:59
- That's wonderful.
3:01
And so, we think that's really important.
3:03
And that helps give people a foundation
3:05
and gets 'em back into stable housing.
3:07
And that's what our goal is at the end of the day,
3:09
is stable housing.
3:09
- And when will y'all be ready
3:11
to take the first woman in?
3:13
- On September 6th, we open up for the first time.
3:16
- September 6th, okay.
3:18
- And we have 32 beds here
3:21
and 16 bedrooms and eight full bathrooms,
3:25
et cetera, et cetera.
3:27
It's the only facility from Jacksonville to Charleston,
3:31
the only one on I-95 corridor in Georgia
3:34
that is solely dedicated to homeless women.
3:36
So, we're very excited.
3:38
- All right, do y'all have future plans
3:40
to make room for more beds
3:42
because if there's 180 homeless women on the street
3:46
and only 32 beds?
3:48
- Right, we're gonna do our best, 'cause our job,
3:51
they come here, we give 'em all that assistance
3:53
and we get them to stable housing
3:54
and start taking care of more individuals.
3:57
That's why we can go up to about 100 a year,
3:59
'cause this is a 90 day program.
4:01
And during that time we get them into stable housing.
4:03
So, the idea is that we don't,
4:06
we allow people to stay the 90 days
4:08
'cause we wanna give 'em stable housing as soon as possible.
4:11
- Yes.
4:11
- Cause they need to get back to a normal life.
4:12
- Get them on their feet as quickly as possible.
4:14
- Exactly.
4:15
- And does this allow their children to be with 'em?
4:18
- Well, we have another program called Magdalene
4:20
that has women and children and we have 20 beds there.
4:24
- Oh good.
4:25
- And that's over in, in Midtown Savannah.
4:28
So, Union Mission has all types of facilities
4:30
from emergency housing, transitional housing,
4:33
where men stay for longer period of time.
4:36
And then we actually have apartments where families
4:40
and single people live.
4:43
- What y'all do is amazing Mike.
4:48
The question that I wanted to ask is,
4:50
how long, how old is Union Mission?
4:53
- It was started in 1937.
4:56
So, we are 85 years old.
4:58
- Oh! It's older than me y'all.
5:00
(laughing)
5:02
I'm so happy to be able to say that.
5:05
- Yeah. We're 85.
5:06
- Nothing's older than me anymore.
5:08
(laughing)
5:09
- So we've been here,
5:10
we started off on Liberty Street as a soup kitchen.
5:13
And so, 1980s we opened Grace House and here we are today.
5:18
- So, I noticed that when we were getting outta the car,
5:21
that Grace House was across the street.
5:25
I'm turned around now.
5:27
'Cause I went, went around the corner.
5:30
And is there any housing over there or is it just offices?
5:34
- No, we have 72 men, room for 72 men across the street.
5:39
And we have people that are emergency housing program.
5:42
We have people that were discharged from prison or jail.
5:47
We have men that are living there
5:48
for a more extended period of time.
5:50
They're on their feet, but not quite there yet.
5:53
- Mike, I'll share a quick little story with you.
5:56
We have had more than one employed for the Lady and Sons
6:04
from the men coming out of Union Mission
6:09
and I mean, they're good men.
6:12
Needed a break.
6:14
- Yeah.
6:15
And that's why we're here.
6:16
To help 'em get back on their feet
6:17
and you do a great job of helping them
6:18
with giving them employment.
6:21
And there are a lot of great folks over there.
6:24
And the one thing that we're proud of is we don't,
6:26
you get a job, we don't say you need to leave
6:29
because if you don't have a foundation financially
6:33
than you're gonna be right back with us.
6:35
So, we try to help get people to the next level
6:37
and move them.
6:38
- And for your audience, Paula,
6:40
there's a distinction between,
6:42
we're an emergency housing program for 90 days
6:46
and all the wraparound services, Mike referenced,
6:49
that is different than coming in, you know,
6:52
into a shelter environment just for an evening
6:55
when it's too hot or it's too cold.
6:57
- Yeah.
6:58
- Or when you need some assistance.
6:59
So, you know, we really partner with these clients
7:02
and they are committed to trying to break that cycle...
7:06
- Yes.
7:07
- of homelessness.
7:08
- Yes. Yes.
7:11
I understand that some people choose to live that way.
7:17
That they like that, living that way.
7:21
So, y'all probably don't have many participants
7:25
that feel that way?
7:27
- I don't know if I would say that
7:29
they like to live that way,
7:31
but their circumstances may have created that
7:33
and have gotten used to that situation.
7:37
We have about 7 out of 10 of our clients
7:40
with mental health conditions
7:42
and a lot of people will say,
7:43
well why is that person out on the street?
7:47
And they think they're just taking advantage
7:48
of services, right?
7:49
- Yes.
7:50
- At the end of the day, there's just so many people
7:52
that have these mental health conditions that create
7:55
the conditions that they're in.
7:56
- Right. Right.
7:58
- Right? And so, that's I think,
8:00
what's special about Union Mission too,
8:01
is that we actually have four people on staff
8:04
that do the mental health counseling.
8:06
- That is wonderful.
8:07
- So, we're able to work with those individuals,
8:10
put together peer support groups,
8:12
and all sorts of other things that allow
8:14
these individual be successful.
8:16
- So, what do the people do, the men do, during the day
8:23
if they don't have a job?
8:25
- Well, we're helping them,
8:27
if they have mental health issues,
8:29
we help 'em through mental health counseling.
8:31
If they need job skills assessments, job skills training,
8:36
things of that nature, we help them.
8:37
And we have men that work overnight.
8:39
So, they're here during the day, they're sleeping.
8:41
So, you know, it's not necessarily that you come in the door
8:44
during the day.
8:45
There are times that you come in the middle of the night
8:47
because you know, maybe you're in the hospitality industry
8:49
and you're opening until 11, 12 o'clock at night
8:52
or maybe two o'clock in the morning.
8:53
- There's a lot of things that we don't think about.
8:57
- Right. It could be security.
8:59
- That's going on.
8:59
- It be in the kitchen,
9:01
it could be doing most anything around town, right?
9:03
- Well, I know y'all are providing
9:08
one of the most wonderful, beneficial services
9:12
that Savanna has and we thank y'all for that.
9:17
- We look forward to showing you what we're doing here.
9:20
- I want everybody to see it.
9:24
So, your first guest will come in on September the 6th.
9:31
Is that right?
9:32
- Yeah. Yeah.
9:33
We're very happy now.
9:34
Parker's House is what it's called.
9:35
- Oh, I'm so glad you called it Parker's House
9:38
because Greg Parker has given so much
9:44
to make this project happen
9:51
and you need to get that.
9:53
- Yeah, I know.
9:54
Yeah, I mean it's been great.
9:55
And so, we're really excited.
9:57
We've been working on this for a year and a half.
9:59
- Yeah, so thank you, Greg.
10:01
- Thank you, that's right.
10:02
- Thank you.
10:03
- Thank you Greg.
10:04
So, this is Suzanne
10:07
and tell us exactly what you do, Suzanne.
10:09
- I am our Marketing and Development Director.
10:12
- Okay. Wonderful.
10:14
Well, she is gonna take us to their mental health facility.
10:19
- It's right here through our admin space.
10:20
- Come on. Let's go.
10:21
Can I stay a while?
10:23
(laughing)
10:24
Do you have a sofa?
10:27
- So, this is our main area.
10:29
- It is beautiful.
10:32
Hello ladies, how are y'all?
10:36
- Good! How are you?
10:37
Beautiful isn't it?
10:39
- It is beautiful.
10:42
- We're excited.
10:43
This is our art space.
10:44
- Anybody would be.
10:53
- What's great about this space is we partnered with SCAD.
10:57
- Okay.
10:58
- We partnered with SCAD and SCAD SERVE
10:59
and they came in to help renovate this space
11:04
to make it a little warmer for our clients to come in.
11:08
It was, as we redid this space,
11:10
it was gray, very corporate and very clinical.
11:13
And so they added the wall paper.
11:15
They actually went through to our various programs
11:18
and took pictures of our clients.
11:21
- Oh, I love these.
11:22
So, these are actual people?
11:24
- These are clients in our programs.
11:26
- Oh my goodness.
11:27
- So, you'll see mothers and children, the vans.
11:31
- I love your choice of wallpaper.
11:32
- So, they did the installation of wallpaper
11:34
and then they framed, put all these photos in.
11:38
(chattering)
12:08
The clients have seen these and just felt so proud
12:11
to see them as artwork and just beauty in our space.
12:17
- It's the colors, are so beautiful.
12:22
- This is one of our mental health counselors, Hope.
12:23
- Hello Hope, how are ya?
12:25
- You can come out.
12:26
- I'm fine.
12:27
- You wanna peek out?
12:28
- Tell everybody, hey.
12:30
- Hey, I can see.
12:32
- Thank you for everything you do.
12:33
- Oh, thank you guys for coming to visit.
12:35
- Absolutely.
12:37
- Yes.
12:37
- And who is this?
12:40
- Hi, I'm Tina.
12:41
- Tina.
12:42
- Nice to meet you.
12:43
- And are you also a counselor?
12:46
- Yes, ma'am.
12:46
- Well, thank you too, for everything that you do.
12:54
It's just beyond what we can imagine.
12:59
- Yes, completely.
13:03
- This is part of our admin office.
13:04
This is Lisa.
13:06
- Okay.
13:07
- And then we come down this way and this is,
13:09
Parker's House actually horse shoes around our admin space.
13:18
So, come through here and again, this is still,
13:24
we're getting the renovation.
13:25
We going through this door.
13:27
I'm gonna show you one bedroom hallway.
13:30
- Okay.
13:31
- This is where you go, to the left.
13:32
- I just know that they're installing windows today.
13:34
- Okay.
13:37
- But you see, you come in here
13:40
and this is what Mark was saying,
13:42
the Jack and Jill, the bedrooms.
13:45
- It's typical of a room.
13:48
Now it's not completed yet but there are 16 rooms like this.
13:53
- This is wonderful.
13:57
Two people that don't know each other
14:00
will occupy this room?
14:03
That's good they have a buddy.
14:05
- Yeah, in the housing space they call it shared housing
14:08
and allows us to maximize the space.
14:12
It happens a lot in homeless facilities.
14:16
- But it's just wonderful knowing that the women
14:20
are getting a fair shake by being safe at night
14:25
while they're sleeping.
14:26
- That's right.
14:28
So, you're here the first day we have a brand new window.
14:31
- Yeah. That's brand new.
14:33
- It is beautiful.
14:34
- Yeah a very simple thing makes a huge difference.
14:38
- Oh, these mattresses feel good.
14:42
- We wanted the window to be installed with new bedding
14:45
to do the pictures.
14:47
- So, Paula, we redid all the bathrooms.
14:49
- Come on out.
14:50
- I wanna see the bathrooms.
14:53
- You can see here.
14:54
- Oh my gosh, this is so nice.
14:58
And this is a Jack and Jill deluxe for these two rooms?
15:02
- That's right.
15:04
- It's wonderful.
15:06
- So, what's different is in the men's program
15:09
we have a huge bathroom.
15:11
So, all the men use the same bathroom.
15:14
So, that makes this even more special.
15:17
- Magical.
15:20
- They're in a congregate living kind of environment.
15:24
- So, it makes a huge difference.
15:26
- I don't know if you can believe what we see on TV,
15:29
but I think of these shelters,
15:33
you go in and like at nighttime and there's 50 beds
15:38
in one room and they're all occupied.
15:40
- Yep. We have that across the street.
15:43
32 of 'em in one room.
15:44
- Wow.
15:45
- So, it's just the way it used to be done, that's evolved.
15:49
And so, this is part of that evolution.
15:51
- And that's wonderful. Wonderful.
15:55
This is very, very nice.
15:57
- We're just gonna go this way.
15:58
- Okay.
15:59
- So, there's six bedrooms and three bath full baths
16:03
on this side of the building.
16:06
- And so, just there's two more,
16:09
four more bedrooms as you go down the hall here.
16:12
- Are, y'all gonna have rugs down, Mike?
16:20
- I think there's bathroom rugs.
16:21
- Yeah.
16:22
- We're more concerned about mental health.
16:25
- It's the woman's ability to accessorize.
16:28
(overlapping chatter)
16:30
- I love it.
16:31
- I love the...
16:32
- Quotes to inspire.
16:33
- Yeah.
16:34
- Deep down, good vibes.
16:35
You need to have that in.
16:38
- Yes.
16:40
Another day, another chance.
16:42
- Yes.
16:43
- They did it right!
16:45
- Never too late.
16:46
(group chatter)
16:50
- So, this is one hallway.
16:52
And that mirrors it on the other side
16:54
and we'll take you there as well.
16:56
- Okay.
16:57
And the air conditioning works real good, though.
17:01
- It does. I've noticed the older I get the colder I get.
17:06
- Yeah.
17:07
- Is that true?
17:08
- Well, I go through some horrible hot flashes
17:12
so, I don't know.
17:14
Sometimes I can get real cold and say, what's going on here?
17:17
Sometimes I'll feel like flame are leaking out of my...
17:20
- Oh!
17:22
(laughter)
17:24
- Yes, supposedly that's what happens.
17:28
But the females might, may go the other direction.
17:38
Yes, I love these words.
17:42
- Encouragement.
17:43
- Yeah.
17:43
I am loved, I am enough and I am strong.
17:50
- Okay, we're just gonna show you
17:51
we have a new training center, conference center.
17:56
They'll house peer support groups and conferences
17:59
and board meetings and all that.
18:02
And staff also did this.
18:05
- So, the other piece Paula,
18:07
is that all of these rooms that you're seeing,
18:09
we haven't put the names up yet,
18:12
but like Bank of America is sponsoring this room
18:15
as an example.
18:16
- Wonderful.
18:17
- I mean, Greg Parker is the sponsor of the entire building.
18:20
- Yes.
18:22
- But we have all the rooms named and all of that.
18:27
- That's wonderful.
18:29
- This is the additional.
18:30
- So, this will hold a lot of conferences in it.
18:34
- 48 people we can hold at one time.
18:36
- Wow.
18:38
- We can do our board meetings in here.
18:40
We can do inservice training.
18:42
- Say how many people on the board?
18:44
- 30.
18:45
- Wow.
18:48
- We can push all this aside and do yoga.
18:50
- Yes!
18:51
(laughing)
18:56
- Mental health for women.
18:57
I mean, that's not just for physical health right?
18:59
- This is a really large building,
19:02
on the other side of these walls
19:03
is a fairly substantial warehouse
19:06
that we keep up things in for our clients.
19:10
Donations go there.
19:12
So, it's a building that is much larger
19:15
than it really appears from the street.
19:17
- Yeah, everybody says that.
19:19
- We're gonna show you.
19:20
- Yeah, we're gonna show you that right now.
19:21
- Yeah, 'cause eating is very important.
19:23
- We have a second kitchen across the street.
19:27
- But food will be brought over for our clients every day.
19:32
- Parking lot's being currently redone right now.
19:34
But we will have an outdoor space that winds around
19:36
for the women to be able to go outside
19:39
and have a space of their own.
19:41
- Wonderful! Wonderful!
19:43
- It's hard to envision right now, but it's coming together.
19:48
- Yes, it is but I can look it and tell with the brick
19:52
and privacy fence and some little plants
20:02
and just a little attention.
20:04
This can be very nice.
20:05
- Yeah.
20:06
- So, we'll have a whole brand new landscaping plan.
20:09
The whole thing gonna be replanted
20:10
and the whole outside is being redone.
20:12
- That'll make all the difference in the world.
20:14
- Yeah.
20:15
So, in three weeks it's gonna look completely different.
20:17
- I wanna come back in three weeks.
20:20
- All types of education.
20:22
- So, this is the big common space for the women
20:24
who will be staying here.
20:25
We've got a big dining room, a living room space.
20:29
This is extra storage for staff.
20:31
A beverage center, back in this area is a computer space,
20:36
behind us is a kitchen,
20:38
which we have a warming station here.
20:40
Meals are cooked across the street, over at Grace House.
20:43
So, we'll bring those over here.
20:45
We do have a Peace Manager office
20:47
or resident assistant office to give them
20:49
the level of support that women
20:52
who are staying here will need.
20:53
- So, it's all buffet.
20:56
Do they get their plates and they come here?
20:58
- Mhm.
20:59
- And someone fixes their plate for 'em.
21:02
- Mhm.
21:03
- Incredible.
21:05
All right. Now who will be cooking?
21:07
Will it be ladies that happen to be without a place to stay
21:13
and are great cooks, will it be them?
21:16
Or will it be outside hired?
21:18
- We actually have two chefs on staff
21:21
and also a kitchen assistant.
21:24
And they make the meals every day.
21:26
And then before COVID we had a pretty comprehensive
21:30
culinary program.
21:31
We're planning on bringing that back now that COVID is
21:35
a little bit easier to work around that and use our kitchen
21:38
to train people to work in kitchens and work in restaurants
21:42
and things of that nature in the hospitality industry.
21:44
So, we do have people on staff
21:46
that do this every single day.
21:49
- Three meals a day isn't it?
21:51
- Well, we serve a continental in the morning
21:54
and a dinner normally.
21:56
- Okay.
21:57
- And then lunches is separate from that.
21:58
But we have snacks all day long 'cause most of our people,
22:02
they leave during the day and they go out in the community
22:03
and do what they're doing.
22:06
- Well, that makes it nice.
22:07
So, y'all just have pastries and coffee and cheese?
22:10
- Yeah and we have a lot of support from local businesses
22:13
that Greg Parker has been extremely,
22:18
Chick-fil-A, Longhorn, Olive Garden,
22:23
all these restaurants help supply food.
22:26
And then we make our own food, too.
22:28
- Yeah.
22:29
- So, we have a lot of support and always looking for more
22:33
of course, but with 32 more mouths to feed
22:38
and another 100 a year it's gonna keep us busy.
22:43
- Yes. Yes.
22:45
I'd love to come down and cook y'all meal.
22:47
- That's awesome.
22:48
- We'll take that on that!
22:51
- We could do that couldn't we?
22:53
- We could!
22:53
- Yeah, that'd be great.
22:54
- That would be fun.
22:55
- So, then we have a computer room over here.
22:58
So, we have three fully laid out computers ready to go.
23:04
- That was sponsored by Infinity,
23:05
who is our computer company.
23:07
- And then, got the TV in the lounge area
23:11
and obviously a dining room here.
23:13
We'll have more furniture coming in over here
23:15
to use the phone, things of that nature.
23:18
We have case managers and resident assistants will be here,
23:21
'cause we'll have people here 24/7.
23:23
So, we'll have people here that work with those individuals
23:26
seven days a week.
23:28
- Isn't it wonderful?
23:30
- Such a great opportunity.
23:31
- We are going to show you the other wing, too.
23:33
- Yes.
23:34
- So, this really puts it in perspective
23:35
when you walk over here 'cause this is a lot larger.
23:39
- Just the whole building space is a lot larger.
23:42
- And these chairs look like they would just hug you.
23:46
- But they actually do.
23:47
- This next room is where we give folks resume assistance.
23:53
- Yeah.
23:54
- Or if they go answer their own email and look for a job.
23:58
- Yes.
24:02
- We're gonna step through this door over here.
24:05
- Which door, this one?
24:06
- This one, yeah.
24:07
- And where is this taking us?
24:09
- The other way.
24:10
- This is the horseshoe.
24:11
- Oh, okay.
24:12
- This is all bedrooms.
24:14
- Okay. Wow.
24:15
- Yeah you see, kind of get a little more perspective.
24:17
- This hall is a lot longer than the other hall over there.
24:20
- That's right.
24:22
- 'Cause it starts at the end of the space.
24:24
- Yes.
24:25
- But you can see over here we got a laundry room.
24:28
- They're all the same.
24:30
- Oh my goodness.
24:32
So, they come do their own laundry.
24:34
- They do their own laundry in here.
24:35
- Oh, this is wonderful!
24:40
This is wonderful.
24:45
That they can keep their things clean.
24:49
That's just wonderful.
24:52
- And we provide clothing, too, when they come in.
24:54
If you come off the street we really do a lot
24:57
because we need to make sure the clothing they have on,
25:01
there are a lot of bed bugs out there
25:03
and other things that come
25:04
and we have to make sure that they have the right attire
25:07
in terms of cleaning, cleanliness.
25:09
- And how would you determine if someone came in
25:12
and they had bed bugs?
25:13
- Well, we work with every single individual.
25:14
We don't make that determination.
25:17
It's part of our standard operating procedure
25:19
to help these individuals with new clothing
25:21
when they come in,
25:22
because they've been on the street
25:24
and we don't know and you really can't see those.
25:27
So, all of our equipment and all of our bedding
25:29
and everything's built to resist bed bugs.
25:32
You don't see any wood and things of that nature
25:34
because they live in wood.
25:37
- Those mattresses you may notice are sealed.
25:40
- Yes, I noticed.
25:41
- Those are specifically purchased from a company.
25:43
- Do you have a closet like of clothing
25:45
for like interviews and things like that?
25:48
- We have a whole warehouse full of clothing.
25:49
- And where do you get your clothing from?
25:51
- We get it from all over the community.
25:52
People bring it to us.
25:53
- So it's donations?
25:54
- Yes and then we do some work with Goodwill too.
25:56
If we have clothing that really don't work for us,
25:59
we'll trade it to them.
26:00
They'll give us vouchers
26:01
and then we'll go get the clothing we need.
26:03
So, either we use that clothing or we work with Goodwill
26:07
and get vouchers.
26:08
And that's a great thing too,
26:09
because say you're a security guard,
26:11
you have to wear all black.
26:12
You may not have all black clothing here,
26:15
but you can go to Goodwill and probably find
26:16
all black clothing and they can find the uniforms
26:18
that they need to go work in.
26:20
So, that's been a great thing to do with Goodwill.
26:23
And Goodwill's been a great partner with us.
26:25
- Do you have volunteer opportunities?
26:27
- We do.
26:28
We have all sorts of volunteer,
26:29
whether it's helping around the facility landscapes
26:32
or helping the warehouse and keep it organized,
26:34
'cause all this stuff coming in is a lot,
26:36
it's a lot to keep all that organized.
26:38
Or coming in maybe we need some help with filing
26:41
or we're doing something in development with fundraising
26:43
or an event or I mean, there's just so many different ideas
26:46
and things that people can volunteer with at Union Mission.
26:51
- So how do they do that?
26:52
- Well, Amy, who is our volunteer coordinator
26:54
works with all the folks that would like to volunteer
26:59
or they can even go online to unionmission.org,
27:02
go to sign up online.
27:05
Or we have a button on our website, you can click it.
27:07
You can put in your information, what you like to try to do,
27:09
and then we'll try to plug you in.
27:10
- And any state, I mean, any city has something,
27:13
it may not be called Union Mission,
27:15
but has something out there because a lot of the people
27:17
that watch us are not from Savannah, Georgia.
27:20
- That's right.
27:22
- They may wanna have an opportunity to help.
27:23
- And these organizations would love
27:24
to have volunteers come in and help 'em
27:26
because they're doing serious work every day
27:29
and sometimes some things that you may think
27:31
at your own house is a normal part of business
27:34
we're maybe not thinking about that sometimes.
27:36
Right?
27:37
So, having those volunteers really makes a difference.
27:40
- This gives you a good perspective on how blessed we are.
27:43
- I want to go to the hospital and volunteer
27:46
for the grandma's to rock the babies
27:50
'cause I know that's got to.
27:52
- I'm sure they would love to have.
27:54
- I'm sure.
27:55
- I think there's something like that.
27:57
So that would be.
27:58
- We'll have to look into.
27:59
- Yes. That would be right up my alley.
28:02
- So, we have 10 bedrooms and five full baths on this side.
28:05
- So, it looks like what you saw on the other side.
28:08
- It's only longer, right?
28:10
- Yes. Yeah.
28:11
But each huge room is very similar to a next room.
28:14
- Yes.
28:16
- This is the only different one
28:17
because it has a different bathroom
28:19
because of wheelchair access and things of that nature.
28:21
- Yes.
28:22
- Oh, okay.
28:23
- And the bathroom is different.
28:24
- So, there's only one bathroom that's handicap?
28:28
- In this part of the building, yeah.
28:29
- Oh.
28:31
- That's where it's the same.
28:33
- All sorts of businesses, schools, churches, donations.
28:37
- So, this is the handicap bathroom?
28:38
- Yeah.
28:40
- Right?
28:41
- Yeah.
28:42
(toilet flushes)
28:50
- This is wonderful.
28:52
This is wonderful for people with disabilities.
28:57
- That's right.
29:09
You pull your wheelchair up underneath there.
29:13
That's great.
29:16
Yes.
29:18
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
29:23
- You can see why we're cleaning
29:25
and changing out the windows, some changes there.
29:35
- So, we have 92 beds at the other facilities.
29:38
We'd love to show you that sometime.
29:40
- And I would love to see it. Where is it located?
29:43
- We have 72 across the street from here
29:46
and we have another 20 in Midtown, Savannah
29:48
and we have 'em from single men and for families.
29:52
- I would love to tour that.
29:55
Guys, y'all think we can come back
29:57
and do another little video.
30:01
- Absolutely.
30:01
- Showing that style of housing.
30:04
I would love it.
30:05
- Yeah, we'd love to have you.
30:06
And we thank you for coming too,
30:08
it's been great giving you tour of the facility.
30:10
- Thank you very much.
30:11
- Thank y'all for everything that y'all do.
30:13
- Very excited about this
30:15
and the difference it's gonna make.
30:17
- And when we get extra money we'll throw it y'all's way.
30:21
- Thanks.
30:21
- Thank you.
30:23
- I'll grab you that packet.
30:25
I'm gonna excuse myself.
30:26
- Suzanne, thank you so much.
30:29
- So nice having you here.
30:31
- Wonderful.
30:32
- You're welcome anytime.
30:34
- Thank you.
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