The Unseen Challenges For Youth In Whatcom County
EPISODE 10
We sit down with Scott Duffey, Director of Our Community's Heart, a nonprofit that helps youth under the age of 21. Scott Duffey opens our eyes to some of the big challenges youth in Whatcom County face and how much they need the help of our community. Youth with no place to go are struggling to find hope. With homelessness on the rise, a growing drug problem, and trafficking happening in our backyard, it could feel daunting to think about, but organizations like Our Community's Heart are taking steps to fight back.
In This Episode:
About Our Community’s Heart
Why Reaching Unaccompanied Minors Is So Important in Whatcom County
How Many Kids Are On Their Own in Our Area
The Risks Our Youth Face Today
Local Organizations Making a Difference For The Youth in Whatcom County
The Upper Room in Bellingham and What’s Available There
Tangible Ways You Can Support Our Community’s Heart
Podcast Episode Transcription
Intro:
Welcome to the (un)covered Podcast, brought to you by Manna Insurance Group, where we pull back the curtain on the insurance industry and provide valuable insights, guidance, and truth so that you can make informed decisions when choosing the right insurance.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Hey everybody, Dan Vander Kooi here with the Uncovered Podcast. Today I have Scott Duffey from Our Community's Heart on our podcast, and we're excited to have you, Scott, thanks for joining us today.
Scott Duffey:
Thank you so much for having me, Dan. I am really thankful to be here and to have the opportunity to share.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Yeah, it was kind of funny you were trying to share a little bit about what was going on with what you started up, and you kind of had to hunt me down a little bit for our first meeting.
Scott Duffey:
Yeah, I did. I did.
Dan Vander Kooi:
And then when I heard what you're doing, I'm like, "Oh, this is really cool. We’ve got to connect more on some of this and highlight it." So thanks for being persistent with me. And I think what's really cool, what's been on my heart a little bit is we have this podcast and it's really to educate people and bring awareness to what's going on in the insurance industry.
But the other thing, and the reason we've called it (un)covered, is because a lot of people don't just understand our industry, but I think the other thing that we can try to use this platform for is to really uncover other areas in our community that really cool stuff is going on, but maybe people don't know about or they don't know how to get involved. And I just think what you are doing right now, Scott, and the area, a massive need there is in that is really cool. So I would love for you to just share to start off a little bit about what your ministry is, what you have going on, who you're reaching, how it came about, and let's just kind of dive right into it. Does that sound good?
Scott Duffey:
Sure. I think a good place is kind of how it came about. This is right before I was going to leave for college in 1989, having my own prayer time and just seeking God about what I was going to do and I was set on a journey of being focused on international business and learning Chinese until I got this vision while I was praying and the vision, and I think it's really important to share this part, which is I had this vision of working with homeless at risk youth and I knew they were homeless and there was a drop-in center and I could see different parts of it, but at the end of the vision, I was standing there and I was holding the hand of a boy on the right of me and a girl on the left of me, and both of them had white t-shirts on, and as their hearts were beating little bits of blood were running down the front of these white T-shirts.
And I was stunned by this. I'm holding these kids' hands and I'm understanding that their hearts are bleeding, their hearts are hurting. I'm just like, "God, what do you want me to do?" As clear as a bell, I heard, "I want you to do my vision." It wasn't something just handed off to me. I saw it as something that was the heart of God, which is reaching a heart to reach out to those who have a bleeding heart, a hurt heart and so I was so transformed. It kind of began this journey where I changed my major, went through my four years of school, and when I got done I was thinking, where am I going to go? What am I going to do?" And I met a gentleman named Rob Crawford at a summer camp.
Dan Vander Kooi:
I know Rob.
Scott Duffey:
North Leavenworth called Tall Timber Ranch, he shared about this drop-in center they had just opened and then I came out to be a part of it after having a couple conversations with Rob, came out to Bellingham and that's what it became. The funny thing is the weekend I came out was the last weekend we had our building, so we lost that building. We weren't able to use it anymore.
And so it began with sandwiches and coffee and apples out of the back of my little S-10 Blazer 4x4 on Railroad Avenue and beginning to build relationships with kids out on the street. And from there over time it just changed and morphed to where we got a building and we had that for a year. And then we lost that building, we're on the street again. And then finally Trillium Corporation was a big factor of partnering with us with the TCI cable building on North State Street and they helped outfit it for us with a commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms. And we had just a great drop-in center that we were able to use three nights a week as well as run a soup kitchen out of that a couple days a week for all ages.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So you've mentioned something there that I think is key, all ages. So talk a little bit, let's even go back really quick. Our Community's Heart is the organization now that you're launching and things are rolling with, what's your mission? What's your purpose? What's your target audience, whether it's a mission statement or not, how do you, in a couple sentences, what are you doing?
Scott Duffey:
Our goal is to have an outreach to youth under 21, that's the goal. The soup kitchen was something that we did along with the in-university ministries that was all ages and it would be great to do that again. But our focus is really youth under 21, and especially minors unaccompanied in a sense they're not with a parent or with an adult because those are the kids we find that fall through the cracks. And so what we want to do is have that drop-in center where the kids can come and gather, get the resources they need, relationships are built and through that and the love of God shining brightly through the volunteers and our hearts really touch those kids' lives.
Dan Vander Kooi:
You said something too, especially the unaccompanied minors, you and I have talked a little bit about this, but why is reaching unaccompanied minors so important in our county and our state?
Scott Duffey:
I think there's a couple reasons. One is they're kids, right? So they're kids. And when you have kids that aren't with their parents anymore, that takes away the ability for them to stay at some of the different shelters that we have here in Whatcom County. There's some good resources for those unaccompanied youth, the problem is a lot of them don't know that those exist. And so I think-
Dan Vander Kooi:
Can I stop you really quickly right there?
Scott Duffey:
Yeah.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So are you saying that there's limited spots for unaccompanied minors to go in the other? So I mean, you think of Lighthouse Mission right away, Projects helps more food and things like that. I don't know if they have beds or not, but so how does that work with an unaccompanied minor if they're...
Scott Duffey:
Right, there is a limited number of beds in Whatcom County for unaccompanied minors. That's kind of one of the main factors is that if someone is homeless and they're an adult, if they're 18, they can go to the Lighthouse Mission. Sometimes families end up at the Lighthouse Mission with their kids, but if you are 14 and you're sleeping under a bridge and then someone begins to reach out to you or you're looking for a place to go, there's way less options because Lighthouse Mission, Agape House, Lydia Place, there's number of wonderful organizations, but the kids are not able to stay at those without a parent.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So I'm going to ask a question, I think I know the answer.
Scott Duffey:
Sure.
Dan Vander Kooi:
But I think a lot of times when we live in our own communities, we get used to things and we have our blinders on.
Scott Duffey:
Yeah.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Are there a lot of... You talk about a 14-year-old, I have a daughter who's 15. I have a son who'll be 13 in August. Are there a lot of kids in that age group that are out there on their own right now?
Scott Duffey:
There are. Yeah. There's more than you would want to believe that there are. It used to be when we were out, 93 to 97 with The Upper Room and the place we had, the lot of kids were congregated downtown Railroad Avenue, and it was easy to see them because you would see 10 kids, 15 kids on a corner, and then you'd see that on two, three or four corners in different places of Bellingham. What's changed a bit now is that the kids are still out there, it's just that it's not as safe. I know that's hard in a way to say, it used to be safe to be on the street, but it's not as safe as it used to be. There's more risks, there's more mental health issues. There's different things.
Dan Vander Kooi:
The drugs?
Scott Duffey:
The drugs.
Dan Vander Kooi:
They are a lot different. Right? Fentanyl and...
Scott Duffey:
My goodness. Yeah. It's like I was talking to someone who's a counselor who's working with kids and with addiction, and she was saying that when somebody is, even if they're high on cocaine or they're intoxicated, different things like that, you can still have a conversation and reach that person in some ways. When you start talking about fentanyl, it's like nobody's home. You're not reaching anybody at the time that somebody's high on that and then coming off of it, they're just immediately wanting to get back on it.
Dan Vander Kooi:
And then these kids who are by themselves, they're going to be more susceptible to falling into that lifestyle. Talk to me also a little bit about trafficking, human trafficking in our area. I mean, with kids out on the street, I'm sure that runs into it. And I know you have Engedi and you have some other ministries that are critical in helping get people out of that, but I think a lot of people are familiar with the movie Sound of Freedom that came out a year or two ago that was extremely powerful. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch that movie because all of a sudden-
Scott Duffey:
I'm ashamed to say I haven't seen it yet.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Okay, you need to watch it.
Scott Duffey:
I know I have to see it.
Dan Vander Kooi:
It's powerful and it talks about the trafficking epidemic that there's not only in our world, but it's in our own communities here in the United States, and I know it's happening in Whatcom County significantly too. What do you know about that? And I've seen on that, and then how can you guys also try to help through some of your ministries between the kids on the street by themselves, but then also trafficking and whatnot?
Scott Duffey:
I mean, yeah, trafficking is one of those things too that is happening more than you want to think or believe that it is. And it has gotten to a place where, say, pimps are those who are in a sense working the kids, they're tracking them different things like air tags. People can find their wallet or their purse with an air tag. I have one of those, well, they've got kids with air tags on them and so that they know where they're at, what they're doing.
And it has become more sophisticated and it has become one of those things too, where even 30 years ago, I had some girls at different times that came to me and were like, "You don't understand. My life's been threatened. Well, I can't leave. I can't get out of this." The great thing is there are ministries like Engedi that are able to work with kids, work with adults, and help them because Engedi's focus is the adults.
So they're really working with those that are 18 and up, and so I've gotten to talk to Aaron at Engedi and it's really cool. We look forward to partnering with them in some ways and learning from them to help the kids. That's another thing that's hard is a lot of the people that Aaron is working with Engedi, he and his wife, they started as youth and they get stuck in that lifestyle up into the time that they're adults. And he's working with people... I mean, I try not to cry. It's like they're coming out of some of the most intense situations and you say, "Well, they're not really slaves. They're not really..." Well, yeah, they are.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Yeah, they are, absolutely.
Scott Duffey:
They're totally, they're so beat down, they're so crushed in their spirit and the person that they are, that they're lost and what they're told and is what they believe the things they have to do is who they think they are. And it's going on right now. And it's one of those things too. You go down, you can be talking to a kid or you can be talking to a person on the corner and you can kind of see all of a sudden they're looking over their shoulder past you and you know that they're waiting for a pickup and they'll just say anything they can to get away because they've got to go on and they've got to make their amount of money today or they don't get to sleep in.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So another spot for these kids are looking for a place to sleep. They're looking for that. And so all of a sudden they fall into some of that and I know a lot of these kids are coming out of either difficult homes, they're running away or foster care, abuse that happens in the foster care system. Another organization we should probably have on at some point Skookum Kids trying to change that in the foster care system and they're making really good headway.
Scott Duffey:
Huge strides.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So shout out to Skookum Kids, check them out too. But tell me the practical side of what Our Community's Heart is now is going to be offering and what your scope of work looks like and how you're trying to reach kids and the opportunities that you have for them.
Scott Duffey:
So we're really just starting to get going. I've got volunteers of which most of my volunteers are actually former kids that were coming to the upper room 25 to 30 years ago.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So really quick to clarify, the Upper Room was the ministry that was kind of what Our Community's Heart is back in the day. And now it's being rebooted essentially.
Scott Duffey:
Right. And Our Community's Heart is the nonprofit, we had... It was, let me think. Western Washington Family Network was the nonprofit that we used to have that ran The Upper Room and now Our Community's Heart is the one that wants to open The Upper Room again and keep the name the Upper Room because it was known it had a good reputation in the community.
Dan Vander Kooi:
There's already the basis there to build off of it.
Scott Duffey:
For sure. And so go back to that and keep The Upper Room, whether it's in an upper room where it started, a second floor or a basement, it doesn't matter. It's the name that stuck with it.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So what are you going to have at The Upper Room? What's available?
Scott Duffey:
Yeah. Our goal is to do hot meals, showers, laundry, and give the kids resources that they need for when they're on the street. The other side of it is the relationship building.
Dan Vander Kooi:
It's huge.
Scott Duffey:
It was paramount. I mean it's one of the most fundamental things was the fact that we would have volunteers there week after week after week, the kids begin to come in and youth that have had their trust in adults or others crushed and broken, it begins to be like, "Can I trust them?" And then it goes to, "Oh, you know what? They're still here. Scott's still here. Johnny's still here. Zach is still here reaching out week after week after week." And what that leads to is finally that time when someone goes, "Hey, can I talk to you?"
And then they start to open up and you get that story. "My sister and I just escaped from a foster care home where we were locked in the basement and we were abused." And that's not... I mean, that is not all foster care homes, but someone would come out that it would be the gal who's like, "You know what? I don't know how I even started this, but a friend said, we could make some money doing this. And I got in a topless dancing, which has now become prostitution." And it's someone saying, "I'm stuck in the gang life and I thought this was my family and I'm realizing that people are just trying to survive and so my knife wound is from my own buddy, not an opposite gang. I don't know what to do."
And you get the thirteen-year-old girl who comes to you and says, "Can you get me formula and can you get me some diapers?" And you're like, "Why do you have a child?" "Well, no, my mom was just thrown in jail for heroin possession and I've been taking care of my brother and sister that are one and four for the last two weeks and I'm running out of supplies."
And you get these stories, that kind of story after story of kids coming out of, in a way, similar and yet unique situations to them and so when you can bring them into a place and you can start to build those relationships and you can start to build that trust, all of a sudden they start to open up about the real needs because the drugs and the alcohol is usually just to cover up a pain to cover up wounds and when you start to really love those kids and you reach out and you listen to them and you just pour out compassion and that faithfulness about being there week after week, night after night, they open up and you start to get to really reach out to them.
Dan Vander Kooi:
I think you said a lot there, a lot of really good stuff. I just came off of, I was down on Dallas this last week at a leadership convention and there's two speakers that really hit me this week. There's a lot of really good ones, but one Dr. Henry Cloud, I don't know if you've ever heard of him. He spoke on trust and basically all relationships, they have different levels of trust throughout that relationship at some point you have to get to in order to gain that trust. And this was really interesting, because you have to have consistency in it.
And then later that week in the leadership conference, Craig Groeschel spoke, Craig Groeschel is the pastor of Life Church, if you have the Bible app on your phone, his church is responsible for creating that and Craig talked about trust within organizations and order to trust people, you can have vision and you can have excitement, you can have all these things, but the bottom line, the number one thing that builds trust is consistency and showing up. And if you're consistent in what you do and you show up, that's going to build trust. And that doesn't matter whether I'm selling insurance, whether you're meeting with kids on the street, whatever it might be in your family situation, your marriage, it's consistency and showing up. And when you do that, that impacts people for the better. And the trust is gained.
And if you don't have trust, man, it's a tough road to walk when you can't trust anybody. You feel like you can never let your guard down. And so I think what I'm hearing you say is even you're going to offer hot showers and maybe some meals and laundry and all these different things in a spot to just put your head for take a nap or whatever you need, but the key is building that trust with them, that they know that you're going to be here, that you're going to be consistent, that we're here to welcome you with open arms. And I think that's what's really cool. And then throughout showing up and being consistent, that trust is built and that's going to create a lasting impact on multiple people's lives.
Scott Duffey:
Exactly.
Dan Vander Kooi:
... That are walking a hard road and might feel isolated and alone, but you're going to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them. Right?
Scott Duffey:
It's awesome. Some of the kids, former kids of The Upper Room did some video testimonies for us or written testimonies that we put on Our Community's Heart website. And you hear that same thing in every one of the kids. "It was like that consistency, that somebody was there for me." And when they were finally to that place where they could open up, then they had a listening ear. A listening ear goes a long way.
And I think the reach out to youth, when we say unaccompanied minors or kids under 21, one of the things that I think is so powerful is once a youth trusts you and you build that trust in that relationship, they'll take your hand and you can lead them almost anywhere in the sense of to whatever service they need to a support group that they need to be a part of, to a resource in the community, to pregnancy, help, drug counseling, whatever it is that youth needs. Once that trust is built, they'll take your hand and go there.
And the coolest thing is, I think with kids, they are resilient and they're starting their life. So they're not 40, 50, 60 years of a pattern. They're in that place where they're still moldable and shapeable. Wounded, hurting, but once you bring that relationship or you restore that relationship and build that trust, all of a sudden there is so much hope To have their life change and watch them come into a new space, a different place in life, and it's awesome.
Dan Vander Kooi:
That's awesome. So what are specific needs that you have right now where if someone wants to get involved, if someone wants to make an impact, what are some of the needs and how can people get involved?
Scott Duffey:
So we're doing a couple things. One is like any outreach, any ministry you need funds to help with. Yeah,
Dan Vander Kooi:
No, you need cash?
Scott Duffey:
I know. You need money to help make it happen.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Sorry, sorry. I had a Mark over there producing it. He's like, "Come on Dan. Really?"
Scott Duffey:
Yeah, yeah. Mark knows.
Dan Vander Kooi:
You need in order to provide resources and things like that, yeah, a certain amount of money you need.
Scott Duffey:
So there's certain amount of money that we need in order to be able to lease a space to have an upper room like that and make some changes to that building so it fits what the heart of the vision is and what we want to provide. Another thing is that people have already, we've done a couple things that have been clothing drives, sleeping bag drives.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Yeah, I remember that one we did, yeah.
Scott Duffey:
We had people, we were building backpacks with toiletries and we got different organizations or companies, Woods Coffee gave us like 80 $10 Woods Cards because we had 80 backpacks so that kids could go get a hot drink. And we were able to get a number of those backpacks out to some of the kids. And we've got more that were building. So it's the toiletry items and some of the things we've partnered with some other organizations too, Bridge 2 Services, which is connected to the Ferndale Community Resource Center and getting things out because there are so many different homeless camps in different places.
And kind of one of the challenges, I don't want to break away from what you said, but one of the challenges is a number of people are being pushed out of downtown because Bellingham is really working to clean up downtown. And that's understandable for business owners and things, but kids and adults are being pushed outside of the central downtown area. And then it's like people are saying, "Well, where are they going?"
And it's made it challenging for a number of the organizations. We're taking sandwiches down and fruit and different things, but some of those same alleys we used to go into, people aren't there, they're more on the outskirts of town and so you're going to bridge to bridge to places. You're asking people, "Where are they?" "Oh, they're behind here or they're back near those dumpsters." And then so you're working to get out to them. But coming back to sleeping bags are needed. And I'll on our website, email address, phone number, people are calling me, texting me, emailing me, and then we're hooking up. We did those drives and we had boxes at different fire stations, which is awesome for collecting things, but that's not a permanent ongoing thing. So really if people can get ahold of us through the website, that's the best thing.
Dan Vander Kooi:
Okay. What is the website?
Scott Duffey:
The website is ourcommunitysheart.org.
Our Community's not an IES, but a YS, it would be an apostrophe and so that's great. And what I think is really cool, the reason for the name Our Community's Heart is simply because almost everyone wants to help kids that are on the street. They want to open up their heart to help those who are out on the street. So it's like, how can you do that? And not to knock our government, but they're not going to heal the hurting hearts of our community. And so it is our community opening its heart that will help heal itself. We're going to heal it from within. And so that's the reason Our Community's Heart exists.
Dan Vander Kooi:
That's awesome. I think one of the most critical things, and I feel like this is something the Lord's taught me over the last four years or so, is really trying to hear people's story. We're coming into an election year, let's just be realistic. People get very opinionated. I have my opinions too, but are we listening to understand or are we listening to respond? And if we can listen to understand and we can listen to people's story and we can try to understand where they're coming from and put ourselves in their shoe and not just have a reaction to, "I want to share my opinion." We've all been in those situations where we've had that, or you tell a story and then the other guy is like, "Well, wait what happened to me," we have that one-up game. But if we can listen to hear the story of these kids, of people in our own community that are struggling, we have an opportunity to make an impact that's not just here, but an eternal impact into being the hands and feet of Jesus to these kids.
Scott Duffey:
Exactly.
Dan Vander Kooi:
And it takes everyone. It doesn't mean... It's interesting. I've been taking teams down to Guatemala since 2009 and my daughter's come a couple times now and I take different people and I feel like every year God places someone different on my heart to invite. And when we go down there, we see all these, this poverty, we see injustice, we see kids being abandoned and abused and whatnot, and it going to the court system and then getting reunited with their family. And then they come back six months later with a 7-year-old with another broken arm because his dad hit him again.
And we go down there, that's such an injustice. It's so wrong. And yet I can drive all over this county and my blinders are onto it because I just kind of stay in my little box. Right? I feel like that's where God's challenging me too. And how we've been connected too, is how do we start to open this and share the story of what's actually happening in our backyard.
And it's the time is now to make a difference. The time is now to step up and to get involved with our community and I'm really excited because a couple episodes from now too, we're going to have a couple different guys on that talk about it's time for a leadership change in our county, that my generation needs to start stepping up and making a difference. And how do we do that from a financial standpoint of supporting organizations like yours? How do we do it within our schools? How do it within our churches, how do it with our community, governments? All of that. But this is so cool what you're doing, Scott, and hats off to you. I'm excited just to be able to share this story. And thanks for even being willing to share it. And thanks for doing what you're doing.
Scott Duffey:
Thank you.
Dan Vander Kooi:
And I think it's going to make a huge impact. And I'm sure we'll do a follow-up one of these with you down the road and just see where things are at. But again, if you guys want to get involved and support Scott and his team, ourcommunitysheart.org, and we'll make sure to put it in the bio here or in the... I don't know, Mark, we'll put it somewhere, right? Yeah, we will make sure it gets out there and we'll share it. But get involved if you can donate, if you can help with a different drive going on, things like that. And I think we'll probably, maybe Manna is even willing to come up with something where we do a tag team, we do some sort of match, whether it's financially or backpacks or something like that. It'd be cool to do something like that.
Scott Duffey:
Awesome.
Dan Vander Kooi:
So anyway, again, thanks for all you're doing. Check them out, make sure to make it a priority and see what's going on in our backyard. So thanks everyone for joining us. See you Uncovered Podcast, and we'll see you soon.
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