- I've mentioned this before,
whenever we drive past homeless encampments
my daughter River is always puzzled.
She's sad about it, she has lots of questions
and she always asks the same thing.
She's like, why can't we just give them homes?
Why can't we help them?
And my next guest is a retired nurse doing just that though
for dozens of unhoused men and women.
She's amazing, she's what we call a good neighbor.
(upbeat music)
♪ Good, good, so good ♪
♪ Good neighbor ♪
♪ So good ♪
So good.
It's my favorite, I love that one. (laughing)
Get it Jessie.
From Eden Village in Springfield, Missouri,
Please welcome Linda Brown, y'all.
(audience cheering)
It's an honor to meet you.
This is more than a decade, though, in the making.
Can you take us back to where it started?
- Yes, in 20-10, 2010,
David and I,
my husband and I moved downtown in Springfield
to a loft apartment.
And we started seeing a lot of homeless people
on the streets, especially in the evening.
But we have, I've always had a passion
and a curiosity to find out their story.
What made them homeless?
What happened? - They're all different, yeah.
- Because they're all different.
And so we took it on ourselves and we opened
a little spot downtown in Springfield, one night a week,
and we offered coffee and donuts.
And we had them come in, and we set them at tables
and we sat with them and talked,
got to know who they were.
Realized that they're not any different than we are.
- Yeah. - They've had some bad luck,
whether it's losing a family member, or a job,
and some of them can't cope with that.
And so we realized that,
especially those that have lost a family,
or their family member, they don't know what to do.
- Yeah, but Linda, those gathering sparked
the idea for Eden Village, right?
- Correct. - Yeah.
- And how that worked was in 2016
David and I were closing up the Gathering Tree,
and it was cold, it was a real blustery, cold winter night.
And so we walked out and went to our warm car,
warm home, warm bed.
And now our friends who we have been with
for at least six years now, every week,
that they had to go home to a hidden, cold, dark,
wet campsite somewhere. - Yeah.
- And it just hit me,
and I said, "We've got to do something.
"These people are our friends."
So we decided that we were going to try
to do a tiny home village.
- How 'bout that.
- And we didn't have the money to do that,
but we all said that God does.
And so what happened, we had a good friend
give us about $50,000 to start.
- That's a good friend. (audience laughing)
- Yes.
- I'm like, whoa, you got some good friends.
- Because we had a vision. - Yeah.
- And it's hard to get your vision to somebody else
and them give you money. - Yeah.
- But they gave us 50,000,
and we also got a grant for 750,000 to start.
(audience clapping) - Wow!
- Yeah. (audience clapping)
- That's amazing!
- God does provide, yeah.
- He does provide.
So we found a vacant mobile home park.
- [Kelly] Perfect.
- And it was already zoned for mobile homes,
so we got these, they're called park park model homes.
They're about 400 square feet, they're on wheels,
and so we rolled them in.
So we started with that and it just grew,
because we'd have one individual say,
"Hey, we want to sponsor a home."
And then somebody else would come along and say,
"We want to sponsor home," so before we knew it
we had all 31 homes in Eden Village One.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- But what a beautiful heart you have?
(audience clapping)
Well, Linda's husband David
was part of launching all of this as well,
and he's in our audience right now.
Hi, David.
- Hey, Kelly. (audience clapping)
- You look very handsome. (Linda laughing)
So David, you were a bit skeptical
about creating Eden Village in the beginning.
Did you think it was going to be just so costly,
and an overwhelming kind of thing?
- Well, Kelly, we were running a drop-in center
and our budget was about $30,000 a year.
And when this idea came to us, and how to go about this,
this was a multimillion dollar project,
I said there's no way we could do that.
Well, there is a way to do it
because I have a woman that has a passion
and a desire to do something.
- Amen.
- [David] And I've got to do what she says.
(women laughing)
So we stepped out.
(audience clapping)
- I love that.
I think that when something is that,
and you feel like it's your purpose, it's that meaningful.
I sometimes believe, or like a lot of times believe,
like we're the vessel for something bigger than us,
a bigger purpose.
- Absolutely.
- And I think that that's the beautiful thing,
if you trust in that.
and then I think that it'll make its way.
But it's a lot of hard work,
so thank you two so much for starting this.
It's a lot of hard work, determination and sacrifice
of time, of things, and of asking people for money,
and all that kind of stuff.
It's a really beautiful thing that y'all have done.
Thank you.
Joining us now are two residents of Eden Village.
Let's welcome, everybody, Jenny and Jonathan,
give it up. (audience clapping)
Jenny and Jonathan.
So let's start with you, Jenny, how did you meet Linda?
- Okay, well, I met Linda in 2015.
I became homeless in 2013,
ended up in a domestic violence shelter.
I had lost my home to foreclosure
and got estranged from my family
because I felt that they had backed my husband
at the time, instead of me.
And I ended up not having anywhere to go, I struggled.
- [Kelly] Wow.
- And then somebody told me about the Gathering Tree.
- Yeah.
- And I think the second time I went in there
is when I met Linda, and I fell in love.
(Linda laughing) - Oh, I love that.
Well she's easy to fall in love with, she's a light.
Well, Jonathan, how did you connect with Linda?
How'd you find out?
- It was 2015,
my wife and I were going through some legal issues.
I was in between jobs.
We lost our house.
My wife ended up going to jail
for the legal issues we were dealing with,
and then shortly after I was homeless by myself,
and served divorce papers.
And I just continued to spiral out of control.
We had lost our kids,
they were openly adopted out, pretty much at that point.
I didn't really have any reason to keep going,
and I just spiraled out of control, using hard drugs.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And just thought to myself it didn't matter anymore.
Well, it was that year, in 2015, when I met Linda.
I met her when the Gathering Tree was just a,
it wasn't even a drop-in center then,
they were just doing sack lunches
outside of the church.
- Yeah.
- And worked in to the drop-in center downtown,
and they, I guess, felt like that they could
give me a little bit of responsibility,
and I started working, doing some hourly work for them
while I was living on the streets.
- [Kelly] Wow.
- [Jonathan] That's pretty much how I met them.
- And you know what, all that is
is just a little opportunity.
And like, literally everybody grew up,
like my family, we grew up from hand-me-downs,
people making us food and sending it sometimes.
- [Jonathan] Yeah.
- Like people were in jail at points,
and it was just like, it was very chaotic.
And every family is capable of that scenario.
- Yep. - Like something can happen,
and I think that's the difference that not everybody,
some people feel like they're invincible of it.
And sometimes life, just like this whole pandemic,
hits all at once.
For a lot of people now they're realizing
everything can come crashing down at once,
and it can happen to any of us, you know.
- We're all one wrong decision away
from losing anything and everything it is
that we know and love. - Yeah.
- And being right in that same boat, so.
- And sometimes it can be a wrong decision
and sometimes it could just be the cards you're dealt.
And it's like, "Okay, well, I got to find a different hand."
What was it like when they gave you a home?
Were you just?
I would have lost it.
- I did, I did. - Okay.
The investment in you must've felt good.
- Yes, so Eden Village called me,
and they asked me if I was interested
in moving into a home there.
And I said, how soon do you want to see me?
I mean, I was like, "Oh my God!"
- Yes. - It was exciting.
So I got to see the house that was going to be mine,
and it's a tiny home, but it's beautiful.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- I mean, cathedral ceilings, furnished,
I've lovely recliners, I got a flat screen TV,
a full kitchen, and all these special touches.
- [Kelly] Wow.
- It wasn't just a home, it was part of a community.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- So everybody else in that community had been homeless
like I was, at the same time, so it was shared trauma.
So we all move in, and we invest in each other,
boost each other, and help each other.
And we have just, we've connected with this bond.
- This network of people that understand.
- Yeah.
And then through the services that they provide,
especially the mental health,
because if you didn't have issues when you became homeless
you certainly would have them coming out of it.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- But just those things.
And it's just, they gave us the tools,
they gave us the support, and I'm a success story.
- [Kelly] I love that.
(audience clapping)
- That's such a proud moment too, to say
"I'm a success story." (audience clapping)
And by the way, I think,
mental health is one of those things
people don't want to talk about,
but I think that everyone could use someone to talk to.
It doesn't matter how successful you are in life
or where you are at in life,
I think having someone to talk to,
and just going through stuff,
especially outside your circle, is so important.
Especially if it can get you tools
to kind of navigate your emotions, and wherever you're at.
I think that's so important.
So, Jonathan, what about you?
- What was it like for me?
The best way I can describe it
is there's 31 homes at Eden Village,
and it was like Willy Wonka, just passed out
31 golden tickets again.
- [Kelly] Awe.
- we were given a lifetime opportunity.
- [Kelly] Fresh start, too, yeah.
- I mean, it was essentially a pilot program,
the first of its kind.
We're given a life-changing experience here,
and it's make or break time, you know?
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- They provided me with all this support,
all the encouragement I needed.
I was able to reconnect with my family,
get all my legal issues cleaned up and taken care of.
- [Kelly] Wow.
- At 32 years old, I was able to go to college
for the first time.
- [Kelly] Wow, wow!
(audience clapping)
- They provided me with every bit
of support network it is,
that I could have ever wanted.
- They provided you with opportunity.
- To just constantly give me that little poke
and prod to always be the best version of me
that I could be, so.
- Well, Jenny and Jonathan, what do you want to say, Linda?
I know you want to say something.
- [Jenny] You go first.
- Remarkable and exceptional don't even do any justice
to describe the person that you and David are.
You guys gave me everything it was I needed
to be able to get my life back on track,
to continue to push me,
to be the person that I always could have been,
had I not made those bad choices before in my life.
(woman laughing)
- [Kelly] Okay, I'll just leave these here.
- I love you guys, I love you guys like nobody else.
I don't think I could idolize two people more.
And at 35 years old, I can sit here and say that
when I grow up, I could not ask to be anything better
than what you or David are,
it's all I could ever want to be.
(audience clapping)
Thank you for giving me my life back.
(audience clapping)
- Wow, that's gotta, whoo!
Jenny how about you?
Get ready girl.
- Linda, I fell in love with you when I first met you.
I didn't believe in myself, but you did,
you never stopped believing in me
when I couldn't believe in myself.
You never stopped unconditionally loving me
when I couldn't love myself.
And you have helped build me up,
and you to helped show me that I'm not that bad.
I'm getting better about that.
But what you did for me, you've reached out
and helped me reconnect with my children
when I was afraid to.
And now I have a great relationship with them,
and that was the best gift I've ever been given.
- Thank you, thank you both.
(audience clapping)
- And now you're now in the works
on expanding Eden Village, which I think is amazing.
So can you explain a little bit about that?
- Yes.
Our first village, like I said, has 31 tiny homes in it.
We have our second village now that has 24 homes onsite,
and we're about halfway,
we've got about half the residents in now.
And then we've got property for the third village,
which is, it's just grass right now,
but it's going to start, we hope in 2022 to get it going.
And what we realized is that it's easy
to step out in faith, and do something
that will give them a hand up instead of a handout.
- Yeah, well said.
(audience clapping)
- Well, we love everything that you're doing,
and so does Freedom Mortgage.
They're one of the nation's leading VA,
and FHA home mortgage providers,
championing home ownership for all,
which is very important.
They want to help you continue to grow,
which is why freedom mortgage is donating $25,000
to Eden Village. - Oh my God.
(audience clapping) - Are you kidding me?
Whoo!
- [Kelly] We're very excited, yeah.
- [Linda] That's awesome.
- [Kelly] And it's just an exciting thing,
I hope, I was saying on commercial break.
- [Linda] Oh my gosh.
- I really hope that other cities are listening..
- Yes. - You know, this is doable.