Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Finding Self-Love and Community: A Conversation with Anthony Delgado

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Finding Self-Love and Community: A Conversation with Anthony Delgado · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Have you ever wanted a safe space where you can
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  Speaker 1: just exist, where for a moment in time, you can
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  Speaker 1: be you, with all the intricacies and parts of you
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  Speaker 1: that people don't always understand. Welcome to end the deep
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  Speaker 1: stories that shape us. I'm your host, Zach Stafford, and
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  Speaker 1: each episode we create a space to be you, all
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  Speaker 1: of you and all your messy and complicated glory. Every
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  Speaker 1: story shares what it means to be a black and
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  Speaker 1: Latin X man living with different hardships, whether it's a
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  Speaker 1: struggle of identity, discrimination or health, and how they've managed
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  Speaker 1: to push forward despite the circumstance. We hope to get closer,
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  Speaker 1: even if just a little, to a road of healing
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  Speaker 1: and understanding. Hi, everyone, welcome back. Today's episode is all
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  Speaker 1: about the community I think most of us have, and
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  Speaker 1: that's the chosen family. Sometimes life throws us in directions
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  Speaker 1: that we don't foresee, and in some cases it leaves
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  Speaker 1: us in situation sans where we don't have our family unit,
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  Speaker 1: either because circumstance has forced us to keep our distance
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  Speaker 1: or they've chosen not to stay. But somewhere along the way,
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  Speaker 1: we start to create our own chosen tribe, handpicked and
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  Speaker 1: selected through shared experiences. It's those friends that come up
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  Speaker 1: in the unexpected times, that first day of college, that
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  Speaker 1: stressful day at work, or even a fun night out
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  Speaker 1: that are so special and crucial in the shaping of
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  Speaker 1: who we are. Like some of us, our guest Anthony Delgado,
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  Speaker 1: has a loving family, but along his own journey to
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  Speaker 1: self love and redemption, he had to rely on an
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  Speaker 1: unlikely chosen family, one that helped him get through some
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  Speaker 1: tough times riddled with homelessness and addiction. Anthony was born
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  Speaker 1: in Worcester, Massachusetts, and remembers the good old days, the
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  Speaker 1: ones where people helped each other take care of each other.
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  Speaker 1: This original community is the one that shaped his formidable years,
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  Speaker 1: the one where he learned discipline, before joining the military
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  Speaker 1: and before things took a drastic term. As a kid,
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  Speaker 1: I grew up with a single power. It twelve of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: us in our family. I just appreciated my brothers and
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  Speaker 1: sisters and the people in my neighborhood. It was a
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  Speaker 1: very back in those days. The neighborhood was a neighborhood.
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  Speaker 1: If you get out of line, you're next to a
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  Speaker 1: neighborhood kind of patter your but that's what I try
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  Speaker 1: that today, you're going to jail. Everybody took care of
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  Speaker 1: each other back then. I'm six and five, so coming
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  Speaker 1: up as a kid, friendships meant something. It was loyalty.
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  Speaker 1: The neighbors took care of each other. You have your
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: ballock parties and everybody brings a dish and you know,
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  Speaker 1: stuff like that. But I kind of straight a lot
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: when I was a kid. I really didn't have the
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  Speaker 1: discipline that I should have had. My mom was the best,
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  Speaker 1: ever man. She did everything she could have raised us
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  Speaker 1: the best she could. And I think about that today,
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  Speaker 1: man coming up, how many times that must have broke
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  Speaker 1: her heart, you know, but she still loved us. She
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: still loved me and she did great bringing us up.
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  Speaker 1: When I was in trouble, I should tell you now
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna be okay, you know, And it's just like
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  Speaker 1: she made you feel go. She disciplined that. How do
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  Speaker 1: you know? But she's not let you know that you
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  Speaker 1: did okay. The best thing she did for me is
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: when she signed for me to go into the Marine Corps.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And I didn't want to go, but that was some
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  Speaker 1: tough love. I mean, she had to let me go.
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  Speaker 1: And when I got in there when they started yelling
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  Speaker 1: at me, I wanted to cry and go home and
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  Speaker 1: see my mama. They start yelling, get on them yellow footsteps,
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  Speaker 1: and you knew you had just stepped into a pile
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  Speaker 1: of you know what and it's about to come down
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  Speaker 1: on you. I was stationed and never went overseas. I
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: was at Kemple, joined with my brother Stevie. Was the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Marine Corps boxing chip for two or three years. But
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  Speaker 1: my problem started when I got out of the Marine,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, I got involved in organized crime. I worked
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  Speaker 1: for a friend of mine I can't say his name,
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  Speaker 1: and I continue to do foolish things. I got messed
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  Speaker 1: up with the wrong people and I was collecting money
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  Speaker 1: for a living here and there. I traveled and I
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  Speaker 1: did a little bit of work for some people, and
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  Speaker 1: I caught in Michigan and I I had to go
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  Speaker 1: away for five years. Yeah. I went to the Federal
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  Speaker 1: penitentiary for five years for collection and credit stor the means.
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  Speaker 1: And that's just what happened. I'm not trying to glorify that.
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  Speaker 1: But when I came home after doing the five years,
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  Speaker 1: a friend of mine told me to smoke a cigarette,
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  Speaker 1: and the cigarette, which I didn't know it was weed,
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  Speaker 1: which I never smoked, was laced with crack cocaine, and
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  Speaker 1: that one hit sent me on a twelve year addiction. Run.
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  Speaker 1: I had to get away. Um, I had some situations
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  Speaker 1: up there that I had to get away from. So
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  Speaker 1: I came to Georgia and I was living with my
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  Speaker 1: cousin and uh, we were getting high and somebody took
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  Speaker 1: one of my pebbles, my crack rock, and I thought
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  Speaker 1: he did it, so I slapped him and I pushed
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  Speaker 1: him down the stairs. He put me out and it
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  Speaker 1: took me. It's called Doraville train station here directly across
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  Speaker 1: the street from my office. And how ironic this is
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: is that's where my location I'm at right now. So
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  Speaker 1: God brought it full circle. So when I got downtown,
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  Speaker 1: I took the train downtown Atlanta. I was homeless. I
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  Speaker 1: had nowhere to go. Being homeless in the South wasn't
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  Speaker 1: what Anthony pictured for his life at all. But even
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  Speaker 1: in that moment, what some would consider to be the
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  Speaker 1: most desolate or lonely of times, he was able to
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  Speaker 1: find a semblance of a community that helped him through
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  Speaker 1: these rough days. There were two people I slept next to,
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  Speaker 1: I slept on one bench and Ralph and Floyd stepped
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  Speaker 1: to the right of me on benches. Right now today,
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  Speaker 1: Ralph and Floyd is still sleeping under the eighty five
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  Speaker 1: street bridge on Ella Street, still there, and I've offered
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: to take them and bring them off from a place
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  Speaker 1: to stay, but they choose to be there. They choose
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  Speaker 1: to be there. Ralph is a witness for God right now.
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  Speaker 1: And he told me straight up, he said, no anything,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to go in the way. He said,
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing God's work. God makes sure I'm fit and
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: he's keeping me healthy. He says, I lost all my teeth,
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  Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, I see that. But the sense
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  Speaker 1: of humor that he has in his state of mind
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  Speaker 1: and situation that he's in, to him, that's where he's
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be doing God's work, reaching the people, witnessing
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  Speaker 1: the people down there, putting some hope into their lives.
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  Speaker 1: To me, it's upside down. To him, he's fine, And uh,
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  Speaker 1: I got really close with them and embraced my heart
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  Speaker 1: that they're still there. But I got really close to
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people down there. When you were living
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  Speaker 1: in all this, where did you think you fit in
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  Speaker 1: those boxes? Did you want to be there or did
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  Speaker 1: you want to get out? And what about your addiction?
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  Speaker 1: Were you deeper even aware that you had an addiction
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  Speaker 1: at the time. First of all, I didn't ask for
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  Speaker 1: this addiction happened. I wasn't looking for this to happen.
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  Speaker 1: I thought I was just going to take a puffle
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  Speaker 1: for a cigarette or a joint and it was going
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  Speaker 1: to be over with. I was trapped. I basically I
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  Speaker 1: got baited into this and I was bitter for a
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  Speaker 1: long time. My man, how could you tell somebody to
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  Speaker 1: try something that you know it's going to get them
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  Speaker 1: addicted and think it's a joke. Everybody's not your friend,
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  Speaker 1: I don't care, family, who they Everybody doesn't have your
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  Speaker 1: best interests at heart. So you need to be aware
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  Speaker 1: of what you're doing when you're out there. You need
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  Speaker 1: to be aware with you're drinking, with, you're smoking whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Don't accept none of them, nobody. That's my theory on
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  Speaker 1: this whole thing. You just can't do it. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: Anthony has been homeless for a while and one day
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  Speaker 1: something mystical happens inside of a Greyhound station, of all places,
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  Speaker 1: he recalls, trying to stay warm inside the bus building,
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  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, a man and woman appear,
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  Speaker 1: who he believes were angels. These angels instruct Anthony to
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  Speaker 1: head to the local via hospital. He's not doing well
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  Speaker 1: on this particular night. He's feeling tightness in his chest.
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  Speaker 1: He's scared to go to the hospital, but he finally
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  Speaker 1: caves and follows his angel's advice. But as he follows
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  Speaker 1: him out of the door, the police and other bystanders
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  Speaker 1: laugh at him. There's no couple anywhere in sight. He's
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  Speaker 1: finally told to purchase a bus ticket or leave, so
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  Speaker 1: he begins to panhandle. Later again, another man agrees to
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  Speaker 1: buy him a train ticket so he can get to
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  Speaker 1: the hospital, but as he turns to thank the man,
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  Speaker 1: something unexplainable happens. So I step on the train. I
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  Speaker 1: turned around and then I want to say thank you,
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  Speaker 1: and he's gone. There's no way in the world as
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  Speaker 1: a man could have got up the top of the escalator.
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  Speaker 1: If anybody's been in Atlanta, they know at five points
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  Speaker 1: you gotta walk over there first about it. He was going.
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  Speaker 1: I did what he told me. I got to the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: They would rush me to row me totally close off.
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  Speaker 1: I v me. I stayed there for five days. So
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  Speaker 1: the fifth day the nurse came up to me, or
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  Speaker 1: the fourth day the nurse comes up. She said, Mr Dogado,
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  Speaker 1: She says, how would you like to go into a
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  Speaker 1: rehab program? I says, for what I said, I wasn't
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  Speaker 1: feeling good, that's all. I don't need no rehab program.
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  Speaker 1: She said. That's the first step of denial. You're in denial,
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  Speaker 1: she says. But if you don't go into the program,
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna be back on the streets tomorrow. So two
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  Speaker 1: things are gonna happen in good bed or the streets.
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  Speaker 1: And uh. I opted to go into the program, and
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  Speaker 1: it was the best thing I did. You had to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: go to church, you had to get a job, you
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: had a program. And I was still pretty much addicted.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I guess I still had the cravings. Started going to
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  Speaker 1: church and they're talking about baptizing me. And I said,
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  Speaker 1: hold it, I said, I'm from north I'm baptized already.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor looked at me, he said, as well, Brother Anthony,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: let me tell you something. I don't forget it. He
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: said that don't come. You got sprinkled. You gotta go
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: down in the water. I told him, hold on a minute, passed,
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  Speaker 1: I'm down south with all you Holy rollers. Are always
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: talking about baptism and going in water. That's all I've
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  Speaker 1: been here. He says. No, he says, if you do
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  Speaker 1: what I asked you to do, and you as an adult,
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  Speaker 1: except Christ as your savior, he said, you will see
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  Speaker 1: a difference in your life. And I got baptized in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Jesus name. I came out of that water. Yeah, I
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: came out of that water, and it was like something
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  Speaker 1: come over me. The community that Anthony created while a
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: house meant a lot to him, even if the circumstances
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: were unfortunate. At first, giving back to this chosen family
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: of sorts wasn't in the cards. But little did he
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: know that, through a few interactions with the local restaurant
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and church members, he drastically changed the course of his
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: life for himself and others, ultimately finding what he calls
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: his purpose in life. So one day we leave church
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  Speaker 1: and well, never bread, and they're throwing away bags of
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  Speaker 1: bread in the pastor, says Anthony. Brother Anthony asked him,
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  Speaker 1: I said, past I ain't begging for no bread. I
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  Speaker 1: am asking for no breath. He looked at me, your,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: brother Anthony, we could take it back to the church
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  Speaker 1: give it to the members. I said, you had, there's
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: a lot of pastry, and gave it to me. But
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the manager says, you have your Bible one see. I said,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: I don't even know what that is. He says the
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: nonprofit status. Well, we can get it right off. He said,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you should get one. I said, for what? I just
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: want your bread today. Two weeks later, we're back there
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: again and I asked him again. He says, okay, he said,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: did you apply. I says no, but I promise you
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  Speaker 1: I will. So he gave me the bread. After we
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: passed it out, we're getting ready and throwing some away.
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  Speaker 1: What are the mothers of the church? Comes up? Ye,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: brother Anthony, She said, don't you throw that bread out? Again?
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I said, what do you want me to do it?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: She said, I want you to take it downtown. For what?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: She should take it to the park where you used
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to sleep. And again I said, I don't want to
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: relive that. I'm not doing it. And she said, brother Anthony,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: what was the sermon about today? I said, Mother was
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: about obedience. She says, okay, So what are you gonna do?
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: You're gonna be obedient to what I'm asking you. She
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: had me, She knew she had me. I said, okay, Mother.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: So I go downtown and I see Ralph, I see Florid,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: I see I see all these people down there, and
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I'm passing on cakes and pies and just hanging out.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: And I stopped crying, and I say, thank you, Father, God.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I found my purpose in life. And then from after that,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: God just started working and passed. He told me, said
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: to your obedience and everything we've asked you to do.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: He said, look what God's doing for you. I said yeah.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: He said, he gave you the gift of help. I said, well,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: tell him to take it back. I don't want it,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: he says. He God don't take back when he gives you.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: He says, So you stuck with it, he said, I
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: told him, tell him to take it back. I don't
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: want to do this, though, But you're stuck. I mean,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: you're stuck with it, but you're very passionate about it.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I'm stuck. Bro. He got you, and you seem to
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: like to have a lot of joy doing it. Was
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: it always as joyful for you? Or was it a
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: ride to get there to where you're excited to do
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the word. It was a long ride. I had a van.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I had a start with a pair of pliers. I
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: started in my garage with two refrigerators in my apartment complex,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and they said, Mr Delgado, she said, you're gonna have
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to get a license. I said why. She says, because
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you're running a business. I said, not really, I'm just
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: giving away food to the neighbors. She says, well, management
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: thinks it's a business, so they're not going to give
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: you a license. I said, oh, yes, they will. So
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I went to city Hall to the next day and
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I applied and the lady at the front desk says,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: hold on, Mr Doug God, I'll be right back. They
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: gave me a business license, the first time ever in
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: an apartment complex, right here and done within George, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I knew God was working that. And then when we
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: went from the apartment complex to a small building and
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I started feeling really really good about it. I really did,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: and I said, this can't be bad. But how am
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I going to fund it? I still hadn't got my
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: five O one seat. And I made a man named
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: John Eaton, and I called him. I went to go
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: see him he said it's going to cost about fifteen
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: hundred dollars. So when I come into us house, his
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: wife is coming down the stairs and I hear her say, John,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: is that your client? He said yes. She says, you
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: need to help that man. She said, I felt annointing
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: on him as soon as he came in the house.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: It's just what she said. He cut the price in
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: half for me, and he's been with me ever since.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: He's been watching over my program. And yeah, it just
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: grew and grew. Now I have eight full time employees.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: That's incredible. Tell me more about the people you serve.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: You've told me a lot about how you got here,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: who supported you, But who are the everyday people you
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: were with every day dealing with addiction, homelessness, all these
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: other things. Well, because we can't really go downtown to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: feed the homeless no more, because they're gonna give you
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a ticket for a ticket for feeding people, so we shifted.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: We basically feed families in which is a major demand
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: right now. I mean these are working people, single parents,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: like three or four kids. But they got the rent,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: they got the utilities, they got car payments, and you
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: get a weekly paycheck. And if it's like bucks, you
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: don't have a lot left over when it comes at
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the end of the month. So we're basically focusing on
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: families and it's been very successful. Every Friday we go
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: to an apartment complex and we picked one city a
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: month and we work with all the police departments with
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: the city that we're in. Those departments will send offices
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: to come out and they help us distribute the food
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to families. And it's a good thing because the relationship
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: between the community and the police needs a bond and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: if they get to talk to the offices that are there,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: they get to see, hey, it's not as bad as
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: you think talking to these guys, you know, so it
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: kind of works out with them also. And uh, I
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: do hurricane relief also, I've been to New Orleans, I've
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: been to Florida. My box truckles whoever would need it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Your story is so much about addiction, this kind of force,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: addiction that led you on this path. What are the
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: stories of other folks you're you're working with? Is addiction
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the common line through a lot of them? Or what
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: are what are the barriers are facing? No, contrary to that,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: not at all. It's employment. It's money. Most of the
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: people we deal with are not addictive. There's having a
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: hard time right now. Most of them all single parents,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: but multiple kids. And that's the sad thing about it.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: When you've got a year old with four kids, little babies.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Most of the families don't step up to help. It's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: very hotbreaking when you see that. You go to these
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: homes and you see the cabinets are empty. But oh,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: I got a boyfriend. He loves me, but he ain't
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: bringing food in the house. How does he love you?
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: That's not love. I mean, you can't rely on him
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: to support your family. You've got to get step up,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: do something, trying to find something. Listen, if you want
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: a job, I can tell you right across the street
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: right now, I tell them, and you can have a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: job tomorrow morning. It's called working day. You get paid
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: at the every day, but it's a job and if
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: you go every day, that's a hours that day. But
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: they won't do it. They won't do it. But do
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you think it's some of it? It's in my experience
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: with working with different folks in crisis. Sometimes they don't
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: know that they're worth fighting for, they're worth fighting to
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: invest in themselves. Do you see that? A similar learn
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: with these people I do because they have no self confidence.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: They don't even know how to love themselves. So I
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: spend time with them, and I talked to and said,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you know what, you love yourself before you love anybody else.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Love yourself first. Then you'll be able to really love somebody.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Your self confidence. I can't do this. I can't. Yeah,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: you can't. We are a G e d Training center free,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: come get your G E D s. Whatever you come
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: out will help you. I know all these folks that
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: do not have the G wouldn't even come to They
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: come one time, two times and never come back. It's
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: like it's a challenge for them to do better for themselves.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: And like I said, the self confidence you need, I
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: didn't have it, but I learned how to get it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I learned patients. I learned how to show love because
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: I love myself. I didn't love myself at all. Now
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: I learn how to be humble and learn how to say, hey,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: let me help you, what do you need? Yeah? And
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: I feel like these people do you have reasons or
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: why they think they're not lovable? You know? I know
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with homelessness, there's a high rates of HIV positivity. So
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: when people are positive time, they feel like they're not
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: deserving of love, or that they're they don't have a job,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: they don't deserve love. How do you get them to
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: overcome things like that? And do you see like health
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: as a big barrier for these people too? Yeah, that
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: is a big thing too. They're not on any type
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: of insurance or anything. They don't qualify for some stuff.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I mean some of them do, but they don't apply.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And you try to get them to apply to Yeah,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I'll come back and do it. Come on, We'll get
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you on the computer, sit down with you can help you.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: You can lead them to the water, you know what
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: they say, but they can't make them drink it. And
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not the only organization out here doing what I'm
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: doing as far as trying to get these people educated.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: We have financial planning to help people, teach them how
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: to budget your money, how to buy a house, and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: how to do these different things. So you just don't
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: give up. You keep trying and if you say one
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: or two, it did something because it was one or two,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: hopefully they'll pass it along what they learned and ship
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: acknowledge that they got from from coming around here, coming
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: to these different classes and stuff. But I don't give up.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I come in here in the morning for five o'clock.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I prayed my building and I asked God every day,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: God just put me in front of somebody that I
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: could plan a seed in that, another sink in water,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and let you give the increase to throughout the day.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Some people say that's easy to say, Yeah, it's easy
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to do too. Believe in yourself and then somebody will
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: believe in you, even through humble and somewhat reserved beginnings.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: I currently and I was founded and has kept their
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: doors open during difficult pandemic times. Today, the center serves
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the community through its food bank and has even added
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: other services including job placements, mentorships, and a GD center,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: among other programs. For Anthony, the success of the nonprofit
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: is centered within its core message truly putting in the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: work for the people within his community. They can't just
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: be me. Collaboration through mo non profits should be the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: main thing that we should be looking at, all of
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: us working together, but it doesn't happen. Some of these
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: organizations are all about their organization only. Funding is not
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: as free or open as everybody thinks it is. You're competing.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: You're competing with organizations that probably not even doing the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: work that you're doing, but because they know somebody, they're
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: getting the money. And that's the bad thing about it.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: So I'm one person, one organization with some fantastic employees.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: We do what we can, but we need more people
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to step up. More organizations say hey, step out and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: do a little bit more than what they're doing. Some
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of them are doing a fantastic job. Don't get me why.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's some good, good organizations out here. But
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: when you're when you're working alone and you try to
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: collaborate with somebody else, and it's a fight just to
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: get them to get together with you. All nonprofits need volunteers,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: All nonprofits need money. Give him a couple of hours
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: a month, you know, or something you know, just you
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: don't even have to go to nonprofit to be nice
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: to somebody. Before I got this problem, I just smile
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: at somebody, buy somebody a cup of coffee. I did
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: that at Stockbucks. Most people should just look outside their
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: circle and say who can I help today? What organization
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: can I go volunteer with? Bring some clothes, buy some
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: kings to some food, bring it to one of the shelters.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: There's all kinds of ways that people can get involved
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: with the community and specifically with Eye Care Atlanta. How
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: can people support you and this really important work that
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: you're doing every day. Well we we we Like I said,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: we're basically a food based program, but we venture out
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: and everything. So my main prober thing right now was
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: funding to be straight up, which it's funding because we
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: have so much food here. We don't turn anybody, but
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: you don't have to be a needy person that prus
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: they like your cabinets are empty to get food from us.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Anybody could come. He was in Atlanta. You wanted to
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: come bind do some groceries and you want to go
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: give it to somebody. We had give it to you
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: because we encourage people to come pick something up and
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: bless somebody with it. But for me, my my main
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: kid thing is is funding here. We lost some funders
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: because they funded us for over three years. And if
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: you're in, if you're out there in our profit arena,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about. Some some funders give
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you one to three years, four years. We lost three
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: of them this year alone, and the pandemic hasn't helped
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: none of us in the arena. That's a lot. Funding
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: has dropped off a lot, and that's that's what we need.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: But we all well take can which we take, clothes,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: we take, toilet trees, and whatever they want to do
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and turn not in the wing m For some of us,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: finding that balance of loving ourselves and others is a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: lifelong search. Anthony certainly went through the ups and downs
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: that come with addiction, but even then he was able
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to find his tribe, the people he could lean on
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and learn to love despite being unhoused. And it was
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: this journey that led him to self love and allows
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: him to double down on this love towards others by
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: giving back every single day. If you're interested in finding
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: out more about Anthony's nonprofit, head over to I Care
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Atlanta dot org to find out how you can help.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: This has been in the deep stories that shape us.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Find this episode in others on the I Heart Radio app,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Don't forget
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to share, rate and review if you enjoyed this conversation.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: The show is produced by Ivan Chien and mastered by
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: James Foster. Our show researcher is John and Raggio and
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: our writer is Yvette Lopez. A special shout out to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: our guest Anthony Delgado. I'm your host, Zach Stafford M