Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Can Technology Unite Us in Compassion? | Audra's Care-Sharing Story

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Can Technology Unite Us in Compassion? | Audra's Care-Sharing Story · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

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  You know, before long, there was tears and there was Kleenex and then she
• 0:05
  was leaning in and then there was a hug and then she was calling me
• 0:08
  mama. And then, you know, she just was so
• 0:12
  desperate for a kind word at a tough
• 0:16
  time. What does loving your neighbor actually look
• 0:19
  like? This is Journey with Care,
• 0:23
  where curious Canadians get inspired to love others well
• 0:27
  through real life stories and honest conversations.
• 0:35
  What if I told you that a simple act of kindness could transform a
• 0:39
  life and ripple through an entire community? Today, we
• 0:42
  uncover the profound impact of intentional giving and
• 0:46
  community support. In many communities, the challenge lies
• 0:49
  in knowing how to give meaningfully, where to start,
• 0:53
  and ensuring that our help preserves dignity and fosters true
• 0:56
  connections. Today, Wendy is joined by our guest, Audra.
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  Audra shares a powerful story of her use of the innovative care sharing
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  technology CarePortal to overcome some of these obstacles and make a
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  meaningful connection that resulted in mutual transformation between
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  her and a foreign student that found herself pregnant with no
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  support. But before we dive into the interview, be sure to check out
• 1:18
  Journey with Prayer podcast, a short devotional podcast to start off your
• 1:22
  week. Find it there in the show notes or on your podcast player or go
• 1:25
  to careimpact.ca/podcast. Also, thank you
• 1:29
  for continuing to share the podcast and support us. This
• 1:33
  podcast and the work of CareImpact exist through generous donors like
• 1:36
  you. So if you wish to support or sponsor, head over to careimpact.ca/
• 1:41
  podcast. We'd love to have you journey alongside us. Alright.
• 1:45
  Get ready to be inspired and discover how you can shine as a ray of
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  hope in a world longing for meaningful connection. Now
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  on with the interview. Welcome to the Journey with Care podcast.
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  Today, we have a special feature. With me in studio, I have
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  Audra Hildebrand from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and we're
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  here to share about what community connections look like, what does
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  it look like to actually care for our communities, and introduce
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  what some of you already know about the care portal, which is a care
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  sharing technology, and she's here to share her experience
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  as a community responder here today. Welcome to the
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  podcast, Audra. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. And we're actually
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  neighbors, so this is nice to just sit here on a nice, rainy
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  day in the Shasta, sipping tea together, and just
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  catching up. So I'm so glad that we get to share this with our audience.
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  This is a beautiful morning for a conversation. It sure is.
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  And you have a lot to converse about, and I'm particularly
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  excited to share some of the things you have been doing in the
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  community, and I think we'll bring inspiration to to those that
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  are listening. So, Audra, you are active in Gateway
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  Church, which is a church that has been participating,
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  utilizing the care portal technology, which allows you
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  to receive notifications when a need comes up in the
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  community. You're a wife. You're a mother of 2
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  daughters, grown daughters, and you're a teacher, musician. There's so
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  many things about you, and you have one of the
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  warmest hearts that one could find in in the community. You
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  exude it. But can you tell us a little bit about
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  your journey? Why do you care for others so much?
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  I was thinking about that, last night, actually. Why do
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  I care for others so much? And I realized it's because of
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  some beautiful women of faith who have gone before
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  me. So my great grandmother was one of
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  the first settlers in the Rosenart area. In fact, my
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  great grandfather cleared the land for the farmers. So they knew what
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  it was like to be newcomers in a land and to start
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  a new life. Her oldest daughter was my grandmother, and
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  I remember my grandmother never went anywhere without something to
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  give. Her hands were always ready to share. So,
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  you know, home baked buns, pot of soup. She would quickly run
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  and grab a bouquet of flowers from her garden, her huge garden.
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  I remember she had a gift closet, a giving closet,
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  and it was full of things that she could grab to give.
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  And as a child seeing that, I I noticed
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  it. I was also the recipient of some of those gifts. Mhmm. Her
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  one of her daughters is my mother, and my mother was the same. She's
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  a caregiver. And so in our home growing up, it was always
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  important to keep other people in mind to share what we had
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  because we are so blessed. So then it is our responsibility
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  and our joy to bless others in turn. And it was a
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  way of sharing and caring for the people around you because that
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  makes life better. And so I realized I've really
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  grown up with beautiful women of faith who have lived this
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  way. And so I think it was just natural for me
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  because I've been so modeled. Yeah. And I think
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  investing in people is the best and the most meaningful
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  investment you could make. Talk about a return of investments in ROI.
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  Yep. Investing in people. And just like they invested
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  in you and and were a role model, interestingly enough,
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  my grandma had a closet like that. My mom had that. And guess
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  what? I have a box. I call it the magic box that has
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  gifts ready to go. So I it still
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  resonates with with me as well. Okay. So you know what my husband and I
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  do. We don't have a closet or a box, but we have an account. Okay.
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  We have a designated bank account. It's called giving. And it's not part of our
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  regular life budget Mhmm. Monthly budget. But when we have
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  extra money, we'll just throw it in there. And so when needs come up,
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  when, you know, someone's going through a hard time, we've got money to
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  give. And that account is what we've used for CarePortum.
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  Oh, that is so cool. I didn't realize that. But there was some intentionality
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  to it. So it wasn't enough to say, I care for others. You
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  actually not only set a closet, you put a bank account. You said, you know
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  what? This is for those times where needs come up. Yep. Not if you
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  have change in your your pocket at the moment. No. We plan for it. And
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  it it's the windfall money, you know, the stuff that you didn't really have designated
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  anyway. So throw it in there to bless others because we are so blessed.
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  Yeah. But some could argue, say, well, I could've bought that shirt or
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  those jeans or got that extra cup of coffee. Could have.
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  It could have, but you've chosen to to give that and put that
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  aside. That is so cool. Yeah. In James 2:8,
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  it says, if you really keep the royal law found in scripture, it's
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  like the 2 2 part law, love God and love your neighbor. James
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  2:8 says, if you really keep the royal law found in
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  scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, You are doing
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  right. And there's something about doing what is right, not
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  because law obliges that you better give. You're a
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  Christian, so then I have to give. God loves a cheerful giver.
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  Right? And and I see cheer cheerfulness when you talk about
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  giving, and I've seen it in action. It feels good to do
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  what is right, what we are created to be, who we are
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  created to be, and how God has wired us for community.
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  And so when you tap into that, my goodness, that is so
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  beautiful. So I love that you put intentionality to caring. But
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  one of the things that I love also is that your church gateway
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  community is intentional about caring too. Because
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  I know all churches within their mission statements and
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  values want to care. It's part of who we are. It's
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  part of loving God with our whole self and loving our neighbor as
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  ourselves. So simple, and yet sometimes so hard to actually
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  implement in a busy life with so many programs, so many
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  demands, and constraints. Yet,
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  how do we actually do that? But gateway has been an example of putting some
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  intentionality, and one of those ways is partnering with CareImpact, and you've been
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  utilizing the care portal technology, and it really takes the
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  guesswork out of compassion. You don't have to be guessing. Should I do a hotdog
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  stand, or how do we reach our our neighbors? Or if I give them a
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  hamper, will they like a frozen turkey when they're vegetarian family? We don't
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  know. Right? But can you tell me your experience and
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  your church's experience in caring intentionally
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  utilizing the care portal technology? So at our
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  church, we we have a point person who kind of makes sure
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  that a few times a year, the church hears
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  about it, hears about these opportunities. We're invited to,
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  sign up so that we get emails and notifications in our inboxes.
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  And when I first heard about it, when Walter and I first heard about it,
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  we're like, well, of course, we're going to do that. Sounds awesome.
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  And so we have the different notifications that come in our inboxes,
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  and we can respond to them. Sometimes we do. Sometimes
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  we don't. But we have responded over the years in a few ways.
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  Sometimes we've given money. Sometimes we have the item that
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  is being requested, and so we give that item.
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  And recently, we, actually
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  delivered Mhmm. And items. We were there, like, the delivery people. Yeah.
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  No. That's wonderful. And there's just so many needs within
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  all our communities. So whichever city you are listening from, there
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  are needs hidden in plain sight, I like to say, that we
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  just don't have access to. We don't know when a
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  youth is aging out of care. We don't know when a family is
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  in the process of reunification or when a university
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  student is having a baby and all alone here in this country.
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  We just don't know where people are in isolation or where their
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  needs are most. Part of it is privacy acts. We can't
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  know. And that protects vulnerable people.
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  And part of it is just our society in general where we become so
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  individualistic, We aren't able to to
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  communicate those needs in a in a proper way, and care
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  portal technology is allowing that. So we have many
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  organizations here in Winnipeg. We have other organizations.
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  We don't do the frontline stuff, but they do. So we've got child
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  welfare. We have pregnancy center. We have a youth drop in
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  center, ministries. They know the needs because they're working
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  with people day in and day out, and they're able to vet those needs of
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  what would help them go forward. And they themselves,
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  their clients can identify what are the needs that would help them
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  move forward, and they're able to put it into the portal. And your
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  church is one of the recipients. And so along with a a
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  network of churches, that's what we call care sharing. It's all
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  collective impact for those of you in in, community development,
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  some really good best practices now being able to be
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  shared through technology. And so we're excited that
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  you have been able to be part of that. It's new to Canada,
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  and you've been rocking it. I would love to talk
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  about one particular situation that you
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  responded to. You were the connector. You said, yes. I can
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  help. And this is what the the need
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  read from the caseworker, that you would have
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  received in your inbox along with hundreds of people
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  across the city and from different churches. It said like
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  this. The caseworker wrote, my client is a lovely young
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  woman, international student, who came to Winnipeg almost a year
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  ago to further her education. She's expecting a baby now
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  in less than 2 weeks, but does not have the necessary baby
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  items. Being a student, she doesn't have much, and she finds it hard
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  to ask for help. She's been going through this pregnancy
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  alone and will be a single parent. The priority item
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  needed for baby is a car seat and a stroller combo. She
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  is feeling the urgency of this need since having a car seat is a
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  requirement before being allowed to leave the hospital with
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  baby. Any help and support provided would be greatly
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  appreciated, the caseworker from a local,
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  crisis center here in Winnipeg. Tell me what went through
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  your mind when you read that and when you were invited into that story.
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  Oh, well, I think the way it came across my life
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  was our point person at our church had
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  been working on this, actioning this need, and
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  had realized that the student actually lived, like,
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  2 blocks from my house. And so
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  she actually reached out to me and said, hey, Audra. By the way,
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  would you be open to getting involved? This person actually lives really close to
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  you, because actually is your neighbor. And at that point, that was all I needed
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  to hear. I didn't even need to hear her whole story or what was all
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  happening. It's like, if I can meet and help someone who lives right
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  here, like, absolutely, I'd be honored. It'd be
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  awesome. And on top of that, you know, for years,
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  we we have hosted international students in our home. And so
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  I have a big heart for newcomers to
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  Canada, especially students. I know how hard they work. I know
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  how much sacrifice goes into
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  them making this dream of theirs come true. And I can't imagine
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  showing up and then finding yourself pregnant and
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  not knowing how things all work here. And, oh my goodness, I need a
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  car seat, really? And what do I do? So yeah.
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  Absolutely. It was, it was a no brainer. I just got excited that
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  I could do something about it and hear about it. Like So I don't
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  imagine it's been a few years since baby days for you and
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  Walter. I don't imagine you had that stroller and car seat sitting
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  in your garage. No. How did that work out to be able
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  to make a connection, bring that over without having
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  that on hand? Yeah. So I think this is the
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  amazing the amazing power of a
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  platform like care portal. So you can have this,
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  you know, this caseworker that knows this person, knows the need,
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  posts it, that gets shared to so many
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  different inboxes. And then there was a person who said,
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  oh, here's some money I wanna give toward that. And then there was a
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  person who said, oh, like, I can buy that. Oh, I found I found a
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  great stroller car seat combo on
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  Facebook Marketplace, and I can buy it with that money. And so someone bought
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  it. And then someone said, oh, could we bring it to your house? And
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  then that person, like, yeah. Sure. I'll get it to I'll get it to church
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  on Sunday. But all along the way, like, extra things got added. You know? It
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  wasn't just a car seat and a stroller. There was, like, a pack
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  of diapers. There was wipes. There was, like a little toy.
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  Then there and then, at at some point, information came
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  that, you know, the student doesn't live alone. And so there was a little gift
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  for the roommate, and there was you know?
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  And and in the end, it was like this whole care package.
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  And so Walter and I showed up at church. You know, it all
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  got loaded in our car trunk. Everything had been gathered. We had a whole
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  trunk full of stuff, actually. And then all
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  all that I had to do was literally take that
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  trunk load of stuff, text the number I'd
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  been given. So we we were given a number for that student, and that
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  had all been set up. So I just had to text her and say, hey.
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  You know, what afternoon works for you? What time works for you this
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  afternoon? And we pulled up, and that
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  that's The rest is history. Yeah. So that is exciting because it was
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  a coordinated effort. The technology helped coordinate that compassion
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  Yes. With some intentionality. Right? And, boy, this didn't just
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  become, let's do a stroller drive. This became for
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  a person. Confidentiality all upheld. Yes.
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  This platform does keep confidentiality, but it suddenly
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  became real because it's a real person having a baby in 2 weeks.
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  My goodness. So there's a bit of urgency. And so there's a lot of grandmas
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  and other moms and and Walter who Yeah. Tell me about
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  Walter. Is he the the type that goes on stroller
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  deliveries and collecting diapers?
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  So Walter would be the person who would say
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  that he's not very compassionate. I think he's far more than he gives
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  himself credit for. But, you know, that he would be he's he'd be the person
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  who would just walk by oblivious. Mhmm. Like, just not wired that
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  way. And so he was happy to drive. I was happy for
• 16:43
  the extra moral support and the muscles to carry the things. Yep.
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  And so for him, oh, yeah. I could drive over there. Like, no. That was
• 16:51
  no big deal. At one point, I think I even said, oh, I'll just go.
• 16:54
  I'll be okay. And then he's like, well, no. I'm driving. So
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  because I thought that there's a part of him that actually really kinda did wanna
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  be a part of this story by then. Well, I saw a glimpse of
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  Walter because I happen to have one of the strollers. Somebody from one of the
• 17:08
  churches dropped it off here. We're close by. And so Walter came
• 17:12
  by and picked it up. Nice. And the glow on his face is undeniable.
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  He was in it. He's like I'm getting a stroller for these
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  students. We're and and not in just a we're heroes cape
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  kinda way at all, but in this enthusiasm that we get to be
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  part of a story unfolding Yeah. Of this beautiful
• 17:31
  opportunity to connect with a neighbor, to bring these things
• 17:35
  of the love that was just poured into this care
• 17:38
  package, which is like a truckload full Yeah.
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  For this mom. Okay. So now take me to the door. When
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  you came to the door, what were some of the the Rana's feelings,
• 17:50
  maybe mixed feelings that you were right before you knocked on
• 17:54
  that door? Yeah. Well, the reality of it is it's, you know,
• 17:57
  it's one thing to get excited about. Oh, yeah. I wanna go drop this
• 18:01
  off. It's, hey, it's so easy. I mean, I just have to transport the
• 18:04
  stuff that's already been collected. So my peace was an easy
• 18:08
  peace, and yet there's that part there that now there's
• 18:12
  awkwardness because we don't really know each other at all. Like, I
• 18:16
  don't have any relationship with this complete stranger. She doesn't know me at
• 18:19
  all. There's a little bit of uncertainty, like, you
• 18:23
  know, what kind of situation am I walking into? What kind
• 18:27
  of person is this? I mean, obviously, she's not gonna be sad about
• 18:30
  a truckload of gifts. So, you know, this I'm not worried about
• 18:34
  that. But, you know, I don't know what her reaction is gonna be.
• 18:38
  Is she gonna be friendly? Does she is she gonna wanna talk? Is she gonna
• 18:42
  like, I don't know. So there's a lot of unknowns. And I think that's good.
• 18:46
  I'm thank you for for sharing that because I think there's a lot of
• 18:49
  people, myself included, it's normal to
• 18:53
  have those feelings of trepidation. It's it's breaking into,
• 18:57
  something new, meeting somebody new, whether you're extrovert or
• 19:00
  introvert. Yep. There's this breaking down barriers.
• 19:04
  You have to step over that or break through it. Yes. You
• 19:08
  do. And there's lots of times in life you need to do that, by the
• 19:11
  way. And it's one of the things that I'm always telling my students.
• 19:15
  You know, those take that risk. Mhmm. You're not gonna
• 19:19
  grow if you don't take a risk. Mhmm. Get past the 10 seconds of
• 19:23
  awkwardness because that's all it's gonna be. Yeah. Don't
• 19:26
  let that the the awkwardness of 10 seconds stop
• 19:30
  you Mhmm. From having that important conversation or stop you
• 19:34
  from doing the right thing. Yeah. And it's that James 28 again. Love your
• 19:37
  neighbor as yourself. You are doing right. It is the right thing,
• 19:41
  and not all right things are the easy things. In fact, it's sometimes the
• 19:45
  things that challenge us, and we have to get over ourselves. Get
• 19:49
  over yourself and just go do it. Yeah. And the and there's just so
• 19:52
  much blessing and joy in it, you know, and that's that's where this life
• 19:56
  flows. It's life giving. And so there we were. So we're at the
• 20:00
  door. She knew we were coming because I had texted and so she met us
• 20:03
  at at the door of her apartment building and she was
• 20:08
  thrilled. First of all, she was relieved because she didn't know when the baby was
• 20:11
  gonna come and she didn't have the stuff. Mhmm. So she needed to know she
• 20:15
  was gonna be okay. So we brought it all up to her apartment for
• 20:19
  her. And, you know, as we're going, we're just chit chatting. We're getting to know
• 20:22
  each other a little bit, and she's quite quite forthcoming. I mean, she knows we
• 20:26
  know a bit of her story. And so she was sharing her anxiety and how
• 20:30
  happy she was that, that this was here. And then once we
• 20:34
  got to her apartment, I'm showing her all the extra stuff. And she was just
• 20:37
  thrilled because she didn't expect it. Right? So there's
• 20:41
  extra things. And then I think it must have
• 20:44
  been, you know, once we were in her space and
• 20:48
  once we she saw all the extra love and she saw, you know,
• 20:52
  Walter and our warm, friendly faces,
• 20:56
  it's like it did break the barriers. And she started to
• 20:59
  talk, and it was like she had held this in for so long
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  and here was finally a kind person who's willing to
• 21:07
  listen. Yeah. And you weren't forcing that upon her. Oh,
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  no. But connection changes everything. It's not about a delivery
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  system. It's about making that connection with tangible
• 21:18
  ways of how do we support you. But you you connected with her.
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  And it was also her her choice. It was her initiative. She was
• 21:26
  the one that started sharing. But she started sharing, and I was
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  just happy to listen. You know, before long, there was
• 21:33
  tears and there was Kleenex, and then she was leaning in, and then there was
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  a hug, and then she was calling me mama. And,
• 21:41
  you know, she just was so desperate for
• 21:45
  a kind word at a tough time. Yeah. And, you know,
• 21:49
  I would never have in a 1000000 years known, you know, that was going on
• 21:52
  in that apartment 2 blocks over from my house. How would we? We don't. Because
• 21:56
  you could see her apartment block from your kitchen window. From my
• 22:00
  kitchen window, I can see her apartment block. Wow. Yeah. Well
• 22:03
  and and it it's transformative, those times with when
• 22:08
  God steps in. Totally. Emmanuel, God with us, and right
• 22:11
  now with the holy spirit, you are bringing the the presence
• 22:15
  of of peace and hope in situations
• 22:19
  where it she was feeling stressful. But it also did something for you
• 22:22
  too. What did God do in your heart in those moments when
• 22:26
  you were, yes. You were caring for others and that was the
• 22:30
  right thing, but how did God meet you in that
• 22:33
  moment through her? I just felt
• 22:37
  giddy with excitement. Like, this is so cool.
• 22:41
  My god. Like, it took, what, half an hour of my
• 22:44
  day, maybe? And I got to meet a neighbor and I got to make
• 22:48
  a difference. And there's, you know, there's life and they're satisfy.
• 22:52
  It's so satisfying. And, yeah, it's just so so
• 22:56
  thrilled. And, you know, when she started sharing and she's leaning in and and
• 22:59
  we're hugging, I like what you just said. You know, I hadn't thought about it
• 23:03
  that way, but I do think the holy spirit was there bringing healing and
• 23:07
  hope in that moment. Mhmm. Know, we didn't say it that way. We didn't
• 23:10
  communicate it that way. But at one point, I I looked at her and said,
• 23:13
  you know, I'm I'm from the church, and
• 23:16
  God sees you. Mhmm. And I want you to know that God sees
• 23:20
  you, and God loves you, and that's what these gifts are. Like, that that's as
• 23:24
  much as I said. Yeah. But in that moment, it it's
• 23:28
  true. And so it it felt like a holy moment. You know?
• 23:31
  God was there. Yeah. I have no doubt it brought well, I
• 23:35
  know. It brought hope and healing to her. She she had shared about how she,
• 23:40
  as an international student, she hadn't been well treated at
• 23:43
  the university by everyone she had met. And she really felt
• 23:47
  the new minority Yeah. You know, being alone.
• 23:52
  And so she didn't even know who she could trust in a new country
• 23:56
  because it hadn't always gone well for her. So here was
• 24:00
  a beautiful time when it did go well. She did ask for help, and it
• 24:04
  did go well. And, god, Katie met her there. He whether whether
• 24:08
  she, you know, recognizes as such or not, it was a
• 24:11
  beautiful moment. I actually was able to say I I texted
• 24:15
  her a couple of days later. Just said, you know, so how are you doing?
• 24:18
  You know, I really wanna know when the baby comes. Like, please let me know
• 24:22
  when you have the baby because I wanna celebrate with you. Mhmm. And
• 24:25
  so a number of weeks later, she did have the baby and I did get
• 24:29
  a text and got a little photo of the little guy. And
• 24:32
  she actually invited me to come see her, you know,
• 24:36
  another month after that. She invited me to come and visit
• 24:39
  baby because I, of course, said I would love to see. So I was able
• 24:43
  to go again. And this time, I brought my own care package.
• 24:47
  I brought some diapers, and I brought some food that I had cooked for supper.
• 24:50
  Yeah. Got some extra snacks for the Yeah. Roommate and the kids,
• 24:54
  you know. And I was able to go by and cuddle the little one
• 24:58
  and Yeah. Give her, you know, a little more hope. That was
• 25:02
  really neat. And I love how the story
• 25:06
  unfolded. There's a huge piece of dignity that can't be
• 25:09
  underscored enough in how the agency
• 25:13
  entered the need in a dignifying way. Here's an intelligent,
• 25:17
  bright young woman, a courageous young woman,
• 25:22
  and you were able to honor her in those places
• 25:26
  of hardship because we all go through hardship. Right? It looks different for different
• 25:30
  people. But here, we are able to be neighbor helping neighbor
• 25:33
  as equals together, journeying together, and
• 25:37
  it's no longer the project
• 25:41
  to being neighbors, journeying life together
• 25:45
  as equals. And when you give, it's
• 25:49
  the right thing to do. That seems to be underscored here in in our
• 25:52
  conversation, like it talks about in James. Right. It also
• 25:56
  does good for the church. And the impact that
• 26:00
  we have been seeing on churches, yes, we wanna help in
• 26:03
  actual needs as they're identified in intentional,
• 26:07
  informed ways. But what I see happen within the church
• 26:11
  body, those that dare to knock on the door Yeah. Those that
• 26:15
  dare say, hey. I love shopping or I can drive this. Those who
• 26:19
  get involved, there's something that happens that's
• 26:22
  edifying Yeah. Because it is the right thing to do. What
• 26:26
  are some of those things that you maybe have seen just collectively
• 26:30
  within your church as you've seen people respond
• 26:34
  to the community? At a very basic level,
• 26:38
  it allows us to not be so selfish and
• 26:41
  internal and inward looking. It's very easy
• 26:45
  to look after your family and your friends. It's very easy in a church
• 26:48
  to look after the church, be there for each other.
• 26:52
  But to be others focused as far
• 26:55
  as outward focused, we know that God has called us
• 26:59
  to do that, but that's not easy. So, as a
• 27:03
  citizen living in the city I live in, you know, I read the
• 27:06
  papers. I hear about the crime rates. I hear about the
• 27:10
  statistics. I I know about what happened down the street and
• 27:14
  how police presence were there. And I, you know, I I can
• 27:17
  I live here? I see what's happening, and I wanna make a difference. I want
• 27:21
  my community to be a better place, but how do I do that? And And
• 27:25
  I don't think you have to be a Christian to have that. You know? We
• 27:28
  live where we live, and we wanna live in a safe place. We wanna live
• 27:31
  in a community that cares. And so that's
• 27:34
  the big picture. How do we do that? Well, we do that through
• 27:38
  connection. We do that by engaging. We do that by getting involved.
• 27:42
  So from a church perspective, getting
• 27:45
  involved, pushing yourself to, you know, to go to those
• 27:49
  places helps us to be more others oriented.
• 27:52
  It it helps us to take us away from our self inward
• 27:56
  self. Well, I'm just gonna keep myself in my house and be safe in my
• 27:59
  house, you know, and keep everyone away. And it allows us to
• 28:03
  engage and actually build that. It's like a peacemaking kind
• 28:06
  of thing, but it it comes in little pieces
• 28:10
  and many little pieces. One of the pieces is, you know, care
• 28:14
  portal. And one of the pieces was was my dropping off of
• 28:18
  stroller for a new mom. But bigger picture,
• 28:22
  bigger church picture, bigger community picture, it's
• 28:25
  engaging in your community in a positive ways. Mhmm.
• 28:30
  Because everyone can do something. But I think down right
• 28:33
  down to it, we all want to do something. We all want Yeah. Our streets
• 28:37
  to be a happy place and not to be worried. Yeah. That we
• 28:41
  want it to be safe and happy. And that's the power of collective
• 28:44
  impact. And so these organizations that we work
• 28:48
  with, that we partner with, they're doing a great job
• 28:52
  and a hard job and an imperfect job, but they're they're in
• 28:56
  the places where the church also needs to be. And the church
• 29:00
  wants to be, but we just often don't know how.
• 29:03
  But the power of collective impact is that everybody can do something.
• 29:08
  And in our giftings, in the things that inspire us, it's
• 29:12
  a two way street. Everybody wins when the community
• 29:16
  gets better. And I think that's beautiful because you've
• 29:19
  identified it rescues us from ourselves when we get over it.
• 29:23
  I noticed that actually through the pandemic. Those that were responding to
• 29:27
  needs, and this is pandemic proof. Yes. We've seen it. Because now
• 29:30
  social workers who were isolated in their homes but in contact with their
• 29:34
  clients, but not physically there, could advocate those
• 29:38
  needs. They knew where they were living and where the needs were,
• 29:41
  and we could safely have churches respond to
• 29:45
  those needs and say, we see you. We hear you. You're not alone.
• 29:49
  And those that responded, night and day
• 29:53
  difference, they were rescued from themselves. Suddenly, the whole
• 29:57
  mask or no mask, the vaxxer no vaxx became Yep.
• 30:01
  Secondary. They coulda had an opinion. That's okay. But
• 30:04
  it never surfaced. We never dealt with it because people
• 30:08
  got over themselves and said, but there's a mom who is
• 30:12
  in isolation, and we need to be there.
• 30:16
  There's a youth aging out. There's a family at the verge of breakdown,
• 30:20
  and we know how to support this family to say you're
• 30:24
  not alone. And I think that is just an encouragement to people
• 30:28
  whether you have care portal in your city or not. The encouragement
• 30:32
  is this, reach out, work together. Nobody's got it
• 30:36
  all together. We need to work together. Well, in all of
• 30:39
  those little steps, when we're all doing that, it makes a
• 30:43
  collective difference. Right? And it can feel kind of useless by yourself.
• 30:46
  Oh, what good does that little thing that I do do? But when
• 30:50
  you can work together and when I think the,
• 30:54
  you know, the beauty of CarePortal in particular
• 30:58
  is that it just it just allows those collective steps to come together.
• 31:01
  Right? It just organizes it and collected in a in a very intentional way
• 31:05
  Yeah. That we can't do on our own. So that's absolutely beautiful.
• 31:09
  But, yeah, in a small step, it's a it's what
• 31:13
  connects the big picture to the actual reality.
• 31:16
  And I'm always looking for that, you know, that teacher brain of
• 31:20
  mine, that faith brain of mine wants to take the big idea
• 31:24
  and wrestle it into reality. And this is just one
• 31:28
  beautiful way that that can happen. When you
• 31:31
  do something like this, you can be touching poverty issues. You
• 31:35
  can be you can be dealing with reconciliation. Mhmm. You
• 31:39
  could be dealing with, you know, reducing crime. Really?
• 31:42
  Yeah. You can make a difference in these ways. Yeah.
• 31:46
  So little steps that make a big difference. Well, you and
• 31:50
  I this morning, we've been sipping tea. And in the
• 31:54
  marketplace, they have systems set up
• 31:58
  that we didn't just wake up and say, how are we gonna get these tea
• 32:02
  leaves over from China? Right? There's been systems and
• 32:05
  intentionality put in so that we could actually trace it down to the
• 32:09
  farmer if we if we really wanted to, but there were systems in
• 32:13
  place for collective impact so that I could reach into my shelf this
• 32:17
  morning. In a groggy, rainy morning, I could reach in and just put
• 32:20
  it into the hot water and sip away. Right. But yet
• 32:24
  we don't know often where the actual need
• 32:28
  is in within our we haven't created a how to
• 32:32
  power to do so in so many ways. We just don't even know
• 32:35
  the needs across the street. And what I love about
• 32:39
  partnering with care portal is that now we have a way
• 32:44
  to really bring the hearts and and and the the practicality
• 32:48
  to the people, to every person, whether it's a business that wants to
• 32:51
  contribute mattresses or Yep. It's a a it's another
• 32:56
  person in the community who is not even part of the church but loves their
• 33:00
  community, they can give a stroller. Totally. And and where
• 33:03
  churches can actually put in their mission their mission
• 33:07
  statement into action. That's what it's all about. If we can do it
• 33:10
  with tea leaves, couldn't we do it with loving our neighbor?
• 33:14
  And it's worth it. So, you know, get off
• 33:18
  your couch, you know, buy one less cup of coffee a week, so
• 33:21
  you have money to put in a giving account, you know, whatever it takes. It's
• 33:25
  little steps, but it makes a big impact. Right. So I would
• 33:29
  just say, you know, from from my experience, from my
• 33:33
  wonderful women of faith who have modeled this for me in my
• 33:37
  life to my experiences, particularly with cure
• 33:40
  portal, it's worth it. Mhmm. You know, it's worth it to
• 33:45
  get engaged, get involved, get off the couch. Yeah.
• 33:48
  Give a little bit of money, give a little bit of time. It's a little
• 33:52
  bit from how richly blessed we are
• 33:56
  to reach out. And then it plus the life it gives
• 34:00
  back, the spiritual impact that you
• 34:03
  get Mhmm. Is something that it's hard
• 34:07
  to quantify, but investing out of love,
• 34:10
  investing in people out of love is always going to
• 34:14
  bring deep and meaningful blessing for
• 34:18
  everyone involved. Yeah. So if you give, you bless
• 34:21
  yourself. Everyone's blessed
• 34:25
  when we give. Right? Well, in in the verse that comes
• 34:29
  to mind and and when there was a bunch of religious people around Jesus and
• 34:32
  they were shooing away the children, And Jesus said, let the
• 34:36
  children come to me and do not hinder. When you
• 34:40
  welcome a child, and and you can fill in the blank for the
• 34:44
  vulnerable, for the the one most in need, the ones that are
• 34:47
  often in the margins, When you
• 34:51
  welcome them in my name, you welcome me.
• 34:55
  And don't we want more of Jesus? It's not to be out
• 34:58
  of selfish ambition that we wanna, like, help so that we get more of Jesus.
• 35:02
  But as we give, it's the right thing to do, and we
• 35:06
  experience our faith in a real and new
• 35:10
  and powerful way. And I'd like to close off with
• 35:13
  first John 318, and I'm gonna personalize it for us
• 35:17
  as journey with care family here.
• 35:21
  It says this, dear children or dear listeners,
• 35:26
  dear sojourners, let us not love with words or
• 35:29
  speech, but with action and in truth.
• 35:33
  Audra, thank you so much for coming on the podcast,
• 35:36
  sharing your heart, and caring for the community. What
• 35:40
  an inspiration. Are there any last words you'd like to leave our our
• 35:44
  listeners? I would just like to
• 35:48
  encourage maybe and inspire people by saying that
• 35:51
  sharing and caring makes a
• 35:55
  difference much bigger than we can quantify.
• 35:59
  So just do it. Just go do it. You won't be
• 36:03
  sorry. Thank you for
• 36:06
  joining another conversation on Journey with Care, where we
• 36:10
  inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and living
• 36:14
  life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative
• 36:17
  of CareImpact, a Canadian charity dedicated to connecting and
• 36:21
  equipping the whole church to journey well in community. You can
• 36:25
  visit their website at careimpact dot ca or visit journey with care
• 36:28
  dot ca to get more information on weekly episodes, Journey with
• 36:32
  Prayer, and details about our upcoming events and meetups. You
• 36:36
  can also leave us a message, share your thoughts, and connect with like minded individuals
• 36:38
  who are on their own journeys of faith and purpose. Thank you individuals who are
• 36:40
  on their own journeys of faith and purpose. Thank you for sharing this podcast and
• 36:43
  helping these stories reach the community. Together, we can explore ways to journey in a
• 36:46
  good way, and always remember to stay curious.