Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:47)
so let's get started today. We got a roller coaster of a podcast for you all. My guest today is Paul Hulse, the CEO of Just Believe. Just Believe is an organization in Ocean County. They help the homeless disenfranchise, one find, find housing, find temporary or permanent shelter. But beyond that, they have more of an all encompassing type of way of helping where they will help them find ⁓

Addictive addiction resources mental health resources food resources and you name it the whole gambit clothing toiletries It's a long list of help though the disenfranchised would need that goes well beyond any sort of one individual a piece of it and a bit of you know why it's a roller coaster of a podcast is because uh You know the disenfranchised don't have a straight shot back to you know being able to self being self-sufficient

And neither did Paul have a straight shot of becoming ⁓ the service member that he is today and the leader that he is today. So I want to start with ⁓ my first question for you is before you did any sort of professional service work, what were you getting into back then? What were you doing before Just Believe or before any sort of community service?

Speaker 1 (02:00)
Yeah, great question. First, thanks for having me. So I guess we go back through the years. You know, I went through grammar school, high school. I studied to be an auto mechanic when I was in high school. It was really something I was intrigued with. You know, was mechanically inclined, so I like working with my hands. And, you know, when I got out of high school, I was really excited and, you know, I thought I was going to find a job that was going to fit my need.

⁓ you know, in mechanics and, know, I was excited. I got with this company was a small outfit and I lasted about a week. Unfortunately, you know, they weren't, ⁓ energetic about the young, enthusiastic, ⁓ graduate that was, ⁓ working with them. They were more interested in how much money they can make and didn't really want to take me under their wing. I guess I wasn't a match to their liking and,

without even knowing they hired somebody else and they handed me a paycheck and said, see you later. That really was discouraging for me. So I really started soul searching. What was my profession? How was I going to make money to sustain myself or to have sustainability at a young age? You're learning a lot. I had addiction issues and dealing with other stuff, but ⁓ mainly having ⁓ a career.

what kind of career was I going to have? And I fell into plumbing and I became a residential commercial industrial plumber. Um, and I kind of just took off from there. You know, my dad was a successful, uh, businessman for most of his life. Um, you know, he had his concrete business. He was in real estate. Um, you know, he, he did different things. Um, one of the things he loved the most was selling old cars and, uh, that hobby actually became something he did a lot of later in life. But, um,

you know, for me it was plumbing. know, plumbing was my livelihood and I fell in love with it. I used to go to work, go to work seven, eight o'clock in the morning and I would get home sometimes 12, one o'clock in the morning and get up and do it again, you know, spend minimal time with my family. I wasn't good at raising a family. I was good at providing for one. So I didn't have all of those qualities yet as a adult male.

I had a lot of lack of, know, new father, a lot of new things were happening in my life. And, you know, I found joy in plumbing. And, you know, as time rolled on, my father had came up and gave me an opportunity. I lived in New Jersey. I was struggling to survive. And he said, hey, come move down to Florida with me. And, you know, you can, you know.

do better down there. You know, I got a job lined up for you, blah, blah. So I went down to Florida. And when I got down there, the only thing that changed was my address. I still had my hurts, habits and hang ups. And the only thing really changed was my address. But I fell in love with the fact of helping people. In the career of plumbing, you get to talk to people, they talk to you about their problems and you're, you know, basically given advice to

people about problems that you might even be going through and trying to give them better advice that you shouldn't do because you're doing it. And, you know, as time went on, they would give me tips and stuff, 50, whatever, a hundred bucks, whatever it was. And be coming off 95, I would see people with signs holding up saying, Hey, you know, homeless, can you help? And I would give those guys my money that I got the extra tip money, you know, just to try to feel like I was doing something, doing my part in society at a young age.

I didn't really do it for notoriety, I just did it to be kind. My dad was always kind to people and I kind of just took that strive of kindness and just poured it into other people's lives. You see it, you do it. And that was kind of what was the starting point for me.

Speaker 2 (05:47)
Excellent, mean, it's awesome that you didn't just walk by or drive by. I always see that in New York. That's kind of one of the differences I've noticed when I was involved with the nonprofit work and charity around here, where I know the resources and I know ⁓ what I can do and what I can't do and have some ways to help. Then I go to New York City and all those resources I did have here are not available. So I'm like, what can I do to help these people? And it's like, my list is much smaller to here, here's a couple bucks.

But it's amazing that you also did take that opportunity to give those a couple bucks. Now, as I kind of said, have everyone rollercoastered and you didn't necessarily have a straight shot into doing what you do now. You had a of a low point in your life before you started just believe, or actually before you started getting into service work as a profession, as a main day-to-day work.

What was going on in your life during that point in time? I know you just had the accident with your plumbing, going into that story, and then a couple other personal family issues,

Speaker 1 (06:52)
Yeah, so in 2012, we had Hurricane Sandy came through in October and we were really extremely busy. I was working as a plumber. had come back to New Jersey and I was really just trying to find my way back into the groove up in New Jersey. And I was going to relieve another plumber up in Manasquan. He was having a problem with his total toilets that he had to remove.

the house was shifted off its foundation and we had to pull all the pictures and everything in the home so we could move the house. you know, so my boss at the time asked me to, you know, go up and relieve the other plumber I was in Barnegat Earlier in the morning I had problems with the brakes and I had told him that there was no brake fluid in the reservoir being, you know, as I said earlier, I went through vocational school for auto mechanics. you know, I have a very strong knowledge of a closed loop system, which brakes are.

Not seeing anything there made a high concern for me, but I went against my better judgment and still tried to press through the day and on my way to go relieve that other plumber in Spring Lakes. I was cutting through Spring Lakes and ⁓ I hit a tree head on at 45 miles an hour because I lost the brakes in the truck. you know, basically the day there was when I had came to

There was there was police around me. There was ambulances and so forth. But the only thing I remember is it was it was pitch black and I saw a hand like this come out and say, not yet my son. And I  I woke up and ⁓ I don't know what that meant or what that was. But I know it was something that I've never seen before. And when I came to the first thing I could only think of was getting out of the truck, you know, the vehicle and my bright light was down in the engine compartment.

I threw the steering wheel off of my body and a guy was on the left side of me and he says, you need to sit down. And I said, I need to get out of this truck. And it was so strange because my Bible was open to Daniel chapter six and chapter seven, which is the lion's den. And if you know the story of Daniel, he was in the lion's den for seven days and he never got attacked by the lions. They were all around him. They didn't eat him. They didn't try to touch him or anything.

And it was basically a sign of protection from God, you know, which I found pretty interesting. And when I got out, the police put me on the ground because they had asked me who's the driver of this truck. And I said, I am. And they were just in disbelief that I was walking around with the other people. mean, I was bleeding and stuff and, was coming off me. So they sat me down and a lady came next to me and she had a pillow and she was cleaning my cuts with and pulling glass out of my hands. This woman and on the.

and on the pillow it said, God's love is like a garden. And I laid down and I held onto that pillow and such a strange moment in my career, in my life. I guess it woken my faith even stronger because of what transpired on that day. And I was brought to the hospital, they put me against the wall. It was like a brick wall and the brick wall basically took in

Speaker 2 (09:36)
It was.

Speaker 1 (09:52)
My opinion was gone. And a guy came over and a Rastafarian hat and had picked up the clipboard and he looked at it. He looked at me. He looked at the clipboard, put the clipboard back down on his hand and said, you're going to be all right. He put the clipboard back and he walked back and the wall came back. And I was like, I need a drug test right now. I need a drug test. I don't know what just happened, but I need a drug test. I'm like, what's the matter? So I said the ball went down. This guy with Rastafarian, he took that clipboard and blah, blah, I was freaking out.

And, um, they, you know, they, so they gave me a drug test, course, you know, blood and blah, blah, and brought me in a room. The cop came in and, uh, he closed the door real slowly and was acting really strange. And he sat down and he says, okay, because I've been a police officer for 20 years. And he says, I don't know how you survive this accident. He says, whatever God you believe in, keep believing, you know, and from that day, I took that with stride because it was really like,

You know, we all have these moments in faith and we don't understand why things happen or why it happened or who it happens for or why it happens. But at that moment, my faith grew even stronger, not because of what happened, but what what did happen. You know, and I knew the only reason that God had a plan for my life, you know, it was really true that that foundational piece that like, oh, my God, he has a plan for me plans to prosper me and not to harm me. A hope and a future. You Jeremiah 29, 11 and.

You know, I really just felt that I was just like, wow, like I must have a purpose here because I'm still here. know, um, shortly after that accident, um, you know, I, uh, I really just, uh, you know, just kind of just, I had a hard time getting back in a vehicle. had a hard time doing lots of different things, you know, and I never really fully recovered over my injuries. And that following year in March of 2020, uh, uh, was 2013.

My brother-in-law died at the Red Roof Inn on the third floor from an overdose. They found him in room 318. My uncle Sean used to be part of the EMS in Tom's River, and he was one of the guys that was there. His mom was in such disbelief that she asked me to go identify his body in the morgue. So that's what I did. I went and actually identified my brother-in-law, and I prayed over him because I didn't know what else to do. mean, here I am standing over a body in a box.

that just showed his face. And that was all that was left, that image of him. And, you know, ⁓ so I prayed over him. you know, life continued to move on. And October of that year, that year, I lost my job as a plumber. Couldn't revive from my injuries dealing with the post-traumatic stress of losing my brakes. You know, so there was a lot of different things. I lost my job October 5th.

Five days later or so I watched my sister take her last breath When she died my sister died basically she stopped doing dialysis and the different things that she needed to do my sister Melanie and It was the most devastating thing I had to witness in that year I could say the worst year of my life was probably 2013 Losing two close people in my life that I grew that grew up with me Very closely and it was very it was very hard for me, you know

It was like almost like, is, this is, you know, what did I do? What, what did I do to deserve such a, such a travesty, you know? And, you know, I just, I was like, well, maybe, you know, something will come up, something will come better. so a friend of mine, he got a boat and, he, he asked me to help him go down with him to Florida and, you know, you know, help him with his boat and get it down there with his dad. He wanted someone to come with him.

So I went, you I said, okay, yeah, no problem. know, so I was down there. had a workman's cop case at the time and workman's cops said, you know, look at him. He's working on the boat. He's fine. There's nothing wrong with him. So then I had to deal with all that drama, which totally was, was horrendous on top of everything. So it was like, it was like the snowball after snowball after snowball. And when I came back, my wife's like, you need to get in grief share. She's like, you're, you're, you're, you're losing everything. You're, you're, you're

You're not moving in a good direction. I'm just concerned with your well-being, losing both your brother-in-law and your sister within the same time frame. So I got in grief share. And at that moment, when I got in grief share, Valerie and Jeff Beckett, they became my spiritual parents. They really just redirected me back to Jesus and my mission to help the homeless. This is what you were called to do. Jonah was like, I'm not doing this, man. I'm out. I'm not.

This ain't what God called me to do. He's crazy. I'm not going to help the city of Ninevah. And I kind of felt the same way. God didn't call me to help the homeless. I can't even help my family. How am I going to help a bunch of other people that are suffering and going through everything? How am I going to help them? I can barely help them, my family.

Speaker 2 (14:43)
And now you're going through the same, right? Suffering and trying to find a way to help yourself.

Speaker 1 (14:48)
Yeah, and it was exactly. as I started doing it, that was like kind of like the revelation of it all through Valerie and Jeff was, you know, Christ suffering. He still helped us, you know, and that's really what it really just just resonated in my heart again. And I started getting back into it and I started helping the people that were in Lakewood, tent city. And it really it really started thriving. There was a guy, Mike McNeil, and

He was really trying to get these people into housing. had 12 months of housing for a lot of the people that were in Lakewood, tent city. And everybody wasn't helping the guy that had the housing. And I was like, this guy has the keys to maybe giving these guys an opportunity, you whether it's going to happen and they're going to fail or succeed. Let's give them a shot. So I started just helping, helping Mike and you know, ⁓ it really just really how it evolved. And then I met this guy, Bill Southree, through Carol Latif.

and she ran the Ocean County Hunger Relief and Bill and I kind of hit it off. I asked Bill for a van and he said, yeah, no problem. I'll bring it to you the next day. I'll be there at 10. He showed up at two, but he did show up. And we started the former relationship, Bill and I, and that year in October, we formed Haven Beat the Streets and Bill

Hey, when you get to where I feel comfortable enough, I'll make you the CEO with Haven Beat the Streets and hand it off to you as my protege. And it was a handshake deal, you know, like, all right, cool, man, I love it. I think it's great. You know, I love the opportunity to just continue to help people and learn, you know. So Bill really taught me a lot. He taught me how to think outside the box. He taught me to look at, don't look at the homeless situation as what you see in front of you.

look at the homeless situation and what you see around it. Why is that person in it? What was really the circumstance that caused it? It's not the, it's not what you see what's in front of you. It's always what's around the person that they don't see. And that's kind of what, that's what he kind of taught me. And then, you know, you can't, you can't replicate help for other people. And a lot of times that's what people like to do is they like to push out a cookie cutter type of help. And the real reality of it all is

there is no cookie cutter help. is, everybody's different, they're all unique and you have to look at the help that they need in different sizes. Like you said earlier, mental health, addiction, maybe it's financial support, maybe it's just talking sometimes. I've had times where it was, I've been on a phone with somebody for an hour and they just felt like a big weight lifted off of their shoulder just because they had a conversation with them. And it just grew from that time on and

It really evolved into something great working with Bill because I did Atlantic County and Ocean County at that time from 2014 till 2000, I guess, 19, I would say, before I started Just Believe.

Speaker 2 (17:38)
So, sorry, getting a little choked up actually in one of those things, because I've had those calls, you know, where you're just talking to someone for an hour and it's like, nothing as far as, nothing comes out of that conversation, but at same time, you just change like their entire day for the better and you know it too. Even without having actually solved a single problem, it's amazing. That talking thing really is, sometimes these need to be heard. In fact, all the time, I think, I actually tell you the truth, right?

Yeah, I actually want to touch back to that Bibles thing. that in the car? It was turned to Daniel and the Lions then? Or was that just at home, that Bibles turned to that page at the time?

Speaker 1 (18:15)
No, it was on the dashboard of the vehicle. So it actually was opened up to Daniel chapter six and seven on the dashboard of the van.

Speaker 2 (18:23)
Yeah, that's definitely something that will put some faith into your life. Yeah, that's definitely interesting. ⁓ Yeah, for sure. So as we get into starting Just Believe, and actually, think as it kind goes into that Haven Beat the Streets, because you kind of took that process and also recreated it what you do with Just Believe, but I'll let you go into that. As Just Believe is now, today, what's making it different? What are the processes that you work with? I know you said that there's no one.

Speaker 1 (18:29)
It was.

Speaker 2 (18:51)
cookie cutter process, but I know there's some sort of system that you use that makes a little difference with Just Believe Yeah, you want to give us your rundown of what you've created over the years with Just Believe since, what, 2019, roughly, is when it started?

Speaker 1 (19:06)
Yeah, so, so, you know, Bill had we were getting ready for transition for Haven Beat the Streets to be turned over to me as the CEO. And in June of that year of 2019, they had a private meeting and then they nominated a different man for the CEO position. And I was totally devastated from the decision because I was like, you know, this was what we were working towards for the last five years. And I really felt betrayed. And

I felt jaded, I felt a lot of distrust in our conversation. Conversations, not just conversation one time, but multiple conversations over the years. And I wanted to stay true to who I was and not move on emotions. So I was trying to work through it, but the new CEO wanted to move into reentry, different things that I wasn't wanting to be part of because it wasn't the core mission of

who I am and how I was sent. My job was always to help the homeless and disenfranchised out of homelessness. And I didn't feel a connection in the reentry part because I didn't really feel that's where my heartbeat was. Not saying that it's not a need. I just didn't feel that connection. So right around July or so, I had a meeting and

Speaker 2 (20:20)
Can you go into re-entry? Because it's not a term I'm necessarily that familiar with, so I'm sure others aren't too.

Speaker 1 (20:26)
So reentry is basically people that are coming out of prison is a programs that are developed to help people to reacclimate back in society through jail. That's basically what.

Yep, like halfway houses and stuff like that. And it's just not something I was, I wasn't called to do. And I knew that and I just knew it wasn't my heartbeat. So I had a meeting.

Speaker 2 (20:47)
systemic type of homelessness rather than the homelessness from the chaos of life.

Speaker 1 (20:54)
Yeah, exactly. It's a total different aspect. So in July of 2019, I had a meeting in First Assembly of God Church in the basement with a group of fellow like-minded people, and I brought up the idea of basically starting another nonprofit. They were on board with it. We weren't sure of the name. So that Sunday, I went in the church and

When I said, I started praying and I asked God, said, God, I said, what are we supposed to name it? He's like, I've already given you the name, open your eyes and look at the altar. And that year, their theme was Believe for 2019 was the theme for the year. And lit up on the altar, it said Believe. So I knew right there what the name was going to be. And we started doing a search for Just Believe. And we came up with Just Believe in New Jersey nonprofit corporation.

And Patty Barnes and her husband said, look, we're going to help you out and we're going to pay for all the fees for to do all the filings for the IRS for you, get you the bylaws set up and all that stuff, or we'll take care of it with the board members, et cetera, et cetera. And they did exactly what they said they were going to do. So in the transition of that, Bill was aware that I was starting to move out and I gave them all back the keys.

He said I could use the truck and then decided I couldn't use the truck. So he took the truck and basically I started just believe with nothing. So I didn't have any money, anything but faith. I just believe that God called me to do what I was doing. the few people helped me pay my rent for the first few months for my home, helped me take care of some of my bills. They were all there for me. They wanted to see this happen. They believed in the mission. They believed in me.

and it, it really just was so inspiring to see the love that came around the situation, and evolved. My dad helped me with, ⁓ getting the insurance on my car registration. my uncle donated a car to me, so I had a car. and I just started it with a little Ford escort is how I started. Just Believe I didn't have anything else. I didn't have much of anything but a hope and a dream. we, ⁓

We got the contract for Tom's River to do Code Blue. We continued that and we just, we just continued to keep fighting and, and, just believe just started evolving. More people got gravitated to that grassroots feeling, restoring hope in humanity. And through the years, it went through a lot of trials and tribulations that the organization, I can't sit here and tell you that it's been seamless and it's been easy.

⁓ I think at every brink and every turn, there's been difficulties and challenges. But what I could say is every challenge that I've faced, I've overcome every one of them. And it's not because I do it on my own, but I rely on the people that I'm surrounded by. Because it takes the community, it takes the people that are entrusted in you. And that's why today, six years later, we have an expanded thrift store.

⁓ We have an administration building standalone now, and we built a home for veterans, a sober living home that can now provide 12 months out of the year service versus us just doing Code Blue, where we were only able to do it for five months out of the year, which is a great program that we did for a long time. Code Blue is basically when the temperatures drop below 32 degrees in Ocean County.

You can open up as a warming center, which is a basically low barrier shelter and bring people in, give them food and a warm place to stay. Us, we took it further when we were doing Code Blue. I did it for eight years. We did clothing, food, resources, showers with the YMCA. know, whatever we could connect people to to get them out of homelessness. That's what we were looking for.

I wasn't looking to be a babysitter. I was looking to give people a solution. And that's what I continue to strive for today. We took this year off for Code Blue, so we could focus on Larry's home and get it off the ground. And if I'm meant to go back into Code Blue next year, I will. But right now, I foresee us moving towards more

sustainable housing type models and also building a permanent shelter in Ocean County at some point. Whether the county does it or not is irrelevant to me. I want one for Just Believe

Speaker 2 (25:07)
Now the Code Blue is one of the first kind of programs that Just Believe put together then, like formal programs.

Speaker 1 (25:13)
Yeah, so I actually started it in 2015 in Pat Sharkey's church down in Barnagat and I only got to operate it for three days, but it was such an inspiration because the first night it snowed and Long Beach Township brought in a 67 year old woman into the center and all I could see were their footprints in the snow and that truck sitting off in did says it's snowing and it just simplified that. my gosh, we're doing exactly what we're called to do.

this is what we need to be doing. We need to establish something that when it's cold, when it's wet, when it's temperatures are devastating, we need to be able to help these people. And, you know, to be one of the founders of starting Code Blue in Ocean County with Pastor Marcia and Rob Lawson, you know, God rest her soul, Pastor Marcia had passed away a year or a few years or so ago. And she was one of the founders with me. And, you know, they were

They were inspirational in 2017, 2018 when we started this thing and what it grew into today. Last year they had six sites. I think this year they only have three or four sites because we're not involved. You know, they had, I don't know what, you know, it always changes every year, but it's time for Ocean County to step up to plate and have a permanent facility. You know, there's no reason why they shouldn't. They're finding all different ways to build buildings for

for welfare and for WIC programs and all these different programs where they're not finding ways to build a building for their most needed population that they have in their own community, which is the homeless population.

Speaker 2 (26:46)
Right, it's, not sure if it's the only county, but I wouldn't be surprised. So I know our neighbor, you know, Monmouth has a, what, several, right? So it is surprising. And actually I remember hearing that for the first time maybe five years ago. And you know, when you're not involved in anything of this, you would think, hey, there should be a shelter, right? You would just assume. Then you find out there isn't. And it's like, how, why?

Speaker 1 (27:07)
Yeah, I mean, it's strange too, because one of the things that we are hearing, and I don't know if it's fact or myth or if it's true or not, but supposedly now there's an agency buying up private homes in communities to put homeless people in. I don't know how well that's going to work or not work, because they're trying to figure out if we do small cells throughout the community.

we'll be able to govern the population, but who's governing the houses if you're putting in people that aren't ready to be in housing yet? You know, so those are my concerns is, you know, yes, it sounds like a good idea, but is it a good idea if they never really had sustainability with all the barriers they're carrying? Rapid rehousing is what the model is. People always look at it as, okay, let's get them in rapid rehousing and then we'll get them in housing and then we'll wrap the service around them. The big problem with the rapid rehousing is

They don't always accept the services once they're in. So now here we are, we get people in housing. Yay, we got them in housing. Yeah, there's no real transition because we haven't solved any of the problems that they're dealing with. There should be steps to that, you know, and we want to just go from point A to point B without, you know, doing it correctly, you know, with having that step A, B, C, D, you know, we want to just do A to B and then that's it, you know, okay, we fixed it. went from

Speaker 2 (28:10)
as optimization, right? ⁓

Speaker 1 (28:31)
from ⁓ there were homeless, now they're in housing, and we're gonna work sort of service around them. That sounds like a great idea, but it's not always the case for many of the folks that we work with, especially our chronic population. They need a little bit more extensive help and there might be other means that they do need that they're not getting. And we could run into trouble down the road, not paying attention to the things because we're just looking at numbers and not.

people's lives. It's not about numbers. It's about how well can we serve them so they don't come back. You give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach him how to fish, he'll live forever because he knows how to do it. And sometimes you got to retrain people in life because they forget, because they've been set in their ways so long in difficult circumstances because they were in survival mode. that's one of the things I learned from Lakewood tent city was my big learn.

because I worked with that population, because we housed 68 of the 125 with STEPS Mike McNeil. And that's one of the things I picked up on right away is a lot of the folks weren't ready to be acclimated yet. So they had a lot of barriers and trying to get different mental health agencies and substance abuse and all these different things. There were so many barriers to deal with at such a large amount of time. It made it very difficult with how much time you had.

work with the people. If you've got 20 people and you're trying to work with them within 12 months and they all have different characteristic barriers, you might not get through all of their problems in an ample amount of time because that's a lot of people to serve in 12 months.

Speaker 2 (30:09)
personality differences you have to kind of work around to. I kind of as you're saying that on paper sounds great, you know, their program, but then you kind of realize a lot of this resources that they're offering and that would help them wholly transition, don't get taken as you said, whether that's because of they don't think they don't need it or they don't want it for the thousands of reasons of, know, their psychiatry that know, went through that changed over their experience.

I actually remember a podcast you did with Chef Lou for a non-profit. I'm a part of the Chef Lou's army. And you said it really well that no one grows up wanting to become homeless. They always want to say, when you're young, want to be a firefighter, you want to be a space astronaut. But no one's like, want to be homeless. And then you'll see someone not accepting help that's being offered, not accepting the food aid, not accepting food stamps or financial assistance. And you're wondering, why is that?

I forgot what you said back then in that podcast, but that's why I wanted to bring this up so you can mention your experience of that and how the experience that they go through and homelessness really changes their opinion of help I guess, in a way.

Speaker 1 (31:20)
Yeah, it's, you know, a lot of times people just feel like they're a data number, you know, I mean, you're like, oh, you're just going to put me in the system and then I'm just going to be a number. And then, you know, where does my information go? You know, and that's what a lot of the folks that are homeless, I see that come across a lot of times. And it's like, we have to capture the data so we can help you to show that there's a need in the community so we can try to get you into your next step. We don't know what it's going to be. And people have the right to refuse help. had a, I had a, uh,

⁓ individuals that I'm, you know, different individuals throughout time, you know, that I've worked with that, that, ⁓ you know, you get them right to the door. and they say, the house is too small or, I don't like the area or, I'm, and I always have to say to them, this is a house for right now. This isn't a house forever. Meaning that this is your first step into housing so we can move you into the next housing. You want to go from point A

to point B. You don't want to take those extra steps to get to the proper place that you can move yourself to. There's no goal. Your goal is all or nothing. If you have an all or nothing goal, you're never going to get there because you have to be able to take the step. A ladder doesn't have one step at the bottom and one step at the top. And you can go from the bottom to the top. You have to take each step. can't just go and miss a couple steps because you're never going to get to the top rung. You have to take each step one step at a time.

And that's what I always try to teach everybody that we work with, even my case managers. You when you're talking to individuals, you know, we got to take our steps. And a lot of people don't like that because they want they want it like a microwave. It says two minutes. So if it's done in two minutes, it's got to be done. You know, and that's what people's expectations are, even if they're homeless or not. Or, ⁓ no, I don't I don't I think that's too I think that for me, it's like we're not trying to force you in anything. We're trying to give you the bigger picture. Remember when I said earlier?

People are looking at what's in front of them, not what's around them. And that's what happens a lot of time is people don't look at their circumstances in that way. They look at it like, well, I can't live in that way, but wait a minute, you're living in your car, you're barely taking a shower, you can't hold a job because you can't take a shower, you can't hold hygiene, but yet you won't move into a house that isn't up to your standards because it had dirt on the floor.

or the walls weren't painted appropriately, or the house needed to be cleaned, or it might needed an exterminator, which we could have got for you. no, the neighborhood isn't ideal for me. Well, I totally get what you're saying, but this isn't forever, this is for now. And we always have to look at it that way. One is I don't want you to move into a dangerous situation, but two, you have to look at every variable because...

what you're living in now is probably 10 times more dangerous because you can't lock your doors. You're hiding behind windows or you're living in a tent in the woods. How safe are you truly in a tent in the woods? Like you say you're safe, but if a tree falls down, which we've had happen in 2018 where a gentleman was staying in the woods and it broke his pelvis, he nearly got killed. If he, if the guys weren't out there with him and they did come into code blue, he would have died out in the woods that night.

The tree fell on him and broke his pelvis. He was asleep. He had no idea. He just felt the tree come down and come down on top of him. The fire guys had to cut it off him. I mean, it was pretty severe, you know? And ⁓ it could have been a different story that we heard. And that's the dangers of staying out in the woods. That's why I'm against tent living. Not because it's something that we shouldn't be doing to begin with in Ocean County, but...

It's dangerous. There's danger that can happen out there. then in communal living, yeah, it's great. What happens when your neighbors don't get along and then they start fighting and then start throwing stuff at each other and then doing different things. And now there's cops coming out and there's harassment charges. And, you know, you have all of these different goods and bads of everything. The American dream is for everybody. It just looks different for everybody, too. You know, that's the real reality. Like, you know, like it's everybody deserves a home.

⁓ But we've got to figure out a way to make that American dream possible for them. Maybe it is a subsidy. Maybe it's just getting them back on their feet. Maybe it's they just needed a car so they can get to work. Maybe they need their car fixed so they can get around. Maybe they just need an extra push or somebody to be straightforward and say, dude, you're not doing the right thing. You need to change what you're doing because we're afraid that, we're going to offend somebody. You can't be afraid to offend somebody. You got to tell them the truth.

you know, whether they want to hear it or not, it's like, Hey dude, like I didn't create your homelessness. I wasn't the one that caused it. You know, your circumstances, your life, whatever you were going through is what put you there. I'm only here to try to help you out of it. You know, am I going to have all the answers for your life? Probably not. But I could try really hard to help you and guide you to the places that might be able to help. You know, there's no guarantees that we're going to get you out of homelessness.

but we've done a good job of doing it. Last year, 228 people, we got out of homeless, including families. This year, 118 people, including families. Is it because we're great? No, it's because we're great at finding the resources around us to plug the people in so they can get the help they need. That's how it works. if you wanna get help and you truly want your life changed, you have to be part of the process together.

You can't have one or rowing and the other one just standing still. It's like the boat's just going to keep going around. And that's what a lot of times happens with lot of the folks. I have folks that I'm working with right now that are trying to blame us for their homelessness because they don't know how to get out of it. the only way that it's not my fault, it's everybody else's. And that's when you know that they're in trouble because it's like, whoa, wait a minute here.

Last time I checked, not in your situation. I'm trying to help you out of it. But you're not listening.

Speaker 2 (37:20)
An

active player in anything, right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (37:23)
If

you lead a horse to water, but they're not willing to drink, it's not, what can you do? You can only sit and wait. You throw the life raft out, but if they're not willing to grab the life raft that you're throwing because they don't like the flavor of it, well, it doesn't, it's not compelling enough or it's not, it's not like I said earlier, like, the house is too small or the this or that. If you're looking for the perfect place.

that's not what's gonna happen every time for everybody. And that's the part that's frustrating as the agency. You know, because you wanna see the best for somebody to get to that next step, but sometimes they can't see it themselves, you know?

Speaker 2 (37:59)
Now, yeah, I mean, I've got that definitely same experience here with just food. So Chef Lou's Army where, you know, more specific to just feeding people with meals. I can't imagine it being, you know, multiplied because it's frustrating, as you said, when you have this ability, you have the help and even beyond food, you have these other resources that are directly made to address what they're going through. They just didn't want to do the work or they don't want to hear it and they just want the meal.

⁓ Yeah, it's frustrating. I definitely thank you for sharing it too, because it's not the part that many organizations talk about. It's not the part that's warm, fuzzy, and gets people ⁓ gung-ho, we're doing a great job and doing great things. It's part of that I went to some marketing expo, and this nonprofit said the slogan, do better. We need to all know this word or slogan, do better for our own organization.

Finding criticism out there from people not involved in your own organization or nonprofit work is hard. They're all going to say you're doing great work, you're doing a great thing, you're doing God's work, and positive, positive, positive, but there's still more to do. So if it's not you or your own organization saying we need to do better, there's no one else saying it. So yeah, thanks for sharing your parts of the, I'm not gonna call them shortcomings of the nonprofit industry or your service industry, but challenges for sure, that's definitely.

And also thanks for sending some of those statistics. That was actually my next question. know, how many people have you get an idea of how many people have been helped and the difference that you provide that puts up those numbers. So I can skip that question. Thanks. So the next thing I want to get into is what you're doing now. And that's Larry's home. Larry's home just opened up what two weeks ago, I believe, officially did the ribbon cutting. ⁓ Love to if you want to share that story. I know you had a

Larry's mom there sounded like a nice emotional moment in a positive way, which we want to cherish those when you can. Yeah, how did that idea start of Larry's home? Tell us a little bit about Larry and the event.

Speaker 1 (39:56)
Yeah, great question. Great introduction to that area. Yeah, so Larry and I have been friends since, geez, I was about 10 years old when I first met him. And he's a little younger than me. He was probably about seven or so. And we've been friends for over 30 years. And Larry and I shared a special bond. He was one of those friends that you just never argued with. You always had a good conversation. And we had slogans on how we

introduction to ourselves. I can't say his publicly because it's derogatory, but I could say what he said when he called me, which was Paulie. always, he always, when he, when he called me and you know, and when he first time, when he was in Iraq and you know, he was, when he went overseas and, he called me, you know, it was, it was really an interesting moment. You know, I was on my way to work. I was a plumber at the time, as you know, I was working for a Lomino plumbing and

I was right about at Manahawkin you I remember the spot and everything and I answered this weird call, like this weird number came across and it was him on the other line. And it was just, it was refreshing one to know that he was alive because I knew he was there. But to him to kind of just say, can't tell you where I am was kind of funny. And we talked from time to time after that, you know, he's like, is it all right if I call you? And I said, absolutely, I'd love to hear your voice, you know. And it was, it was special both ways because one, I got to hear from him.

And two, we got to hear from somebody from home that he was close to like me. And it's different when you grew up with somebody. You need that friendship, you need that bond. And no matter what he was going through, we always had that time. And I helped him multiple times get into different rehabs or encouraged him to go into rehabs because he was in the VA. And he would always do really well, get in, do really well. And then as soon as he got out, he would wind up in either

back with mom or back where he was living or he would go into an Oxford house and it just never worked for him because he has all these different triggers and traumas and in Oxford house they didn't really understand him and it really just was hard for him to get acclimated back into society away from that light. And when he went and we lost him in 2022, his mom told the story best.

She had to ask me to come by with a pickup truck and help her clean out a storage locker. And I found his ruck boots. I had got the property from Christie and Brian Leary back in 2021. And I was going to do a sober living home. I just didn't know that in 2022, Larry was going to pass away. And I was going to have the opportunity to honor my friend and at leave a legacy for his mother to look up to.

instead of having the memory of her son as someone she lost to addiction. it was really neat to say, promise made, promise kept on my part. To honor my friend Larry, his family was really a special moment. And the house is beautiful, 1600 square foot, four bedroom, two bath house with a whole house generator, beautiful landscaping.

and it's just a beautiful home. It was a dedication, which we did a few weeks ago. And we're working on licensing right now through DCA, which takes a little time to get our license. Once we get our license, then we can start the application process and start getting residents vetted and hopefully get them in. First person we're looking for will be the house manager and they have to be a veteran. So they have to be somebody that served our country, whether it was on the civilian side or

They were deployed. That's what we're looking for. Our house is going to be unique because we're giving veterans 12 months of time to work with case managers, social workers, different veteran programs within the community. Obviously the American Legion has pledged their part. They've decorated a room. Ma Deuce Deuce, which is a suicide prevention local group ran by Dennis Adesso, Jay Hayden.

heavily involved veterans that are poured their heart into this with us. And Andy Jackson, obviously the former commander of the state of New Jersey for the American Legion has poured his heart into this project. And it's just so nice to see the community coming together. Even Renee, who was a part of the prosecutor's office as a sergeant, she's now retired.

She also and I don't know how to say her last name. Otherwise, I would pronounce it But she also her brother was in the army and she decorated one of the rooms, which is the main room for The house manager and her brother is currently I believe in active duty or just retired from the army so Just nice to see the camaraderie of all the different groups come together from Westlakes veteran group and Jackson

all the different partners, it's been a phenomenal journey with the house. And it made me, I would think from my perspective, it's humbled me as a leader because you dream to do something and then when you actually dream and you see the reality of that dream come to pass, it changes who you are and it changes what you believe in yourself about. Like I don't look at something and say,

I'm gonna do something and never do it. I said I was gonna build Larry's home and I did it. I think when I say I'm gonna build a homeless shelter, people are gonna look at me a little different now when I say it, because they are gonna look at me and say, this dude is gonna do it because he did it already. And I think that's the value that the home did for me.

⁓ I lost my father obviously this year, August 21st. And one of things good too with Larry's home is my dad helped me build Larry's home. One of my friend Hank and my friend Brian, we all grew up together. Brian's an engineer and Brian, he helped guide me with the engineering parts and all that stuff. And then my friend Hank, he's a professional carpenter.

And he just helped guided me in some of the carpentry areas, which was really great too. And we rekindled our friendships, which was really great because we haven't talked in a long time, the groups of friends. So Larry's Home brought together back friendship. It brought back hope to the veterans here in Ocean County. And one of the other things I think it also brought back was the community, the community saying that, hey, we can do things together again.

That was really special and I hope the momentum continues.

Speaker 2 (46:26)
That's awesome, especially that together, ⁓ since you're talking about that rapid rehousing, I wanted to mention that it sounded like each of those are individual families or individual people rather than 12 veterans together that are going through the same sort of thing together. can be a camaraderie, be a support group for that similar experience, which I can only imagine. It's like night and day difference as far as the success of that type of transition would be.

The other part of that is you kind of just mentioned your whole ladder, ladder analogy again, too, because I'm sure Larry's home didn't happen as one step, you know, one from the bottom to the top. There's plenty of rungs you had to go through to get there. And each of those rungs is a lot of more confidence and a lot more another another cookie in the cookie jar, so to speak, that the next big job you say you can build it. It'll happen. You've done it before. You've got that whole list of stuff, accomplishments, list of small tasks that we've done.

to get there.

Speaker 1 (47:24)
Yeah, well, you know, the people that that, you know, help you do it, they see the value in what you say that you're going to do. And, you know, people want to be part of change, you know, and I think that's the true meaning of it all. Like, we all want to do what's right for humanity, you know, and, you know, our veteran population, especially in Ocean County has been quietly, unfortunately ignored, to the most part, you know, with when it comes to housing and

You know, yes, they're building the tunnel for towers is going to be built within the next few years or so, which is a beautiful project and Beachwood or Bayville or wherever that is. But it's never going to take the place of a grassroots meaningful organization. Just like Tom's retreat, Tom's retreat right down the road. He's got a big, huge mansion where he does big events for veterans. And, you know, it's just a beautiful thing where you see.

everybody trying to put their part in and do something. And here's this little grassroots organization as Just Believe is saying, hey, you know, we're going to put our stamp in the, veteran arena because we believe in what we're doing for change and we want to honor our veterans. And, and we want to, we want to instill this legacy. My board was like, absolutely. They didn't, didn't even blink an eye when I told them I wanted to dedicate the home and to Larry's thing.

Inside there's a beautiful mantle with Larry's ruck boots. I got them bronzed in California. it was such a good thing for his mother to have, losing both of her boys. And I think that Larry's honor and legacy will live on when his son hopefully gets the chance to see what one of his good best friends did.

for him, he can come by and check out the house that honors his dad, and see that his dad wasn't always a bad guy. There was a good guy in there at one point that struggled with many demons. And that's my hope,

Speaker 2 (49:27)
you know, you change the world of a lot of these people you helped individually because everyone actually has sort of their own their own ⁓ What's the word I suppose? their own view of the world, right their own Way to look at their own angle and I heard so many people and you my my work say I don't want to go change the world I don't want to go through that work. I want to just go home want to go raise my kids and take care of them but they kind of don't realize sometimes that

If those kids are your world to you and all those interactions that they're about to have, they're going to be positive, they're going be negative, right? So just like Larry's mom had Larry, and I'm sure she was, was her world to him, that's her. And the interactions that Larry's had with you marked you positively and then it led you to do what you're doing right now to make these veterans homes and ⁓ make your mark on the world as you're doing.

So in one way or another, Larry did change the world in a positive way, just through the cycle of you and interactions with you. And in turn, Larry's mom changed the world too. So I always think that's a different perspective. That's the word I was looking for it. Perspective that a lot of people don't really take on that word, the world. So I want to mention that. Next thing I want to get into, Larry's Home, we kind of talked about what it is, the point of it, so transition housing for veterans.

got the camaraderie, got the place for social work. You've done quite a few accomplishments. The thing that always, and you've said this, I think, in this podcast, you said in the last podcast with Chef Lou too, but you walk by faith, not by sight, right? I think that's kind of the words you use, your phrase. I find that amazing that you've been able to not force, I guess, these types of events happening, but

You've listened to your faith and listened for the opportunities that are coming across you and took the right ones, I suppose, in one way or another. And here we are now. The story I want to mention about this, it's a bit of a fable. And actually, it's kind of like what you mentioned in some of the stories. You might know the story better than I do. There's a man drowning, right? Or he's on a raft stranded. And some dolphin comes by and wants to take him to shore and signals to him. Or maybe it's a magical dolphin that actually speaks English. I can't remember the story.

But the guy says, God's going to take care of me. I'll wait for God to save me from this raft. Another hour goes by, then like a turtle comes by and says, this is the same thing. I want to rescue. I'll take you to shore, hop on my back. He says, no, God's going to save me, right? Then a fisher boat comes by. Same thing, refuses the help. It's not the help he's looking for. God's going to come save me. Later on, he drowns, meets God in heaven, and it's like, God, what the heck? He didn't come save me.

I sent you that dolphin, sent you the turtle, I sent you the boat, why didn't you take these opportunities? So since then, and as I try to learn what faith means to me too, right? I kind of look at that as maybe what it is, maybe faith is just knowing that these opportunities are coming your way and being able to realize them and take advantage of them and take those offers. So I wanna ask if that's in line with what you view with your faith, you've definitely practiced faith a little more than I.

say I would have personally. ⁓ And yeah, what's faith mean to you, I guess? That's kind of what I'm asking.

Speaker 1 (52:43)
It's a great question. think it's so hard when you're a leader and you're looking for guidance. You have a board of directors and you have plans and you have strategies and you have different things that you want to accomplish in the year. I don't know. I really can't explain faith because you can't explain it. You just know that you're supposed to do it.

You know, and I think that's the hardest part for a lot of us. When I said, we're going to build Larry's home, I didn't have the money to all the money to do it. I didn't have all of the contractors lined up to build it. I didn't even have a builder. I mean, but we were going to build this home, you know? And I just just kept talking about it. I kept presenting it. I kept believing and I kept.

I just started going in different directions by what I felt in discernment, you know, and things started coming our way. And then, you know, you don't take every opportunity just because it's there. You have to test the spirit with truth, know, spirit and truth. You want to make sure that aligns with what you're doing. You know, and I had I had an I had an here's a good one. I had an agency that wanted to partner with Just Believe with Larry's home.

And they wanted me to create an LLC and put the property in the LLC and take the property away from Just Believe. Now in good conscience, it sounded like a good idea, but the reality was, is we were losing an asset to the organization that could help the organization create other things. And I knew it wasn't a good deal for us. So I declined, we declined the thing because, you know, again,

Just because an opportunity arises doesn't mean that you have to take every one of it. You know who's it from and what it's gonna be. Some people are looking for opportunities for themselves to prosper, but it wasn't about prosperity, it was about honor and respect and dignity. And that's how I approach everything that we do. A great example, I would say, is my new administration building.

You know, I started towards the end. had, I had one offer for the administration building to move downtown. And I really didn't want to move downtown because of all the opposition I have in times river. You know, every time I'm working in times river, I get harassed or bothered by the township from how it was a few years ago where I was honored. got a proclamation, you know, always respected by the township. Now it's a little bit more on the outside of things.

So I was really optimistic about moving into the downtown Tom's River area Then all of a sudden I got a phone call from this guy and he called me like three times. I got a place for you I got a place for you. I got a place for you. I want you to you know, I'm like All right, right, you calm down, you know, I'll come and look, you know so we go we go a look and you know, it's this dance studio and he He's like, ⁓ you know, I got this studio, you know You can you can have it for the same rent to basically that you rent from the other place

And I looked and I was just like overwhelmed like man needs a lot of work. It smells like mold in here. I'm not sure if I want to do this. I said, let me talk to my board and get back to you. And he says, okay. And I didn't get back to him right away. And then he calls me again and he pursues me again. He's like, listen, I got another place for you. I got this place, you know, come down, take a look at it. think it's going to work for you. It's going to work for me. He says, let's, let's take a look at it. So I go in, I go see it. It's a standalone building on 211 center street. I walk in the walls are blue, you know,

perfect setting, we're by ourselves. It has a shower for the, for my clientele to take showers. And I, and I just walked in and he says, you can have it for the same rent that you're paying now. And I was like, what? He's like, yeah. He says, I want, I want to help you. He's like, you helped so many people and you've helped people with me. He says, I want to pay it forward because of who you are. And I was just like, are you sure? You know, he's like, yeah, I'm sure. He's like, are you really?

You really do a lot of great work Paul, and your organization and who you are. He's like, and you get beat up a lot sometimes. He says, he says, you persevere through everything, all the adversity that you deal with. He says, your organization deserves a space and a place where you can be. So I brought it back to the board and the board's like, OK, let's do it. So you don't know. It's just, and even like,

Speaker 2 (57:09)
Okay.

Speaker 1 (57:16)
our thrift store, you when I first moved into our thrift store, the owner, his mom was next door, and he wanted me to move in next door. But I wasn't ready yet. And we moved into a little store, and there must have been five different stores that have gone in that store in five years that I lived there, or been in the place I was. None of them stayed. And when it came time for us to get ready to move over next door, guess what was available? The next door. And we're there now.

Speaker 2 (57:42)
story.

Speaker 1 (57:44)
So that's walking by faith, not by sight. Is believing that God has a plan and we have to be patient through the process. And, you know, that's how I like to move. I don't like to move based on what I think it should be. I want to make sure that it's supposed to be, you know. And I've been blessed enough to understand that by, you know, what I see happening around us. And it's been an honor and privilege to be able to walk by faith and not by sight.

And I'm hoping that as we continue to build, just believe more opportunities like that will continue to come.

Speaker 2 (58:19)
Great. Yeah. Well, here's a hard-hitting question, though, I think, for you. Well, maybe not, Since you walked by faith for so long, mean, what's one of those points where your faith was tested, one of those points where you just wasn't sure what was going to happen next?

Speaker 1 (58:33)
It happens all the time. Believe it or not, it's...

You know, I mean, it's, you know, it's hard, you know, and one of the hardest things with nonprofit world is grants, you know, and finances coming in, you know, we always, you know, that's the, that's the hardest part, you know, we're, community based, basically, you know, we're a public charity, but we're really supported by the community, you know, we don't really get a lot of heavy grants, we're supported by the state, which we're so proud of, you know, being supported by the state. But a lot of our funding comes from private donors, you know, because they see what we're doing. So.

That's the real truth. The grassroots part of just believe is what we're about. I think that's what I think that's what the lot I think that's why we kind of stay on the on the on the arm's length from certain things because of that, you know, because we're not a, you know, like a corporation type organization, we're more of that grassroots, like ruddy, like in your face type organization, like

we're going to find out how we're going to help this person. If you say no, we're going to somebody else. And that's what people don't like. And if you ask questions, boy, you know, yeah, well it creates waves too. Cause you know, people don't, people don't like being questioned. You know, they like to just, say what they have to say and just keep it moving, you know? And when you ask questions like, Hey, why don't we have that? Or why shouldn't we do that? Or,

Speaker 2 (59:43)
I got some answers though.

Speaker 1 (59:59)
You know, it's like, well, what do you mean? What are you, what are you trying to get at? It's like, well, no, I'm just trying to figure out like, you know, what is the best avenue for the clients that we're trying to serve in the population that we're serving, you know? And when you start asking those questions, sometimes it gets the, of the rooms that we get into, it gets a little hot, know? You know, but we're not doing it to make it hot. We're doing it because we want to get to the root of problem. you know, that's, that's the.

That's what I do see a lot of. So hopefully that'll change when years to come, you know, more people will open up to talk about the problems we're facing instead of, like you said earlier, everybody patting each other on the back saying how great of a job we're doing. You know, I think we can always do better too.

Speaker 2 (1:00:38)
Mm-hmm. Definitely. Well, um, you know, for people that want to support, know, you're doing a lot of good work. know, that if everyone was a landlord that can give out, you know, cheap rents, guess. But there's lots of ways that people can help, right? What are some of the, I guess, general ways, I know everyone kind of donated money, maybe send in some canned food or something like that. That's the kind of low hanging fruit, right? But what are the more the specifics? Are there any sort of items that you're in

higher need of? there people that you need certain roles filled? What are those more specifics that you could use right now beyond just a standard donation of money or food?

Speaker 1 (1:01:17)
I mean, one of the biggest needs right now is one bedroom apartments in Ocean County, you know, that we need and giving people opportunities for that second chance, you know. You know, people, some people deserve a second chance and some people, you'll give a second chance too and they might not make it, but that's the risk we take when we help people, you know. I think that, ⁓ you know, one bedroom, finding one bedroom rentals, if there's any landlords out there that have them, they'd love to hear from you. Yeah, of course, donations are always welcome.

We have a thrift store, obviously, that is in the Aldi Shopping Plaza in Tom's River, 734, Route 37 West, unit number six, open Monday through Saturday, 10 to five. Great place to support our organization, come in and have a great experience helping our organization, but also support a great cause when you buy stuff from the store.

That's one way they can support, know, instead of just some people don't like to just donate money, you know, some people want to see the tangible side of it. And our Facebook tells the tale, you know, of what we're doing in our community, you know, just we just finished out this Friday that just passed. We had an awesome gift auction sold out over 250 people for our third time in a row. We put it up in a week and it sold out.

And it just shows that people are all about one gift auctions. But this time I did something a little different. And we went to each table and I thanked every person at the table for supporting us. I just wanted people to know that their support is valuable to us. And their donations are our work. just believe, as I said earlier with statistics, with how many people we got into housing, last year we serviced or served

1,412 people that were facing homelessness or in homelessness. Did we get every person out of homelessness? No, but that's how many calls came in for help. That's a lot of people calling in at one time that need help in Ocean County, and we need to do better. It's sad that we can't figure out a better system than what we have now to get it to where people can get the help they need. And the biggest need is

⁓ a homeless shelter in ocean county, you know, not, supportive housing, not a bunch of little houses bought in throughout the residential areas, a building that will support the homeless and take care of their needs with medical, just like they had, in the rescue mission, Atlantic city, where they brought the interns in from the hospital to help out and do a little medical thing. You know, you need that, you need those kinds of things in our communities and especially ocean county, how big it is, you know,

Where's the right place for it? Anywhere that it is available right next to a hospital would be fine. There's a lot of land that's open. We have a lot of open space. They're building, like I said earlier, they're building a lot of buildings for WIC and this and that, but we can't find a way to build a building for the homeless. It needs to happen. It needs to happen. whether society likes it or not, we still have an undesirable population that needs our help.

and they need our help because they're there, that we have poor people in our land. We always have throughout Ocean County, throughout New Jersey and throughout United States. So it's something that I think that we as a society need to continue to build on. And if you have land out there or if you have a building and you want to donate it to Just Believe, we'll talk. I'm all about it. But those are some of the things, I guess.

Speaker 2 (1:04:43)
All right, and as you can tell from this podcast, Paul is very crafty. If you have something else you want to donate, he'll find a way to use it. Well, so I mean, in conclusion, this is like I said, one hell of a roller coaster you've been on. You've been riding, you've building and helping all the people get through their roller coasters of life as well, too. So I wanted to thank you for getting started with Just Believe and everything you've done. Thank you for coming on and joining me for this Veterans Day as well. So it's kind of fitting that we...

I had this today for all the work you've been doing with the veterans as of late too.

Speaker 1 (1:05:17)
Yeah, yeah, mean, happy veterans to all the veterans out there. I mean, we put up some posts this morning for our veterans and, you know, yesterday was Larry's birthday. He's born the day before Veterans Day. we said happy birthday. happy birthday in heaven, brother.

Speaker 2 (1:05:31)
birthday, Larry.

Sir. All right. Thank you. Thanks again, Paulie.

Speaker 1 (1:05:40)
All right, take care, bro.