When I heard the story of Jose, an Injured Worker placed at Martha’s Kitchen & Village for a modified duty assignment by ReEmployAbility, I was impressed by how his experience helped him in ways he wouldn’t have imagined prior to his injury.
There were positive unintended consequences. This opened the door to the story of Alexandra Vargus, then Volunteer Coordinator for Martha’s. Her story is one of bravery and a decision to do what’s right. Learn more about Martha’s Kitchen & Village at https://marthasvillage.org/.
If you have a story you want to share, please let us know by sending a note to todd@reemployability.com.
When I heard the story of Jose, an Injured Worker placed at Martha’s Kitchen & Village for a modified duty assignment by ReEmployAbility, I was impressed by how his experience helped him in ways he wouldn’t have imagined prior to his injury.
There were positive unintended consequences. This opened the door to the story of Alexandra Vargus, then Volunteer Coordinator for Martha’s. Her story is one of bravery and a decision to do what’s right. Learn more about Martha’s Kitchen & Village at https://marthasvillage.org/.
If you have a story you want to share, please let us know by sending a note to todd@reemployability.com.
R-E-A-R-E-A-R-E-A-R-E-A Audio R-E-A-audio, r-e-a-audio, r-e-a-audio, r-e-a-audio, r-e-a-audio, r-e-a-audio Reemployability Reemployability.
Speaker 2:Reemployability.
Speaker 1:Season 3.
Speaker 2:We just recently took a family trip to Disney. Now my oldest daughter loves I mean loves roller coasters, and I am her sometimes reluctant partner at amusement parks. It's not that I don't like roller coasters, it's just that they affect me a little differently than they did 30 years ago. Now my youngest daughter hates I mean hates roller coasters. Now for her, it's not that she gets sick, she actually has an iron stomach, she's just scared. That anxiety builds upon itself. Try as she may, she just works herself up until what she sees in her head far outweighs the reality of the ride. It does make for some priceless on-the-ride pictures, though, despite the understanding that my wife and I have of her anxiety, we keep trying to get her to like these rides. We tell her it won't be so bad or it's really not that fast, whatever we can think of to get her on Parents of the year right.
Speaker 2:So as we exited our last attempt I think it was test track at EPCOT I wiped her tears, holding her close, and explained that we would never put her in an unsafe situation, anything I could do to settle her down and convince her that the next ride wouldn't be that bad. Well, she looked at me through those puppy dog eyes and her most delicate, pitiful bottom lip sticking out slightly. Third child voice and said but dad, you're not afraid of anything. Well, I'll tell you that hit me like a smack in the face, boy. If you only knew, kid, because I experience some kind of fear multiple times every day, not necessarily of monsters in my closet or roller coasters, but those other adult things that creep into your mind and keep you up late at night. What are yours? I think of things like what's my oldest doing with his friends at 2am? Or how am I going to deal with the next problem that arises at work? What's my 401k look like? Well, what I've learned is that being brave isn't lack of fear. The courageous are full of fear. They just know how to channel it properly to overcome.
Speaker 2:Alexandra Vargas made a major career change a short time ago and that's brought her back to not only face some realities of her youth, but to put her in the hot seat of responsibility for some important aspects of an organization that saves lives on a daily basis. She's a courageous hero, alexandra Vargas, the development and communications officer at Martha's Village and Kitchen. If you listened to our podcast last week, I spoke with Alexandra when we wrote and kind of put a narrative together for the story of Jose, who was a reemployability an injured worker that was placed into Martha's Village and Kitchen by reemployability and really saw some really positive outcomes. But when Alexandra and I were talking I really felt it was I wanted to have a follow up conversation about the organization and learn a little bit more about you because it was so intriguing. So, alexandra, thank you so much for joining us today and to talk a little bit about what you do and the organization.
Speaker 1:I'm excited.
Speaker 2:So I got to ask the question right off the bat. So Martha's Village and Kitchen, that's a unique name for a not for profit. Tell us the story behind that.
Speaker 1:So it was actually a group of women that were very passionate in the 90s I believe, and they were passionate about helping the community. So together they came up with Martha's Village and Kitchen Soup Kitchen, and you know the villages, it takes a village, so that's where that came from. And, yeah, the organization just started as a food bank, soup kitchen, residential service, anything you can think of. We pretty much do it all.
Speaker 2:Do you know where the Martha's Park comes from?
Speaker 1:You know that's the biggest mystery working here.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:We're not sure who Martha is, but we think her.
Speaker 2:Now you're located in the Palm Springs area in California, is that correct?
Speaker 1:Correct. We're located in Indio, which most people know, as you know, the home of Coachella Fest. But what you know tourists don't know is here in Indio we have a homeless population that needs to be taken care of.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about your backstory. You have a pretty personal connection to Martha's Village and Kitchen, don't you?
Speaker 1:Yes, when my parents divorced, when I was about nine years old and my father was homeless, he was a struggling addict and he actually stayed here at Martha's Village and Kitchen and he was a public client as well. So he received his meals here, showered here, and then, you know, as I got older, I would volunteer here. So it's funny. But I grew up and here I am again.
Speaker 2:In full circle. And how's your dad doing now?
Speaker 1:He is recovered. He has not touched jars in about 10 years. He lives in Idaho with his new wife and he is a wedding singer.
Speaker 2:You're kidding me.
Speaker 1:And a very popular one yeah.
Speaker 2:He must be pretty good.
Speaker 1:He is yeah.
Speaker 2:So, before he fell on some hard times, was that something that he did? Was he in entertainment prior to that?
Speaker 1:I think it was just a dream of his. He was a welder, so the singing was his favorite hobby. That is now his career and you know, unfortunately he's the only one of his friend group that made it out alive from addiction.
Speaker 2:So as a child, were you with your dad at all when he was coming to Martha's Village and Kitchen?
Speaker 1:Yes, we would have our visitations here, actually in our courtyard, so I'm very familiar with our courtyard in our kitchen.
Speaker 2:How old were you when that was happening?
Speaker 1:I was around 12. 12 to 14.
Speaker 2:So old enough to understand.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how did that make you feel seeing your dad there?
Speaker 1:I remember feeling very sad, Very sad, and I wanted to take him home. But he assured me that that was his home for now and you know I'm very grateful for what Martha's did for my father.
Speaker 2:Does your experience that you had? Does that help you to interact with the people that are benefiting from Martha's now?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I definitely look at everyone empathetically, even you know. If we have a tough client or you know a client that is, you know, in act of addiction, I'm able to empathize with them and you know, think, you know, they could have children. So let's do what we can to help them.
Speaker 2:When you say tough client, what does that mean?
Speaker 1:Well, you know, if we have a client that may be, may be slightly aggressive or have some choice words for us, you know it's hot and everyone gets irritable every now and then, you just have to. You have to go about it with empathy.
Speaker 2:Have you noticed in so you've been doing this for about a year, Am I right? You came from a totally different, a totally different background, but decided to kind of change course and do something that you thought was very, very helpful to others.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:What was it? That kind of clicked in your head that made you think you know, because a lot of people get stuck in a groove and they're afraid to make change. You made a big change.
Speaker 1:I did. I think I just wanted more. I'm a very, I'm very blessed in terms of you know how I live my life, and I didn't want to lose grip of reality. And I just had an interaction one day with you know, a homeless person, and this individual was being discriminated against and not exactly treated with kindness, and I thought you know what this isn't really. I don't like this crowd, I don't like this area, this I just I want to do more. I want to help more people like this individual, and so I looked into nonprofit work and that's how I'm here.
Speaker 2:So how did you end up at Martha's?
Speaker 1:Well, given that I knew about Martha's since the time I was nine and I had volunteered here when I was in high school, so I kind of just stopped by, took a tour and then realized they were hiring for a volunteer coordinator at the time, and so that's when I took it on.
Speaker 2:So you had no experience in being a volunteer coordinator, right?
Speaker 1:Absolutely not no.
Speaker 2:So like put us in your shoes on day one. Right, you sit down behind your desk. They're like okay, alexandra, have at it.
Speaker 1:What did that look like? Well, my first day was actually it was three days before our big Thanksgiving 5K event, so I kind of got thrown into the ringer and I had to assemble about 300 volunteers and organize their areas and tell them what to do. And I had only been working for Martha's for three days, so it was interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I bet everything worked out okay.
Speaker 1:It did, it actually did.
Speaker 2:Good for you. So what is it that makes, in your mind, a good volunteer? I'm sure you get all kinds of people that want to, or, in some cases, people that are probably forced. If we're like a better term to volunteer, and I know that good things come in most circumstances. But what makes for a really really good volunteer?
Speaker 1:A volunteer that's able to look at the greater picture. You know, like you said, there's volunteers that are forced, but sometimes those volunteers that are forced see what they're doing and see the change that they're doing or they're, you know, meeting clients and they're getting to know their stories and it makes them want to help more. So I think keeping an open mind and being empathetic is what makes a great volunteer.
Speaker 2:Is there any way that you approach those people Like on day one, when you know you're getting either a group of people starting who are like either court ordered or, for whatever reason, aren't necessarily doing this out of choice? How do you start that relationship with them to help them to understand that they could get something out of this, to keep an open mind?
Speaker 1:I just kind of well, I always give a tour to a volunteer. I let them know. You know, I know that you're here for three hours, three hours a week. I'm just asking for your three hours, but you know your three hours of time. You've assembled groceries. These groceries are gonna go to a family that might be struggling and this family that's struggling they're going to be able to feed their children, not just, you know, scraps of food from a food bank, but enough to make a meal, because we do organize our groceries to make a meal for, you know, two weeks. And I say you know these $200 that they just saved on groceries. That could have been $200 that they would have been storing on for rent and they would have been homeless. So just look at the bigger picture. You're doing something great and you're doing good.
Speaker 2:You ever get any.
Speaker 1:Wanted to be there personally or not?
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you ever get any personal stories out of those people you know who have had experiences with organizations like yours or others?
Speaker 1:I actually, you know what I've had volunteers that have come and they have similar experiences to mine where a parent or, you know, a loved one or a friend ended up here due to an addiction or, you know, being homeless. And there was one case that I will never forget where I had a young man here who was court ordered and he actually ran into his sister who he had not seen in years.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:And she was eating in the dining hall and he just cried.
Speaker 2:I can imagine, boy, some things happen for a reason, right?
Speaker 1:Right yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm glad you said blessed, because a lot of people might not feel that way in certain situations. But to be able to even live vicariously through other people that are having those experiences, it has to make what you do on a daily basis, you know, feel pretty good.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2:Definitely so. You're not the volunteer coordinator anymore. You've changed roles. Now you're in development and communications. So what does that entail and how does that relate to kind of the overall mission of Marvis?
Speaker 1:So it's marketing. Essentially, I'm focusing a lot on the brand, really polishing everything up Just to it's how the community sees us. So whether it's putting you know our business and our logos on our trucks, just putting out more awareness, because some people may not know we have a thrift store or they may not know that we have residential services, so really getting the name out there in the community. I do the social media. You know. On Tuesdays I post our childcare center, sends us adorable photos of the kids there and I post, you know, any sales up at their store. So social media is a big one and our website as well. I maintain that.
Speaker 2:So if you could just high level go through the services that you provide to people, because it sounds like you're just one almost self-contained unit that does everything.
Speaker 1:That's how it feels sometimes, so we have food services, so it's lunch.
Speaker 1:It's also a public lunch, public snack, so anybody from the outside can come in and eat. They also feed the residents here as well as staff and volunteers get lunch as well. We have our thrift store, so donation based, but they also do pickups. If you want to donate to us but you're not able to get all your furniture into your car or whatnot, the thrift store will pick it up. They also pick up our donation drives for us and a hundred percent of the profit from the thrift store goes back into the programs as well. As when a family graduates from here, they're able to just furnish their homes with what is in our thrift store and we feel free of charge. We also have public showers, both here and at our Palm Springs Access Center, and that is every day at our Palm Springs Access Center.
Speaker 1:We also do, obviously, the residential services, so it's dorm room style Single men stay with single men, single women stay with single women, and we are the only shelter in the Valley that does not separate fathers from their families. So if you're a family, we keep you together in your own dorm. Our clients are also encouraged to reserve a kitchenette that we have downstairs. So once a month they're able to make their own home cooked meal or celebrate a birthday together or just have an intimate dinner. That unifies the family. And we do a lot of things to really unify them and make sure that the stress of being homeless does not separate them.
Speaker 1:We have our Career and Education Center so they help them with resumes, find housing, find jobs, you know, mock interviews, you name it. They do it all with them. Or if they need documentation, then their case managers you know, if they need a passport, if they need a visa, if they need essentially anything to help them get self-sufficient, case management will assist them. We also have a tutoring center for our residents so the children that live here are able to have homework help, and the tutoring is reserved only for the clients that live here, so only the children that live here are able to go to the tutoring center. We also have an on-site clinic and they also have their own lab, so that way we don't have to send clients outside of the facility if they don't have a vehicle to go get labs done if they need it. And I feel like I'm missing so much more.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, that's a lot right there Just thinking about it. So what is the normal time that a family or an individual stays with you, if they are staying with you and participating in all these services?
Speaker 1:Three months, but if they need to renew them, then they will renew with us and continue to stay with us.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so there's no cost, I imagine, to people coming through. You're supported by the thrift store, and so how many paid staff do you have there to take care of all those things you just told me about?
Speaker 1:80, and we are working on increasing the size of our daycare center, so eventually that'll be quite a few more teachers will need.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how do volunteers get involved, and how many volunteers do you need in order to get everything done?
Speaker 1:Well, there's never a limit of volunteers, where we take as many volunteers as we can. But they're able to actually visit our website, markthesvillageorg, and fill out the volunteer application and it just creates their profile on our volunteer hub portal and anybody's able to come in and volunteer here.
Speaker 2:Are there a lot of other organizations across the country similar to yours in scope? I mean, I've seen shelters for single moms and homeless shelters, but I don't know that I've ever heard of anything that's so encompassing as what you do.
Speaker 1:I mean not to toot our own horn, but I think we're the.
Speaker 2:Toot away.
Speaker 1:I think we are the only shelter that does it all. We have our wraparound services, so I'm very proud of that.
Speaker 2:So reemployability for what we do. As far as providing injured workers as volunteers at your organization, Can you talk a little bit about that? Do you see that as a benefit to you because they're able to be there during normal working hours and not just after work or weekends? How does that fit into your whole scheme of things?
Speaker 1:100%. I love our reemployability volunteers. They are definitely so helpful to us and so I guess stable it gives us a schedule. We know when they're going to be here and they're always willing to work. They will tell us their restrictions and it doesn't stop us from finding them something to do. We're always accommodating them because they're accommodating us.
Speaker 2:Having to accommodate those restrictions. Do you feel that as a burden to you, or is it something that's pretty easily overcome?
Speaker 1:It's easy to overcome.
Speaker 2:How do you see injured workers as far as their own development when they're volunteering? Do you feel like a program like yours or other places where they volunteer would help benefit them to actually recover faster?
Speaker 1:I think so, because it builds their confidence back. I can only imagine working and then having an injury that stops me from being able to live day to day life as I was before, as I was prior. Even with the volunteers that we have from Reemployability, I see such a growth in them and it's almost like they feel alive again. They want to work. They don't want to stay home and just only think about their injuries. They're willing to come back out to the workforce and they're trying.
Speaker 2:We certainly appreciate a partner like you because it gives our folks a lot of different options as far as things to do. We talked about Juan last time we spoke, who was an injured worker, and you had mentioned some of the things that he was doing. What are some of the other roles that you have volunteers doing, not just from Reemployability but as a whole doing that might interest some folks to come out and help.
Speaker 1:Well, we have a lot as far as opportunities. We have admin, we have things at our thrift store, we have our cooling centers that are still open, our pantry even if it's just double bagging to be able to get people in and out, because, with groceries increasing, our lines for the pantry are only getting longer, so it helps us stay at a faster pace. And now, with our Thanksgiving 5K around the corner, there's so many more volunteer opportunities and I'm really going to need a couple hundred of Boom, boom.
Speaker 2:More than three days advanced notice too right, yeah definitely so. Is that 5K? Is that a fundraiser? Obviously for the organization as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:In the gear you've been here, have you seen a difference in the types of clients that you're getting? You mentioned groceries, I imagine the cost of food at having. When that goes up, then you're seeing more people come for assistance. Is there any other trends that you're seeing in the short time you've been there?
Speaker 1:I'm seeing a lot more well. Our daycare center is what's our child development center. Our student population has definitely increased. I think a lot of, and I'm seeing a lot of younger moms as well. In our pantry we do have diapers and formula and things of that nature, so I'm seeing a lot of women and children and a lot of women wanting to go back out into the workforce. I'm assuming the cost of rent is increasing by the month of seems, so I'm seeing a lot more single moms and mothers in general.
Speaker 2:What's the biggest thing that somebody could do to help you now? What is your biggest wish list item for Martha's?
Speaker 1:That's a tough one.
Speaker 2:One, two or three, that's fine too.
Speaker 1:Well, just, I would guess the more people are aware of what we do, then that will bring in donations to help us. We're going to start a scholarship fund to allow more children into the daycare so other people can provide that education for another child who may not be able to afford it. We also volunteers. I would want awareness just for volunteers to really come in and help us and be there for our clients, because as staff we're running around and the operations of it all. To have a volunteer I know they really enjoy the company, definitely. So awareness, more awareness.
Speaker 2:Well, you were aware when you decided to make that change from your old career to this and you had mentioned that you decided a pretty impactful thing. That happened when you saw somebody being discriminated against. Tell us more about that. If you could change the minds of people, if you could help people understand the reality of what folks are going through, what would you say to them? How would you approach somebody that might think themselves better or think of others less because of the situations that they're in? If you could change their minds, what would you say?
Speaker 1:I would say that the most common misconception about the homeless community is that they're all on drugs and they're all crazy or they're violent, and a lot of the times they're not. It's just somebody who fell on a hard time and, like I said, there was one client $200 short on rent and they became homeless. It can happen to anybody and so we're here to prevent it. But I would just say, you know, not everybody is on drugs. Everybody has their own story. Some people didn't have. You know, I could go into a million stories of some of the clients here. Some parents just didn't feel like raising them anymore and kicked them out on the street and they had nowhere to go because, you know, they were just, they were autistic or they, you know, they couldn't figure it out or they didn't have an education. You never know somebody's story and you'd be surprised as to why they're here. So keep an open mind.
Speaker 2:Alexandra, if you want to share your website and the best way for people to reach out to you, either to volunteer or donate or help out marthasvillageorg.
Speaker 1:Everything is listed on there, all of our services. If you're interested in more details in our programs or donating, you're able to donate online and our volunteer application is on there as well.
Speaker 2:Perfect. I will put that in the show notes so people can click on it and get to get to interact with you Again. Thank you so much for your time, alexandra Vargas. With Martha's Village and Kitchen, we appreciate your partnership with our program, but more than that, we appreciate all that you're doing in your little neck of the woods and wish you the very best. Thanks so much for what you do.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to REA Audio. Now we need you to help us out. If you know someone whose story should be told, please let us know. Email Todd at reemployabilitycom. That email address link will be in the show notes as well. We'd love to have you follow REA Audio on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out more content at listentoreacom. Remember, lead with the good and have a great rest of your week.