1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Lori Wellman, Matt Talbot: May 18th

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Lori Wellman, Matt TalbotAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-a-ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Oh, good heavens. Good heavens, what have you done? You've allowed me back home. Good to be back.

We'll do a quick segment here, and then another. short segment, get you back to Omaha for baseball with Nick Sainert, Austin, Orman, in a full day of state tournament baseball. Greatly appreciate you folks hanging out. 402, 4-6-4-5-6-85. These start a hamilt text line. If you want to be a part of what we're doing, you have questions, comments, opinions, say what's up.

Then your comment, don't yell at me from the street. Driving by, don't just yell at me. Say what's up and then yell at me. Those are the rules. You have to stick to it. Bach, it has been far too long. So the only way to set the tone for this, appropriately so,

is boom. Ha! We're back in it. Special Monday, as we head towards Give to Lincoln Day, and we tell the stories of the angels on earth who provide

and your opportunity as a native and a resident of Lincoln that you can add to, actually multiply, amplify, elevate those givers, those servants in our neighborhood. And among them, dear friends, dear, dear friends from Matt Talbot Kitchen and outreach, she is in fact the one the only you love her we do it's good to have her back let's poke her let's go right straight to the ribs straight to the ribs Lori Welbin how are you I'm well thank you so much for having me this is what we do but it's been too long how the heck are you not too bad I can't complain I uh my my everything in my house my fence everything survived the storm last night so I think it might be around maybe another round coming here tonight another round what's

What's the baby clock? Bach baby alert. Still July 1st. July 1st. Okay. Okay. Kind sore. Good on you.

Look at Bach. Go. Get your sleep in now. Yeah, I know. Lori, how many, how many Wellman babies are there? There are two. And they're how old now? I have a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old girl.

Who's your favorite? It depends on the day, I've got to say. I love them both the same, but there are days that I will take one over the other. You. Real talk. Real talk with D.P. this morning. You to the corner.

Go see you, dad. Yep, yep. That's right. This is my nature makes them cute. Which one's mamas? My boy. The boys. See, it's amazing how that works. He looks like me.

He can pretty much. He actually said to me, when I get picked up in practice with my friends, I only ask if we can go to Amigos if you're the one who picked me up. Otherwise, we don't even bother. I just say, guys, if it's mom, ask, if it's not, just ask. Why is that? Because he'll ask me if you can go to amigos for no reason with his friends. I'm like, absolutely. Let's just go real quick. You're growing boys. No problem. And dad's like, no,

you don't eat at home. I'm like, well. So coach is the, we have food at home person? He is. Oh. He is totally. And I'm the pushover with that stuff. And they know. And they admit it. And I still say yes. Oh, they're working. They're working. Well, at least you're aware that they're working. I know. Like, they're working. It's good to know. Push over.

You with the big heart, listen, it's a part of why you do what you do. And it's part of the, I mean, it's a part of the requirement. It's in the job description that you serve with heart first. When we talk about Matt Talbot and we talk about all of the things that you do. not just the one thing, but all of the things that you do. There has to be a motor and a fuel for the motor to do that every day, the thing that gets you up in the morning and you go, you look yourself the mirror, you do the superhero push off the counter, you exhale and you go, here we go. What are you thinking of and where does it come from? A lot of times where it comes

from is there's two things. One is gratitude and one is feeling a little bit lucky. So I feel like we all know people in our lives who are one bad thing away from needing a service like Matt Talbot Kitchen and outreach. A lot of times there's a misconception that everybody who comes to us is experiencing homelessness and they've made a series of terrible decisions in their life and that's right or they are where they are. And sometimes that's the case. And sometimes that's the case. those people still deserve compassion. But often that's not the case. So I'm grateful that I have a home and that I have food and that I have a support network.

And I know that some of that is luck and that there are people who deserve compassion to get back on their feet. Why do people miss the compassion part? Why is there so much judgment in need attached to need? I think some of it is not, most of the time. I don't think it's coming from a bad place at all. I think it's coming from a place of not understanding. And when you've been fortunate enough not to wonder where your next meal is coming from or not to wonder if you will have a home,

sometimes you don't understand what goes into the complexities that our guests are dealing with. I've mentioned this before. My mom grew up in New York City, and as a little kid, I remember visiting in New York City and walking past people experiencing homelessness like they weren't there. Nobody mentioned him. Nobody said it.

anything. And there was a little bit of desensit, you get desensitized to that. And so I really think sometimes people just don't understand what that person's story is and what led to where that person is. There is a full range of things to go over. We're a little short on time today. I'm going to take the first break here. We're going to come back top of the hour. And I want to go over the services in their own space. Because there's so many things provided, the feel is compassion and service. But there has to be, when you compartmentalize the things that it required,

sometimes a different voice is required. We'll talk about those things. Lori Welman, Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach, DP, Bach, top of the hour. We'll be back. Back to one-on-one with DP. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. It is 11-03 in the city.

Batten down the hatches. Anything that can be blown away and does not just survive copious amounts of rain. Put it away for the day. Enjoy baseball as you can. And then sit with us over the course of this day. State baseball tournament action. Nick St. St. St. Ernert, Austin, Orman, Tristan Gomez, in a full day of calling games for you.

We appreciate their work, exceptional work. First of all, let me shout out our young guns. Young, young Mr. Peyton and young Mr. Rudy went and covered the Big Ten track and field championships last week. Exceptional work. Exceptional work, young men. I'm proud of you. The same to be said about young Nick Wyman,

who covered the regional softball regionals, ran into several celebrities and alumni Huskers did a great job with that. Kudos. It, as a part of the expansion of the ticket and the growth is that we can provide that sort of coverage. And we're full board deep end. We're 10 toes down.

This week, state baseball tournament. Big 10 baseball tournament in Omaha, super regional at Lincoln. Nothing going on. So it's a good thing we've been building depth in the roster because otherwise there would be panicking chaos around here. Next to me, the lovely Lori Wellman. Young lady, as we talk about mission purpose task of Matt Talbot

and we forget the outreach part. The kitchen part is probably known, but the outreach entitles, entails several things. What are the different services aside from meals? Because, and again, nature versus nurture when the meal, when the hunger pain calls, nothing else matters. But what are the other services that are of note that show up every day in need and the faces and lives of the people who walk into your doors? So when we talk about Matt Tull, but lots of times we talk about those four pillars. And you're right, D.P, a lot of times people know about that hunger relief pillar.

That's how we started, and it's a really important service. We provided over 263,000 meals last year through that program. So it's huge. But there's so much more that someone may be in need of when they come to us. So particularly someone experiencing homelessness, we really have that dignity peace in mind. It's really tough for someone to think about changing the trajectory of their lives or to think about tomorrow when they haven't showered in a week or their clothes aren't clean. That's something that outreach can provide. They provide things that you and I take for granted, like toothbrushes and toothpaste and things like hygiene kits, blankets.

In the summertime, it's sunscreen and bug spray in the winter hand warmers and gloves and all of that. And there's something else people don't think about. So, you know, my husband's a coach. We've moved a couple times. And I've lost that birth certificate twice because I'm a quasi adult and who can't say no to amigos. And so I go online and I pay this exorbitant fee to Albany, New York. can I get my, my birth certificate? Well, some of our guests don't have that luxury.

They don't have internet or maybe a credit card. They can't get their ID because they can't, don't have a birth certificate, can't get the birth certificate, they don't have an ID. They can't get an apartment or a job without identification. These are the barriers that sometimes we take for granted. We don't have. Outreach will help an individual get those vital pieces of identification so they can move forward in their lives.

There's also the big portion of the boundaries that are set in. And some of these are safety. Some of these are just governmental, but that often people who walk in the door need psychological help. Absolutely. How is that dealt with? Absolutely. That's a huge, huge issue for our guests. Right now we are partnering with Lutheran Family Services and we have a mental health professional on staff a few days a week. And we found that really helpful. She's fantastic. She's working with our guests. It doesn't tackle some of the, some of the, some of the bigger kind of systematic issues of serious mental illness. And I think Alin, our executive director and our staff does a great job advocating for that. But in the meantime, we do provide

that service as part of our outreach. And when you talk about our services, meals, outreach, that's still only two pillars. We have two others. One is substance use. So that kind of goes hand in hand with some of those mental health issues and certainly with poverty and homelessness. So we have licensed drug and alcohol counselors on site who will do free evaluations, and they run three transition houses and one alternative house off site. So they're working with people when they get out of treatment on things like resumes and budgeting and paying rent and all of those things that they're going to have to do on their own. And then we also have a housing pillar.

So we're working with people on issues of housing and that could be on various ends of the spectrum. through that are you receiving help from people from the lincoln community with housing with rooms with direction and then here's the question that we were asked what if somebody out there knows has a family member or friend who requires help there's that's a sticky wicket that is a very slippery bridge to get on in referring people who may not feel good about their situation yes How would you recommend that being here? I would recommend, and you can use me, any of our staff are pretty compassionate,

but just since we're having this conversation, I would offer myself. They can find my name online. That person can come to me. Now I'm the director of development, but I can have an initial conversation and get them to the right person on our staff who can help them. And I think I mentioned this before. We had a gentleman come in that last week, well you could tell was so embarrassed and so upset and did not want to be there.

And we just, we treat everyone with respect and everyone with dignity, but we could see that he was really having a difficult time. We did something a little different with him. We just had our intake in a different location. He was so uncomfortable that we just, we wanted to have a conversation with him in a space that he, we met him where he was, where he felt comfortable. Listen, this happens. It's okay. We're going to get you on your feet. Let's talk about your situation.

So someone can look at my name and I can get him started. You're a coach's way. Meet him where they are. That is such a coaching thing in depth. And I think the big part of this thing is that while we put focus on the Give to Lincoln Day, reality is we're using this as an opportunity to introduce you to people, reintroduce you to people, remind people that this day is coming, that donations are important.

it doesn't take much to donate. There is no minimum. What I would say is for a lot of the folks, if you're going to, you know, your coffee for the day, you know what, put it aside and make the donation. For you, vapors, put it aside for a day. No offense, just we gave them a free shout out. That one trip to Amigos might be a donation.

Right. It might be a donation. And the way my kids eat, that's several donations. Right, that is a thing. Right. So we understand it. But for folks who may not have it today, but they may have it Friday, what would you suggest? What are the ways for them to make donations to this cost? It's really easy. We've made it really easy. So you can go on our website, look around while you're there, and hit our donate button. It will take you directly to the page that you need to be on for

the Link Community Foundation page to ensure that it counts for this day. And we say, you're right. We say the day it is the entire month of May. So your donation counts towards that match just as much today is it well on the 28th. And I know it's a huge deal for the community in May. It's massive. But the truth is that this event is important to us all year round. It is the biggest fundraiser we have. And all of these services we're talking about are funded all year because of what is happening in the month of May. It is a big deal, which is why, again, no matter how many times we yell it from the rooftops, it is a good mission. It is a great service. And it's why we do it. Let them know how to find you. more information about my tablet and the outreach picture.

So if you go to mtk.o.org, that's all you've got to remember. mtk.o. dot org. You can learn about us. You can hit that donate button to help with, give to Lincoln Day. And if you have a friend or family member who might need our services and maybe a little bit of sensitivity, reach out, say that. We're going to handle things with the discretion that you would want.

And if it's you, it's okay. 100%. If it's you, it's okay. She is Lori. Well, I'm Lori, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. We'll do it again shortly. That's good.

We will throw it back. Bock, if you kind, sir, if you would, give it back to Nick Sater. Let him get folks prepared for more state tournament baseball here on 93-7. The ticket.