A Bit of Optimism - How Losing Everything Taught Her to Help Everyone: Joan Howard’s Story

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Life can change in an instant. One day you’re shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, and the next you’re sitting in your car with everything you own, and everyone you love, wondering what happens now.Joan Howard grew up in Beverly Hills with every advantage until a series of crises left her homeless and living in her car with her mother and three dogs. What helped her rebuild wasn't luck or charity. It was kindness, consistency, and one simple weekly practice of being in service to others.Today, Joan is a long-time volunteer for Food on Foot, the very organization that helped her decades ago. Food on Foot is more than a meal line—it’s a community built on dignity, kindness, and practical support for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Their model helps people find work, save money, build confidence, and move forward with independence.In this episode, we talk about what homelessness actually looks like, why service can be transformative, and how organizations like Food on Foot help people not just get back on their feet, but build a future.This is A Bit of Optimism.---------------------------To learn more about Food on Foot, visit their website!https://www.foodonfoot.org/---------------------------

I was talking to her, and she said, I didn't think I'd be able to stand up today. I didn't think I could go on. And she said, I came here, and she said, all these people. She said, I have money in the bank. I can rebuild, but these people have nothing. And she said, it makes me feel so connected. It gives me such a sense of community. It gives me such a sense of right and justice.

She said, what you're doing here? She said, I can't even believe. All these people are thanking me. for giving a bag of chips or she said it's food and she said it's nothing and yet it's probably saved my life. Joan grew up in Beverly Hills. She was a trust fund baby without a care in the world. On a day like any other, she was attempting to pay for her shopping at Sacks Fifth Avenue when her credit card was rejected. Her trust fund had been drained. She had no more money, none. She also had no college degree, no skill set, had never held a job in her life. She never

needed to. And now, with nothing, she would find herself homeless. I talk a lot about the value of service, of showing up to give, how helping others is the best way to help yourself. Joan Howard's story is that story on steroids. She talks fast, she talks a lot. She goes off on tangents, but her passion My God, her passion to help others is absolutely inspiring. She now works for the very organization that saved her life over 20 years ago, an organization called Food on Foot. Their mission is to help people who for various reasons find themselves homeless, in shelters, couch surfing, or on the street.

And perhaps one of the most amazing things they do is help people get a job, get a home, pay their own rent, pay their own rent and do more than survive, they help them thrive. In a time when government and private funding are harder and harder to come by, Joan proves that being nice is not what saves lives, but being kind does. This is a bit of optimism. remarkable. I came and volunteered at Food on Foot, which was a wonderful and inspiring day. And you and I were introduced, and one of, I think it was the director who said, you have to know Joan's story.

That's actually Greg Kearns. He's the chairman of our board. Yeah. Which you should know about Food on Foot is the board is very active. They come on Sunday. Which is nice. It's what I like best about it. So I know them all very well. So let's tell people what food on foot is first. And I was invited as a volunteer to come and stand behind tables and take donated everything from canned food to... Well, that's pretty much my fault. What's that?

The stuff you saw, it's my fault. Oh, yes. So you helped get... There was clothing, there was hygiene materials, toothbrushes, and sanitary products. And sort of I was amazed at that. the amount of stuff that had been donated. And I think it's different every week because you take whatever you get from donations

and then the volunteers stand behind the tables and the homeless line up every week in the same parking lot and they take what they need. And it's a safe, streamlined process for people who are interested in finding out what people in need are doing because they can have conversations with them.

But more importantly, they see that there is no one criteria for being on the street or in need. We have all ages, all races, all ethnicities. I think it's on education and it's also a safe one. It does challenge our notion of, you know, quote unquote, who is homeless. I think most people's experience of homeless is seeing somebody on the side of the street. And that is one kind of homelessness. But people, I mean, I met a young woman who there was a victim of domestic abuse She was forced out of her house, took her kid to escape,

didn't have the money to, because he wouldn't allow her to work. She got out and is living on friends' couches. So she's not on the street per se or somebody living in their car, but they don't have a home to go to. 90% of our people are in some way homeless, in that their couch surfing are in their car, and a tent, in a tarp, and a shelter. A lot of them are rough sleeping right now in the street,

right now in the street because the tent communities have been eradicated but the problem is we have no place to put them yeah California Los Angeles especially has a reputation for providing services and I don't want you to think we don't because we are nothing short of amazing in the city but the problem is the tsunami of need especially since the wildfires when we get the older people and the people who've never been on the street before. I was amazed how many elderly people there were that came through that day. That's it. And that's my personal bed in law. I was amazed by it. I haven't had much sleep since it happened because we get a lot of calls at food on foot. And when it comes for services, I answer. And I always answer. So I'm always trying to network.

But the stories that I hear, it's an education. And we're constantly having to pivot and change and fit some kind of relevance into what we're doing because we're very practical we don't we don't bring stuff that people don't need we don't provide services the line that you saw the food on foot service line it's not just a food service line it's a food and service line we basically give them the best we can we get everything from true classic teas and and bomba socks that are absolutely brand new, and they're wonderful to donate, to books from the libraries, brand new from their book sales, to all kinds of food, I get to give. Everything we get, we give. The other thing, which I think, again, just dispelling what people think, misunderstandings of the difficulties

in the plates, which is you would think, you know, and True Classic is a sponsor of our podcast, and I was amazed they had sent pallets of T-shirts to you guys. I mean, the generosity. 52. 52 pallets. But the thing that I thought was so interesting when I saw the amount of stuff that was there, I mean, like they had stacks and stacks of T-shirts and people could take what they needed. And you would think, you know, and I've seen wealthy people line up, you know, for free stuff, and they want one of everything that they don't need. And what I, and you don't see that.

People could have taken more. And most people took one of what they needed. They took a T-shirt, a toothbrush. They didn't take 10. They weren't putting their hands in. and the reasons they have to carry it. They have to carry it all. So they don't want excess.

They want just what they need because they have to carry it. They're survivors. Yeah. And what is so admirable about them is, they endure. Not just a psychological effect of being on the street

or being homeless or being lesser as people look at them and treat them that way. But when they come to food on foot, what I get, because I'm out in the street so much during the week, is that they come to food on foot,

not just for what they get, but because of the way they're treated, the way you treat them when you serve or when you give things out. We have everything from people coming every week with families to people who have never experienced anything like this before. And we are a very safe place. It's a cornucopia of an education about people who are in need because we make it very safe. It's very streamlined. But what I find best about food on foot is is how we change and pivot. Every time something happens, because I'm out there and we have our ear to the ground.

We put our finger on the pulse of what's going on out there. We figure out what is needed. We have UCLA twice a month. We have social services. We were able to get the social service agencies to come on a Sunday when they wouldn't legal aid. We have the phones. We have different services.

All the stuff that we give out is just basically a bridge to build trust, build trust back for people who frankly don't have it. And let's be clear, the program is designed to help people get back on their feet. Well, we're talking about the food line, which is basically about services and for people who could not do our jobs and housing program. Our jobs and housing program, because we are private and we're small. Right. But we're very mighty.

We've been going over 20 years in this location, 27 past that. So because there were some of the people who were working behind the tables with us, were themselves homeless. Just walk me through it. So somebody comes into the program. She says, I want help getting back on my feet. I want to be independent. I don't want to.

So we basically question. So walk me through the life cycle of someone who goes through the program. Kim is the gate. And basically she puts them through their paces to see if they're able, if they're ready to hold a job. Because a lot of people are not. Right. A lot of people need way more help than we can give them.

Right. They need mental health. They need detox. There's a lot of stuff going on there. Assuming someone's qualified, and able to hold down a full-time job. Then they come on Sunday, and they go through the workshops, they help out at the serving, they're given their gift cards, and if they haven't already been able to get a job, we will get them one. Then toward 10 to 20 weeks, depending on how long that takes, we put them in housing.

We pay for that. We pretty much support them so that they don't have to use their checks. They bank their checks. Hopefully they get $5,000, $6,000 by the end. And during that time, now this is the difference between what we were doing before. During this time now, instead of helping out at the serving, now that they've gotten into housing

and they're working 40 hours a week, we take them into a spot where we have a lot of volunteers. We also had mentors all the way through, people who donate their time and mentor. But this is more important, and it's part of why I think that we're going to succeed beyond my wildest dreams. We are targeting education for them, specifically for the unique individual, what they want to do. Be specific. Let's take somebody who comes in, you know,

and she says, I want help. Okay. So we figure out. So let's take, let's call, let's give her a name. Give me the, think of somebody who's been. Mary, Mary is working as a maid. Okay. Mary's working as a maid. she's got she's done that before yeah but she wants to do more right but right now that's just about all she's qualified for right so she looks around she gets a job we get her a job we put her in housing she comes back every sunday we're subsidizing the housing for the time being right always okay always so she's she's she's able to work and keep that money to live yes no she keeps her she banks her checks she banks her yes we help we help out with everything else so you teach her how to save that money too That's what the workshops are for.

I got it. Okay, so she's banking her paychecks. You're helping her with food and rent. Go on. So then we move into the phase where instead of the green shirt and she's at the table, we put her in a separate class

with people who are now in housing. And they're working 40-hour week. So that's a lot. So basically the first part of that is classes in just basically learning about what they might want to do. And that's in addition to the fact that she's still out there as a maid, making a living,

and then she's also taking classes with you. On Sundays. Only on Sundays. Only on Sundays. And then at what point does she, I don't, I want to graduate the program and she has independence? While she is working through until when she saves five, six thousand dollars. Okay. So she has to save five or six thousand dollars.

And then she stays in the same home you've given her. She takes over the lease. So, so this is. And after that time, we also put, if she wants to deferred, do further education because we are doing this education program in the middle of it instead of having them work for us. Right. Because we don't want that. We want them to do better. To go work and, yeah. So we have one girl who's going after her GED, another girl who wants to get her master's. This is how how far ranging the people who come to us are. We don't have just one person. We have one,

one woman who graduated is autistic children. She's, she's interested in teaching them. Yeah. We have another girl who wants to go into some kind of nursing. We have a man who is in construction now, but he wants to learn about computers and C++ and the rest. There's just a wide dichotomy. And we want to be able, and we've got volunteers lined up now on Sundays to help them look for scholarships, for us to help them, to connect them with some kind of... Not just get back on their feet, go forward. It's not getting back. on your feet you don't stay in one place anymore you have to go forward always

forward yeah it is so important what we do in the first phase of this we build a community we build a family feeling where they know each other they know us they can trust us they have a mentor during those first first weeks with us so they know they have a base where they're safe and that is everything because these people have not had that so let me change tax now The reason I wanted to talk to you, I'm just talking about food on foot was just simply so that people understand what you do. But you have a unique understanding and a unique empathy for the people who are coming

through these lines of the program. Because over 20 years ago it happened to me and I was the last person I would ever think would be homeless. So where did you grow up? I grew up in Beverly Hills. Group in Beverly Hills And not on the streets of Beverly Hills The first 11 years of my life I was in Houston, Texas

My mother, we had money And my mother moved out here She was a registered nurse My dad, dog, one was a baby And we moved out here And I was by coastal Because I was training And dance

And I thought that was going to be great So I went down to Texas For my grandmother's birthday and got run over by truck So first 180 in my life. I had a lot of 180s, but that doesn't mean I wasn't a spoiled brat. My mother, on the other hand, was on every street corner with a sign. She looked like old-fashioned Betty Crocker.

She was always protesting something, peacefully. But, I mean, she was usually the last one arrested because she looked like a housewife. So you grew up with money? I did. I did. And? Okay. So, I had a lot of money, and then I didn't.

I was in sacks. I pulled out my credit card, and they denied it. They denied all my credit cards. How old are you? I was in my 40s. Okay, so you lived an adult life with money. Yeah, never occurred to me anything. I didn't even know how to write a check.

That's how stupid I was, and I was stupid. Okay, so long story short, I scrambled. My mother had Alzheimer's at the time, and I was taking care of her, and I loved her very much. And it was also relief that she stayed home. I got sick. Hold on. Back up, back up. No money.

Hold on, no, no, no. Okay. You're living a good life. You don't think about homeless people. You're one of the haves, not the have-nots. You're living a good life. You're in your 40s. You're in Sachs with Avon.

You're spending money. Life is good. You run the credit card. The credit card is denied. It's gone. What happened to the money? My uncle, I was on a trust fund. My uncle was an investment banker. Everybody's money. He got a brain tumor. And no, I'm not mad at him. I was mad at myself, but I'm not mad at him. So he took the trust fund. He took everybody's trust fund. He took everybody's money. He took everybody's money. And invested in some pyramid scheme that he never would have if he'd been sane.

So he gambled all your money. It was gone. So you went from rich to zero. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Like actually zero. The car was taken. The bank came to the door. Everything was gone except the furniture. Thank God I liked antiques. I sold them and I was able to get us into an apartment. I started working really for the first time in my life and I wasn't any good at anything. But luckily I was doing inventory in the middle of the night in Northridge. I was doing all kinds of odd jobs because I love my mother very much

and I had nice neighbors who would look after her in the evenings and I would work at night. And where were you living? I was living in Sherman Oaks. So you had a home. I had sort of an apartment, and I was doing audience. What I did what the audience was I started out audience? Okay, it's the lowest form of extra work.

The kids would come in, which actually train me for what I'm doing now. A lot of actors would come in and you just simply sit in Judge Judy or deal or no deal or one of the court shows and you would get minimum wage and get cash. So you literally sitting in an audience. You're literally paid to fill an audience and clap. You were a seat filler. And that's what I did until a woman called Adrienne Corey, who was very good at what she did, pulled me out and said, why don't you do the Jerry Lewis Telethon because you seem to have a good memory

because I was helping out one day. So I did, and she put me as a coordinator. And so I coordinated audiences at all the studios with her. I got the seat fillers. I booked. I wrote her checks. Anytime somebody went into an audience who wasn't supposed to go in because they wouldn't get paid, I would go in and pull them out because I had a good eye.

And I learned about kids who were sleeping in their cars, people sleeping under bushes. They were actors. And these are just people who were in the audience with you. So you're getting to know these other seat fillers because, as you said, it is a minimum wage job. And then I got sick. I was keeping my head above water.

The rent was paid. I got sick. I got a weird form of cancer. It's usually curable, but it wasn't. I was in a study with 35 people because I tried chemo and it, I couldn't take it. I'm little. I can't even take aspirin. It's not like I'm the anti-addict.

I just was never anything that I could do. Can't even drink. I whole family's like that. Anyway, so they put me in a study immunotherapy. Knocked out my immune system, but it saved my life. and I honestly don't think I would have done it except I love my mother so much and she was not someone who could ever survive in a nursing home.

What do you mean you wouldn't have done it? I don't think I would have gone through what I went through with the treatment because it was harsh and horrible and I nearly died and I went down to 80 pounds. I wouldn't have gone through it except I love my mother so much and we did have three geriatric dogs and she depended on me.

So, but I was too sick to do anything and I couldn't pay the rent and the manager at our apartment said, well, honey, I'm not going to evict you, but can you just move? So I said, oh, sure. I'll find something. I didn't have credit. This is how stupid I was. I didn't have credit. I had no job. I couldn't even stand up. So we wound up in my mother's old LTD that stopped running when we got to Sherman Oaks, Ralph's parking lot. And the night manager was really good to us. He let us go in and clean up. And he fed me with the old deli stuff at Ralph's. Luckily, he's retired or he'd be in trouble.

But, and I tried everywhere to get services. I was living in my car. You and your mom and three dogs were living in the car. And I was going everywhere trying to get help. I signed up everywhere. Everywhere. There was nowhere. I didn't go.

Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. But there weren't the services then that there are now. They were there, but not like there are now. They're really stupendous now. Still, they're not enough. But anyway, so, I'd gone everywhere I could, I didn't know what to do, I couldn't stand up, I didn't have cancer anymore, but I couldn't stand up, and it was the homeless around my car who adopted me, specifically the alcoholics, who said to me, you should go over to Hollywood to that chicken line over there. There's a guy who's a real nut, and he'd probably help you.

so I was so desperate I didn't know what else to do because I was so I went I went over to Hollywood I got in Jay Goldinger's line who founded food on foot and it is his genius that laid the foundation that we have today you went to get food I got in the chicken line for food in order to talk and see if there were any services there was I saw no services and this guy comes up to me, Jay Goldinger, and he says. Just so people are clear, which is one of the things that the organization does is it gives hot meals, it gives a hot meal. It gives a hot meal and it gives a lot of takeaway shelf stable items. So anyway, I went over and I'm standing in line, listing in the wind. And he came up to me and said, so what's your story? You anorexic, your drug addict? You're skinny. What's going on here?

I burst into tears. Boo-hoo-hoo, mama. He said, okay, okay, okay, enough of that. He said, he said, go through the line. Don't leave when the serving is over, and I'm going to take you back and meet your mother. Don't go. He was like that with people, probably like you are.

So at the end of the serving, I got into his SUV. He met Mama and saw the dog. He said, this is a remarkably clean car what's going on here. He talked to the people around my car. He talked to the night manager. And then he came back and he gave me his card and he said, I want you to go find a place to live tomorrow and I'm going to pay for it for a year. I didn't know any better. I said, okay. So I went to a woman, Connie, who would take three dogs. And I told her what had happened at an apartment house

and she said oh honey this is a scam and so she called him and he showed up with the food on foot car and he said I'm going to rent this place month to month for a year he was legitimate and he did and he turned to me and he said now you have to be in my food line you're not eligible for the jobs

housing but you've got to be in the food line every Sunday and I want an email from you every every week about your life So when he says in the food line, meaning volunteering to help? No. No. In the food line.

Oh, to eat. Yes. Got it. I'm a subsequent. And then he said, I want you to take a look around at the street. He said, I want you to take a look and tell me everything you see and write me every week, which I did. Twice a week sometimes. This was the condition of him paying your rent.

Yeah. Yeah. And I did. So long story short, he fixed the car. He got me a vacuum cleaner. He paid for nursing for my mother. And he gave me the support I needed. He was also kind of a mentor.

My mother died in my arms at 98 listening to Frank Sinatra in that apartment with the three dogs at her feet. They outlasted her. And I got back on my feet. I started doing audience stuff again and working through. And so I went back to him and I said, okay, Jay. How can I repay you? And he said, he said, pay it forward. To some degree, anybody who has never been homeless

and has not come close to being homeless, which has nothing to do with wealth, but you know, you have enough that you don't think about being homeless, that we are all a little bit, I don't know how to put it, we're all a little bit assholes, like the way that, you know. I was a definite assholes. So, for example, you know, people who say, well, the homeless are lazy.

Try being homeless. It's the most unlazy thing you can do. You get up, you got bugs all, of you. You're dirty and there's no place to use the toilet. And you have to go find food. You have to go find, I mean, the amount of work you have to do to just stay alive. If you're lazy, you probably die. And no two services are next to each other. And no two services next to each other. So these, these narratives that people who don't deal with homelessness other than seeing it and having it be a nuisance in our lives, you know, there's a narrative that we have. Which is why I do it.

And when I heard your story of somebody who came from wealth, who was a trust fund baby and then had nothing and was now living with her mother and three dogs in the car, it's that story of, and it's a... That story right now, Simon, is all over this city in every age group, and I promise you. Like you're living a good life and life happens around you. We saw it happen with lockdown. like we're all fine and then all of a sudden the world is completely different and and how ill prepared we are for what the world has to provide that what the world what happens to us and we're not we're not i was stupid in so many of the ways i lived my life that's why i wanted you here which is your story is but i met someone if somebody saw you sitting on the street or living in your car the narrative of you drug addict anorexic lazy

all of these things, but you weren't. No, I wasn't, but I still wasn't able to do it. But you had bad luck. I had someone reach out a hand and help me up. And he also mentored me in a way, because I've come from a long line of manic depresses, and I have depression. And he was very big about when people got into the program to do one random act of kindness. He didn't require anything else during the week except find a job.

But one random act of kindness to help someone in some way, really look at them. And this is not just giving them a sandwich you don't want or the rest of your coffee or a water bottle. This is listening to them, something that takes something out of yourself. And that's what he drew out of me. And I discovered my mother and myself, which surprised me. But what he taught me was, he saved my life, Simon. He gave me the focus so that I was not depressed when my mother died. He gave me tools to use that uniquely fit me, that I could help people and help myself at the same time. And it's not some kind of bad thing or an addiction that doesn't work. It works with everybody. You'll find outreach workers right and left who do it.

Why did he help you? Because he was like that. There's lots of people who needed help. He can't afford to pay everyone's rent. No, but he just had this giger about people who would come through. He gave me the opportunity and he gave me the foundation. And then, when I pushed my way into his charity, he allowed it because it worked for him. He used to say, you've got a work ethic like no other, Joan. Tell me about somebody who came and worked the line on a Sunday, who stood behind a table and handed out donated goods and had never done anything like this before.

There was a woman whose house burned down during the fires. She has money, but she lost everything that is a memory of the past, which really hits you in the gut. And I was talking to her, and she said, I didn't think I'd be able to stand up today. I didn't think I could go on. And she said, I came here, and she said, all these people. She said, I have money in the bank.

I can rebuild, but these people have nothing. And she said, it makes me feel so connected. It gives me such a sense of community. It gives me such a sense of right and justice. She said, what you're doing here? She said, I can't even believe. All these people are thanking me for giving a bag of chips. She said, it's food.

And she said, it's nothing. And yet it's probably saved my life. I had a conversation with the homeless person in New York City it was somebody who was young and didn't look like she was couch surfing

like had to hit some really hard times you know and I and she didn't look like you know the stereotypical homeless person you know and talking to her she was telling me that the hardest part wasn't the food donations

or the few dollars that somebody would put in a cup it's that people would treat her as less than human they would ignore her they wouldn't make eye contact with her and she said the part that destroyed her soul wasn't actually the fact that she was without a home and sleeping on friends' couches and trying to scrounge things together

it was she it destroyed her confidence that she was she became less than she started to believe the way she was treated and that's what we do every week at food on foot i'm on call for the people in line i literally food on foot is only there on sunday visible but everybody works behind the scenes but what i do during the week yeah i figure out what they need because they tell me and i'm out in the streets i'm out i'm out at other charities i'm out at support days events finding out what's going on just just this last Tuesday, I was downtown at a support day at the L.A. Public Library. And the metro was there. And they were offering bus passes. And so I tackled Amelia and gave her an earful about what we do. And she said,

oh, I can come. We can do that there. It's the humanity, right? I mean, again, I'm thinking of somebody else. It was a homeless guy outside my office. I knew his name. I knew his story. I knew why he was homeless. He used to be a high-flying guy. And he was an idiot. He admits that he's an idiot and he lost all his money and he couldn't make ends meet and a smart guy and you know he valued more than anything that I just knew his name would say good morning to him and you know and and I think that's one of the things that that and even when I came to volunteer and work the work the tables you know to make eye contact with somebody and say hi what's your name you know and just have a life every time you do that Simon you know you save a life I

occasionally because I'm not often in all the circles I'm too busy behind the scenes but I will go and I will thank people for coming because I and we're not talking volunteers you're talking people coming and asking for things no I'm talking about the volunteers I'm talking about the people who donate money and who are there to see what homelessness is and to feel better about themselves but I thank them there's nothing wrong with that no but there's nothing wrong with that that's a wonderful thing. It's a good human thing. But basically what I always do, I try to do, is to let them know the impact they've made on these people's lives, because these are people, regular people who are not spitting on them or looking down their noses or treating them as if they're dirt.

These are people who are asking, what would you like? Would you like this? Would you like that? Well, take an extra. It's okay. Let's go into difficult land. Politicians run on the platform of clearing out homeless camps. And here in Los Angeles, I mean, entire blocks are occupied by homeless camps. That would be all right. That would be all right if they had a place to put them. Here's the problem with that, and it is a problem. I think you know from human experience that a great segment of our society believes the world is flat and they're going to fall off it at any minute.

That is not just people who have their criteria for wealth or whatever. You have people in the street who cling to things, and they are pack rats, so it's too much. So they have whole communities of excess. Now, if we were practical and we put a dumpster next to it and we provided them with some hope for the future, the whole problem with, I have to say we're doing a great job in Hollywood. We really are. We really are with getting people off the street and providing them. What's Hollywood doing that they're not doing on Skid Row, for example?

Because we have Hollywood Forward. And quite frankly, Mike Foley, who's the head of Food on Foot, has been intrinsic in jumping up and down and telling them, look, you guys, we all have to hold hands. We're not going to do this by ourselves. We can't be so exclusive. We've got to share information, and we've got to band together and partner. And he's so smart.

And, I mean, you saw how well organized we are at Food on Foot. It was not that way before. I mean, not to go off on a tangent, but you're highlighting something which drives me crazy about not-for-profit organizations and charities because they compete against each other they compete against each other they're trying to solve the same problem competing much much much much worse and I'm terrified it drives me nuts I will tell you right now I'm terrified because what's happening now what's happening now you don't want people on the street that is not what you want you don't want them you want them to

have a restroom you want them to have some access and we should be able to put them into shelters or whatever this is so badly managed most of them the ones that are best managed hope the mission. I have to say they do it better than any other organization I've seen. But they are dependent a lot on the government money as are all these huge organizations, government money, and right now it's being cut off. And that means we are totally private, we have never taken government funding because we do not operate in a small little area. If you're from Becoma, if you're from Long Beach or San Diego, you hear about us, you're homeless,

you want to, you want to work. We will take you. will take you. Has zero government funding? None. Absolutely none. Wow. Because it's a mess.

Yeah. Can you tell me a story of a single person you have met along your journey, whether it was a time when you were homeless or a time afterwards? Can you tell me that their story touches you more than every one else, that you carry their name with you? Uncle Willie. Uncle Willie. Tell me about Uncle Willie.

What is it about Uncle Willie's story? Wellie is the son of a Supreme, Diana Rosson, Supremes, and he used to have a kid's show. He got on heroin. And he kept trying and trying and trying to kick it. He came to food on foot. And it has nothing to do with me, but he was at a point where he really, really, really wanted to be in housing and wanted help. And as I said, somebody doesn't answer the phone. I do.

I do. So Uncle Willie came and he said John I got to get in shelter He said I went through treatment But he said they don't give you any help when they put you through treatment They want you to go right back in so they can get more government money He said I need he said I need shelter I need it so I contacted him with the shelter that will remain nameless I'm gonna hold on I'm gonna back up for a second there The treatment centers get government money because there everything's compartmentalized

And they get government money for each person they treat so they don't there's an incentive There's an incentive not to keep you in the system because then you get more government money. The problem is the follow-through and the support. You can't throw people in housing, any people, without giving them support. And government agencies do not have, it's not their fault. They don't have the social workers and the outreach workers who can, who can, they have 300 cases each. How can they do this? Okay, so back to Uncle Willie.

So he's a heroin addict. He genuinely wants to get clean. And he did. And after he got clean, he called me and said, help me get into shelter, help me, Joan. I said, okay. So I got him into a shelter that I thought was good. A lot of these charities are businesses, and they lean on endorsements and what people see. So they have one shelter that's like it's a small world tour, I call it, and everything's perfect, it's clean, everybody's happy, yada, yada.

Everybody's been rehearsed, and everybody gives a good story. Then you have all the other shelters Uncle Willie got in one of the other shelters And I had been This is way back This is way back I've known him 15 years And he called me up and he said

Joan he said I have to room with this guy And he said he's a cutter and he has AIDS And he said we share a bathroom And he said in the shelter And he said he bleeds all over the place And he said I've asked them to move me And they say I'm the problem I said how are you the problem

And he said well he said and he's mental. And he said, I can't keep this up. And he said, I'm afraid. He said, because he was older then, and he was afraid. And he said, I'm cleaning up the toilet. I'm cleaning up the bathroom all the time. It's blood everywhere. I said, okay. I said, we got to get you somewhere else. But before that happened, he was thrown out of the shelter because he got angry. And he said, you can't do this to me. The secret about all these shelters is you can't get into any kind of disagreement in them, even if you're not at fault, because if you're part of it, they will else you. And then you have a thing under your name and social security number

that says you're a problem, and they won't take you. And that's the truth. Hopefully it's changing. But that is what has been happening. And you tell me how you put a lot of people who were treated like animals on the street, you put them in shelter, and you don't have any staff there at all at night and there were not there just peer counselors or a security guard with two weeks training and expect everything to be okay it's not you need someone to be able to pour oil on the water night is when it happens after hours is when it happens that's why i answer all evening long so uncle willie is now thrown out he has no place to go he networks i get him a bus ticket back to detroit where he has relatives he calls me from detroit and he says joan he's

said, I'm going to come back. I'm in better shape. He said, I'm stable. It's been a year. And he said, the problem is, he said, all my relatives are using, and I don't want to deal with that. So he comes back. I get him a really great caseworker because she's a friend, and she really, really does care. Unfortunately, she burnt out. She worked for Lassa. That happens a lot, because the outreach workers are tremendous, but they're up against, they have to, they have quotas. It's like any business, and there's so much they can't do, and they have too many people, and there's not enough that they can do for them. And you have mental, you have, you have, just.

What is it about Uncle Willie that you carry his name with you? Uncle Willie kept going and he kept calling me. He kept calling me. And so finally we got him a place to live downtown. He has a place. And he came through. And he helps other people. Lots of people came through.

Lots of people help other people. What is it about Uncle Willie? Because he was such a heroin. addict. He fell so far down. He was in a ditch. You've worked with others who've been in a really bad shape. No. No. No. Not a man who's been on heroin since he was 20 years old and he's now 60. Wow. No. And he is the one who said to me when I first met him, he says, I like you. I said, why? He said, because you always tell me the truth and the truth is the only thing that keeps you standing when you hit bottom.

So he was in line last week. He comes in line. He brought a guy with him from downtown who was homeless. He said, this is Joan. Oh, he said the famous Joan. He said, why does everybody like her? And Uncle Willie said, because she's the one. When everybody else turns their back on you, she'll still be there for you.

So that's why I do it. Because these people endure, and they're admirable. And I get more truth on the street. When I go around to all these different charities and explore and find out what works and what doesn't, and I'm not against any of them. But I see the fallacies and what the services that, oh, just so much. And I see what goes on.

The people, I depend on the most of the people who are on the ground who are being served. But this role of truth I find very interesting, right? which is you say because they can handle it the way they can handle it the way that Uncle Willie described you is when you're at your worst she'll tell you the truth

and Jay was very honest with you one would think that for people who are struggling that being nice that does work but nice is a surface term isn't it when anybody ever says

oh you should meet him he's so nice I go, oh boy. Tell me you're good. Tell me you're honest. Tell me you're kind. Tell me you're fair. Tell me you're decent. Don't tell me you're nice. That's a social term. It's like glitter. But don't we need to lift people up who are struggling? Exactly. Be kind. But sometimes the truth is difficult to hear. It depends. When you got yourself back on your feet and you've had a home and a job, what was the reason you decided to continue to volunteer as opposed to just go build a life and live a life. I was good at it. And I liked the people I helped. I liked them genuinely.

I saw them not treated well. But I want to know, you know, how did this spoiled little rich girl find such empathy for people who... Well, my mother always had it. It should have been... It must be a gene that pops out when you're 50-something. Didn't grow up like you, they didn't live like you,

and here you are, like... Yeah, well, actually, someone said that to me. Well, we need a social worker who really understands Hollywood. and you know has lived experience and he said you know and I said he said like you I said I'm from Beverly Hills it's talent you know how people operate with people if they're good with people and they care and they want to help you have all these people out there and you just know there are so many wonderful people out there in the street helping you have no idea I'm not an anomaly I'm just usual. It's just that I don't stop. And it's not a job. I'm a volunteer. It's a vocation.

How much does the service help them get healthy again? Like, do people, is there a higher likelihood that they're going to get healthy? Like, where does the service component? Because they have someone to go to. They have a place to do. Or somebody in the job program. Yes, exactly so. Are they more likely to succeed in the job program when they also volunteer? That was the reason and there was a random act of kindness required by Jay Goldinger. It's no longer required because it's more fully fleshed out now. Right, right, right. But there it is. There it is.

This, to me, is the insight on all of this, which is you are more likely to help yourself solve your problem when you live a life of service and helping other people solve this. Well, there's something else that's going on that I hope will happen. Randy Wyatt, I think you met her. She's absolutely wonderful. She has two kids of her own. She wants to start a program at Food on Foot to help youth.

A lot of different organizations are doing this. but I think we think food-on-foot-way. I think we're better at it. Okay, I'm prejudiced. You have so much emphasis on kids using fentanyl because they see God. I mean, I grew up in the just-say-no era of everybody said yes during the Reagan era because I'm an old person in the 70s in high school. And what I saw was most of my friends died.

I was always a designated driver because I'm not kidding you. I can't even aspirin knocks me out. You give me some of crotein. I'm going to be out for a week. But what I see with today's youth, look, I would never want to go back and be a teenager, your hormones go crazy, I wouldn't go through that again for all the tea in China. Let me have my face like a sharp pay, I'm fine. But for most people, for most youngsters, you hit a point where your hormones go wild.

And I don't care, your focus is not always the best. And you don't, and your parents haven't taken out a lot. license to raise your right they haven't learned a lot of parents just let kids just out there so the whole criteria is don't join a gang don't go to a rave and try help somebody so we're trying to institute a program where we get together groups of kids and let them help other people and see that it's fun this is not a downer did you have a downer when you went I had a lovely time no you had a wonderful time and also the people in our line who have nothing have a good time I get that all week

I get, I come to food on foot to feel better about myself because I'm treated well. How do you deal with burnout and the emotional labor? I don't get burnout. I don't get burnout in what I do. I get burnout in my own life. And then I just pick up the phone and talk to somebody who's a heck of a lot worse than I am in their lives. And basically, maybe I help them, maybe I don't. But I always get practically the same thing, nine times out of ten.

I said, I can't help you. Dear God, I wish I could. And you know what they say? But you listen to me. You answered the phone. Nobody else answers the phone. Nobody else talks to me. That's nothing.

And it saves my life every week. What is the one thing someone can do today to help their homeless or unhoused community? Kind. At the beginning of Food on Foot, it wasn't quite as heartfelt as it is now. right at the beginning when I was first day. What does kindness look like? When you say there's one thing we can do today, what does kindness look like?

Your face. That helps. What does that mean? It means you look at people kindly. You smile at them. And you put yourself forward in order to be interested in them. If somebody asks

and you have nothing, because nobody carries change anymore in this. Smile. If you get something bad back, you just go on. I think people are uncomfortable to say no. And so they turn away and ignore somebody. Yeah, they ignore that you don't exist.

And so if somebody has nothing to give in that moment, I always say the same thing. What should they, what does kindness look like in those moments? Well, for me, it's, I'm so sorry. I don't have any money to give you. I'm poor too. However, maybe you might explore this, this, and this, what's going on with you. No, I talk to them.

You don't have to do that. Basically, all you have to do is say, I'm so sorry, and smile and go on. A little bit of humanity. it's a small thing but it works and it's like osmosis it's really like osmosis one kind smile really does translate i'm not kidding you when i say you probably save a life by coming to food on foot and smiling at somebody i know i've been told that many times during the week when i'm out there and i am out there joan thank you so much for coming in well thank you are you are a saint Oh, no. God, no. Please, please. We're not a religious experience and we're not a cult.

You were saint-like. No, no. I was originally supposed to be a nun. My grandmother decided I was the youngest child of the youngest child, so I was supposed to be a nun. And my mother said, oh, no. Well, if you refuse to be a saint, then just thank you for... I'm somebody who cares, the way you care and the way everybody should. Thank you for caring to such an extreme level that it shows... Simon, do me a favor. Please. Yeah. Let people know that I'm at Food on Foot for a reason.

If anybody likes anything that I said, because out of everything I've seen, I'm telling you, I've seen hundreds. This one works. And it should be all over this nation. For anyone who lives in Los Angeles, come down and volunteer at Food on Foot. Go to their website, foodonfoot.org. Register. Come and volunteer.

here. If you have a company, or if you don't have a company, you just have means. You can donate money. You can donate stuff that they need. Again, go to the website and see what they need and what you can give. I've done it. It is inspiring. And I think it forces all of us to recognize that everybody has a story and you don't necessarily know what that story is. And for us to guess what somebody's story is, you're going to get it wrong most of the time. And I think the lesson here is if we all had a little empathy, I mean, that's all it is, it's empathy. If we all had a little empathy to recognize that everybody is a story, and if we had a little less judgment and a little more concern and care, you'd be amazed how much you can help. And if you don't

live in Los Angeles, please either steal their model and set one up in your city or if you have means, please donate some way, shape, or form. Joan, if you won't be a saint, at least accept that you are an inspiration. A bit of optimism is a production of the optimism company. Lovingly produced by our team, Lindsay Garbenius, Phoebe Bradford, and Devin Johnson. Subscribe wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts, and if you want even more cool stuff, visit simic.com. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself. Take care of each other.