13. What is Pathlight HOME?

On this episode, Carl Falconer and Danny Arroyo host a special Thanksgiving edition of The HOME Team Podcast — celebrating football, community, and the heart of Pathlight HOME.

This week’s topic is “What Is Pathlight HOME?”, and Carl and Danny take listeners through an inspiring journey of the organization’s origins, mission, and impact. They share the story of founders Reverend Fred Maxwell and Helene Bloom, and how their early belief in Housing First helped launch Florida’s very first Housing First project — now home to hundreds of Central Floridians every night.

In this episode, the team skips their usual headlines and instead brings in three Pathlight HOME leaders for heartfelt interviews:

• Fernando Beaubrun, Director of Career Services, discussing our Culinary Training Program, the Employment Center, and how career support changes lives.
• Miscindy Taylor, Director of Drop-In Services, sharing powerful insights about serving veterans, running the No Buddy Left Behind program, and what homelessness really looks like.
• Diana Gonzalez, Director of Property Management, reflecting on her journey from security staff to leadership and the importance of stable housing.

And of course… a surprise appearance from Gigi Ramirez, Senior Director of Fundraising & Engagement, joining for a Thanksgiving conversation about gratitude, community, and the work ahead.

Between football highlights, Home Team predictions, and reflections on the holiday season, this episode shines a light on the dedicated staff who make Pathlight HOME’s mission possible — and reminds us all what we’re truly thankful for.

Tune in, learn something new, and celebrate the people working every day to turn homelessness into hope.

Produced by Gigi Ramirez and Jay Falconer. Music and Sound Design by Kwon.

Please send any questions or comments to: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠questions@pathlighthome.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Home Team Podcast. I'm Carl Falconer and I'm Danny Arroyo, and we're tackling homelessness.

SPEAKER_07 0:20

Today in our podcast, we will discuss two of our passions, football and ending homelessness. Please join us through four quarters with our topic this week, what is Pathlight Home? So, this is gonna be a special episode. It'll be our Thanksgiving episode, and we're gonna have a couple of people come in and talk about Pathlight Home and have some fun.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 0:40

So, how's your weekend? It was good. I have mine too. Mine too. Did you hear what's great?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

That didn't go for a while, though.

SPEAKER_07 0:49

God, this is why I told you. This is why my my Mondays, my headaches. You know why. I went through four quarters of that. You go through every emotion. Exactly. But no, we it was a good what'd you do this weekend?

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Uh just hung out mainly, just uh relaxed a little bit. Uh got my G puppy down with me, so he's hanging out. So yeah, pretty much just uh hanging out for the most part. Good.

SPEAKER_07 1:11

Yeah, I went to I went to the movies to see Wicked, uh, which was good. Yeah, um, hung out there and then just started getting ready for this week's uh for Thanksgiving, having some family over and so just getting ourselves ready of everything we gotta cook and well my wife's gonna come.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

There you go. So you're staying at home for Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_07 1:28

Yeah, we're staying home, yeah. Yeah, I have my my mom and my dad coming over and then my daughter and her boyfriend. So quite quite time.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

I'm going up to uh Jacksonville for uh my niece is up there and my daughter, so we're going up there and we're gonna we're gonna go to my niece's community center, I guess, and have a bunch of family and friends over and stuff.

SPEAKER_07 1:47

She's the one that did uh the race. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Yes, yes, the one I did the race with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:52

All right, well, let's talk football. We're gonna change up kind of our setup, but we're gonna we're gonna go straight into football first. Absolutely. So uh uh talk about my compliments. All right, get your compliments. So yesterday was I went through every emotion possible. Anger, frustration, sadness, anxiety. And finally, and finally we won. Yeah, it was a great game, it was a fantastic game. But yeah, we we beat the Eagles, who are, you know, uh Super Bowl champions and kind of on the top of our division. So we needed that game. Absolutely. Um, so yeah, we won 24 to 21 on a uh field goal at three seconds left. There you go. So yeah, my house was I was very I was loud. Um but we are we are five, five, and one. So we finally broke 500 um after 11 weeks. Um and uh we play again on Thanksgiving Day, um, and we'll be playing the Chiefs. Wow, yeah, at home, right? At home, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Okay, so that's good. That's another one y'all gotta win. We gotta win, y'all. I mean, it's getting to be that time of the year where you gotta win all your games, right?

SPEAKER_07 2:54

To stay in to play it's the same playoff contention, we have to. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, now and you're your bears. My bears just kept on rolling.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

There you go, kept on rolling. The defense, I think the defense let uh sorry, we played Pittsburgh. Uh we beat them 31 to 28. I would have liked to see our defense play a little bit better, um, but I think we're a little banged up on the defensive side. I think we've got a couple starters out, so I'm hoping we can get those starters back sooner rather than later. And our defense will start coming around because our offense is rolling. I mean, our offense is just it's it's rolling along. So we are now eight and three and sitting on top of our division.

SPEAKER_07 3:37

I told you this. I told you this earlier, and I'll say it again. I told my wife the score, and she said, Oh my god, they might be in the Super Bowl. I said, Why are you putting this out there? Hey, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I already told Danny if the Bears get in the Super Bowl, we're gonna have to change the dress code, everybody, the entire agency, because I'll be wearing bears all the time. There you go. For a whole year. Yep. Exactly. So you have uh next week, uh we have the or this week, I should say Friday, we have the Eagles and we play at Philadelphia. I need you to win. And I know we do, but after a loss that they just had to Dallas, that's gonna be a tough one. I know. So I think they both they're both eight and I kind of wish they would have blown you out. Then they would have not, you know, the need to beat the game. We needed that game. We needed that game.

SPEAKER_07 4:22

But you guys are both eight and three, so it's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah, we're both eight and three. It's gonna be a good game.

SPEAKER_07 4:27

They have a good offense, and their defense is good too.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Like I said, hopefully we can get our defenders back so our defense will will step up. Um and now we'll go to our local teams. Uh, my Jones High School team again won. Uh, we beat Vanguard 29-18. Our next game, again, in the playoffs, is uh for is versus Lake Wales, and they're 10-2, just like we are. So should be a pretty good game. Um, I'm looking for Jones to keep on rolling, though. So talk to me about Boone. Well, unfortunately, Boone's season is over.

SPEAKER_07 4:59

Uh they played the land and we got blown out 65 to 17.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

And we knew the land was good. I mean, they're still undefeated for the year, and so yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:09

And both of our losses this year have been against undefeated teams. Yeah. So so yeah, so we're out. But we they had a good season. So I'll I'll start rooting for Jones now. There you go. There you go. Fair enough. All right, so now we're gonna do uh predicting the home team uh to win each week. Uh uh this week call pick Buccaneers against the Rams.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

That's right. I picked the Rams, and the Rams won 34-7. Yeah, um, so that was a good pick there. And you picked the Saints.

SPEAKER_07 5:36

Yeah, I thought the Saints were gonna pull this out with uh you jinxed me because of the whole home field thing last week. Is that what it was? Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. I I really thought the Saints were gonna win this game against the Falcons, but they lost uh uh 24 to 10. Um so my record right now is seven and five.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

And I am six and six, so I'm catching up to you.

SPEAKER_07 5:53

Catching up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Catching up. So all right, so I think this is the week that I move ahead. Well, I don't know about move ahead. You might tie it. It might tie. Yeah. Uh and the only reason I say that is who you picked, because I'm kind of gonna be rooting for Detroit in that one. But anyway, uh I went ahead and I picked uh this week I'm picking Indy at home versus Houston. So we're getting into the conference games now. So the conference games are uh especially important. Indy just lost to Kansas City this last week, so I'm hoping they'll rebound and get the victory at home.

SPEAKER_07 6:25

Yeah, and I have uh the Packers, your favorite team against the Lions, and that's a Thanksgiving Day uh game as well. There you go. So I'll go for the Lions on that one, see how they do.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

There you go. The Lions at home on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. That's the way to do it, right? Yeah, let's see how they do. Absolutely. All right, so we'll start it off as we always do, or you know, continue our podcast as we normally do with our coin flip. So, Danny, call it in the air.

SPEAKER_07 6:52

Let's do heads.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

It is tails, so I'll start us off. Perfect. Uh, welcome to our first quarter. I'm going to kick off by defining our topic of the week, and then we'll cover some news headlines. No, not this week. Sorry. Sorry, we have this printed out. Sorry about that. We will not cover news headlines, uh, and we've already covered our home team locks of the week. So here's our here's the definition: Pathlight Home. Pathlight Home grew from the teamwork of Reverend Fred Maxwell, a pastor, civil rights leader, and advocate for the homeless community, and Helene Bloom, an attorney and lifelong Central Floridian. Maxwell and Bloom instinctively believed in housing first long before it became adopted by communities around North America. Together, they established Grand Avenue Economic Community Development Corporation and secured a federal grant to purchase and renovate a 75-unit motel building near Colonial Drive and John Young Parkway, the place where we are now, Maxwell Terrace. The first one in Florida, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 8:09

Pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

After the redevelopment of this property, now known as Maxwell Terrace, they purchased and renovated another motel building on Orange Blossom Trail, now known as Maxwell Garden. Since 1992, Pathlight Home has helped more than 8,000 people find safe and stable housing. Currently, we house over 600 low-income and homeless Central Floridians each night.

SPEAKER_07 8:33

I think they said something really, really special of kind of the footprint of how this should be done. Absolutely. I I I I was reading it and thinking about what they did and how many how things would have been different if more people did this. Yeah. You know what I mean? How many people had properties where they were just moving hundreds and hundreds of people in and off the street? I mean that's how it would have looked now. You know, the land.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Well, and and what amazes me about this whole story is it was the two of them.

SPEAKER_07 9:02

Just that.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

I mean, literally just the two of them.

SPEAKER_07 9:04

Just an idea.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

And they just had the will to just keep going and keep trying and keep just pursuing this this you know uh this idea of moving people in off of the street.

SPEAKER_07 9:18

And how many hurdles they have to jump to and just explain what they were planning on doing, how many people probably looked at them and said, You're crazy. This is not gonna work, you know?

SPEAKER_02 9:24

And it's just yeah, the stories that Helene tells are just fantastic. But but again, it just shows that perseverance. And um, just so just for everybody's reference, so Reverend Fred Maxwell has passed away since, but Helene Bloom is still working with us here at Pathlight Home. She's a consultant with us currently, and we absolutely value everything that she brings to the table for us.

SPEAKER_07 9:48

Yeah, definitely. All right, well, that wraps up the first quarter. Uh, we will start interviewing some people after this break. Hello, I'm Daniel Royal, Vice President of Programs at Pathlight Home. If you're new to our mission, welcome. We're dedicated to changing the lives of those experiencing homelessness and hardship through housing, support services, and career training. What began as one dream for a compassionate solution to homelessness has become a reality. Since our funding, we've provided housing for more than 8,000 people, offering shelter, opportunity, and hope. This month, as we honor National Homeless Awareness Month, we are also kicking off our end-of-year campaign, a time to come together and give back. Every contribution, whether monetary or in kind, directly supports our residents and the community we serve. No gift is too small to make a difference. As we celebrate our journey from dream to reality, thank you for being part of this mission. Together we can make the dream of ending homelessness a reality in our community.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

This is the second quarter, and our first guest is Fernando Boebrin. Is that Bobrun? Bobrin. And he is our director of career services. Um, thanks for coming in, Fernando.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Thank you, thank you, guys. First time at this podcast.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

I'm excited, I'm excited. All right, so what we'd like you to do first is to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about uh what you do, what your job is, and also kind of about the programs that you oversee here at Pathlight Home.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Definitely. Well, um, thank you guys for having me here today. My name is Fernando Bobrin. I am the director of career services. Um, at Pathlight Homes, I I oversee the culinary program and the employment center. I also assist with um social enterprising and hoping to assist the program the best I can.

SPEAKER_07 11:55

So tell us a little bit more about the culinary program, you know, your students, kind of the process of people coming into the program and what do they do?

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Okay, definitely. Culinary program is a 12 weeks program. And uh within that 12 weeks program, those individuals will be able to uh obtain certifications. One of those certifications will be uh uh food handling from Safe Serve, and they also obtain a allergen program um certification as well. Within them 12 weeks, some students get hands-on experience with classically trained chefs. We have um one chef, uh head chef, Esteban, and we also have an assistant chef, Diane, that kind of helps coach and um helps them uh gain the skills to be in the culinary industry. So tell us a little bit more about the color uh the employment center and what goes on there. Employment centers, uh, like it's just in the name, it's it it assists individuals with um finding work. Not only provide the tools on um searching for work, but we try to get them ready for either a mock interview or uh we assist them with resume writing, anything that can help them get a uh heads up on trying to attain employment.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Great, thank you. All right, now we got the easy part out of the way. Easy part out of the way. So so what made you choose Pathlight Home when you when you first came here way back in the day?

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Man, it's it's a funny story. Um I'm originally from Miami. Um, I was um I have a twin brother that actually moved up to Orlando. Um he was telling me how great Orlando was and um how much uh opportunity that we have in Central Florida. So he was after begging me and after a couple trips, he was like, Man, you should just come on up to um Central Florida. So that's when I started to go um into law enforcement, which is I have a background in law enforcement. And it's just not me, you know. Um the previous uh president here, I met her at a leadership conference at Chase Bank. And I heard about her program while I was um transitioning over here and uh found out that she had a position and she was opening up an employment center, and I applied for it. Uh, do have experience working with uh Job Corps and uh Career Source back in Miami. So I took the opportunity to apply for that position and um I it just felt like a different move for me. I think um I put I do more of an impact an individual's life instead of locking them up. So I thought homelessness is uh a way of assisting those and providing those with the tools to be able to be self-sufficient. So that made it a good opportunity to move over.

SPEAKER_07 14:32

All right. Um, so let's talk about football. Ooh. So just be mindful of who you're talking to, right now. Yes, definitely. So your favorite football team. Who's your favorite football team?

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Wow. Um, definitely not Dallas. Oh, that is the end of the go ahead, Fernando.

SPEAKER_07 14:51

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Um, so born and raised in Miami, I'm a big Miami fan. So Miami Dolphins is um one of the my favorite football teams. Love the colors, and that's who I grew up watching um throughout the years.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Have you been watching them lately? Not lately, they're not doing too good. Okay, good for you. I was gonna say we we don't need you coming in here sad like Danny with his cowboys and everything every week. So um, what about uh connections? So you grew up in Miami. So who was your what high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_03 15:24

Well, I went to homestead senior high. So if anything, it's at exit one, so that's on the bottom of the turnpike. So when you're traveling south, it's it's I'm the last exit there.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Well, I was gonna say, so there was a lot of devastation there for Hurricane Andrew. I know I was in the National Guard and we came down, we got activated for that, and I know it wiped out a lot of that area. So I imagine there's a lot of rebuilding that they had to do there, and a lot of you know infrastructure and things like that. So, how did the high school come through though?

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Good? That high school by that time, um during that Andrew, I was still in elementary, so I didn't I didn't go to the high school, but they they rebuild, and um, and as you say, Carl, it was a uh devastation and uh a lot of rebuilding, and it Andrew did do a number on Homestead where we were staying out of a trailer most of the time. It was just not a good feeling. That was my first hurricane as a kid, and it was not something first. We were making jokes about not having school, but when it came through, it was now we were crying, why can't we go back to school for the anxiety?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

I know. Yeah, so how about the high school or the football team there? Did they have a good football team or did they when you were there?

SPEAKER_03 16:38

They had a pretty decent football team, the way I said it. I I tried out and played for um a year or two. Okay, but that was not my thing. What position did you play? I played defense. Defense, okay, okay, great, all right.

SPEAKER_07 16:51

All right, so um so Fernando, you touched a little bit on on why you started here and why you started working with homelessness. So tell us a tell the listeners a little bit about um what would you like to the the audience to know about homelessness?

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Homelessness. Everyone, when do you think about homelessness? That is a good question. But when you think about homelessness, you're thinking it's just like someone not having a home, which I don't think that's the case. When you imagine homelessness, homelessness could be an individual just sleeping on a friend's couch, it can be sleeping in your car, it could be a variety of things, you know. So I think Pathlight has a way of um helping people transition from homelessness. So pretty much homelessness is uh is just being able to, well, not be not being able to be self-sufficient, in other words.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Yeah, I I think you bring up a good point, uh, especially at the Employment Resource Center, you probably see a lot of different types of homeless individuals coming in. Like you said, some are couch surfing, some are probably still sleeping out on the street, some might be even at a rescue mission or emergency shelter around here because our community center or our employment center is open to the entire community. So I'm sure you see a lot of different people coming in like that.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Correct. Yes, uh, that's um pretty much I know individuals that even come from different states. And uh sometimes it was especially when I first started here, um, those individuals would come in and they'll just walk in and they'll see the big sign. And and you know, by providing them with services, you want to get a little bit of their background or where they came from and um what's going on. And you would be surprised at how many individuals said I just got on a bus because I didn't have no way to um stay where I was, maybe in New York or um up north. And I got on a bus and I just stopped at Central Florida and I got off the bus. And and I'm just wandering around in the streets and trying to find any services I can, you know. So I'm glad that Path Bike's here to be able to provide those resources. And if those individuals come in and they may might be surfing on someone's couches, but we kind of create a um a helping hand to help them get their life started here in Central Florida.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Great, fantastic. So, what's one thing you would change about Pathlight Home if you could?

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Ooh, Pathlight Home is a good organization because I'm still here. Um one thing I would um I think we're limited on some of the resources that we have. And I I don't think it's because the organization's not trying, but it's just funding. Yeah, you know. Um, we would love to be uh, well, not we, uh I would love to open up more um centers. All right. Pathline has only have one resource center. Yeah, we do provide some of those um resources at our other locations. Well, those other properties don't have a resource center or employment center, but someone can come in and be able to uh get the same services that they receive at the terrace. You know, we have the gardens, we have um Daltona, we have the drop-in center. Yeah, but they're not limited, they're limited to the services we can provide. So if one thing we do is just growing more and being able to provide more services.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Yeah, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_07 20:02

All right, so Fernando, you have a couple of people in your department, right? So you got a good team. I got a good team. So who is one person you would nominate as an MVP in your department? Oh, you're right. I do have a great team.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Um it's like choosing between your children.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yeah, right. It's like trying to think which kid has been good lately or which kid has been good their whole life. Um putting you on the spot. And they're gonna listen to this. So yeah, you're definitely that is a good question. So I do enjoy working with my staff. You know, all of them have um good um traits about them. They they're all really, really good. But if I would denominate one of them, I just would nominate who excelled in the past year, you know. You know, you always have that one problem child that you want to um try to get the best out of. Sure. So it'd probably be a staban. So I do, I do this year. He did um excel on not only um recruiting those individuals, but um being able to have a good retention when it comes to the uh culinary students. So he did a good job this year. So that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Esteban, for those of you listening, is our head chef here for our culinary arts training program. So I think he's a great choice. I I absolutely agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

He did he did a phenomenal this year.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

All right, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, the final question we have for you is what are you thankful for this year?

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Oh man, there's so much that to be thankful for. But like the one most important things like that, I'm here. You know, I was able to wake up, and you know, there's a lot of individuals that don't have a job to go to or don't have a car to start. And and and I am been blessed with those things where I my house is not falling apart, my car started this morning. So there's so much to be thankful for. So there's a number of things I can be thankful for this year, and I just want to uh just think the one thing I was able to um be here or. uh be able to step out my house and um and return back to my house and have a roof over my head so there's a lot to be thankful for so um yeah um I'm very very thankful for this year it's just is a number of things that I I can be thankful for.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Great. Thank you for coming in. I appreciate you guys it was great having you here. Thank you so much. All right uh we've made it to the halfway point. Our next guest coming up will be Miss Cindy Taylor who is our director of drop-in services so we'll be right back after this message. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

Hello I'm Gigi Ramirez, the Senior Director of Fundraising and Engagement here at Pathlight Home. For over 30 years we've helped more than 8,000 people transition from homelessness to hope. But when someone moves from the streets to their own home they often have nothing. That's why we provide immediate essentials everything from bedding and food to soap and cookware to help them truly feel at home.

SPEAKER_07 23:00

Beyond housing Pathlite offers career training and supportive services like our 12-week culinary program helping residents gain skills find jobs and rebuild independence you can be part of the story volunteer your time donate essential goods or become a monthly Pathlight hero ensuring every neighbor has a chance to thrive visit pathlighthome.org to donate today we've made it to our halfway point our next guest is miss Cindy Taylor who is our director of drop in services so welcome Miss Cindy how are you today?

SPEAKER_06 23:44

I'm doing well thanks for having me good so we're gonna go over a couple of questions with you have some fun so um tell us a little bit about you um your title your programs um just let us get to know you all right well I am the director of drop in services at Pathways Drop in center I oversee the drop in center the Nobody Left Behind homeless veteran program and I also oversee um the case management staff and outreach staff of the Three Bridges program. I've been with Pathlight Home 10 years and I have been uh promoted several times during that 10 year tenure so this is a place of growth my program um nobody left behind we have housed 43 homeless veterans we have served 60 homeless veterans and we have about 200 volunteer hours um put in with the homeless veteran that is a buddy very good three bridges we have seven of the homeless individuals that came through the emergency shelter program that are now in permanent supportive housing and the Pathways drop-in center we continue to serve the homeless community by providing three meals a day showers and laundry services good so you do a little bit of everything pretty much just a little bit so miss Cindy tell us um tell us why you chose Pathlight Home you've been here for a while so you've seen a lot of changes right but why did you choose Pathlight Home? Well I had recently finished uh Valencia College I got my AA and I was referred by employee and she was like I think you'll be a good fit so I looked up what Pathlight Home did and I was over the homeless ministry with my church so I figured you know I could come in and bring a little bit of my talents and I wanted to be a part of the solution.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

That's great. That's fantastic. So what did you get your AA in just general studies?

SPEAKER_06 26:00

General studies I did a dual so I did general studies and I did medical office administration.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Oh wow nice very nice good I'll have to write that one down for later no it's just for the wellness center. Exactly that's right exactly um great um and all right so now let's get into a little bit of football now because that's kind of what this show is about a little bit so uh who's your favorite uh football team Miami Dolphins Miami that's the second Miami Dolphins fan we've had we had Fernando in here earlier and he was talking about the Miami Dolphins I love them. Do you yes have you been watching them this year?

SPEAKER_06 26:40

What?

SPEAKER_02 26:41

And you and you still love them? Oh yeah even after this year you're sure okay even after this year.

SPEAKER_06 26:47

Okay all right we're giving you a chance to get on and you and guess what they had a bye yesterday automatic win.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

There you go automatic win that's right they didn't lose so that's good. Danny loves it when the Cowboys are on by by the way he he he loves that let's go Cowboys anyway um so where did you grow up at did you grow up here in Central Florida?

SPEAKER_06 27:06

Born and raised here in Orlando and so where'd you go to high school? Jones High.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Jones High that's my team that's my team I've been following on the podcast and they're in the playoffs and they're winning so they are yes fantastic good good good all right well hopefully that'll bring them a little more luck and they'll bring home that championship right I hope so yeah exactly fantastic great so what's one thing that you would change about Pathlight Home if you could well I wouldn't say change I would say add and I would love to see Pathlight Home go into the area of helping families and I know we have a couple family homes up in Seminole County but growth in that department because in this homeless sector families are struggling a lot and it's not a lot of help for families.

SPEAKER_06 27:59

Alright so Miss Cindy so you talked about nobody left behind three bridges you're dropping so there's a lot of staff that uh work with you that you know do a lot of good to the community so if you had to nominate uh one person we're gonna put you on the spot here as an MVP I asked Carl the same question he said Danny so we're good we're good so so if you have to nominate one person as an MVP of your department who would it be and why uh my MVP would be Gail Smith my nobody left behind case manager and because she's very knowledgeable she's dedicated full of resources and her energy is just amazing like even on a bad day it's a good day for her so just to have her in the office and her expertise she's my MVP. Yeah that's great and and you have a really great team I mean I know the people on your team and you have several of them so it was probably a little bit of a challenge it was very challenging to pick an MVP of course um so what would you like the listeners to know about homelessness that you think maybe people don't understand well the first thing I will let them know is homelessness it does not have a face so it could be me or you and I have worked with homeless individuals that get up and go to work every day and they don't look homeless. Yeah so just don't be judgmental you know listen okay because every homeless person has a story.

SPEAKER_02 29:35

That's great. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_07 29:36

Thank you all right so one last question before we say thank you.

SPEAKER_06 29:43

Um what uh because it's Thanksgiving of course what is it that you're thankful for this year I'm thankful for a lot of things but the one thing that stands out is my youngest son graduated high school this year and it was a struggle to get him there. And to see him walk that stage it was gratification.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Where did he graduate from?

SPEAKER_06 30:08

He graduated from Workforce Academy okay um it gave him an opportunity to gain skills with employment and graduate high school yeah um four days after he graduated he welcomed his son so he graduated high school straight into fatherhood so I'm thankful that he's here to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

That's fantastic great well thank you for coming to meet with us Cindy we really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06 30:37

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

And that concludes our halftime please stay with us after this short message. Hello everyone I'm Carl Falconer the president and CEO of Pathlight Home and I'm often asked by many in the community what can I do to help end homelessness? I would like to invite you to join Pathlight Home's efforts. Pathlight Home is a 501profit organization in Central Florida. We currently have 560 units of housing that we provide to individuals experiencing homelessness but we also provide additional support through employment resource centers and mental health services. We have a drop-in day center where people can come in from the heat, do laundry, get meals, all in preparation to get them into housing eventually and off the streets. Community involvement is key to the success of our efforts and we love when community members want to get involved with Pathlight Home. There are three things we invite you to do to help. Number one, consider supporting us with funding no donation is too small and every dollar has an impact on our community. You can go to pathlighthome.org and click our donate button to contribute anytime. Number two is volunteering. We love to have volunteers come in and help us with any of our projects. We have ongoing projects and needs but are also open to individuals and groups sharing specific talents in ways that build up our residence. Number three is take a tour with us come here to our facility and see what we do for yourself. It's the best way to get an inside look at what we're doing at Pathlight Home each day. We think it's important to understand the work it takes to fight homelessness and love the opportunity to meet community members who are passionate about the issue. We love our Central Florida community and are grateful every day for the continued support.

SPEAKER_07 32:32

And again to get involved go to pathlethome.org thank you it's now time to kick off our third quarter our next guest is Diana Gonzalez who is our director of property management. So welcome Diana Hello ready to have some fun? Yes good all right so let's start off by first introducing yourself how long you've been at Pathlight Home the programs you have what's your title and then we'll go for the Yeah okay um I have been here seven years uh a little bit over seven years.

SPEAKER_05 33:13

I am currently the director of property management I oversee our leasing department um I oversee our resident tech for our program and yeah okay good so what made you choose Pathlight Home tell us where you started from here to story um okay so I originally was working security at Maxwell Garden in the Safe Haven department um I was there for I believe roughly about a year give or take I think in between doing all of the security stuff I started kind of working alongside Retoya who was the case management for Safe Haven at the time and um a position opened up in the leasing department as administrative assistant and they kind of approached me about it. They were like hey listen we have this open we would love for you to interview and so I did um I ended up getting the position surprise very nice um and that's kind of where it all started um I think at that point I had looked into uh the agency the I guess goal that was there at that time and it was something that was really interesting to me it was something that was definitely very new so a lot of learning along the way but I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

So was it at Maxwell Garden? Is that where you started originally my origin story that's fantastic security.

SPEAKER_05 34:44

So what made you decide to take the security job in the first place um at that time I was in school um I was getting my AA and I really was not doing anything else.

SPEAKER_08 34:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 34:57

And uh my brother was working security for Safe Haven and so they had a position opened up and he was like you're not doing anything like you should apply and he kind of just like pushed me into it and so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Nice okay good good good well now I know why uh security is so tight and everything around that because you're keeping your eye on them you're like I used to do that job. I know what you're supposed to do I know what you're supposed to do. You better do it right. All right so let's switch gears a little bit let's talk a little bit about football. So who's your favorite football team?

SPEAKER_05 35:34

I am not the biggest sports person. Oh the man I if if I was to say that I did like a football team it would be the Jets.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

The New York Jets Wow J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets how about that? Yeah why the Jets?

SPEAKER_05 35:55

I am originally from Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Oh from Jersey okay wow well isn't that isn't Jersey the Giants yeah but I didn't like the Giants oh you didn't like in most of that would be the Jets. Oh wow okay fair enough but you don't watch them I mean like if it's there yeah I I'm intrigued enough to kind of you know get involved a little bit but I don't go out of my way to like oh you know they're not doing too well lately so you probably don't want to watch out on much no you're not not not at all um so you grew up in New Jersey?

SPEAKER_05 36:31

I lived there for about 10 15 years.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Okay so did you go to high school there?

SPEAKER_05 36:37

No uh part-time yeah okay uh I was there for I believe my freshman year if I remember correctly and then I finished off my high school years here here in Orlando where at what high school uh I went to Timber Creek High School Timber Creek okay very good do they have a good football team at Timber Creek great football team a great football team really nice we'll have to look that one up I haven't heard of them all right so Dianimous jersey uh so tell us uh tell us one thing that you would change about Pathlight home more jets yeah jet stuff everywhere just jet stuff everywhere a dress code with jets kind of like you with the with the bear I think maybe just like the reach that we have I think the mission that we have is so meaningful and so impactful that it would be really cool to kind of be able to get that out a lot more so that we have a lot more awareness in terms of just the people that we serve or what we do and how we help.

SPEAKER_07 37:44

Nice so uh in the same spirit of of the clients we serve so uh what would you like the listeners to know about homelessness um and what do you think of it?

SPEAKER_05 37:57

Um I think the main thing is to know that it really affects anybody it it could be anyone that has dealt with homelessness and that doesn't show it. I actually just recently I was taking an Uber ride and I was talking to the lady that was driving and she was just kind of asking me questions, you know, what I did and so forth and obviously I kind of dove into it I let her know everything and she kind of opened up about her experience with dealing with homelessness and how she was homeless with her son at a time and I'm just like wow it it really is just anybody that deals with this and you just would never know.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Yeah absolutely I agree with you. All right so here's the tough question that we're gonna ask you for the day. So you have a pretty pretty significant department you have quite a few people on your team there so if you had to pick one as an MVP who would you pick as an MVP in your department I think I think Hector.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

Okay yeah he's our current property manager from Maxwell Garden.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

Our sound design guy is uh giving that a thumbs down not a fan as as someone who works for Diane he said uh he thinks Hector might be a good second choice but uh hear me out let me you know let me jump into why um I think when I first met Hector he was working um as a leasing person well he was coming from a staff agency and he was just there temporarily and um he kind of jumped into a position that he didn't really know anything about he was learning it and on top of that he had a really big language barrier at that time that he was struggling with um and he managed to kind of like overcome all of that and then get to where he's at now which I think is so amazing. Yeah no I absolutely agree with that and I think he is a good choice. I think I think he's he's shown a lot in the years that he's been here or the time that he's been here he's really he's grown a lot since he's been here. So even even just for the amount of time that he's been here. So the last question we have for you is what are you thankful for this year? Since it's our Thanksgiving episode we're asking everybody what they're thankful for.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

I I had a lot of life changes I think this year that I've gotten to experience a lot of new experiences that I'm excited for that I am happy about I mean not just personally but both professionally as well so yeah.

SPEAKER_07 40:48

Alright well thank you Diana thank you for coming to the show and sharing all your wisdom with us all right well stay tuned uh for our wrap up after this message Hello I'm Daniel Vice President of programs at Pathlight Home. If you're new to our mission welcome we're dedicated to changing the lives of those experiencing homelessness and hardship through housing, support services and career training. What began as one dream for a compassionate solution to homelessness has become a reality. Since our funding we've provided housing for more than 8,000 people offering shelter opportunity and hope this month as we honor National Homeless Awareness Month we are also kicking off our end of year campaign a time to come together and give back. Every contribution whether monetary or in kind directly supports our residents and the community we serve. No gift is too small to make a difference. As we celebrate our journey from dream to reality thank you for being part of this mission. Together we can make the dream of ending homelessness a reality in our community welcome to our fourth quarter our final and best guest is Gigi Ramirez who is our senior director of fundraising and engagement. So welcome Gigi thank you how are you today?

SPEAKER_04 42:20

I'm doing great thank you so much for asking so let's have some fun.

SPEAKER_07 42:23

Okay all right so Gigi so let's let's let the audience know or the listeners know who you are so tell us how long you've been at Pathlight Home what do you oversee and a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

So I have been with Pathlight Home for about um almost 10 months now I am the senior director of fundraising as Danny mentioned I handle fundraising I attend events um I host events um I do um I get out there and engage with donors and um yeah just try to get uh make people aware of who we are what we do and get involved.

SPEAKER_07 43:01

So what made you choose Pathlight Home?

SPEAKER_04 43:04

So I worked for the Paramour um area in my last public service role and this area is uh near and dear to my heart.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Fantastic thank you uh one other thing that I know that you forgot was the uh volunteers you're also over volunteers we oversee volunteers program and to me one of the most important parts that you do for me and for us is tours of Pathlight Home so we really appreciate you doing that as well.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

Um all right so let's switch gears a little bit we're gonna talk a little bit of football Gigi and I know football is your favorite subject and favorite topic to talk about so who's your favorite football team let's go Keynes Miami no what about the NFL National Football League I don't have any I mean I guess the Bucks but yeah oh the Buccaneers okay we'll we'll accept Buccaneers that's better than the Dolphins Anyway, so at least this year it is, so that's okay. All right, good. Um, and where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_04 44:07

I grew up in Altamont Springs.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

Okay. And where did you go to high school?

SPEAKER_04 44:11

I went to Lake Brantley High School, so let's go, Patriots.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

All right. Do they have a good football team? They indeed do. They do. Fantastic. Wow. We have some good football teams around here. Good for us, absolutely. All right. So what's the one thing that you would change about Pathlight Home if you could?

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Um serving youth. Um I know that we don't currently have programs directly for uh youth here, but yeah, that's one thing that I'd love to um uh I'd really love to serve more youth.

SPEAKER_07 44:43

To house youth, to just provide services?

SPEAKER_04 44:46

I think more provide services and then eventually, yes, like um housing. Housing, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 44:50

All right, perfect. Uh so well I don't know if I should ask this question. Let's let's get this. Let's let's skip. So uh Gigi, tell us um, since you're kind of new to this um kind of the people we serve and new to homelessness, uh what do you want the listeners to know about homelessness?

SPEAKER_04 45:11

Um I I think one thing that I've learned that I'd like to share is that becoming homeless is not um uh due to bad choices. Um I or just um just because they made a bad choice. It's circumstance, it's um not enough affordable housing, it could be just because of um income, um, but it's not something that someone chooses to become homeless.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Yeah, I think that's a good point. And you talked um before about having more youth services, and I think that's one of the places that people don't understand that you can really cut off that that whole uh homeless trajectory, if you will, is in the youth, is is trying to get to people early, letting them know what services are available, what supports are out there, things like that. And I think it's something that's very valuable in our system to have that. Um, so far we haven't been the people who have who have provided that service, but I know there are a lot of really great youth providing agencies here.

SPEAKER_07 46:14

And I think I think also with Gigi, we we talk a lot on our podcast about education, and that's what she does. She's out there educating volunteers, donors, the community, just like she said, she attends an event, she's educating them on homelessness, she's educating on the stigma of homelessness, of like she just said, it's it's it affects everyone, and I think she does a great job talking to everyone in the community since she's been here. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

Yeah, I I think so too. And I think I think because you have not been in this field your entire career, I think it's it's a great um it's a great asset to us here at Pathlight Home to have people coming from different places. We've heard stories we heard Fernando started in criminal justice, Diana started as a security person. I mean, people started in other places and made their way to this system, which is great because having different perspectives like that really helps us at PathLight Home cover a lot of different bases. So now I'm gonna ask you probably the easiest question you'll get all day is who's the MVP of your department? For those of you that don't know, Gigi has a department of one person in it. So I think this will be an easy question, but I don't know. I'm still leaving it open for her to answer the question.

SPEAKER_04 47:37

Listen, not not only because Derek and I are uh really the only two in our department, um, he really truly did uh a phenomenal job um uh basically running our soiree. Um it was a great success. So um I'm I'm so thankful for his help that day and every day.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

And and he does a lot. I know he does a lot more with the volunteers and things like that. But the our fundraising event, as you mentioned, it was just fantastic. I agree. He did a really great job putting that together, particularly with the amount of time that we we had this year. Luckily, we'll have more time next year to get that all set up, but I think he did a great, great job. So our final question for you, uh, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, is what are you thankful for this year?

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Um I I have to say that uh being here, um, I I'm certainly thankful for the things I take for granted. Um obviously a roof over my head, food, transportation, and most of all, like friends and family that have stood by me through the good and bad times.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

That's fantastic. That's a great answer. And I agree with you. We talked earlier, Danny and I talked earlier on a different show about my veteran experience and how that's made me so much more grateful for everything that we have. Having been a veteran and and gone through all the drills and things that I did, uh, it definitely it definitely rings true that it's it's good to have things that can support you in your in your world. So um, and finally, uh thank you, Gigi, first of all, for coming in. We really appreciate that. If you'll hang around, uh, I know you're gonna do our conclusion for us here. Um, but but we do want to go over our takeaway for this episode. But before we do, uh Danny and I are gonna go ahead and give our uh thanks um this year. I'm really thankful for this position. I'm thankful for Pathlight Home. I'm thankful for everything that Pathlight Home does. And more than anything, I think with Pathlight Home, I'm probably most thankful for our board, who has been so supportive and so instrumental in helping me be the best version of a CEO that I can possibly be. They've really gone out of their way to support, they've gone out of their way to ask great questions, to really be a part of what we're trying to do here at Pathlight Home. And their their compassion shows through every single time we meet and every single time I have conversations with them. So I I would say of the one thing particularly about Pathlight Home, it's it's our board who does a fantastic job with us here.

SPEAKER_07 50:21

Yeah, um, I'm I'm thankful, of course, for my family and my friends. You know, that's that's what I do is for them, everything. Um, I'm thankful for our staff because you've met some of them today. Um, and there's way more people here that do a lot of good work. So I'm thankful for them and kind of adjusting to a lot of the changes that go on, adjusting to to kind of the craziness that's been going on with with you know the government and things like that, but their their compassion and what they do is is really you know, it makes me very proud to work with them. And then you, of course, my co-hosts. I couldn't do this without you, right? Couldn't raz each other, and you know, it's you make me uh look forward to coming to work every day. So I'm thankful for you as well.

SPEAKER_02 51:04

And finally, here's our key takeaway for the episode. Pathlight Home staff are a force of compassion, driven, empathetic, and unwavering in their mission to uplift the homeless community. They don't just provide services, they restore dignity, spark hope, and change lives. Their passion and relentless commitment make them champions of change. They are really the reason that Pathlight Home has done so well over the years is starting with with Reverend Maxwell, starting with Helene Bloom, they have carried that through all of the staff that have been here. The staff make our organization and everything that we do here is because of our staff and because of the way the staff take this job seriously and really take it to heart because of what they do.

SPEAKER_07 51:59

Yeah, definitely. Like I said earlier, the staff is they're they're in the trenches. They're they're the ones that are talking to the residents, talking to the clients, you know, going through the good and the bad with them, you know, getting them housed, you know. Just they're they're in it, you know, just like the drop in center, seeing them, you know, when they're kind of at their lowest and you know, giving them a shower, you know, something that people take for granted and and just trying to help them out. But yeah, staff is they're phenomenal. They're phenomenal and their compassion for what we do is is yeah, it's you i it's a hard job to begin with. So it's hard to find people who actually want to do this. Um, but yeah, they come in every single day with a smile on their face, and it's it's great.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Yeah, I would I would just you know finish that up by saying I think it's definitely for them more than just a job. And you've heard the conversations we've had with with some of the staff here today, and it's definitely more than a job. It's it's their life, it's it's what drives them to you know do do great things for great people. And now we're gonna let Gigi go ahead and uh take us to the end. I want I just want to say on behalf of me and my co-host, happy Thanksgiving to everybody out there. We hope you have a great feast and watch lots of football, of course, and you know, uh, you know, take us right into the rest of the holiday season. Gigi.

SPEAKER_04 53:16

All right, that concludes our episode for the week. Remember, if you have any questions or comments for us, please email us at questions at pathlighthome.org. As always, we leave the last words for our beloved co-founder, the late Reverend Fred Maxwell.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

I'm still dreaming, I'm still dreaming that we would become uh able and sufficient to increase uh the housing of homeless. This is merely a beginning.