NEW DIRECTIONS WITH KATHY JENKINS 7/7/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Next we have Kathy Jenkins here, the CEO of New Directions. Good morning. Can you hear?

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Hey, good morning, Liz. Hey, Nick.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Can you hear me? Can you hear now?

SPEAKER_02 0:09

I can hear now.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Can you hear me saying hi?

SPEAKER_01 0:13

I can hear you now. I can see her.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Oh, yeah, I'm waving. I'm obvious.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

All right. So, Kathy Jenkins, how are things going? It's been brutally hot. It's very hard to get cool.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

It has been brutally hot, and typically summertime is extremely busy for us, and this year is uh is no different. Um, you know, it it brings to mind our anticipation of our new women's shelter that we are certainly hoping to build uh in the next year. Right. Get started in the next year. Um we are overwhelmed, certainly at um all of our shelters, but our women's shelter is way too small, and there are way too many women out there still who who need our help. And I think that's kind of where we're going with our segment this morning with our one of our new board members, Ann Ackerman Beard. She has just agreed to chair our new development committee, and um Ann is gonna talk about that and talk about what we're what we're trying to do, what we're trying to accomplish through our development committee.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Okay. Well, welcome to the show, Ann Ackerman Beard. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. So your um experience with nonprofits has been in executive and marketing and fundraising and all of that, and these are all things that every organization um that is nonprofit needs. But what drew you to new directions?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Well, I'm relatively new to Myrtle Beach, not from I am originally from South Carolina, but I moved here two and a half years ago from Atlanta, Georgia. And I wanted to get involved in my new community. And I had previously in Atlanta worked with a veterans homeless program and had been immersed myself in working with those who were homeless. And it's important for all of us to in every community to identify a cause that's important to us, number one, but also to address the issues that impact us all, and homelessness is one of them. And I was actually introduced to New Directions by a professor at Coastal Carolina University who's a friend of mine, Dr. Jeffrey Ranta. And I knew I wanted to be involved and use my 40 years of experience in the nonprofit world and helping Kathy and the board and the organization just to continue to move forward and expand and and address the important needs of homelessness in Ori County.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

So you said it's an issue that affec affects all people. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Well, when we have citizens in our community who are in need of services, we need to take note of that. We need to take ownership of those that um have a need, whether that's those that are seeking um or or have an addiction, uh, mental health issues, um, again, those that are unsheltered, unhoused, because they are they are our community citizens, and we are a community. And it's a drain and it's a a strain on our public service agencies, such as our law enforcement, our um health and human service agencies, and that's why nonprofits are so important, is they help to carry that load of serving those that are in need of services.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So um, you know, we've been doing this segment now uh with with you, Kathy, for New Directions for quite some time, maybe six. I know I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Somewhere between six and seven years, every single Tuesday. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah. And so we highlight uh community partners which uh may or may not have a partnership with New Directions per se, but we're always trying to let people know what resources are out there that can prevent them from becoming homeless or get the addiction help or the mental health uh help that they need. Um we've talked about that a lot. And uh there are a lot of people that are on the verge of homelessness and you know, financial ruin for one reason or another and or have someone in their life that is just a constant, you know, uh struggle for them. Um and so as this development committee is getting built and put together, how can you appeal to the people listening that this is a a vital organization that it will lift all boats? And you know, you explained how there is a strain on services financially and uh manpower-wise uh when you have a problem of homelessness, but the question is the balance, because there's always a balance between offering too many services to attract people that are in need of services to this area that would have should have just stayed in their own area, as opposed to um, you know, having just enough to serve the people in our community that actually need it instead of attracting people. Well, hey, I'm from, you know, Charlotte, and I heard they have way better services in Myrtle Beach. I'm gonna hitch a ride there. There's a balance there. Or is there not? How are you approaching that with your community development? Because that is often a very big topic on our text line that people feel like sometimes we're attracting, you know, not through new directions because you have to be in the program to be in new directions and benefit from it, but just from other services as well. And you've been in nonprofit for 40 years, so explain that to us if you can.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Well, I'm gonna punt this over to Kathy Jenkins because as the CEO of the organization, she is working uh to develop the framework of the programs, the development committee that I have agreed to lead is working on creating the framework for the organization that will help to raise the money to support the programs. Yeah, so the organization.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

But you need to get the buy-in from the people.

unknown 6:57

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

So we're how do how do you and we struggle with with this, Kathy, right, for quite some time. We do. We talk about this. And and I think there's with the battle with the with the council and all that. Right. Is addressing the need, meeting the need, well but not attracting.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

I think that um that one school of thought is if you build it, they will come. Here's the issue here. People are here. We are giving people an option to get back home if they are here and they are not from here. And that's the first line of defense. That is the first line of defense. If you if you come here and you are homeless, or you come here and within a month you realize you can't make it here and you've spent all your money and you're now homeless, we are going to uh get you back to a family or support system.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

The bus ticket program or correct contact with your family.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

And it's it's huge. Um what do I believe? I don't believe that people come here for the services. I believe that they come here because it's a tourist destination and and even Ann just said. Romanticized a little bit. She came here for years on vacation. We hear that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Well, easy work, great climate. That's what they think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah. But the cost of living is is high because we are a tourist destination. Yeah. And and we are a seasonal. Yes. Um, you come if you come here and you are on the verge of being homeless, you probably are not going to be able to make it here. Right. Um I think I think that that's that's the basis of who we are and why we're here and trying to help people. You know, I've always said, if all you're doing is providing a bed and a meal, you're helping people stay homeless for a one more day.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

People come here and they have this drug problem and now it's our problem. You know what I'm saying? So, like, do you put those people, you know, hook them up with family, and the family's like, listen, I've done everything, they're your problem now.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Oh, yeah, we we get we get a lot of that. We get a lot of that locally. Because there's something that they've tried so hard. They they try to help this person. We get a lot of that locally. Um it's not just people coming from somewhere else. Uh it's probably, you know, maybe 25 or 30 percent come from somewhere else, but but we we have a lot of homelessness here. And uh when do we consider somebody homeless from here? Well, if they've been here for six months or a year, you know, what does it usually take six months to establish residency if you come and you are an upstanding upfront earning money citizen? Um you can become a resident in six months. Um so I I mean, I think the question is just a tough one to answer. And if you talk to anybody anywhere who's in the homeless arena, yeah, um, they'll all say the same thing. People people come from other places, if they're not making it where they are, they leave. They think it's the place, but it's actually them is really what the issue is.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

A lot of time it is. Self-sabotage, whether it's, you know, and sometimes it's mental health issues, but a lot of times you hear that same story over and over again. And it really is an issue, and we just need to I we need to help the people who really need the help that are you can't make somebody get the kind of help that we're offering, and that's one of the struggles that we have. And the help is out there. You have the help. You have the you have, like, you know, Ann was just mentioning, you have the process. We have the process. You have the resources, you have the actual professional help.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

But I think I think we also, and part of this with the development committee, is getting our community more involved. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

And that's why I was asking, what is the attempt or what is going to be the approach to get the buy-in? Because you know, people don't feel comfortable walking around their streets. They're not comfortable. But those people that are on the streets chronically don't want or can't they don't have the mental capacity, they're too deep in their addiction or whatever, to actually they're chronically homeless and they don't want the help. So it's kind of like the buy-in is hard because they kind of sometimes blame those chronic homeless situations they encounter on the organization failing, and that's not actually it. So that's why I wanted to do this segment in the first place was to dispel all of that and to get the public to understand there are so many, and women in particular, that just can't get the help they need. And this women's shelter that is being proposed is like so important. I mean, it really is. I mean, the amount of women that need help.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

I I believe that the community does feel that the women's shelter is important and they're especially vulnerable population, and often it's um not really. Well, and we we are so excited that Ann is going to lead this development committee because so much of what she is working on with the committee is finding or establishing the framework to get people uh engaged, and Anne can address that.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

And that's um through marketing or uh it's a combination of the the group working together to identify individuals that either they know are or um are um in the community working to make a change. And and to address your point about how can we get people to buy in, New Directions is is working and has been working to change the landscape for those that experience homelessness. And the only way that we can do that is for people to be engaged in the community, and the only way change is going to take place is for people in the community to be engaged and and work to help make that change. And that's what the development committee has come together to do, to start working to a identify individuals in the community that will come along and walk alongside of the board of directors, community, other community leaders to take leadership, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

And take ownership of the problem. So, and I get it, it's it's a hard job. It's a it's a hard job. So uh we appreciate what you're you know, you moved here and you're doing something amazing and pitching in, which is awesome. And Ackerman Beard, uh the chair of the development committee for new directions and a new board member. Kathy Jenkins, CEO. Um, you know, we we talk about hard stuff here sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah, you know, everything we do is hard. Yeah. Um we're we're dealing with people who um who are at the worst point in their lives and um trying to help them understand how to make the change and then connect them with the right resources so they can make the change.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah, absolutely. And we've seen that happen. So we know it's possible. Yes. And hope is there, and that hope lives there and starts there. And so um if you want to go to helpnewdirections.org, learn more about it, get involved. If you're a business owner or uh community leader involved in your church, there are ways to get motivated. Um and and actually put some um you know, rubber to the road. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yeah. Helpnewdirections.org. Uh, you can make a donation, you can learn about our volunteer opportunities. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

All right. Well, thank you, ladies. We appreciate it. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Great.