Bobbi Jo Reed
In 2002, Bobbi Jo Reed purchased a home in the historic northeast area of Kansas City. Her goal was to provide transitional housing for women who had completed inpatient substance abuse treatment. As a former addict and alcoholic, Bobbi Jo understood the many challenges faced my men and women in substance use recovery who are trying to transition back into society.
In 2003, Bobbi Jo founded Healing House KC based on the belief that a safe home environment is critical to life-long recovery. At the same time that Bobbi Jo founded Healing House, there were approximately 900 women in Kansas City undergoing inpatient treatment, but only 24 safe residential beds available to them following treatment.
Together, our Leadership Team is dedicated to creating a community where individuals can heal, grow, and thrive.
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-Transcript-
Brad Burrow (00:00:00):
Welcome to In A World with Real Media. I’m your host, Brad Burrow. Today we have an incredible guest who will inspire you to see the power of hope and faith in action. Meet Bobbi Jo Reed, founder of The Healing House, a beacon of hope for those battling addiction and rebuilding their lives. From her own battle with addiction to becoming a mother figure to thousands, Bobbi Jo’s story is nothing short of miraculous. She’s transformed a community, turned despair into purpose, and created a thriving program that helps hundreds of people every single day. Get ready to be inspired by her journey of faith, second chances, and the power of love. Stay tuned. It’s an episode you won’t forget. Welcome to In A World With Real Media. I’m your host, Brad Burrow. In this podcast, we’ll dive into the lives of the most successful people in business. We’ll learn how they overcame adversity, took advantage of opportunities and learned from their experiences.
(00:01:02):
Learn from our experts, get inspired, then go live your story. It’s in a world with real media. Bobbi Jo, thank you for being on the podcast. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I’ve been down to Healing House quite a few times with Fatherhood Foundations. We were talking about that just a little bit earlier and just seeing what is happening down there and it’s just an awesome place. I don’t know. There’s something about it that just feels really good.
(00:01:35):
Another really little side note, my wife grew up in Northeast.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:01:39):
Oh, really?
Brad Burrow (00:01:39):
Yeah. So she grew up not too far from where all the places are
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:01:46):
Down there.
Brad Burrow (00:01:46):
I think it’s literally like three or four blocks to the east.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:01:49):
Oh, really?
Brad Burrow (00:01:50):
There’s a park right there.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:01:51):
Yeah, Bud Park probably. Yes.
Brad Burrow (00:01:53):
So her house, she’d walk out the front door and go to Bud Park.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:01:57):
Oh, that’s incredible. Yeah. I tell you what, the neighborhood I guess was really good back in the day, really family orientated and a lot of the folks moved north of the river and with their houses, rental houses.
Brad Burrow (00:02:10):
Oh, is that what?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:02:11):
Yeah. It got really bad. So when I got there, it was like a war zone. But thank God it’s getting much better now.
Brad Burrow (00:02:19):
Apparently there’s a lot of Italian families that lived in that neighborhood when she was growing up.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:02:23):
Yes, predominantly.
Brad Burrow (00:02:25):
Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:02:25):
And so they retired and moved north of the river and then the rental, all the rentals really did a number.
Brad Burrow (00:02:32):
Yeah. Yeah. It feels like maybe it’s coming back a litle bit. I don’t know. Is it?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:02:37):
It absolutely is. Yeah. When I got there, I’m coming upon 25 years of being there. And when I got there, not three hours would pass without hearing gunshots. Is
Brad Burrow (00:02:49):
That right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:02:50):
And there was pimps and drug dealers, prostitutes, gang members. It was really like a war zone. And now you don’t see any of those folks on St. John on our main street and it’s safe. The moms and the babies and everybody walks back and forth. We don’t have any problems at all. The crime, I had a police officer friend and he said, “What you have done in this community is nothing short of a miracle.” I mean, we still have a few little spots down there that we get some stuff, but nothing like it was.
Brad Burrow (00:03:27):
And they’re saying that to you. That’s amazing.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:03:29):
Oh yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So you’ve
Brad Burrow (00:03:30):
Had an impact on Northeast then.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:03:33):
Oh yeah.
Brad Burrow (00:03:33):
Healing House has made a difference.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:03:35):
Yes. And it’s funny because when I started people are like, “Oh, I don’t want people alcoholics and addicts living near me. ” And I’m like, “But we’re in recovery. There’s a huge difference in somebody in active use and somebody in recovery.” And so throughout the years, people in the neighborhood love us now. I mean, we are great neighbors. Our yards are cared for. We watch out for our neighbors just like we’re supposed to. They watch out for us. We have great relationships with everybody. Property values have like, they’re four times what they used to be. So I’ve almost worked myself out of business.
Brad Burrow (00:04:18):
Yeah. Well, that’s a good problem.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:04:19):
Yeah. Yes.
Brad Burrow (00:04:21):
Yeah, that’s exactly right. Well, I know the times that I’ve been down there, because I’ve sat in on some of the classes with Fatherhood Foundations and the times that I’ve been down there and we get to eat dinner.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:04:33):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (00:04:33):
We’d show up and have dinner with everybody and it just felt just had a really good feeling.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:04:39):
People come down to volunteer or to do service work. And what I’ve found is most of the people that come down there, they say, “I thought I was coming down here to give you guys something.” But I’m the one that receives something and I got to give the Holy Spirit credit for that because God’s present, His presence is so abundant there. And so I have 56 employees and 48 of the 56 have came through our program and now work there and run the place basically. We’re very peer orientated, but what that means is the passion and the servant’s heart. And so it just brings on, it’s not clinical. I mean, we all understand because we’ve walked in those shoes and so we all get one another and overwhelming sense of community.
Brad Burrow (00:05:39):
That’s powerful too. I mean, going through it and then being able to help
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:05:43):
Somebody else
Brad Burrow (00:05:44):
Learn from your experience.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:05:45):
It’s empowering. I used to have a friend that said, “Let your pain become your passion and your mess become your message.” And boy, have I done that throughout the years. They all call me mom. And so they’re my kids and I’m so proud of all of them. They’re remarkable human beings. They’re not bad people. They made bad choices and got caught in addiction, but they are amazing, amazing folks.
Brad Burrow (00:06:20):
Yeah. And you can feel it down there. So I want to talk a little bit, and I know you’ve probably, I was thinking about this, you’ve probably done lots of these types of things where you’ve told your story, but I know that our audience has heard your story. Oh, okay. So can you tell me just a little bit about your background growing up and kind of what led you down the path that ended up getting you into addiction?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:06:42):
Of course. So I’m the baby of the family and the only girl, I got two older brothers. My dad was a Kansas City, Kansas police officer. Is that
Brad Burrow (00:06:52):
Right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:06:52):
Yeah. Wow. For 37 years. And so he was a police officer. He always worked two jobs. So I didn’t know my dad very, to be honest with you. He was gone a lot. He was gone. And I had a mother and now I look back and I know that my mother suffered with depression and some mental health issues throughout the years. And it seems like back I was born in 61 in the ’70s there seems that a lot of housewives were on quote diet pills
(00:07:26):
And then they had anxiety so they were also on Valium. And so my mom ended up having a prescription, a pretty significant prescription pill addiction, but we were workers. My dad was one of those, he started working a young age. We all did. So I started working a full-time job at 12. Now- At 12, huh? At 12. Wow. At the old save-on store, if you can remember it in Kansas, there was a blue law in Missouri so that was the only store open on Sundays. Everybody would come there to shop. But I started working full-time. I started hanging. Now I had a speech impediment coming up and I was always a chubby kid. So when I started working, I started hanging out with older kids and they drank and 12 was the first time I drank and I got drunk and I thought I have arrived for the first time.
(00:08:23):
I thought I was the comedian. I was sexy. Sexy as a 12-year-old can be, right? Yeah. And that I fit in with the other kids, the older kids. And I thought, “Man, this is good. This is the secret sauce I’ve been missing, right?” And so I continued on from that time on. Now in my family, we all worked jobs. We all lived under the same roof but were very siloed. Everybody had their own life going on. And so yeah, my folks just weren’t paying a lot of attention, honestly. So I started drinking at 13 I remember that’s when that alcohol was my answer. So I know now that whenever you start using drugs or alcohol addictively, that’s when your developmental and coping skills stop developing. So you can be wrapped in a 50 year old body with the coping skills of a 12 year old.
Brad Burrow (00:09:25):
Because they never developed.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:09:27):
You never developed the developmental skills you need just to survive in life. And so I did lots of … When I was drinking very heavily, when I was 15 I was in a car accident, my friend was driving alcohol involved. We went off an overpass highway and ended up on the highway below and my back was fractured in three places. Oh, wow. I had three compressed fractures in my back and then also in my neck. And so the next year I was in a metal body brace on Librium, Valium and Darvocet, all three of those three times a day, drinking like crazy. My first intimate experience was in my back brace. It was a rape. One week before my 16th birthday I was at a party and so as things happened to me, I just went deeper and deeper into my addictions. I became pregnant.
(00:10:34):
My folks sent me to go have an abortion and I remember when that was going on, first off it was very painful, but it was emotionally painful and I took a lot of painkillers that day or equalludes is what we used to call them. And I came home and not anyone in my family said a word to me. I went to my room and that was the end of that.
Brad Burrow (00:11:04):
Did they know that you had had an abortion?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:11:06):
Yeah. They sent me to go have it, but we never discussed it. And so after that I went deeper and my addiction became pretty promiscuous after that and just kept spiraling out of control. And I won’t go through all the sort of stories, but I ended up at the worst of my addiction. I was being unconscious in what we call trap houses where there’s no lights or no running water and I would be drunk and passed out in one of those and police would kick in and I was embarrassing my dad like crazy so I couldn’t stop drinking. So I thought, “Well, I’ll just go over on the other side to Kansas City, Missouri and I’ll just finish this off.” But I lived and a lot of bad things happened to me. I ended up getting trafficked and he was a very brutal man and he would beat me severely and when he’d mess up my face and I couldn’t make him money, of course he didn’t want nothing to do with me and I’d end up sleeping under like the box on the back of a semi parked next to a liquor store and that’s where I’d sleep and I couldn’t do day labor and I was so physically addicted then I just needed a drink so badly and went for a lot of bad things.
(00:12:44):
One day I needed a drink, I shake it out of my skin and some guys said, “Can you cook?” And I said, “Yeah, I’m a good cook.” And they said, “We’re going to have a barbecue.” So I’m thinking, they just shared some Mad Dog 2020 with me and I was getting the shakes off and they said, “We’re going to have a barbecue. Will you come cook?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” So I go with them thinking I’m going to get my alcohol fixed for the day. And they said, “We’re taking a shortcut.” And they took me down by some railroad tracks and there were four men, three of them decided that they were going to rape and kill me there and they cut the bottom of my feet open and on took off, but three raped me and then I had no shirt on. They had torn my shirt off.
(00:13:28):
The zipper was torn out of my pants and I survived the attack at the railroad track. So they took me with them and kept me at a track house up on I- 70 and 23rd Street in Kansas City, Missouri for the next two days beating me, riping me. And I could hear that they were talking about what they were going to do with my body. They planned on killing me and I escaped from them. It was just so many bad things happen to women in particularly homeless women with addiction. I mean, there’s a lot of trauma involved, but let’s get to the good stuff. There was so much and a lot of that’s in the movie, Bobbi Jo Under the Influence, but I ended up getting diagnosed with something called Crohn’s disease.
Brad Burrow (00:14:20):
I’m
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:14:21):
Familiar with
Brad Burrow (00:14:21):
That.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:14:22):
Okay. So I started taking a lot of medication. I got off the streets and started living with a guy. I’m trying to think. I took 23 pills a day. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, Crohn’s, all the stuff, right? And so I became a binge drinker at that point because I was too sick, right? Yeah.
(00:14:47):
So I would try to take the pills and I’d go on a little binge. But what I did at that time in my life to compensate my income was I would bake things like banana nut breads, zucchini bread, cookies and fudge and I’d do bake goods and I’d take them out to the outdoor fleet market and I’d sell them. And so I ended up getting to a downtown detox in Kansas City, Missouri. It was like 18 bunk beds in a pretty small room, unventilated, a bunch of really sick people because you’re very sick when you detox. I laid in that bed for five days shaking out of my skin and I ended up … And when I was in that detox, it was in the basement of a building and I remember I felt so gross and there was no toothbrushes and no toothpaste and no, you couldn’t even wash up no soap or noth.
(00:15:44):
And so when I did that and then I got into treatment and then I started going to AA, but I went back to my baked goods and I started thinking I found people out there that had the little hotel bars of soap and the little small toothpaste and toothbrushes. So I’d take some of my earnings at the flea market and I’d buy hygiene products and then any baked goods I’d have leftover from selling that day I would take those things down to that detox because I remember those people right. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah.
(00:16:19):
And that’s where God- They probably
Brad Burrow (00:16:20):
Loved it too, didn’t
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:16:21):
They? Oh my gosh, you would’ve thought I was giving them a million dollars. I mean, they were so ecstatic over just little basic stuff. And then I’d have whatever little homemade baked goods and I’d share those with them. And at first I did it because it made me feel good, but then it just became the next right thing to do and helping people. I had been an empty shell my whole life. I’ve been a truck driver, I’ve been a florist, I’ve been a cosmetologist, many, many things I have been. But when I started helping other people and pouring myself out into other people, it made room inside of me for God to fill me up. And for the first time in my life, I was 34 years old, I thought maybe there’s something I’m good at. Maybe there is a purpose for my life. I didn’t really have a relationship with God at that point, but I knew something was changing.
Brad Burrow (00:17:17):
So you can look back and see that he was starting to move in your life, but you didn’t
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:17:22):
Recognize it at the time? 100%. 100%. I got sober a month. My dad retired from the Kansas City Police Department after 37 years. Nine months later, we had a 61st birthday party and the next day my mom called me and said my dad was dead and my dad was always my hero. And at that point he had just been retired nine months. I was just getting to know my dad and I tried to drink myself to death. That was before I got sober. I tried to drink myself to death and a month to the day of my dad dying, I got sober and six months into my recovery, my mom was rediagnosed with ovarian cancer. And so for three and a half years I was able to take care of my mother. God knows she had taken care of me off and on my whole
(00:18:19):
Life. And so I was able to care for her and I had started going to church, not because I wanted to go to church, but I was dating a guy. I had a little house and I was dating this guy and he kept relapsing and smoking crack. And so I would kick him out. Well, he started going to this ministry that had a house for men and they were taking homeless men out of the street that had addictions and helping them. And so we would have our calls back and forth and it seemed like he was getting better at this church and this house. And I thought, golly, I better hurry up and do something. I don’t want one of those church girls to get my crack head just in case he gets better, right? I had time investment. So anyway, so he said, “Well, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to be together because we’re not equally yoked.” And I’m like, “What does that mean?” And he’s like- He didn’t know
Brad Burrow (00:19:14):
What that meant at
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:19:15):
The time. I didn’t have a clue. So he’s like, “You don’t go to church and I do. ” This was just a brief stint for him, but God knew what it took to get me to the church and I started going and …
Brad Burrow (00:19:29):
Doesn’t matter how you go, right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:19:30):
Yep, right. And I did it. I went for the praise and worship part, but then I went to an AA meeting when the preacher started preaching and we were supposed to have something on New Year’s Eve, a get together, a church get together. And my mom passed away on December 30th of 1998. And so I was over, I was out trying to get an urn for my mom’s ashes and anyway, my other two roommates had relapsed. My boyfriend was there and when I came back from getting the urn on New Year’s Eve, he was gone and I though surely he wouldn’t leave me right now Maybe he’s at the church. So I drove out to our church and he was not there. He was out getting high. And I remember my dad had just died three and a half years before. My other two roommates had relapsed.
(00:20:26):
Ted was out smoking crack again apparently. And when I walked in that church, it felt like my heart dropped down in my gut and I just started bawling and I had nothing to anesthetize myself with at this point. I mean, I felt empty like the bottom dropped out. And I went back home to my house, me, the cat and the dog, and I started praying to God and I asked God not to let me go back where I came from and to please lead and direct me and show me what to do. I mean, I was crying
Brad Burrow (00:21:02):
Wailings in.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:21:03):
Crying out to God and I meant it and I fell asleep praying to God and when I woke up January 1st of 1999, for the first time in my life, I knew everything was going to be okay. You just
Brad Burrow (00:21:19):
Had peace.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:21:20):
Peace. I didn’t know at the time that it was the Holy Spirit that had taken up residents in me, but it became very evident. I kicked the crackhead boyfriend to the curb. I came into an inheritance. I bought my mom’s house from my brothers. My mom was a hoarder. It took me three and a half years, four 40 yard dumpsters to get the house cleaned out. Is
Brad Burrow (00:21:48):
That right? Wow.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:21:48):
And to get it all fixed up and I’m driving back and forth. That was out of 81st and parallel driving back and forth because I’m sponsoring and helping a lot of people at that same treatment center that I had went through.
Brad Burrow (00:22:01):
So you were already impacting people
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:03):
There? Oh yeah. I started helping people from …
Brad Burrow (00:22:06):
Well, what did that mean sponsoring you?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:08):
In the 12 steps, you get somebody that helps you go through the 12 steps, guides you through daily life decisions. If you’re struggling, you call them instead of picking up a drink You go to meetings together, you learn to socialize and do things. They’re kind of your life guide, your sobriety life guide.
Brad Burrow (00:22:27):
So you had several-
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:29):
Oh, 17. Is
Brad Burrow (00:22:30):
That
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:31):
Right? Wow. 17 women I was working
Brad Burrow (00:22:34):
With
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:35):
And it became my life. So I’m fixing up my mom’s house, get it all fixed. And at that point I knew I was supposed to help women because I carried the message, the 12 step message to a lot of places. I figured out there were 900 women going through inpatient treatment in Kansas City every year.
Brad Burrow (00:22:56):
How did you find that out?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:22:57):
Because I started adding up all the treatment centers, how many women were at each treatment center for 30 days, because that was the thing, 30 days. So I added up all the math and figured out exactly how many women were going through treatment. It was 900 annually and there were less than 30 beds for women to go to safe housing after they got out of the 30 … 30 days is a drop in the bucket. I drank and used drugs for 22 years. I’m not fixed in 30 days. And so the Lord had started putting on my heart I need to do something to help women, single women in particularly because people had compassion towards women with children, but not so much for single women. I came into an inheritance and stock market crashed. I was down to $50,000 and my AA group was in an area called Northeast.
(00:23:59):
And so there was an old nursing home over there and it was abandoned and I was so attracted to this old nursing home and it was a hot mess. Windows were knocked out, doors were kicked in, but God kept gravitating me towards this place. You’re just
Brad Burrow (00:24:16):
Thinking about it?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:24:17):
Oh yeah. And there was realtors I knew it was big and there was realtor sign outside, but every time I tried to call it, the voicemail was, it was full. I couldn’t even leave a message. I’m like, “Man, I only got $50,000 left.” And this is how God is. So
Brad Burrow (00:24:37):
This is all you had left then?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:24:39):
50,000. Yeah. That’s it. That’s all I had. But I had my house that I had fixed up and paid my brothers off for it. But as soon as I got it done, it was like God patted me on my shoulder and said, “Great job now sell it and move to the hood.” And I mean that’s strongly and I’m like, “Wait a minute, God, I just worked my tail off for three and a half years. This house is paid off.” And you want me
Brad Burrow (00:25:08):
To do what?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:25:09):
Yeah. You want me to do what? And so- It’s like
Brad Burrow (00:25:11):
Build an arc.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:25:12):
Yeah. People thought I was crazy. And so one day I went to go look at a house around the corner from the old nursing home and it was not set up right. I’d called Edward Jones and told him to send me the check for the 50,000. And so I went to go look at this other house around the corner and it went to set up right, couldn’t help enough women. I was discouraged. When I went back to my car, I said, “Lord, you know I’m impatient when you want me to have something key, please just drop it in my lap.”
Brad Burrow (00:25:45):
I’d like to have that too,
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:25:45):
By the way. Yes, yes. And so I turned the corner and now I’m on the side street of that old nursing home. Real estate agent is walking up the steps at that very moment with two other people. So I parked my car really quick and I run up there. I’m like, “Can I come see too?” And she’s like, “Well, I don’t care if they don’t care.” We go in, doors kicked in, old chicken wire windows, if you know what those are,
(00:26:11):
But they were hanging by the wire because windows were broke out. It had dark wood paneling in it. It had been vacant a year and a half and still wreaked cigarette smoke and urine. Anybody else would have walked in and said, “Oh no.” But the minute I walked in, the Holy Spirit just started leaping saying, “This is it, this is it. ” And it was a train wreck, let me tell you, 23 room house, guess what the asking price was? $50,000. Oh my gosh. The same amount. Is that right? I had come in in the mail in two days.
Brad Burrow (00:26:44):
Wow.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:26:45):
And so I put a deposit check down at that very moment and I started working on it. Did
Brad Burrow (00:26:51):
You tell them right on the spot this
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:26:52):
Yes? I said, “Yeah, I want to put a deposit down on this. Yes. And I’ll have my money.” But then I knew, uh-oh, wait a minute, I’m going to have to get a loan to fix this place up because it was awful. So I knew I’d have to do that because I wasn’t sure at that time, but I figured I was going to have to sell my mom and dad’s house. So I started working on it before I ever got it. I figured they can’t arrest me for cleaning because it took time for everything to go through. To close and everything. Yeah. Yeah. So I started going in there working on it. There’d be homeless people in the bottom of the house. I’d go in the front door, I’d stomp really loud, “Come on, Bob. Come on, Bill.” There’s a whole crew of us, me and the Holy Spirit, but I wanted to scare them out the bottom of the house.
(00:27:40):
So I lost 60 pounds working on that house. Is that right? I worked 18 hours a day and I call that God juice. He gives us the ability to do supernatural things. And so I started working on it. I got the loan. I remember they said, “We can’t give you a loan. There’s a nurse’s station in the front room.” And I’m like, “Well, give me an hour and a sledgehammer and it won’t be there.” And I sure did. I knocked the nurses station down and I took it out the front door. Why
Brad Burrow (00:28:14):
Would that make it?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:28:16):
Yeah, they said that they couldn’t give me a-
Brad Burrow (00:28:20):
Like a permit or something or?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:28:21):
No, for a residence. A regular residence because it was commercial. They said, “We can’t give you a homeowner’s loan. It’s commercial.” So I said, “It won’t be soon.” So I got rid of that darn thing and started working on it, got my house on the market to finish making all the repairs. The girls started, I got in November and my first girl came New Year’s Eve night.
Brad Burrow (00:28:49):
Is that right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:28:50):
And we had a big New Year’s Eve party in that house, party with no alcohol or drugs. And Satan is such a liar though. So two months after I got that and all the women are coming to the recovery house, the dope dealer moves in right next door. Is
Brad Burrow (00:29:06):
That right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:29:07):
Yes. Sells dope brandishes his pistol to us. He’s running eight prostitutes out of the house selling drugs. He brought female gang members from Chicago to try to scare me out of the house. I mean, I had a crazy lady with a machete trying to pop my car tires in my parking lot. Oh my
Brad Burrow (00:29:28):
Gosh.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:29:29):
It was so crazy. I remember I invited my brothers over for Thanksgiving dinner and across the street there were some guys with AK47, so they’d get drunk and shoot them out the window and my family’s coming. They’re from nice neighborhoods. And so I march over there, nothing says happy Thanksgiving like automatic gunfire. So I go over there and I start Or yelling at him, “No, Pistola. No, stop.” And so they stopped shooting the guns before my family got there. But at first when the dope man would pull his pistol out, I’d call the police and the police would come, he’d go in the house and just not answer the door and things would escalate. I mean, it was awful. It was scary. And so I thought, “Well, I better call on a higher authority.” So I claimed the dope man’s house in Jesus’ name. A year and a half later, the dope man started using his own product and the house became vacant.
(00:30:42):
I had done some AA and recovery functions in the backyard there and I’d met a couple. He was in AA and she was in Al-Anon and they called me out of the blue and said, “Well, you meet us at Perkins for dinner.” And they were an old couple. And I’m like, “Well, yeah.” I go over there and she said, “We’re not Christians. We’re not crazy. We don’t go to church.” And she said, “Me and my husband have been married for 40 years and we haven’t slept together in 25 years.” And I’m thinking, “Goodnight, Irene. Where’s this going? It’s getting a little creepy. I don’t care.” And she said, “I’m telling you that to tell you that my husband said God woke him up.” It was two o’clock in the morning. God woke a non-believer up and told him to give me the money for the dope man’s house.
(00:31:34):
God said give, they loaned, but that’s okay. Yeah. So I got the dope man’s house. So the first house I got for 50 when I got done, it appraised for 194,000, which gave me something called equity. So these people loaned me the money and they donated part of it. But once I got that house for 37,000 and when I got done, it appraised for 186,000. Is
Brad Burrow (00:31:58):
That right? Wow.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:31:59):
More equity. Then I had women come in that were pregnant and I had no room for them. So there was an abandoned apartment building a block away and I’m peeking in the window thinking, “Why isn’t anybody do anything?” Well, I found out who owned it and I called a guy and the equity I had from the other properties, I was able to get a 14 one bedroom apartment building.
Brad Burrow (00:32:23):
Is that right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:32:23):
Yeah. And so the women would come to the house when they’d go to the hospital to have their baby. I would go to the thrift stores because I’m a person. I want pictures. I want curtains. Everything needs to be matching. And so they would come home from the hospital with their new baby to a fully furnished apartment. So I had these young mothers over there, but then I had some older ladies in my program that had started drinking later in life after they became empty nesters. And they’re like, “We don’t want to live in the main houses with all these crazy girls. What about us getting an apartment over there?” And they had already raised families.
Brad Burrow (00:33:02):
I’m
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:33:03):
Like- Mentoring. Mentoring, mommy mentors. So some of these older ladies moved over there and it just became its own 14 one bedroom community of people, these older ladies loving on the children and teaching the mamas and, “Hey, I’m going to the store. Does anybody need anything?” And it became its own community. I will have to fast forward. Where are we at on top of that? You’re doing great. You’re doing great.
Brad Burrow (00:33:35):
Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:33:35):
Okay. I have
Brad Burrow (00:33:36):
Some other questions for you, but you’re doing
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:33:37):
Awesome. Okay. So wow. So we have 17 homes now. We have 30 apartment buildings, not 30 apartment buildings, 30 apartments. We have a strip mall that we have businesses in. We have a recovery center. We have a treatment center. We are the first peer ran organization to ever get CARF accreditation and C Star accreditation. It’s never happened before and we did it. So you can ask me your questions. I can tell the whole story. I just love it. Yeah,
Brad Burrow (00:34:17):
That’s awesome. It’s
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:18):
Really awesome. So
Brad Burrow (00:34:19):
Passionate. And the equity, the
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:22):
Whole
Brad Burrow (00:34:23):
Equity story.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:24):
Yes. I mean,
Brad Burrow (00:34:24):
Look at now. I
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:26):
Know. I mean- It’s crazy to me. It’s crazy to me. I mean, I’ve never been a business person. Matter of fact, when I started, the first banker I went to did not give me a loan and he said, “You have the very worst business plan I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Brad Burrow (00:34:43):
He told you that?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:43):
He did. But shame on him because we’ve done pretty doggone good.
Brad Burrow (00:34:49):
You’ve got a great team now.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:50):
It’s
Brad Burrow (00:34:51):
Carl and Lise.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:52):
Incredible.
Brad Burrow (00:34:53):
Yeah. Incredible. I did a shot of video with Lise
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:34:56):
That’s
Brad Burrow (00:34:56):
Going to be for the Fatherhood Foundation. Her story is amazing.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:00):
She’s amazing. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (00:35:01):
Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:01):
Amazing girl.
Brad Burrow (00:35:02):
Carl,
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:04):
You
Brad Burrow (00:35:04):
Got a great team.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:05):
Yes, I do. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to serve with. They’re incredible.
Brad Burrow (00:35:12):
Well, so one of the things I wanted to ask you, I don’t want to dwell on it too much, but addiction, you’re filling a hole with other things but God.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:24):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (00:35:25):
And obviously you didn’t know that at the time probably. You didn’t
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:28):
Even
Brad Burrow (00:35:28):
Realize that. But looking back on that, your story is so amazing. It’s like would you change things because it made you who you are, but at the same time you were feeling that hole of something that God wanted to be filling.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:35:46):
I tell my kids and everybody that will listen to me. I believe we all are born with the godhole in the middle of our being and people feel it. If you think about it, a child, a new toy, but then that toy, the newness of that wears off and then it’s a bicycle or maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend or a car
(00:36:11):
Or a house. The newness of everything wears off and it’s not as shiny as it used to be. We will always fill a void until we put God in the center of our being. I was a person that I thought I had to have a man or be in a relationship. I’m telling you what, once God has centered into my life, every void I have not felt lonely, not one day. Now I would be lying if I would say that I have never felt discouraged. I have felt that and anger sometimes. Things happen in our lives, but the thing I know is God is with me. So when I’m going through those trials, he’s brought me from hell, literally. And I know that he’s with me. So whatever if I’m going through challenging times, which we have plenty because we’re a not- for-profit and we barely get by, but I know that he’s going to provide our needs and sometimes I don’t get what I want and that’s okay.
(00:37:26):
I’ve learned to, okay, God, you want to take me a different direction. But I’m telling you what, he has filled every part of me. One thing about people that have chose at first chose, because we lose the power of choice, cross this invisible line of partying or having a good time. There’s this invisible line that you become addicted. Actually, the chemistry in your brain changes, right? Right. And so you lose the power of choice. It’s a need, not a want anymore. It becomes a need. And of course it’s physically addicting too. It’s a trifle disease, mental, spiritual, and physical. And the physical part is the easiest part. Then we got to deal with my feelings and my thinking. And if I don’t have faith in something other than myself, I’ve let myself down for 22 years, right? Yeah, right. I got to have something greater than that.
(00:38:33):
The thing is we have felt uncomfortable inside our own skin. Usually when you find that drug or that alcohol, maybe it just loosens you up enough to think, “Oh man, I can breathe. I’m going to be okay.” And then that very thing that has gave you this sense of relief and takes you to hell and back. And then once we go through that, we find that God is the true comforter and for eternity, the alpha and the omega, the beginning, the beginning and the end. And once you put God in that godhole, you’re okay. You’re okay in mind, body and spirit.
Brad Burrow (00:39:17):
Yeah. The people that are coming into Healing House, I mean, they’re coming
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:39:22):
From
Brad Burrow (00:39:23):
Backgrounds similar to yours.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:39:24):
Yes. Faith is not even- They haven’t
Brad Burrow (00:39:27):
Even thought about it, right? Most of
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:39:28):
Them. Right. And I don’t care. Come as you are, baby. I love- And they
Brad Burrow (00:39:33):
Probably love that, don’t they?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:39:34):
Oh, they do. Because you know what? I don’t have to shove a Bible down nobody’s throat. You know what? I’m going to love you like you’ve never been loved before and you’re going to come to know Christ as you come to know me and all the other people that God has assembled here. You know that old saying, I could show you better, I can tell you. The love, that’s what I hear nonstop. People will tell me, which is this kind of a sad comment, but it’s also a blessing to me. People say, “I have never been loved like this in my
Brad Burrow (00:40:11):
Life.” Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:40:13):
That’s a shame. They haven’t experienced love like that, but a lot of our people come from a lot of dysfunctional backgrounds, right? Probably
Brad Burrow (00:40:21):
Most of them,
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:40:22):
Wouldn’t you
Brad Burrow (00:40:22):
Say?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:40:23):
Well, not all. I mean- A lot of them. It’s a variety, but a lot have dysfunctional in one way or another. And for them to come to know the love of Christ, that love is what hooks people and gives them a thirst because when you’re coming in off the street and you’re coming from that dog eat dog world out there, which that’s our world anymore. Let’s face it. People are focused on what they want, right? Yeah. We’ve lost our courtesy and our manners and our … A man opened the door for me today. I’m like, “Shivery is still alive. Thank you, sir.” We have forgot to be human, I think, sometimes. But for people just to know that they’re cared for and that they matter and they have value and worth. So I decorate every one of our homes and fear covers our life and our addiction.
(00:41:24):
And so if you walk into one of our homes, you’ll walk in, there’s a big comfy couch there. It’s all decorated. Things are matching, of course. You’re going to go into a beautiful room that’s all coordinated with a good mattress and fresh linens and it’s a beautiful home. And you can walk in and you can plop yourself down on that couch and maybe you can breathe for the first time in years because you’re safe and you’re in this beautiful home. People tell me that, “I’ve never lived in such a beautiful home before.”
(00:42:00):
God didn’t make no junk. He didn’t tell us to give people our leftovers. He said, “Share our best.” And so just to create a space where people know their value and their worth and they can feel the love and the safety because you have to feel safe to even start the healing journey from addiction That’s number one. You got to take care of all the basic needs, but safety is huge for people trying to come out of addiction.
Brad Burrow (00:42:34):
And that’s probably one of the things that drives addiction, right? Fear and feeling scared that-
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:42:40):
Fear of not being good enough. Fear of not being alike. Fear and addiction go hand in hand. And so the opposite of fear is face everything and recover instead of fear.
Brad Burrow (00:42:54):
Yeah. So tell me about the program at Healing House, because I’ve heard it called a Gap program by some people. Describe it, Bob.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:43:04):
People you say, “Oh, you run the halfway houses?” I’m like, “Halfway to where? No, that’s not it. ”
(00:43:10):
So people come with whatever they have. Usually everything they own in Price Shoppers Act, a lot of them come with no identification. They come as they are first thing, “I’m going to give them hygienes, full size hygienes.” And clothing, if they need clothing, we’re going to take them to their home, show them their new bedroom, introduce them. Every house has a house mom or house dad and they are people that have came through our program and now live there and work there with … They live there with them on site. So we’ll start right away. We’ll start like my staff, bunch of peers. So they can see pretty quickly, does this person have physical needs we need to address? Are there any wounds or are there any psychiatric issues going on that need a dress? Yeah. So we assess them, get them. We have transportation.
(00:44:08):
We get them IDs. We get them social security cards. We get them to doctors, whatever kind of doctor they might need. We get them free healthcare set up. A lot of these people to get prescription refills, they use the emergency room. They don’t have a healthcare provider. They haven’t been doing that for years. A lot of them are very sick when they get to us. So we just start right there. You’re coming in with clothes on your back. Let’s get started. And they come in and there’s no light behind their eyes and you can see the brokenness and the hopelessness. And I’m telling you, they start getting a good … We have dinner, we serve there as you know, and lunches and we have food at the houses. And so all of a sudden they’re getting a good night’s rest. They feel safe. They’re starting to eat again.
(00:45:02):
They got clean clothes on. We have groups from 7:30 in the morning till 7:30 in the evening, right? So very busy and that’s really good for people coming out of it. You want to stay busy. You got to stay busy. And so we have life skills. We have parenting classes. We have healing from sexual assault. We have GED classes. We have computer lab. We have a full-time employment specialist. I’ve looked throughout the years of obstacles for people, barriers for their recovery journey because all of a sudden you get sober and they say, Go here and do this, go here and do that, go over there and do that. And I’m like, I’m just trying to stay sober today, people. This is overwhelming. So
(00:45:49):
I tell my kids, God has laid out a huge, beautiful buffet line right here for you. You need to get everything, be greedy, gather every tool, every skill, everything that you need. It’s right there. It’s laid out for you. And so I see that barriers and having to go to multiple places to accomplish things. I mean, we don’t do medications. We are a treatment center now, but we do not do … And I’m going to get there. Prescriptions. I’m going to get a doctor and a dentist. I bet you will. I am. I’m claiming a free medical and dental clinic for my community as a whole. So we just walk along their side and we hold them up until they can stand on their own two feet. But I want my goal is I want people to be able to stand on their own. I want them to get employed and have purposeful lives.
(00:46:51):
And if you’ve got children, if you’re not seeing them right now, you get paying child support, cleaning up the wreckage, we’re going to help them clean up the wreckage of the past become where they can pay rent somewhere because I want them to walk out of there knowing how to live life, right?
Brad Burrow (00:47:11):
Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:47:12):
I don’t want to enable them. I call a circle of despair. We’ve got some homeless places where people just go around in this circle in our city and it’s a circle of hopelessness and despair. Where’s the way out? So if you come to us, you are going to get a job, you’re going to work or do community service 20 hours a week. You are going to learn to live life. I’ve had people come and say, “Oh, I can’t walk a block down the street.” Well, honey, you’re going to have to if you’re hungry. And you know what? They end up … It’s empowering people to know what they can do because for so long they haven’t felt like they can do anything. So we’re going to equip them to do
Brad Burrow (00:47:56):
That. That’s awesome. So we were talking before we started about fatherhood foundations and I’ve known Pastor Don for a long, long time.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:48:04):
They’re awesome.
Brad Burrow (00:48:05):
And what he’s doing has been on his heart to do for a long, long time. And in the last few years, he’s been able to start doing that. Yes. So I’ve sat in on several classes at Healing House and I’m just observing, kind of watching and learning. And what I noticed is that all the men in the class that I were in were really like wanted to learn. They were hungry to hear what he was saying and light bulbs are coming on. You want me to talk to my wife how? Yeah. That kind of thing. And things that were just foreign to them that a lot of people kind of know. Or if you were raised in a good family and you know how a father treats a wife and all those things that they’d never seen. And to me, it’s like giving them, they’re getting a hand up to take that next step.
(00:49:01):
And that’s what Healing House feels like to me, right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:49:04):
That’s what it is. That’s what it is. It’s like they want
Brad Burrow (00:49:05):
It. They want that. They want to grab hold.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:49:08):
I mean, most people are not mandated to come to us and they’re thirsty. They start getting a little taste and they keep seeing people happy around them and people were telling them we love them. And they’re like, wait a minute, you don’t even know me. How do you love me? We know you. You’re us. Well, we love you. You’re at the right place. And they start getting this self … And you just see that light come on behind their eyes. They start believing and they’re thirsty to want to learn how to live life because you know what? In our addiction, I can tell you this. I was engaged five times and I never … I believed I knew what love was. I believed I was in love all five times. I think I love diamonds really. But anyway, I never end up getting married. But the thing is until I came to know the love of Christ, I was clueless what love looked like because the love of God and Christ, it’s totally different, right?
(00:50:18):
I mean, the fruits of the spirit and the things that are not of the spirit, the things that are not of the spirit, jealousy, envy, strife, all that, that’s how I used to think I love people and come to find out I had it all backwards. It’s totally different. And when you come to know this, you can’t be in a relationship a good healthy … I mean, a lot of people have not had a good example around them so they want to learn how to do this. How do I become a good dad? How do I become a good mother?
(00:50:58):
You know what? Here’s the thing. When people get to us, we don’t even know what we like to eat when we get there because food has not been a priority, right? Think about it. A person in addiction, what hobbies do you have? What’s a hobby? We have been so- Focused on. … drowning in our addiction, no social skills, right? No work ethics. I mean, there’s a whole lot of nothingness there. And so we really have such a blessed opportunity to help mold and shape people to be brand new. We were washed clean and we became a new creation through Jesus Christ.
Brad Burrow (00:51:41):
You say that. I think about being down there and I feel like this is where Jesus would be.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:51:45):
Yes, it is. It does. It feels like that. I feel that too. I’m like, you guys, because I had the hardest time believing that God would want anything to do with somebody like me. I was a liar, cheap, thief, prostitute. I thought I was the scum of the earth, right? It’s what I thought. I went a year and a half without looking at myself in a mirror because I became an it and I really didn’t … I would be so angry when I’d come to and I’d think, why can’t I just die? Well, God had a plan for my life, but at that time I was so void and to think now and I thought, why would God want anything to do with somebody like me? And then when I came to know the Lord and Jesus, Jesus came for people. Jesus hung out with people just like us.
(00:52:42):
And that’s what I tell my kids, don’t you know Jesus would be down here hanging with us? Yeah. I mean, we’re his peeps, right?
Brad Burrow (00:52:49):
That’s exactly right.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:52:52):
I mean, it’s the truth because he said, “I didn’t come for the hilt. I came for the sick.” And we would have been the folks he hung with and to really get in your mind that you are forgiven and you are washed clean and that you are a new creation and to really believe that. And one of the biggest things is learning to forgive ourselves because we’ve created despair and chaos all around us and it seems like we’re really just awful people. We were just really awful addiction in our addiction and we did a lot of things that we regret, but to come out of that and know you’re forgiven for it, that doesn’t make all the things we did right. We still created havoc in people’s lives, but you know what? To know that I can be forgiven and I can come out of this new on the other side and I call them all my kids.
(00:53:52):
I tell them, “I don’t care what you were doing yesterday. That doesn’t matter to me. What are we going to do today?”
Brad Burrow (00:53:59):
Yeah, that’s great.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:54:00):
And it’s about what we do today and to be servants in our community. We do a lot of stuff in our community. One of the biggest gifts I could give my kids is to know the Lord, but also to have servants’ hearts and because that’s how I was saved. I’m telling you what and I tell them, what does it say in the word? Pour yourself out like a drink offering and then God will refill you. And that’s a gift to be given to have that kind of servant’s heart and want to pour into other people. That’s what God calls us to do anyway, all of us.
Brad Burrow (00:54:41):
Yeah, that’s awesome. Yeah. So one of the questions I had for you, you’re talking about the moment when you accepted Christ, was that healing for you instantaneously? Did you feel like, or was it over time?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:54:56):
It was over time. I knew the fear when I woke up on January 1st of 1999, the fear was gone and I had been scared my whole life, but I woke up that morning and I didn’t feel frightened and my mom had just died and I didn’t feel scared and I had asked him to lead and direct my life. And by golly, he started doing that. I mean, I was making decisions that I normally wouldn’t had. I had been with that guy that smoked crack for two and a half years at that point through almost three, but I started making different moves than what I would have.
Brad Burrow (00:55:38):
And you recognized that you
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:55:40):
Felt differently? Well, yeah, but I couldn’t pinpoint it, right? Yeah. And when I look back now, I know that he had done exactly what I’d asked him to lead and direct my life. And so he started taking control and that’s not to say we still don’t have self-will because sometimes I’m like, “But God, I want it. ” And he would like- That’s a daily thing, right? I get a visual of a nun with a ruler and a little kid getting him back in line with the ruler on the tail end and it was like God would get me like, “Uh-uh, Bobbi Jo, get back over there.” And I would get back in line. I mean, I became faithful to him because he was so faithful to me.
(00:56:28):
I tell you what, I look back now and I know my whole life when people say, “Oh, I don’t get that God thing. The whole thing’s a God thing.” I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for God and although he gives us free self-will and I was out there and a lot of bad things happened, that doesn’t mean that was God’s will for me. I was in my will and once I’ve turned that over and submitted and it submitted or surrendering sounds like, oh, we can … I’m telling you what, surrendering. Submitting to God is the most powerful thing in the world because then he takes control and it’s amazing. It’s a defeat to the world, but it’s … Wow. It’s changed my life. It’s changed everything about me. It’s the person I never thought I was anybody. I know who I am through today through Christ, right?
(00:57:35):
God dwells in me. I’m a daughter of the most high king, right? I don’t have to put my head down low. He is an amazing God and I just see him and I look back and it is so evident everything that has transpired, like I told you, I’m not a business person. I didn’t know. I’m not a carpenter, but I sure did fix up some old houses a lot of them and God enabled me to be able to do those things to bring about his glory, not mine.
Brad Burrow (00:58:06):
Yeah. So what does the future look like for Healing House? I mean, have you thought about … I’m sure you’re doing some planning and stuff like that. Maybe is it 13 properties that you have now? 17
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:58:19):
Homes.
Brad Burrow (00:58:21):
So 17
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:58:22):
Homes. Three apartments. We got a strip mall. We’re putting in businesses in there. I’m trying to get a little bit more funding. I’m putting in a coffee shop and a cafe just trying to- A
Brad Burrow (00:58:37):
Coffee shop, huh?
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:58:38):
A coffee shop and cafe, which I hope to retire there
Brad Burrow (00:58:42):
Because
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:58:43):
I love to cook. That’s my love language. I do want to get a free medical and dental clinic back down in our area, it’s a lot of refugees from everywhere. And so there’s not a lot of dental and healthcare down there, so I want to do that. We need more apartments. Four of my kids, listen to this, this is cool. We have budgeting classes. We have first time homeowners class with First Federal. Four of my kids, my babies that work for me became first time homeowners this last year.
Brad Burrow (00:59:26):
Oh, amazing.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:59:26):
And I got houses in my neighborhood.
Brad Burrow (00:59:28):
Oh, awesome.
Bobbi Jo Reed (00:59:29):
Which makes our neighborhood an amazing place, right? So we need more housing for our folks and I just want to continue when I talk about my family, of course I’m talking about the people that live at Healing House, but we are very much part of our community as a whole. And so we do stuff for the kids at Christmas and Halloween and our little refugee kids walk around with sandals on in December and no coats. I’m like, they have to be freezing. So I was able to get a gaylord full of kids’ snow boots last year. Oh, I got a firehouse last year. That was the funnest thing. I got to ride down in a Miss Santa outfit from the second story to the main floor of this old firehouse. I got to ride the pole down. So you came down, huh? I did. I got
Brad Burrow (01:00:34):
To have some video of that somewhere,
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:00:35):
Right? Yeah, I do. My brother was a fireman for many years. He’s retired now. I said, “Greg, what is your recommendation for me going down this fire pole?” And he said, “Well, my recommendation is that you don’t do it, sis.” And I’m like, “Well, you know that’s not going to happen. I’m going. ” So I did it and it was amazing. I’ve been invited to the White House. I have lived …
Brad Burrow (01:01:04):
It’s like, what’s God say? He’s going to put you before kings, right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:01:09):
Yeah. And I was living under a box car next to a liquor store. But God,
(01:01:15):
When I say that, I mean it. And people have watched a movie and contacted me from all across the world actually and they show it at treatment centers now. People see it and they think, “Oh my God, what a horrific story.” But what it’s all about that if God can do that for me, he will do it for you. I think I’m special to him, but I think we’re all special too. I agree. I want to say I’m his favorite, but I think we’re all his favorite. You might be. I don’t know. But I mean, the story is a story of hope and coming from complete brokenness to being totally whole. And so I love that. I’ve heard from people all over and it sounds cliche to say, well, if it just saved one life or just helped one person, but it’s done a lot more than that.
(01:02:16):
And I’ve had 17,000 people come through the ministry. That’s
Brad Burrow (01:02:23):
Amazing.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:02:24):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (01:02:25):
Amazing.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:02:25):
And we provide homes for 225 adults every day and 30 kids. We have five new babies right now. A lot of baby showers, let me tell you. So we have a pregnant women’s home. We have a new mother’s home for a mother with one child. We have apartments. So people come in the beginner’s houses that are very structured that once they get working, get a sponsor, start doing. So you move up the structure and you can go clear to the apartment living basically with one other person, but they do that as they grow. So we don’t want to overwhelm them too quick. So we kind of go begin or house to it. Yes. And they can move up to the apartments and there is no timeout. You don’t have to leave at a certain time. Nobody graduates. This is your God-given family and you can stay as long as you need to.
(01:03:28):
And I wish I could let everybody stay. Eventually sometimes I got to … Come on, baby. It’s time. Yeah. But that’s why we need additional housing. But I see more apartments in our future. I don’t know what God has. People say, “When’s enough going to be enough?” Well, I’ll let you know when God lets me know. Right? Yeah.
Brad Burrow (01:03:54):
Just keep
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:03:55):
Going. I’m still sassy. I still got lots of energy. I turned 65 in September, but I tell you what, I got the energy of a kid and so blessed. And when you’re serving God, you never have to work another day in your life. And when you love what you do, it’s all good.
Brad Burrow (01:04:17):
Yeah. So I’m going to go ahead and wrap up.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:04:20):
Okay.
Brad Burrow (01:04:20):
How could somebody, they see the podcast, how can they get in touch with you? How can they support you? What would you recommend?
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:04:28):
Okay. So you can go on our website whealinghousek.org and there’s volunteer opportunities on there. We take gently used clothing, nice furniture. So we have 30 apartments and all these houses and we’re constantly reading- Needing more all the
Brad Burrow (01:04:47):
Time. Yeah.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:04:48):
Yeah. We don’t take a lot of kids’ clothes, but we always need men’s clothes and women’s clothes. Men’s clothes. For some reason we don’t get many men’s clothes and I’ve got over a hundred men that live there and they’re coming in with basically the clothes on their back. Yeah. Always financial donations because we’re always … One thing about us is that every dime that comes in, we pour it right back into the programming and what we offer people. And we’ve got 17 houses that are mostly all over a hundred years old. So a lot of repairs. Yeah, maintenance. A lot of key maintenance. Twin bedding, new twin bedding would be a blessing. Pillows. We just had a donor donate 50 new mattresses.
Brad Burrow (01:05:36):
Is that right?
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:05:37):
So I was able to change mattresses at the beginner’s homes at the men’s home and the beginner’s ladies house so many ways. Volunteer. We’re getting ready to have our gala in October. I think it’s October. And so the gala, you could sponsor a table, you can come to our gala, you could donate something for the gala. So many ways. You go to our website and sign up for our newsletter so you can see we’re always doing a lot of cool fun stuff. I did a bed race a couple weeks ago. Yes, four of my kids ran with me on top of a bed and they were going very fast. We were all in costume. It was for a charity. Let’s see.
Brad Burrow (01:06:28):
You don’t say no to many things,
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:06:29):
It doesn’t sound like. No. Four days ago I was in a princess dress with the can of peas under these new mattresses, a huge can of peas. I was in a princess dress and I was up on top six or eight mattresses. I’m good for anything. I mean, you know what? We’re always having fun. We always got stuff going on. The social part of this is just as important as all the other people need to learn to do things and to have fun and we do a lot of that. So there’s always fun stuff going on. I got 225 kids and then all the other little kids. So there’s always plenty to do. We’ve got a garden, food. It costs us about $500 a day to feed everybody. And so we provide about 300 meals a day.
Brad Burrow (01:07:23):
And I’ve had some of those meals.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:07:24):
And they’re pretty
Brad Burrow (01:07:26):
Good.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:07:26):
They are.
Brad Burrow (01:07:26):
They’re very
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:07:27):
Good. Yeah, they are good.
Brad Burrow (01:07:28):
And dessert and all that. I’m
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:07:29):
Like, wow. Yeah. It’s
Brad Burrow (01:07:31):
Like, I think I gained some weight
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:07:33):
Eating down there. I cooked. I lost my cook one time and I was cooking for everybody and the treatment center at that time called and said, “What is going on down at Healing House?” And I said, “Why?” And they said, “The guys are here 30 days. The average weight gain has been 40 pounds.” Oh, is that right? 40 pounds. But I’m an old old time country cook. And so they were gaining 40 pounds in 30 days. I had to step away from the kitchen, but I love to feed people. It’s part of my love language.
Brad Burrow (01:08:09):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, Bobbi Jo, thank you so much for being on the podcast. This is really fun.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:08:14):
Oh, thank you for having me. I feel like we could do two
Brad Burrow (01:08:16):
Or three more of these probably.
Bobbi Jo Reed (01:08:17):
Oh yeah. Well, whenever you want me back, I’ll come.
Brad Burrow (01:08:20):
Well, thank you for joining us and thank you guys for watching. This is In A World with Real Media. Be sure to like this content, share it, tell people about Healing House, go volunteer, give, they really need anything that you can do to help them is going to really help people and that’s the great thing about it. So thanks for joining us and we’ll see you on the next podcast. This has been In A World with Real Media. Thanks for joining us and be sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow Real Media on Facebook Instagram and LinkedIn so you never miss an episode.