Advertise on podcast: Our Community, Our Mission

In this episode we talk with Matt Fessman, Director of Main Shelter Operations at the Topeka Rescue Mission, about what pulled him from military service, banking and an unexpected layoff into faith based non-profit leadership in Topeka, Kansas. Matt shares the moment he stopped chasing the next paycheck and started chasing what God put in front of him, then how volunteering at TRM helped confirm that calling. We also get real about what shelter operations actually require when you are caring for 250 plus guests every night across the Men's Shelter and the Hope center.  Send us a Message!

Barry Feaker talks with La Manda Cunningham and Miriam Krehbiel from the Topeka Rescue Mission about their 2025 annual report and what it reveals about homelessness in Topeka. They break down key numbers, like over 1,200 guests, over 81,000 shelter nights, and more than 600,000 meals served, while exploring the human stories behind them. The conversation highlights longer shelter stays, rising disability rates, and the challenges of supporting families and children with dignity. They also discuss food insecurity, Topeka Rescue Mission's RESTORE rehousing approach, and what it takes to help people move toward stability. The episode wraps with reflections on community support, volunteer impact, and a forward-looking focus on compassion in action. Send us a Message!

We chat with GiDeanLeigh Ogilvie from Phoenix Rescue Mission to explore how partnerships can turn homelessness response into a shared community effort rather than a siloed one. We see that profit and purpose are able to feed into each other and that businesses can do good, while doing well. The conversation highlights how collaboration with local organizations, churches, and businesses builds trust and supports lasting stability. Instead of focusing only on short-term relief, these partnerships help create pathways for sustained recovery, emphasizing that real impact happens when communities work alongside people, not just for them. We then focus on what makes partnerships actually work. GiDeanLeigh breaks down corporate social responsibility and the practical ways nonprofits and businesses can align—through monetary donations, volunteer engagement, sponsorships, and in-kind support. Using the four T's framework: time, talents, treasures, and ties, we outline how any partner can contribute meaningfully. The bigger takeaway is a mindset shift: moving away from competition and toward collaboration, where shared purpose, clear communication, and mutual value create stronger outcomes for everyone involved. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

This week we talk with leaders from Astra Mental Health and Recovery about the work they're doing and the strong partnership TRM has with them. Our guests explain why the merger between Valeo and Family Service & Guidance Center to form Astra is more than administrative. It reshapes access to care across the lifespan of individuals. The conversation breaks down what community support really looks like, from peer support and tenant care to traditional case management and benefits access. It also highlights the essential role of building connections with each person we encounter, as well as organizational partners. The thread tying it all together is relationship. We dig into how stigma fades when language becomes person-centered, when we listen to the individual in front of us, and when leaders are willing to be honest about their own struggles, not just someone else’s. If you care about mental health services in Topeka, homelessness response, addiction recovery, and building a community that treats people like neighbors, you’ll come away with a clearer map of what’s working and what's still needed. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

On this week's episode, we talk with the key players of the new Compassion Impact Center. The Center is a bold step toward replacing a fragmented system with a single location where people can actually get help. Instead of sending individuals and families through a maze of referrals, the Center brings key services together under one roof at the Topeka Rescue Mission's Children's Palace, creating a true front door for those experiencing homelessness or housing instability. By combining efforts like Impact Avenues and Moving Ahead Partnership (MAP), alongside the resources of United Way of Kaw Valley, the goal is simple but powerful: make it easier for people to be seen, known, and connected to the right support without endless searching. Launching April 7, the Center represents more than a new program, it’s a shared commitment from community partners to work differently. Built on insights from a person-centered design process and guided by data-driven strategies, the Compassion Impact Center focuses on trust, coordination, and meeting people where they are. It also reflects the real cost of meaningful change, requiring funding, staff/volunteer time, collaboration, and perseverance through challenges like community resistance. At its core, the Center is about turning compassion into action and creating a clearer, more effective path to stable housing. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

A holiday run turned into a ray of hope. We sat down with Fleet Feet’s Michael Fronsoe and Kirstin Williams to discuss how a simple idea—bring a new Thanksgiving 5K to Topeka—grew into a bigger-than-expected event. It boosted Topeka Rescue Mission Ministries' work, raised food donations, and reignited hope during a tough year. What began as a three-month sprint became a blueprint for how local businesses and nonprofits can move with each other, not just for each other. The Topeka Turkey Trot was designed to support and grow the community's running culture while also benefiting the people and programs behind TRM. In the conversation, we trace how Fleet Feet chose to partner with the Rescue Mission and how the event came together so quickly, drawing hundreds of runners and new attention to TRM's work beyond shelter and meals. During one of the organization’s most challenging years, the race became a source of encouragement and visibility. We also discuss what's next: growing the race, expanding food drives and volunteer support, and inviting even more of the community to show up and run for a cause. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

Jamie Clark of AIM Strategies joins us to share how business, faith, and civic responsibility intersect in practical ways across the community. As controller at AIM Strategies, Jamie has helped shift the conversation from “make it go away” to “what’s really happening and how do we help?” This movement changed how local leaders and storefront owners felt frustration and turned it into coordinated action.  We also talk about our big unveiling this week that the Compassion Impact Center will be housed at the TRM Children's Palace. Then Jamie made a surprise announcement that AIM is stepping up to raise money for the center. From March 3 to March 10, 25% of sales from select burgers at The Pennant (The Pennant Original), Iron Rail (High Rail Burger), and The Weather Room (Weather Room Cheeseburger) will go directly to benefit the center.  Jamie’s perspective shows when business leaders lean in with intention, compassion becomes contagious and outcomes follow. The motto she lives by, "what you allow, you encourage," keeps her from being on the sidelines, stating that non-action is not an option. She sees hospitality as strategy, creating spaces where generosity feels accessible and actionable. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

After a heavy 2025 marked by physical pain, budget drain, and the strain of warming centers, we chose not to retreat but to advance—grounded in prayer, transparency, and guest-centered care. 2026 has begun with honest reflection and real work: centering every decision on the dignity of our guests, strengthening trust, and building systems that reflect the values we proclaim. We’re embracing authenticity over performance, naming fatigue and doubt while recommitting to show up daily with faith that has its sleeves rolled up. Longer shelter stays are seen as signs of deeper engagement with guests pursuing recovery, medical care, classes, and housing matches built to last. While within our staff, training, culture-building, and spiritual support ensure our team is equipped in both skill and heart. A major step forward is the launch of the RESTORE Team, merging outreach, guest management, and housing into one relationship-centered model that reduces handoffs and walks with each guest from the street through 12 months of housing stabilization. We’re also looking into upgrades like step-up beds—safer, individual sleeping spaces designed with integrated storage and accessibility in mind—to replace institutional bunks and better serve an aging population with mobility challenges. With clearer systems, stronger support, and a forthcoming announcement to expand how we serve unsheltered neighbors, we invite others to join us—through prayer, volunteering, giving, or even on our board—as we build a safer, kinder path home in 2026. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

What if the most powerful prayer you said this week was the messy one you almost didn’t pray? This conversation pulls back the curtain on real-life prayer at the Topeka Rescue Mission—on the streets, in shelters, and in quiet moments when words run out. We name the barriers that keep people silent—unworthiness, doubt, and performance—and reframe prayer as relationship, not ritual. From “pray your distractions” to simple, honest prayers, you’ll hear how we bring our whole selves to God and discover that honesty matters more than eloquence. We also explore the pause: stepping away from noise to sit with God without an agenda, trusting that stillness can soften the heart and clarify the next step. Along the way, we get real about doubt—not just “can God?” but “will God?”—and practice a humble posture of trust. With stories, scripture, and practical tools for individuals and communities, this episode offers hope for anyone feeling too far gone, too angry, or too busy. Start with one true sentence, let God meet you there, and remember—your honest prayer might be the spark that you or someone else needs. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

We’re joined by Jessy Moreno, the Manager of Downtown Topeka, Inc. & River Strategies, who brings a clear-eyed view of what happens when compassion and commerce stop competing and start collaborating. We discuss her ability to connect with others through listening, communication, and above all a kind heart. Her role goes far beyond serving businesses to empowering stakeholders and responding to real people in real time. We also talk about the challenges and successes of the year's first warming center, and dive into difficult topics for downtown like fear on the sidewalk, storefront disruptions, and the urge to make homelessness “go away.” Jessy offers a grounded model that treats visible homelessness as a community issue that shows up downtown, not a problem to offload. We discuss the shared goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring while keeping downtown clean, safe, welcoming, and thriving. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

This week we focus on the people who make so much of the work at TRM possible—volunteers. You’ll hear from Team Ringgold, whose journey from real estate to committed partners shows how serving together builds joy, team unity, and meaningful impact. From manning distributions to supporting warehouse operations, their hands-on service meets neighbors with food, shelter, and dignity, while boosting staff morale and strengthening community connection—proof that impact goes far beyond donations. The conversation also turns to how fast-changing winter weather shapes TRM’s decision making. We share how forecasts are monitored, when warming centers are activated, and why a new pet-friendly option—made possible through The Street Dog Coalition—can be lifesaving for unsheltered neighbors. Behind the scenes, volunteers serve a critical role, moving the mission forward year-round, and we try to express just how important they are to TRM. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

We’re celebrating our 300th episode with Topeka Fire Department Chief Chad Longstaff, who brings 36 years of experience, a brief retirement, and a deeply human approach to modern emergency response. The conversation moves beyond firefighting to the rise of EMS, the power of communication over judgment, and how a culture of dignity helps firefighters manage burnout while serving people at their most vulnerable. Chief Longstaff explains how Topeka is connecting fire, police, mental health providers, hospitals, and nonprofits like TRM into a single safety net focused not just on response, but on understanding and prevention. We also dig into the realities of homelessness, recurring 911 calls, and showing how respectful handoffs, fast outreach, and collaboration reduce strain and build trust. Chief Longstaff shares personal stories that reshaped his view of leadership and service, alongside moments of gratitude, highlighting that compassion-first public safety works. If you care about community health, prevention, and practical collaboration, this episode offers both a roadmap and a reason to believe we can do better together. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

We look back on a year of storms and rainbows, where fear pressed hard, but faith proved stronger. From safety concerns, construction, limited access to food, to technology outages, we faced uncertainty on multiple fronts. Our teams navigated trauma in shelters, supported shaken frontline staff, and responded to a SNAP disruption that sent more families searching for groceries—while also managing financial strain, facility repairs, and staffing pressures. In the middle of it all, unlikely provision met real needs, reminding us that even when systems fail, people and purpose endure. What changed us most was leadership itself. We learned to choose faith as a daily decision, shifting from having all the answers to offering faithful, steady responses. We learned to lead with honesty, prayer, and trust that provision would meet purpose—because it kept doing exactly that. In shelters and across our teams, trauma forged deeper bonds, improved training, and strengthened our shared conviction that we are our brother’s keeper. Scripture framed our steps, and “perfect love casts out fear” became a daily practice in how we serve, support one another, and plan for tomorrow without letting anxiety take over. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

Kelli Howerton’s journey, from serving shifts at our warming center to stepping onto the board, frames this conversation. As a MAP volunteer and TRM Board Member, Kelli shares how slowing down, listening well, and setting healthy boundaries reshaped the way she serves. She reflects on patience in prayer, choosing presence over quick fixes, and the slow, faithful work that truly breaks cycles for families and kids through structure, safety, education, and trust. Through a volunteer's lens, we also glimpse the broader work of serving our guests and unsheltered neighbors, months of effort that stretch capacity and resolve. Through shelter Christmas parties, gift deliveries, food distributions, and weather that can swing from 70 degrees to -7, volunteers remain a vital piece of TRM, saving hundreds of thousands in labor costs while offering what money can’t: consistency, names remembered, and care that stays when things are hard. Volunteers remain the heartbeat, but year-end giving is critical to sustaining this work after a challenging year of rising costs and reduced funding. Closing the gap now stabilizes operations and positions us to enter the new year ready to meet need without pause. To learn more about TRM, Click Here! To support TRM, Click Here!  Send us a Message!

The Christmas season can be a hectic time of year, so we slowed down to listen to a leader who has built a life around loving her neighbors. Candace Gregory, CEO of Open Door Mission in Omaha, shares how a one-year commitment turned into three decades of faith-driven service marked by grit, grace, and surprising joy. She opens the curtain on what it means to “serve everyone, stand firm,” a clear gospel foundation, zero tolerance for violence, honest conversations about sobriety, and a culture that treats people with dignity from intake to aftercare. From its shelters, free clinic, learning center, community kitchen, and prevention programs reaching tens of thousands, her work shows where faith meets measurable outcomes. Candace also offers a compelling leadership playbook: own mistakes quickly, celebrate wins, ask “what is your thing?” and lead with “we, not I.” We explore the power of Citygate Network, Christ-centered recovery with an 88% success rate, and initiatives like the Toy and Joy Shop that restore dignity by letting parents choose gifts. This conversation is an invitation to move from concern to action—take a tour of your local rescue mission, give two hours this month, and share the episode with someone ready to put love into motion. Send us a Message!