This month, we had our Village Voices seminar, a special once-a-month session that guest-stars Salt Lake City’s strongest advocates for helping the homeless and provides updates to the cause. Each seminar consists of three parts:
- A personal account of someone who has lived the difficulties of homelessness — and has found peace, community, and redemption.
- A quick update about The Other Side Village.
- A special speaker who dives into a specific topic about helping the homeless.
We started the seminar with the account of Robbie Myrick, a graduate of The Other Side Academy and now one of our Village coaches.
Robbie’s story was both heartbreaking and inspiring. When he was very young, he watched his entire family turn to drugs and other vices to “get through life.”
“I smoked weed for the first time when I was seven years old,” he explained. “And by 16, I was using heroin.” At first, when Robbie came to The Other Side Academy, he didn’t expect to make any permanent changes. But then, he said, “…there was a light in people’s eyes, and I wanted a taste of it.” Watch the seminar to learn more about Robbie’s journey.
After an exciting update about the launch of our newest social enterprise, The Other Side Village Cookie Catering, and our recent and inspiring trip to Spain, we moved on to chatting with our special guest, Alan Graham. Alan is the founder and CEO of Community First! – one of the most significant sources of inspiration for The Other Side Village. Community First! is a 51-acre community that provides affordable, permanent housing and support for people coming out of chronic homelessness.
Using Robbie’s story as a jumping off point, Alan emphasized a key insight: Homelessness is caused by a catastrophic loss of family.
Robbie’s story — and many others who fall into the difficult cycle of homelessness — began with losing his family. Once each member made unhealthy choices that influenced Robbie when he was still a young child, he lost a network of people that would have helped him down a different, safer path. “There was no guiding light in his life that protected him from the evils that he was encountering,” Alan said.
But, Alan explained, there is hope. “Although we can’t recreate the nuclear family, we can create a forged family.”
Forging a “family” is what organizations like The Other Side Village and Community First! are doing. We’re restoring that important community, and this is how we can help our Village neighbors change their lives — by giving them a forged family that wants to see them succeed. We hope to continue to forge families in our Village, and see communities like ours and Alan’s flourish across the country.
This has only been a quick glimpse at this month’s Village Voices seminar. For Robbie’s full account and Alan’s complete interview, watch the seminar here.
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