WEBVTT

0
00:00:01.779 --> 00:00:02.039
Hey,

1
00:00:02.109 --> 00:00:05.639
my name is Jamie and I work at an incredible place in Milwaukee

2
00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:07.090
called Hope Street.

3
00:00:07.340 --> 00:00:11.680
Hope Street is known as the greenhouse for people on Twenty-sixth and Capitol.

4
00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:13.619
It's transitional living for men,

5
00:00:13.729 --> 00:00:14.960
women and families

6
00:00:15.109 --> 00:00:17.530
who are coming out of a variety of situations,

7
00:00:17.540 --> 00:00:18.120
homelessness,

8
00:00:18.250 --> 00:00:19.100
domestic abuse,

9
00:00:19.139 --> 00:00:19.840
incarceration,

10
00:00:20.180 --> 00:00:20.979
substance abuse,

11
00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:22.799
or just wanting to try something new.

12
00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:27.090
It is a place that I have not had the privilege of living within,

13
00:00:27.299 --> 00:00:28.860
but I have had the privilege

14
00:00:29.090 --> 00:00:30.469
of growing within.

15
00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:31.469
Growing up,

16
00:00:31.569 --> 00:00:35.110
I believed that I was not enough and too much all at the same time.

17
00:00:35.330 --> 00:00:37.349
I believed that my voice didn't matter.

18
00:00:37.610 --> 00:00:39.770
I believed that my presence wasn't needed,

19
00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:41.159
and in different seasons,

20
00:00:41.169 --> 00:00:44.330
I also believed that my life wasn't worth living anymore.

21
00:00:45.569 --> 00:00:51.669
Hope Street is a place where I was invited into a deeper part of healing in my life.

22
00:00:52.049 --> 00:00:53.869
I'd already begun to

23
00:00:54.130 --> 00:00:58.200
see the value and letting down my walls of pretense and perfection,

24
00:00:58.770 --> 00:00:59.909
but it wasn't until

25
00:01:00.330 --> 00:01:04.169
2022 when I stepped into Hope Street for the first time

26
00:01:04.529 --> 00:01:05.709
that I was met

27
00:01:05.870 --> 00:01:06.430
with

28
00:01:06.769 --> 00:01:08.629
this transformational gift

29
00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:10.050
of belonging.

30
00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:11.309
belonging,

31
00:01:11.389 --> 00:01:14.849
not just because of what I do or don't do or

32
00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:16.949
what I am or I'm not.

33
00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:19.330
It's this thing that is offered

34
00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:21.529
because we all belong.

35
00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:25.769
It's a thing that is offered because we were created with a purpose.

36
00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:29.220
It's a thing that is offered unconditionally.

37
00:01:29.709 --> 00:01:34.370
It's the opportunity to know and be known without fear of repercussions.

38
00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:36.809
And it's sometimes hard.

39
00:01:37.190 --> 00:01:39.169
It is very uncomfortable at times

40
00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:41.709
to be met as I am where I am.

41
00:01:42.069 --> 00:01:45.470
It's also uncomfortable to meet others as they are where they are,

42
00:01:45.949 --> 00:01:47.809
but Hope Street is a safe place

43
00:01:47.989 --> 00:01:51.889
to say and hear and experience and go through hard things.

44
00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:54.510
The greenhouse for people,

45
00:01:54.769 --> 00:01:55.949
a place for growth,

46
00:01:56.529 --> 00:01:57.650
not only through gain,

47
00:01:57.709 --> 00:01:59.269
but through loss as well.

48
00:01:59.930 --> 00:02:01.080
The weeding and pruning,

49
00:02:01.129 --> 00:02:03.150
it can feel so painful,

50
00:02:03.449 --> 00:02:05.010
but it is purposeful.

51
00:02:05.370 --> 00:02:09.100
The soil of my soul and yours dug up and laid bare,

52
00:02:09.169 --> 00:02:11.190
the bearing of one another's burdens.

53
00:02:11.410 --> 00:02:13.449
I know one thing for certain,

54
00:02:13.570 --> 00:02:14.740
I am safe

55
00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:16.070
as I am here.

56
00:02:16.990 --> 00:02:20.649
That's a portion of a poem that I wrote about Hope Street a year ago,

57
00:02:21.149 --> 00:02:22.770
and it's something that

58
00:02:23.309 --> 00:02:26.889
kind of just barely scratches the surface of the beauty of this place.

59
00:02:27.389 --> 00:02:29.149
There are things that I have lost,

60
00:02:29.669 --> 00:02:32.179
but most of them are things that I won't miss.

61
00:02:32.630 --> 00:02:35.660
Things like the walls that protected me for a long time,

62
00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:38.490
but had kept me from experiencing deep healing

63
00:02:38.710 --> 00:02:40.449
and deep community in my life.

64
00:02:41.449 --> 00:02:43.270
I believe that we are all called

65
00:02:43.529 --> 00:02:46.270
to remind each other of what is most true,

66
00:02:46.610 --> 00:02:49.100
that we were each created with a purpose,

67
00:02:49.570 --> 00:02:50.589
that we all

68
00:02:50.839 --> 00:02:51.449
belong.