How Losing Everything Taught Her to Help Everyone: Joan Howard’s Story

Life can change in an instant. One day you’re shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, and the next you’re sitting in your car with everything you own, and everyone you love, wondering what happens now. Joan Howard grew up in Beverly Hills with every advantage until a series of crises left her homeless and living in her car with her mother and three dogs. What helped her rebuild wasn't luck or charity. It was kindness, consistency, and one simple weekly practice of being in service to others. Today, Joan is a long-time volunteer for Food on Foot, the very organization that helped her decades ago. Food on Foot is more than a meal line—it’s a community built on dignity, kindness, and practical support for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Their model helps people find work, save money, build confidence, and move forward with independence. In this episode, we talk about what homelessness actually looks like, why service can be transformative, and how organizations like Food on Foot help people not just get back on their feet, but build a future. This is A Bit of Optimism. --------------------------- To learn more about Food on Foot, visit their website! https://www.foodonfoot.org/ ---------------------------

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I was talking to her and she said, "I didn't think I'd be able to stand up today. I didn't think I could go on." And she said, "I came here," and she said, "all these people." She said, "I have money in the bank, I can rebuild, but these people have nothing." And she said, "It makes me feel so connected. It gives me such a sense of community. It gives me such a sense of right and justice." And she said, "What you're doing here?" She said, "I can't even believe, all these people are thanking me for giving me a bag of chips," or, she said, "it's food." And she said, "It's nothing." And yet, it's probably saved my life.

• 0:40Simon Sinek?

  Joan grew up in Beverly Hills. She was a trust fund baby without a care in the world. On a day like any other, she was attempting to pay for her shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue when her credit card was rejected. Her trust fund had been drained. She had no more money, none. She also had no college degree, no skill set, had never held a job in her life, she never needed to. And now, with nothing, she would find herself homeless. I talk a lot about the value of service, of showing up to give, how helping others is the best way to help yourself. Joan Howard's story is that story on steroids.

• 1:25Simon Sinek?

  She talks fast, she talks a lot, she goes off on tangents, but her passion, my god, her passion to help others is absolutely inspiring. She now works for the very organization that saved her life over 20 years ago, an organization called Food on Foot. Their mission is to help people who, for various reasons, find themselves homeless in shelters, couch surfing, or on the street. And perhaps one of the most amazing things they do is help people get a job, get a home, pay their own rent, and do more than survive, they help them thrive. In a time when government and private funding are harder and harder to come by, Joan proves

• 2:10Simon Sinek?

  that being nice is not what saves lives, but being kind does. This is A Bit of Optimism.

• 2:25Simon Sinek?

  Your story is remarkable. I came and volunteered at Food on Foot, which was a wonderful and inspiring day. And you and I were introduced, and I think it was the director who said, "You have to know Joan's story."

• 2:45Speaker 00

  That's actually Greg Kearns. He's the chairman of our board.

• 2:50Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 2:51Speaker 00

  What you should know about Food on Foot is the board is very active. They come on Sunday.

• 2:54Simon Sinek?

  Which is nice.

• 2:55Speaker 00

  It's what I like best about it, so I know them all very well.

• 2:59Simon Sinek?

  So, let's tell people what Food on Foot is first. And I was invited, as a volunteer, to come and stand behind tables and take donated everything, from canned food to...

• 3:13Speaker 00

  Well, that's pretty much my fault.

• 3:15Simon Sinek?

  What's that?

• 3:16Speaker 00

  The stuff you saw, it's my fault.

• 3:18Simon Sinek?

  Oh, yes. So, you helped get... There was clothing, there was hygiene materials, toothbrushes and sanitary products. And sort of, I was amazed at the amount of stuff that had been donated. And I think it's different every week because you take whatever you get from donations, and then the volunteers stand behind the tables, and the homeless line up every week in the same parking lot, and they take what they need.

• 3:42Speaker 00

  And it's a safe, streamlined process for people who are interested in finding out what people in need are doing.

• 3:50Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 3:51Speaker 00

  Because they can have conversations with them, but more importantly, they see that there is no one criteria for being on the street or in need. We have all ages, all races, all ethnicities. I think it's on education, and it's also a safe one.

• 4:07Simon Sinek?

  It does challenge our notion of...

• 4:11Simon Sinek?

  You know, quote unquote, who is homeless? I think most people's experience of homeless is seeing somebody on the side of the street. And that is one kind of homelessness. But people, I mean, I met a young woman who was a victim of domestic abuse. She was forced out of her house, took her kid to escape, didn't have the money to, because he wouldn't allow her to work. She got out and is living on friends' couches. So she's not on the street per se, or somebody living in their car. But they don't have a home to go to.

• 4:47Speaker 00

  Ninety percent of our people are in some way homeless in that they're couch surfing or in their car, in a tent, in a tarp, in a shelter. A lot of them are rough sleeping right now in the street because the tent communities have been eradicated. But the problem is, we have no place to put them.

• 5:05Speaker 00

  California, Los Angeles especially, has a reputation for providing services. And I don't want you to think we don't. Because we are nothing short of amazing in this city. But the problem is, the tsunami of need, especially since the wildfires. When we get the older people and the people who have never been on the street before.

• 5:27Simon Sinek?

  I was amazed how many elderly people there were that came through that day.

• 5:30Speaker 00

  That's it. And that's my personal bete noire. I haven't had much sleep since it happened. Because we get a lot of calls at Food on Foot. And when it comes for services, I answer. And I always answer. So I'm always trying to network. But the stories that I hear, it's an education. And we're constantly having to pivot and change and fit some kind of relevance into what we're doing, because we're very practical. We don't bring stuff that people don't need. We don't provide services. The line that you saw. The Food on Foot service line. It's not just a food service line, it's a food and service line. We basically give them the best we can.

• 6:14Speaker 00

  We get everything from True Classic tees and Bombas socks that are absolutely brand new. And they're wonderful to donate. To books from the libraries, brand new from their book sales. To all kinds of food I get to give. Everything we get, we give.

• 6:31Simon Sinek?

  The other thing which I think, again, just dispelling what people think. Misunderstandings of the difficulties and the plights, which is you would think, you know, and True Classic is a sponsor of our podcast, and I was amazed, they had sent pallets of T-shirts to you guys, I mean, the generosity. Fifty-two pallets. But the thing that I thought was so interesting when I saw the amount of stuff that was there, I mean, like, they had stacks and stacks of T-shirts, and people could take what they needed. And you would think, you know, and I've seen, I've seen wealthy people line up, you know, for free stuff, and they want one of everything that they don't need. And what I, and you don't see that, people could have taken more. And most people took one of what they needed, they took a T-shirt, a toothbrush, they didn't

• 7:13Simon Sinek?

  take ten, they, they, they weren't putting their hands in, and the reason is they have to carry it. They have to carry it all, so they don't want excess, they want just what they need because they have to carry it.

• 7:24Speaker 00

  They're survivors.

• 7:25Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 7:26Speaker 00

  And what is so admirable about them is, they endure. Not just the psychological effect of being on the street, or being homeless, or being lesser, as people look at them and treat them that way. But when they come to Food on Foot, what I get, because I'm out in the street so much during the week, is that they come to Food on Foot not just for what they get, but because of the way they're treated, the way you treat them, when you serve, or when you give things out. We have everything from, from people coming every week with families, to people who have never experienced anything like this before. And we are a very safe place, it's a cornucopia of an education about people who are in need, because we make it very safe, it's very streamlined.

• 8:11Speaker 00

  But what I find best about Food on Foot is how we change and pivot. Every time, something happens, because I'm out there and we have our ear to the ground, we fit, put our finger on the pulse of what's going on out there. We figure out what is needed. We have UCLA twice a month. We have social services. We were able to get social service, the social service agencies to come on a Sunday when they wouldn't.

• 8:38Speaker 00

  Legal aid. We have the phones. We have different services. All the stuff that we give out is just basically a bridge to build trust. Build trust back for people who frankly don't have it.

• 8:49Simon Sinek?

  And let's be clear, the program is designed to help people get back on their feet.

• 8:53Speaker 00

  Well, we're talking about the food line.

• 8:55Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 8:55Speaker 00

  Which is basically about, about services and for people who could not do our jobs in housing program. Our jobs in housing program because we are private.

• 9:05Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 9:05Speaker 00

  And we're small.

• 9:06Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 9:06Speaker 00

  But we're very mighty. We've been going over 20 years in this location, 27.

• 9:11Simon Sinek?

  So, so, so because there were, some of the people who are working behind the tables with us were themselves homeless. Just walk me through it. So, somebody comes into the program.

• 9:21Simon Sinek?

  She says, I want help getting back on my feet. I want to be independent. I don't want to.

• 9:26Speaker 00

  So, we basically question.

• 9:26Simon Sinek?

  So, walk me through the, walk me through the life cycle of someone who goes through the program.

• 9:30Speaker 00

  Kim is the gate. And basically, she puts them through their paces to see if they're able, if they're ready to hold a job. Because a lot of people are not.

• 9:37Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 9:38Speaker 00

  A lot of people need way more help than we can give them.

• 9:40Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 9:41Speaker 00

  They need mental health. They need detox. There, there's a lot of stuff going on there. And then.

• 9:46Simon Sinek?

  Assuming someone's qualified.

• 9:47Speaker 00

  Qualified.

• 9:47Simon Sinek?

  And able to hold down a full-time job.

• 9:48Speaker 00

  Then they come on Sunday. And they go through the workshops. They help out at the serving. They're given their gift cards. And if they haven't already been able to get a job, we will get them one. Then toward 10 to 20 weeks, depending on how long that takes, we put them in housing. We pay for that. We pretty much support them so that they don't have to use their checks. They bank their checks. Hopefully, they get five, $6,000 by the end. Then during that time, now this is the difference between what we were doing before. During this time now, instead of helping out at the servings, now that they've gotten into housing and they're working 40 hours a week. We take them into a spot where we have a lot of volunteers. We also had mentors all

• 10:32Speaker 00

  the way through, people who donate their time and mentor. But this is more important, and it's part of why I think that we're going to succeed beyond my wildest dreams. We are targeting education for them, specifically for the unique individual, what they want to do.

• 10:49Simon Sinek?

  Be specific. Let's take somebody who comes in, you know, and she says, I want help.

• 10:56Speaker 00

  Okay. So we figure out.

• 10:59Simon Sinek?

  So let's call, let's give her a name. Give me the, think of somebody.

• 11:03Speaker 00

  Okay, so Mary, Mary is working as a maid.

• 11:06Simon Sinek?

  Okay.

• 11:07Speaker 00

  Mary's working as a maid. She's got, she's done that before.

• 11:10Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 11:10Speaker 00

  But she wants to do more.

• 11:11Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  But right now, that's just about all she's qualified for.

• 11:15Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 11:15Speaker 00

  So she looks around, she gets a job, we get her a job, we put her in housing, she comes back every Sunday.

• 11:23Simon Sinek?

  You're subsidizing the housing for the time being, right?

• 11:26Speaker 00

  Always.

• 11:26Simon Sinek?

  Okay.

• 11:27Speaker 00

  Always.

• 11:27Simon Sinek?

  So she's, she's, she's able to work and keep that money to live?

• 11:31Speaker 00

  Yes. No, she keeps her, she banks her checks.

• 11:33Simon Sinek?

  She banks her checks?

• 11:34Speaker 00

  Yes. We help, we pal out with everything else.

• 11:36Simon Sinek?

  So you teach her how to save that money, too?

• 11:38Speaker 00

  That's what the workshops are for.

• 11:40Simon Sinek?

  Got it. Okay, so she's banking her paychecks, you're helping her with food and rent?

• 11:44Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:44Simon Sinek?

  Go on.

• 11:46Speaker 00

  So then we move into the phase where instead of the green shirt, and she's at the table, we put her in a separate, separate class with people who are now in housing. And they're working forty hour week, week. So that's a lot. So basically, the first part of that is classes in just basically learning about what they might want to do.

• 12:07Simon Sinek?

  And that's in addition to the fact that she's still out there as a maid, making a living, and then she's also taking classes with you?

• 12:13Speaker 00

  On Sundays.

• 12:14Simon Sinek?

  On Sundays.

• 12:14Speaker 00

  Only on Sundays.

• 12:15Simon Sinek?

  Only on Sundays. And then at what point does she, I don't, I want to graduate the program and she has independence?

• 12:22Speaker 00

  While she is working through, until when she saves five, six thousand dollars.

• 12:26Simon Sinek?

  Okay, so she has to save five or six thousand dollars, and then she stays in the same home you've given her? She, she takes over the lease? So, so, so this is-

• 12:35Speaker 00

  And after that time, we also put, if she wants to do further education, because we are doing this education program in the middle of it, instead of having them work for us.

• 12:43Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 12:43Speaker 00

  Because we don't want that.

• 12:44Simon Sinek?

  Right.

• 12:45Speaker 00

  We want them to do better.

• 12:46Simon Sinek?

  To go work and, yeah.

• 12:47Speaker 00

  So, we have one girl who's going after her GED, another girl who wants to get her masters. This is how, how, how far ranging the people who come to us are. We don't have just one person. We have one, one woman who graduated autistic children. She's, she's interested in teaching them.

• 13:03Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:03Speaker 00

  We have another girl who wants to go into some kind of nursing.

• 13:08Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:09Speaker 00

  We have a man who was in, is in construction now, but he wants to learn about computers and, and C++ and the rest. There's just a wide dichotomy. And we want to be able, and we've got volunteers lined up now-

• 13:21Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:22Speaker 00

  On Sundays.

• 13:22Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:23Speaker 00

  To help them look for scholarships, for us to help them, to connect them with some kind of-

• 13:28Simon Sinek?

  You're legitimately helping them get back on their feet.

• 13:29Speaker 00

  Not just get back on their feet, go forward.

• 13:31Simon Sinek?

  Go forward.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  It's not getting back on your feet. You don't stay in one place anymore.

• 13:36Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:36Speaker 00

  You have to go forward, always forward.

• 13:39Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 13:40Speaker 00

  And it is so important, what we do in the first phase of this. We build a community. We build a family feeling where they know each other. They know us, they can trust us. They have a mentor during those first, first weeks with us. So, they know they have a base where they're safe. And that is everything, because these people have not had that.

• 14:01Simon Sinek?

  So, let me change tacks now. You, the reason I wanted to talk to you.

• 14:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:07Simon Sinek?

  This, the, I'm just talking about Food on Foot was, was just simply as a, so that people understand what you do. But you have a unique understanding and a unique empathy for the people who are coming through these lines of the program.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Because I was there, because over 20 years ago, it happened to me. And I was the last person I would ever think would be homeless.

• 14:28Simon Sinek?

  So, where did you grow up?

• 14:29Speaker 00

  I grew up in Beverly Hills.

• 14:32Simon Sinek?

  Grew up in Beverly Hills.

• 14:33Speaker 00

  Well, I grew up-

• 14:34Simon Sinek?

  And not on the streets of Beverly Hills.

• 14:35Speaker 00

  The first 11 years of my life, I was in Houston, Texas. My mother, we had money. Uh, and my mother moved out here. She was a registered nurse. Uh, my dad dug one as a baby. And we moved out here. And I was bi-coastal because I was, I was training uh, in dance. And I thought that was gonna be great. So I went down to Texas for my grandmother's uh, birthday and got run over by a truck. So first 180 in my life. Uh, I had a lot of 180s, but that doesn't mean I wasn't a spoiled brat. My mother, on the other hand, was on every street corner with a sign. She looked like an old fashioned Betty Crocker. She was always protesting something peacefully. But I mean, she was, she was usually the last one arrested because she looked like a housewife.

• 15:20Simon Sinek?

  So you grew up with money?

• 15:22Speaker 00

  I did. I did.

• 15:24Simon Sinek?

  And?

• 15:26Speaker 00

  Okay. So, uh, I had a lot of money and then I didn't. I was in Saks. I pulled out my credit card and they denied it. They denied all my credit cards and-

• 15:37Simon Sinek?

  How old are you?

• 15:38Speaker 00

  I was in my 40s.

• 15:39Simon Sinek?

  Okay. So you lived an adult life with money?

• 15:41Speaker 00

  Yeah. Never occurred to me anything. I didn't even know how to write a check. That's how stupid I was. And I was stupid. Um, okay. So, long story short, um, I scrambled. My mother had Alzheimer's at the time and I was taking care of her. And I loved her very much. Um, and it was also a relief that she stayed home. I got sick.

• 16:06Simon Sinek?

  Oh, hold on. Back up, back up.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  No money.

• 16:10Simon Sinek?

  Oh, no, no, no, no. You're living, like, you're living a good life. You don't think about homeless people. You're, you're, you're, you're one of the haves and not the have nots.

• 16:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:17Simon Sinek?

  You're living a good life. You're in your 40s. You're, you're in Saks Fifth Avenue, spending money. Life is good. You run the credit card. The credit card is denied.

• 16:24Speaker 00

  It's gone.

• 16:25Simon Sinek?

  What happened to the money?

• 16:26Speaker 00

  My uncle, I was on a trust fund. My uncle was an investment banker. Everybody's money was even better. He got a brain tumor. And I know I'm not mad at him. I was mad at myself, but I'm not mad at him.

• 16:37Simon Sinek?

  Took the trust fund.

• 16:38Speaker 00

  He took everybody's trust fund. He took everybody's money.

• 16:41Simon Sinek?

  All the trust funds.

• 16:41Speaker 00

  And invested in some pyramid scheme that he never would have if he'd been sane.

• 16:46Simon Sinek?

  So he gambled all your monies-

• 16:47Speaker 00

  It was gone.

• 16:48Simon Sinek?

  The trust fund away. So you went from rich to zero?

• 16:50Speaker 00

  Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

• 16:52Simon Sinek?

  Like actually.

• 16:52Speaker 00

  The car was taken, the bank came to the door. Everything was gone except the furniture. Thank God I liked antiques. I sold them and I was able to get us into an apartment. I started working really for the first time in my life. And I wasn't any good at anything, but luckily I was doing inventory in the middle of the night in Northridge. I was doing all kinds of odd jobs because I loved my mother very much and I had nice neighbors who would look after her in the evenings and I would, I would work at night.

• 17:20Simon Sinek?

  And where were you living?

• 17:21Speaker 00

  I was living in Sherman Oaks.

• 17:23Simon Sinek?

  So you, you had a, you had a home?

• 17:25Speaker 00

  I had sort of an apartment. Uh, and I was doing audience. Um, what I did with the audience was I, I started out.

• 17:33Simon Sinek?

  What was that mean?

• 17:33Speaker 00

  Okay, it's the lowest form of extra work. The kids would come in, which actually trained me for what I'm doing now. A lot of actors would come in and you'd just simply sit in Judge Judy or Deal or No Deal or one of the court shows. And you would get minimum wage and get cash.

• 17:49Simon Sinek?

  So you were literally sitting in an audience? You're literally paid to fill it, to fill an audience and clap.

• 17:54Speaker 00

  You were a seat filler. And that's what I did until a woman called Adrian Corey, who was very good at what she did, pulled me out and said, why don't you do the Jerry Lewis telethon? Cause you seem to have a good memory. Cause I was helping out one day. So I did, and she put me as a coordinator. And so I coordinated audiences at all the studios with her. I got the seat fillers. I booked, I wrote her checks. I, anytime somebody went into an audience who wasn't supposed to go in, cause they wouldn't get paid. I would go in and pull them out, cause I had a good, good eye. And I learned about kids who were sleeping in their cars, sleep, people sleeping under bushes. They were actors.

• 18:31Simon Sinek?

  And these were just people who were in the audience with you?

• 18:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:33Simon Sinek?

  So you're getting to know these other seat fillers because as you said, it is a minimum wage job.

• 18:37Speaker 00

  And then I got sick. I was keeping my head above water. The rent was paid. I got sick. I, um, got a weird form of cancer. It's usually curable, but it wasn't.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  I was in a study with thirty-five people because I tried chemo and it, it, I couldn't take it. I'm little. I can't even take aspirin. It's not like I'm the, I'm the anti-addict. I just, I was never anything that I could do. Can't even drink. My whole family's like that. Anyway, so they put me in a study immunotherapy, knocked out my immune system, but it saved my life. And I honestly don't think I would have done it, except I love my mother so much and she was not someone who could ever survive in a nursing home.

• 19:26Simon Sinek?

  What do you mean you wouldn't have done it?

• 19:27Speaker 00

  I don't think I would have gone through what I went through with the treatment because it was harsh and horrible and I nearly died and I went down to eighty pounds. I wouldn't have gone through it, except I love my mother so much and we did have three geriatric dogs and she depended on me. So, but I was too sick to do anything and I couldn't pay the rent. And the manager at our apartment said, "Well, honey, I'm not going to evict you, but can you just move?" So I said, "Oh, sure. Oh, sure. I'll find something." I didn't have credit. This is how stupid I was. I didn't have credit. I had no job. I couldn't even stand up. So we wound up in my mother's old LTD that stopped running when we got to Sherman Oaks, Ralph's parking lot. And the night manager was really good to us. He

• 20:10Speaker 00

  let us go in and clean up. And he fed me with the old deli stuff at Ralph's. Luckily, he's retired or he'd be in trouble. But, and I tried everywhere to get services.

• 20:23Simon Sinek?

  You were living, you were living, you and your mom?

• 20:24Speaker 00

  I was living in my car.

• 20:25Simon Sinek?

  You and your mom and three dogs were living in the car.

• 20:26Speaker 00

  And I was going everywhere trying to get help. I signed up everywhere, section, everywhere. There was nowhere I didn't go. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. But there weren't the services then that there are now. They were there, but not like there are now. They're really stupendous now. Still, they're not enough. But, anyway, so I'd gone everywhere I could. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't stand up. I didn't have cancer anymore, but I couldn't stand up. And it was the homeless around my car who adopted me. Specifically, the alcoholics, who said to me, "You should go over to Hollywood to that chicken line over there. There's a

• 21:05Speaker 00

  guy who's a real nut and he'd probably help you." So I was so desperate. I didn't know what else to do because I was...

• 21:18Speaker 00

  So I went, I went over to Hollywood. I got in Jay Goldinger's line, who founded Food on Foot. And it is his genius that laid the foundation that we have today.

• 21:31Simon Sinek?

  You went to get food?

• 21:32Speaker 00

  I got in the chicken line for food in order to talk and see if there were any services. There was, I saw no services and this guy comes up to me, Jay Goldinger, and he says...

• 21:43Simon Sinek?

  Just so people are clear, which is one of the things that the organization does is it gives, it gives hot meals, gives a hot meal.

• 21:51Speaker 00

  It gives a hot meal and it gives a lot of take away shelf-stable items. So anyway, I went over and I'm standing in line, listing in the wind. And he came up to me and said, "So, what's your story? You anorexic, you're a drug addict, you're skinny, what's going on here?" I burst into tears, "Boo hoo hoo mama, boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo." He said, "Okay, okay, okay, enough of that." He said, "Go through the line, don't leave when the serving is over and I'm gonna take you back and meet your mother, don't go." He was like that with people, probably like you are. So at the end of the serving, I got into his SUV. He met Mama and saw the dogs.

• 22:36Speaker 00

  He said, "This is a remarkably clean car, what's going on here?" He talked to the people around my car. He talked to the night manager. And then he came back and he gave me his card and he said, "I want you to go find a place to live tomorrow and I'm gonna pay for it for a year." I didn't know any better. I said, "Okay." So I went to a woman, Connie, who would take three dogs. And I told her what had happened at an apartment house. And she said, "Oh honey, this is a scam." And so she called him and he showed up with the Food on Foot car. And he said, "I'm gonna rent this place, month to month for a year."

• 23:22Speaker 00

  He was legitimate and he did. And he turned to me and he said, now, you have to be in my food line. You're not eligible for the jobs housing, but you've got to be in the food line every Sunday. And I want an email from you every, every week about your life.

• 23:35Simon Sinek?

  So when he says in the food line, meaning volunteering to help?

• 23:38Speaker 00

  No, in the food line.

• 23:39Simon Sinek?

  Oh, to actually, oh, to eat, to eat.

• 23:41Speaker 00

  Yes, I'm a supplicant. And then he said, I want you to take a look around at the street. He said, I want you to take a look and tell me everything you see and write me every week, which I did, twice a week sometimes.

• 23:55Simon Sinek?

  This was the condition of him paying your rent, yeah.

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I did. So, long story short, he fixed the car. He got me a vacuum cleaner. He paid for nursing for my mother. And he gave me the support I needed. He was also kind of a mentor. My mother died in my arms at 98, listening to Frank Sinatra in that apartment with the three dogs at her feet. They outlasted her and I got back on my feet. I started doing audience stuff again and working through. And so I went back to him and I said, okay, Jay, how can I repay you? And he said, he said, pay it forward.

• 24:38Simon Sinek?

  To some degree, anybody who has never been homeless and has not come close to, close to being homeless, which has nothing to do with wealth, but you know, you have enough that you, you don't think about being homeless, that we are all a little bit, I don't know how to put it, we're all a little bit assholes, like the way that, you know.

• 24:55Speaker 00

  I was a definite asshole.

• 24:56Simon Sinek?

  So, for example, you know, you know, people who say, well, the homeless are lazy. Try being homeless. It's the most unlazy thing you can do.

• 25:04Speaker 00

  You get up, you got bugs all over you, you're dirty and there's no place to use the toilet.

• 25:07Simon Sinek?

  You have to go, you have to go find food. You have to go find, I mean, the, the amount of work you have to do to just stay alive. If, if you're lazy, you probably die.

• 25:15Speaker 00

  And no two services are next to each other.

• 25:16Simon Sinek?

  And no two services are next to each other. So, so these, these, these, these narratives that people who don't deal with homelessness other than seeing it and, and, and, and having it be a nuisance in our lives, you know, there's a narrative that we have.

• 25:29Speaker 00

  Which is why I do it.

• 25:31Simon Sinek?

  And, and when I heard your story of somebody who came from wealth, who was a trust fund baby, and then had nothing and was now living with her mother and three dogs in a car, it's that story of.

• 25:47Speaker 00

  That story right now, Simon, is all over this city. In every age group. And I promise you.

• 25:55Simon Sinek?

  Like, you're living a good life and life happens around you. We saw it happen with lockdown, like, we're all fine, and then all of a sudden, the world is completely different. And, and

• 26:07Simon Sinek?

  how ill-prepared we are for what the world has to provide, that what the world, what happens to us in the world.

• 26:14Speaker 00

  We're not. I was stupid in so many of the ways I lived my life.

• 26:18Simon Sinek?

  That's why I wanted you here, which is, your story is, is

• 26:21Speaker 00

  But I met someone.

• 26:23Simon Sinek?

  If somebody saw you sitting on the street or living in your car, the narrative of you, drug addict, anorexic, lazy, all of these things, but you weren't.

• 26:31Speaker 00

  No, I wasn't, but I still wasn't able to do it.

• 26:34Simon Sinek?

  But you had bad luck.

• 26:35Speaker 00

  I had someone reach out a hand and help me up. And he also mentored me in a way, because I've come from a long line of manic depressives, and I have depression. And he was very big about when people got into the program to do one random act of kindness. He didn't require anything else during the week except find a job. But one random act of kindness to help someone in some way, really look at them. And this is not just giving them a sandwich you don't want, or the rest of your coffee, or a water bottle. This is listening to them, something that takes something out of yourself, and that's what he drew out of me. And I discovered my mother in myself, which surprised me.

• 27:17Speaker 00

  But what he taught me was, he saved my life, Simon. He gave me the focus so that I was not depressed when my mother died. He gave me tools to use that uniquely fit me.

• 27:35Speaker 00

  That I could help people and help myself at the same time. And it's not some kind of, of, of bad thing or an addiction that doesn't work. It works with everybody. You'll find outreach workers right and left who do it.

• 27:49Simon Sinek?

  Why did he help you?

• 27:50Speaker 00

  Because he was like that.

• 27:51Simon Sinek?

  There's lots of people who needed help. He can't afford to pay everyone's rent.

• 27:55Speaker 00

  No, but he just had this Geiger about people.

• 28:00Speaker 00

  Who would come through? He gave me the opportunity and he gave me the foundation. And then, when I pushed my way into his charity, he allowed it because it worked for him. He used to say, "You got a work ethic like no other, Joan."

• 28:15Simon Sinek?

  Tell me about somebody who came and worked the line on a Sunday, who stood behind a table and handed out donated goods and had never done anything like this before.

• 28:26Speaker 00

  There was a woman whose house burned down during the fires. She has money, but she lost everything that is a memory of the past, which is, really, hits you in the gut. And I was talking to her and she said, "I didn't think I'd be able to stand up today. I didn't think I could go on." And she said, "I came here," and she said, "all these people." She said, "I have money in the bank. I can rebuild, but these people have nothing." And she said, "It makes me feel so connected. It gives me such a sense of community. It gives me such a sense of right and justice." She said, "What you're doing here?"

• 29:09Speaker 00

  She said, "I can't even believe, all these people are thanking me for giving me a bag of chips," or, she said, "food." And she said, "It's nothing, and yet, it's probably saved my life."

• 29:22Simon Sinek?

  I had a conversation with a homeless person in New York City. It was somebody who was young and didn't look like... She was couch surfing, like, had some really hard times, you know? And she didn't look like, you know, the stereotypical homeless person, you know? And talking to her, she was telling me that the hardest part...

• 29:51Simon Sinek?

  Wasn't the food donations or the few dollars that somebody would put in a cup. It's that people would treat her as less than human. They would ignore her, they wouldn't make eye contact with her. And she said the, the part that destroyed her soul wasn't actually the fact that she was without a home and sleeping on friends' couches and trying to scrounge things together. It was, she, it destroyed her, her confidence that she was, she became less than, she started to believe the way she was treated.

• 30:24Speaker 00

  And that's what we do every week at Food on Foot. I'm on call for the people in line. I, literally Food on Foot is only there on Sunday, visible. But everybody works behind the scenes, but what I do during the week. I figure out what they need because they tell me and I'm out in the streets. I'm out, I'm out at other charities. I'm out at support days, events, finding out what's going on. Just, just this last Tuesday, I was downtown at a support day at the LA Public Library. And the metro was there and they were offering bus passes. And so I tackled Amelia and gave her an earful about what we do. And she said, oh, I can come, we can do that there.

• 31:05Simon Sinek?

  It's the humanity, right? I mean, again, I'm thinking of somebody else. It was a homeless guy outside my office. I knew his name, I knew his story, I knew why he was homeless. He, he used to be a high-flying guy and he, he was an idiot. He admits that he's an idiot and he lost all his money and he couldn't make ends meet. And, uh, smart guy. And I, you know, he valued more than anything than I just knew his name, would say good morning to him and, you know, and, and I think that's one of the things that, that, and even when I came to volunteer and work, work the tables, you know, to make eye contact with somebody and say, hi, what's your name, you know, and just.

• 31:42Speaker 00

  You save a life every time you do that, Simon. You save a life. Occasionally, uh, because I'm not often in all the circles, I'm too busy behind the scenes, but I will go and I will thank people for coming because I

• 31:56Simon Sinek?

  And we're not talking volunteers, you're talking people coming and asking for things.

• 32:00Speaker 00

  No, I'm talking about the volunteers.

• 32:02Simon Sinek?

  Volunteers, okay.

• 32:03Speaker 00

  I'm talking about the people who donate money

• 32:05Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 32:05Speaker 00

  and who are there to see what homelessness is and to feel better about themselves, but I thank them. There's nothing wrong with that.

• 32:12Simon Sinek?

  No, but it's

• 32:13Speaker 00

  There's nothing wrong with that. That's a wonderful thing.

• 32:15Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 32:15Speaker 00

  It's a good human thing. But basically what I always do, I try to do is to let them know the impact they've made on these people's lives. Because these are people, regular people,

• 32:29Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 32:29Speaker 00

  who are not spitting on them or looking down their noses or treating them as if they're dirt.

• 32:33Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 32:34Speaker 00

  These are people who are asking, what would you like? Would you like this? Would you like that? Well, take an extra. It's okay.

• 32:41Simon Sinek?

  Let's go into the, into, into, into difficult land. Politicians run on the platform of clearing out homeless camps. And, and here in Los Angeles, I mean, entire blocks are, are occupied by homeless camps.

• 32:55Speaker 00

  That would be all right if they had a place to put them. Here's the problem with that, and it is a problem. I think you know from human experience that a great segment of our society believes the world is flat and they're going to fall off it at any minute. That is not just people who have their criteria for wealth or whatever. You have people in the street who cling to things and they are pack rats. So it's too much. So they have whole communities of excess. Now, if we were practical and we put a dumpster next to it and we provided them with some hope for the future. The whole problem with, I have to say, we're doing a great job in, in, in Hollywood.

• 33:38Speaker 00

  We really are. We really are with getting people off the street and providing them with housing.

• 33:42Simon Sinek?

  What's Hollywood doing that they're not doing on Skid Row, for example?

• 33:44Speaker 00

  Because we have Hollywood Forward. And quite frankly, Mike Foley, who's the head of Food on Foot, has been intrinsic in jumping up and down and telling them, "Look, you guys, we all have to hold hands. We're not going to do this by ourselves. We can't be so exclusive. We've got to share information and we've got to band together and partner." And he's so smart. And I mean, you saw how well organized we are at Food on Foot. It was not that way before.

• 34:09Simon Sinek?

  I mean, not to go off on a tangent, but you're highlighting something which drives me crazy about not-for-profit organizations and charities, which is they compete against each other. They compete against each other. They're trying to solve the same problem, competing against each other.

• 34:20Speaker 00

  And it's going to get much, much, much, much worse. And I'm terrified.

• 34:23Simon Sinek?

  It drives me nuts.

• 34:24Speaker 00

  I will tell you right now, I'm terrified because what's happening now, what's happening now, you don't want people on the street. That is not what you want. You don't want them, you want them to have a restroom. You want them to have some access. And we should be able to put them into shelters or whatever. It's just they're so badly managed, most of them. The ones that are best managed, hope, the mission. I have to say, they do it better than any other organization I've seen. But they are dependent a lot on the government money, as are all these huge organizations. Government money, and right now, it's being cut off. And that means we are totally private. We have never taken government funding because we do not operate in a small, little area. If you're from Bucayima, if you're from Long Beach or San Diego,

• 35:09Speaker 00

  you hear about us, you're homeless, you want to work. We will take you.

• 35:13Simon Sinek?

  Has zero government funding.

• 35:15Speaker 00

  None, absolutely none.

• 35:17Simon Sinek?

  Wow.

• 35:18Speaker 00

  Because it's a mess.

• 35:19Simon Sinek?

  Yeah. Can you tell me a story of a single person you have met along your journey, whether it was a time when you were homeless or a time afterwards? Can you tell me that their story touches you more than everyone else? That you carry their name with you?

• 35:39Speaker 00

  Uncle Willie.

• 35:40Simon Sinek?

  Uncle Willie, tell me about Uncle Willie. What is it about Uncle Willie's story?

• 35:43Speaker 00

  Uncle Willie is the son of a supreme, Diana Ross and Supremes. And he used to have a kids' show. He got on heroin. And he kept trying and trying and trying to kick it. And he came to Food on Foot. And it has nothing to do with me, but he was at a point where he really, really, really wanted to be in housing, wanted help.

• 36:05Speaker 00

  And as I said, somebody doesn't answer the phone, I do. I do. So Uncle Willie came and he said, Joan, I gotta get in shelter. He said, I, he said, I went through treatment, but he said, they don't give you any help. When they put you through treatment, they want you to go right back in so they can get more government money. He said, I need, he said, I need shelter. So I contacted him with a shelter that will remain nameless.

• 36:29Simon Sinek?

  I'm gonna, hold on, I'm gonna back up for a second there. The treatment centers get government money.

• 36:34Speaker 00

  Because they're, everything's compartmentalized.

• 36:36Simon Sinek?

  And they get government money for each person they treat. So they don't, there's an incentive.

• 36:40Speaker 00

  There's an incentive not to.

• 36:41Simon Sinek?

  To keep you in the system because then you get more government money.

• 36:44Speaker 00

  Yeah. The problem is the follow through and the support. You can't throw people in housing, any people, without giving them support. And government agencies do not have, it's not their fault. They don't have the social workers and the outreach workers who can, who can, they have 300 cases each. How can they do this?

• 37:02Simon Sinek?

  Okay, so back to Uncle Willie. So he's a heroin addict. He genuinely wants to get clean.

• 37:07Speaker 00

  And he did. And after he got clean, he called me and said, help me get into shelter. Help me, Joan. I said, okay. So I got him into a shelter that I thought was good. A lot of these charities are businesses and they lean on endorsements and what people see. So they have one shelter that's like, it's a, it's a small world tour, I call it. And everything's perfect. It's clean. Everybody's happy, yada, yada. Everybody's been rehearsed and everybody gives a good story. Then you have all the other shelters. Uncle Willie got in one of all the other shelters. And I had been, this is way back. This is way back. I've known him 15 years.

• 37:50Speaker 00

  And he called me up and he said, Joan, he said, I have to room with this guy. And he said, he's a cutter and he has AIDS. And he said, we share a bathroom. And he said, in the shelter. And he said, he bleeds all over the place. And he said, I've asked them to move me and they say I'm the problem. I said, how are you the problem? And he said, well, he said, and he's, he's mental. And he said, I can't, I can't keep this up. And he said, I'm afraid. He said, because I'm, he was older then and he was afraid.

• 38:17Speaker 00

  And he said, "I'm cleaning up the toilet, I'm cleaning up the bathroom all the time. There's blood everywhere." I said, "Okay." I said, "We've got to get you somewhere else." But before that happened, he was thrown out of the shelter because he got angry. And he said, "You can't do this to me." The secret about all these shelters is, you can't get into any kind of disagreement in them, even if you're not at fault, because if you're part of it, they will oust you. And then you have a thing on your, that, under your name and social security number that says you're a problem, and they won't take you. And that's the truth. Hopefully, it's changing. But that is what has been happening. And you tell me how you put a lot of people who were treated like animals on the street,

• 39:01Speaker 00

  you put them in shelter, and you don't have any staff there at all at night, and they were not, they're just peer counselors or a security guard with two weeks' training, and expect everything to be okay. It's not. You need someone to be able to pour oil on the water. Night is when it happens. After hours is when it happens. That's why I answer all evening long. So Uncle Willie is now thrown out. He has no place to go. He networks. I get him a bus ticket back to Detroit where he has relatives. He calls me from Detroit, and he says, "Joan," he said, "I'm going to come back. I'm in better shape." He said, "I'm stable." It's been a year. And he said, "The problem is," he said, "all my relatives are using, and I don't want to deal with that." So he comes back.

• 39:43Speaker 00

  I get him a really great caseworker because she's a friend, and she really, really does care. Unfortunately, she burned out. She worked for Lasso. That happens a lot. Because the outreach workers are tremendous, but they're up against, they have to, they have quotas, like any business. And there's so much they can't do, and they have too many people, and there's not enough that they can do for them. And you have mental, you have, you have, just...

• 40:07Simon Sinek?

  What is it about Uncle Willie that you carry his name?

• 40:10Speaker 00

  Uncle Willie kept, kept going, and he kept calling me.

• 40:16Speaker 00

  He kept calling me and so finally we got him a place to live downtown. He has a place and he came through and he helps other people.

• 40:28Simon Sinek?

  Lots of people came through, lots of people help other people. What is it about Uncle Willie?

• 40:31Speaker 00

  Because he was such a heroin addict. He fell so far down, he was in a ditch.

• 40:35Simon Sinek?

  But you've worked with others who've been in really bad shape.

• 40:37Speaker 00

  No, no, not a man who's been on heroin since he was 20 years old and he's now 60.

• 40:43Simon Sinek?

  Wow.

• 40:44Speaker 00

  No.

• 40:47Speaker 00

  And he is the one who said to me when I first met him, he says, I like you. I said, why?

• 40:55Speaker 00

  He said, because you always tell me the truth and the truth is the only thing that keeps you standing when you hit bottom.

• 41:03Speaker 00

  So he was in line last week. He comes in line. He brought a guy with him from downtown who was homeless. And he said, this is Joan. Oh, he said, the famous Joan.

• 41:15Speaker 00

  He said, why does everybody like her? And Uncle Willie said, because she's the one.

• 41:22Speaker 00

  When everybody else turns their back on you, she'll, she'll still be there for you.

• 41:31Speaker 00

  So that's why I do it, because these people endure and they're admirable. And I get more truth on the street. When I go around to all these different charities and explore and find out what works and what doesn't. And I'm not against any of them, but I see the fallacies and what the services that, that, oh, just so much. And I see what goes on. The people, I depend on the most of the people who are on the ground who are being served.

• 41:58Simon Sinek?

  But this, this role of truth, I find very interesting, right? Which is you say when.

• 42:03Speaker 00

  Because they can handle it.

• 42:05Simon Sinek?

  The way, the way they can handle it, the way that Uncle Willie described you is when you're at your worst, she'll tell you the truth. And Jay was very honest with you. One would think that for people who are struggling, that being nice.

• 42:25Speaker 00

  That does work, but nice is a surface term, isn't it? When anybody ever says, oh, you should meet him, he's so nice. I go, oh, boy. Tell me you're good. Tell me you're honest. Tell me you're kind. Tell me you're fair. Tell me you're decent. Don't tell me you're nice. That's a social term. It's like glitter.

• 42:42Simon Sinek?

  But don't we need to lift people up who are struggling?

• 42:44Speaker 00

  Exactly. Be kind.

• 42:45Simon Sinek?

  But sometimes the truth is difficult to hear.

• 42:51Speaker 00

  It depends.

• 42:52Simon Sinek?

  When you got yourself back on your feet and you've had a home and a job, what was the reason you decided to continue to volunteer as opposed to just go build a life and live a life?

• 43:03Speaker 00

  I was good at it. And I liked the people I helped. I liked them genuinely. I saw them not treated well.

• 43:10Simon Sinek?

  But I want to know, you know, how did this spoiled little rich girl find such empathy for people who-

• 43:15Speaker 00

  Well, my mother always had it. It should have been-

• 43:17Simon Sinek?

  They're not like you.

• 43:18Speaker 00

  It must be a gene that pops out when you're 50 something.

• 43:21Simon Sinek?

  Didn't grow up like you. They didn't live like you. And here you are, like-

• 43:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, actually, someone said that to me. Well, we need a social worker who really understands Hollywood and, you know, has lived experience. And he said, you know, and I said, he said, like you. I said, I'm from Beverly Hills. It's talent. You know how people operate with people. If they're good with people and they care and they want to help, you have all these people out there and you just know. There are so many wonderful people out there in the street hoping you have no idea. I'm not an anomaly. I'm just usual. It's just that I don't stop. And it's not a job. I'm a volunteer. It's a vocation.

• 44:05Simon Sinek?

  How much does the service help them get healthy again? Like, do people, is there a higher likelihood that they're gonna get healthy? Like, where does the service component-

• 44:14Speaker 00

  Because they have someone to go to. They have a place to do-

• 44:18Simon Sinek?

  Or somebody in the job program-

• 44:19Speaker 00

  Yes, exactly.

• 44:20Simon Sinek?

  Who's volunteering. Are they more likely to succeed in the job program when they also volunteer?

• 44:25Speaker 00

  That was the reason there was a random act of kindness required by Jay Goldinger. It's no longer required because it's more fully fleshed out now.

• 44:33Simon Sinek?

  Right, right, right. But there it is. There it is. This, to me, is the insight on all of this, which is you're more likely to help yourself solve your problem when you live a life of service and helping other people solve-

• 44:42Speaker 00

  Well, there's something else that's going on that I hope will happen. Randy Wyatt, I think you met her. She's absolutely wonderful. She has two kids of her own. She wants to start a program at Food on Foot to help youth. A lot of different organizations are doing this, but I thankfully think the Food on Foot way, I think we're better at it. Okay, I'm prejudiced.

• 45:02Speaker 00

  You have so much emphasis on kids using fentanyl because they say, "God." I mean, I grew up in the just say no era of everybody said yes during the Reagan era. Because I'm an old person in the seventies in high school. And what I saw was, most of my friends died. I was always a designated driver because I'm not kidding you. I can't even, Aspirin knocks me out. You give me some of Cretin, I'm going to be out for a week.

• 45:27Speaker 00

  But what I see with today's youth. Look, I would never want to go back and be a teenager. Your hormones go crazy. I wouldn't go through that again for all the tea in China. Let me, let me have my face like a short pay, I'm fine. But for, for most people, for most youngsters, you hit a point where your hormones go wild. And I don't care, you're, you don't know, your focus is not always the best. And you don't, and your parents haven't taken out a license to raise you, right? They haven't learned. A lot of parents just let kids just out there. So the core criteria is don't join a gang. Don't go to a rave and try help somebody. So we're trying to institute a program where we get together groups of kids

• 46:12Speaker 00

  and let them help other people and see that it's fun. This is not a downer. Did you have a downer when you went?

• 46:18Simon Sinek?

  No, I had a lovely time.

• 46:19Speaker 00

  No, you had a wonderful time. And also the people in our line who have nothing have a good time. I get that all week. I get, I come to food on foot to feel better about myself because I'm treated well.

• 46:31Simon Sinek?

  How do you deal with burnout and the emotional labor?

• 46:35Speaker 00

  I don't get burnout.

• 46:36Simon Sinek?

  Of outreach.

• 46:37Speaker 00

  I don't get burnout in what I do. I get burnt out in my own life. And then I just pick up the phone and talk to somebody who's a heck of a lot worse than I am in their lives. And basically, maybe I help them, maybe I don't. But I always get practically the same thing, nine times out of 10. I said, "I can't help you. Dear God, I wish I could." And you know what they say? "But you listened to me. You answered the phone." Nobody else answers the phone. Nobody else talks to me.

• 47:06Speaker 00

  That's nothing.

• 47:09Speaker 00

  And it saves my life every week.

• 47:11Simon Sinek?

  What is the one thing someone can do today to help their homeless or unhoused community?

• 47:17Speaker 00

  Be kind.

• 47:19Speaker 00

  When I, at the beginning of Food on Foot, it wasn't quite as heartfelt as it is now. Right at the beginning, when I was first there-

• 47:28Simon Sinek?

  What does kindness look like? When you say, "There's one thing we can do today."

• 47:30Speaker 00

  Your face.

• 47:31Simon Sinek?

  What does kindness look like?

• 47:32Speaker 00

  Your face. That helps.

• 47:34Simon Sinek?

  What does that mean?

• 47:35Speaker 00

  It means you look at people kindly.

• 47:38Speaker 00

  You smile at them. And you put yourself forward in order to be interested in them.

• 47:45Simon Sinek?

  If somebody asks, and you have nothing, because nobody carries change anymore in this-

• 47:50Speaker 00

  Smile. If you get something bad back, you just go on.

• 47:53Simon Sinek?

  I think people are uncomfortable to say no, and so they turn away and ignore somebody.

• 47:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, they ignore that you don't exist.

• 47:59Simon Sinek?

  And so if somebody has nothing to give in that moment-

• 48:01Speaker 00

  I always say the same thing.

• 48:02Simon Sinek?

  What should they, what should, what does kindness look like in those moments?

• 48:05Speaker 00

  Well, for me, it's, "I'm so sorry. I don't have any money to give you. I'm poor too. However, maybe you might explore this, this, and this. What's going on with you?" Now, I talk to them. You don't have to do that. Basically, all you have to do is say, "I'm so sorry," and smile, and go on.

• 48:23Simon Sinek?

  It's a little bit of humanity.

• 48:25Speaker 00

  It's a small thing, but it works. And it's like osmosis. It's really like osmosis. One kind smile really does translate. I'm not kidding you when I say you probably save a life by coming to Food on Foot and smiling at somebody. I know I've been told that many times during the week when I'm out there, and I am out there.

• 48:49Simon Sinek?

  Joan, thank you so much for coming in.

• 48:51Speaker 00

  Well, thank you, Simon.

• 48:52Simon Sinek?

  You are, you are a saint.

• 48:54Speaker 00

  Oh, no. God, no. Please, please. We're not a religious experience, and we're not a cult.

• 48:58Simon Sinek?

  You were saint-like.

• 48:59Speaker 00

  No, no. I was originally supposed to be a nun. My grandmother decided I was the youngest child of the youngest child, so I was supposed to be a nun. And my mother said, "Oh, no."

• 49:10Simon Sinek?

  Well, if you refuse to be a saint, then just thank you for-

• 49:14Speaker 00

  I'm somebody who cares, the way you care and the way everybody should.

• 49:18Simon Sinek?

  Thank you for caring to such an extreme level that it shows-

• 49:22Speaker 00

  Simon, do me a favor.

• 49:23Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 49:24Speaker 00

  Please.

• 49:24Simon Sinek?

  Yeah.

• 49:25Speaker 00

  Let people know. That I'm at Food on Foot for a reason. If anybody likes anything that I said. Because out of everything I've seen, and I'm telling you, I've seen hundreds. This one works. And it should be all over this nation.

• 49:41Simon Sinek?

  For anyone who lives in Los Angeles, come down and volunteer at Food on Foot. Go to their website, foodonfoot.org. Register, come and volunteer. If you have a company, or if you don't have a company, you just have means. You can donate money, you can donate stuff that they need. Again, go to the website and see what they need and what you can give. I've done it, it is inspiring. And it, I think it forces all of us to recognize that everybody has a story. And you don't necessarily know what that story is. And for us to guess what somebody's story is, is very, you're gonna get it wrong most of the time. And I think the lesson here is if, if we all had a little empathy, I mean, that's all it is, it's empathy. If we all had a little empathy to recognize that everybody has a story.

• 50:26Simon Sinek?

  And if we had a little less judgment and a little more concern and care. You'd be amazed how much you can help. And if you don't live in Los Angeles, please either steal their model and set one up in your city. Or, or if you have means, please donate some way, shape or form. Joan, if you won't be a saint, at least accept that you are an inspiration. A Bit of Optimism is a production of The Optimism Company. Lovingly produced by our team, Lindsay Garbenius, Phoebe Bradford and Devon Johnson. Subscribe wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. And if you want even more cool stuff, visit simoncinek.com. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself, take care of each other.