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Description

How do you respond when your offer of care goes unreturned, and you’re left waiting with more questions than answers?

This story invites us to consider what’s happening beneath the surface—both in ourselves and in those we hope to help. Through honest moments and unexpected pauses, a simple act of care reveals how seeing one another can change us, even when things don’t go as planned.

Time Stamps

05:48 Made for connection and community

08:56 Dropping off car seat and stroller

11:26 Learning compassion through perspective

15:31 Connecting a dad with neighbours

17:54 Building cross-sector partnerships

22:35 Building relationships through consistent care

24:33 Helping a mom in need

28:21 Encouraging churches to care locally

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Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.ca

Email: podcast@careimpact.ca

About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal

DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate

And after a few minutes, she still didn't come back. I was confused.

And if I'm really being honest, I think I was a little frustrated. You know,

you schedule a time to meet with somebody, whatever the occasion is. But

in that moment, kind of had a nudge, like, what's going on in her

world? She's really pregnant. Maybe what

she went to get for food was the only thing that she'd be able to

tolerate that day. And, like, that's what she needed maybe.

There's so much that people are carrying and people are walking through

that we don't see.

Not every act of care feels natural. Sometimes it's

uncomfortable, sometimes it's inconvenient, and

sometimes it doesn't go the way you expected at all. I'm

Johan, producer of Neighbourly. Today, the roles are

flipped. Shannon, who usually sits across the table

listening to others asking the questions, steps into the

story herself. And what she shares isn't just about

meeting needs. It's what happens inside us when we begin

to truly see people. Because care isn't just about

delivering something. It's about learning to notice,

to listen, to stay curious instead of jumping to

conclusions. And along the way, Shannon invites us into

real moments, real stories, stories that reveal

how easy it is to lead with expectation and how powerful it is when

we choose compassion. Instead, this conversation might

just change the way you see people right in front of you. So let's

join Shannon at the table. Shannon,

welcome here. I'm looking forward to this conversation because,

well, usually you're starting this conversation and I'm kind of behind the scenes making you

sound good, but here I am. I get to ask you some questions. So

how you doing? I'm good. I'm a little

more nervous for this conversation, I guess, because usually I just get

to hear other people share. But I'm excited.

I'm looking forward to this one. I mean, for listeners who don't

know, you're the regional manager for a CarePortal. So we talk a lot

about CarePortal on this podcast and we share some of these

stories, and this is an opportunity for you to share some of the

stories because, well, you're always asking the questions, but

you're kind of seeing it from a broader perspective all over the

place. So this is great that you can share some careportal stories

and not just meeting the needs, but also seeing the transformation

in people and seeing the people that get to fulfill these needs and

the brightness that comes into their eyes when they get to do that,

that's probably a gift that you get to see. Oh, it's my favorite

thing when I tell people about my job or they ask like, what do you

do? I get so excited every time I talk about it because it

really is such a unique point of view. I get to

see needs come in from agencies that we're working

with and see them share about the family who needs

X, Y or Z so that they can be supported and stable and successful.

And then have this network of churches that I'm in

conversations with and in relationship with and helping

empower them to respond to those needs and

addressing some of those barriers with them, some of the fears they have.

Oh, it's so cool. It's so cool to be at this point of getting to

see both perspectives and the requests coming

in and then the stories afterward, which are

the best part, getting just to hear these connections that happen.

It's a gift. It's really a gift that I get to do this.

Do you want to go into a little bit more what you do with CarePortal

just to explain it for those once again, like you can never

over communicate is one of those things that I've hear in the

church world. What exactly is CarePortal and what's your role

there? Yeah, so CarePortal, it's a connecting

technology. It is not a ministry in and of itself. It's

a tool that can be used. In a nutshell, it's a request

and response loop. So a child serving, family serving

agency, organization, nonprofit of some kind,

that's working with families on the ground, they can

submit real needs for a specific family into this

system, into this portal. And it's app based, so you

can go on your phone and you can see these needs that are

getting entered. And it's based on geography. So when

a request is submitted, there's a little pinpoint on a

map of the general area of where that family lives.

Not the specifics, of course, for privacy and safety, but then

churches that are nearby to that family that I've connected with, that

I've trained and shown them how to use the portal,

they then have the opportunity to go and meet that family

and not only do they get to provide maybe the tangible

items that that family needs, but more importantly, it's about that

relational connection that they get to have with somebody that

is potentially right in their neighborhood, really hidden in

plain sight. And now they know about that family, now they can

go help meet a practical need, but also build

a meaningful connection with that family. Now this is mostly an

audio only podcast, but I don't know if this is going to be a clip

or not, but you guys should see how Shannon's face lights up when she

talks about this stuff. She's honestly very excited. So for those

churches or leaders that are listening and don't have CarePortal, you

really should get Shannon in front of you and see that face light up. So

that being said, like, as you've gone through this process, as you've

seen people fulfill needs, you've probably fulfilled some needs

yourself and delivered stuff. What has changed in how you actually see

people? Oh, everything.

There's so much. I think what it really

comes down to, and we've talked about this, I feel like on every

episode this season, which just shows how important it is,

is that people have a desire to be seen.

And at the core, I think that really

points to our creator, our heavenly Father, that we're

made in the image of God. And so we're made for connection, we're

made for relationship. That's how we're wired. And

so when I see churches responding

to these practical needs or when I've been able to do that myself,

yes, that makes a difference. The practical needs matter because

sometimes that means it's preventing

separation from their family or just helping gain

stability and that's impactful. But

when a family, when a person feels seen

and feels like there's somebody that's in their corner,

that can really change everything. It's

shown me how we're just people. Like, it's this human to

human connection. That person might have a need, but

I can think back in my own life where I had needs that might

look similar or might look different. And yet at the end of the day, I

was needing to feel seen and loved and cared for and like there were

people in my corner. And so as I've gotten to experience

that firsthand, what I'm trying to communicate,

Johan, is that like how we're all just human

and I don't know how to communicate that any other way but that we're

not that different from each other. We're really not. And it's so easy in this

world to get caught up in that. And you

spend any time scrolling on social media and you're inundated with just like

all this trauma and all this news and so, and

so and, and da, da, da, da. And yet at the end of the day,

when a mom needs a car seat for her baby and she gets that and

she feels like, oh, there's this nearby church that's like here for

me, oh, I think about when I'm gonna have a

baby and I'm gonna need a car seat. And I know that I have family

and people in my corner. It just changes the way

you think. So when you're explaining that, like this

podcast is all about stories, telling stories about good

neighbors, there's probably a story behind you, even explaining that

when you're trying to explain what Careportal means to you and how it's

transformed you. Let's go there a little bit. Is there a story

behind what you were saying there? Something specific?

Yeah, there's one that really comes to mind. It was about a year

ago or so, a request came through for a mom who was pregnant and

pretty close to the end of her pregnancy. And so she was needing a

stroller and a car seat pretty soon. This was actually a request

that I got to bring my parents on. And they hadn't experienced

CarePortal yet. They live somewhere else. And I got to kind of

show them here's how it works. And so it was beautiful to get to

experience that together. So I had connected

with the mom over text, I think, and arranged

a time to bring the car seat and the stroller.

I'd given her about, I don't know, 15 minute heads up when we were on

our way. And while we were on our way there, I think

we'd almost gotten to her home. She calls me and

says something along the lines of, you know, I had to step out for a

minute, I needed to go get something to eat, but

my niece will be able to let you in, I'm on my way back, that

sort of thing. And I was like, okay, you know, all right, sounds

good. So we got to her home and we were parked on the street,

and I wanted to wait a few minutes. Cause I was really hoping that I'd

be able to connect with her once she got there. So we waited a few

minutes. She hadn't come back yet. And so I thought, okay,

let's just go knock on the door and bring it in. So we do, and

her niece answers the door and we bring in this big box because it was

a stroller car seat combo. You know, we said, hey, do you. Do

you guys need any help putting this together? There might have been another adult

somewhere in the home, but didn't really know who that was. And

they said, no, like, we've got it all good. And we're like, okay,

sounds good. So we go back to the car. I thought, well,

let's just wait a few more minutes just to have the opportunity to meet this

mom. Because I really wanted to meet her and know that we see

her and that we're here for her. And after a few minutes, she still

didn't come back. And so eventually we decided, okay,

let's go on with the day. To be honest, when I think back to how

I felt in that moment, I was confused and.

And if I'm really being honest, I think I was a little frustrated. I

think those are some normal feelings to maybe experience.

I think with anybody. You know, you schedule a time to meet with somebody, whatever

the occasion is, and they don't come and you're like, oh.

But I think especially as believers,

we are called to go a little bit beyond the surface level.

And in that moment kind of had a nudge,

like, what's going on in her world? She's really pregnant.

Maybe what she went to get for food was the only thing that she'd be

able to tolerate that day. And like, that's what she needed. Maybe.

Or, you know, maybe she was overwhelmed and needed to just step out

of the house for a second. Maybe, or

maybe she didn't know how to receive help yet and

it was hard for her to process, like receiving this item. I don't know.

And frankly, that doesn't really matter. It doesn't

matter what the reason was, but it was a

moment of acknowledging there's so much that

people are carrying and people are walking through that we don't

see. And moments like that,

that moment specifically helped me to pause

and really realize so much of life. I interpret through

my own expectations and instead of compassion

or my own expectations come first and compassion comes later.

And I think if we can get to a point through

experiences like this and really putting love into action,

we start to kind of flip that and start with compassion

and say, yeah, maybe it was an inconvenience to me that that person was

late to something or, or, you know, I had to go out of my way

to, to bring a mom a meal who had just had a baby or whatever

the thing might be when we can step outside of ourselves

and put ourselves into someone's shoes, I

think that leads us to be a lot more like Christ.

I find it interesting, like there's a lot of good ministries and good

organizations doing good things by doing similar type deliveries,

hampers, all this sort of thing. But the story you just told, it felt

like it really wasn't about the physical item and getting it to them,

but you were really wanting to get that, that connection piece to

that mom. Like you really wanted to connect with her and that's where

it bothered you a little bit. Right? It's like, I really want

connection. So what makes CarePortal a little bit different there? I

hear those types of stories all the time when we talk about

CarePortal is people wanting to make that meaningful connection

rather than just delivering the item. Yeah,

that's really the core of this, is that connection with

somebody. And there's so many amazing ways that churches are

getting creative with engaging in their communities. It can be

really beautiful to see, you know, different activities and

different programs. And those are not inherently bad. But what

can be a danger, I think at times is when we forget the point of

what those activities and programs are trying to get us to in

connecting with community. If we get too caught up in the details

in the system, in the. The shopping list and the to dos to get ready

for that event and then maybe forget, oh, what is this event? Even

for in the first place? That's what I love so much about

CarePortal, is it? It just brings it down to that one on one

connection with a family right there. Okay, so you

shared a personal story. What about when a church responded?

Do you have any moments or stories where you saw a church or community

show up? Yeah, there's a

story that I often share when I'm meeting with churches for the first time because

it. There's. There's so many stories, but this one really gets to the

heart of what we're even trying to do here. A while

back, there was a dad who was a single

dad, and I believe he had been experiencing homelessness and was

now in housing. And it was beautiful. And so he was working on

reunification with his daughters. I think he had two. Two

young girls. And the request came through that

he needed some simple furniture. I think it was maybe a

dresser, maybe a kitchen table and a microwave. Just some

basic household things. And the request

said that this would help him be able to start having visits with his daughters

again if he could get these items in his home. So a church

who was, I think, blocks from the family or a church

responder who lived, you know, just a few blocks away from this dad

responded, and pretty sure in partnership with some other

churches, they were able to get those items. And they go and connect.

Not only did they just bring the items, but they stayed and

they chatted with the dad, and they ended up watching the jets game

together and just sitting down and being together for a

little while as. As neighbors. And later we

heard that when his daughters did get to come visit, they

ran into their room they were so excited to see their space all set

up for them. And I think what I always am

so just amazed by with this story is the

proximity that there was a dad this close

to someone from a local church. They were

hidden in plain sight. They were right there. And all that was

needed was a way to connect, a way

for this need to be brought forward in some

way and this neighbor to say, yeah, I'd

love to go connect with this dad. They just needed a way

to know about each other. And that's what

happened. A need was shared through the, the

caseworker, the social worker for this dad and someone

who was in the neighborhood said, yeah, I'd love to meet him.

That's just beautiful to me. And that's one of the things that you

mentioned with fulfilling these needs. Like, it's not

just about that one on one connection. Like, we're really trying

to bring networks of people to surround people.

Like, we're bringing different organizations together to fulfill these needs

to make connections with people. So it's not just that one on

one connection, but we're really trying to bring organizations together. What have

you seen with like the networking of, of different groups of people

coming together to support these families?

Yeah, the connections with families are so

powerful and impactful. But the whole

networking and cross collaboration that happens

is, in my opinion, just as meaningful.

Because in communities you have, yes, you have

churches that are pillars and sometimes long

established places. You also have government

agencies working. You have social workers who are there

trying to support families. I think of mental health counselors

and all of these different supports that are out there. But

so often what happens in today's world is everyone

is operating in silos. I don't think it's a lack of

desire to coordinate and

collaborate, but I think how to do that in practice can

get hard. And that's. That can be where it's just like, how do we

come together in a way that's efficient and really meaningful?

And so what we've gotten to see through this

network is churches coordinating with

social workers and nonprofit organizations,

partnering with, you know, these church responders. And sometimes

we even are able to have local businesses like Kildonan,

mcc thrift, they're a part of this as well. And so all these

intersecting spaces and entities

working together in a way that's actually quite simple and

doesn't take a whole lot of.

Relatively speaking, there is some effort that has to go into, you know, these

partnerships, but there's an element of

cross sector collaboration or what we'd maybe call collective impact.

That is hard because partnerships can

be messy. But when we embrace that messiness

sometimes and are able to use a tool like this

to streamline sharing needs and

needs being met, and churches and agencies

and government working together, the impact

goes far beyond what we could each do in our own lane.

And the church working alongside these government

organizations and community organizations is really cool, too.

Like, that's not something that is typical historically throughout the church,

where the church can work really well with community organizations.

Exactly. And more and more every day,

I am convicted again and again

of how the church is called to show up in this space.

I have immense gratitude for social workers.

I have friends that are social workers. We have people on our team that

are. And what they are carrying

day in and day out is unbelievable.

And the mental health counselors in our cities,

what they're walking with people through and the

government agencies and supports and benefits that are out there,

you know, all of these are in an effort to support people,

but they can't carry that alone. And the church is

called to do this as well. I love the church. I

was raised in a local church. I'd call myself Church Girl.

And I believe in God's plan to use the church to reach

people with hope. Because we. We know where the hope is.

It's in Jesus. And so should

the church be involved in caring for the widow and the orphan?

Scripture's pretty clear about that. And we got churches on

every corner. We are in the communities. Like, what an

opportunity. That's right. There's churches all over

the place. And I can understand that

sometimes it's not that churches don't want to help, but sometimes

it's just like, where do we start? Especially if they're in a community with a

lot of needs, or maybe they're more in a more

affluent or less impoverished area and they want to help, but they're

like, how do we access those needs and how do we support?

And so that's what I love about my job, is I get to help

churches identify the barriers for them in

engaging in community and then help remove those barriers. Because

when we put our love into action and we rally around people who don't have

a community of support, and we as the church get

to show them what that looks like, that is

really embodying, I think, what the church is supposed

to be. And like you mentioned earlier, it's very

geographical. Right. So there's an opportunity there for

churches being on every corner to check in again after, to follow

up, to be that continuous connection. Because

that's really what people need and are longing for, is that continuing

connection. Yeah, 1,000%. I remember hearing

about a family who was asked to write down their

circle of support. And I think this was they were in a caseworker

meeting of some kind of. And every name that

they wrote down was someone who was a paid professional.

So whether it was their social worker, their counselor, whatnot.

And ever since I heard that story, it has stuck with me

because I think about if I were asked to do that, I'd start with my

parents, I'd start with our pastors. I have

mentors in multiple countries

now and regions. And that is such a blessing.

And I'm so rich because of that. My husband and I are so

rich with relationships that

there'd be so many people I could share. And to

imagine that there are some, actually a lot of people

that aren't able to do that,

yes, it breaks my heart. But then it fires me up because I

know there's churches on every corner that are called to be that.

And that's where they can really step in in a meaningful way through

relational, consistent care. Not just showing

up once, but actually remembering someone's name, sending

a text a week later after they dropped off that car seat and

saying, hey, mom, how are you doing? You know, do you need anything this week?

Can I bring, you know, a meal over or, you know,

are you getting ready to go into labor? Whatever. The thing is,

it's relational, it's consistent, and

being present shows people that they're not alone.

You mentioned remembering someone's name. Just that recognition and

that continuous connection. Is there a face or name or

moment that you still carry with you every day?

Yeah, there's definitely a face and a moment

that sticks with me. Last summer a

request came through for a mom who was due with

a baby. She's a first time mom and was feeling pretty

anxious and needed pretty much everything.

She didn't really have anything. And so there were a few key

things that she was going to need to begin with, but also just some of

the other basics for a new baby beyond that. And there was

somebody from my own church actually who had

adopted, fostered and adopted and had just told me, you know, if

you ever need baby items, I've got so much. And

so I contacted her, I said, hey, now's the time. We're ready for those things.

So I picked them up from her. And this mom was

in a much different part of the city, so I was able to connect with

a church who was closer to where she is. And

one of the young ladies there came along with me, and

we had our car packed full of things. And when we

got there and got to meet her,

she was overwhelmed. She was overwhelmed in the best way.

She cried, and I cried

because I was so challenged and

convicted by her courage, the strength it

takes to say, I don't have all the things I

need, but I'm willing to receive them. Hearing

a little bit about her story and some of the circumstances

leading up to this beautiful baby that was gonna be born,

I just felt like such an honor, such a gift

to get to go and connect with this mom that I wouldn't have known about

otherwise and show her that there are people that

see her and that are here for her. That's really a

moment that I won't ever forget. I would

say doing some CarePortal requests myself. I wish we all

had those stories and those people that we can go back and

remember and keep us compassionate and keep us wanting to

see more people find those connections. And I think

there's opportunity for the church to grow in this.

Obviously, like, this is. It's not always easy for

churches to know how to do this and access ways to get into

their community, but CarePortal, I mean, we don't want to

sound like an infomercial here, but Careportal really is a

good way of doing that. Yeah. So let's go back

to your job as the regional manager a little bit.

We're going to close up here right away. But what are some things that you've

learned through some of these moments of connection, through

seeing churches fulfill needs? Maybe just share some of those learning

moments. Yeah, there's a bunch. And I think one

thing to address, too, something that I always communicate

when I sit down with a church for the first time and share about this

opportunity. I shared this in the beginning of the episode

here that, yes, we're talking lots about

CarePortal, and we don't want it just to feel like an infomercial. But that's the

thing. It is just a tool. And so this

is a great tool, but in the hands of a church who's

able to use it and make it part of their ministry and integrate

it into their ministry as an outreach tool, that's where things

can change, and that's where impact can happen. And what I've

learned through that is so often,

I think people overcomplicate what it means to care.

We think we need to have a bunch of time in our

schedule. Sometimes we feel like we need to have it all Together

ourselves or, you know, have a degree of some kind

to do this. And that's not it at all. I

think what people want the most is for someone just

to listen. Think back to an episode that we did with

Pastor Steve Griffin from Calgary, and he

talked about this exact thing that he's experienced when

working with people experiencing homelessness. More often than not, people

just want someone to listen to them beyond the stuff themselves.

So slowing down really matters. And I think the beauty of

a tool like this is that you don't have to find the

needs yourselves. We're already partnered with

trusted agencies and trusted organizations in the city that are

already doing this in a very dedicated, boots on the

ground kind of way. They know where the needs are. They have people coming to

their doors already. This is an invitation for

churches to show up as neighbors, not as experts,

not as child welfare professionals, just as

friends, as neighbors. And so there's just such

an easy, practical way to step into that kind of care.

You're not supposed to be a savior who, who has all the answers,

who has all these kinds of training. We equip you with some tools

for sure, and that's helpful, but you get to just be somebody who

cares and you get to help your church lean into this posture

of caring for those right outside your door.

With care, it doesn't mean you have to have the right answer for somebody

right away, but you're willing to step out of your comfort zone.

You're willing to be the kind of person that

in times of loneliness or isolation, yourself you've

wanted. You just notice, you, you

listen and you're willing to show up for others.

And so I think this week, as you are

going about your day to day and your world and things don't go

the way that you expect, or someone doesn't respond the way that you thought

they would. Ask yourself a simple question of

what might be going on in their world. Because more often than not,

there's always more to the story.

Yeah. So let's go get those stories that are going to sit with us.

Like the stories Shannon shared that are going to transform us

and keep us compassionate people. That's really beautiful.

So, Shannon, what might be keeping people from actually

jumping into this and getting those stories that stick with them, the ones that

some of those stories that you have that stick with you and keep you compassionate.

What do you think is holding us back? Yeah, I think

a lot of it is fear. And that's not always something that I

hear people name specifically, but

is one of the barriers that's going on internally,

whether it's insecurity of whether they

feel equipped or feel like they have the ability to

go in and do this and meet a need like this,

or they're just uncertain of, you know, what.

What is this family walking through? There's. There's so many,

I think, limitations that we place on ourselves,

but also on God that we think we're

going out into the world on our own. And

he quite literally sent an advocate and a helper. He sent

the Holy Spirit to walk with us. And so when

we change our posture to one of,

wow, I get to engage with a family in my community, and I'm not doing

it alone. I'm helping them feel not alone.

That changes everything. And that would be my

encouragement to any of our listeners, is that you

look internally and you reflect on

when that resistance comes up or when those feelings of

holding back come up, that you'd actually challenge

yourself to press in and to stay to engage in the

opportunity when it comes up, because that's

where real change can happen. And stretching ourselves

beyond fear is a great way to grow. That's right. Thanks so much, Shannon.

Thanks, Johan. The stories we share here

remind us that CARE does not have to be perfect to be powerful. It

just has to be present. Neighbourly is an initiative of

CareImpact, a Canadian charity equipping churches, agencies

and communities with technology and training to care better

together. This episode was produced by CARE Creatives Co, a

social enterprise of CareImpact. If you're building a podcast

and want help with strategy, editing, or full production, visit

CareCreativesCo.ca to connect with us. I'm Johan. Thanks for

listening and keep being the kind of neighbor someone will never

forget. In a good way.

When I see you in a stranger I'm no

longer a slave Turning

over.