Non Profit NewsPod: Saint John's Program "Party for Change" Celebrates 40 Years of Service.

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this nonprofit podcast News pod. We're recognizing a huge milestone, 40 years of St. John's program for real change. For four decades, they've been transforming the lives of women and children in crisis in our community. I am pleased and thrilled to welcome CEO Scott Richards to share how they'll be celebrating this accomplishment, Scott, 40 years.

That is just simply amazing. What does this anniversary mean to the organization? 

Scott Richards: Thank you for having me, Jeff. It is an amazing milestone to celebrate. I consider myself very lucky to be here, to celebrate that this means the world to us. I think we are just spending this entire year just really marveling at what it takes to do this work over four decades, from the partnerships, from many, many [00:01:00] generous people in our community and businesses and foundations to all of our staff and volunteers, like it is no small feat to accomplish this.

Work in Sacramento and I, I would say the, the one thing that it's really done for us as an organization is almost harken back to the month or the night that we started in 1985. The St. John's Lutheran Church opened their basement in a winter evening and allowed 20 women and their children to stay.

Throughout the winter in the church. And that just really speaks to me about the heart, the DNA, the mission of St. John's is that when you look out at the world and, and what needs to happen to really find what are the solutions, what are the things that will, that will have an immediate impact, but also set the stage for really true transformation.

And that's been our history for 40 years, where we started as a shelter, as a 90 day program. Today we're a fully comprehensive program with. Behavioral health staff, substance use, treatment, you know, continuing education, childcare, and, and so many [00:02:00] incredible opportunities for families to really. Turn the page, and I think that what we're celebrating in this 40 years is generational impact that we now have families.

The mother went through St. John's, you know, 10, 15 years ago, and today their children are thriving, their partners are thriving, their families are doing well. There are careers, there are houses that have been bought, there are jobs that have been started, and so we're just really reveling in the generational impact of St.

John's in Sacramento. 

Jeff Holden: Which is something you get to see after the 40 years because you see those families come back. You see the alumni participating in ways that, who would've thought when the organization started that this is what it would look like? Share a story if you could, that really stands out as a true picture of the impact you've had on women and children.

Scott Richards: Yeah, I mean, there's so many stories and I think they all have some similarities to them. So I think about Adriana who came to us a couple of years [00:03:00] ago, just really at a difficult moment for herself and for her kids, and really didn't know where to turn. I think she found St. John's and saw the idea of here's a safe space for me to get away from the difficulty, the trauma, diversity of life.

She came in, you know, with her kids and she got into our job training program. She was in our vocational learning program, but she acquired a position at Mulvaney as, you know, a chef in the kitchen, making good money and, and starting to feel like, Hey, this is something I want to do. As a career in the rest of my life, she fell in love with culinary arts and working in the kitchen and, and today she's a full-time chef.

She loves her job. She has a beautiful career. She has a beautiful family. She is housed and living in her own home in Sacramento with her children. And I think her children are seeing her mom as somebody who's successful, committed to their future, committed to their goals. You really can't understate, you know, we, we see these stories time [00:04:00] and again, you really can't understate how incredibly courageous it is for somebody to like really say, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna stop some of these things that are happening, whatever that might be.

And maybe, you know, stopping talking to these folks that are a source of some problems or. Whatever it is and say, I'm gonna get serious about what I want, what I wanna do for me and my family and commit themselves to it. So Adriana's story is a perfect picture of, and she's ready, right? She's ready to contribute and be a part of the Sacramento community in new and different ways than she had been for so many years before.

Jeff Holden: Thanks to the organizations that actually hire the women that come out of the program. Absolutely, yes. The talent and now we see them integrated into the community through so many different organizations as a collaborative effort. From 40 years of building collaboration in the community. Yeah. Do you have any idea, Scott, how many women and children have passed through the program over the 40 years?

Scott Richards: Yeah, I do, and I've got a great, very quick story. As I was cleaning out my office, I [00:05:00] found the binder a binder. The binder, it's gonna be called from the first year that St. John's operated. Oh, wow. This is 1985. Paper and pencil. These are all handwritten notes of every client that came through the doors in 19 85, 19 86 and 1987.

In total, it's over 30,000 women that have come through St. John's since 1985. 

Jeff Holden: It's a city. We'll call it St. John's City. 

Scott Richards: Never thought of that. But it is. It is a small city. Right. 

Jeff Holden: Let's talk about this incredible 40th anniversary celebration you've been going on. Yeah. You know, what kind of evening are you putting together for the community?

Scott Richards: Yeah. I think that this is gonna be just a truly remarkable evening where we not only celebrate St. John's as an organization, but this community. In a sense we are, I hesitate to use the word, but we're owned in a sense by this community. If you think about all of the people that have invested all of their time, treasure, and talent over four years to make this possible, it's as much a celebration of all of us as [00:06:00] it is.

Those clients and alum who have followed this journey have accomplished their dreams, have pursued their goals, and, and we're celebrating that as well. And I think what it is, is really a celebration of generational impact that now. If you look across St. John's, it's almost the same story, but just different groups of folks.

I meet people that have been like, I volunteered at St. John's 25 years ago, and now my kids come there as teenagers. Here's, here's one of my favorite quotes from a client. Her name's Maria, and she said, when you live in a community where everybody wants you to succeed, you wake up every day with a purpose, and there's something about the idea of her saying.

Community and purpose in connecting that, because I think you and I probably know the same Jeff, like a lot of our own life experiences have happened in our communities, right? Our families or our networks, our people, and, and what we've done is be able to create a community of people that. Deeply understand all of the causes and consequences of all these [00:07:00] issues that really plague our community around homelessness and unemployment, all those things.

Jeff Holden: Who can we expect to be there? Will it be alumni and certainly partner 

Scott Richards: supporters? Yeah, you're gonna hear, you're gonna hear. Firsthand. So the evening, you're gonna hear firsthand accounts from alum that are now 10 or 15 years out from their experience at St. John's. You're gonna hear from current clients.

You're gonna hear, hear a little bit from me. You hear a little bit from supporters and donors in the community. There'll be incredible food. You'll see our clients kind of in the mix and helping serve and be a part of the program. The reason we call it Party for Change is that it's a moment for us in the moment where.

There's so much heavy in the world and there is like, we're not dismissing that, but at the same time, there's so much strength and good and power in this community in St. John's and, and across our alum and clients. We wanna share that with the world. We want people to come meet staff, meet clients, meet alum, have a good conversation, have a good meal, and celebrate a really incredible cause.

Jeff Holden: What's [00:08:00] a key takeaway you hope people leave after that dinner with? 

Scott Richards: That's a great question. I hope that they take that, that St. John's is a leader in this community, in this space, a trusted and reliable leader that is committed to our community. 

Jeff Holden: So somebody's listening, going, oh yeah, I'm, I'm really interested.

How can I attend sponsor? How do I get involved? Where do I go? 

Scott Richards: One of the first places you goes are website, St. Johns program dot. And of course you can always donate, like we have an Amazon wishlist on our site. So if you're like, Hey, I wanna just buy that one special thing that'll make somebody's day, you can find that crayons, you know, workbooks, any of those things.

And of course, if you wanna support or donate to St. John's. We have lots of information on the site and I'd be happy to talk to folks about that as well. 

Jeff Holden: And I'm smiling because the only thing we haven't done is the actual details of the event. Scott, when, when is it? What are the details? When is it timing and where?

Scott Richards: Yes. Very important. I probably should have led with that. So our [00:09:00] 2025 party for change. Is hosted at Modern Aviation at the airport. They're our hosts for the evening, so we'll be in a hangar. This is sponsored by Five Star Bank, and I want to thank James Beckwith and his team for being our presenting sponsor.

We start at 5:00 PM there's valet parking and there will be some. Drinks and some drinks, cocktails in advance, and then a great meal. But October 11th, 2025, modern aviation be there at 5:00 PM and you can get tickets and all the other information on our website. 

Jeff Holden: Excellent. Well, what an incredible milestone for an organization that's been changing lives and families for 40 years.

You can learn more, you can get the tickets or find ways to support@stjohnsprogram.org. And Scott, congratulations to you and the entire St. John's team and here's to another 40 years of real change. 

Scott Richards: That's right. Thank you, Jeff.