Episode 16 · John Shelter · September 1, 2023
John Shelter has spent years working the edges of Humboldt’s homelessness crisis with a mix of bluntness, patience, and practical care. In this conversation, he talks about New Directions, the limits of grant-driven systems, and why he believes real help starts with trust, dignity, and a place people can actually use. He also shares the long path that brought him from New York to Humboldt and into this work.
Watch the conversation
What this episode covers
- New Directions as a social enterprise built around cleanup, outreach, and employment training.
- Why John sees homelessness as rooted in trauma, not one simple cause.
- His case for bathrooms, trash cans, showers, and safe places as basic needs, not extras.
- The idea of an employment campground and a more gradual path out of encampments.
- How people with lived experience of homelessness help shape the work.
- John’s own winding path through family loss, restaurant work, community service, and reinvention in Humboldt.
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Welcome John Shelter, our, our guest.
John Shelter: Well, thank you very much, Scott.
Scott Hammond: Great to have you.
John Shelter: Uh, it's happy to be here.
Scott Hammond: Wanna learn all about who you are, what you do, your job title.
Let's start with that. What's your job title
[laughs]
John Shelter: [laughs] Well, I am most importantly a
husband and a grandpa to our granddaughter that we're raising. Um, my position at my business is I'm the owner and coordinator of New Directions.
Scott Hammond: Nice. And New Directions is what, for those of us that-
John Shelter: It's a social enterprise that actually deals with the environmental
homelessness creates.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: But we take on a lot of other jobs as learning aspects for the homeless
we do-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … like an employment training for them.
Scott Hammond: Nice. All right. How long you been doing that?
John Shelter: Ooh. I've been doing it-
Scott Hammond: [laughs]
John Shelter: … for about 20-something years.
Scott Hammond: 12 years, wow. And how long you been married?
John Shelter: 29.
Scott Hammond: Nice. I have, I have your answer. When everybody,
podcast, "How long have you been married?"
John Shelter: [laughs] That's always a good one.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: That's for you, Joni, and I know you're tired of that,
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Anyway. So I'm gonna hit you with the two
sometimes it's better to get these out of the way. Who, who's John Shelter, and what do you want? We'll start with, we'll start with the first part. Who,
John Shelter: Um,
I'm a gentleman that's seen an issue in our communities-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … that wanted to address it.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And, uh, unfortunately, the only way I was gonna address it
was to create a business.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: A nonprofit seems the most easiest.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: But they're too self-reliant on the government.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And the funding for what we do as New Directions
really doesn't exist.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
So you're kind of always making, trying to, trying to make, make ends meet.
John Shelter: Always trying to make ends meet, but it's always about the community.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um,
I, I love Humboldt County, and I love our community, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and I don't believe any issue can't be
Scott Hammond: Amen. Yep.
John Shelter: I believe in compromise-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … as, uh, one of the biggest tools
Scott Hammond: Right. We don't seem to be too big on
No one's too really long on [laughs] a lot of compromise.
John Shelter: No. It-
Scott Hammond: Sorry
John Shelter: … in this society, it's either a microwaveable society where
right now-
Scott Hammond: Yep
John Shelter: … or I have to win.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: And I always believe that with a compromise,
Scott Hammond: Amen. Yeah. Win, win, win.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yep. I like it.
That's well said. I, I thought of it that way. You're right. And so what do you want?
John Shelter: I want an opportunity.
Scott Hammond: An op- [laughs] To, to do what?
John Shelter: To do more.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Good.
John Shelter: I'm doing everything I can physically and possibly and financially
do as John Shelter, our community member.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
John Shelter: Um, the head of New Directions.
But without
the support, we can't get any bigger.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um,
it, it's, it's the craziest thing to watch all the 10, 12 years ago when we had the shopping, when we had our, our service center-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … being utilized now.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: 12 years later, they're finally coming up with the ideas
years ago.
Scott Hammond: Interesting.
John Shelter: And, and so now I have ideas, and my biggest struggle is
I want the opportunity to prove I'm right or for you to prove I'm wrong. But until we take that step forward-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … we'll never know.
There's some things that there's no money in-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … so nobody wants to do it.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: And for some reason, nobody wants anybody else to do it.
Scott Hammond: Interesting.
John Shelter: You know, I wanna do, um, my biggest goal is an
employment campground for the homeless.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: This doesn't mean, hey, open up a big field and bring
all the homeless in.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It means a restricted area that you can relocate
people that are camping where you don't want them-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … to a place where you do want them,
them to heal themselves.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: We're too much in a generation where we wanna fix people.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: And we can't fix people.
Scott Hammond: It's not working.
John Shelter: No.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I love that vision. So w- we'll talk more about that.
Tell me about what, what does support look like? Is it, hey, if we wrote big checks today … I mean, that would help, but what, what does support look like for you, John?
John Shelter: Team.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: That's what support means.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Nobody should have to do everything.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: There's enough out there so we can all pitch in.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: You know,
a piece of land for here.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Maybe some help with restrooms over here.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know, it, it's, that's the kind of thing-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … that we're looking at. When you're talking about an employment
campground, it would support itself.
Scott Hammond: So is there a model for that in other towns
nation?
John Shelter: Yeah. There actually is, but none of them have done it to this
They have to have a nonprofit step in.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um, for, for instance,
Caltrans was giving state money-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … to create a work program for the homeless.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Well, it would sound obvious
have somebody here, John Shelter and New Directions."
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: "Well, we can't deal with them because we need a
So they went to Butte County-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and got Elijah House, and now you see a little van pulling
behind a Caltrans trailer on the side of the highways-
Scott Hammond: In Humboldt
John Shelter: … with their buckets and the grabbers picking up cigarette
Scott Hammond: Huh.From Elijah House in Butte County.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So-
John Shelter: They, they started an office here.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: So that's not teamwork. That's not already
pulling on what we have here.
Scott Hammond: It's not grassroots at all.
John Shelter: No.
Scott Hammond: So l- let's back up. So for, for you in Minnesota watching this
podcast, you go, "Uh, what, what are we talking about?" Humboldt County has a homeless problem. We're agreed on that. It's not Portland, and it's not San Diego, it's not San Francisco, but it's Humboldt, and it's, it's, it's affected all of us.
John Shelter: Absolutely.
Scott Hammond: I've seen the violence. I've seen the poop.
I've seen the needles. I… You know, I'm just… And I'm just one business guy. I, I don't get around, uh, that much, but it, it's, it's not missed on me. So talk about homelessness i- in, in our county and
what, um… Maybe its existence and its numbers and, and its pl- proliferation, if you wouldn't mind.
John Shelter: Well, l- let's break it down to what you
You've seen the poop. You've seen the trash. And, and let's look at why they're there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It's very simple to blame, "Well, it's all from the homeless."
Where did the homeless get the trash, and do they have a place to put the trash when they're done with it?
Scott Hammond: Ah.
John Shelter: Um, the syringes, that wasn't… You know, I grew up
in an era where the syringes, if you got caught with one, it
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: Now I've picked up over 14,000 of them
in 12 years.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: It… That's, that's crazy. So we have to look at, well, yeah,
the homeless. They, they're the ones throwing them around,
them?
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: See, so everything that we look at bad about the homeless-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … has been created. We like to give out clothes at, on demand.
People need clothes, I understand.
Scott Hammond: What do you find in trash and homeless camps? Clothes.
John Shelter: Absolutely.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and needles.
John Shelter: Yeah, because, you know, if the thrift stores wanna give out
people wanna give out clothes, it's very simple. I'll give you clean clothes. You give me your dirty ones.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: Uh, thrift stores, uh, St. Vincent de Paul's and the Mission
about that.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: But they never take them back because it's a cost.
Scott Hammond: Right. They gotta destroy it.
John Shelter: Yeah. The same thing with the thrift stores now.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: They don't, they don't take everything because of the
Scott Hammond: So I'm curious. You're going upstream.
So where did, where did they get the needles? Where did they get-
John Shelter: Yep
Scott Hammond: … the da- the trauma that-
John Shelter: Right
Scott Hammond: … caused it all?
John Shelter: And, and, and think about it, the elements.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: You know, a person that doesn't wanna be out there that's
elements-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … is gonna cause you an anxiety.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It's gonna cause many different illnesses mentally.
Scott Hammond: Right. That's-
John Shelter: Which actually starts the, the process of going physical.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know, you start medicating to get rid of the
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: You start breaking down the physical body.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It, it's… That's the part, the message, you know.
If we want things to get better, then we have to do a
better job-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … at connecting with the homeless
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And that's the part we haven't done.
Scott, you and I live in the same city.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Not even 100 yards off of Central Avenue, you have
10,000 pounds of trash.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: You have large encampments-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … that nobody wanted to see.
Scott Hammond: You and I live on the same block.
John Shelter: Yes, we do.
Scott Hammond: Does that mean we're good neighbors?
John Shelter: [laughs] I-
Scott Hammond: Wait. What-
John Shelter: I know I had a very good gentleman tell me I was.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: [laughs] You are a good neighbor, John.
So, so we need to team up, and, and the homeless need to team up. We need to connect.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's connection, relationship.
Yeah. And, and I've discovered that as a business owner. I've got a couple guys that I've met over the years who, uh, were
campers, uh, would hang out during the day and, and just dialogue with some of these
guys, and it's been, um… Uh, human beings. Imago Dei. Im- image of God. There's a g- there's a guy that's the image of God. He's, he's a human being.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Loved, loved and beloved just like me,
but, uh, has a different story and a different narrative.
John Shelter: Yeah. I have not
been accosted, threatened, or beat up in a homeless encampment. I've been walking in them 20-plus years.
Scott Hammond: So never thr- wow, really?
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: It, it's, it's… You know, uh, you-
Scott Hammond: So, so-
John Shelter: … you have mental ill people
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: That's a defense mechanism.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: They, they've learned on the street that
arms around-
Scott Hammond: People will go away
John Shelter: … people will go away.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: I don't. I sit there and smile a lot.
Scott Hammond: Good for you.
John Shelter: And when they calm down,
I ask them, "Are you mad at me?" And usually the answer is no.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: And I said, "Okay. Well, then, let's start again."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And sticking my hand out and to shake their hand,
I would say 8 times out of 10, they shake my hand.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: So
i- it's all how you wanna come at the
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: How you wanna look at it, you know.
It, it's way too simple to give
dumpsters.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: You know, uh, I've actually talked to people about,
should s- put a couple dumpsters out here somewhere-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and let them use it." Well,
Okay. Well, then that means we have a few less illegal
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: Right. Right.
John Shelter: You know, poor people are gonna wanna dump it.
Now, I, I can't imagine somebody that's wealthy-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … that's gonna go to a dumpster
Scott Hammond: Right. Right.
John Shelter: I don't see that.
Scott Hammond: I've seen a couple, but you… Other story.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: So, so leading measures would be to,
upstream. Lagging measures are you pulling out 10 ton- tons of trash off of Central Avenue. And is that primarily what you, you do?In terms of the, the crews that you run and the stuff that you guys do day to day?
John Shelter: I usually get called to these sites when they get bad.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um, when the cops are scratching their head saying, "Okay,
done everything we can." Code enforcement's now involved-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and they're threatening the landowner to,
or, or fine him-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: …
for the homeless being there, or trash.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: So then we get called in.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And it, it's kind of a weird situation because
we have no place to send the homeless to.
Scott Hammond: Right. They have to-
John Shelter: And, and I love, and that's the jobs I take on,
have people in them. Um, I love people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: All people.
Scott Hammond: Good.
John Shelter: And that's the way you get through to them.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: I, I don't know what the answer [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Well, I think we… none of us do,
So,
um, what… You employ former homeless, correct?
John Shelter: I employ teamless.
Scott Hammond: Part, part of your team. And homeless that help you go help the
John Shelter: Yep.
Scott Hammond: So their insights have to be really valuable.
John Shelter: Their insights are… Yeah, I would not be-
Scott Hammond: Invaluable is the word.
John Shelter: Yeah. I would not be John Shelter,
without the homeless population.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And let's get that straight.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: The, the homeless population
Directions.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: The connection they have with the other individuals.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: We just took on a job with working with the City of Fortuna.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And I walked into a couple camps today, cold,
and, "Hey, John."
Scott Hammond: They knew your name?
John Shelter: They knew me. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Good.
[laughs]
John Shelter: And, and y- see, so everybody's connected,
been pushed from one city to another city-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … to another community, from this other community,
other.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: There's nobody knows how to deal with a homeless individual than
homeless individual.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: Nobody understands the kindness,
the humanity that's in the homeless population, at their clothes-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and their demeanor and, and-
Scott Hammond: Amen
John Shelter: … stuff like that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: But I've actually seen where if somebody w- became new
homeless, that they were greeted by other homeless and say, can share my tent for tonight and we'll figure something out for
Scott Hammond: It's gonna help you. Yeah.
John Shelter: The compassion of sharing their food, what little bit they have or
what little bit they've stolen.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: The sharing part.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: Um, these are the things that I've seen.
Scott Hammond: Protection.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: Uh, it's…
That's the part that we have to get through to people, is that-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: …
a- and I've heard it so much it's became a cliche or whatever. They're just like us.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: They could be our mom and dad.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: But we seem to forget that-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … when we're dealing with them.
Scott Hammond: I was gonna ask, 'cause there's some brilliant people
that were educated, that were… that had a wife and two kids and a dog and a house, and then their best friend took their wife and they went, went bonkers and went homeless. Actually, true story, my friend Jeff met a guy like that. He just lost everything to his best friend.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And he, and he couldn't take it.
Um, so-
John Shelter: Switched.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Switch went off.
John Shelter: Switch went off.
Scott Hammond: So
I g- I guess my point is that I would assume there's a demographic psychographic that's homeless, and that's not true, 'cause it's, it's a big, big spectrum of people.
John Shelter: Big spectrum. There, there's no classification.
You can't say homelessness is created by mental illness. You can't say it's created by just substance abuse.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It's created by a loss of a job.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: It's created by a loss of a partner.
Scott Hammond: Trauma.
John Shelter: Uh, trauma-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … i- is basically the, the key word there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Homelessness is created by trauma.
Scott Hammond: So Officer LaFrance was here. Do you know Lenny?
John Shelter: Oh, yes.
Scott Hammond: He, what a nice man.
John Shelter: He's, he's my favorite. The commander is one of my favorite
Scott Hammond: Commander's a cool dude, and he, he gave us some insight,
with autism and trains other teams of police force to deal with that population. But he said that, that there's a, there's a scale of trauma. It's g- it has a name. It's the APGAR scale or whatever it is.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And m- uh, many homeless are, like, 4.0.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: They're, they're, they're high achievers in, in, in trauma,
sadly. And they've been hurt over time and space. And, uh, that, that hit me hard. I go, "Oh, these are people that have been hard done by and, and stepped, uh, stepped off."
John Shelter: Yeah. And then we compound that
by offering resources that are created by governmental agencies-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … versus what the homeless actually need.
Scott Hammond: Which is what? Well, let's ask.
John Shelter: Bathrooms.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Trash cans.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um, a safe place to be.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: That's the big one.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Uh, there's not too many camps.
You know, everybody goes, "Oh, they won't go to a camp. They won't do that." And I'm… There's not too many that I've actually engaged, even the ones today, brand-new, Fortuna, first time I met them. Well, they knew me, but-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Shelter: … I couldn't remember them. [laughs] That was sad.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause you're, 'cause you're getting old like me.
John Shelter: Yeah. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: That's age.
John Shelter: But, but it's, it's the fact that
we need them. We can't just transition them from a tent that they've been living in for 10 years out in the wilderness being chased around, being beaten down all the
time-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and expect them to just move right into an
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: We need to transition them-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … in smaller stages.
In other words, they're camping right now, and that's where they feel comfortable.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: So what we need to do is move them to a place we can allow them
where we can oversee them and assist them in recreating their lives.The individuals that have lost their lives due to trauma, once they've actually been able to be helped, when they feel like they're really being they're being felt like they're cared for-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … a lot of that dissipates, and then you start getting through.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: I, I've, I proved it over with 198 different people
Scott Hammond: Nice. So there's connection that's being
met. It takes time and trust-
John Shelter: Actually, yes
Scott Hammond: … in relationships.
John Shelter: You, you just can't plop 'em into an apartment.
Scott Hammond: No.
John Shelter: Um, it, it doesn't work. I… And
of course everybody that's making money off of the housing-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … is, is gonna say, "Oh no, housing first.
Housing first."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And I'm going,
"There's a lot more to homelessness than just housing."
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: If we really wanna help these guys.
Or wait, do we just not want to see them?
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: If you don't wanna see them, you shove 'em in an apartment,
detox center. You shove 'em some place-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … where you don't have to see 'em anymore.
Scott Hammond: Till they're back out.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Let's talk about John for a while.
John Shelter: Okay.
Scott Hammond: That's good stuff, though. And you… Insightful.
So who were, who was John Shelter at, say, 10 years old? Where were you? Where… How'd you get to Humboldt? Where were you?
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Where were you raised?
John Shelter: Well, I was born on Long Island. Mastic,
New York. Um, my dad, my mom was a housewife at that time. My dad was, um, a banker.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: Um, my grandpa lived right next door.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: You know, he was a egg farmer back then.
Scott Hammond: Egg f-
John Shelter: Yes
Scott Hammond: … on Long Island. Okay.
John Shelter: Then my dad got a job and,
a job offer, and decided that, um, he was gonna go stay with his brother in California.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: So we
hooked up the vehicles, sold the houses.
Scott Hammond: So New York to California.
John Shelter: Yep. And, and-
Scott Hammond: Whereabouts?
John Shelter: That was 11 years old. We went to Long Beach.
Scott Hammond: Yep.
John Shelter: That's where we first went was Long Beach, California.
Scott Hammond: Got married in San Pedro Harbor.
John Shelter: Oh, really?
Scott Hammond: 100 years ago.
[laughs]
John Shelter: 100 years ago.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: How do I look?
John Shelter: Yeah. [laughs] Better than most.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's, that's down the coast from here.
Well, 600, say.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, back in the day.
John Shelter: Yeah. We, we lived in Long Beach. Um-
Scott Hammond: I bet it was a little village back… It wasn't huge back then.
John Shelter: Oh, no. It really wasn't.
Scott Hammond: LA was smaller.
John Shelter: Yeah. And, but that was back when the racial riots
Scott Hammond: Okay
John Shelter: … too.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: So that's what I remember as a kid.
Scott Hammond: The Watts' everything just up the street.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: Compton.
Scott Hammond: Compton, yep.
John Shelter: Yeah, Compton, where a lot of bad things happened.
Scott Hammond: It was terrible, yeah.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: But, you know, it's what happened. I lived there.
I, um, met my children's mother-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … in Long Beach, and we got married
Scott Hammond: So you're 20 or so, 25?
John Shelter: About 24, 25, yes.
Scott Hammond: So you just worked at Long Beach in the h-
John Shelter: I was a metallurgist-
Scott Hammond: Oh, really?
John Shelter: … back then.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: I worked for the foundries, and, uh, we did a lot of lock, uh,
parts, locked there.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: And, um, I was, what, a quality control inspector.
So when part failed, I had to dissect it and stuff like that.
Scott Hammond: Sure. 'Cause Hughes and Lockheed and-
John Shelter: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … Northrop.
John Shelter: Yep.
Scott Hammond: All those guy… That was a big part of San Diego and LA-
John Shelter: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … industry, right?
John Shelter: I, uh, I… We did at South Gate.
I overseen the one in Burbank.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: So there was two of them hooked up by the same people and stuff.
It was a good time of the year, but maybe too good.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: Um, lost my wife-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … um, to my best friend.
Scott Hammond: [laughs]
John Shelter: So you, you always get kicked in the-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … groin sometimes.
Scott Hammond: Watch your best friends out there.
John Shelter: Yeah. So-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … um, I took the children-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … through the divorce and everything, and she took the house
stuff. And-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … I took the kids and moved up to Humboldt County.
Scott Hammond: Why Humboldt?
John Shelter: Because I had one friend up here.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Shelter: And it gave me a new,
um… It got me away from the, the two-hour drive to
work-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … in the morning.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um, I liked the trees and all that stuff.
And-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Shelter: … and I took all my life savings
called Belly Busters.
Scott Hammond: I remember that.
John Shelter: Yeah, so we did Belly Busters.
Scott Hammond: Is that Arcata?
John Shelter: Yeah, it was Arcata. Build your own hamburgers
Scott Hammond: I re- I think I ate there. Was that in North Town?
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Shelter: Yeah. It used… Uh, well, now it's a Vietnamese place.
I forgot the name of the place.
Scott Hammond: It's about 17 places.
John Shelter: But it was on G and 14th.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's right up… Yeah.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah, I remember now.
John Shelter: That used to be my place.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Shelter: I still have the sign. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: [laughs] You could reopen anytime.
How about that? So h- how much did you, how much money did you have in your hand
in Humboldt?
John Shelter: Whew. Um-
Scott Hammond: I think I had 20 bucks
John Shelter: … no, I had a little bit more.
control inspector.
Scott Hammond: So you had a little bit of money.
John Shelter: Yeah. So I had a little bit of money.
That's why giving her the house and the car and stuff like that-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Shelter: … was fine. You know, I took the money and the kids, which
important things to me, and came up here. I had enough money to, um, rent a restaurant
and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … open up a restaurant. That was over in Sunny Brae.
Very small one over there. Coney Island Hot Dogs was the
owner-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Shelter: … of the place.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And we took that over.
Scott Hammond: How long did you last?
John Shelter: I lasted there a year, and then we got the, the job on G
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: And we lasted there
three years before I went through another divorce.
Scott Hammond: Restaurant's tough, though.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: That's a tough business.
John Shelter: Restaurant is tough. I… And I'm definitely glad I wasn't in the
business during COVID.
Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.
John Shelter: So.
Scott Hammond: Those poor guys. So how old are you now in your, your,
on your second marriage?
John Shelter: Oh my God. That's the, the painful question.
Scott Hammond: So you've seen some pain. I-
John Shelter: I'm getting ready to turn 65, and they tell me the insurance
you know, doing all these surgeries, my open heart surgery, my hip surgery-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … is no longer available to me.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And I'm like, "I don't wanna go on Medicare.
I got this insurance." "Well, no, they don't want you no more."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: "You have to go on Medicare."
Scott Hammond: Medicare supplements, don't you forget.
John Shelter: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I know, I know a guy.
John Shelter: I'm learning.
Scott Hammond: [laughs]
John Shelter: I'm learning. Uh-
Scott Hammond: [laughs]
John Shelter: … totally like a deer in the headlights.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: It's like I know nothing about this. I was happy with my insurance.
I didn't have any idea that I had no choice.
Scott Hammond: It all shifts at 65.
John Shelter: No choice.
Scott Hammond: Well, which… Did you have one hip done?
John Shelter: Huh?
Scott Hammond: Did you have your hip replaced?
John Shelter: Yeah. I had a total hip replacement.
Scott Hammond: Which one? I mean, which, which-
John Shelter: My, my right hip
Scott Hammond: … which hospital? [laughs]
John Shelter: Oh, it was down in St. Helena.
Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great.
John Shelter: Yeah, St. Helena.
Scott Hammond: My son was there yesterday.
John Shelter: The Coon Institute. And when I went to go get my hip replaced,
heart problem.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Shelter: So I didn't realize the third floor is the Heart Institute.
Scott Hammond: My son was there yesterday.
John Shelter: Yeah, so they took me in the Heart Institute.
They did the open heart surgery there.
Scott Hammond: How about that?
John Shelter: Three months later, I came back and had the hip replacement.
Scott Hammond: Bionic.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: I didn't feel bionic back then. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: No, no, no. My son was there yesterday. He actually …
He has some cardiac stuff.
John Shelter: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, uh, it … But they're great. Adventist Health.
John Shelter: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Shout out to all Adventists. You guys are awesome and-
John Shelter: They are awesome
Scott Hammond: … your healthcare is great,
and your vegetarian food is also awesome.
John Shelter: [laughs] Yeah.
Okay.
Scott Hammond: Fast up.
John Shelter: I, I won't go all the way there.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: [laughs] Quick story. I gotta tell this story.
So I'm, I'm 14, I have really long hair, and we're smoking weed at the house in San Diego. Who's at the door? And it's, it's old Roy Guess from the Adventist Church. He goes, "I got your Bible for you. Do you wanna do a Bible study?" And I go, "Well, maybe not today, but you can come back." And so the next 13 Tuesdays, he came back, and I became an Adventist, got baptized, and the whole nine. Went to church. My Lutheran mother from Iowa didn't know what to do with that at all.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Freaked her out.
John Shelter: I imagine. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: But there was Jesus, and there was, there was the love
and the Word of God, and it was awesome. And I, I dumped all that for a Greek girlfriend about two And, uh, it … And that was okay. It was part of my journey. And so we're here. Here we are with you hanging out, so.
John Shelter: Yeah. Life is a journey.
Scott Hammond: Life … We say that all the time in our family, John.
So, so how did you get into, uh, what you're doing now from Belly Busters?
John Shelter: Oh, that, that's really good. Um, when Belly
Busters went out, and I sold it and everything-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Might say it went bust.
John Shelter: Yeah. [laughs] Actually, that's bad, Scott.
Scott Hammond: Sorry. I know. [laughs]
John Shelter: But, um-
Scott Hammond: First time you heard that? [laughs]
John Shelter: Actually, it is.
Scott Hammond: Sorry.
John Shelter: We, um … I started working for the restaurants,
called Village Pantry.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: And they were in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Richard and his crew.
John Shelter: Yep.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: Um, unfortunately, about, mm, seven
years into that, I hurt my arm there. Um, hyperextended. I got a scar from here, goes up and down my arm.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
John Shelter: They, they washed the floors at certain weird
And one of the things was the stock. So I went to go stock. My ring, same ring-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Shelter: … caught on it on the door handle.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: My feet went up. It tore the door off the hinge.
Scott Hammond: No way.
John Shelter: It took all my muscles and, sh-, like a rubber band,
ding, back together so it was a giant knot.
Scott Hammond: Slip and fall.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.
John Shelter: So I had the surgery and everything,
a use for me 'cause I couldn't cook, flip eggs or anything-
Scott Hammond: Sure
John Shelter: … anymore.
So, uh, um, I was getting job trained through
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And I said, "Well, you know, I really just wanna help somebody."
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: So they put me into with Redwood Community Action Agency with this
named Simone Taylor.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: And she-
Scott Hammond: Simone
John Shelter: … she was an angel.
Scott Hammond: She still here around the area?
John Shelter: Yeah, she still is.
Scott Hammond: Shout out, Simone.
John Shelter: She was an angel.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And she
saw something in me that I'd never even seen in myself.
Scott Hammond: Cool.
John Shelter: Put me in charge of the homeless desk where, you know, we did
vouchers, motel vouchers every night and everything.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: And we had a certain amount, and I had to do the
engagement of it.
Scott Hammond: That was one of the agencies or s- maybe still is?
John Shelter: Oh, yeah. RCAA is still very big in this community.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: They do a lot of different things.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Um, I, I was actually one of the first male case
manager for safe houses-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … in, in, through RCAA. They had that much trust in me.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And, um, got, went back to school,
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … while I worked there and stuff.
It, it, it was, that was probably one of the,
life-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Shelter: … at that point.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: I learned so much.
Scott Hammond: So you reinvented yourself.
John Shelter: Yeah. That's how I-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … got into what I was doing, and I went from helping at the safe
houses to working for Alcohol and Drug Care Services as a substance abuse counselor.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And then I ran the Serenity Inn for two years-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … um, as a motel.
Scott Hammond: Is that … Where's that at?
John Shelter: It's right, [laughs] right across from the new hotel
there on Broadway.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah, yeah.
John Shelter: Right next to the Bowen Alley. It's across the street.
Scott Hammond: I wondered what that was. I mean, it's obviously a-
John Shelter: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … motel. It doesn't say it's a-
John Shelter: No, it, it's-
Scott Hammond: … Comfort Inn or anything
John Shelter: … no. It's, it's a very small,
uh … Serenity Inn, I
… It, it was… It ran really good.
Scott Hammond: Still there, right?
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: They, they used to have a lot of problems,
the problems and stuff.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And then from there, I went into, um,
Project Power.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And it was for Native Americans, women,
and we case managed-
Scott Hammond: Wow
John Shelter: … that and everything for a while.
And then it just kind of progressed. I worked for the county for the alternative response team-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … um, for a while.
Then I got this job opportunity at this really bad place when I was told in Arcata called the Arcata Endeavor.
Scott Hammond: Ah, heard of it.
John Shelter: And
it was a clubhouse.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: Uh, not just for the homeless, but for the employees, too.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: So, um-I got to go in there as the operations
Scott Hammond: Changed it?
John Shelter: Yep. We-
Scott Hammond: They still there?
John Shelter: … changed everything. No. Um,
the nonprofit that I worked… That's another reason why I don't wanna be nonprofit. The board members decided to go a
direction-
Scott Hammond: Huh
John Shelter: … than what
we were going.
Scott Hammond: Where'd they go?
John Shelter: They wanted to take care of families with children.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
John Shelter: That was a big thing. Money was all in it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: There's really not a whole lot of money in helping single homeless
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: Uh, the resources that we provide for them
somebody that's out of touch with what the homeless actually need.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: You know, even the referral sheets have,
"Here, go to this RV park," that they have no intention of getting
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know?
Scott Hammond: There's a big disconnect there.
John Shelter: Yeah. There's a big disconnect as far as what
what people want-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … to give them.
Scott Hammond: I have a heavy question for you.
Just, I've never asked this yet. So in your world, what breaks your heart the most? I mean, uh, all of it's heartbreaking, I'm sure, really rends you and gets you to that place of, of emotion and hurt?
John Shelter: When I'm talking to a person that's in a camp,
and I'm asking them and telling them what my intentions are-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and what the end result is gonna have to be over a period of
time, and they're going, "Well, we don't wanna cause any problem. Where do you want us to go?"
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: You know, I've sat there and, and tried saying, "Well, you know, we got
this housing here and this housing here," and they're going, "You know we're not gonna get in there."
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: That's the part that tears me up probably the most-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … is because I'm there.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: They would go with me
if I just had a place to bring them to. I could probably bring them to detox if they have room.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: I could probably bring them to Waterfront Recovery, but chances
gonna be able to get in with my say-so alone.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: They do work well with, like, law enforcement and stuff.
Where do you take them?
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know, what do you, what do you tell them?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: You know, I, I would-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … just as soon take over some of these areas
now and clean them all up-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and then say, "Okay.
We're gonna set up three camps here, and you guys are gonna stay together."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: "And you're gonna let me know what goes on around here.
And if somebody comes in that's destroying the place, you're gonna give me a call." That's a better solution than what we got going on right now.
Scott Hammond: Right. Just random now.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: It's like hit-and-miss, and-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
John Shelter: … and I hate saying this because in no way,
homeless are moles, but you ever play that game where you got the big mallet and you pop the mole here, and it pops up over there,
one?
Scott Hammond: Wait, it has a name.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Whack-a-mole.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it, it's great.
John Shelter: I, I hate using that to-
Scott Hammond: It's a fair metaphor
John Shelter: … it, it's,
it's currently what we're doing.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
I might as well give you… I've given you all the heavy questions you're doing great. If you had one or two do-overs, what would you do differently in your life or, or in your ministry, in your work, in your community?
John Shelter: I probably wouldn't have pissed off the city manager of Eureka.
Scott Hammond: [laughs] That'll… You kids out there,
um, that, that didn't help.
John Shelter: And my biggest regret is, is I pissed him off.
Scott Hammond: Same, same guy now. Is it Miles?
John Shelter: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: And, and I would do anything to make amends to
but, um-
Scott Hammond: But that, that hasn't been the case
John Shelter: … it's not a possibility, I guess.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Well, hopefully, uh, he reconsiders.
Hey, it's bonus round. [bell dings]
John Shelter: Are you ready? [bell dings]
Scott Hammond: We're gonna light [laughs] we're gonna lighten this up just a little
So, hey, John, uh, this is the part of the show where you get to about stuff you like in Humboldt. And, um, I'll just… I, I'm gonna keep the first one wide open. What do you like in Humboldt if you had to… What are you, what are you doing? What are, what are you gonna go do? Tomorrow's Friday. You got the whole day off. Go for it.
John Shelter: My goodness, that's so weird.
Scott Hammond: [laughs] Okay. I can answer other
questions. Now you wanna tell me what I wanna do.
John Shelter: Free time.
Scott Hammond: Um-
John Shelter: What do you wanna do?
Scott Hammond: You know, I, I love spending time with my wife
Um, whenever we get a little bit of time, we like to go for drives.
John Shelter: Nice.
Scott Hammond: Um, we just haven't been doing
um, health and my health has been-
John Shelter: Hmm
Scott Hammond: … not so good lately.
John Shelter: So gas card and good health. Here you go. Where do you,
Wanna go down to Shelter Cove, named after you?
Um, [laughs]
Scott Hammond: If you really like to go-
John Shelter: Wanna go to Petal's Point, Sumeg.
Scott Hammond: We like to go to a warm place, rent a motel, and
swim.
John Shelter: There we go. Okay.
Scott Hammond: That, that's our favorite thing.
John Shelter: Well, Willow Creek, uh, uh, Redding.
Scott Hammond: There are no more motels [laughs] in Willow Creek.
John Shelter: Yeah, there are two.
Scott Hammond: They're probably all gone. [laughs]
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: Yeah, there, there's not much. Um, so, uh, question number two,
and, and there is a, there, you're getting graded on this. Where do you, um, what do you eat out tonight? Unlimited. Here's the card. Go, go for it. Where do you and your wife go?
John Shelter: Um, if we have our choices, it's either a Del's or a
Applebee's.
Scott Hammond: Applebee's. Okay.
John Shelter: My, my wife is insane about the wonton tacos.
Scott Hammond: Really?
John Shelter: Yes. [laughs] It's like-
Scott Hammond: Okay
John Shelter: … that's all she gets is wonton tacos. She's fine.
Scott Hammond: Jodi just went to Sacramento, ate with her folks at Applebee's
Turns out it's amazing salmon.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I would… Who knows?
John Shelter: I always like whitefish, so halibut would've been my choice.
Scott Hammond: There you go.
John Shelter: Um, I, I, my favorite place is the little chef guy that cooks
down by the waterfront, Bay 1 front.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, he's great.
John Shelter: Yeah, I love that place.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's fun. Yeah. That's g- good. Um, what's it called?
It's Teppanyaki, but, uh-
John Shelter: Yeah, Teppanyaki
Scott Hammond: … Bay Front One.
John Shelter: Bay Front One, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. They have good food. Uh, okay. Uh, third question.
Cup of coffee, where do you go?And what do you, where do you go? What do you drink? I mean, some of us it's a California mocha, but some people it's just a tall jug of black coffee.
John Shelter: Medium roast coffee, and I don't like coffee like
from Starbucks and stuff. It's too much for my stomach.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: I like a cup like Folgers.
Scott Hammond: Fol- You're a Folgers guy.
John Shelter: Yep. And I, I take milk in it, not cream.
Scott Hammond: Okay. For all you Folgers guys out there.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: There's a few of us left out there. Uh, how about chocolate?
John Shelter: When I get in the mood, I can't put it down.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Good answer.
John Shelter: Normally I don't eat chocolate, but I guess I,
chocolate-covered raisins-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … a lot.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: And, and the little chunkies. You ever remember those?
Scott Hammond: Yeah, those-
John Shelter: The little squares that had the raisins
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: Those-
Scott Hammond: Those are good.
Yeah. Gosh, I haven't had one of those in years.
John Shelter: Yeah, me either. [laughs]
Scott Hammond: And so i-i-in the vein of asking you the one-off questions, so
if we give you an… What's your wife's name?
John Shelter: Jill.
Scott Hammond: Jill. You and Jill get a ticket, two tickets,
go around the world. Where- for a week. Where… All expenses. Where do you go? Where do you wanna take Jill?
John Shelter: Where would Jill like to go? Maybe that's the [laughs] that's the
Well, uh, I don't know if you know yet, Scott, but both my daughters have moved
now.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: One just went up to Washington, Spokane,
and the one that's trying to get better healthcare for her diabetes-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … just moved to Tennessee.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: And they just got a house.
Scott Hammond: Back east.
John Shelter: If I had my way right now, it would be going to Tennessee just to see
Scott Hammond: Nice. Have you been there yet?
John Shelter: No.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, our son moved to the Netherlands,
I mean, gotta go see the new baby in November. So, uh, yeah. No, I understand that real well. So, um, no, thank you. So, uh, moving on to the future, what do you see for Humboldt's future with regard to the big picture, but also the homeless picture? What, what do you wanna… What do you see? What would you like to see?
John Shelter: Well, the big picture of Humboldt, that,
craziness going on. Building buildings.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Creating more storefronts, but the storefronts are open-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and vacant right now.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
John Shelter: Um, trying to lure better doctors and,
with an apartment in a parking lot versus, eh, they still have to walk outside.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: What are we doing about outside?
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: You know? Um,
I, I see Humboldt County as a very resilient
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: Um, the people I just love in Humboldt County.
Scott Hammond: Amen, brother.
John Shelter: I, I just went to Spokane. I went to many different other states-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and stuff, and the people in Humboldt County
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: They're very resilient.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Sometimes they don't speak up enough.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And I think that's where I get a lot of the bad vibes from me
[laughs] 'cause I speak up.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: I talk. Um,
but I, I don't kinda like make things blown up, and I don't lie.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know?
The homeless problem is never gonna get any better unless we try something different.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Everything we trying right now we can say, "Oh, this is different.
We can repackage it."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It's still at the end of the day the same thing.
Scott Hammond: Same old thing.
John Shelter: You still got the same people. You can have this person not do it, but
this nonprofit, it's still the same thing.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: So we're never actually trying anything different.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: We're just trying status quo.
Scott Hammond: Remember, I-
John Shelter: Some experts have said, "Housing first is-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
John Shelter: … we're gonna fix homelessness." Our
take 2.9 million out, I mean, percentage out of the budget, and we've solved homelessness."
Scott Hammond: Not happening.
John Shelter: What are you gonna do? Beat it with a dollar or what?
[laughs] You know, I just don't get it.
Scott Hammond: Thanks, Gavin.
Yeah.
John Shelter: A- and, and here again, I, I don't wanna talk ill.
It's just the, the concept to me just doesn't make sense.
Scott Hammond: We've thrown money at it forever.
John Shelter: Yes, and it's not getting any better.
Scott Hammond: So Einstein said the definition of insanity is what?
Trying the same stuff-
John Shelter: Same thing over and over again-
Scott Hammond: And it still doesn't work
John Shelter: … expecting a different results.
Scott Hammond: Why doesn't it work?
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Well, it, it's just not going to.
John Shelter: But Scott, w-we just built that multimillion dollar
right there by Burger King and McDonald's, I mean, in McKinleyville.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: Ain't got better.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: It hasn't got better.
Scott Hammond: Wait-
John Shelter: In actuality, there's more homeless now in McKinleyville
was prior to that.
Scott Hammond: McKinleyville's different, yeah.
John Shelter: I, I, I, I'm telling you.
Scott Hammond: Which project? Enlighten me, 'cause I'm, I'm not sure.
I, I kinda know, but what project are you referring to between B- Burger King, McDonald's? The homeless, uh sh-
John Shelter: You're talking about the one right behind Burger King.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I mean, are, well, you referenced it.
John Shelter: The, the one that was built by the Department of Health
address the homeless issues.
Scott Hammond: Okay, yeah.
John Shelter: That one.
Scott Hammond: Oh, the resource center.
John Shelter: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
John Shelter: And that was supposed to address it,
there.
Scott Hammond: Right, right.
John Shelter: You know?
Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joyful Healer-
John Shelter: We used to have showers in McKinleyville I was really proud of.
Scott Hammond: Joyful Healer had showers, right?
John Shelter: Well, that was provided by AHA.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
John Shelter: And then AHA lost their grant.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: So bye-bye showers.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Although somebody still has possession of those showers.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
John Shelter: But they're parked in some parking lot now.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
John Shelter: Not being utilized.
Scott Hammond: Of course, yeah.
John Shelter: Because we have no grant money.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: You know, um,
nonprofits need to learn if you took all the government away, money away from nonprofits, they wouldn't exist.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: They, they have no mechanism
money.
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: They could take money and spend money.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: But they're not making money.
Scott Hammond: Big, big point.
John Shelter: That's the reason why New DirectionsIs a social enterprise.
We make our money, and unfortunately, we can only do what our money takes us to do. You know?
Scott Hammond: Nice. Let's bring it in then. Here, here it comes. How do we help?
How could Humboldt, how could international people go, "Hey, I wanna, I wanna help this guy. I wanna help this group. I wanna help this team." What, what could we do?
John Shelter: Well,
we're a business. You know? Um, I can't give people write-offs for, for things that they give us, like machinery and stuff like that. You have to do something like what Miller's Outpo- I- Miller's Outpost.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: Remember that?
John Shelter: Miller's Farms.
Scott Hammond: The jeans. Yeah, I do.
John Shelter: Miller's Farms.
Scott Hammond: Miller Farms is amazing.
John Shelter: They, they work with us. I get all my equipment fixed
there. And what they do is they farm out little jobs that they don't have time for to us. But what's better is they got to know my guys. They got to know my crews.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: They got to see us in action.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And when it came down to it, they just gave me an
11,000-pound dump truck.
Scott Hammond: Whoa.
John Shelter: I can haul-
Scott Hammond: What, what?
John Shelter: … two tons of trash
at a time.
Scott Hammond: Sweet.
John Shelter: It, it's amazing.
Scott Hammond: Donated.
John Shelter: They donated.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: They didn't ask for a tax write-off.
Scott Hammond: Great family.
John Shelter: They said, "You know what? You're gonna put this to good use."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: "We don't need it. We were gonna sell it, but you know what?
It's better in your hands."
Scott Hammond: Miller Farms, local nursery, uh, power equipment,
f- 80 or 100 years old.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You knew Gary Godwin in the power shop.
John Shelter: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What a great guy. But-
John Shelter: We just got done using that dump truck on a job.
Scott Hammond: Great guy. Yeah.
John Shelter: We used it twice. We pulled out, it was a little over
4,000 pounds of trash.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
John Shelter: And we didn't have to run back and forth with our little truck
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: We had a giant dump truck. So when you ask me what people can do,
is like, if you think we're making a difference, People of New Directions. Check out on Facebook.
Scott Hammond: Is it all The People of New Directions, or just newdirections.com?
John Shelter: It's The People of New Directions.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
John Shelter: Because let's face it, it's the people that make New Directions.
It's not just John Shelter.
Scott Hammond: By the way, I should know that. I-
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: I, I'd know that. I knew that. Yeah, I knew that.
John Shelter: The People of New Directions is because that's what makes New
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: I- it's not-
Scott Hammond: The team.
John Shelter: It's the team. It's the building of that.
Scott Hammond: There's no I in team.
John Shelter: Yeah. And it's all about the homeless,
you know? We're pretty well-recognized for our work.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: And this is a bunch of homeless people,
need to be proud. You need to sell this to your brothers
there."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Jump on board with something that's gonna make you feel good at the end
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: You know, I take befores and afters of everything we do.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Not just for me or for Facebook-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … but for these guys, so they can see at our,
have every other week.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: It used to be every week, and they got tired of that.
[laughs]
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Every other.
John Shelter: Every other week I get to sit there with my little PowerPoint thing
pictures and-
Scott Hammond: Perfect
John Shelter: … you know.
But people just need to start looking at, like, you can give to a nonprofit and you can get that tax write-off-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … but is the nonprofit, at the end of the day, helping you?
Scott Hammond: Right.
John Shelter: And if they are, do what you need to do.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
John Shelter: But don't look at us like a business.
It, we do the jobs that nobody else wants to do.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: I keep my rates way down, except for currently with this
insurance thing.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: But my rates were considerably low because nobody wants
responsibility about homeless encampments and stuff. So to keep the price down so we get work-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … and the jobs get cleaned up.
Scott Hammond: There's an insurance thing in California.
I know, insurance thing. W- we're not going there.
John Shelter: [laughs]
Scott Hammond: We'll, we'll, we'll talk after.
Um, so other, other agencies like Pack Out, uh, those guys-
John Shelter: Oh, those are my heroes
Scott Hammond: … those guys are all kind of bro- still? Is that the,
John Shelter: Y- Pack Out Green Team. You have our weekend warriors,
Scott Hammond: Yeah. John-
John Shelter: And that's not, that's not a slight.
That, that's-
Scott Hammond: But they're great
John Shelter: … they're, they're awesome. Aaron Armstrong is not
only a friend, but such a dynamic person that-
Scott Hammond: Aaron's a good guy
John Shelter: … he's my hero.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
John Shelter: You know, um, he, he assisted me in so many
different things, and we've tag-teamed on a lot of different
Scott Hammond: Known his dad, Scott, for years. What a great fam-
John Shelter: Yeah. Without, without these groups,
without the Pack Out Green Team.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: Used to be River Life Foundation, and it was Sean Swanson in
Fortuna-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
John Shelter: … which he passed away.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
John Shelter: And we're currently picking up the, the iron for him
up there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
John Shelter: But, um,
you gotta have it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, the, the whole team. So, uh, for John Shelter,
on your, uh… What do you want your legacy to be here? What, what are we gonna say about you at your
John Shelter: The heart.
Scott Hammond: The heart. Love it. What, what… And my, my real question is what,
they gonna say on your tombstone?
Same thing. I think you caught it.
John Shelter: I, I just wanna be known as the person
Scott Hammond: Nice. Had heart. Love it. John, thanks for coming.
John Shelter: Thank you, Scott, for having me.
Scott Hammond: Appreciate your, uh, candor and your love and your,
um, your heart toward a community that needs you.
John Shelter: Thank you. It's a pleasure, it's a privilege, and an honor
to be allowed into our community and to different areas and stuff, and to see the respect that our community members pay to my guys. That's priceless.
Scott Hammond: Amen. Pure 100% Humboldt. [bell dings]
Thanks for coming.
John Shelter: Thank you, Scott.