Father Joe Carroll Dies At 80; Legendary Priest Helped San Diego Homeless
Speaker 1: 00:00 A San Diego icon has passed away. Father Joe Carroll, a Catholic priest who spent 40 years raising tens of millions of dollars to help the unsheltered died at 80 Saturday. He will be remembered for turning a small charity that served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the eighties into what's now called father Joe's villages, providing everything from housing to job training to thousands of people. Each year, San Speaker 2: 00:26 Diego has lost one of its legends and we have lost one of our best friends, but his legend lives on it lives on in those very same people who may touched that Speaker 1: 00:39 Was Jose Gonzalez, a long time friend of father. Joe's joining us to talk more about father Joe's legacy is deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of father Joe's villages, deacon Vargas. Welcome. Speaker 3: 00:54 You know, we all know Speaker 1: 00:55 What a gym father Joe was and what a gem father Joe's villages is to this community. Take us back to how it all started before it was father Joe's. It was St. Vincent DePaul's when father Joe first started there in the eighties, what was it like Speaker 3: 01:10 Very different as you can imagine of the situation of homelessness in general was different, but also be the environment was very different when he took over in 1982, it was, it was sort of a thrift store that St Vincent DePaul village had. And basically he knew people were hungry. So he started handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well, more and more people kept coming to him. He knew he needed to do much more than that. And he had the corral, the charisma to be able to really fin circle himself within the vigils who fell in love with his vision of taking people off the streets, taking them off the streets and improving their situations. And so in time, within five years time, he had a mass $12 million. And with that $12 million, he started the first building. So you just Joan Kroc center. And it was the first of its kind in the nation rash, actually in that it provided the comprehensive services that individuals who are mired and homeless as needed. Speaker 3: 02:07 It wasn't just a matter of just those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And, you know, it was advanced to more nutritious meals. It also was in recognition of the fact that some individuals had health issues. So we establish a medical clinic and then he went on to care for their children. Those who are children, they, they special needs because of their situation of being out on the streets and homeless. And he wanted them to be able to compete well with their peers in school. So that would not be the future homeless individuals on the, on the streets. And so he established a therapeutic childcare center. Um, he realized that that those who are on the streets need needed income. Well, how do you have income? You have it through employment. How can you gain employment where you need marketable skills? So we establish and an the services center in order to be able to train individuals and then help them find jobs so that they could have the income to be self-sufficient. So there's just so you know, and so the shelter was just a basic Jade and he realized that there was much more than just shelter. So how Speaker 1: 03:08 Would you describe father Joe's impact on San Diego and homelessness in the city? Well, Speaker 3: 03:13 I think father Joe's impact has been tremendous over the years. I mean, he was setting the stage for a new way of tackling this issue of homelessness. And, and as I mentioned before, in, in a comprehensive way, in a very holistic way, in a very unique way. So it was not applying the same standard across the board. It's realizing that people are at different stages of their lives and different stages of their situation. And, and as a result of meeting them where they, where they are. Um, so if, if someone has just fallen onto hard times and just helping them pick themselves up from those hard times and applying the resources that they need, if it has to do with someone who's been chronically homeless, and there's a lot more at play, well, then it's, then it's climbed those resources. They might be health issues involved, uh, behavioral health concerns. Speaker 3: 04:02 And it's applying those resources that are, that are necessary and a lot of others. So it may take a longer period of time and just recognizing that is sometimes as it doesn't take on the first time and that sometimes you have to work with people, literally you have to work with people sometimes for years. And, and there's, it could be that you work for months before even engaging them and having them being able to, to come into, into your facility for services at all, because maybe there's distrust in and abuse in the past, in their lives. And so it's, it's again, the impact that, that he has had and continues to have past, to do with how you treat these individuals as human beings and realizing that they are, uh, they're different, they're reach different than their circumstances. What Speaker 1: 04:51 Was unique about father Joe that enabled him to build father Joe's to what it is today? I think Speaker 3: 04:57 What was unique about father Joel was twofold, at least twofold anyway, right? Uh, one is that he had the charism to, and the vision to be able to impart that to others, um, so that they can, they came and they shared in his work, in that vision. And he was able to convince them that this was God's work, that it was very necessary and it was an obligation. It wasn't a nice thing to do. It was a Mustang to do. And then on the other side of it, it would, it was how he cared for those entrusted to him. They, uh, had confidence in him. They have faith in him. They believed that he wanted the best for them. And as a result, they were willing to put their trust in him that he could better their situation. And so those were two major facets in a sense of him that made a tremendous difference in his work. You spoke Speaker 1: 05:54 To father Joe, about his ability to, why did he say he was so successful? Speaker 3: 05:59 Well, first and foremost, I think he would just give the credit to, to God. Right. I mean, and, and he would say, well, if I was assessable, because, because God was in the midst of it. All right. And I think first and foremost, he would say that I, um, I, I think, um, pragmatically, the, the reason he was successful is, was his willingness to go out there and make himself vulnerable in a sense, right? I mean, he had the tag of the hustle of priests, and that's a fancy way of saying that he was a beggar. And he, and I w I talked about that. And a lot of times he did not mind going out there and begging for resources, financial and otherwise, because he wasn't doing it for himself. He had been entrusted with these souls who in very much needed his help, independent upon him. And, and that was a grave responsibility that he, that he had on his shoulders. And so that made it, he became as a result, very fast. I was just going out there and begging for money and hustling for the resources that were necessary. Speaker 1: 06:58 You know, there's been a surge in the number of people living on the streets in downtown and likely across the county because of the pandemic. What advice, what wisdom will you be taking from father Joe and addressing this current crisis? Speaker 3: 07:14 The, the situation in of homelessness in general, and, and specifically in San Diego. And when we look, when we looked downtown, um, especially, you know, the growing number of those who are on the streets and, and, and if, particularly of late in the last 15, 18 months or so, uh, primarily due because of COVID and, and, and, and the effect of that, or the pandemic. Um, and, and so it's, it's a matter of, as father Joe always did. It was a matter of meeting them on the streets, which is what we continue to do. I mean, we would, through our outreach, through our street health, as an example, um, realizing that a lot of these individuals won't access traditional medicine in a traditional way in brick and mortar. And so it was going out to them and caring for them right there, medically on, on the curves and building relationship with them. Speaker 3: 08:03 Father Joe was all about building relationship that makes all the difference in the world. So it's building those relationships and then being able to in time, then help them in, in other ways, getting them actually off the streets, providing the shelter that they need and the basics that they need, and then the additional resources in order to help them become self-sufficient. So at the heart of it all is still father Joe's approach of meeting an individual where they are. It's not expecting them to meet us where we are, it's meeting them where they are, because that's, uh, that's how we can be most effective. Speaker 1: 08:39 I've been speaking with deacon, Jim Vargas, president and CEO of father Joe's villages, deacon Vargas. Thank you very much for joining us and sharing father Joe's legacy today. Speaker 3: 08:49 Thank you so much shade. I it's, it's my pleasure. And I, and I know people will want to celebrate his life, and we'll be announcing a celebration of lives. That book that will be public and open with public events. Uh, we'll have information about that in the very, in the next few days, and people are believing flowers and cards on 15th street, and we encourage that as well. People want to share stories online can do so as well, by going on swamp website, there's so many ways people have asked, how can they express themselves? I've been asked about, you know, how do you, how do we, how do we continue his work? You know, so we, we've established a legacy fund in his name to honor him in his work as well. And so there's that aspect. There's so many ways in which people can express their, their love for him. And I would encourage them. Speaker 4: 09:43 [inaudible].
