80. Cindy Trussel with 'Lighthouse Charities' and Assisting and Empowering Refugee and Immigrant Families

Cindy Trussel describes herself as a ‘doer’ and a hard worker. She likes to solve problems and has used that tenacity in many ways to serve and lift those around her. She came to the United States from Australia with her family as a young girl and knows what it’s like to navigate a new country and culture. After raising five biological children and then adopting three more, she felt pulled to the nonprofit world. She was involved in different ways and eventually found her life’s calling working with refugee and immigrant families. Now with the nonprofit she founded, Lighthouse Charities, their ultimate mission is to help the vulnerable and displaced be self-sufficient and empower them to achieve their own goals and dreams and be integral members of society.

Cindy talks about the workplace programs she initiated with her nonprofit that now function as full businesses to help refugees gain reading, writing, and job skills. She also shares some tender stories of women who have been displaced by war and, after coming to the U.S., found their way to Lighthouse Charities and were able to gain work and language skills through their programs.

As you can imagine, Cindy is an inspiring woman to talk to. You can feel the heart and passion for what she does. Listen to this episode to not only learn more about Lighthouse Charities, but to hear her own story and journey toward helping the thousands of people that have come her way.

Links mentioned in the episode:
Lighthouse Charities Website
Lighthouse Charities Instagram
Lighthouse Charities Facebook

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Transcript

Melissa: Cindy Trussell describes herself as a doer and a hard worker. She likes to solve problems and has used that tenacity in many ways to serve and lift those around her. She came to the United States from Australia with her family as a young girl and knows what it's like to navigate a new country and culture.

After raising five biological children and then adopting three more, she felt pulled to the nonprofit world. She was involved in different ways and eventually found her life's calling working with refugee and immigrant families.

Now with the nonprofit she founded, Lighthouse Charities. Their ultimate mission is to help the vulnerable and displaced be self sufficient and empower them to achieve their own goals and dreams and be integral members of society.

Cindy talks about the workplace programs she initiated with her nonprofit that now function as full businesses to help refugees gain reading, writing and job skills. She also shares some tender stories of women who have been displaced by war and after coming to the US Found their way to Lighthouse Charities and were able to gain work and language skills through their programs.

As you can imagine, Cindy is an inspiring woman to talk to. You can feel the heart and passion for what she does.

Listen to this episode to not only learn more about Lighthouse Charities, but to hear her own story and journey toward helping the thousands of people that have come her way.

Welcome to the Do Something More podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here.

Welcome to another episode of the podcast. Today I am highlighting one that is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lighthouse Charities and basically their mission is to welcome, assist and empower the vulnerable and displaced and that can include refugees, immigrants and community members in need of support.

So I'm looking forward to learning more about their nonprofit. I want to introduce today though, the founder of Lighthouse Charities, Cindy Tressel. Cindy, welcome to the podcast.

Cindy: Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here and share today.

Melissa: Just start off with an introduction of you and then your own story and what's prompted you to do this good work is quite a fascinating one as well. So we'll go into that as well.

Cindy: Well, thank you. I am originally from Australia.

I was born in Penrith, Australia. I grew up in a small town called Tamworth, about four and a half hours from Sydney in the New South Wales area. Life in Australia was wonderful.

I have some of the best memories of growing up there. There are seven of us in our family, there's five kids and my parents and life was good. I had many memories of just being out in the country, homesteading, living off the land, having a garden, working really hard.

I didn't realize as a young child the situation my parents were in and the struggles they were having. I actually learned later from my parents that Australia was suffering through seven years of drought, and the economy was really struggling at the time, including a lot of businesses were struggling and shutting down and some of them filing for bankruptcy.

And my dad was struggling with work. And because of that, there was a lot of conversations happening. So my mom comes from a large family. She had seven sisters. Two of them had married Americans and moved to the States, and life was good for them here.

And so there was a lot of conversation happening behind the scenes about moving and life in the United States and how much more opportunity there was here and an easier way of life here.

And even, you know, the church that we are a part of was thriving here. And so after many years of having those conversations, my parents decided to make the decision to talk to us kids.

I was 11 at the time, and I remember when we sat down as a family and my dad taking the lead of the discussion, and he said, kids, we've made a decision.

We're going to sell the house, we're going to sell everything, and we're going to move to the United States of America.

And, you know, as a young child, all I could think about was, wow, we're gonna go on an airplane. I think Mickey Mouse is there. You know, all of these exciting things in the United States that I'd only ever seen on tv.

And even then at that age, I didn't watch much tv. It was just a little bit in the mornings, and.

And so the whole idea of, you know, having an adventure and moving across the con or across the entire world to another country was, you know, really not only scary, but exciting as a young child.

And the same with my siblings. And I didn't realize at the time that that was going to be two, two and a half years of struggle for us to prepare a family to move.

Just watching my mom give up everything that she had collected over the years, all of her keepsakes, all of the things that were precious to her. And even my father and he had just built a home, their dream house, and we were going to leave it all behind and literally come with a suitcase.

There were two trunks that my parents invested in and had shipped, you know, by sea, and that held a lot of, like, her precious china and some of our baby things and things like that.

But other than that, all we brought here were the clothes on our backs. And I shared one suitcase with my sister. And so I might have had enough clothing for three, four days.

And that was it. I remember arriving in San Francisco in June of 1980 and it was very hot.

California, that's beginning of the summer. And I just remember how hot it was. And I didn't understand also why the kids were out of school for three months during the summer.

And so I was ready to go to school right as we got here. And I wanted to make friends. But I remember taking that long journey, it was about six hours back to my aunt's house and we slept on her floors for, gosh, almost three months.

And we end up going and staying with another, my other aunt for another month or two. It was just a really hard struggle. Not so bad for, I guess, a young child just like, you know, staying at a friend's house.

But the stress became more and more within my own family. And I could tell my parents were really struggling with how to rebuild a life here. I mean, we have.

With that being said, it didn't take too much longer after that before my dad was able to obtain a job. Total about six months. It took from the time that we landed to the time that he was employed.

And I remember moving into a very small 1400 square foot home in Madeira, California. And that's where we, we spent the rest of our years until I became an adult and moved out.

Yeah, life was hard. Starting school again was hard. Making friends was hard. I just remember even the limited means that we had, and the first time going to a grocery store, my mom turned to my dad and said, dad, we're going to starve.

Because even the food was unrecognizable. We didn't know how to eat the food here. Everything was processed, everything was different. It didn't look familiar. It was a really difficult adjustment.

And so growing up, I could say I probably had not more challenges, but different challenges. The kind of challenges that you can't really get your friend, your newfound friend to understand maybe how you're feeling.

And so a lot of stress growing up in my teenage years on how to find who I am and identify who I am and how to be happy. Because that was really tough for me as a kid.

Melissa: I think unless you've gone through that experience, it's almost impossible to realize the real change it is to go from one culture to another and as you said, completely start over like that.

Cindy: That's right, that's right. So fast forward 20 years, I'm married, happily to my husband and I live in Las Vegas and have five biological children. And there was a time in my life when I.

Beginning of my marriage, I told my husband, I. I said, you know, I wanna. I want a big family. I. I love being part of a big family. And as I was watching my kids grow up and, and move out, that was a real struggle for me.

And so with a little coaxing, it didn't happen overnight, let me tell you. It was a lot of. A lot of going back and forth. I finally convinced him that we needed to adopt three children.

And so we, we dove right into that world and, and that was not an easy place to find ourselves. We wanted to be able to take in some children that were either homeless or struggling or in the system or.

We just wanted to give some children what we had built. Blessings and, and a family structure and be able to love and teach them and raise them and give them everything that we.

We had built. And so that was very fulfilling, very difficult. It hasn't been a piece of.

Or at least a cakewalk. It hasn't been a cakewalk. I've got still two young girls at home. They're. They're 12. And so I can kind of relate to that age.

You know, we're. We're struggling with them right now as far as women and going into their teenage years and so experiencing all of those changes. And one thing that I had known my whole life was that I'm a doer.

I'm a hard worker, and I love to solve problems. I like to just jump in and do some. Something adventurous and do something different. I'm not a cookie cutter kind of person that just follows a path.

And because this is what my mom did or this is what my father did, or I've always paved my own way through things, through life. And when we adopted the kids, I started telling my husband, I says, I feel like there's something else I need to be doing.

But I couldn't figure that out. And after making it a matter of prayer, I started getting involved in the community with nonprofits and a lot of service. And, you know, I found some groups in North Las Vegas that were actually distributing food, which is what they consider food rescue.

They would rescue, you know, damaged goods from the grocery stores, pallets, or ship products from a company that became damaged or something coming close to its date. And they would rescue that and then distribute it to families that needed help.

And I just remember the months that I was doing that, I would go home very frustrated, so frustrated that I had made the decision that I needed to learn everything that they were doing and then discover who really needs that food, who really needs those items.

Because I felt really strongly that the people that were receiving the help through that particular group were not the ones that really needed the help. And I knew that there was families out there that could benefit from a hand up.

And so I started to get to work. I started to ask questions and learn as much as I could. And before I knew it, Fast forward another six months, even 12 months, I was feeding about 3,000 people out of my home, the Valley that needed help.

And that was a full time job for me. I mean, I was feeding families that were homeless. I was feeding veterans. I was, in fact, I was delivering truckloads of food to the veterans every week.

And then I was visiting senior facilities and feeding some of the elderly. And I was delivering to different homes of people that maybe had become unemployed or lost their job or that were suffering through an illness.

And I got my children involved. And before I knew it, it was a family. It was a family event. It was something that we would just do as a family every week.

And it became very overwhelming, very quick, very quick. And so I knew I needed to make some changes. I just didn't know exactly how to do that. And so again, I made it a matter of prayer on how to organize myself and how to.

How to make this better. And I happened to be sitting on social media one day and I saw a plea for help. And this was right before the holidays, about this time of the year in 2014.

And there was a woman on there that had. Had mentioned that there were children that didn't have clothing, didn't have shoes, didn't have jackets, were going home hungry. And she was trying to gather as many supplies and food and items as she could.

And. And so I called her up and I says, what can I do to help you?

She says, well, I'm a school counselor at one of the elementary schools here in Las Vegas. And I want to. I want to tell you the kids that are coming to our school are actually from refugee families.

They have come here as refugees. Their families have fled war and famine and religious persecution from all over the world, and now they are being resettled here in Las Vegas and they need our help.

And I says, okay, if I had a magic wand, what would be your first wish? And she said, I need a school pantry and a closet built. And I said, okay, done.

I had it built within two weeks. And before I knew it, you know, three months later there were eight more schools that we built pantries and closets at. And I became so highly involved in the refugee population and those that were coming with nothing.

I don't know what it was, but it resonated with me because I knew what it felt like to come from so far away and come to a country that you're not familiar with and come with nothing and, you know, need help but pile on top of that, there is no language, there's a language barrier, there's cultural differences and barriers there on top of that.

And then a lot of times there's also trauma. These families dealt with so much abuse and so much trauma in their life. My heart just broke for them. And the more and more I became familiar with their stories, the more and more I felt propelled to do everything I was doing for them.

Melissa: Opportunity helped you find your focus.

Cindy: Yes, absolutely.

Melissa: Where your focus would be.

Cindy: Yeah, yeah. So to date, I couldn't give you a number on how many families I've helped around our community, but tens of thousands that have come through our doors, been fed, clothed, sheltered or taught through our programs.

And it's very fulfilling. It is my life's work and there is so much work to do. And I continue, I'm continuing to build and to serve more and more as more and more are fleeing their countries because of war.

Melissa: Right, well. And you've expanded beyond that initial needs of food and clothing to. You really have the goal of helping create that self sufficiency.

Cindy: That's right.

Melissa: And I've noticed you have a lot of other programs that you do towards that goal. So do you want to just go into a couple of those and you have some great people I've seen on your Instagram that are involved with those as well.

So.

Cindy: Yeah. So when I first started helping these families, I really struggled with. I mean, the first thing I did was load up my car and I said, okay, I'm going to go over to this business and I'm going to help you all obtain jobs.

And gosh, I did. I got them all employed, helped them build their resumes. I went with them to the interviews and actually asked for if I could sit in and help them.

I says, you're not going to be sorry if you hire this individual. I promise you he is a delight. She is wonderful. They are hard working and they need this so badly.

Would you consider.

But what happened was really quickly is within two weeks they all had been fired. And you know, it was a real downer at the time because I'm like, what is going on.

They wanted this so badly. And maybe I had them dressed in the wrong clothing, maybe it was the language. And it was all of that. It was. There was. It was a much bigger problem.

And I needed to be able to figure out a way to solve the challenges that they were facing. And so with that, I started to discover that maybe if I taught them English and how to read and write, that would be the first step.

But how do I do that? And then also help them feed their families and be self sufficient without having to take state assistance or, you know, government help. And so after some organizing and pondering and communicating with people around me, I.

I decided that I was going to start teaching English. And so I found an old church building that wasn't being used at the time. And I got a bus donated from the regional transportation system.

And I was a bus driver for about six months. And I would pick them up and take them to class three times a week.

And that changed everything for them because all of a sudden they were learning how to communicate with me. And. And it was very rewarding, very rewarding. And I remember sitting at night sometimes thinking, someday I'm going to be able to talk to this woman and hear her story and hear her pleas and her dreams and understand and be able to connect with her in a much bigger way.

And that was something I dreamed of doing, was connecting with them in a way that they haven't been able to do. And so. And that really within the first year of them learning English and I started to learn their backgrounds, and I just became more and more determined to make this work.

To date, we have five different workforce programs. The largest, our linen repurposing program. And this was an idea that came from a friend of mine, and he said his company buys cleaning rags and they buy old T shirts.

They buy old linen and they cut it up and they shove it in a box and then they sell these boxes 50 pounds. And they, they told me that they would give me a contract if I could find out how to obtain reject linen.

And so I started collecting T shirts. I started collecting. I went to a couple hotels before I know it. In fact, last week I just recorded that we made over 45,000 cleaning rags last week in our facility.

So we are now contracted with Caesars Entertainment. We take about a million pounds of their reject linen and we provide repurposed cleaning rags by cutting up this linen and that those rags are actually sold back to the properties and they use them in cleaning the rooms and all the public areas.

The Bathrooms, and they're using three to five rags in every room in that resort every single day. And so I didn't realize that so much of this linen was going into our landfills.

And I thought, well, this is a good thing. You know, I'm helping the environment, I'm helping put people to work. But what I did include in their work day, because they work eight hours a day, they come in and they go out for English every day too.

So they get an hour to an hour and a half of English instruction during their work day day. And so in our facility right now, we have about 23 that are enrolled in that program.

And they come in and clock in in the morning, just like a regular job. And they're earning a wage. The monies that come in from these cleaning racks pay their wages.

And. And then we also have been able to apply for grants and get some volunteer help for English classes and instruction throughout the day. And so we have classes that run back to back most of the morning.

So all of them are getting their, they're on their path to self sufficiency. So that was our biggest workforce program that we started. And to me, this just worked. Instead of trying to move them along and get them employed with another company, I made sure that we set up a program that could meet all of their needs so that they could become self sufficient as quickly as possible within that first year.

And this program has done that for thousands of individuals to date.

Melissa: Right. You're giving them the skills right there within your organization that has their best interests. And many people talk about how a nonprofit is running a business, but you really are running a business.

Cindy: Yeah. What you do, it was absolutely necessary because, you know, even building a resume for somebody that has lived in a country with war conditions, it's near impossible.

Of the families that are in our programs right now have spent, you know, between 16 and 27 years in a refugee camp or in some sort of bondage living in these conditions.

And they don't have the necessary things that I could list on a resume to help them become employed here. And so I needed to provide a forgiving work environment so that they could come in and be with us for about a year learning English, reading, writing, and learning some job skills.

And they are doing that by using commercial equipment, working as a team, learning to read and write, learning how to use the time clock, and many, many other things.

Melissa: Well, Cindy, I can definitely see in your story and that you are a problem solver. It just seems that you've, you've come up to these different situations and the ways that you've stuck with it and wanted to find out, okay, where, where can we best utilize?

Where can we best help? I think that's admirable to see that how you've worked through your nonprofit.

Cindy: Thank you.

Melissa: At the same time, we love hearing personal stories or kind of those human interest stories on the podcast. Do you have any stories of some of the individuals you've worked with or and maybe how they've been able to utilize some of the other programs that you offer to help them with your goal of self sufficiency?

Cindy: Absolutely. So I will tell you one of my most recent. We have a woman named Lyudmia. She escaped Ukraine when Ukraine broke out in war just a few years ago. She fled with her two young girls to the border and was able to get through the border within three hours of the war breaking out.

And so she fled to Europe and it was just overwhelmed by Ukrainians that were trying to escape. Fion found it very difficult to live there. She went through five different countries and then ended up here in the United States.

And she landed in California and then had a contact here in Las Vegas. And this woman actually picked her up at, down at the California border and brought her to Las Vegas.

And immediately she was brought here to Lighthouse. The word gets out very quickly of the services and programs that we have here at Lighthouse because there really isn't a lot of options for them.

Lmia didn't know any English. She didn't know how to read English. She was actually an accountant in Ukraine and was working part time as that. And her husband was a professional baseball player and he had to stay behind and fight.

So she was all alone with her two daughters and here with somebody that she had or she had an acquaintance she didn't have a real relationship with. So she's ultimately here with a stranger and had to figure out what to do.

And so when she came in the doors, one of the things that I do with all of the women that walk in the door is ask them what they love to do, what are some of their skills, what are their.

Some. Some of their talents, if they would share that. And she said, well, I love to bake, I love to cook. This was using the help of a translator because I couldn't speak that language.

And before I knew it, she was working for us. Now one of our programs here, workforce programs, is Frosted Bakery, and we opened that up in 2020. It's a commercial kitchen and we are now open to the public and we sell all of our baked goods.

In fact, we've done very, very well. Lyudmia is actually our seventh baker that has worked in that setting. She's working there today. In fact, she came in at 6:00 this morning.

She bakes all of the bread fresh, all the cinnamon rolls, all the cookies is baked fresh every day. She learned all the recipes. She goes out for English class every day and has learned English and.

And she's doing phenomenally well. And we love her here. And so that's a really interesting story and a cool story to share. There was another woman I met from Siri.

Melissa: Just one moment. I love that you do that, that you say, what do you love to do?

Cindy: Yeah.

Melissa: Because how empowering is that to use a passion or a skill you already have?

Cindy: That's right. I can tell you I have no background in business. I don't have a college degree. And if I was. If somebody were to ask me, well, how did you start all these different social businesses?

I. I'd have to say, honestly, it's exactly what you just said. I asked them what they love to do, and then I figure out a way to make it work in Las Vegas as a business.

So I will build not only support around that, that passion or that talent or skill that they have and turn it into a social business. And so we've been able to do that with all of the programs that we have at Lighthouse.

Melissa: It's amazing.

Cindy: Yeah.

Melissa: Had another story you wanted to share, right?

Cindy: Yes. So this young girl, her name was Manal, she's from Syria. And I remember in the very early years, I was distributing food to her complex during the summer when school was out, they weren't necessarily able to go and get food from the school pantry that I had built.

And so I would worry about these families, and so I would pack up food bags and deliver them to these different apartment complexes every weekend to make sure they were all getting fed, because I knew they didn't have the language skills or necessarily Internet or phones to be able to obtain support.

And so with that knowledge, I started doing that. And I remember seeing her on the top balcony of this apartment building, and I waved to her, and she got really afraid and went into her apartment, closed the door and even shut the curtains.

And I'm like, oh, no, I scared her. And so I ran up the stairs, knocked on her door, hoping that she was going to answer. And she didn't answer. And my heart just broke because I knew I might have scared her.

And so. And she was A young Muslim girl. And so being in a new country, sometimes you can. It's scary to be of that faith here in Las Vegas or anywhere, being new to this country and trying to navigate life, right?

And so, anyway, I couldn't stop thinking about her that week. In fact, I would lay down at night, and all I could see was her face. And I'm like, I have to go back.

I have to go back. This went on for three weeks. Three weeks. I went back every Saturday and knocked on her door. And finally, the third week, she opened the door, and she was standing there with her husband.

And they invited me in, and I had some bread that I shared with her, and she was very grateful. And I came in, and she sat and made me some tea.

And I didn't speak the language. I believe it was Arabic. And so we were using Google Translate. And she told me her story. And she was living in Syria, and war had broke out.

It was very dangerous there. And she was living in a.

In a building that had several floors. And she had heard the. The guns and the bombs and different things happening in the noise. And she had just given birth to two twin twins, a boy and a girl.

And so she was sleeping, and she heard the noise and woke up. And then a bomb had hit their building, and it started to crumble. When she went in to go get her babies, one of them had passed, was killed from the trauma to the building.

And she grabbed the one surviving baby. And she told me she was so scared and so sad, and she fled for her life, her and her husband with their little baby.

They had to leave their daughter behind. And my heart just broke for her. And she said, when you saw me on the top balcony, I had only just gotten here.

She'd only been here a few days, and she was so afraid. And I cried with her that day. And I remember thinking, you know what? I will never abandon her.

I'm going to stay and help her. I want to help her. Not only help her, but I want to help her reach her goals and to be happy and to feel safe.

I felt like it was almost my life's mission to make sure that I helped her succeed. And so we remained friends for many, many years.

In fact, I remember even doing a little birthday party in my backyard for her, for her son. He turned four. And anyway, that was a real special relationship that I had with her.

But one of the things that I learned about her was she was very crafty. She could crochet, she could sew, she could embroider. And so I started putting her to work, and I would sell her crafts.

In fact, she was just one of the artisans that I had. And we've. To date, we've had over 400 artisans that. That have worked that particular workforce program where they have to share their talents and skills with us.

And. And then I sell them online or I have opened up a little small boutique where we sell them. And it has been extremely rewarding for young moms to be able to help provide for the family and help rebuild their lives here.

And so that is just another program that we have at Lighthouse that has helped and bless the lives of so many families and young women.

Melissa: Well, Cindy, well, thank you so much for sharing those stories. It's obvious to see the heart that you have for the good that you're doing. And I love hearing how these workforce programs help empowering so many.

One thing we always love to end each episode with is kind of general advice.

And so you called yourself a doer. I think there are a lot of doers that listen to this podcasts that want to make a difference or want to help. So.

And we have listeners from all over. So what advice would you give for someone that's wanting to serve or be involved with helping refugee or immigrant populations, maybe in their area?

Not all are going to feel pushed to do a nonprofit like you, but I know there are many opportunities to serve and to help and to lift. And what advice would you have on that front?

Cindy: So one of the things that I experienced with, or I experienced in the beginning was a lot of fear and doubt. And there were moments where I had to actually take a deep breath and go, okay, there is a solution to this.

I just need to think about it and study it and try to understand what options I do have. I didn't focus on the roadblocks now, necessarily. I focused on the pathways that I could move forward and propel myself forward.

And that's really evident in the programs that we have here and that we offer at Lighthouse. Could I teach them and help them receive certificates and education in certain lines of work in the medical field or this?

That. No. And, you know, even though I had wanted to help many of them, because many of them came with those kinds of experiences and skills and education, I couldn't.

And so. But what can I do? That's what I would do. I would get a notebook and write what can I do? Not what I can't do. And so before I knew it, I would have pages of opportunities of things that I can do.

It just Required a conversation. And now I approach the work that I do and the individuals that come through my door so much differently because I sit with them and they tell me about their struggles and they tell me about their backgrounds and what they need.

And I'm like, okay, let's go back to basics.

Let's tell me about you. What do you love to do? What do you dream about? What are the things that you want for your family and your children? And that's where we start.

And that's where I would encourage everybody to start, because those things are possible. The other things will come later. And they do. They absolutely do. Because when you provide opportunity to somebody like the population I'm serving, they run with it quickly.

And that's what we all need. And somebody gave my father an opportunity. After being here six months, they gave him an opportunity. And he just retired about six years ago.

37 years with that company made it all the way to the top hard workers. And to be able to escape those situations, organize your families and your and yourselves and come and rebuild a life in another country, that's no small task.

And to have that kind of strength and fortitude and, and just be driven. Gosh, all of these families need is just an opportunity. So give them that.

Melissa: That is such great advice. And I think for any of us, and obviously you've used that with the people you serve, is quit focusing on the roadblocks and look for what you can do.

And that, that is, that's so inspiring. Cindy, do we, do you want to just finish off by letting everyone know where they can find you if they're interested in learning more about what you do or donating or getting involved?

Cindy: Yes. So we do have a wonderful website site. It's lighthouse, lighthouse charities.net Please look us up. You can read all about us and our programs. We have many other programs that I didn't have an opportunity to share today because of time.

I'd love to check us out, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, even LinkedIn. My name is Cindy Trussell. Please reach out to me. I love to talk to people. I love to meet people.

I love to share my ideas and hear of many other people, people's ideas. Because what we're doing is really, really special. And you know, all I, my background is I'm a doer and I'm a hard worker.

I don't have a college degree to run a non profit or. But I did it and I am doing it. And I think the things that I bring to the table are love and values.

And I think that's the most important.

Melissa: Yep. And I think it is the doers like you that are doing much of the good in our society. So thank you so much, Cindy. This has been a beautiful conversation.

Cindy: Thank you so much. Also grateful to be here.

Melissa: That concludes my interview with Cindy Trussell, the founder of Lighthouse Charities and man, after talking with her and re listening to that interview, she describes herself as a doer, but she made me want to be more of a doer.

I've thought of myself as a doer sometimes, but I want to be more of a doer after listening and hearing her words. And I can just tell that she must be so encouraging to the people that walk through the doors of their charity and their non profit and the individuals, these refugee families and immigrants that she interacts with can tell just how inspiring and encouraging she is and wanting to empower and to help all that come her way.

I loved hearing her own story. She had quite the journey to where what she's doing now and today and a lot of those own experiences I think obviously helped prepare her for the good work that she is doing now and gave her very unique perspective and a way to be able to really serve and have empathy for those that she is serving as well.

And along with her own story, I loved how she shared all the ins and outs of how she got to where she is now. And I think that is such a good reminder, not only for those that are running and doing nonprofits, but for each of us as individuals, that many times we might feel inspired or pulled to do something, but there's lots of different ways for getting that done or there might be different things that we need to be following or doing.

And she shared that journey, shared the journey of adopting her kids and going through that and then of feeding people and how that felt a little overwhelming to what she does now.

And even with those workforce programs, how that was a bit of a journey for her and wanting to help refugees and immigrants get good work in a forgiving environment, as she said.

And I loved hearing that whole story, that full circle story, because I think it's so important to remember that oftentimes when we feel called to do work, to do good work, to serve and to help others, it's going to be a journey.

There are going to be ups and downs, but ultimately it is worth it because we are, as she said, she wants to now put all of her energy as she hears these stories to helping and to lifting and to really helping the people get self sufficiency.

That come to their nonprofit Lighthouse Charities. So a great interview. I really learned so much from her and her experiences. And I want to just remind you that if you want to go learn more about Lighthouse Charities and many of the more programs and things that they do, I will leave links in the show notes to their website and their social media pages so you can go learn more about them or donate to their cause or even get involved if you're in the Las Vegas area and would like to do that as well.

And I just want to give a friendly reminder. If you want to show the podcast some love, please follow us wherever you get your podcasts, Leave a review is always most welcome.

Or share this episode with a friend.

And as always this week, I hope you can find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire, or make a difference.