VIP Café Show – Youngstown, Ohio – Local Guests with Amazing Impact to Our Community

E67 The VIP Café Show with Marcie Consiglio - Life After Foster Care: The Moab House Solution

• Debbie Larson and Greg Smith • Season 4 • Episode 67

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Marcie Consiglio, founder of Moab House, shares how a chance encounter with a traumatized foster girl transformed her from business manager to advocate for youth aging out of foster care. She describes building a residential program that provides housing, life skills training, and unconditional support to young adults who would otherwise face homelessness, exploitation, or continued cycles of trauma.

• Moab House serves young adults ages 18-21 who have aged out of the foster care system
• Young residents receive housing, meals, and life skills training in a family-like environment
• Live-in house parents provide guidance while respecting residents' autonomy as adults
• The program simulates apartment living while offering crucial support during transition to independence
• Success stories include residents overcoming behavioral challenges to maintain employment and graduate
• The organization operates primarily through volunteers and community support
• Moab House takes an approach of unconditional love rather than judgment
• 20% of foster youth become homeless immediately upon emancipation at 18
• The organization recently acquired a 15-passenger van to transport residents to work and school

Join us for the 5th annual Cruisin' for a Cause car show on July 19th at Struthers High School from 10am-2pm to support Moab House. Visit moabhouse.org or cruisinforacause.com to learn more, donate, or get involved.


Speaker 1:

hey, hey, hey, it's the vip cafe show coming to you live.

Speaker 2:

It's recorded right now, but coming to you live from we are real vanna house here right now, here in boardman, ohio yes, and man, they have amazing coffee, I have to say. I know they're known for their cigars, but I'm drinking a nice mocha right now and, oh my goodness, it's so refreshing on this hot day.

Speaker 1:

That wonderful voice you just heard is my co-host, Debbie Larson.

Speaker 3:

She just jumped the gun there because she's so happy about her coffee.

Speaker 1:

I'm Greg Smith and we have a wonderful guest today. Would you like to enter our wonderful guest?

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely so. It is my honor to introduce to you Marcy Consiglio. She is the founder and executive director of the Moab House the Moab House. We're going to talk a little bit more about it.

Speaker 2:

But there are so many people in our community that have been in the foster system and they're aging out and then they're just dropped on the street. They're just like, hey, here you go, here's your bag of stuff, good luck. And so what the Moab house does is they actually have um from the ground up. They first have just been a support for them and now they have a place where they're able to provide a house for these people and family after after they age out of the system, which is just incredible, and it's been just a passion and the labor of love from this woman that we have right here with us. So I can't wait to hear her story and just get updated on everything. And they're about to do a fundraiser. So those of you who are listening, they do this fun fundraiser every year and it's coming up this month, so make sure you stay tuned.

Speaker 1:

Oh, awesome.

Speaker 2:

That was quite the introduction.

Speaker 3:

I think the world I think your new name is Debra right. New haircut new name.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we have a Debra now.

Speaker 2:

The Debra. You can call me.

Speaker 1:

With her coffee. So tell us about you. What's the story that got you interested in helping people to begin with? What happened in your life that went? Hey, this is my calling.

Speaker 3:

I was at church and there was a lady at the time she's a friend of mine, now very close friend, but at the time she was bringing foster girls to church and it was a newer program that she had just cleared with our pastor and she was newer to our church at the time and she said, hey, she said I oversee this group home for girls and I'm just wondering would you open your arms up to these girls that have nobody? And so they started coming to the church. I was connected with the kids ministry and all of that. So back there, helping them, just helping, however I could, and one of the girls who I knew she was from the group home, but one of them came up to me and she's got a lot of cognitive things going on. She just and I won't say what she said, but she literally threw up all her trauma right there, right in front of the kids.

Speaker 3:

And my first reaction was who heard her? Who heard what she just said? Because I was scared for them. I didn't know if they heard her. Nobody knew. They were all playing and involved in whatever they were doing. So throughout that morning it was sitting so heavy on me that this is what this child has experienced in her life, and it was sexual trauma that she had shared with me, and I thought something has to be done about this. This is not right, this is not okay. And after church I was just so overwhelmed with emotion that I ended up sitting with our pastor, pastor Jim Barton. He is amazing and I cried to him and I was like somebody has to do something about this.

Speaker 3:

You never say to the Lord somebody has to do something about this I had no background in anything with foster care with foster kids, nothing, nothing. I came out of the business world. I was an operations manager for 22 years. I ran a business for my father, who I worked for and had all the business side of it, but I had never experienced what these kids go through. And so, over the course of time, the Lord finally dropped it in my heart that we were going to do it, that we were going to build this out to be homes for foster youth, and so what he started opening up to me.

Speaker 3:

I did a year of praying, a year of being in the Bible and just waiting on him to say yes, go. And so when he finally did say yes, go, it was okay. Now you have to look for a house. And I looked everywhere, and it wasn't until 2022 that we are closely connected with Cadence Care. They're an amazing organization. They do foster fostering but they also do they they're helping the older ones, the young adults that are over 18.

Speaker 3:

And so they came to us and they were like hey, there's a building that's opened, that's available, that's always been available, in the campus of care. The campus of care sits in Mineral Ridge, on the edge of Mahoning County and Trumbull. It is a beautiful campus. There's 12 buildings on this campus. If you've never seen it, you have to drive out there. Beautiful. And all this time I kept thinking because we kept being told like, oh, how about this house? How about this house in the inner city? Nothing wrong with Youngstown whatsoever. But I knew that I had to get these kids out of the inner city, absolutely yeah, because this is all that they. So we found this building and a year later we moved in and we welcomed our first two young adults and since then we have we have had, I want to say 10, 10, right around 10 young adults that have been in or out, that have come short term or are there long term. So now we're just about full.

Speaker 3:

We had direction going on for over a year. We have these bathrooms and they're gigantic, hospital style bathrooms and I kept thinking this is not going to be okay with them. How am I going to ask them to share a bathroom when I know that so many of them have endured sexual trauma. They're not going to be comfortable in this big bathroom where anybody could walk in at any time. I said this isn't going to work for me. So I said to my contractor. I said for me.

Speaker 3:

So I said to my contractor. I said what if we take this bathroom and divide it into four bathrooms and everybody in this wing? In each wing there's four apartments is what I call them. Oh, that's great. And so we were able to get the funding and do the east side of our building, which is amazing because now our girls over on the east side they're able to all have their own bathroom, which is an amazing blessing. So our time at Moab House, opening the doors of Moab House, has been just full of very exciting things. We do have males and females. We just want to make it as much about a simulation of what life is going to be like for them. You know, they might be in a hallway where there's guys across the hall from the girls and we have to learn how to live in community, because it's our job to help prepare them for the next step.

Speaker 2:

And that is independent. What does it look like when people are? Because I know Greg is probably going to ask some really deep questions because he always does, but just real quick, what does it look like then when they come to you? Are they generally like traumatized, are they pretty much? And then how do you find them? And then, how long does a program do they get to be in the program?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so they can come to us as early as 18 when they first emancipate out of the foster care system. So judge says yep, we're emancipating you and we can have them starting on that day that first usually it's their birthday which is kind of neat.

Speaker 3:

That is really cool, but we've had all. We've had all different cases. We've had severe mental health all the way to somebody who has a mild, mild trauma and is doing really well, and all of that. We find that the severely traumatized ones, the severe mental health, have a much more difficult time with us, and it's because a lot of them are struggling with. I've been told all my life I don't want to take medication, I'm not taking medication while I'm here at my love house, and we don't force them. They're adults, they get to choose, and that's what we try to help them understand is this is a new season for you, but what we want to do is we want to walk next to you and make sure that you're healthy in your decisions.

Speaker 1:

Here's an interesting and I love bringing this up because I think this is you're going to just really really change some people's view of life with. This is the one thing you can't do is you can't judge, because that equals failure. So talk about how you see these people, these human beings, versus judging them, because it's over if you judge and we all judge, and you honestly to get to another level of humanity. You got to get rid of that, yeah.

Speaker 3:

There's actually a lot about them that we don't even know. So the only thing that we really know is what they're. If they have a caseworker that's accompanying them, if that caseworker knows them and is willing to share some stuff, if the young adult is willing to say, yes, you can share that on my behalf. But if they don't share, we don't know. So we walk into a lot of these situations blind.

Speaker 3:

So to judge based on anything that we know or don't know about them wouldn't make sense to us anyway, and our job is to walk next to them and to love them no matter what, because our model is Jesus, and Jesus came and met people right where they are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you're going from conditional love to unconditional love, correct, correct.

Speaker 3:

That's our job is to just walk next to them.

Speaker 2:

Have a lot of them been in the foster system a long time? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

We have a couple that have been in since they were three or four years old. I can't imagine that no.

Speaker 2:

And then what if you guys weren't there? That's the crazy thing is how some guy came into my church at one point and he had just had a whole messed up life. You hear about it. He's heartbroken, but he said he'd been emancipated since he was 18 and they just had no one and it was. He was just left to just be out there and I thought of you and the important work that you guys are doing. So how long do they stay in this program?

Speaker 3:

Till they're 21, till their 21st birthday, this program Till they're 21, till their 21st birthday. And then, just like you're saying, going back to that point, is what happens is they learn very quickly how to get caught up in trafficking because they're told we'll help you, we'll take care of you, and it's survival at this point, if they don't have a plan, if they don't have a place to live.

Speaker 3:

even if they do have a place to live a lot of them what we're seeing is they fail out. They had the parties and they got in trouble. They thought, oh think, naturally, if my rent is X and if I have a couple of my friends come and stay with me just under the radar, they're going to pay me to stay here. Then it's a win-win for everybody. That breaks your lease.

Speaker 3:

So now you're breaking leases and once you're out, your options are severely limited and, sadly, a lot of times it's a shelter, a homeless shelter. So there's not very many options. I don't know about other places, but around here the options are very limited and once they exhaust those things, once they fail out of all of those things, that's exactly what happens. So we've got the trafficking issue, We've got abuse, We've got homelessness Just all of these things. 20% of them will become homeless immediately upon emancipation. So it's quite the epidemic.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So tell us some success stories.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, oh my gosh. We have our one young adult who moved in the month that we opened. He was actually our very first Maya is what we call them Moab house young adult and at the beginning he could barely hold a job and just he would just mouth off to any little thing that you said. He didn't know social cues, he didn't understand how to socially interact with people. And we had a gentleman from our church. He was like I'm going to just help him, I'm going to help him get a job, I'm going to help him. So they worked together and he literally would go talk to the boss if he needed to explain hey, this is the way he is and whatever.

Speaker 3:

And today we had a graduation party for this young man because he just graduated from high school and his boss was at the graduation party and I have never thought I would hear such glowing remarks about a young adult. This is a young adult that almost lost his job, you know, at the same place, maybe a year earlier. So the you want to talk about encouraging when and they have to be willing, and we can talk about that in a little bit, about them being willing, but when they are willing and they allow us to walk next to them and to speak into their life and to just help them. Hey, that might not have been the right thing. Maybe next time try this, try talking to your boss.

Speaker 3:

Whatever the case may be, it's the same exact thing as when you have kids that live in your house that are over 18. At that point, you're trying to help them build these adult skills of. What would you do in this situation? How would you handle it? Oh, you would have handled it like well, maybe you could try this next time and you might be a little bit more successful Under that model. He has been there, he will be with us until he's 21. And he is just such a success story in all of our hearts.

Speaker 3:

I mean really, truly like he was the kid that you probably would not. Most people probably would not have put a lot of stock in him. And he's doing phenomenally. He's saving his money. He's working probably 55, 60 hours a week and he loves it. If his boss says, do you want to stay a little bit longer? Yes, he does it every time. Oh, I love that.

Speaker 2:

It's phenomenal, that's great, it's phenomenal the difference that this can make. Now you have from the time the idea started. Now, how did you go home and tell your husband hey, this is what I want to do, that's something that you can't like just do on your own First year and a half.

Speaker 3:

So he was just like oh, that's great, that's great Until I couldn't work anymore. And then it became a little bit different story, because I'm getting to that point. At that time it kind of like the conversations were I'm getting to this point where I can't, I can't do anything else, like this is. This work is consuming. It's consuming Like it's all the time. We only have myself and our house parents as staff, basically, so everything is run through the help of volunteers. So like our car show, as an example, that is put on by a committee of people, but I'm the one that's in the office during the day. I'm the one that's there. So where does all the administrative work?

Speaker 1:

go right. First of all, before we get into this car show, tell people, if they want to, how people can help or be involved or support.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we would love love for people to partner with us in various different ways. So one is if you're a praying person, we need the prayers of people, because it could get a little bit difficult in the house sometimes, as we talked about before, depending on what kind of trauma that young adult is feeling, depending on if they're on their medication. We've seen all different kinds of things, and so we really need people who are willing to go to bat for us and pray and strengthen us and let us know that they're there for us. You know what I mean? That community is vital. And then, of course, we need donors. It's expensive to be out there. We don't own the building, we rent it, but there's a property management fee. You've got utilities that are sky high. It's expensive to be out there.

Speaker 1:

So if somebody wants to help or get involved, how do they do it?

Speaker 3:

Our website moabhouseorg Spell involved Our website moabhouseorg.

Speaker 3:

It's M-O-A-B and then the word houseorg, and out there they can learn so much about us. They can click donate on our donate tab. They can donate to all of our different projects. We have projects out there that are literally house projects and pantry projects and just all the things. Because our goal is our house is our program. You know what I mean. Without that house, without the ability to be able to simulate, this is what apartment living looks like. This is what it looks like to do your laundry. But I see that you're struggling with your laundry because we have house parents that live there full time. They would see this. So our house parents.

Speaker 3:

So we just got done with a fundraiser for a van, and this van is a blessing beyond anything. It is a 15 passenger Ford 350 transit van and we had raised about 75% of what we and of course, we had to finance the rest. But the point is that we have at capacity. Now we have one room that is still under construction, so at capacity we're able to fill up to seven and you figure, when we have full, when we have eight to have a van that big, our house parents are driving to and from work to drop the young adult off at work. To pick them back up, they may go to school. We have one that's enrolled in YSU starting in the fall.

Speaker 1:

Great.

Speaker 3:

So you know how it is awesome, but you know how a college schedule goes.

Speaker 2:

They have to go, they have to go back to pick them up. Then they're home for a little while.

Speaker 3:

Then they have to go back down for another class. Yeah, these kids do not come out of the foster care system prepared to drive. So what we're doing in, when they feel like they're ready, then we start helping them get their permit and all of that and really focusing on the savings aspect. While you're with us, this is a great time for you to be putting away all of your money because you don't have to pay for anything they do. But we try to help the member that you don't have to pay for anything. Everything is covered for them. Their food is covered, their overhead is covered, everything down to their sheets, their towels, anything that they need If they have their private bathroom, the toilet paper, anything that they could possibly need. We've had some places do drives for us, so our pantry with all of our toiletries is stocked. Thank God, fantastic Stuff like that is so vital for us what's about this car show here?

Speaker 3:

So this is our fifth year doing this car show and it started out as an idea that actually my husband's nephews said, hey, this would be a fun idea. Who knew that it was going to be? Five years later and we have guys that literally have put their cars in every year since the first year. Last year there were a couple of them that said I've not missed one of these car shows and I was like thank you. So much.

Speaker 1:

What are the details now? It's on Saturday and July 19th at Struthers High School.

Speaker 3:

Struthers High School. Yeah, it starts at 10 and it goes to 2 pm, and we have a website. It's cruisinforacausecom and you have to misspell it on purpose like a cruise in. C-u-i-s-i-n. Did I spell it right now all?

Speaker 2:

right, listen. So you guys may have seen the billboards around town and they have this really fun. Yes, contest that you could win a chick-fil-a gift card. I'm gonna do one. I'm gonna do one where. If you get a picture of yourself with one of the billboards and then submit it to where?

Speaker 3:

To the website. They just tag us in it.

Speaker 1:

Oh they just tag us, just tag us.

Speaker 2:

And they'll pick winners for a gift card at the car show. So I have one right by my house. So I've been like thinking what can I do? That's fun to win this contest, so Moab.

Speaker 3:

House has a Facebook page, but our Cruisin' for a Cause also has a Facebook page, so that it's easier for me to speak to those audiences. The car show guys don't want to hear about us all year long, unfortunately, so I try to respect that, but yeah, yeah, it is such a fun time. We'll have food vendors there. We'll have shopping vendors there.

Speaker 3:

Light City Church down in Struthers is sponsoring our kids zone, so it's going to be so much fun. It's my future goal and Mayor Kat she knows my future goal, but my future goal is really to turn this into a full-blown street fair with the car show and everything. I love it.

Speaker 2:

I think I was at your first car show, it was in the kmart parking. Yes, I was there and I still have the t-shirt I still wear the t-shirt wrote that yeah, absolutely, I love that. See, but listen. The most important thing that I could say to any of the listeners is just to remember that there are these, the people, the kids that you're talking about are the kids that we see, probably interact with, on a daily basis. We have no idea who's an orphan, who's in the foster system.

Speaker 2:

We um in the news today a family that I think adopted five or four foster kids that they had they've had since they were six weeks old and stuff and they just became part of their family and so that was like a big deal was in the news, but just, it's such a loved, cherished group by God and sometimes we forget that the people around us sometimes are less fortunate, or the road that they're walking.

Speaker 3:

So every time I talk to you I'm reminded of that and before we got on the podcast, I had said that something that people need to know is that they need to know that it is not their fault.

Speaker 3:

We can look at foster kids sometimes and be like you have this behavior and you're doing this and you're doing that. And we have to have grace also and remember they didn't ask for this life, and so that's where we come in is to try to give them the most opportunity that we possibly can. And I had said earlier, they do need to be willing, and so that's where that point of being an adult sometimes it's gut wrenching for us because we're like oh, you're like pulling yourself out and you don't want to do this and it's, but it's so good for you, but we can't force you to do this. You know the Bible says that if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land, and we stick to that. We have used it as a guide for us. There are times that they aren't willing, and it's it makes us so okay you ready for this?

Speaker 2:

yeah, rapid fire, rapid, all right, rapid fire. So this is all about you varsity.

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna ask the first one okay, your favorite bible verse. What's your favorite bible?

Speaker 3:

verse oh gosh, I have so many I feel like it depends on the situation, but I always does, but listen, big umbrella, big. Right now. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. It's been on my heart for a long time, so yeah, love it, love it. Good, all right Coffee, or tea, oh coffee, dunkin' Ice coffee, caramel swirl.

Speaker 1:

Oh, there you go, ooh, name dropping here.

Speaker 3:

Five caramels, four creams, three sugars there you go.

Speaker 2:

All right, shout out. I know there's probably so many, so I don't want to get you in trouble, but shout out a business that has been a huge supporter of the Moab House Project.

Speaker 3:

Oh, besides my husband's business and Time Graphics.

Speaker 2:

Yes, he prints for me and does the t-shirts and he does all that signage and everything.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but Crux Motorsports. He does the t-shirts and he does all that signage and everything. Yeah, yeah, but there's. But crux motorsports, he's been a huge supporter, he, his billboard is up at walgreens market in 224. He's been huge and there's so many others so many.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, north or south for vacation, where you like the cold or you like the heat south. I don't think we've gotten into it yet. Give me a beach.

Speaker 3:

You don't have to go anywhere, right now it's like being soft, but without the beach.

Speaker 1:

You can always get some sand for the best there.

Speaker 2:

Oh man, Are you a cat or dog person?

Speaker 3:

I'm allergic to cats. I'm definitely a dog person we have a Boston Terrier and he has quite the attitudes, those little terriers attitudes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, those little terriers do.

Speaker 3:

Yep, he is, he is an attitude, he is, that's his vibe.

Speaker 1:

You have to ask the Coke or Pepsi one, yes, coke or Pepsi Diet Coke. Diet.

Speaker 2:

I am a DC fan.

Speaker 1:

Is it the McDonald's Diet Coke? Sure is yeah.

Speaker 2:

No way Is it the McDonald's diet? Sure is yeah, no way Okay, so it's okay. Best French fries Is that also McDonald's?

Speaker 3:

I mean, I feel like if they're crispy McDonald's fries.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you can't.

Speaker 3:

And salty enough.

Speaker 2:

I know they have to be salted man, If they're not, Nobody likes a bland French fry. No oh, no Any. But he likes a bland French fry no oh no, any more. Okay, favorite book other than the Bible, because obviously we know you're a fan of the.

Speaker 3:

Bible.

Speaker 2:

Favorite book or book that has been influential in your journey of life.

Speaker 3:

I don't feel like I have one. I listen to a lot of preaching online.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so your favorite minister, keith Moore, keith Moore.

Speaker 3:

Pastor Keith Moore Okay.

Speaker 2:

He is phenomenal Solid in his word. He's been around for a long time. Keith Moore, I know Solid in his word Goes way back.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much and one more time Plug the organization.

Speaker 3:

Plug the cruising Spelled C-R-U-S-I-N For a cause, com, or they can go to our website, moabhouseorg.

Speaker 2:

Is it free? Admission? It is free. There's a lot of basket raffles.

Speaker 3:

We have registration if you want to put your car in the car show, because we have awards and all of that, that's $10. They can pre-register online or they can do it at the show thank you thank you for having me our pleasure.