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Their parents rejected them because they were LGBTQ, but she and her husband took them in.

"Others refer to it as a safe house, we call it home."

Deb and Steve Word's home in Memphis, Tennessee. Photos via Deb Word, used with permission.

Deb and Steve Word are observant Catholics whose house in Memphis, Tennessee, might look ordinary but is anything but.

Over the past six years, Deb and Steve have fostered over a dozen homeless LGBT kids in their home, most of whom had been rejected by their families.

Not in spite of their Catholic faith, but because of it.

Deb and Steve Word.

"[It was a] WWJD kind of thing," Deb told me via e-mail. "We really just welcomed hurting kids into our spare bedrooms."

According to an interview with CNN, Deb and Steve already knew their son was gay when he came out to them at age 23. When they asked him why he waited so long, he made it clear that, because of their faith, he was worried they would disapprove.

It was a wake-up call for the couple.

Deb holds up a sign reading: "I'm a mom and it's up to me to end LGBT youth homelessness."

"We are practicing Catholics, and outreach is something we have always done in some way or another," Deb wrote in her e-mail. "The truth that rejection seriously hurts our kids is not something the church wants to talk about."

"It is what I would want for my kids if they needed help and had no family to help them." — Deb Word

For Deb and Steve, it was crucial for the kids who lived with them to feel like their house was a home and that they were part of a loving, accepting family. The kids did chores and helped at mealtimes. Many continue to call Deb and Steve "Ma" and "Pop" to this day.

"[One] youth was with us when his mother died. He reconciled with her before she died, but he still carries a lot of baggage. He has moved away, but I hear from him every week, and he comes to visit when he's in town," Deb wrote. "Another of my boys was DADT'd out of the Navy [discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"]. [His] mom didn't know he was coming home or that he was gay. He went thru a really rough period, but is doing great now and back in school with a plan for his future. One of the kids I see every week or so, [is] a trans man who is a great advocate!"

At times, Deb and Steve have struggled to reconcile their religious community and their mission.

"A group I volunteer for, Fortunate Families, is a Catholic group of parents of LGBT kids who help support other parents walk the journey," Deb wrote. "As a group, we were denied an exhibit space at a huge Catholic gathering, (World Meeting of Families) ... Some of the greatest harm to these kids has been done in the name of religion (not God, religion)."

A Fortunate Families booth.

Their work has led to some heartbreaking moments.

"We lost one of our kids a year after he left us. His funeral was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Deb explained, "Parents need to understand the harm that comes from rejection."

But despite the rough moments and heartache, to Deb and Steve, the choice to open their home was an obvious one. Though they have retired from taking in new kids, the couple is currently working with the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center to build a larger shelter for local LGBT kids who need housing and support.

"It is what I would want for my kids if they needed help and had no family to help them," Deb wrote.

And while fostering is a demanding, often complicated job, for Deb, the most important thing they've done for the kids they've helped raise is so simple, it can be summed up in two words:

"Loved them."

Deb Word with one of her foster children.

Community

Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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friendship
Democracy

This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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money
Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?



92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

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Family

Grandma got a secret DNA test after noticing her granddaughter didn't look like her siblings

People think she was right to do it, too.

via Christian Buehner/Unsplash and Warren Umoh/Unsplash

The grandmother was suspicious.

A grandmother always felt her middle granddaughter Lindsay, 15, looked slightly different from the rest of the family because she had blonde, curly hair, while the rest of her siblings’ hair was dark “I thought genetics was being weird and I love her,” she wrote on Reddit’s AITA forum.

But things became serious after Linday’s parents “banned” her from taking things a step further and getting a DNA test. If the family was sure their daughter was theirs, why would they forbid her from seeking clarity in the situation? After the parents laid down the law, the situation started to seem a little suspicious.

“I told my son and [daughter-in-law] that there was something fishy around her birth she needed to know. They denied it and told me to leave it alone,” the grandma wrote.

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dna tests
Joy

7 things Black people want their well-meaning white friends to know

"You, white friend, need to speak up and say something when I can't."

Silver Sprocket/YouTube

Growing up black in a white neighborhood.

I grew up black in a very white neighborhood in a very white city in a very white state.

As such, I am a lot of people's only black friend.

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Education

Warren Buffet's partner, Charlie Munger shared his most valuable advice on becoming a success

The billionaire passed away on November 28 at the age of 99.

via Nick / Wikimedia Commons

Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway.

Charles Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet’s closest business partner, passed away on Tuesday, November 28, at 99. Buffett and Munger's partnership lasted over 50 years, producing Berkshire Hathaway, one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in history.

When Munger passed, his estimated worth was $2.6 billion. Buffet, 93, is believed to be worth $119 billion.

But Munger was far more than just a wealthy man. Apple CEO Tim Cook called Munger a “keen observer of the world around him,” and he was known for his pithy bits of common-sense wisdom known as “Mungerisms.”

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wisdom
Health

If you're grieving a loved one this holiday season, here's a gift you can give yourself

After losing her almost-4-year-old daughter to epilepsy, Kelly Cervantes created a "grief companion" that meets people wherever they are in their grief journey.

Images courtesy of Kelly Cervantes

Kelly Cervantes wrote her way through grieving the loss of her daughter, Adelaide.

Kelly Cervantes begins the Introduction to her book with five words: "Grief sucks. It's also weird." It's a concise truth that anyone who has lost a loved one knows all too well.

Grief is a universal experience—none of us get through life without loss—but it's also unique to each person. Most of us are familiar with the popular "stages of grief" theory, but denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (along with guilt and a host of things) are less like sequential rungs on a ladder and more like pools you fall into at various times as you stumble your way through the grief process. Grief is not linear and it's not neat and tidy and it's not predictable.

Take it from someone who's been there. Kelly Cervantes lost her daughter, Adelaide, to epilepsy just shy of her 4th birthday. Using writing as a therapeutic tool to help her process Adelaide's medically complex life, death and everything that came after, Kelly created the book she wished she'd had as she was trying to navigate her own grieving process.

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grief
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