Home: Where Love Lives — Bob Dalton
What does home really mean?
When Bob Dalton asks people that question, the most common answer he hears is safety. Not a place. Not four walls. Safety.
In Episode 6 of Real Love Ready, Robin sits down with Bob Dalton, social entrepreneur, community builder, and founder of LOCL and Sackcloth and Ashes, a blanket company that supports homeless shelters across the country. Bob has spent his life asking what it means to truly belong somewhere. What he has found is that home is not strictly defined by where you live but also by how you love and are loved.
This conversation explores why safety is so foundational, not just in the buildings we live in but in our relationships and our ability to love well. Robin and Bob talk about the power of building community locally, why every single one of us has the ability to be a community builder, and how the most powerful displays of love are often the ones we receive in the seasons where we least expect them.
We get to create the future we want to see. And more often than not, it starts right where we are, in our communities, with the people closest to us.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/loveready.
IN THIS EPISODE
(00:00:01) Introduction
(00:02:00) Meet Bob
(00:04:17) How Community Raised Him
(00:08:39) When Bob's Mom Became Homeless
(00:10:01) How Sackcloth and Ashes Was Born
(00:17:11) The Three Things That Actually Help Homelessness
(00:20:16) Why Local Action Is More Effective
(00:22:53) Breaking Generational Patterns
(00:25:22) Being Good with the Person in the Mirror
(00:27:21) What Is Home?
(00:29:16) Having a Roof Over Your Head Changes How You Love
(00:31:15) The LOCL App: Building Micro-Communities
(00:33:18) Community Builders Are the New Influencers
(00:42:02) Creating the Future We Want to See
(00:44:51) The Myth About Home and Defining Love
(00:46:56) Bob's Definition of Love
QUOTES
"The most common answer I get when I ask people what is home to you? It's safety." — Bob Dalton
“To give with no strings attached. The most powerful displays of love is something that was given to me despite me deserving it. When you experience love, grace, mercy in a season where you don't deserve it — that is what truly has the opportunity to change a person." — Bob Dalton
“The only antidote to addiction is community." — Bob Dalton
"Intentional time spent with somebody is one of the most powerful things that we can do. We're spending a lot of time together but we're not having intentional time with people." — Bob Dalton
"The people that are going to rock with you no matter what. The people that you can call when you're at rock bottom and you know they're going to be there for you. The people that show you grace in the midst of your own fuck-ups — that is about as home as you can get." — Bob Dalton
ABOUT THE GUEST
Bob Dalton is a social entrepreneur, community architect, and founder of Sackcloth and Ashes, a blanket company that has donated over 200,000 blankets to homeless shelters across the United States. He is also the creator of LOCL, an app designed to help people find and build micro-communities within a 50-mile radius of where they live. Bob's work is rooted in the belief that community is the antidote to disconnection and that everyone has the power to build belonging right where they are.
Download the LOCL app: https://home.locl.com/
Sackcloth and Ashes: https://sackclothandashes.com
GET THE REAL LOVE READY BOOK
Real Love Ready: A Guide to Relational Literacy is a clear, compassionate guide to the knowledge, skills, and daily practices that help us love with greater intention, truth, and heart.
https://geni.us/RealLoveReadyBook
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