Vermont Humanities recently awarded a $4500 Project Grant to support a podcast produced by the Lamoille Community House, a year-round shelter located in Hyde Park. “The Lives of Lamoille County” podcast is about people with lived experience of homelessness or housing insecurity. Each episode features a person telling the story of the intersection of their life and homelessness.
Kim Anetsberger, Executive Director of the Lamoille Community House, says that they chose the podcast medium because “it lends itself to really hearing the person’s experience without compromising their confidentiality.”
Director of Development and Communications Nate Beyer, who produces the podcasts, explains that a listener might have misconceptions of how people become housing insecure. “Hearing the person’s voice helps to make an emotional and empathetic connection with the listener, which is super important.”
Nate begins his production process by talking first with the guest about what their conversation might entail. He then leads the guest in a recorded conversation, after drafting a series of questions that will better allow them to tell their story. Then he’ll spend several hours editing it down to the finished run time of 20-30 minutes per episode.
Compared with some journalism-focused podcasts, “The Lives of Lamoille County” relies on careful collaboration with the people whose stories are being featured. “This is a very different process because we want to be very careful that we’re not exploiting anybody,” Nate says.
Kim says that when they had completed their first episode, which featured a guest at the shelter, “We had her come down and listen in our office, and we all listened to it together.” This was an emotional experience. “As soon as she heard herself start talking, she was crying. And she thanked us for giving her an opportunity to have her voice be heard.”
“I thought that sharing these stories with a broader community would help bring insight for the listeners to understand that these are people, real people with real lives,” Kim says. But she notes that “the opportunity to tell your story is huge, especially when you’re cast aside a lot and you’re not listened to as much as other people with more opportunity.”
The funding provided by Vermont Humanities will help Lamoille Community House compensate guests on the show with stipends, produce marketing materials to help promote the episodes, and commission original music to go with the series.
Listen to “The Lives of Lamoille County” at: https://bit.ly/lamoille-podcast.
