A Runaway's Partial Story

(I do miss Alex, our Willamette University intern, who graciously blogged for us - among many other things - during her time at HOME.  Best of luck to her as she graduates and moves on in her life.  I know Alex'll do wonderfully well wherever she finds herself.  I'll pick my blogging pen back up and try to maintain Alex's enthusiasm and commitment.)

“Sara”, a chronically homeless girl aged 15 years who occasionally came to HOME, began associating with a group of homeless young adult males.  After a few weeks, Sara hitched a ride to California with the young men.  With Sara’s history of abuse, drug use, depression, and unsafe sexuality, we were extremely concerned about her safety and kept in close contact with Sara’s family as well as the Salem Police Department.  Sara was soon located in Los Angeles walking the streets alone after being abandoned by her male companions.  A local homeless woman found our girl and took her to a youth shelter.

The family contacted us frantically asking what could be done to get their daughter back safely to Oregon. Our RHY team worked with Sara’s family, the Los Angeles youth shelter and the National Runaway Switchboard to obtain a bus pass for Sarah to return back home where she was reunited with her family. While on the run and traveling to California, Sara was emotionally traumatized by the things she experienced and witnessed.

Just returning home is never the end of the story.  We continue to work with both mom and Sara in obtaining local support and services to address this trauma as well as the underlying factors that triggered her run responses in the first place. 

Some final thoughts from a lucky Intern

Well unfortunately, as the school year draws to an end so does my time as an intern here at HOME. When I first became an intern I didn’t really know what to expect from HOME or what my role was going to be. But as we worked together we figured it out. What I had first expected was basically interaction with the youth, spending time talking with them and hanging out and seeing how I could be helpful. But since I was only here once a week it was a little more difficult to develop those relationships than I thought. I mean I could definitely hang out and have casual conversation but I guess didn’t develop the relationships that I at first expected. However, the longer I was here the more I realized that these youth have wonderful relationships with the other staff here at HOME. The staff that are here every day and have been here a while are great and have earned their friendships with the youth. Even though this part of the internship didn’t turn out quite as I thought, I was able to make myself useful in other ways. I loved being able to do this blog to keep people in the Salem community aware of what goes on here at HOME and all of the awesome youth that come here, and also hopefully raise some awareness about the issues that we as a community are facing. I also enjoyed getting to be a part of some grant writing. Now that doesn’t seem very exciting and I’m sure the more I had to do it the more frustrating it would get, but I really liked that it was something that I could do to take off the plate of the other staff. Peggy, the Outreach Team, and the HOME staff all have sooooo much to do all the time and if I could do something, that would hopefully be beneficial to the HOME program, I was very happy to do so. I learned so much about what it takes to run an organization like this one and how much of a struggle it is to get funding and I am just so amazed at how they do it all. I consider myself lucky to have been able to work here and contribute to this program in any way I could. Thank you for reading and please don’t stop! Just because my time as an intern is done doesn’t mean the blog still won’t be updated and let you know of the awesome, amazing, wonderful, and fun things happening at HOME!! 

Overcoming Adversity

A couple of years ago, HOME’s Outreach workers met an autistic youth who was sleeping in Wilson and Minto Brown Island parks. Life in parks and homeless camps kept him surrounded by abuse, drug addiction, and survival sex. As a result, he felt distrust and disconnected from the community as a whole.

The team established a trusting relationship with the youth who began coming to HOME for the positive, safe environment, meals and other basic needs assistance. Working with the RHY Team and community partners, he was accepted into Job Corps. The experience at Job Corps was quite a challenge and he often wanted to quit.  He frequently called HOME to talk with staff and, when he had breaks, would stop by for visits. With this support and that of the Job Corps staff, along with his personal strong commitment, he recently graduated from the program having gained self discipline, a sense of self worth, and needed employment skills.

He came into our office this month to let us know he has been accepted at Linn Benton Community College. He stated that without the support of HOME and the RHY Program he would still be homeless and living on the streets of Salem. He hopes one day to tell his story to local youth and community members so that he may bring hope and encouragement to youth who have found themselves in similar circumstances.

Accomplishments and New Beginnings

Today we have another story of a youth from the Salem community working to create positive change in her own life. This teen who has experienced both abuse and homelessness, regularly comes to HOME where Sophia, our Outreach Worker, heard her talking about needing help finding a job.  Sophia offered to help and they began working on creating a resume.  They focused on turning in applications to employers, and even conducted mock interviews for practice and skill building.

Later that week, this youth used some of these new skills to seek employment. After turning in an application and resume to a local restaurant, she was encouraged by HOME staff to call and ask about an interview. She did so and was asked to return in two days for an interview.  She recently excitedly announced that she was hired!  We are especially proud of her for her work in overcoming an educational barrier, physical abuse, and a history of depression. This job is more then just a paycheck. It is a first step to accessing safe shelter, rebuilding her self esteem, and promoting the positive future she sees for herself. 

This youth, like so many others we see here at HOME, prove that there are "at risk" youth who are willing to work hard to make changes in their lives. They are not idly sitting by waiting for someone to give them a hand-out or for opportunity to fall in their laps. These youth are actively engaging in ways to create opportunity for themselves and to make change. HOME is a place that provides some logistical and emotional support but the motivation comes from within the youth.