Fun Stuff Going On!

In the recent weeks much has been happening here at HOME! We had free haircuts given in the basement 2 weeks ago, a hit like always. We also had a volunteer group from Chemeketa come and do some much-needed work around HOME. They organized the clothing closets, which definitely needed it! Now they are clean and organized so youth can easily see what is in there and be able to find the things they need/want. This group also organized a pool tournament in the basement that took place  Monday the 7^th. They had a bracket and multiple games with the winner getting the glory of 1^st place as well as a candy bar. It was a lot of fun and a big hit! Not much to report from the Blog Book but hopefully we will get some more comments soon. Thanks for reading!

HOME's Blog Book

Hello HOME Blog Readers!

My name is Alex and I am a student over at Willamette University. This semester I am interning here at HOME Youth and Resource Center and have agreed to take over the task of updating the blog =) What this means is that there will now be semi weekly posts updating you on what is going on here at HOME! We have created what we call "the blog book" where throughout the week volunteers, staff and youth can write about what has been going on at HOME and what they would like to share with you. I will then post some of this information to the blog so you can stay up-to-date and informed. Please feel free to comment; what you thought, what you liked, what you would like to hear more about. 

With the blog book out last week we got some responses from the youth who wanted to share what HOME means to them:

“Well, HOME has done a lot for me the 5 years I’ve been here. AT the beginning one of the staff let me cry on her shoulder about a silly break-up. Then, during Christmas time, I got a warm jacket that I ended up really needing. They give me a safe place to come when I’m downtown and I know I don’t have to worry about drama and all that BS. The Drop-In has opened a place in my heart for me to meet new people and make new friends. I don’t know where I’d be without the Drop-In. <3”

“I had a rough day but when I got to the Drop-In I had fun. I love HOME!!!”

There were about 5 more youth who shared what HOME meant to them in the book all saying how they appreciated HOME because it was a safe and fun place for them to be with friends.

In celebration of Valentines Day there was a Valentines craft day (last Friday) and a special Valentine’s Day cake will be served with dinner tonight!

Look for more information about the happenings at HOME soon!

Holiday Giving

I've just finished - I think!- getting off all of our thank you's to the groups and individuals who so generously donated to HOME over the holidays.  Since some of the people do not wish their name to be published, I will only list here the groups who helped out.  This will still not be a complete list as often someone would drop off items and then leave without our getting their names.  So, in alphabetical order, here is a list of the wonderful folks who helped make the holidays brighter and happier for more than 50 at-risk and homeless teens here at HOME.  Some donated money, others donated items from our Wish List...they all helped immensely.

BIG THANK YOU TO:
Awana Club
Blanchette School
Capitol Forum
Chemeketa Business & Industry
City of Salem Community Development Dept.
Comfort Suites
Exit Real World
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
First Christian Church
First Church of the Nazarene
First United Methodist Church
Marion County Juvenile Dept.
The Lunch Bunch
Madrona Hills Knitting Group
Mid-Valley Quilt Guild
Oregon State Penitentiary/7 Step Program
Salem Bridge Club
Salem Emblem Club
South Salem High School Freshman Advisors
Southside Speakeasy
The Springs
Walker Middle School Counseling Dept.
West Salem Dream Center
Willamette University

We're sure to have left out folks and, in anticipation, apologise now for any omissions.

Here are a few pictures of those who helped:

Shawna and Sophia from HOME on the right welcome our neighbors from Chemeketa's Center for Business & Industry bearing the last load of many wonderful gifts.

Festively dressed, Cassie Heffley and co-worker from the Center for Business & Industry, return to work with their empty cart.

Carly Garrison, left, presents Peggy Kahan, HOME's Program Director (me) with special gifts for individual youth selected for the Giving Tree which Carly, an intern with the school district, coordinated.  We'd always avoided a Giving Tree because 

we felt it would be too difficult to just pick a few teens to benefit.  However, Carly was willing to volunteer and get gifts and our staff felt it was an idea worth pursuing.  And so it happened and Carly succeeded in her solicitations beyond all expectations.  Exit Real World was an awesome contributor, as you can see, along with Jambo Juice and individuals who donated to this effort. 

Members of First Christian Church prepared a delicious ham dinner for about 50 youth plus staff and volunteers.

Generosity for at-risk and homeless teens

The holiday season always seems to bring out the generous spirits in our community and this year is no different.  In just the past two days, we've experienced the following here at HOME:
-  A longtime friend of HOME dropped off a check and a smoked turkey.
-  A doctor's office brought by cash totalling $100 and assorted items from our Wish List
-  A generous lady brought by 15 NEW BACKPACKS plus games and clothing
- Two festively dressed employees of Chemeketa's Center for Business & Industry (our neighbor) walked two FULL carts carrying LOTS of backpacks, games, toiletries and other items down the street to HOME.
- A couple brought in a used guitar, along with a check.  The youth here LOVE to sit around and listen to/strum guitars.  The two we have currently only have 4 strings each.  (They should have 6).
- St. Marks Lutheran Church has 10 gift cards for $25 for us to distribute.
- A student at Central High School in Independence held a teen clothing drive for HOME as a senior project.  Today he brought several boxes and bags worth of shoes and clothes, separated by gender.
- Employees from SAIF brought by a great assortment of backpacks and other items from our Wish List.
-  The Youth Junk 2 Fashion Funk Team from Blanchette Catholic School sent me their very creative flyer for the fashion show fund-raiser they're putting on for HOME in January.  Here's the link:

http://youthjunkfashionfunk.webs.com/.  What a creative and enthusiastic group!

With all this largesse coming in, it would be pretty overwhelming for our small staff to deal with.  HOWEVER, we've been blessed AGAIN with a volunteer who's a perfect match for the monumental task of organizing it all.  I first met Jennifer Hofman several years ago when she worked on the Backpack Project for HOME at Willamette University.

Jen is one of those people who looks at clutter and, instead of fainting, is able to see the order in things.  In fact, she now has an online business helping others, especially people with home businesses, to get -and stay - on top of that chaos.  She's taking a brief break from her business during the holidays and what does she do with her valuable free time?  Volunteers here at HOME, organizing our holiday gift room.  And doing an awesome job, too.

(Here's Jen's website: Inspiredhomeoffice.com)

Speaking of which, I've got to start tackling the piles in my office and beginning sending out Thank You notes to all these wonderful people who are making the holidays so special for the teens who come to HOME.                 

November Events

Obviously my best intentions on writing to this blog on a regular basis were just that...intentions.  As with most non-profits, the holiday season is always a little bit crazy and it all starts with Thanksgiving.

Actually, it started before Thanksgiving.  The Springs at Sunnyview Retirement and Independent Living Center planned and cooked an awesome fried chicken dinner with all the fixings here at HOME.  They also brought over a wonderful assortment of items and gift certificates that are very useful here.  Here is the Chef and her assistants:

Then our "Crew", a group of HOME youth who meet weekly and plan community service projects, spent an hour - or two - raking up ALL the leaves in front of our house and our neighbors.  About 10 bags worth plus a big yard debris bin. Here are the bags.

And here is the Crew raking.

Our neighbor, Lady Web Pro, who also helps with our website maintenance and does an awesome job by the way, appreciated having her sidewalk all swept off, and brought over several boxes of the always popular fried chicken and salads.  Lucky us to have fried chicken twice in one month!!  It's way too labor intensive for us to prepare here so we very rarely serve it.

We were closed for Thanksgiving Day and Friday, but planned our big Thanksgiving dinner here for Wednesday.  We were very fortunate to have our neighbors at First Christian Church prepare our meal here for about 35-40 teens plus staff and volunteers.  Here's a picture of the tireless church folks cooking the meal

We also had members of the Willamette Soccer Team do some cleaning for us on a Saturday.  Since we hire one of our youth to do our cooking and cleaning, we rarely get any heavy duty deep cleaning done.  So the guys really tackled the floors and dust for us.  And here's a picure of them on our front steps:

The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend usually marks the beginning of our holiday season at the Capitol Forum's Charity event.  HOME and the Women's Crisis Service have been lucky recipients of this fund-raiser for about 10 years now.  Quite often businesses and clubs like to rotate their giving and it seems rare to be beneficiaries like this for so long.  Even during this tough economy, the event raised about $1,000 for each of us and we are VERY APPRECIATIVE.

Three Cheers for all of the above for your help and support!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Kurt's Story

"These kids, the only reason they're homeless is because they don't want to a.  follow their parents' rules  or b. get a job."
That statement is a common stereotype felt by many people in our community.
A goal of this blog is to present some experiences and stories from our work here at HOME that will lend a more complete picture of runaway and homeless teens in Salem.  We'll change names and sometimes other identifying features and try to put a few weeks or months' distance between the actual events and the blog.  Here's our first story:

Kurt (not his real name)first came to HOME in the spring and only visited once.  However, Kurt’s circumstances soon changed and he became homeless.   He moved in with another family that was already stretched thin, trying to make ends meet.  After a few weeks Kurt became a burden to the new family and was given less than a week to begin helping out or he would need to leave.   Kurt had nowhere else to go and was a teen without any kind of identification or means to obtain them.

He began coming more to HOME, having meals there and picking up clothing and toiletries.  Working with our Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY)staff, Kurt obtained food stamps and went on the Oregon Health Plan.  

The school district’s Homeless Education Program assisted him with obtaining his social security card and birth certificate.   Our RHY staff then helped Kurt through the complicated steps at the Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain an Oregon ID card.  Armed with these necessary identification pieces, he is now applying for jobs.  The food stamps have enabled him to remain with the same family, in a safe living situation and contribute to the household.  Kurt continues to come to HOME for meals, to meet with his case managers, attend school and to enjoy normal teen activities. 

November is Homeless Youth Awareness Month

Probably not a lot of folks know this is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, not even people who work with homeless youth.  I'm pretty sure most homeless teens don't much care; they've got other things to deal with.
Congress made the declaration back in 2007 and it serves to increase awareness of this ongoing and growing issue.  Here are some facts:

• National statistics report the number of homeless kids at more than 1.5 million.
• The average age of first homelessness is 14.7 years.
• Most homeless adults first experienced homelessness as a teen.  In other words, unless there are intervening circumstances many teens will continue in their homelessness as they become adults.
• Approximately 24,000 teens are living on the streets, in shelters, temporarily in other people's homes, with or without their families on any given night in the State of Oregon.
• Last year nearly 1,000 students in the Salem Keizer School District were identified as not having stable housing.
• The most common reason for teen homelessness is family dysfunction.

Last night at the City Council meeting, Salem's Mayor Janet Taylor proclaimed November as Homeless Youth Awareness Month.  The Proclamation read, in part,

"Whereas many homeless youth have been physically, sexually, and emotionally abused or neglected by their guardians and are frequently re-victimized and exploited while living on the streets and in shelters; and,
Whereas many homeless youth face possible risks such as dropping out of school, inadequate social skills development, unemployment, living in poverty, delayed mental or physical development, turning to crime for survival, substance addictions, human trafficking and even death;
I, Janet Taylor, call on the people of Salem, Oregon to recognize the potential of all of our City's young people, to heighten the awareness of the tragedy of youth homelessness and its causes, and to develop innovative resources and opportunities that improve the lives of our homeless youth and families;
I Hereby Proclaim November 2010 as Homeless Youth Awareness Month."

Our own Shawna Canaga, Community Advocate and Case Manager spoke briefly about some local issues, followed by staff from NW Human Services and the City of Salem.

Who knows if this will lead to anything but at least it is another step in raising our community's awareness for the circumstances surrounding many of our own young people.