MINNESOTA
After sleeping outdoors, young volunteers help the homeless
As youth from eight churches slept outdoors last Friday night (Oct. 15) into Saturday morning (Oct. 16), some of their peers did not have the luxury of sleeping in a familiar, warm bed on Saturday night because they are actually homeless.
The approximately 80 volunteers who slept outside Andover Christian Church became fully aware that the problem of homelessness is not confined to someone sleeping under a bridge or on a park bench in a downtown setting. This problem affects the suburbs as well. They may not see homeless people because they are not holding a sign asking for help. Instead, they find a disposed mattress to sleep on in the woods or “couch hop.”
Cheryl Carrigan, who heads a homeless intervention program at the Emma B. Howe YMCA in Coon Rapids, told the students that the homeless youth look just like them. Carrigan has heard many sad stories on how these young people became homeless. Some ran away from home because their parents were drug addicts or abusive. Some could no longer live with their families because the parents lost their home to foreclosure and the apartment they moved to was not big enough. Some were in foster care and could no longer stay after they hit their 18th birthday. Many of these kids still go to school, but do not eat lunch because they do not know there are laws that would let them eat for free because of their situation, Carrigan said.
After the students from eight congregations got a better understanding of what it would be like to be homeless, they woke up before daybreak on Saturday morning, ate breakfast and headed out to do volunteer work that would directly impact the homeless. Two groups went to the Simpson Shelter and the Marie Sandvic Center, which are both in Minneapolis. Other students stayed in the area to collect food donations that will be evenly split between Stepping Stone and the Anoka County Brotherhood Council (ACBC) food shelf.
Even though solving the recession problem would go a long way in the fight against homelessness, volunteering efforts like this makes a difference, said Judy Johnson, housing supervisor for Anoka County. “We want to expose our students to these type of things so some day they’ll be passing legislation and helping the homeless,” said Celeste Ecklund, youth pastor at Andover Christian Church.
As he stood around a fire to keep warm, Isaac Carroll from the First Baptist Church in Anoka reflected on how his sleepless nights at home do not seem so bad now. “I should stop saying I can’t go to bed. (The homeless) probably don’t get a lot of sleep,” he said.
When they were done chipping in, many of the students took a trip to the Mall of America not just for a fun field trip, but to see the stark contrast between those who barely have enough money to get by and those who spend on items that they want, but do not need. “It gives kids a better perspective on what life is all about,” said Steve Rowland, youth pastor at Kimball Church of Christ.
The eight churches that students came from were Andover Christian Church, First Baptist Church of Anoka, Kimball Church of Christ, Knollwood Christian Church in St. Louis Park, Meadow Creek Church in Andover, New Brighton Christian Church, Oak Haven Community Church in Ham Lake and Riverdale Assembly of God in Andover.
Who the homeless are
The county coordinates a count on the number of homeless people
in Anoka County on one night in January.
According to Johnson, 18 to 21 year olds was the category that had the highest percentage increase between January 2009 and January 2010. There were 106 young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 who were homeless in January 2010, which was a 96 percent increase, Johnson reported. The most impacted group continued to be children living in homeless families. There were 490 children who fell within this group. For these children, there were 276 adults who are also included in the county’s homeless statistics. One hundred thirty-two of those children were in chronically homeless families, which means they had been homeless for at least a year or have experienced four periods of homelessness in the last three years.
Children who go through homelessness are more likely to fall behind in school because they have more on their mind than derivatives or the Battle of the Bulge. Later in life, they are more apt to be homeless as well, Johnson said.
The second highest group of homeless people in Anoka County in January 2010 were single adults with the number at 380 people. The smallest group of homeless people are juveniles. There were 49 accounted for this past January.
Adding up all these groups totals 1,301 who were homeless in January. Johnson acknowledged that the county’s tracking system has improved to more accurately reflect the number of homeless people.
Although November is recognized as Homeless Awareness Month and giving increases around the holidays, Carrigan said donations are always needed to help the homeless. Food shelves are always in need of donations to help adults and kids. The Emma B. Howe YMCA also collects donations of food, hygeine products and clothing that are donated to homeless youth. The best thing to do is call in advance to see what is needed, Carrigan said.
Few housing options
In early September, a new program launched to provide a place
to sleep for four families as well as daycare and transportation
services and assistance with job hunting. Family Promise of Anoka County
is a partnership between 13 host churches, five partner congregations
and a nondenominational Family Promise network of 5,000 congregations in
39 states. Every week, one of the 13 host churches provide shelter for
up to 14 people in four families.
Stepping Stone Emergency Housing is licensed to house 16 adults.
The Emma B. Howe YMCA is the only YMCA to have a homeless intervention program, but there are no beds provided, Carrigan said. With only 30 people being served at a time, this leaves a lot of people looking for other options. Some sign up for the shelter waiting lists.
Family Promise of Anoka County has been in existence for less than two months, but there is already a waiting list of 20 families, according to executive director Junita Cathey. One family who had been serviced secured long-term housing. Another family left, but Cathey is not aware if they found another housing option. Two other families quickly replaced them.
At Stepping Stone, the waiting list dramatically fluctuates from week to week, said Chuck Evans, the building manager and direct care worker. This week, 11 women and eight men are on the waiting list for the 16 beds. However, Evans recalled there were 47 men and over 30 women on the waiting list earlier this year. Typically there would be at least 20 men and 20 women waiting.
The biggest reason for the sharp decrease in the waiting list is because Stepping Stone staff have been unable to contact most of the people on the waiting list when there were open beds, Evans said. Surprisingly, there are many instances when they are able to get in contact with a person on a waiting list, but they do not show up when they are scheduled to come in.
A new program added four beds to Stepping Stone, but these beds are reserved for homeless people that police officers find outside. This program has not been productive so far, so Stepping Stone continues to spread the word to police departments, the sheriff’s office and social service agencies to make them aware of this new program, Evans said.
Eric Hagen
18 October 2010
http://abcnewspapers.com/2010/10/18/after-sleeping-outdoors-young-volunteers-help-the-homeless/
