Alert, construction zone ahead

All of us have dealt with circumstances where we have experienced a rough stretch in life that rerouted us through detours and unfamiliar territory. Those major life events could have been the loss of a job, relationship or lifestyle, as we formally knew it.

Some have experienced this unfamiliar territory due to becoming homeless. And for some, the events leading up to that were out of their control. They have lost their home and have had the ground completely slide out from underneath them. They cannot find any stable footing and they do not know where to step next or sleep. What was familiar to them now seems all a distant haze. It could be a man, woman, family with children or a youth alone and on dead-end streets.

In the case of homeless youth, it must be even scarier due to fewer resources and life experiences than adults to deal with this rocky and dangerous ground —especially since there is no safe harbor (youth shelter) in the Mat-Su Valley. With the data available, there is no doubt many youth are homeless by no fault of their own. Unfortunately, families become unraveled for many reasons and youth leave. Some homeless youth are dealing with family issues that are very troubling, complex and multifaceted. We need to provide a healthier alternative than the streets and give them a sense of hope for a better tomorrow.

MY House has designed a “pit stop” for youth to get a tune-up to begin the road on the route to self-sufficiency. This is not a rest area, but a construction zone. Youth will be able to re-fuel with quick and high-energy food, take a shower and do laundry, and/or pick out “new-to-you” donated clothes. Then the navigation begins with an intake survey, (data collection) assessments and interest inventories with interviews to develop an action plan. And, most importantly, the necessary footwork on their part to become self-sufficient will be required.

The Gathering Place will demonstrate that there are homeless youth who want to gain employable skills and use those newly acquired skills to work. Those youth who want that for themselves will now have a place to do exactly that. Instead of existing from couch to couch, living in a tent or worse, living on dead end streets, youth will be able to build, through their own initiative, destinations for themselves.

Yet, we know some homeless youth will not come. Instead, they will stay out there spinning their tires going nowhere, except digging a deeper hole. Hopefully, they very well may change their minds after hearing from their peers that MY House is safe, non-judgmental and caring. They will be accepted at whatever station they are in their life.

Our goal is to offer them a different road to travel. I believe, like an addiction, the streets only get worse. There is documentation that homelessness is like a disease in that it has progressive stages and ends with a stage of disequilibrium. This last stage leads to a place where one becomes suspect of the very people who are trying to help. We have to offer an alternative. We need to provide a hand up and out of their current circumstances. In other words, flipping the script — especially for youth before they are totally lost, alone on the streets and hopefully not dead!

MY House will begin by getting the underground word out through “pilot” peers pointing out a safer road with our Street Outreach program. Come and see the safer road to travel. We are inviting everyone to see what we are all about at our Sept. 5 monthly meeting in our new Gathering Place and Gathering Grounds Coffee and Café. This will be our first community meeting in our new site. Again, everyone is welcome.

The meeting is at 10 a.m. at the MY House site, 300 N. Willow at the corner of Herning Avenue just past Wasilla City Hall. In fact, you can drop by now to see work in progress with many community members giving a helping hand. Consider being part of the hope we can provide our homeless youth during this rough stretch to give them an opportunity to help themselves.

Michael P. Carson, is vice president of MY House (myhousematsu.org).