Community unites to help homeless teens

We probably don’t have to tell you what kind of winter the Valley has had. Since Christmas we have had long stretches of below zero weather and steady snowfall. We’ve all been loading up on warm socks and shoveling mountains of snow.

It’s been a rough winter.

But imagine how much rougher it would be to ride this winter out living in a car. Imagine trying to keep body and soul together as a homeless teenager who lacks nurturing adults and can’t afford anything better than a beat-up rust-bucket for transportation.

It’s hard to imagine, but advocates for homeless youth think 200 of our young neighbors are in just that situation. They park at Burchell High School overnight, though many prefer Wal-Mart for around-the-clock bathroom access.

And we’re not kidding about those vehicles being rust-buckets. Michael Carson, one of the folks working to set up a program for homeless youth in the Valley — MY House — said he’s given those kids the advice to crack a window while they sleep. He said he’s worried about carbon monoxide poisoning.

In the summer, a couple dozen or more of these youth can be found at local campsites living in tents. Michelle Overstreet, also with MY House, recalled talking to campsite administrators and shuttling kids where they needed to go.

But while there are a couple hundred of these youths, it remains something of an invisible problem. A person could live in this Valley for years without ever running into someone he or she knew was homeless and alone.

Even if you’re aware of the problem, its invisibility makes it easy to ignore. That’s why we find so much to admire in those MY House volunteers. Not only are they moving ahead with plans to do something about the problem, they’re moving ahead as fast as they possibly can.

Overstreet, Carson and the dozens of people who showed up at a meeting on the topic Thursday seem to recognize that a community of 200 kids without shelter is simply unacceptable.

Recently, MY House has taken a pair of pretty important steps. In a matter of months it is already awaiting approval for its federal nonprofit status — a process that usually takes years. And it has identified what one might call a mentor organization to partner with and learn from — Covenant House Anchorage.

We applaud these steps and look forward to what MY House has in store for the future.

In Thursday’s meeting, Overstreet described the group of volunteers she’s working with as “absolute butt-kickers.” Here’s hoping they continue to kick butt until homelessness in the Valley is part of the past.