Grant addresses needs of youth shelter

MAT-SU -- A new, unfinished dining room table is giving residents at the Saxton Youth Shelter a comfortable spot to enjoy their meals now. But come summer, it will also give them something else to do.

"The kids are going to finish it, but because of the chemicals, they'll have to wait until summer so they can do it outside. I think they'll really enjoy putting work into it," said Donell Polk, lead resident adviser at the shelter.

The shelter purchased the table with funds received through a Tier I grant from the Rasmuson Foundation. Polk said funds from the $24,600 grant will also help pay for three new beds, couches for the shelter's dayroom and carpeting for both the dayroom and the boys' side of the Spruce-Avenue facility. In addition, the shelter gained a 2000 GMC minivan with funds from the grant.

"Our old van was a real piece of work. It had been in and out of the shop for a month of Sundays," Polk said.

Polk said he and the other advisers depend on reliable transportation to get the youths they work with to and from school, counseling and other appointments.

"[The van] is pretty much our lifeline," he said.

Saxton Youth Shelter provides emergency shelter for boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 18. Among these are homeless, runaways and victims of abuse and neglect, as well as youths who may need time away from the home. John Stein, executive director for Kids Are People Inc., the shelter's parent organization, said the shelter is dependent upon charitable contributions and grants such as this. With annual operating costs in excess of $400,000, he said the shelter's staff manages to operate on a shoestring budget. Things like new dining room tables and newer-model used vans are luxuries the shelter doesn't often see.

But Polk said these things aren't just luxuries. The shelter housed about 160 teens last year, and the Juvenile Assessment Center, which shares facilities with Saxton Youth Shelter, served some 700 teens. That volume takes its toll on the building and its predominantly second-hand furnishings.

"Over the years, the hundreds of kids that come through here wear it out," Polk said. "We're really blessed that this [grant] came through."

Stein said he hopes the blessings continue. He's appealed to the state for more upgrades and improvements to both the shelter and KAP's Transitional Living Center in the coming year. TLC is a residential facility where young women between the ages of 16 and 21 learn life skills to make it on their own, as they transition out of foster care or are otherwise homeless. Among items on Stein's wish list are a basketball court and a paved driveway for the shelter and a new fire-sprinkler system for both the shelter and TLC. But he said he's tempering his expectations.

"I understand that the state is in a serious bind financially. I know how difficult it is going to be to get extra money," Stein said.