Homeless no more

It only took an instant for Debbie Turner and Tommy Ducharme to realize they belonged together.

Turner, 82, had an empty 2,350-square-foot home on Knik-Goose Bay Road to fill. Ducharme, 19, needed a safe place to stay before he could begin to fulfill his dreams to become a video game designer.

They met during a Thanksgiving celebration at Burchell High School two weeks ago and hope to show other homeless teens in the Valley that it’s OK to accept help from complete strangers.

Raised in California by his struggling mother after his father was killed by a drunk driver when he was only 7, Ducharme told Turner the other day while helping her decorate her Christmas tree that he’d never before decorated a home for Christmas.

“When I saw this house, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was,” the former high school dropout said Friday while surrounded by Turner’s endless holiday fare. “To know I wouldn’t ever have to sleep in my car again means so much to me. I can’t thank her enough.”

Ducharme is one of more than 820 students in Mat-Su Borough schools who were homeless at some point this past school year. But he’s only one of three who have so far been placed in stable, loving homes through a new “Host Home” program launched by Burchell High School staff member Michelle Overstreet and others on the Homeless Youth Task Force and the Mat-Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

Since the community learned recently through the local press that 111 of Burchell’s 258 students were homeless, there’s been an outpouring of donations of food and clothing and people lining up to open the homes and bring some of them in out of the cold.

Many of the teens have been resistant to going home with adults they don’t know, however.

“It breaks my heart because I know it would be a really good thing for them,” Overstreet said earlier this week. “These kids are so used to being deceived by parents and not having anyone to rely on, they are suspicious of anyone wanting to help them that much. They wonder what they want from them.”

Sherry Butters and Brandee Grisham, both members of the Army National Guard, are two such adults who merely want to help teens get back on their feet by giving them a safe, caring place to live for a while.

Both were hoping to take in homeless teen mothers, but now Butters has her heart set on one particular 18-year-old Burchell boy who is currently struggling to live with his dysfunctional mother.

“I’m just going to start showing up at school and asking him to come home with me until he finally understands how much good it could do him and that he doesn’t have to be afraid of me,” said Butters, a 45-year-old mother of two grown sons who knows what it’s like to be parentless as a child. “My parents divorced when I was in the sixth grade and my dad got custody, but he was never around so I was expected to take care of my brothers. When I was in the 10th grade, my mother came back and kidnapped us from him. By then, I was done with it and left home.”

Although Turner never experienced such tough times when she was growing up, she comes from a family who has always taken in people who needed help.

“I grew up in the Depression time, so my family always shared whatever they had,” said Turner, who raised her own six kids and has lived in the Valley for 30 years now. “I didn’t think twice about taking in a kid when I heard of all the homeless kids out there. I can’t understand why there’s not a foster grandparents program here. They’ve been so successful in other places.”

Turner said that although the Wasilla High student may look a little disheveled because of his long hair, he’s been a perfect gentleman since the minute she met him and she continues to be amazed by his self-discipline and drive to better himself.

“He’s a straight-A student and he goes right to work at Wal-Mart most nights and works until late, then he gets himself up every morning and gets himself to school,” she said. “He’s neater than my own kids ever were and he’s been nothing but respectful to me. I think we’re both happy it’s working out.”

Ducharme said he lived in his car for a while after his mother suddenly left the state for medical care when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year. He tried to live with his grandparents, he said, but he didn’t get along with his grandfather and was forced to leave.

“My world fell apart when my mom left,” he said. “But I knew I had to keep going and to make the most of my situation.”

The night before his job interview at Wal-Mart last spring, he parked his Plymouth Neon in the store’s parking lot and slept in it to be sure not to be late for the interview the next morning. Normally, he slept in his car behind Walgreen’s.

“I got ready for the interview in my car,” he said. “When they offered me the job in the photo department, I was so happy. And they were paying me $9.50 an hour, which was the most I’d ever made.”

Ducharme said he feels he must have a guardian angel or something looking after him because he’s survived so many hardships in his life already. He’s determined to do his best now and to never take anything – or anyone – for granted.

“Debbie’s one of the nicest people I’ve met in my entire life,” he said of his new caretaker. “My mom was ecstatic when she heard I was safe and happy. She knows that one way or the other I’m going to go to college. I’m not about to give up.”

For information on the Host Home program or to offer other assistance, contact Michelle Overstreet at Burchell at 373-7775.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.