Light in the darkness

WASILLA — It only took a few minutes for a sea of 75 candles to appear on the edge of Wasilla Lake Saturday night — just as it only took a few days for the Mat-Su community to open its eyes and hearts to the reality of homeless youth here.

After stories in local newspapers this week exposed the fact that some of Burchell High School’s 111 homeless students were forced to sleep in their cars last winter, the school has been deluged with bags of warm clothes and offers to take teens in.

“We’ve had an incredible response from folks who just want to do something — anything — to help these kids,” teen advocate Michelle Overstreet said as people began gathering under a full moon for the first Light for Life candlelight vigil.

By the end of the hour-long ceremony in the 10-degree chill, five 36-gallon garbage bags full of coats, sweaters, gloves and hats, and two 55-gallon drums of canned goods were waiting to be carried back to Burchell.

Among those huddled around burn barrels as Overstreet and others from the Homeless Youth Task Force addressed the crowd was empty-nester Geni Decker, a mother of five grown children who’d love to open her home to as many teens as possible before Thanksgiving arrives.

“There’s no sense in having that big house if I can’t put it to good use,” said Decker, who used to keep an open door to needy youth in Anchorage when her kids were still home. “I just want to give those who need it a place to be warm and a place to be safe. I’ve got extra beds and plenty of floor space to offer at Point Mackenzie.”

Decker is only one of more than half a dozen residents who have stepped forward to provide host homes for some of the Valley’s hundreds of teens without a stable place to go.

The host home program is one of the immediate solutions underway in the Valley. Providing some sort of permanent shelter and a teen center also are part of the 10-year plan of the Mat-Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

Last year, there were about 820 students in the Mat-Su Borough School District who were identified as homeless at some point, according to figures provided by the Mat-Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

Offering encouragement to the shivering crowd Saturday were state Sen. Linda Menard, Sarah Palin’s mother Sally Heath, Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson, Wasilla Police Chief Mike Hughes, Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright and Palmer pastor Lisa Carrick.

Rupright announced that on Jan. 26, 2011 at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, meals, haircuts and health checks will be offered at no cost to Valley residents in need.

Homeless Youth Task Force volunteers also hope to match more homeless youth with residents willing to open their homes at that point, he said.

“With everyone’s help, we can do this,” he said.

As the candlelight warmed the faces of those listening, Pastor Carrick had them all repeat one important phrase as she wrapped up the evening with a benediction tailored to the cause: “Connect us together to make a difference.”

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