Singer-songwriter begins Valley quest to help homeless teens

WASILLA — Growing up in Nashville, the son of musician parents, Kevin Montgomery didn’t have an orange dufflebag and he did have a home. But Friday night in Wasilla, he will be raising both funds and awareness for teens who don’t have a roof over their heads.

Montgomery kicks of his 2010 “50 States in 50 Days” tour 7 p.m., Friday at The Schwabenhof in Wasilla, bringing his singer/songwriter talents to bear for the nationwide problem of homeless teens.

Describing his musical style in the vein of Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and Don Henley, Montgomery’s earliest musical mentors were his parents and family friends Elvis Presley, for whom his mother sang, and Buddy Holly, an old friend and colleague of his father.

Montgomery is working with a group called the “Orange Duffle Bag Foundation,” which was launched by a book written by former Georgia Tech football player Sam Bracken and Montgomery’s sister, Echo Garrett describing Bracken’s journey from poverty and homelessness to a full-ride scholarship and college education.

While Montgomery’s efforts will help the Orange Duggle Bag Foundation, he’s also raising the visibility of a very real problem in the Mat-Su Borough. Stephanie Campbell, project coordinator for the Mat-Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, is among those working on both documenting and solving teen homelessness.

“We are acutely aware of it,” Campbell said of the problem.

According to statistics gathered by the coalition and Mat-Su Borough School District, there are more than 800 homeless youths within the local school district. That figure shows just part of the overall youth and teen homeless problem here, stressed Campbell and Desiree Compton, community impact director for United Way of Mat-Su.

“It’s hard to track and get accurate numbers,” Compton said. “There are a lot of kids who aren’t even in school. That number is probably much larger.”

Orange Duffle Bag Foundation particularly targets the older teens, including those who have turned 18 and cycled out of foster care. According to statistics from the state Health and Social Services Department, approximately 40 Alaska youths age of out foster care each year. While HSS has a program to promote independent living, many teens fall into what the department calls “a pattern of homelessness and instability.”

But there are success stories, and Montgomery is using his 50-state tour as a way to highlight those stories.

From the I-80 in Nebraska on Monday, on his way to a gig in Sacramento before his flight to Alaska, Montgomery said he will interview one former homeless teen in each state who has been inspired by someone to better his or her life.

“I hope to get some fantastic stories along the way,” Montgomery said. He will post those interviews on his tour website (the50statesin50daystour.com).

Montgomery, who has done whirlwind tours for the past two years for other causes, said he was inspired to tell the stories by a book he read 20 years ago and a recent chance encounter with the author.

At 42, he was wondering, “Why am I here? What am I doing?” He had returned from a European tour and was eating at a nearly empty restaurant in Nashville when someone came and sat nearby. When the stranger pulled open a map, a conversation started that revealed the newcomer to be Peter Jenkins, author of the bestseller “A Walk Across America.” And a book about Alaska called, “Looking for Alaska.”

When Montgomery told Jenkins he had been thinking of his book and wishing he could write one, Jenkins told him, “There’s a reason why we met today.”

“That meeting inspired me to do something like this,” Montgomery said. “I hope some real good things come out of it.”

Montgomery said he is starting it in Alaska and ending it in Hawaii to bookend the country with the two states he considers the most unique.

“I love Alaska,” Montgomery said. “I love the Alaska people. They have that strong, pioneering spirit.”

With snow falling in the Valley, those who are concerned about local homeless know that pioneering spirit doesn’t give displaced teens a place to keep warm. Campbell said there’s no transit center or youth facility where the teens can congregate when they have nowhere else to go. It also makes it seem like there isn’t a homeless problem, she said.

“There are folks that are in awe that we do have a homeless youth problem,” Campbell said. “They are not visible. They blend into the woodwork or they’re staying at friends’ homes.”

Campbell, Compton and others working toward a homeless shelter for local youths are supportive of efforts like Montgomery’s that help draw attention to the problem.

Montgomery said his sister, Bracken and the foundation have a successful pilot program in Atlanta that gives at-risk teens the skills they need to cope in the world.

He said he’s excited to be involved with the project and happy to have the focus in his tour.

“If you’re going to do this, you need to do something that’s a little special,” he said.

The event in Wasilla is sponsored by Matanuska Music, which also sponsored previous Montgomery tours, including one helping Wounded Warriors. Donations are accepted at the door. Twenty-five percent of the donations gathered go to the Orange Duffle Bag Foundation (orangeduffelbagfoundation.org).