Sixth-annual MyHouse Radiothon with Valley Radio Q997 set for Friday

WASILLA — Valley Radio Q997 will join MyHouse at its Gathering Grounds Café for the annual Radiothon fundraising event from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“What we do is really preventative. I mean, if you don’t want to see people standing on the corners, holding cardboard signs, this is where it stops. This is where get them into jobs before they get to that point,” MyHouse founder and executive director Michelle Overstreet said.

MyHouse staff, volunteers and board members along with a plethora of community members with varying backgrounds and expertise will talk on air throughout the event to share insight on the Mat-Su Valley’s issues with homeless youth and what it will take to improve from here. Guests include Mark Weaver, vice president of Fallen Up Ministries; Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle; Mat-Su Food Bank director Eddie Ezelle; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

During the 12-hour, live broadcast, listeners Valley Radio, 99.7 on the FM dial, will hear, “the stories of our local youth, living out on the street, some in dangerous situations, and not knowing where their next meal will come from. As you’re listening, you’ll also hear great stories of progress and the wonderful work MY House does to get these kids out of a bad situation and back on their feet,” according a recent press release describing the fundraiser.

Last year’s Radtiothon raised more than $50,000, according to Overstreet. She said the funds are used for their case manager and “everything in between” for the overall MyHouse operation. Overstreet said the Radiothon and Rotary Uncorked events are two of their biggest fundraisers of the year.

“This year is going to be really important because we were disqualified from a $50,000 grant that pays for our main case manager,” Overstreet said. “It’s going to be really important for us to try and make up for as much of that as we can to just keep our case management going. That’s our bread and butter of what we do.”

She said that as a non-profit organization, fundraisers are vital to the operation, and while they do receive some state and federal funds for housing homeless youth, they have no funding for their case management program.

MY House provides food, clothing, shower and laundry services, employment services, public health care, mediation services, legal assistance, as well as peer-support and referrals for mental health and substance abuse treatment. They also provide transitional housing for homeless youth. According to the press release, whenever MyHouse does this, they adhere to their “Giving a hand up, not a hand out” motto, giving the homeless youth a chance to “get on their feet, but also offers a rental history and requires rent to be paid.”

During the Radiothon on Friday, anyone interested in donating can call 373-HELP (4357) or pay via PayPal on the MyHouse website myhousematsu.org. Overstreet extended an invitation to anyone in the community to stop by on Friday to grab a cup of coffee and check out what they do.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com