Volunteers build cabin for homeless student and family

HOUSTON — Melissa McGraw is used to fending for herself, it’s something the petite 20-year-old Burchell High School senior has been doing since age 15.

Now that she’s also caring for an energetic 3-year-old and recently married to her longtime boyfriend, the young mother, wife and student says she’s overwhelmed by the generosity of people she’s never met. Volunteers have been working since September to build the young homeless family a simple home — four walls and a bath.

It’s only 400 square feet total, including two ultra-tiny bedrooms, a small bathroom, kitchenette and multipurpose room. But for McGraw, young Brooklyn and husband Jesse Troyer, the place is a palace.

“It’s small, but at least it’s going to be warm and clean,” she said Thursday while attending a small get-together with volunteers working to complete the cabin situated on property McGraw’s in-laws own. It’s also a stone’s-throw from the dilapidated fifth-wheel trailer the family has been calling home. It has no electricity, no running water and is sheltered from the elements with plywood and tarps.

For a young woman who’s been homeless for a quarter of her life, the situation has been normal for some time, McGraw said. But now that she has a child — compounded by the fact that both mother and daughter have health problems — she said she views her situation differently.

“I’ve been so used to this since I’ve been on my own at 15,” she said, “but having (a child) affects it big time, because you don’t want your child growing up like that. … Our house is filled with dust, smoke and filth. As much as I work hard in that place, it’s like a 24/7 job in the house. We’re not used to having running water, so we have to go find water. Right now, she has a cast on it’s even harder.”

Brooklyn, who struggles with respiratory ailments, recently had surgery to fix a tendon in her foot and has a cast.

“That makes it tough (being in the fifth-wheeler), especially with her crawling on the floor,” McGraw said. “I try to keep it as clean as I can. It’s not easy.”

Worrying about her daughter crawling around in an unsafe dwelling is almost to an end, as volunteers are working hard to complete the construction, said Michelle Overstreet, a Burchell counselor and co-founder of Mat-Su Youth Housing (MYHOUSE).

Building the small cabin for McGraw and her family was actually the idea of Burchell principal Adam Mokelke, Overstreet said.

“He brought her home one day and it was during the Houston floods, so it was in the fall when the river flooded,” she said. “Adam came back to the school and said, ‘have you seen where she lives?’ I said I know where she lives, but I don’t know what it looks like. He said, ‘we’ve got to do something and we’re going to build her a cabin.’”

Mokelke rallied the teachers at Burchell, who built a foundation and put up basic walls, and Overstreet reached out to the local contracting community. The response was overwhelming, she said.

“They all wanted to help. We’re now also talking with Home Depot about a construction training program where we’d build a cabin a year like this for a homeless youth,” she said. “That’s our ultimate goal.”

One of those who stepped up to help was Royal Bidwell and his wife, Nancy. The Bidwells work with Wasilla nonprofit Forget Me Not Mission. When they heard about the effort to build a cabin for a homeless youth, Royal said he wanted to help.

“When we heard about this project for this young lady, I thought that’s something I can do,” said Royal, who spent about 30 years as a plumbing and heating wholesaler.

A father of six and grandfather of 13, Royal said he thought about how he’d react if one of his grandchildren were homeless.

“You’d do whatever you could to fix that problem,” he said. “I tell you what, I have a little idea what that’s like. It makes you want to help, because that’s a miserable situation.”

And to hear Nancy tell it, Royal’s commitment is genuine. He was busy Thursday working on the plumbing for the home, installing oil tanks to fuel the small oil heater inside. Earlier, Nancy said he had spent 12 hours one day working at the site in minus 32-degree weather.

McGraw’s story also touched Samantha and Eric “Stretch” Rosati, who operate Stretch Drywall. Standing 6-foot-9, it’s easy to see how Stretch got his nickname, but Samantha said she knew once he heard McGraw’s story his heart would melt.

“He looks like a huge biker and he’s really a huge teddy bear,” she said. “He has a bigger heart than anything.”

Knowing McGraw’s and her husband’s living situation also affects a small child “made me heartbroken,” Samantha said. “I raised five kids and was really poor, so I know how hard it is just to get ahead, just to make it. I was, like, crying, because sometimes you have to let your husband believe it’s his idea (to help).”

Homelessness is a growing concern in the Valley, Overstreet said, and a significant percentage of the local homeless population is made up of unaccompanied youth. The Mat-Su Borough School District has identified more than 800 students who are either homeless on their own or with their homeless families.

While those can be sobering statistics, the reality is there are a lot of teens who have no stable place to call home, said Kyra Hoenack, a Burchell senior and MYHOUSE volunteer.

Hoenack said she considers herself lucky because she lives at home with her parents and siblings; however, she has many friends who don’t, including McGraw.

“Sometimes it’s hard,” she said about how she reacts to knowing homeless youth at school. “I just want to invite them all over to my house. I live with my parents and brother. I’m very fortunate and I help as much as I can. I think it’s really sad. I can’t imagine being any age and not having a place to live, and her daughter is so sweet. She deserves it because she’s a really good mom.”

For years, McGraw said she was embarrassed about her situation and said she’s “very, very thankful” to everyone who’s helped build her new home. It may be little more than a shed with heat, electricity and plumbing, but it’s a safe place for little Brooklyn.

“It is embarrassing, but a lot of people live like this around here,” she said. “But I don’t think anybody wants to live this way.”

Now McGraw said she’s excited to finish high school and begin a future that may include college and meaningful employment. She’s also bubbling with energy about her daughter’s new room.

“We’re doing a Tinkerbell theme, big time,” she beamed. “We’re going to have so much fun with that room.”

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.