About three dozen youth from two Episcopal churches raised $2,000 for a shelter serving homeless young people on Saturday night.
The youth from Ascension Episcopal Church in Stillwater and Christ Episcopal Church in Woodbury slept outside in boxes as part of the event, on a night when temps dipped to around freezing. Money pledged for the event will go to Avenues for Homeless Youth, a program in Minneapolis that helps teens and young adults who are experiencing homelessness.
“This event is such an incredible experience,” said Sara Duke, 17, from Maplewood. “We all get exposure to a side of life that none of us have really known.
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“It humbles me to know that some people can go through this every night while I have a safe home and a family,” she continued. “Having the opportunity to help people while I’m freezing for one night makes all the difference for someone to be able to have a meal and a warm bed for the night.”
The young people, ranging in age from 11 to 18, also learned about homelessness from a physician, an author and a youth counselor from Avenues for Homeless Youth.
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Author Julia Dinsmore told about her experiences being homeless, when her son was shunned because he was part of a “shelter family.” She shared stories of youth she knew who did their homework on buses because they had no home.
“Our stories are sacred,” author Julia Dinsmore told the youth. “A lot of transformation can happen when we listen to each other.”
Homelessness can follow young people, said Michael Lee, a youth counselor from Avenue for Homeless Youth. He told about one young man who left Chicago to escape a gang lifestyle, only to find himself in the Twin Cities with no friends and no where to go for help. He started to fall back into the gang culture when he met other young people from Chicago.
“He told me, ‘I want to chase my dreams, but I can’t,’” Lee said. “He couldn’t get a job, but he could sell drugs.”
Lee and others at Avenues for Homeless Youth were able to get the young man shelter and resources so he could turn his life around.
“He’s one of our success stories,” he said.
Amelia Gerrard, 15, from Stillwater, said the event helped expose the young people to the reality of homelessness in Minnesota.
“The sooner people know there’s a problem,” she said, “the sooner they will want to work to change it.”
Cata Osorio, 13, from Woodbury, said the evening was a powerful reminder about the needs in the community.
“The guest speakers were so powerful, and it definitely gave me a different outlook on homelessness,” she said.
Lee thanked the youth for sleeping out and raising money for the shelter, but he said they should remember one thing.
“When you go back to your warm house and your own bed tomorrow,” he said, “remember that the homeless don’t get a chance to just step back out of their homelessness.”
