Let Me Fill in Some Gaps (This is going to massive)

Hello Friends & Readers!

I wanted to tell you a little bit more about the organization I'm working for and what I'm actually doing in Seattle this summer. I know that I didn't get a chance to talk with all of you about this in detail, and thought that it might be helpful and encouraging for you to hear, as well as helpful and encouraging for me to talk about it!

the basics

The organization I'm working for is called Street Youth Ministries. They work in a neighborhood of Seattle called the U District. This is the area of town surrounding and including the University of Washington. Right now estimates are that there are about 1000 homeless teenagers (we classify these as ages 13-22) in King County on any given night. Last year, SYM was able to serve 700 youth that came through their doors.

cooperation

Street Youth Ministries is one of the University District Youth Service Providers. There are several others, such as Roots (a shelter), TeenFeed (a meal program), the 45th Street Youth Clinic (medical provider), University District Youth Center (a combination of several of these), Sanctuary Art Center (a really neat organization that allows a venue that gives youth access to the arts), and Seattle Education Access (helps with GEds and other educational things). We are the only faith-based UDYSP though, which definitely puts us in a unique role in our community and among the youth that we serve.

I have been really impressed by the strong communication system that these organizations have among one another. They have all gotten together and made their service schedules such that they are an efficient system - the services that aren't offered every day are organized so that, for instance, SYM serves meals the nights that UDYC might not be. Even last week I got to attend a meeting of leaders from several of these organizations who were getting together to discuss recent trends in youth attendance and activity and to really just communicate with one another and work as a unified system. I think this is awesome to see.

support

SYM is supported through private donations and grants, as well as the support of the church that we operate out of, University Presbyterian Church. They give us the space for our drop-in center and for our offices. We're technically separate, but we get a lot of support from UPC, which has its pros and cons, of course.

mission

SYM's ministry, in the words of Tyler Bauer (our Program Director who I have mentioned before) is, "to love kids who haven't been loved by their parents." Most of the youth that we serve are throw-away youth rather than run-away youth. Basically, this means that the majority of them actually made a good decision by leaving home. They are safer on the streets than they were in their home environment. This is an extremely interesting demographic to be working with, in my opinion.

This work happens in several ways.

Our Case Manager, Kate, works alongside youth one on one to try to help get them the resources they need in order to continue progressing. This can mean planning for temporary or more permanent housing options, helping them apply for job options, getting money to pay their bills, helping them with social or legal issues, and generally just providing counsel. Brynn is our Life Skills and Activities Coordinator, and she plans relationship building activities to do such as rafting (which we got to do yesterday!), surfing, rock climbing, and other smaller things like playing the wii or doing art projects or going on hikes. She also teaches a Resume class, where she and some other instructors help teach youth how to write and distribute their resumes and look for and apply for jobs.

In addition to these things, we have a drop-in center that is open five times a week. At our drop-in, we serve food and give things like hygiene items and socks and clothes to anyone who needs it. We have facilities for youth to take showers or do their laundry. Bigger things, such as bus tickets, blankets, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc we have the youth do chores in exchange for. Sometimes we do activities at drop-in, and mostly we just hang out and let them have a safe place to hang out for the evening.

While these things are awesome and so necessary and I think are making a huge difference, it is the little things that have really impressed me the most over the last ten days or so. I'll tell a few stories.

story number one

One of the first days I was working in the office, two youth came to the office around 11 in the morning. One of the boys said that he had to go to court around 1, and he really needed some clean clothes. Tyler went with him to find him some clean and presentable things to wear, but they couldn't find any pants that fit him. Tyler had ridden his bike to work that day, and so had brought an extra pair of clothes in his bag. He told the youth to give him just a second, he would change and the youth could have the clothes that Ty was wearing. He gave him his pants.

story number two

Another day, a youth came in around 12:30 and told us that he had court at 1, but had missed the bus downtown because he had overslept. He asked if someone could give him a ride. We were about to go to work over at the drop in center, but Tyler asked if we could manage without him to take the youth to make it in time for his court appointment. Tyler dropped his plans and drove the youth downtown.

They visit their youth when they hear they're in jail. They write letters to their youth that are in prison. Tuesday night, Tyler left drop-in to visit someone in jail who was going to be transferred to the prison soon. Kate has been working with one youth in particular who is about to graduate high school. They went and got ice cream the other day. Kate is planning to be at her graduation ceremony. She's the first youth I've met since I've been here who has been in school at all.

me

I am the intern. The "temp."

This summer, I'm going to spend time working with each of our staff. I will get to talk to them about their jobs and all that it includes. I will get to see what they do and shadow them. I help with any projects that need doing. But so far, what has been awesome is that I'm in the office when they're doing their work. When youth come in to talk or because they need something, even though I'm not always directly participating in those interactions, I get to observe those interactions. I get to see how the staff relate to them and how they approach them. I'll work at drop-in twice a week. I'll get to know some of the youth through activities. But I'm learning so much already, and I think the rest of the summer is going to continue to be an awesome and intense learning experience.

I know that this was an enormous amount of information. But now you know it! I'm trying through this blog to paint a picture of my life and work. To tell a story of a group of people doing some really awesome things. Their organization is not extravagant. It is not enormous. It's mission is really very simple. But it is Gospel-living in a really incredible way, and I hope that I am able to convey this to you all this summer, that the Lord is really working in mighty ways all over our world, and this small experience that I am having is an example of the work that is being done.

Pray for me. Pray for our staff. Pray for our youth.

Love, katie.