November 15, 2008
Dear Friend,
Blessings to the SHO family- I know this time of year,
we count our blessings and take a minute to be grateful
for what we have. But what if we don’t have? What if we
don’t have a home or a family.
How does that happen anyway– really- how does a person
become say- homeless? Most of us unhomeless believe it’s
drugs or lack of education or poverty. And there’s a
great deal of truth in that.
But there are times when a person – or child – finds
themselves homeless through no fault of their own.
Two young boys, young men really- 16 & 17 fell through
the cracks of ‘the system’ almost 10 years ago. Mama and
Daddy were in and out of prison most of their lives
which had the 9 & 10 year olds bouncing from relative to
relative- as if they were no more than something to deal
with. School didn’t really miss them; they never knew
where they were.
The boys learned to take care of each other– on the
streets, breaking into hotel rooms for shelter, hustling
for money. They became separated from each other for a
period of time, but somehow found each other again. Mama
– out of prison for a time, moved in with a guy and the
boys lived there too.
But when she was incarcerated again, he got
temporary custody of the boys. Being older and dealing
with prostate cancer, he couldn’t offer much parental
care. Eventually, the boys just stopped going to school.
That was sometime in 2005 or 2006.
Not long ago, the SHO Mentor program received a phone
call from a grandmother, “Can you help my grandbabies?”
Someone had told her about our mentoring program and so
she called.
Yes, these were the same boys – and yes they were
enrolled in the mentoring program but the mentoring
program is not the end – it’s the beginning.
SHO is so blessed to have staff that do more, go
further- see beyond the job to the heart of the mission.
That was the case when Errol Boyland, Mentor Program
Director, first met the 2 boys.
Through a series of events, he’s been instrumental in
enrolling them in a special school so that they can
graduate; taken them to CNN center for lunch, called to
check on them, and has been building their trust. They
live with their grandmother now and she has custody.
Is this the Mentoring Program, or
Problem Solvers, or Family Services, or Youth Reach?
Yes. And even more importantly- this is primary
preventative work: the front line of prevention.
The what if’s with the boys are obvious: drop
outs (that had already happened), drug dealing, hustling
to survive, poor health, most likely children, poverty,
homelessness, jail time.
Our statistics show the probability of any combination
of these outcomes.
Primary prevention. Intervening before the cycle begins.
Hoping to change the course of a life simply by being
there.
The cycle of life issues can seem never ending. I bet
these boys couldn’t see a way out – they probably didn’t
even know how they got in.
SHO jumps in the cycle- hopefully early enough to stop
the cycle. Sometimes it is after the cycle has worn a
person down to the point of hopelessness that we step
in.
Because of your support – we can help to change the
cycle – we can help prevent the most likely issues to
occur and we can intervene in crisis. This is real
change because it’s changes the course of a life.
Thanks for being a course changer,
From the city,
4 ways to help change the course of a life
$35: curriculum and materials for one teen mom per year
$67: GED test prep curriculum
$100: 25 2-way MARTA Breeze tickets for job interviews
$3500: underwrites the Mobile Medical Clinic for 1 month
From The City,
Philip Bray,
President, CEO
Safehouse Outreach
