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Youth Face Homelessness
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It shocks most people when they hear it: the average age of a homeless person in America is … nine! And in most big cities, thousand of teens have no place to live or no adult supervision. A group of Chicago youth got an eye-opening lesson in the challenges these homeless youngsters face, and Reed Galin shows us how one of them took action. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Chicago, Illinois)
On a frigid night, these middle-class kids get a cold dose of reality.
Like many large cities, Chicago has 10,000 teenagers with no place to
live. So, this group wonders how a 12 or 14-year-old would survive on
the streets.
Henry Nash, 12-year-old: “I’m looking for a place that I could spend the
night and find something to eat.”
They find a spot in an alley behind a hospital, where someone lives in a
cardboard box and digs through dumpsters for scraps of food.
Isabel Hale, 13-year-old: “I was thinking a lot about how scary it was,
because we walked through alleys.”
Fortunately for these kids, their homelessness only lasts an hour.
The so-called “night walk” is an interactive experience offered by the
non-profit “Night Ministry”.
Leader to youth group: “You were scared...”
After the walk, the participants open up about the desperation they
witnessed.
Isabel Hale, 13-year-old: “I felt like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe people
actually have to do this’ and I only did it for an hour.”
Church member to Matthew: “Matthew, congratulations on your work.”
Matthew Lipman saw a need to help homeless youth even before the “night
walk”.
Matthew Lipman, 13-year-old: “You take for granted your shoes and
brushing your teeth, but some people don’t even have some of those
things.”
Matthew at donation table: “Thank you.”
Matt organized a donation drive at his home church, First United
Methodist, to get money and materials to make hygiene kits.
He raised nearly a thousand dollars and enough toothpaste,
toothbrushes and shampoo for dozens of kits.
Joan Brogdon, Matthew’s Mother: “He’s impressed about how generous
various church members are and he’s really inspired by this.”
Inspired … but also saddened by the ongoing problem … Matthew and his
classmates left the “night walk” vowing to get others involved.
Henry Nash, 12-year-old: “I would tell them to appreciate what you have,
even if it’s not much, it’s still something.”
TAG:
For more information on the night walk and other activities, you can
visit the
Web site.