Had a eye opening time at the Boys and Girls Safe House in Calgary over the past several weeks. Every year as part of a United Way drive we pick a project to have the team work on to make a bit of a difference in the community. This year we chose the Safe House:
Safe House is a nine bed shelter facility that provides short term housing and basic needs for youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The place was really run down when we found it. Old, moldy showers, stinky furniture, that kind of thing. We painted the entire house, replaced the couches and dining room chairs, put in two computers and a printer into the office so that the kids can work on their resumes, replaced much of the bathroom cabinets and fixtures, put in a TV... generally spruced up the place to make it more inviting.
Working with the kids were great. These are kids that go through more in a day than most of the bad stuff that we experience in a life time. Drugs, prostitution, poverty, homelessness, violence... you name it. And for the most part they are very sweet kids, but very suspicious of authority and rebellious. Shortsighted too -- it's hard to think of going back to school so your life can be better next year when you don't have enough to eat or a place to sleep.
One of the kids affected me deeply: a young girl, perhaps 15. She could have been Maya at 15. We gave all the kids blankets and she spent all day wrapped up in it huddled on the couch watching us work.
http://www.calgaryboysandgirlsclub.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=45&PHPSESSID=f9f189e2ab24df94fe6cb8c6ebf63d1e
