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Hello, and welcome! You’re listening to Song Stories, Quiet Stories, episode 21, Homeless Teens in Crisis. I am your host, Carolyn Murset.
Who would’ve thought as 2019 drew to a close that in a few short months our world as we knew it then would be turned upside down and almost unrecognizable. Not unrecognizable due to a natural geological or weather related disaster, but unfamiliar due to public buildings, places of worship, national and city parks, schools, and higher institutions of learning being closed to the public.
Unfamiliar with new phrases such as Social Distancing, COVID-19, Stay Home, Stay Safe, CDC, PPE, Wash Your Hands, Don’t Touch Your Face being spoken and heard several times a day. We now know the difference between a surgical mask and an N95 mask. Having a televised news conference every afternoon from our nation’s capitol and our state capitol. Unemployment rates are skyrocketing. Stock market trading, plummeting
As the daily squares on my over-scheduled dry erase calendar, became empty and I began to sigh with the relief of fewer commitments and obligations to fulfill, I became aware of ways to help the mounting numbers of victims of the Corona Virus and the healthcare workers on the front lines striving to save the lives of the patients while trying to preserve their own good health.
Little did I know that my days and nights would be filled managing a local group of 17 volunteer seamstresses sewing face mask covers to be sent through one of many .org and .com groups to locations around the country low on supplies but high on serving those in need. My hands ache from feeding several layers of pleated fabric through my not as powerful as I’d like sewing machine.
Little did I know that people would be thanking me for giving them an opportunity to serve. I’m not a lifesaver. Through sewingforlives.com I may be a life helper. Watching others’ willingness to help, even by using their own fabric, and elastic has brightened my days and helped to lift my anxiety.
Watching the news mention the plight of the homeless during this pandemic reminded me of my grandson’s Eagle Scout project of providing 50 care kits for homeless teens in our southern Utah communities.
I asked Nathan how he came to know about these teens in our area. He told me that when he was working on the Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge, he was required to interview a government official. His friend’s father, Utah State Representative Walt Brooks talked with Nathan about problems in the community, and one of the problems was homelessness, and homelessness in teens.
We live near St. George, a red hilled desert community with moderate winters and scorching summer weather. Population is 85,000, and with the surrounding smaller communities, you could say a little over 100,000 call this winter snowbird haven their home.
When my grandson Nathan told me a few months ago that his approved Eagle Scout project was to gather 50 care and hygiene kits that include pajamas, underwear, socks, a comfort blanket, food and self-care items, I cried, especially when he told me there were 1,000 homeless teens in the area! 1,000. I had no idea.
Nathan with much needed help, especially with the sinking economy during this COVID-19 pandemic crisis, will donate these 50 care kits to
Youth Futures which provides safe shelter, collaborative resources, respectful guidance and diverse support to homeless, unaccompanied, runaway and at-risk youth in Northern and Southern Utah.
I invited Nathan to tell you a little about his project. That Eagle Scout project email address again is, ntm.eagle@gmail.com. Go there with any questions you may have.
He initially set up an online Sign-up Genius account in which people could choose and sign up for items they wish to donate. Now that folks are staying home and away from stores as long as possible we thought it might be easier to receive monetary donations help, so that Nathan can buy the needed items online and fill the kits by the end of May.
Would you like to help? There are two ways you can donate: paypal.me/carolynmurset or venmo.com/carolyn-murset. I will collect the money and get it to him. Really. I’m honest. I am his grandma. You can also find those links at my website, mycarolynmurset.com. Many thanks to those of you who have already made contributions. My neighbors at shopwithrnb.com, an online boutique that has daily live sales via Facebook, have made a generous donation. Check out their website or their facebook page and become one of their 17,000 followers.
I sang with a local gospel choir for seven years. A few years ago we brought dinner and music to the homeless shelter for families. It was such a moving experience, and I’m grateful we made another musical visit. With food. We both live a Sheltered Life. (Play a Sheltered Life.)
When I wrote the song you just listened to, the policy of the homeless shelter for families was that they were allowed to stay at the facility for thirty days, while they attended training to help them re-enter the job market.
Nathan’s dad was our first baby. A few months after he was born our young family found ourselves in between residences for a few weeks. You could hardly call that being homeless, as all we had to do was drive twelve hours to New Mexico and stay with my parents until the eighty year old home we were buying was ready to move into.
About a decade later, my husband and I had four children, and became aware through members of our church congregation, of a lady who was new to the area living in her car with her cat. I agreed to take them in with us, as we had a spare bedroom.
When I was a kid, my compassionate parents set the tone for me, when through my childhood and teen years, we had four different women living with us. (One at a time.) These women ranged in age from mid twenties to our eighty year old adopted “Grandma Schaffer”.
Even before that time, when my parents and siblings relocated from California to Taos, New Mexico, we lived with my maternal grandparents, Juan Manuel and Domitila Trujillo. My ambitious dad converted their chicken coop into his plumbing and heating office, then remodelled a house for us to move into. I don’t know where the chickens went. Now that I think about it, I don’t want to know.
At the end of Grandma Tila’s life, six years later, she spent her last few months in our home.
It’s handy to have family nearby, to help when help is needed, if you get along with one another and are compatible. That isn’t always the reality for these local teens, so that there is a local refuge for them is a God-send. Especially during this time of pandemic crisis. Our local facility, for privacy concerns, couldn’t give me an actual number of teens staying there. But they are there.
Any help you could possible give to this project would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks to those of you who already have.
Stay home. Stay safe. Write about how your life has changed since the beginning of March, or whenever it was that your world began shutting down. Do you know anyone who has caught the virus? Pray for them. Do you know anyone working on the front lines or behind the scenes saving lives, or to puting groceries back on our shelves? Pray for them. Do you know of anyone who isn’t taking necessary precautions to keep themselves or others safe? Pray for them.
I’ll be back, hopefully soon. Until then, thanks for listening. Thanks for contributing. Subscribe to this podcast at mycarolynmurset.com or with your smartphone app and you won’t miss an episode. I am your host, Carolyn Murset.