Helping teens in need
Photo courtesy of Pathfinders.
Youth homelessness is an invisible problem, but every night in Milwaukee there are hundreds of teens without a place to sleep.
With two locations — one near Holton and Capitol Dr. and another on E. Kane Pl. — Pathfinders offers an emergency shelter where teens can find a warm bed, and also a drop-in center that’s available during the day and offers a variety of resources for struggling kids.
Students use the Pathfinders computer lab
At the drop-in center, there is a living room with a TV, video and board games, a computer room, laundry and shower facilities, a kitchen and a storage room full of clothing and hygiene supplies. That location also provides innovative counseling for victim of sexual abuse, and teens are given resources to help them earn a high school diploma and prepare for college.
Pathfinders’ Development and Communications Coordinator Genise Lindner explains that besides those basic staples, what the young people in these programs want the most is just a place to hang out.
“The camaraderie and the discussion and conversations that happen in this little circle is amazing,” she says, referring to the cozy living room area.
Amber Zimdars found Pathfinders when she was 16 and homeless. Through the program she earned her high school diploma.
Amber Zimdars tells her story.
“All the staff there were like family and came to my graduation and returned the love like a family would,” she says. Now 22 years old, Amber has one semester worth of college credits under her belt, and hopes to eventually get into med school to be a medical pathologist.
Zimdars is still trying to find a stable place to live, but when her life is grounded enough she drops in as a peer volunteer.
“I come back to look for jobs or connect with certain staff, but mainly I volunteer.” Zidmars says. “I’m just helping out with groups or something or I’m at the shelter volunteering there.”
One of the friends Amber made through Pathfinders is Onishona. A dapper-looking 22-year-old with a teal bow tie, he could easily be mistaken for a volunteer, not a homeless youth.
“That’s the point,” he tells me, “I don’t want you to look at me and pity me… and that’s part of the problem. It’s a pride issue among a lot of youth not wanting to seem homeless, so when it gets really rough it’s too late.”
“Closed mouths do not get fed,” he adds.
Onishona heard of Pathfinders through a friend and has been getting help at the resource center to earn his high school diploma and also find a place to live.
“I spent the majority of the last few years on freight trains and hitchhiking,” he said. “I kind of just didn’t really have a direction– I just went and did whatever for a very long time. But now through this facility I’ve found a direction.”
He says that one day he wants to go into social work and help other kids with their own problems. “It think my life has been building up toward that,” he said.
Since the recession, Lindner says that there has been a 20 percent increase in services at the shelter alone, and that roughly 600 homeless youth have utilized the drop-in center since it opened a mere nine months ago. Many who use these resources are teen runaways, but some have simply don’t have a home or left because of domestic violence or substance abuse.
And while the economy is driving more young people to Pathfinders, the program is getting less funding than it used too.
“It’s not as easy to find the funding that’s needed to maintain our services,” said Lindner. “Everyone’s cutting back. So we’re becoming more creative on how our community can help us without asking for financial resources, and that has a lot to do with our donations drive. We can ask the community to provide us with toilet paper, paper towels, warm winter clothing and non-perishable food instead of money.”
One such drive is happening tomorrow on the State Fair grounds from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Pathfinder volunteers will be on hand to collect the aforementioned goods, and in return donators can get a free cup of coffee — all without having to leave the car. Items on the “wish list” include practical items like bus tickets, non-perishable food, warm winter clothing and basic hygiene products.
To raise awareness for the donation drive, Milwaukee high school students are lending a hand by setting up a “Cardboard Christmas Village” on the Fair grounds tonight. Teenagers from Pius, Franklin, Greendale, DSHA and Whitefish Bay have all volunteered to decorate and “live” in cardboard boxes for several hours after the sun goes down this evening, and they’ll be taking pledges for each hour that they can brave the cold.
Paul Klawien, a 17-year-old student at Pius, is part of the group camping out tonight.
“There’s something closer about homelessness with people my age,” Klawien said. “I take my home for granted, and to know there are people my age out there suffering, I thought this was the least I could do.”
On the other side of town, young people like Amber and Onishona will see the tangible benefits of these student’s efforts.
“I’ll say this last corny line,” Onishona said. “This place saved my life. Literally saved Onishona’s life.”
The Pathfinders donation drive-thru takes place on the morning of Dec.8 at State Fair Park. For more information including a wish list of needed items, click here.
