Saint Andrew’s high school team decided to serve Synergy Services homeless teen program for our second project. Synergy Services meet a variety of needs throughout the Kansas City Metro area, including: shelters for abused women and children, homeless teen shelters, and educational programs on dating violence.
The Saint Andrew Youth Group began our connection with them by hosting a One Homeless Night. We spent the night outside in cardboard boxes on a cold night, learned about homelessness among teenagers in Kansas City, and gathered donations. This helped raise awareness about teen homeless, as well as, provide money for the construction of a new teen shelter and Resiliency center. We completed our project with Synergy by going out to visit the new Synergy Homeless Youth Campus, which our fundraising had helped to build. We made blankets to take on our visit that could be given to the residents, or taken out on one of the “street team” vans to teenagers still on the street. We also made and brought a spaghetti dinner, salad, bread, and dessert that we would give to the staff and residents, who normally have to fix their own meals. After dropping off the meal, we were given a tour. Synergy’s new teen shelter nearly doubles the space of their old facility. Also included in the Synergy Youth Campus is the Teen Resiliency Center. The Resiliency Center offers services such as: showers, lockers, access to a kitchen, mental health counseling, medical and dental care, life-skills training, a computer lab, and access to a gymnasium, for any homeless teenager.
"It is absolutely amazing that just one organization is able to meet the needs of so many, especially those who suffer to meet their daily needs. We were honored and humbled to be able to do our small part to make a difference with them. We have learned so much about the problems of homelessness for teenagers throughout our project."
-Alexx Burnside,
teenager on the Saint Andrew Youth Team |
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