When I talked to Shandra Steininger she was shoveling the snow that had accumulated near the front of HQ.
“Being a place that we are not asking one hundred questions. Where we are not expecting youth to be thinking ahead of all the things they might need for the next three days, but we are just putting it out there like we just set up a warm clothing station right in the front of the café so that coats and hats and gloves and boots and warm socks are just right there so people don’t have to think like “do I have enough socks, or what am I going to need on Thursday?”. The same with food, we have a bunch of food out that is easy to take and throw in your backpack.”
On any given night in Grand Rapids there are 80 youth unsafe or unstably housed according to the annual point in time homeless count, but Steininger says more than that are visiting HQ per week.
“We are seeing about 200 hundred visits a week still, so some of those the same youth might be coming a couple times but we are fairly consistently seeing about 200 visits a week, and the majority of those youth are in the 20-24 year old age range.”
The majority of the youth accessing services at HQ are people of color, and 30% percent have been in the foster care system and just as many identify as LGBTQ according to data gathered during intake.
Caring for youth experiencing homeless in the community can be something everyone can do says Steininger.
“So, if people are just out and about picking up gloves for their kids adding an extra pair to be donated is helpful.”
To find out for more information on donation needs and this week’s hours at HQ visit their Facebook page.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.