Tell Two Friends about our Teen Shelter

Whenever I watch the local news or read the newspaper, I find that I hold my breath and my heart beats faster when I come across a story involving teens that are missing, possibly runaways or teens that were involved in a traumatic incident – domestic violence, suicide, or a shooting. My mantra is “please don’t let it be one of our teens.” Then I wonder if this teen was aware of the services at the Alternative House teen crisis shelter? I wish that more teens had the opportunity to enter our program, to talk out the heavy demands of their life with a counselor and stay for a restorative period, trying to figure out how to improve their life. My hope is that word of the residential services Alternative House offers will reach as many teens as possible. Perhaps by coming to the Alternative House teen shelter, a potentially harmful situation could be avoided. After you read this, tell two friends about the teen shelter and ask them to tell two friends so we can spread the word and possibly provide assistance to a teen that is hurting, before they hurt themselves, someone else or a situation erupts that could cause lasting harm to the family. If you know of a speaking opportunity (PTA, homeowner’s association, youth group, or any gathering that involves parents of teens or teenagers) please call us as we have speakers available. I want teens to have a chance to choose to come to us.

Susie Guido, LPC
Residential Therapist

Music in the House by Gina Cocomello

At Alternative House my office is upstairs in the back of the house. Today as I was working away at my desk I thought I heard violin music. It was very nice and I enjoyed listening to it while I continued working. The music continued for a few more minutes so I decided to investigate. Downstairs was a shelter resident a teenaged boy playing the violin. He asked staff if it would be ok if he practiced while he was here. Of course the staff encouraged him to do so. The music was soft and soothing, a nice change from Guitar Hero.

Youth Advisoy Council by Meghan Huebner

As the director of residential services, I am fortunate to work with teens in a number of different settings. One of the more unique ways is through our youth advisory council, who serve as volunteers to advise Alternative House on shelter policies, perform outreach to their peers, and participate in fundraising. The group of 7-12 teens meets monthly throughout the school year and has participated in various projects, such as gift-wrapping, creating and presenting information to teens on issues of depression, and distributing packets of information to guidance counselors and other individuals who come into contact with teens on a regular basis. They have also selected inspirational quotes that were painted on the walls of our shelter and organized a fundraiser through Ledo’s Pizza.

One current Youth Council member reflected on her experience:

“Despite America’s prosperity, many of the youth in our own country lack essential daily needs. With the recent economic downturn, this has only gotten worse. After seeing a homeless family in D.C. with small children, I decided that I had to do something to help, no matter how small. I joined the Youth Advisory Council at Alternative House, a home for teens who basically need shelter whether it be for the night or the week. I really enjoy laid-back environment at Alternative House and the rewarding meetings that I look forward to each month. Though advertising and suggesting improvements does not seem like much, each little step counts.”

By creating an environment where teens can help their peers and volunteer their time, the Alternative House has created an arrangement where residents, staff, and the teen volunteers can all benefit.

What's for dinner?

Yum…is that lasagna that I smell? Alternative House’s Emergency Shelter provides services for over 200 youth a year, on average there are 75 youth involved in our Community Outreach programs everyday, as well as the mothers and youth involved in our Assisting Young Mothers program and Homeless Youth Initiative. That translates into huge need for snacks and meals for these young people. During the average week while school is in session, Alternative House provides 56 breakfasts, 28 lunches, 487 snacks, and 455 dinners. Volunteers are essential in helping us in this monumental task. We have several volunteer groups and individual volunteers who drop off or prepare meals for our programs. Some volunteers will prepare a meal just once while others prepare meals either weekly or monthly. Regardless, this is a huge help to our staff. By providing meals for our Emergency Shelter for Teenagers and Outreach programs, volunteers allow our staff to focus on individual coaching sessions with teens rather than meal preparation. In the Community Outreach program these snacks and meals represent food that the youth might otherwise not have access to. By providing meals for the Assisting Young Mothers program volunteers are helping the mothers by alleviating one of the many tasks of their personal, work, and family life that they are trying to balance. All of our programs eat family-style meals and this helps them to know that other people care about them and have the opportunity to interact with positive adult role models. Thank you to all who help us feed the youth we serve and please contact us if you would be interested in helping to provide snacks or meals for our programs.

Thank You

Just a short while ago I was writing a piece for our newsletter on thanks and Thanksgiving. Our newsletter pieces are very short and I wasn’t able to talk about ALL the things I’m thankful for. (I won’t here either – just a little more in depth.)
People often ask me if it isn’t sad or depressing to work with young people who are homeless or who don’t have the advantages many of us take for granted. My answer is “sometimes”. It’s sometimes difficult to see the hard knocks life has handed the youth we help but it is good to know that because of our shelter, youth are not sleeping on the street and because of AYM, homeless young mothers and their babies have a safe place and that because of our outreach, disadvantaged children have food clothing and a chance to grow. I’m thankful that Alternative House is here giving all these young people an alternative and I’m thankful every day that I can come to work and help make it happen.
I think one of the key words in that last sentence is help make it happen. There are so many people involved at Alternative House. In addition to our dedicated staff we have amazing volunteers. I’m very thankful for them. Our Board of Directors are volunteers as well. They are talented and caring and make sure that we stay on track both financially and, as an organization committed to making things better for children and youth. I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am that they stand by Alternative House.
Finally, I must add how thankful I am for all of our donors and sponsors. In these hard economic times where more children need our help, our donors have stepped in. Whether it’s a pledge at our benefit breakfast, the donation of time and labor to help keep our Shelter safe and operational, a workplace giving donation or a coat drive, these gifts mean we can be here at a time when it is more critical than ever to help our community’s at-risk children and youth. I’m very thankful for that. Thank you to all of you who make such a positive difference.

Holiday Adoption Program

Years ago before I was working for Alternative House when I was in another career I had the fun job of doing community outreach for my company. I often worked with nonprofit organizations helping them with fundraising events. But there was one thing I always looked forward to. Each year during the Holidays my company would adopt a family or some children and purchase gifts for them. I got to do the shopping. I selected gifts from a list that was given to me by the nonprofit organization representing them. I did this for years. It became a tradition that I truly enjoyed.

For many of the young people in Alternative House programs the only Holiday gifts they will receive are those donated by people like you and me. If you, your office, faith group or family would like to adopt one or more of our young people for the Holidays we will supply you with a Wish List that each client has filled out. Then you can select the gifts and deliver them to us by December 8. We will even do the gift wrapping for you. Each of our clients has selected three gifts under $30 each. We will give size information and favorite colors. I hope you will consider adopting one of our young people this Holiday Season. This is especially fun if you have children. Let them help with the shopping and selection process. This could be the start of a new tradition in your family.

For more information on this program please contact me at gcocomello@gmail.com

Volunteers Help Alternative House

Alternative House could not serve the youth and their families in our area without the tremendous support of its volunteers. Last year alone we had 561 volunteers donating over 8,450 hours of their time. These volunteers helped the staff in our programs, prepared meals, sorted donations, held donation drives, helped us maintain our facilities, assisted with special events, and anything else that we needed help with. Our volunteers represent a wide variety of people. We have both undergraduate and graduate level interns who are working with us to meet school requirements or to gain experience in the field. We have a core of corporate and religious groups who come to the Emergency Shelter for Teens and to the Assisting Young Mother’s Program on a weekly basis to prepare meals as well as many different groups who came to our programs to do projects that help us maintain and beautify our facilities. There are individuals who volunteer faithfully on a weekly basis in our programs; working directly with the youth and impacting their lives. We also have individuals who come to our programs just once or twice to do “handyman” type of task, yard work, and donation sorting. If you would like to join our team of hard working and dedicated volunteers who give us a helping hand, then please contact us.