TEXAS HAS THE HIGHEST RATE OF HOMELESS YOUTH IN THE UNITED STATES
1.3 million youth live on the streets
13 homeless youth die on the streets everyday
1 out of 4 homeless people is a youth
63% of runaway and homeless youth are never reported or sought after by guardians
22% to 44% of homeless youth parents abuse drugs or alcohol, leading to domestic violence and conflicts
HOW CAN YOU HELP
Please join with us in taking on the challenge of taking action and helping our homeless and at-risk youth
Please take a look at our Wish List link to the right. The mission survives and is carried solely on donations.
Currently we have a great need for food items to make food packets for homeless youth.
We also have a great need for medium and large pants. Remember homeless youth come in all shapes and sizes. We have primarily been receiving donations for size- small pants. We are in desperate need for size medium and large pants to give to our homeless youth. What a great motivator to do spring cleaning and donate to our homeless youth.
HOW CAN YOU HELP - DONATE ITEMS ON WISH LIST
HOW CAN YOU HELP – HOST A CLOTHING/FOOD DRIVE
If you would like to donate anything or if you would like to host a clothing/food drive please contact us at HeatherE@standupforkids.org
Heather has been leading our cell phone drive effort. We hold cell phone drives to collect used cell phones which are recycled. The company that recycles the cell phones gives StandUp For Kids money for all the cell phones we give them to recycle. 100% of the proceeds go to support the mission of StandUp For Kids.
HOW CAN YOU HELP – DONATE USED CELL PHONES AND/OR ACCESSORIES
HOW CAN YOU HELP – HOST A CELLPHONE DRIVE
* Hosting a cell phone/food/clothing drive is very simple and just in case you need help we have directions we can provide you or you can just send us an email.
If you would like to donate cell phones to be recycled or if you would like to start a cell phone drive please contact us at HeatherE@standupforkids.org
HOW CAN YOU HELP – BECOME A VOLUNTEER
We are in desperate need of volunteers. If you or anyone you know is16 years or older and interested in volunteering please contact us at Houston@standupforkids.org
We need volunteers for Outreach, administration help, and leadership. You can work in one area or you can work in them all - it’s up to you
WHAT ARE WE UP TO NOW
Recently John, Slava, Heather and Krystal took a road trip down to the StandUp For Kids Dallas Program to get training. In order to do Outreach training is required. We appreciate Molly, Lisa and the rest of the Dallas program for letting us come there and train with them. Our training was conducted by StandUp For Kids fearless leader- Rick Koca. We not only trained we got the opportunity to see Rick’s heart for helping young people.
A few words we took away from Rick
The kids are runaways. They are running from foster homes, the law, pimps, pedophiles and much more. As volunteers we must run to find them, run to take care of them, run to be with them.
If you’re going to volunteer with StandUp For Kids be committed. You don’t have to say you’ll do anything but what you say you’re going to do- do it- be committed.
The worse day you’ll ever have will never be as bad as the best day of a street kid’s life
Rick Koca is an in your face, no bars-hold person. He is full of energy and he mixes reality with humor in his training. If he thinks you’re full of crap he’ll tell you, “you’re full of crap.” He brings it live and raw with no apologies. His mission is direct- we’ve got to help the kids on the street they’re hurting and they’re dying. We’ve got to care and we’ve got to commit.
At the end of training, Rick took us through an exercise where he asked us to put ourselves in the shoes of a street kid. He asked us to tell of how we got on the street and what we were doing to survive on the street. At the end of the exercise you could feel the heaviness in the room. Rick went on to share more of his heart for street kids as he has been doing for years. There’s wasn’t a dry eye in the room as he closed by saying, “I’m just a stable boy and you treat me like a king.”
The Houston Program has had its ups and downs but we are dedicated and determined to help the youth. Currently we are in the rebuilding phase. We are developing our strategy of how we can be more effective in Houston. We welcome any and all to take part in this stage.
If you would like to help or just learn more about the program contact us at Houston@standupforkids.org
We believe in keeping the mission at the focal point of everything we do.
We believe in having transparency amongst our group for everything that is going on.
We believe that we must be committed to our mission
We believe that we can make a difference in Houston
We believe that talk is cheap and that we must take action
Donations and Special Thanks:
BP America
Channel 2 News
BMC
TriNet
The
Search is on. Volunteers NEEDED!
We are actively seeking volunteers to help us cover more Houston neighborhoods on Outreach so that we can reach more kids. If you would like to volunteer as a Street Outreach Counselor or in any other capacity, please click on the link to the left or email Houston@standupforkids.org.
Houston@standupforkids.org
