How do you begin to summarize what it’s like running a Safehouse for youth?
Well, to start, imagine a house with nine teenagers. Among the six bedrooms, there are nine beds, which are nearly always full. Youth share three bathrooms. Staff have desks in two offices. Speaking of staff, there are over 20 people running Safehouse, working across three shifts: daytime, evening, and overnight. This means there are staff on-site and available 24/7/365. Yes, even on holidays.
Cook, Clean, Repeat
A lot of everyday life happens in a home full of teenagers. Every day, staff run six (or more) loads of laundry and continuously clean the house across all shifts. Biweekly, staff do a big grocery haul, enough to fill two fridges and three freezers. Then there’s the food prep: breakfast, lunch, snacks, often items that the youth can grab and go on their way to school or appointments. There’s a hot dinner every night. Youth can also cook for themselves. Imagine the dishes!
Keeping Track of it All
Food, laundry, and cleaning are just the beginning though. Staff also do daily case management and administrative work. Imagine having to write a record every time your children fought! Every hour of every day, youth workers connect with each other and the youth, checking in on how the day started and listening as youth figure out what they want to do next. They’re building rapport, having fun, and showing youth it’s okay to ask for help, and that there are people they can count on. Case management can look different for each youth at the house, but regardless of a youth’s situation or goals, it involves paperwork.
A Space that Feels like Home
Safehouse feels like a home. That’s intentional. Every single staff member who walks through the doors contributes to the hominess of the house. They want the youth who stay to have a space that’s cozy, relaxing, clean, and supportive.
Right above the kitchen table, there’s a big collaborative mural. It’s an ongoing project that anyone who comes to stay at the house can contribute to. In fact, there’s art on nearly every wall, most of it made by youth who’ve stayed at Safehouse. There are more than a dozen plants scattered near the windows all around the house. A massive deck hosts a fruit and veggie garden surrounded by even more lovingly tended plants. All summer long, produce from the garden goes into group meals: potatoes in soups, tomatoes in sauces, and so on.
In the common rooms, there are four bookshelves full of books, art supplies, puzzles, and games. There are instruments and a household computer for youth to use. In the living room and den, youth have space to spread out and complete schoolwork. Which, like at home, youth sometimes ask for help with. In other words: a lot of effort goes into making the house feel lived in.
FSGV has been running Safehouse since 1993. We know what it takes to run a house for nine teenagers. A lot of heart, a lot of dedication, and, yes, a lot of food. The numbers don’t—indeed the numbers can’t—capture the passion that the staff bring to Safehouse and they can’t capture what having a safe place like this truly does for the youth who come through our doors. And that’s always the point.
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