Youth group explores homelessness close to home

Jul. 30—MANKATO — Intense heat earlier this week gave a local youth group a snapshot of how hard homelessness can be in Mankato, as well as how nonprofits respond to serve those most in need.

The group from First Presbyterian Church participated in an in-house "compassion in action camp" at Connections Shelter between Sunday and Wednesday. Group members stayed in the shelter overnight, heard from people experiencing homelessness during the day and visited other nonprofits to see what resources they offer.

The shelter's directors saw the camp as a pilot for what could be more youth groups coming to Connections to learn about Mankato's homelessness response.

"We're trying to design an experience that will both help people feel good about helping, but also give them a chance to dig a little bit deeper into what faith in action might look like," said Collette Broady Grund, co-director at Connections. "It'd help them think about how homelessness might look in their communities when they go back and what are things that are actually helpful to this population."

In the pilot group's case, they got a deeper look at homelessness while developing relationships with partner nonprofits they could lend their time to going forward, said Bailey DeVetter, Christian educator at First Presbyterian. The goal isn't to offer "voluntourism" or a one-off "box-checking charity," she added, because they often cause more harm than good.

Rather, the camp was set up to be a more sustainable and mutually beneficial opportunity for the youth group, nonprofits serving homeless populations and people experiencing homelessness, DeVetter said.

Noa Malone and Jordyn Vihstadt, youth group members who both attend Mankato West High School, described the camp as an eye-opening experience.

"It was more than just helping out one day for one time in your life," Malone said. "We were immersed in the experience and learned so much."

One of the nonprofits the group visited was The Reach Resource Center, which serves young people experiencing homelessness. The nonprofit's resources for LGBTQ youth stood out to Malone.

"Being a part of that community myself, it's really impactful to know that people care about you that much and will have your back," Malone said.

A scavenger hunt through downtown on one of the days tasked the young people with finding where to go for essential needs. The hot weather helped Vihstadt realize how challenging homelessness is, even if for a short time.

"I learned more about the difficulties they go through," she said. "We're only out here for two hours. I can't imagine being out there the whole day."

Usually the shelter has to respond to extreme cold due to its operating hours being seasonal between fall and spring. Staff and volunteers expanded hours and provided more meals in the past to protect guests from the cold.

This week's blazing hot weather provided the camp with a summer equivalent. The youth group was there when Connections put out a call for donated waters or sports drinks to hand out to anyone who stops by.

"They're also learning that sometimes we have to pay attention to what the needs are and pivot," said Erica Koser, co-director at Connections.

Hearing directly from people experiencing homelessness also further underscored what they go through to get by. The youth group went to Connections Shelter's church service at Bethlehem Lutheran on Sunday, along with Holy Grounds free breakfast at Centenary United Methodist, ECHO Food Shelf, BackPack Food Program and Blue Earth County Community Farm.

On their final camp day, Connections brought in people experiencing homelessness to answer questions. Tim Pierce and his wife, who asked not to be named, didn't hold back in sharing the realities of being homeless.

They shared how they look for a safe enough place to camp out, where they go for their cat's food and what they did to escape the heat this week. Pierce said he collected enough money to buy movie tickets, a move just as much about staying cool indoors as it was about the entertainment.

Later, they talked about how hard it is to trust people when you're homeless. You're constantly trying to hold onto your few belongings without ways to secure them, and offers to help commonly come with strings attached.

"Trust is a very hard thing," Pierce said. "For a long time I put a guard up to keep people away from me. It was for protection."

The people at Connections, he added, are trustworthy. The couple hope to again secure stable housing for themselves and their cat.

As the youth group learned from a simulation board game, the path to housing for someone experiencing homelessness often comes with setbacks both in and outside of their control. The simulation and the camp days surrounding it were meant to show them how complex homelessness is, Koser said.

"We've kind of immersed them in what homelessness looks like so they begin to understand it's not a single issue with it," she said. "There are so many layers related to it."

After a few days at camp, Loyola eighth-grader Lucie Saliin and St. Peter eighth-grader Katherine Callahan, said they both got a sense of how much of a community exists among people experiencing homelessness and the organizations serving them. It was most evident to them at Sunday's shelter church service and meal.

"They're kind of a huge family," Callahan said. "They all knew each other."

They and the rest of the group ended the camp by completing an improvement project for the shelter. After the scavenger hunt emphasized all the local resources someone would need to know about to get help, they came up with an idea to create a brochure to give to guests arriving at the shelter.

The children's willingness to fight myths about homelessness and give back to local nonprofits stood out, DeVetter said.

"The level of open-mindedness that they have shown and the willingness to open their hearts and minds to new opportunities, new people and uncomfortable situations, it to me gives me a whole lot of hope for our future," she said.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola