From couch surfing to living in their car to crashing in abandoned barns, homeless youth in the region will soon have another option: Pete's Place.
A portion of the new 24,000-square-foot Goodwill Inn is a wing geared to housing youth ages 14-18. These young people in crisis may stay for up to two weeks while staff from Third Level Crisis Center, which administers Pete's Place, helps them find a safer solution, such as reuniting with their family, moving to a foster home or a host home or staying with relatives.
While many residents deny that there is a homeless youth problem, said Steven Hampton of Third Level, the organization can identify 180 of them in it's ten-county service area. The problem remains hidden in part because these underage, not-yet-legal youth are working to avoid notice.
"They'll find a place to stay wherever they need to,” said Hampton, who serves as both executive director and clinical director of the 34-year-old non-profit agency. "Sometimes they are not making very healthy choices, like going home with strange people where they can be exploited by an adult saying, 'Hey come home with me.'”
Pete's Place has room for up to nine teens at a time in the facility's three two-bunk rooms, five one-bunk rooms and one suite. A common space will hold a kitchenette, couches, tables and other amenities for teens such as electronic games.
The youth wing is separated by a locked door from the adult areas of the Goodwill Inn, which will be able to house up to 70 adults or families and will be administered by the Goodwill staff. The Goodwill Inn includes a mens' wing, a women's wing and a family area that has three two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units, each including a separate bath and kitchenette. The facility's commercial kitchen will prepare meals for residents as well as the Meals on Wheels program. A small kitchenette in the public area will allow residents to prepare snacks or light meals as needed.
Goodwill Inn and Third Level staff and community members broke ground for the new $4.7 million Goodwill Inn shelter and Pete's Place just a year ago. That culminated five years of fundraising and planning for an expanded facility to replace the crowded Goodwill Inn on US 31 North. Funds for the shelter included federal and state grants as well as a $400,000 award from Rotary Charities and two individual donations of a half million each.
"The community really supported this, it's been terrific,” said Cecil McNally, executive director of the Goodwill Inn.
The stopgap of Pete's Place allows Third Level staff to assess the individual situation of a homeless youth and create an optimal solution. Where possible, the goal is to reunite the teen with family while supporting all parties with individual and family counseling. If that is not workable "” realistically, all the kids do not get placed place back home "” Third Level will help find another home.
"We want positive placements, where parents and kids, wherever they go they agree that this is the place they need to be,” said Hampton. "We look at family, friends, relatives and all the other options.”
The new Goodwill Inn and Pete's Place will host a public ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, November 19, at 1:30 p.m. An open house including tours of the facilities follows until 4 p.m. The shelter is located at 2943 Keystone Road.