A film that showedme how close homelessness can be for families
Written by Emma Lytle, Seattle University senior communications major and project assistant, Seattle University’s Project on Family Homelessness
Note: This is the first in a series in which we ask our staff to react to the “American Refugees” film that most appealed to them.
Stability is the foundation and the glue that holds a family together. Stability comes in many forms, whether it’s sustaining a steady job or having a place to call home.
As the daughter of a firefighter and a nurse, I grew up feeling that sense of stability. But some families aren’t always so lucky. Sometimes that glue disappears from a family as parents struggle to make ends meet.
“Home for Sale” is a captivating short film about the loss of a family’s stability and the reality of losing their home. This film showed me how close my family could have been to being homeless while I was growing up.
This is the foreclosure notice on the house in “Home for Sale,” just one of the many signs of a struggling family.
“That would never happen to us.”
This quote is from the short film. It’s what a couple says as they think about buying a foreclosed house. They feel they would never lose their home to foreclosure.
I have always believed this statement to be true for me and for my family too. This film shook me with the reality of homelessness.
The couple looking at buying the foreclosed house. Like many others, they struggle with whether they can buy a house that represents the broken dreams of another family.
Written by Krista Kent, Digital Design Assistant, Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness and senior at Seattle U
As a child I always loved buying new school supplies, and there was perhaps nothing better than a brand-new case of Crayola markers. Having worked in a first-grade classroom this past year, I have seen that students are still excited to have new supplies. But for families who can’t afford to buy supplies, local supply drives play an important role in the community.
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in Project Cool for Back to School, which gathers supplies and creates backpacks for local school-aged children who are homeless. Volunteers came together at Columbia City Church of Hope earlier this month to help assemble and pack backpacks full of school supplies and dental kits.
Presented by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, Project Cool prepared more than 1,300 backpacks with the help of 130 volunteers over the course of five days. The backpacks will be distributed to nonprofit organizations in August, just in time to get them to students all over King County.
Behind the scenes of a major effort
When I first arrived, I signed in, created a nametag, and then was led downstairs to where all the supplies were set up. There were big signs clearly marking where each station was located, including a first-aid station and a table set with coffee and donuts; it was clear that Project Cool really appreciates their volunteers.
During introductions I learned that there were volunteers from differing backgrounds: staff from the Salvation Army, YWCA, YMCA, even students who are currently in the youth program at the YMCA. Regardless of whether this was our first or fifth year with Project Cool, we all arrived with the same intention of making sure that every student comes to class with school supplies.
After introductions, the 11 of us split into groups and set off to different stations. Some prepared dental kits, some took out the recycling, and others cut ribbon that would be used to mark backpacks ready for distribution. For the two hours that I was there, I removed the plastic encasing from the backpacks and took out the small silicone sanitary packs that were inside.
We’ve just said some sad good-byes to most of our team members on the Project on Family Homelessness, but we welcome several great additions to our team. Here’s who will be impressing you in the months to come, and a reflection on some of the outstanding work of our former team members.
New Project Assistants: Krista Kent and Emma Lytle
Krista Kent is a senior in the Digital Design program, minoring in Spanish. She’ll be our new design assistant, taking over for McKenna Haley (see below).
Krista Kent joins our team as digital designer.
Krista comes to us with a strong background in design and active involvement in the community. Since winter of 2012, Krista has worked with Seattle University’s Center for Service and Community Engagement. She created flyers and informational design for the Center, and has worked at Bailey-Gatzert Elementary assisting teachers in classrooms and helping first graders in an afterschool-tutoring program. Recently Krista had the opportunity to re-brand First Cup Coffee House into Mama’s Café, as part of the 23rd and Union Small Business Consultation and Community Enhancement Project.
Emma Lytle is our new project assistant, replacing Tiana Quitugua, who just graduated (see below).
Emma (left) at the American Refugees photo booth hosted by Firesteel; she’s posing with Jediah McCourt.
Emma is entering her senior year as a strategic communications major at Seattle University. She joins us with a passion for working with non-profits and with children. She recently finished a seven-month internship with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where she handled sensitive communication with families and healthcare professionals. Emma also worked for several years as a daycare teacher and loves working with children and families. Some of our partners might remember Emma from her enthusiastic volunteer work and professionalism at the Hack to End Homelessness and the SIFF American Refugees premiere. She’s busy working on outreach for the StoryCorps project.
New Grad Assistant/Project Coordinator: Perry Firth
We’re happy to welcome back Perry Firth, in an expanded role as half-time Project Coordinator, taking over for Graham Pruss (see below).
Perry Firth returns in an expanded role.
Perry is continuing her graduate work at Seattle U in school psychology and spent the past school year as a research assistant to a visiting scholar and counseling psychologist. Their work together focused on prevention and wellness, ecological counseling, and toward the end of their time together, school shootings. That position ended just as we needed to fill our position — lucky us! Perry is committed to approaching mental health issues through a social justice lens, and has a special interest in anxiety disorders, adolescence, and issues that disproportionately impact women. She is a gifted writer who is especially adept at analyzing the intersection between academic research and its applications to family homelessness, just as she did in these Firesteel posts on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the all-time most-viewed Firesteel post, on dehumanization, “Why We Keep Walking.” We’ll be looking for her to help us understand more about the important links between housing and academic achievement for children in our state.
Watching her child and grandchildren struggle with homelessness drove Diane to action. Read about their experiences and how Diane created a fantastic advocacy event scheduled for Aug. 22-23 in Pierce County.
Diane is a devoted wife, mother of two daughters and grandmother of three. She and her husband are entrepreneurs and have owned their own business for over 30 years. Diane has participated in 60-mile cancer walks, Kiwanis, Lions, and has volunteered with St Jude’s and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She is a passionate advocate for better programs to prevent and eliminate family homelessness.
This is her family’s story.
One Night in a Car
Over the past year I’ve dreamt of being involved in an event where others can learn what it is like, just for one night, to sleep in your car. If nothing else, the event would increase community awareness around the many children who call the family car home. These kids wake up in their car and head off to school to return to a car that may or may not be in the same place. My family has…
Tacoma mom Jordan Kemper says that being homeless with her kids “was a chapter in my life; it doesn’t define me.” She talked to News Tribune columnist Larry LaRue about why she’ll be sharing her experiences with StoryCorps later this month. Read the column below.
To find out how you can share your story in King, Pierce or Snohomish counties this summer, contact findingourway@storycorps.org or call us at 206/398-4457.
Larry LaRue: The homeless have their stories — and now they can tell them
BY LARRY LARUE
Staff writer, Tacoma News Tribune
July 1, 2014
Jordan Kemper wasn’t aware the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation put $210,000 into the StoryCorps program this spring to let homeless families in three Northwest counties tell their stories.
She was busy rebuilding her life.
As it turned out, Kemper and her sons Hunter, 5, and Owen, 2, were among the perfect candidates for the project.
“The Gates Foundation was looking for stories from families who were homeless and they wanted diversity,” said Alan Brown, director of the Phoenix Housing Network. “That meant families who were being served by our agency or others — those who were homeless and those who had been in the past.
“Their funding will give 30 families in each of three counties — Pierce, King and Snohomish — the opportunity to tell their stories.”
projectonfamilyhomelessness.org 