CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Keys jingled at the front door. Kathy Neely, almost instinctively, called out, “What did you learn today?”
The girl walked in all smiles. Ebullient, even. Sketching, she said, handing Neely a piece of paper with a drawing of a young woman on it.
Thrilled, Neely took immediate action.
“It’s going right on the refrigerator,” she exclaimed, standing to find some tape and then affixing the portrait to a spot of honor on the fridge.
Soon, the appliance will flutter with pages, drawings, good report cards and A-plus test scores. But for now it’s just this one drawing, belonging to this very first resident of the brand new Casper branch of the Unaccompanied Students Initiative.
The first resident, Abby, did not want her actual name published, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
Before this, Abby’s whole life had been in her car. Now she has a room, with decorative pillows she’s never before had to deal with and doesn’t quite know what to make of. She brought with her a lava lamp that sits proudly on a refurbished dresser. Slowly the space is becoming her own.
She’s still learning how to be here, in this place with a roof and a bathtub. She wants to keep a low profile for now, she said. But yeah, this has been good for her.
She’s staying on the Lifesteps Campus off 12th Street in a shelter for homeless teens that, rather serendipitously for Abby, came together in the last six months.
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The Highland Park Community Church mission board had been looking for a way to focus its vision, board member Johnathan Schmucker said.
They were already in the community, doing service work with different organizations. But it was spread out. They wanted to focus on something more comprehensive.
The issue of homelessness came up. The board already had a relationship with the Wyoming Rescue Mission, Casper’s sole homeless shelter. The broader issue would make a good candidate for a more concentrated effort.
Then somebody started talking about homeless kids.
“I said, ‘What do you mean, homeless kids in Casper?’” Schmucker said, recalling the conversation.
Well, for Greta Hinderliter, it was no revelation. It was her life.
For 21 years as the homeless student liaison for the Natrona County School District, she listened to the stories of kids who just didn’t know where to go - who had algebra homework and soccer practice and fights with their girlfriends, plus no idea where they were sleeping that night.
She remembered one student “was doing athletics just so he could shower.”
As the years went on, the number of homeless students grew. In her first year, she had 19 kids. Today, she works with 182 homeless students throughout the district.
Given Highland Park Community Church’s past missions with homeless adults, this revelation gave the board an idea, Schmucker said.
What if they got to people before they found themselves at the Mission? What if they could give a few kids the chance they’d never been given before? What if they could help break the chains of generational poverty?
And then things just started happening.
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Hinderliter had more than 100 students who needed help, the church mission board had the money to pay the rent, and the Casper Housing Authority, which manages the Lifesteps Campus, had a vacant building.
All they needed, Schmucker said, was a program to implement.
Enter the Unaccompanied Students Initiative and Kathy Neely, the proud mama pinning the artwork to the fridge.
The initiative, based in Cheyenne, provides housing for homeless youth who aren’t accompanied by a guardian and helps them graduate high school.
The organization was looking to grow. The church mission board was looking for a template to follow. And that was it. Someone just needed to steer the ship.
Neely had retired as the assistant principal of Kelly Walsh High School only 18 months earlier. She was standing in Walmart when she got a call from Hinderliter, who told her it was time to come out of retirement.
“I’ve always had a passion for kids at risk,” Neely said.
So, of course, she was in too.
The old building they’re in now guards the very back of Lifesteps Campus. It was once an orphanage, but it’s worn a lot of faces over the years, Hinderliter said.
There are two wings in the building, room for four girls and six boys. Hinderliter thinks the girls side will be full within the next month.
The boys side is still being renovated, but Hinderliter expects it will be ready by May.
Getting the house ready has been hectic but uplifting for Hinderliter.
“This is a community project,” she said, meaning the community has embraced it and made it possible. Volunteers have worked hundreds of hours, painting walls, restoring furniture.
The house is for 16- to 19-year-old students, but residents won’t be asked to leave upon high school graduation or their 19th birthday. They’ll get help transitioning to different housing and are able to stay in the house through their first semester of college, if that’s the path they choose.
Two house moms will watch over the girls, alternating shifts.
The rent is paid for one year by the Highland Park Community Church. Hinderliter said they’ll be looking for grants to keep the shelter running after that.
They are accepting volunteers and donations and can be reached at Home4Youth@usinitiative.org.
All in all it’s been a six-month whirlwind, but the fruits of the labor are already evident. Taped to the refrigerator door.
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