SALT LAKE CITY — Volunteers at the VOA Utah Youth Resource Center are working to make the holidays brighter for hundreds of young people experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake City.
Dozens of volunteers like Marty Smith and Debbie Bowen spend their time collecting and sorting donations for youth who need support the most. "We want to help," Smith said. "Some of them by no fault of their own, are not living in their homes."
The Youth Resource Center, operated by Volunteers of America, provides 50 beds for youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 22 who are experiencing homelessness. The facility also serves meals and provides services to youth who don't sleep there, connecting them to critical resources that can help end the cycle of homelessness.
Bowen volunteers because she understands the importance of supporting young people in need. "I do it because I have children and I have grandchildren and I love the youth and my heart goes out to them because they don't have much and I want to be able to help make their lives more comfortable," Bowen said.
Mateo Gobilard, division director of youth services at VOA Utah, said the center focuses on helping each person develop skills and set personal goals. "We strive to look into their specific skills, needs and desires and help them set goals for themselves. More often than not, it is to find a unit of their own to find employment to continue education," Gobilard said.
The center has seen remarkable transformations over the years. Gobilard described young adults who arrived after aging out of foster care, having never lived independently or held jobs, and who may have been introduced to substances while living on the streets.
"One step at a time they overcome all of those barriers," Gobilard said. "You see them employed. You run into them in the community and they tell you that they now have an apartment, that they have a partner, that they're working and to me that is success."
During the holiday season, youth at the facility will receive gifts from Candy Cane Corner, donations that represent much more than material items. "I think it will be really important for them to think that somebody cares enough that they would want to do something for them and to show some love," Bowen said.
These gifts represent packages of hope for young people who need to know someone cares.
"We'd like to do anything we could to help these kids to have a better life," Smith said.
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