From Shelter to Stability
Intercept Youth- Making A Difference
September 2011
By Catherine Grier
Summer months are a popular season for youth to gather together and volunteer their time at the Furniture Bank. Many church youth groups and college kids will dedicate a day to service and exchange sleeping in for sorting donations. This past summer we had the privilege of hosting a group of unique young men whose service to the Furniture Bank was mutually rewarding for both CARITAS and, to their surprise, themselves as well.
As noted on their web site (www.interceptyouth.com) Intercept Youth Services is a “Therapeutic group home provider for emotionally disturbed adolescents” throughout Virginia. To the high school-aged guys who live in the program’s Shire House, the CARITAS Furniture Bank was their first opportunity to volunteer together and give back to their Richmond neighbors who were coming out of their own housing crises. Throughout August, eight Intercept youth and at least one counselo, came to our warehouse to volunteer every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. In their thirty hours here, they cleaned and bundled twenty-two bed sets, sized and rolled sets of bed sheets, loaded furniture items, and moved countless furniture and household donations around our warehouse as we reorganized our space; that’s a significant amount of change made over a short five weeks!
Troy Mason, counselor to the family of young men living in the Shire House, commented on the workmanship and transformations he saw in these youth throughout their time volunteering together. Typically, Intercept youth are encouraged to pursue their own individual volunteer projects but this house decided to share in the experience together at CARITAS, creating an opportunity to work alongside each other outside of their home. Whether partnering with our regular volunteers or serving exclusively as a house, the young men were pleasant, respectful, hardworking and open to any assignment we would throw their way. Two of the youths, Joe David and Kaelan Hodgdon, expressed how influential the environment at the Furniture Bank was on their own attitudes while volunteering, and recognized what a difference serving with their housemates made in staying on task. At the Furniture Bank they could see amongst our staff, Works students and ongoing volunteers just how unifying the act of working towards a single goal can be for a group of otherwise diverse individuals. Many of our own staff and volunteers are previous clients, or have in some way experienced the compassion that CARITAS breeds. In a similar way, these men have their own distinct personalities, backgrounds and life circumstances but have been brought together to live under one roof; they will be bringing home their own “household essentials” from this experience as they’ve realized the benefit of teamwork and the humility found in paying it forward.