Volunteers makeover Crosswalk
The teens who step across the threshold of the Volunteers of America Crosswalk at 525 W. Second Ave., don’t notice the cracks in the floors and windows, the worn linoleum, the stained ceiling tiles, or the dingy, torn carpeting. They are more concerned about coming to a place that provides them with warm clothes, a hot shower, food, and a bed for the night — or many nights as the case may be.
Although the teens who call Crosswalk – an emergency shelter for ages 13 to 17 – home didn’t really notice the building’s run-down appearance, Debi Moon of downtown Spokane’s highly acclaimed restaurant, Clinkerdaggers, did. And she decided to do something about it.
Clinkerdaggers, known for community philanthropy, has taken on an interior makeover charity project once a year for the last three years. “I love my company for that,” says Moon. Two weeks ago, Moon, with 90 crew members and volunteers from Fairchild Air Force Base, gave the safe haven for Spokane teenagers in crisis a much-needed interior makeover.
In addition to volunteer workers, businesses in the community contributed to support the project. Moon says she chose Crosswalk as the restaurant’s community project this year because of what she had learned while volunteering for the shelter.
“I learned the reason these kids are here,” Moon says. “When the media sees a little child who has been neglected or abused, everyone wants to do something to help.” But, she says, the teenagers who somehow fall through the cracks of the foster care system are very difficult to place in foster or adoptive homes.
“They don’t have the cute innocence that you’d find in a five or six year old, because they are almost adults, and this is their last chance to make good choices.” Crosswalk picks up the slack and provides positive role models for these teens.
As a nonprofit agency, Crosswalk receives local and federal funds to cover the cost of full-time staff for the facility 24 hours a day, which is very expensive, says Laurel Kelly, program director.
Moon says, “I was guilty myself of thinking that the teenagers who stayed here were troubled, rebellious teens who wanted to run away from home. It just isn’t so. The mentality of most of Spokane is similar to what mine was until I volunteered here.”
Kelly smiles when she talks about the teens. Most come from broken, dysfunctional and sometimes violent or neglectful homes that are not safe. Others struggle with mental health issues, and their parents no longer know how to handle them.
“Some of the teens have lots of piercings and strangely colored hair, but that doesn’t make them any less loveable,” says Kelly.
Not only does the VOA Crosswalk provide the basic necessities for the teens who are homeless or in crisis situations, it provides them with a team of professionals who teach life skills, help them graduate from high school, give them mental health counseling, and, ultimately, seeks to help them transition into successful, healthy adults.
The shelter doesn’t have the money to take care of things like replacing flooring, windows or ceiling tiles.
“We are so excited that Clinkerdaggers and other members of the community are doing this for us,” says Kelly. “The kids get to see that the community really does care about them.”
Moon hopes that this project will cause the community to be more aware of the needs of Crosswalk and other programs like it, run by the Volunteers of America.
“I remember a little girl who would go to school during the day, visit her mom in jail after school, and then sleep here at night,” Moon says. “They are turned away from their parents.”
“These are the stories Spokane doesn’t know about.”