On Tuesday, July 23rd, our club hosted Rotary Means Business at Eddy House, where our own Kelly Peterson-Cruse is the Director of Donor Relations and Administration.
Along with Eddy House’s staff and board members, we braved the heat (the facility is still in process of being renovated…no air conditioning!) for fellowship and information about the work, mission and future of Eddy House. Tours of the facility were provided and Michele Gehr, Executive Director talked about the plight of homeless youth in Nevada. Eddy House is uniquely focused on youth homelessness and is the central intake and resourced center for our community. Currently, the facility is open from 10 to 5, Monday to Friday. With the expansion, they will be able to provide programming as well as sleep facilities - including fifty beds – 24-hours, 365-days a year!Addressing more than forty Rotarians from the area, Michele made key points about youth homelessness in Nevada:
- Nevada has the fastest growing population per capita of homeless youth.
- We are #2 in the nation for sex trafficking. 62% of the clients report that they are trafficked weekly for sex or labor.
- In 2011, Eddy House saw 100 clients, 2018-692, in 2019 they expect to see 800.
- 42% of our clients who are homeless due to aging out of the foster system, domestic substance abuse and violence or runaways, say they feel safer on the street then in their own home. Only 8% utilize the adult shelter stating safety concerns.
- If you can stabilize (life skills, job/education skills, basic needs) by the time a homeless youth is 25, 85% will not return to the cycle of homelessness.
Michele spoke of the cost of expansion which will triple their budget from $585,000 to $1.4 million dollars as well as completing the renovations and asked for the support of the community, and specifically Rotary and its members in fulfilling their mission.