Children of the Recession: Kids as Adults
Food, water, clothes, a place to come home to--those are the bare essentials. But for some of Southern Oregon's youth, those things are very hard to come by and they need the help of places like the Maslow Project in Medford. But the Maslow Project is also having a tough time helping these kids in a very tough economy, even though that's when they need the help the most.
More and more kids today aren't acting their age, but it's not their fault. Because of the economy they're having to find jobs to support their families or sleep in parks. The Maslow Project gives them sleeping bags along their way, but their helping hands can only extend so far.
These days playing basketball is a luxury some kids just don't have. Cameron Fowlkes, 17, played when he was in 8th grade. But soon afterwards he lived on the streets. Kids like Fowlkes are familiar with the term 'couch surfing'. Like basketball, it involves a bit of bouncing around. But scoring means you need to find a place to sleep. Fowlkes says, "It's difficult, you know, going to a friend's house. You feel nervous and everything because it's somebody else's house and you're staying there. It feels weird."
It's these stories that roll into the Maslow Project everyday. Mary Ferrell is the founder of Maslow. She says, "More and more kids who were somewhat stable, middle of the road, are falling into homelessness. They're asked to leave the home because parent's can no longer afford their 17 and 18 year olds."
The Maslow Project now sees around 200 kids each month and so putting groceries in all those bags becomes a challenge. As many as 300 of them have stopped by in a given month, 40 in a day. Maslow says those numbers add up to mean that they'll be running out of food in a little more than a week. Ferrell says, "We really started to outgrow our space. Our donations are piling up because we don't have a place to really store them and kids are on top of each other."
200 square feet is all the Maslow Project has to work with. All the while, they're trying to help Southern Oregon's youth, like Shelly Elgin, with their most basic needs.
Elgin used to live in her car and that means everything she owned was in her trunk. She says, "Brushing my teeth, I had a bottle of water and a toothbrush in my car. I'd brush my teeth with a bottle of water, kind of like camping." Elgin continues, "I'd just change in my care. I didn't care if anybody saw or anything. At that point you really don't care."
Today, Elgin uses the computers at Maslow to sell the things she has online. She says it will help get her by. She echoes the stories heard around the region. Elgin says the job search is tough. She says of her search, "Any place that somebody my age would work, there's a lot more older people working there now because they've been laid off."
Ferrell says, "These kids are really just kids and they want to be kids, but they have adult responsibilities they're having to take on."
And being met halfway by the Maslow Project is one of the few ways these kids are hanging on.
The Maslow Project says kids stand in line for hours waiting for food, but that food is in short supply with the record number of kids coming through their doors. If you'd like to help the Maslow Project with food, clothing donations, etc. you can contact them at (541) 774-3900. You can also visit their website at www.maslowproject.com
