Last year, Covenant House Missouri reached over 2,000 homeless or at-risk youth in the St. Louis area.
Who are We?
Covenant House Missouri (CHMO) is a non-profit organization that empowers homeless, runaway and at-risk youth to live independently and become contributing members of our community.
With open doors and open hearts, CHMO gives homeless teens hope and the opportunity to break the cycle of chronic homelessness and unemployment.
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Holly
18-year-old "Holly" grew up in the war torn West African nation of Liberia. Her family came to America in 2005 to escape a civil war that had engulfed her native country.
Holly's childhood story is not one of fairytale princesses and Barbie dolls. She speaks of war, death and violence when describing her childhood. "The warlords were killing my family. I lost aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers, and neighbors" says Holly. "They wanted control of the government and were killing anyone who opposed them."
After Holly's father was killed in the war, the U.S. Government brought most of her family to St. Louis for a new beginning. That's where you might expect Holly's story would improve but unfortunately more turmoil was ahead.
In 2005 Holly enrolled at Roosevelt High School in St. Louis. Roosevelt High School was one of several St. Louis public schools on a state watch list for not meeting academic criteria. Holly describes her first public school experience as chaotic. "The black Americans fight a lot and the principal had no control but now things are better." The good news for Holly is that she is still on track to graduate in 2009.
Holly and her siblings were living with their grandmother at various residences around St. Louis. Her grandmother received food stamps to help feed the children but for reasons Holly could never understand her grandmother would not share the food with the kids.
"I would complain to my caseworker that we were not getting any food" says Holly but she was never able to get her grandmother to change. Holly felt she needed to get a job and that made her grandmother angry. "She did not want me to work and wanted me to look after the grand children instead."
Every time Holly would come home from work her grandmother would lock her out of the house. There were many nights when Holly had no place to stay and would rely on a friend for shelter. "The caseworker would talk to mom but no results" says Holly.
After several weeks of living with her friend Holly came to Covenant House of Missouri in October and is now living in her own apartment and still going to school. "Because I'm staying here everything is cool. I can go to school, work and doing everything for myself."
Holly is currently working part-time as a custodian at Purina but hopes to become a nurse in the near future. The staff at Covenant House has helped her apply to be accepted at the nursing school programs of four different community colleges around St. Louis.
In five years Holly wants to be finished with college, working in a hospital, and living in her own home. Holly credits the staff of Covenant House for helping her reach her goals. "It's cool now for me... all the people here taking me places and gave me a gift card for Christmas and shopping for food." It's the little things that we all take for granted that can make a big difference for some people.
