LSS
Life Haven
Incarnation
Lutheran Church's gift to homeless teen moms
In our August issue of
Changing Lives, we shared a story about Incarnation Lutheran Church and
their dream to build a safe haven for young mothers with children who are
surviving on our city streets. The dream is becoming reality. It is called
Life Haven. Hear, from a personal perspective, why members have galvanized
their support and become passionate about Life Haven.
Some might have a hard time
believing that there are teenagers trying to survive on the streets with
their newborns. Not Carolyn Gustafson.
This retired, inner-city
teacher saw firsthand the heartbreaking troubles that some of her
12-year-old students faced while growing up in unhealthy family settings
where drugs and child neglect were the norm.
Now, Carolyn is excited that
her congregation is stepping up to make a life-changing impact on kids
through Life Haven in St. Paul, a new project that will provide housing,
parenting education, and other life skills-training for mothers age 17 and
younger who have no support system.
Her motivation is simple: "I
love the kids! I want to help those kids who have made some unwise
decisions and see them succeed."
Life Haven is a unique
partnership between Incarnation Lutheran and LSS that fills a huge gap in
social services, since there are no public shelters in place to serve
teens raising children.
The project is high on the
list of priorities at Incarnation Lutheran. Their commitment to kids is
much like that of Vasa Lutheran, a church that took in four orphaned
children 137 years ago to provide life-sustaining shelter, clothing, food
and other necessities. Lutheran Social Service traces its history to this
first documented account of a Lutheran church reaching out to care for
vulnerable children.
"When Vasa took in children,
they really embraced them and looked for ways to provide all of the care
that these kids needed to grow into healthy adulthood," said Mark
Peterson, President/CEO of Lutheran Social Service. "We see that same
commitment today from Incarnation Lutheran Church."
Incarnation members are
filling their basements with furniture, baby clothing, car seats, diapers
and many other items that they will donate to the girls and their babies
at Life Haven. Others are gearing up to share their expertise as
counselors, nurses, parenting educators, housing experts, attorneys and
life mentors to help the young parents thrive and become self sufficient.
Meanwhile, a crew of
volunteers has been committing three days each week for the past several
months to completely renovate a duplex that will house six mothers with
children at a time.
W. Dale Ruff, age 65 and
self-described "refired" architect, is one of those volunteers. He drew up
new plans for the duplex and is putting his versatile carpentry skills to
work as well. "Each of us is finding ways to channel our skills," he said.
"Working on a project like this is much more gratifying than making money
or climbing the success ladder. This is what turns me on and gets me up in
the morning!"
Beyond enormous volunteer
support, Incarnation has committed significant financial support to the
project, including $70,000 in the first year, and $50,000 a year for the
next two years. Other financial resources have also been made available to
LSS so that the program can officially open in February 2003.
Incarnation saw a serious need
in our community and responded in a very big way. For scores of teens who
are lucky enough to find their way to Life Haven, this act of love will be
a gift that will last a lifetime.
