Last week’s featured presenter was Tom Risberg, Executive Director of the Alliance for Youth. Originally from St. Louis, MO, Tom has first-hand experience with the stressors on young people. His brother had addiction and mental illness problems that ultimately culminated in his untimely death, so Tom understands to pressures that addiction and mental illness place on a family. He worked in the Teach for America program and went to Washington, D.C., for law school, but he loves living in Montana, is crazy about Great Falls, and has a passion for helping young people here reach adulthood as healthy, high-functioning human beings.
Alliance for Youth’s theme this year is stress. Speakers are coming in to talk to young people and to the community about stress and addiction, stress and addiction relapse, and how to cope with stress. There is plenty of evidence that children in Great Falls are well-acquainted with stress. Approximately 475 children are homeless sometime during the year in this community. Another 600 children in Cascade County are in foster care. That number has tripled in the past 5 years and is now double the state average. No matter how you slice it, these kids alone have been traumatized. And they're not alone.
Through the generosity of a number of churches and organizations, Alliance for Youth has opened a Youth Resource Center. Based in the old Victory Church, it’s been remodeled into a beautiful facility that will provide services and immediate care for young people between the ages of 13-20. The vision is for a one-stop shop where kids can get counseling, housing, a hot meal for dinner, backpacks, healthcare, and more. Rotarian Shandy Peterson serves on their fundraising committee and Tom says she's a tremendous asset to his organization.
One young man named John who works at the center had no home, no job, and no school when he first walked in the door. Now he has housing, he works, and he's studying for the HiSET to get his high school equivalency certificate. “This is the only place I feel safe,” John told Tom recently.
“We take for granted that we have a roof over our heads, hot water, and food,” Tom reminded us. “These kids don’t have that security. They need our help.” You can sponsor rooms at the Center to help support a young person, or you can donate to Alliance for Youth. “If we can intervene now, when these kids are between the ages of 13 and 20, we can shift the trajectory of the rest of their lives.”
An inspirational presentation on a immensely worthwhile cause.
