Colleen Sparks
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 10, 2007 12:00 AM
It's not always easy to spot children who are homeless among upscale houses in Tempe.
They don't necessarily sleep on benches; sometimes they are crammed into friends' homes, carrying their belongings in bins, struggling to pay for school field trips and wondering how long they will have roofs over their heads.
That's the case with Marcos de Niza freshman Gabrielle Johnson, 14, who was displaced with her mother, Julianna Martinez, and three brothers from their Ahwatukee home in the middle of the night. They landed on their feet and now live in an apartment in Tempe.
-- BOXAD TABLE --> "Each of the kids had a plastic bin to put stuff in," Martinez said. "That was their dresser. I was on a list for months waiting for an apartment.
"
The situation has been made more difficult in Ahwatukee lately as subsidized apartments have been converted to condominiums, some say.
Gabrielle and more than 70 children who were homeless around the nation tell their stories in My Own Four Walls, a DVD being released next week produced by Hear Us Inc, a group that advocates for homeless children.
Hear Us founder and President Diane Nilan visited Arizona this week, including a stop at the Kyrene Family Resource Center.
Martinez, an instructional aide at Kyrene de los Lomas Elementary, and her family got help from the center to buy groceries and other necessities.
The DVD will debut in the Chicago suburbs and then will go on sale.
It's expected to be used by schools, community groups and others to educate people about homeless children.
"They just talk about the issues and how it affects them," Nilan said of the children on the DVD. "I will use them to raise awareness."
Gabrielle talks in the video about how school became a refuge during the turbulent time when her family bounced around to different friends' houses.
She said playing basketball at school gave her something to look forward to on the campus.
"That keeps me going because I love playing the sport," Gabrielle said in the DVD.
Other children in the video talk about police confronting them because their families lived in substandard homes, not having room to play in crammed living quarters and other everyday struggles homeless youths face.
Nilan traveled in her recreational vehicle, where she lives, across the country to interview youths in small towns, resort communities and other areas.
Community centers such as Kyrene's offer help and hope to families in need, Nilan said.
"This is the kind of low-level help that families get so they can pay their rent," she said.
News RSS