Lake Forest Park Rotary Club Homeless Youth Project

The Homeless Youth Project (HYP) of the Rotary Club of Lake Forest Park was formed in the Spring of 2017 after Josh Little, then the Student Services Specialist, spoke to the club about youth homelessness in the Shoreline School District.

George Piano and Jeff Weissman, with the support of club president Claire Conway, initiated the project to address the underserved homeless young people in our area. Other members are Judy Altman, Linda Holman, Norman Lieberman, and Mark Phillips.

We had two immediate goals: to educate ourselves about teen homelessness and to provide assistance to the homeless youth in the Shoreline School District high schools.

HYP members began the learning process by meeting with Cocoon House in Everett and Youth Care in Seattle, both of whose missions are to serve homeless teens.

We talked to LFP’s Vision House, Teen Link, NUHSA, Mary’s House, and the family advocates from Shorewood and Shorecrest high schools. 

We explored partnering opportunities with the Shoreline Rotary, the Dale Turner YMCA, and both The Works and Embrace Shoreline Schools, Shoreline PTA affiliates that provide for students and families in need.

We sponsored Rotary coat drives in 2017 and 2018 in conjunction with The Works. On an ongoing basis, HYP provides food and transportation vouchers as well as Fred Meyer gift certificates for Shoreline students in need.

The ultimate goal is to expand available services and to establish a drop-in resource center for local homeless youth, modeled on Cocoon House’s U-Turn Drop in facility. HYP continues to work with other organizations in the LFP-Shoreline area to reach that goal.