Volunteers Hoping To Provide More Resources For Homeless Metro Teens

Each night hundreds of homeless teens sleep on the streets in Oklahoma City. And officials with the group ‘Be the Change’ are hoping to do just that with their facility "Ground Floor Homeless Youth Resource Center."

Friday, November 13th 2015, 6:04 pm

By: News 9


Each night hundreds of homeless teens sleep on the streets in Oklahoma City. And officials with the group ‘Be the Change’ are hoping to do just that with their facility "Ground Floor Homeless Youth Resource Center."

They’re working to acquire a bigger building that will allow them to serve more teens in need.

It's been unoccupied for quite some time and needs some work, but leaders of Ground Floor said the now vacant building could be their ticket to helping homeless teens in Oklahoma City.

“We’re busting out of the seams right now,” Jonathan Roberts, Executive Director of Be the Change said.

In the current facility, there's room for a few dozen youth, to give them food, clothes, and hook them up with services to get them off the streets and into safe housing.

Meechy, 19, said she lost her mom to cancer and has been homeless ever since.

“The people and the things that you see, it’s scary,” she said. “I seen [sic] this man get stabbed right in front of me, broad daylight. That’s the stuff that you have to worry about.”

But she said she finds peace at Ground Floor.

“They don’t have to take the time out to do this but they do it from their heart and I love them for that,” she said.

Roberts says after it's rehabbed, the bigger building won't include beds and an overnight shelter. But it’s a solid start, helping them serve and possibly save five times as many teens.

“The first things that we have to do is create a safe space where kids can come in and tell their stories,” Roberts told News 9.

Right now they’re raising operations costs for Ground Floor.

Learn more about Be The Change.

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