Does Your Donation REALLY Make a Difference?
Tyler was homeless from ages 12 to 16 because his mom was a meth addict. He lived alone under the Imperial Beach pier. After we connected with Tyler and built a relationship with him, we secured for him a guard card so he could become a security guard. He worked hard, eventually becoming the youngest supervisor ever at Elite Security, out of a staff of 2,000. He oversaw security for the Fourth of July fireworks at the Del Mar Fair for 2 years. He started working at Petco Park and became a supervisor there. He was honored as Employee of the Year in front of 25,000 fans at Petco. Now he is a dispatch supervisor at AMR, the San Diego medical response provider.
Tyler is one example of how your donation to Doors of Change can make a difference in the life of a homeless youth… and make our community better for everyone.
Doors of Change works exclusively with Transitional Age homeless youth, ages 17-25, because they are the most likely to break the cycle of homelessness. They typically have fewer addiction issues and less time on the streets than adults who are homeless. Most importantly, if their trust can be earned, they will usually ask for and accept help to improve their lives and get off the streets.
Our Homeless Youth Advocacy program is designed to develop trust with homeless youth quickly, and we have been helping record numbers of youth since the program began 3 years ago. We have doubled our outreach worker force, added 24/7 telephone coverage, and we are focusing on intense case management with assessments. As a result, we have placed twice as many youth in housing each year. Because this program has been so successful it is our template for expansion to other areas within San Diego County.
Last year, funds raised from our Concert of Hope helped us place 188 more homeless youth in housing than the year before – we helped a total of 349 youth find safe housing in 2022. The money we raise from our 2023 Concert of Hope will fund our expansion to help even more homeless youth get off the streets and become successful citizens of our community. Will you help?
This year’s concert stars 3-time Grammy Winner Ben Harper, with an opening performance by the Whitney Shay Band. The event is Saturday, September 9 at the UCSD Epstein Family Amphitheater. Sponsorships are available and include the best seats, a VIP party, recognition, and more. VIP tickets and GA concert tickets are also available.
VIP auction Items include a Billy Joel signed keyboard, Steve Martin signed banjo, a South African Safari, Dinner for 8 by award-winning Chef Daryl Jacobson (who has cooked for five U.S. Presidents), and much more.
Tickets are available on our website, and you can call me, Jeffrey Sitcov, at (760) 505-7077 for sponsorship information.
Together we can help more youth like Tyler become role models to help homeless youth see that with hard work they can break the cycle of homelessness and have a life they can be proud of.
