Our reach-outs in Austin, San Marcos yielding results!

   Thanks to your continuing generosity, we have been able to expand our services to additional locations in Austin while maintaining our outreach to San Marcos and the drop-by services we provide from our base at the Drop-in Center.
   Here are some examples of the impact your gifts, volunteer efforts and prayers meant to us during the month of June:

• We reached 20 clients on our various Austin outreaches to places like the Central Library, Skatepark and several recreation centers.Two of them engaged in the kind of deeper conversations that steer them toward making major changes in their lives.
• We met with 156 clients a total of 955 hours to provide services from our drop-by, engaging them in 102 deeper conversations. That's just in June!
• Fifty-four clients reached us over our Help Line, making a total of 137 calls that included 113 deeper conversations.
• Our five group events -- Bible study, prayer, women's, peer support and Talent Night -- drew 34 clients over 62 hours and included 116 deep conversations.
• Our outreaches to San Marcos reached 11 clients.
• Donors of non-food items gave us $4,288 worth of supplies and served a total of 87 hours while doing so.
• Donors of food served 87 hours and delivered and helped sort or process $2,526 worth of food.

SYMin client's talent blooms!

 

Azul was 19 when she came to Austin. She expected to get her first apartment and begin her adult life, but soon after her arrival, she encountered difficulties that eventually left her no place to go but the streets.

A chance encounter!

   Then one day, outside a Starbucks near the SYMin drop-by, she had a pivotal encounter: one of our staff members, Tondra, took an interest in her plight and let her borrow a sleeping bag for the approaching chilly night.
   Since that moment, Azul has been a familiar face in our on-line group sessions and at the drop-by, where she often visits with the team. She began to achieve goals that led her to a series of positive steps in her life.

A good job, personal growth!

    Azul is rightfully proud of her progress and loves the benefits that accompany it: being housed, seeing a therapist regularly, and keeping a good job with a company that offers growth potential and treats her like a professional with a clean slate.
   Azul is an amazing poet and expresses her creativity and lived experiences through her beautiful words. We are so glad to know her!

From 'Sideshow' to solid citizen

SYMin counseling set Simon
on the road to a productive life
  His name is Simon, but when he first came to us in 2016, he called himself “Sideshow,” behaved badly and covered his body with clown tattoos, as if to show why. He had spent seven years hopping freight trains and living in abandoned buildings and under bridges.
   He found his way to one of our counseling groups, where he got in touch with the challenges he faced. Like many clients, he puzzled about what he wanted to do. Over the next two years, he visited us 59 times, spending 67 hours collecting food or supplies or taking counseling, before leaving town in 2018.
   This Christmas, he reappeared, driving his pickup truck and sharing with us the news that he had spent the summer as a senior firefighter on a federal Wildland Fire crew in the western U.S. He was in town to certify as an EMT. While here, he helped transport potable water to families that had none during the February ‘SNOVID’ disaster. “I had to get to such a difficult and terrible place that I was willing to make a change,” he recalled. “I entered a Job Corps in the Pacific Northwest. I accepted discipline and hard work. I love mentoring others now.” He said he has accepted Christ.
   “I lead a team of firefighters today. I get them physically fit, mentor them and lead them into forest fires. You guys helped me so much, and I just wanted to stop by and say thanks.”

In-Person Volunteering Back! Plus Helping From Anywhere in the US

 

In-kind donors stepped up ...
Volunteers from groups like the Buy Nothing Project  Group from Forest North Estates, Village Oaks and Parmer Village, from Regents High School and from Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church  brought us this carload of love earlier this month!

... and clients were ready!
The return of seasonal weather after February's frigid "SNOVID-21"
 brought an influx of clients eager for food, clothing and other items. 
  Masks, social distancing and hand-washing are still the rule
 outside the Drop-in Center.

Autumn blessings from the SYMin team!

 Congratulations, Jerameel!

SYMin team members Tondra (left) and Yolanda stop by the food trailer where client Jerameel (in back) got a job. The Food Court is right across the street from the Drop-by location where clients gather for food, clothing and other items.

Arrival of baby changed it all for client Chuy

 

Chuy became a client several years ago when she found herself on the streets, addicted to drugs, beset with anxiety, drama and trauma. At first, she came for food, sleeping bags, clothing, etc. Later, she joined Art Group and displayed a wonderful talent. Next, she experienced healing during Peer Support Group and Bible Study, followed by deep, one-on-one counseling sessions with team members.

   Addiction, however, hounded her – until the day she discovered that she was pregnant with her first child. That day was the beginning of her journey to long-term sobriety. She was living in a tent near the UT campus, working long shifts and saving money for the day her baby was born. She began making decisions with her child in mind. She found a stable home with a family member, and when her son was born, she gave him every comfort.

   When the pandemic hit, she reconnected with our on-line support group several times a week, logging onto Zoom for SYMin Sisters and Heart to Heart. These groups offered her wisdom and prayer. Today, she has an excellent job and is working toward new and larger goals. Chuy is an excellent mother, and she loves her son, whom she named Guage, with all her heart. We are so proud of Chuy!

SYMin targets infant mortality, and a big surprise emerges

 

Some weeks ago, I noticed a big change had sneaked up on us -- a good change. First, I want to go back to our 2015 annual report. We made a pledge to do something about a terrible problem: the infant mortality rate among our clients living around Guadalupe Street was far higher than the rate elsewhere in the United States. Women were becoming pregnant, and the children were not being born alive or weren't being born at all, due to late-term miscarriages or stillbirth or failure to thrive in the first month. Most who did survive wound up in CPS custody.

It was a horrible situation, and we went to work on it. We tried several things, but none worked until we called the men and women in the community together. First, we urged them to have fewer babies, because they were not ready. That message didn’t resonate. A second message did: children were dying because we weren't taking good care of the pregnant mothers. At that time, it was common for the community to say to newly pregnant women, “You stay right here with us on the street and we’ll take care of you.” That failed to recognize problems of stress and drugs, especially a new drug at that time called K2 or synthetic cannabinoid.

So -- we made it a community goal that women would spend as many months of their pregnancies off the streets as possible. As a result, it is now common for girls who get pregnant to say, “Oh, my goodness, I have to get off the streets,” and for them to seek resources, including friends, family or supported housing. Over the next 18 months -- well into 2017 – they made solid progress. We taught them about prenatal care for themselves and their unborn, and how to make plans for nine months ahead. Still, the newborns often wound up in CPS custody, as has been the case for almost all my 20 years working with homeless young adults.

It’s 2020 now (oh boy, is it ever!). We still have about one pregnancy a month – or about nine pregnant clients at any given time, but something amazing has happened. We began hiring more diverse members to our team. We hired more women, and they formed a women's group, and the women's group has been particularly supportive of pregnant women and new mothers. I noticed about a month ago that we have six women under our care whose children are living at home with them. That’s far more than ever!

Yes, it's still a struggle for our moms, and perhaps it's not ideal, but they are now stable enough they can keep their kids. (There usually is some inspection by CPS from time to time.) I'm really proud of our clients for owning the challenge of making enough change that they can keep their children with them and raise them! This is how we break the cycle of street youth and street dependency.

This is how poverty is solved -- one family at a time. I am often asked why there are homeless young adults. And the answer is the breakdown of the family. I don't want to blame anyone, but one way or another the homeless kiddos do not have the same support their peers in college or at home have – the same housing, supportive parents, educational opportunities and so on. The difference is the families of origin of our clients don’t have the tools or resources or the ability to give that support.

We continue to work toward solutions. And for now, we celebrate the fact that clients under our care have kids at home with them! Thank you for supporting our work and being involved with us. It truly does make a difference! Change is why we love working with our homeless young adults. The future is very bright for them -- when they claim it. And we love being guidance counselors as they move through this journey and mature and claim their futures!

                                  -- TERRY

Happy Juneteenth!

On June 19, the clients were celebrating Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in Texas and this year symbolized hope of social justice and equality for all. Clients enjoyed delicious hot meals cooked by volunteers with donated ingredients. Serving was through the front gate of the Drop-in Center; check out the menu!

In era of coronavirus, SYMin puts a dent in clients' needs!

The coronavirus (or COVID-19) pandemic is here, and so are we, although we've modified our outreach to accommodate the shelter-in-place restrictions.

We've split into two teams:
1) Our Home Team, staff working the phones from home to locate resources for clients in an environment that changes almost daily.

2) Our Drop-by Team, staff posting themselves at the Drop-in Center to receive clients outside our gates -- with a smile, with a meal, usually hot, and with supplies. They also receive in-kind donations.
Most of our clients who were doing well have been laid off and have no means to support themselves. Some are housed, others are living outside. We have served 150 people in the past approximately 30 days. We have lost track of 150 clients whom we served the previous six months.

We are seeking them and praying to hear from them soon. We want to know they are well and safe. We want to know how to pray for them. We want to be there for them.

Terry, above, and Billy, below left at gate, kept proper social distance in distributing items to clients as part of the newly formed Drop-By team working out of the Drop-In Center under terms of the temporary stay-at-home order. Some items, bottom right, are available through self-service outside our Drop-in Center to give clients some choices while still keeping social distance

Guadalupe Street, usually bustling with autos and sidewalk traffic as UT students march to and from classes, was eerily quiet after the imposition of stay-at-home orders from the city of Austin. That's SYMin mascot Rosie Cole patrolling the suddenly wide-open spaces.

No Pranks Here; Only Blessings Raining Down!

Supplies ready for clients dropping by

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are not able to operate the Drop-in the same way as before. But, we have adopted. Our 'drop-by team' receives clients outside our gates with a smile, with a meal, usually hot, and with supplies. We are trying to fill the gap created by temporarily disappearing services, so we are doing things like food bags and toilet paper. The 'drop-by team' chats with clients outside (observing social distance) about life and challenges ... hope and hardship in these coronavirus times. They also help drop-by volunteers unload supplies. Meanwhile, our "home team" works the phones, seeking resources.

Donation from One Chapel

Wonderful members of One Chapel stay true to their church's belief that "our faith is practical and our lives are meant to be lived in service to others" as they deliver in-kind donations for SYMin distribution outside the Drop-in Center.

Girls see positive images!

Our “Girls Group” leaders Porshia and Suzanne held an amazing session recently by asking each member to list seven positive things about herself, then look at herself in a mirror and recite them. “We as women often avoid looking at our reflections out in the world, because of the negative things other people have told us and that we have told ourselves,” Porshia said. “Every single person who did it cried. It was amazing!”

SYM expands southward!

We held our first event recently in San Marcos! We are in awe of how God has moved. Two street friends from Austin who are now in San Marcos helped introduce us to five other young adults, and we had a prayer concert! Amazing Grace! And the photo (above) includes a local volunteer as well! God is so good!

Happy about his new bike!

SYM client Jerameel celebrates (with Rosie, our mascot) earning a newly reconditioned bicycle from the Yellow Bike Project. He completed more than 20 volunteer hours helping around the Drop-in Center. Yellow Bike Project is a volunteer-powered initiative to put bicycles on the streets of Austin and Central Texas by operating community bike shops, teaching bike mechanics and maintenance, and acting as a local bike advocacy group.

In-kind donation bonanza!

Clients enjoy an odd donation

Alpaca Market delivers super healthy, locally sourced, organically grown salad bowls, breakfast bowls and more!
 
 Another Client gets a comforter to use in newly found apartment; 

Client score Easter treats from Mabel Ministries

SYM clients received an unexpected Easter gift -- homemade cookies from Mabel Ministries, a young Austin-based nonprofit organization that seeks to bless those without a home by giving joy and making them feel loved, not forgotten, at Easter! Since 2015, Mabel Ministries has annually packaged hundreds of gifts of homemade cookies at Christmastime; this year, they added an Easter tradition! With the cookies come homemade cards with hand-written Bible verses.

First Quarter SYM Financial Report

Street Youth Ministry founding missionary Terry Cole walks donors through the first-quarter financials in detail in this video presentation. Click the link below, or the image above, to access the video. At the bottom of the video is a link to the spreadsheet shown during the presentation.

SEE VIDEO

Client contacts lead to goals achieved!

As Terry stated in his Front Row Seat video (link, above), the first quarter of this year yielded high-water marks for Street Youth Ministry in two important statistical categories we track closely because they are closely aligned.

Staff made 2,907 contacts with clients in January through March, the most for a first quarter since we’ve been keeping records. The previous high was 2,505 in 2015. Coinciding with part of that, in March clients achieved 164 goals, a record for that month. For the first quarter, they made 343 goals, beating the old record of 235 set last year.

How do these work together? We know from tracking our statistics that 80 percent of clients who engage deeply with us – that means at least 40 hours of contact and 10 deep conversations with SYM staff – will set and achieve goals that lead to real changes in their lives. That’s about two times more than clients who engage with us less often.

We believe so strongly in this dynamic that we update our statistics daily on the front page of our website.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

I AM GRATEFUL...

I am grateful for the shape of my life. I am grateful for the ways that I am gifted. And even though I am often jealous of other people‘s gifting, I am glad to be me. I am grateful that I have found a vocation that is just right for me. 

It combined so many things that I love: solving problems, teaching, learning new things, trying new things, helping others, relating to the outcast, orchestrating an amazing machine with lots of moving parts, crossing cultural barriers, and sharing good news for a better world.

I am grateful for the people I journey with. I love my family of origin. I love the legacy they have given me. I love the family that I created with my wife. I look forward to the possibility of loving families created by my children. I love the community that I have created In my various workplaces. I love the community that is being formed in the ministry to homeless young adults. I’m grateful for my church family—groups that form For worship, discipleship, service, morning, celebration, and discernment. Each is unique and a blessing.

I am grateful for money, but I am more grateful to be freed from its enslavement on my life. I think it no small chance that God changed me from being employed to create wealth to being called to serve others without wealth, Without the possibility of company ownership, and without further amassing personal wealth. I am truly glad to be dependent. I always was, but it is a blessing to see the literal dependency on the gifts of others to follow my vocation. I am not creating a company that I own. I am not creating a profit. I am not being paid what I am “worth“ by trade or training. I am supported by the gifts of others who have come to understand my calling and want me to pursue it. God‘s blessing in my life is bigger, but is hard to name and earthly blessing larger than the support of so many people for my vocation.

As unexpected as the blessing of support has been, probably the most surprising blessing has come from including 5000 or more homeless broken and simultaneously amazing young adults in my life. They are so interesting. They are so strong. They are so diverse. It is not the reward of serving them but simply the reward of being with them that is such a blessing. The things they have taught me. The things they have made me think about. The glimpses of life that I can never fully understand but that I could also never experience myself. They have added a richness to my life that was completely unexpected. The blessings dwarfs any gratitude for accomplishment Or even growth that could come from serving.

I cannot write about gratitude without mentioning my sweet and amazing loyal companion, Rosie. That God would create a relationship between a man and a beast of such depth boggles the mind. Truly do know the love of a dog is to learn something of the unconditional love that God has for us.

I am grateful for the rhythms of life. For day and night. I used to bemoan that there wasn’t enough time in the day until someone pointed out that it was beyond arrogance To force everyone else to endure another hour just because I felt like I didn’t get enough done. I am grateful for the rhythm of a week. Often it feels as if Monday through Saturday is some type of marathon. But somehow I cross the finish line into Sunday and into worship.

There I am refreshed and rejuvenated and somehow ready to run into the next week. I am grateful for the rhythm of the seasons. I try to enjoy the cold of a cold day, the heat of a hot day, and everything in between. They are exactly as created and I was created to experience and indeed live in them. And I enjoy the rhythm of the calendar. Birthdays passing. Holidays celebrated. I have come to see the wisdom in the ecclesiastic calendar. The beginning of the year without vent. The celebration of Christmas. Preparation for Easter. A risen Lord. Pentecost. Life with the spirit. It all feels right. 

Finally I am grateful for perspective. Whether it’s focusing on tiny things or stepping back to see the big picture. Whether it’s looking externally or looking inwardly. Whether it’s looking to the physical world or into the spiritual realm. There is an order And a beauty and a wholeness. It is good. But the fact that I can twist any of it for my evil purposes keeps me humble and grateful for forgiveness. Jesus loved me first. He was willing to give up even Godhood to save me. And heal me. And restore me. This is why I believe. This is why I behave – at least to the extent that I manage to behave. This is why I follow. And this is why I serve. 

Scenes from our Christmas party!

Fund raising

Our end-of-year
fund-raising goal
is $83,801. You
can help us reach it!

Trusted. Inspiring. Empowering. Fresh.

These are the words that describe us. By giving now, you will keep these services going as planned. This goal was calculated carefully from what we will have spent on services from January to now in 2018! In addition, we are seeking $25,000 to begin our San Antonio pilot operations in 2019.

CLICK HERE TO GIVE

Have any treasures in your 'lost & found'?

Jennifer at Covenant Presbyterian displays a t-shirt that arrived in the lost-and-found; after a suitable period if it is not claimed, she'll donate it to SYM. We'd like our other church and ministry partners to do the same. Our pledge is to find homes for the times. If a staff member lives near you, we will be happy to arrange pickup. Otherwise, we ask that you find a volunteer who might bring them to our Drop-in.

CONTACT US WITH LOST AND FOUND ITEMS