Waymakers Huntington Beach Youth Shelter celebrates 17th anniversary
The Waymakers Huntington Beach Youth Shelter never had to cut off services during the coronavirus pandemic.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some trying times early on. There were definitely shortages.
“Like every other household, we were out of toilet paper,” Waymakers director of shelter programs Carol Carlson said with a smile. “We had to literally call up our neighbors and say, ‘I know you only have enough for your family. Can we have just one extra roll?’ We’d open the door and there would be a roll of toilet paper on the front porch.”
Necessities are what Waymakers provides for the children it serves, and the nonprofit celebrated an anniversary Thursday.
The Waymakers Huntington Beach Youth Shelter is a short-term intervention house for runaway, homeless and at-risk youth ages 11 to 17. Per numbers provided by the organization’s officials, there have been 2,245 children served at the shelter, which can serve up to 12 children at a time. That’s nearly 38,000 therapy hours.
Dozens gathered for the 17th anniversary celebration of the local facility. The event also served as an open house, the first that the city-owned location in Central Park has been able to have since the pandemic began.
“I can’t,” Waymakers CEO Ronnetta Johnson said when asked if she could believe how long its been since the Huntington Beach shelter opened in 2006. “I was here when we started. It’s really amazing. The importance of the work is really in those individual kids, the transformations that take place. It seems like three weeks isn’t very long, but the transformations that can take place with those kids during that time are amazing.”
After leaving the shelter, 94% of the children have a reunification with either their parents or a safe alternative.
Waymakers is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It operates four youth shelters, one each in Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, and two in Tustin. One of the Tustin sites serves transitional-aged youth (18 to 25 years old) and opened last year.
Thursday’s celebration featured recognition of volunteers who have made the youth shelter, now run by co-directors Nancy Galeana and Isabel Kluwe, continue to run smoothly. More than 20 staff members also were acknowledged, including mental health specialists, therapists, tutors, a case manager and an outreach specialist.
“It takes a group of people to manage our house,” Galeana said.
Shelley Callahan of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach was honored for her help with Waymakers fundraising events.
A Bible study group from First Christian Church Huntington Beach that, among other things, provides a meal on the last Tuesday of the month, was honored. So were seven individuals who also serve with Habitat for Humanity.
Long Beach resident Claudette Fabian is part of the latter group, which has helped with tasks like maintaining a garden on the property and rebuilding stairs on the back side of the house for a water heater.
“During the pandemic, things were a little bit slower at Habitat, and we all wanted to stay busy,” Fabian said. “They just kept calling us with projects, and we just kept doing projects. We all like building things, gardening. The women build as well as the men help garden; we just all work together.”
She got emotional after mentioning her own family.
“The first time I walked on this property I just felt safe,” said Fabian, starting to tear up. “I have two kids. I thought, if my kids needed somewhere to be safe … I see the way the staff is encouraging the young people to be outside, the way they have boundaries for them in a kind manner.
“It’s a beautiful home.”
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