Special Guest Contributor: Denise Bard
So many of the youth and young adults in the LGBTQI+ community will find themselves experiencing homelessness because of not being accepted by their families. This has also been part of Wayne’s story.
Wayne found a path to stable housing with the help of Anchor House’s Street Outreach and Rapid Rehousing Programs.
Five years ago, Wayne and his partner left their families homes after experiencing abuse, both physical and emotional, for many years. They tried many places to find a safe place to stay but continued to get turned away. Everywhere required some type of documentation. The problem was they left everything behind when they left their homes.
Wayne said that they would pass by the Anchor House Drop-In Center but never stopped in, feeling that it would be yet another place that would turn them away. They began to get discouraged because they had no one and nowhere to turn. It wasn’t until Ben Thornton, who was at the time the Director of Outreach & Housing Initiatives, found them through the Street Outreach Program. Ben was able to help get them off the street and into somewhere safe.
Through the program, Wayne and his partner learned of resources. Wayne did not know there was a soup kitchen in Trenton. He never knew how to budget properly. He never knew about the resources out there because all the places he had turned to before Anchor House never shared them with him.
Not too long after meeting Ben and being accepted into the Anchor House Rapid Rehousing Program, Wayne and his partner separated. Wayne would then go back with his family. Things were still not good at home and he would eventually find himself again needing somewhere safe to go. Wayne once again turned to Anchor House.
During his time away from Anchor House, things were happening behind the scenes to get Wayne a home. He didn’t learn of this until returning to Anchor House for a second time, after leaving his home again. For six months, Section 8 Housing was trying to reach Wayne because they had housing waiting for him. They held onto that slot for six months since he was part of Anchor House.
After returning to the program he met Crystal, his therapist at Anchor House. During his interview for this blog article, he could not stop talking about how much Crystal meant to him. Crystal never gave up on Wayne. For youth and young adults experiencing adversities, having someone so invested in your success is a huge deal. Anchor House has become a family for so many young people.
After participating in the program for a few years, Wayne has not only moved into his own place, but also finished school and even went onto graduate from Fortis Institute. Wayne also recently received the Doug McCune Memorial Award through the Anchor House Foundation. He is now part of the Anchor House Youth Advisory Council.
Today Wayne works at Penn Med Becker ENT where he has been employed for the past year and a half as a Clinical Coordinator for a doctor. He also started keynote speaking as a spokesperson for LGBTQI+ issues, educating and advocating for the needs of the community.
Wayne’s success story would not have been possible without the help from Ben, Crystal and the programs that Anchor House provides to youth and young adults in need.
Donate to help young people like Wayne thrive.
Thank you to Denise Bard for beautifully capturing Wayne’s story. Denise is the Secretary of Anchor House’s Board of Directors and has shared her own story of residing at the Anchor House Shelter when she was a youth.
