Shelter Beautification Project Review

Yesterday, MMHers gathered at the YMCA Safe Place Services Shelter in Louisville, Kentucky to give a day of service. The boys dormitory had recently experienced some water damage, and they had several rooms that needed to be repainted. It was a great opportunity to work alongside the youth and staff at Safe Place as we helped bring restoration to the shelter.

We are so thankful to Safe Place for helping us organize such a wonderful event! Their staff went above and beyond to welcome us and help promote Project MMH. We only hope we blessed them as much as they blessed us!


Type of Project: Service Project

Date: June 18th, 2010

Time Commitment: couple of weeks to plan, afternoon of service

Cost of Event: $0

Success of Event: Helped tackle a portion of a huge need, built relationships with youth and staff at Safe Place, learned more about Safe Place's fantastic organization

Participation: Six MMH Street Team members & several youth and staff from Safe Place

Unique Elements: Brought people of different ages and different organizations together to work alongside each other

Is this an event that could be easily replicated? Yes! Find a facility in your own community and find out what physical needs you can meet!

"Safe Place is a national youth outreach program that educates thousands of young people every year about the dangers of running away or trying to resolve difficult, threatening situations on their own. This easily replicated community initiative involves the whole community to provide safe havens and resources for youth in crisis.

Safe Place creates a network of "Safe Place locations" - youth friendly businesses, schools, fire stations, libraries, YMCAs and other appropriate public buildings that display the distinctive yellow and black Safe Place sign. In many communities, the local transit system takes part, designating buses as mobile Safe Place sites.

These Safe Place sites extend the doors of the youth emergency shelter or youth service agency throughout the community. Youth are easily able to access immediate help wherever they are. Most Safe Place agencies reach out to youth between the ages of 12 to 17 years old. Some agencies serve younger youth.

Safe Place programs serve nearly 1,500 communities across the country and are managed by 140 youth-serving agencies in 39 states and the District of Columbia. More than 250,000 youth nationally have been counseled by phone or received help through a business or community location displaying the Safe Place sign since the program’s inception in 1983.

The Safe Place program began in response to the many calls to the shelter from young people who did not have a way to get there. As a result, many youth trying to cope with personal or family crisis situations never reached the shelter. To address this issue, the Safe Place program was developed, designating businesses and community buildings as locations where youth could easily access help. The first Safe Place site was a fire station at Sixth and Hill Streets in Louisville, KY. A close relationship with fire departments as Safe Place partners continues to this day across the country.

Soon after it began, interest in the Safe Place program prompted the replication of the program in other communities. With a small federal grant, a comprehensive operations manual was produced. Today National Safe Place operates as its own non-profit organization, with a Board of Directors dedicated to expanding the program to reach youth in crisis, most recently with its new TXT 4 Help program were kids can text the word SAFE and their current address to 69866 to locate the nearest Safe Place site."

Visit the Safe Place website!

Thanks to our MMH Street Team members that gave up their day and traveled the distance to serve! We appreciate you!