A Warm, Safe Holiday for Homeless Youth
It’s hard to wake up teenagers in the morning. It’s even harder to wake up homeless teenagers. They stay out late. They sleep poorly. They have bad dreams. And they may have nowhere to go.
The Overnight shelter in Harlem has a 9 a.m. deadline for its 18 guests, ages 16 to 21, to be up and out, and rousing them is one of the most stressful aspects of the job for her staff, said Liza Zaretsky, the director of the shelter, which is run by Streetwork, a division of the Safe Horizon victim assistance organization.
Then there is Christmas.
On Christmas, the shelter lets guests sleep as late as they like, in beds that are warm, clean and safe.
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