Teen Haven helps reach the next generation to build a better future.
Launching teens from Lancaster City into a life of leadership and purpose. By providing a healthy community to thrive in, and mentoring them to become leaders in their city, churches and schools, Teen Haven is building a better foundation for a brighter future.
Part of caring for our teens means launching them off into colleges or potential careers after high school. Through working with community partners and volunteers we have launched Thrive, which provides teens access to experiences with career options, whether that be programming, entrepreneurship, graphic design, or a myriad of other options. The goal is inspiration and an opportunity for teens to thrive moving forward as adults.
Jesse was born addicted to drugs and he had a hole in his heart. His Aunt prayed with great passion for Jesse to be healed, and he was, and so, his chance at life began. As a baby he was adopted by a close family member, yet his biological mother was always in his life.
It wasn’t until later in life, around high school, when Jesse really started to feel some deep pain about his childhood. He says he made choices to feel better, but they weren’t the best for his future. He made it through high school then joined the Army. Eventually he moved to Lancaster where he got connected to Teen Haven’s Sunday night church service, Activ8. Jesse says his experience at Teen Haven positively changed his life.
Since she was eleven years old, Teen Haven has been a big part of growing up for Regina. While attending Renew Conference for Teen Girls, Regina got the chance to embrace a new form of worship, one she had not practiced since she entered her teenage years. Being encouraged to use creativity in their worship, she picked up a flag, and began dancing.
Since then, Regina has jumped at the chance to dance with flags again during Sunday church, describing her experience as feeling “completely alone with God in that moment.” Through Teen Haven, Regina has discovered her spiritual gift, boldly stepping out to speak edifying words when she hears God’s voice. Through her gifts, she is constantly seeking to care for and be a blessing to other young girls. She is dedicated to continuing to bless others as she grows in the spirit, spreading her joy and love to her community!
*Name changed to protect identity.
Teen Haven has around 950 students attend events annually and consistently serves over 80 teens a week through weekly programs. You can make a difference in their lives through giving to Water Street.
Dear Friends,
Throughout this season, we have encountered a number of challenges in operating our shelter safely. Thankfully we have been blessed to see no community spread among our guests. This is due not only to the work of our team, but also the ways that upgrades to our facilities came at just the right time.
For example, Providence Shelter, which opened in November 2019, provides additional spacing and a top-tier air filtration system. We have also been able to implement the same air filtration standards in our dining hall prior to the most recent wave of COVID.
Because a high percentage of our guests have preexisting health conditions, we have had to be diligent in our safety protocols, doing our best to ensure their safety. For us that has included implanting all CDC disinfecting, masking and social distancing from the very beginning. This has led to major changes in roles and responsibilities of staff. Staff have taken over disinfecting in shifts all over campus. They have also delivered much of our support services and programs through zoom, hosting counseling sessions and classes virtually and meeting in-person with plexi-glass dividers only when necessary.
For meals, we’ve changed preparation and delivery to help minimize interaction of guests who live in different facilities. At times that has meant delivering meals to certain Residential Floors so we can keep smaller groups in the dining hall. We have also had to restrict guests’ travel on and off campus to only essential trips such as going to work, the doctors, shopping etc., in order to minimize unnecessary exposure.
Another change in this season has been how we do intakes. Currently, the intake process requires new guests to be tested for COVID-19. They await their test results in a separate temporary shelter we have set up, before entering Providence Emergency Shelter.
All of these changes have been made while severely limiting the number of volunteers on campus. At one point, all volunteering was completely put on hold. Now, we are running with a third of our normal volunteers.
And it’s been tiring, for both staff and guests. We have had times where many staff were working remotely due to their own health risks. Other times where staff or guests have been quarantined due to exposures. But even with all of the schedule changes, increased overtime, and cross-shift working, our team has done an amazing job persevering through all of the challenges.
What to Expect This Winter Typically we have over 200 total guests on campus, over 100 in our Residential Programs over and 100 in our Emergency Shelters. Although our Residential capacity remains about the same, we have had to reduce the available beds in Providence Shelter to ensure safe spacing overnight from about 75 to 55.
Winter always presents its own challenges, so we anticipate this year will be no different. Women in our Providence Shelter have moved over to the shelter at St. Mary’s across the street, run by the Lancaster Food Hub. During their stay there they have full access to all of our services, including showers, food and staff support. Not only does having women shift to St. Mary’s enable us to free up additional beds for men, it will help us keep the shelter populations separate and limit the risk of spread.
Thank You We have been so encouraged by the support we have received this year. Without a community coming around us and our guests, we would not be able to keep our guests safe and continue to guide them in their restoration journeys. We truly couldn’t do what we do without you.
Jack Crowley
President
