Member-only story
Diapers and Socks and Laws, Oh My!
Counting on COMPASSION to make life better for kids experiencing homelessness.
Journalist Suzanne Baker managed to take the nebulous topic — my life’s mission — with plenty of complicated side stories and make sense of it in her June 28th story in the Naperville Sun, “Activist for homeless to launch latest journey with Naperville diaper, sock collection.” I appreciate the attention, which competes with media coverage of much more significant concerns.
For people in the Naperville, IL area, family and youth homelessness might be an issue that has escaped you. Be assured, it is real, as it is in communities of all types across our nation. While invisible, this occurrence causes life-changing impact. And, to put it crassly, the cost of this falls upon all of us.
Twenty-six years ago, Tyeast Boatwright and her 3 children were involuntarily moving from their doubled-up homelessness in Naperville, caused by domestic upheaval, into the next level of homelessness, living at the Transitional Living Center at Hesed House in Aurora where I was running the PADS shelter. Her family’s circumstances provided an invaluable lesson…
