What young people need is permanency.
That’s the word Joshua Morgan-Griggs kept emphasizing in an optimistic keynote address at the 11th annual Hope and Recognition lunch, hosted by Clark County’s Council for the Homeless at the Hilton Vancouver Washington.
What is permanency? It’s a hot meal when you’re hungry. It’s comfort and care when you’re sick. It’s a place you know you can go, and people you can go to, when you’re in need.
“It’s family conversation,” Morgan-Griggs said. It’s that person who cheers you to the finish line and congratulates you for making it — even if you didn’t place.
Morgan-Griggs, 22, has lived in 11 foster placements and attended nine schools. When he was 6, his beloved mother — who taught him to love and respect everybody — gave him and his sister away to a family friend “because she thought we were holding her back,” he said.
It could have been a devastating dead-end to anything like a positive path through life, Morgan-Griggs said. His nearly endless shuffle through the Oregon foster care system was rife with abuse of all kinds — physical, emotional, sexual. Things got even worse when his mother died.
What saved him was the permanency that certain adults offered. Case managers, teachers, club advisers and volunteers who took time to build solid connections with Morgan-Griggs — and demonstrate that the connection wouldn’t go away.
Like the director of SkillsUSA, a national student leadership organization, who spotted Morgan-Griggs’ talent at public speaking and helped him grow it. Like the godmother who took him on trips and loaned him money — demonstrating faith that their relationship had a future. Like the friendly grown-up who bent some rules to teach Morgan-Griggs to drive.
“I call them my angels,” Morgan-Griggs said. “They helped to rebuild me after I crumbled into pieces. They are my permanency.”
Morgan-Griggs has been an officer of SkillsUSA and serves on the board of the Oregon Foster Youth Connection. He is a former officer and current member of FosterClub — a Seaside, Ore., organization with a website he highly recommends, http://www.fosterclub.com — and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in social work at Portland State University.
Oh, and: He means to become a United States Senator.
Remembering
The annual round of awards to advocates and volunteers was punctuated by an especially poignant note: Jim Hernandez, a staff member at the Council for the Homeless, died of lung cancer in April at age 54.
He was remembered by his partner, Joey Burgos, who said Hernandez’s deepest belief was simple: respecting and helping everybody.
Also honored were:
• Marion Noe, a volunteer for the Council’s Emergency Shelter Clearinghouse. Noe takes cold calls for help and is often the first point of contact for people facing a housing crisis. She was honored as “Quiet Hero.”
• Carrie Slayter, a volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul telephone help line and part-time staff at Friends of the Carpenter, was honored as “Community Partner.”
• Community Services Northwest’s Family Housing Program, providing housing and intensive case management, also was honored as “Community Partner.”
• Mandy Kubisch, program supervisor for the Janus Youth Yellow Brick Road program, helps young people in need of social services and also serves as a mentor. She was honored as “Community Advocate.”
• The Hazel Dell Lions Club, a regular contributor to the council. Members also support a sight-and-hearing van, the Fruit Valley Elementary Christmas store and the Clark County Food Bank warehouse. The club was honored as “Community Supporter” and Jeff Fish, club president, presented a new $1,000 donation to the council.
• Alana Smith, who served four years as a volunteer coordinator for Winter Hospitality Overflow — and is moving out of the area — was honored as a “Community Volunteer.”
Rabbi Elizabeth Dunsker of Congregation Kol Ami opened the gathering, noting that this is the weeklong holiday of Sukkot, when Jews build and inhabit flimsy and porous little huts, she said, so “we will remember our ancestors were homeless.”
“May there come a time all people can celebrate the great blessing of our homes, and no one is left on the streets,” she said.
Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525 or scott.hewitt@columbian.com.
