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The Chilling Facts
Every night, more than 800 homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in Detroit have no choice but to sleep on the streets. These young people have either been kicked out of their own homes for being LGBT or escape to the streets to flee abusive homes.
If you asked most of these young people where they sleep at night, their answers would chill you to the bone. They sleep in abandoned homes and buildings, on park benches, squat with friends, or engage in survival sex work just to get a roof over their head for a night. In the winter, this number increases to a staggering level.
People often ask us: "If there are so many homeless youth in Detroit, why do we only see adults on the streets?" The tragic fact is that Detroit’s cash-starved runaway and homeless youth services have few options other than to send many of these youth back to the homes they fled in the first place.
That's why the Ruth Ellis Center, which already provides support services to more than 4,000 homeless, at-risk, and runaway LGBT youth each year, is launching the End the Chill campaign to give these invisible youth a voice and a warm place to stay this Winter.
End The Chill
By donating to the End the Chill campaign you can help us meet our minimum goal of $20,000, which local corporations have pledged to match. That community funding will allow us to keep our drop-in center open longer as a place for our homeless LGBT youth to find warmth on cold winter nights.
This situation is unacceptable, but no one in Detroit, or in the rest of the country, has to accept it. A small donation can make a big difference in these kids' lives, and help move us closer to a day when no youth has to sleep in a place like this simply because they are LGBT. We hope that the Detroit community, and the LGBT community around the country, will join us in helping us End the Chill.
