Street Outreach

By Casey Rudd

Recently Eddie and I were in Kalispell for a few days to raise awareness with local agencies about the criminal justice system, drugs in Montana, and HIV/HepC stats across the state. On our schedule was a visit to the Dragon’s Den on Main St. to have a class and educate over 50 runaway and homeless youth, some of whom live in Woodland Park. We were excited to meet these young people and talk to them about what’s going on in Kalispell. Wednesday night we held our group, told our stories and educated them on the risks of HIV and Hepatitis C. These were some of the most attentive young people we have ever had in our groups. They ranged in age from 14 to 21, were male and female and some had babies of their own. They were respectful, asked questions and genuinely wanted to learn how to change their lives and high risk behaviors. At the end of class some wanted to be tested for HIV and HepC. They shared with Eddie and me some of their stories of abuse, drugs and other very high risk behaviors. I liked the way they referred to themselves as family and looked out for each other and checked in with each other when it was time to leave. We had heard of this group of kids and their amazing story about a week before we actually met them. I had no idea we were about to meet some other pretty amazing people on this trip as well. Like Shawn Stipe the owner of the Dragon’s Den and the honorary DAD of this group. Shawn has opened the back of his shop for these kids to have a place to go at night. He helps them with job counseling and links them to agencies in town that can help. He recently opened a drug and alcohol free night club off Hwy2 that gives the youth a safe place to go on Friday and Saturday nights, instead of wandering the streets and drawing the interest of police.

As we visited other places on the way home and told others about these young people in Kalispell we found that others had a heart to help these kids, and some amazing stories came out of this one. Like the two little girls with huge hearts in Billings named Caitlinn (12) and Makayla (10) who gathered together a bunch of backpacks and socks to give these kids in Kalispell. These two brave little girls are not without their own challenges. Their mother has cancer and is recovering from the treatment while their dad has serious health problems as well. But even with all that going on at home these girls have a heart to reach out to other kids that are struggling that they have never even met.

As we continued our trip towards home I was reminded of the homeless kids we had in Bozeman about 10 years ago that we found living in cardboard condos and under bushes and trees. Those kids just wanted dry socks it was getting cold and winter was coming. We took them a duffle bag of socks and some sleeping bags, water and oranges. No matter how many youth groups or programs Bozeman had those particular kids were not welcome at any of them. Some of those kids ended up in prison and we write to them still today. Others moved on to other cities.

As we write our plans for our programs in the coming year let us not forget to include those high risk youth around Montana that need the education, safety and friendship of others. I for one have a renewed hope for our youth and the kind of people they are growing up to be. If only more of us were like Shawn, Caitlinn, and Makayla and willing to reach out to those less fortunate that we don’t even know, maybe our prisons wouldn’t be so over crowded and our loved ones wouldn’t be so lost and we could make a huge positive change in society and the world.

John W. Olson is an openly gay bail bondsman and business owner in Bozeman. Since February 2007, he has been an Outreach Worker for Montana Targeted Prevention, giving free and anonymous HIV and Hepatitis C tests.

In January of 2008, with a grant from the Pride Foundation–via the Gallatin Valley Human Rights Task Force–he created the online Bozeman Resource Center.

The Resource Center includes a website, email updates, new local events, and opportunities such as the Queer Youth Support Group (which begins this September).

Since its inception, John has helped the Bozeman Resource Center grow from a strictly online local resource to an organization with the capacity to lead conferences.