I’ll Be Home…

Home for the Holidays. For many this is a given, but what if you don’t have a place to call home? Many of the DrawBridge kids we serve live in homeless shelters, safe houses or transitional housing, and although they have a temporary place to live, they don’t have a home of their own.

Home is something that most people cherish, and assume they will always have. Many homeless families have stable lives and homes, until one single circumstance forces a change: loss of a job, physical injury, rent increases or eviction. The impact on the family is devastating; the impact on the children is unfathomable.

Children often come into shelters in a state of trauma, uprooted and with no control over their lives. DrawBridge offers them a safe, familiar space in which to express themselves and work through some of the feelings they experience. Our facilitators see how art helps the healing process:

“It’s absolutely amazing how quickly the children began to exhibit a completely different set of behaviors: hugging, kind words, support for one another, laughter, deep focus, a commitment to their art projects, and respect. A sense of community and safety within this community was built through trust, support, shared emotional connection, sense of belonging and identification, thoughtfulness and care.”
Sonja L., DrawBridge Facilitator

The beauty of the holiday is not in the presents, but in the presence; the presence of family and those we trust, the presence of a safe space, and the confirmation of our own presence in the world.

“As much as this DrawBridge art group allowed for fun and creative exploration, it also allowed hope, the space to feel, to just be; to be heard and seen.”
Rachel Nova Howard, former DrawBridge Facilitator

Love. Family. Art. Sanctuary. All this makes a home.