Home Doesn’t Always Mean Housed
When MacKenzie first came to Outreach at the beginning of 2025, she had been staying in a shelter and wasn’t sure what her next steps in life would be.
“She had lost stability, safety, and direction,” said Outreach’s Resource Advocate, Maria. “She just wanted a chance at housing.”
MacKenzie came to Outreach for the basics: food, a shower, a safe place to replace important documents, but she stayed because of the connection and comfort she found with staff like Maria.
“We were walking with her every step of the way,” Maria said. “Providing support, meals, clothing…whatever she needed to get through each day.”
For months, MacKenzie showed up. She filled out paperwork, set goals, asked hard questions, and put in the work to rebuild the stability she’d lost. Slowly, her story began to shift.
With the support of Outreach’s YouthLink program, she was selected for transitional housing. It wasn’t an apartment of her own yet, but it offered far more safety and consistency than a shelter ever could.
From that moment forward, something in her spirit lifted. She started filling out job applications with more confidence. She talked more openly about her bigger goals. And recently, she attended a job fair, hopeful about landing a customer service role that could help carry her into her next chapter.
MacKenzie’s journey reminds us that home doesn’t always begin with a lease agreement. Sometimes all it takes is knowing you have people around you who care.
“Home is where the people you want to be with are,” Maria said. “MacKenzie tells us she can’t wait to come to Outreach, even though she has a place to stay now. Outreach is a new definition of home for her.”
Like many young people we serve, MacKenzie’s story is still unfolding. She is still building, still healing, still figuring out what her future will look like with newfound stability beneath her feet.
But this December, as we focus on My Own Home for the Holidays, we’re celebrating every step she has taken to get where she is today.
For some youth, home begins with a set of keys and an apartment of their own. For others, it looks like a warm room, a hot meal, and someone who refuses to give up on them.
You can be part of that story. You can help write the next chapter for youth like MacKenzie. Young people who are still walking toward stability, one determined step at a time.
This holiday season, your generosity can be the turning point. Give today and help a young person move closer to the safe, stable home they deserve.
