CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The Project Home Foundation has been giving 17 to 21-year-old young men a safe and stable home environment since 2017. Now, they’re looking for the community’s help to fill their home.
Kim Wilson, a leadership development strategist, was the principal at R.B. Stall High School in North Charleston when he noticed an ongoing problem with some of his male students: homelessness.
“What we found out was that when they became homeless, they would just drop out of school because they had to pay for their food, they had to pay for their rent, they had to become an adult,” Wilson said.
With help from his mother-in-law Mickey Welch, the community, and several businesses, Wilson and his team wanted to create an environment that could help young men stay in school. In 2017, they built a home from the ground up, and opened it up to young men ages 17 through 21.
“We have that specific age because those are the ones that have to go into the adult male shelters,” Project Home President Dr. Kathi Love said.
Now four years later, the Project Home team is hoping they can help the next group of young men succeed by giving them a safe home.
Four young men can live at Mickey’s House at once, and they must be enrolled in school.
Clothing, food, transportation is provided, and they are under the care of house parents like Tracy Johnson Senior. Wilson says, they are treated like family.
“I actually feel like it gives them a chance to go on with their dreams,” Tracy Johnson Sr. said.
Love said some of the young men who have lived at the home have gone on to not only graduate high school but go off to college, technical school, the military, and the work force.
“I think we’re meeting our goal of having kids continue on and do something great with their life and give them hopes and dreams like the everybody else wants,” Wilson said.
As for the future, Love said she hopes that they will be able to open more homes to different populations. If you know a young man who could benefit from Project Home, you can visit projecthomesc.org.
– WCSC Live 5 News
Source: Lowcountry organization providing stable home for young men seeking community’s help
