Helping Homeless Teens in the Cold

She found several people in need at Cincinnati’s downtown library. Cincinnati police officers partner with Lighthouse Youth Services for street outreach to help homeless youth.

Officer Johnson said, “There’s just too many youth out there that are suffering. We find people dead. It’s scary, but it’s happening.”

They gave out care bags with gloves, hats, scarves, toiletries and other items to help. However, the biggest mission is to get youth off the streets, into shelter, and connected to resources. Lighthouse is president and CEO says the organization’s mission is to end youth homelessness by the year 2020.

Paul Haffner took over as president and CEO in August. Haffner worked into the evening with others to engage homeless youth.

He said, “You get into December and the winter months and you really want to make sure the youth are being brought into shelter if possible. You don’t want people out there in these temperatures.”