‘We’re all rowing in the same direction’: Personal stories highlight success for young people escaping poverty and homelessness

The annual breakfast for Youth Opportunities Unlimited was a hotbed of activism and hope for the future, CTV London's Gerry Dewan was there.

Personal stories of overcoming obstacles, including poverty and homelessness, highlighted the Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) fundraising breakfast Friday morning.

YOU Executive Director Steve Cordes told CTV News the annual breakfast gives people insight into how getting involved can make a difference, “When you experience it through somebody’s eyes and their experience and their greatest hope to share that story, I think we can all resonate. Nobody wants to see kids suffer in these ways.”

Two young people shared their experiences during Friday’s fundraising breakfast at RBC Place London. A video told the story of Jordan, who was struggling to find work. He discovered a passion for cooking after spending time in the YOU Made It Café, that is part of the organization’s efforts to assist young people trying to develop job skills. Jordan then found placements in kitchens with the help of YOU employment counsellors.

The video featured a conversation with Liz Saldivar-Jenkins, a YOU employment counsellor.

Salvidar-Jenkins asked Jordan, “Would you say that you’re proud of the job that you have?”

He responded, “Oh, yeah. Yeah. It definitely makes me feel like I’m at home.”

Emily Denouden then took the stage to tell her story. Abandoned by family as a young girl, she entered the foster care system.

She faced sexual abuse at the hands of caregivers, and then physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner. She soon found herself pregnant, and without supports, at a young age.

Denouden told the gathering, “Two months before giving birth, I found myself in a house meeting that YOU. Panic filled every inch of that room. We had nowhere to go.”

Youth Opportunities Unlimited found Emily and her daughter a place to stay, “YOU made sure that, even after everything, my daughter and I had a place to call home.”

Denouden said they also gave her additional help that she needed. She reconnected with her Indigenous heritage, taping into ancestral practices.

She has now authored her own book, called “The River Between Us.” In her closing address to the crowd, Denouden said, “For the young girl I once was who, after everything, didn’t just survive, she thrived, miigwetch – thank you.”

Denouden’s story brought those in the room to their feet.

YOU has become an integral part of the city’s effort to lift others from the streets and into housing.

They will open Joan’s Place for Youth later this month. It will offer 39 affordable housing units geared to young women who are pregnant or have young children.

Steve Cordes said while raising money through the breakfast is vital, he feels it also captures a momentum that has been created in the city which has people engaged on a personal level, “Advocating for more affordable housing, advocating for more reasonable income supports for people experiencing poverty and so on. So, I get a sense that we’re all rowing in the same direction more now.”