At-Risk Youth Giving Back
Quinn, 21, was part of a group of teenagers and young adults serving food recently at the shelter on Record street. He’s helping though he himself is living out of his own vehicle.
“We all have varying degrees of education and we’re living with parents or living alone or some of us are living on the streets as well. We understand how important it is to get people food and water and we just want to help people,” he said.
Like the others in this program he is a high school dropout. “I was super stupid and I was like, I'm going to be a musician and go into the world and you know, that doesn't always work out ... So, you know, finding a job has been difficult but this program has helped me not only find a job, but they give a stipend every week for education that you find. Come the 15th, I'll have a place,” he assured us when we met him.
“Young people should try their best to get out there. It seems like, especially when you're down in the dumps and down into the negative, it seems like that's all there is. But there's a lot of life out there. There's a lot of life to live, especially as a young person. You owe it to yourself and your future self especially to get out there and help people and help yourself,” Quinn (left) said. Members of the YouthBuild program pose in front of the Children’s Cabinet bus which dropped them off to do community service. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.
Moving Forward Again
Quinn says the Children’s Cabinet run program has given him new incentive to find a better track for himself. “I have regrets about my life getting me to this point, but this is now life less about regret and more about fixing mistakes and just getting myself moving forward again. They're helping me move along in my education to get my high school diploma. That kind of stuff is very, very helpful for somebody my age. Just direction and structure rather than just aimless wandering.”