Area Shelter Sees Record Number of Homeless Kids

By: Adam Uhernik - Email

Updated: Tue 5:51 AM, Nov 13, 2012

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A local shelter is seeing more homeless kids come through their door than ever before, and during homeless hunger awareness week they want you to know about them.

On a chilly fall day in Grand Island you may not see them, but someone some where is homeless, many of them kids.

"The average age of homelessness in our area of Grand Island is fourteen years old and when you think of that, that is a pretty staggering age," said Hope Harbor Executive Director Melissa DeLaet.

Officials say homeless people often live in places like parks - under a bridge - or other areas when shelters are full.

"You have to learn how to adapt, and to endure and tolerate things that you normally wouldn't tolerate and endure," said Yvonne Kornagay who was once homeless.

Kornagay says she is lucky to be staying at Hope Harbor, which is an emergency shelter for women children and families.

"It saved me from being out on the street again," commented Kornagay.

Right now 35 kids and 20 adults live at the shelter, which is the largest child population in the history of the shelter.

"And those kids all live here and with each others families and they are just kind of one big family in the shelter," said DeLaet.

They don't have room for everyone. Kornagay says she has seen plenty of kids living in vans and cars parked on the streets.

"You hear them crying at night, most of the time they will be hungry," said Kornagay.

She says it's a tough reality and it happens more than you might think.