For homeless youth, Walkin’ In My Shoes is a life saver By JESSICA STEPHEN: jstephen@kenoshanews.com Renee is a college student and a community volunteer. She’s also homeless. “I just thought I was better than this,” said Renee, who didn’t want people to know her full name. Despite studying nursing at Gateway Technical College and volunteering at Walkin’ In My Shoes, a drop-in center for homeless youth, Renee said she feels like she’s let herself down for not being able to earn enough money for an apartment. And while her volunteer work at Walkin’ In My Shoes and other community organizations in Kenosha lifts her spirits and gives her a sense of purpose, her eyes filled with tears when she talked about needing to rely on some of those same services. “I’m struggling right now,” said Renee, 22, of Kenosha. “Sometimes, I try not to think about it. It’s overwhelming.” She’s not alone. Homeless youth Renee is one of about 15 young adults, ages 18 to 21, who come to Walkin’ in My Shoes, 2211 50th St. Most are enrolled in school or working, but don’t have a place to live, said JoAnna Wynn, the organization’s founder. At least twice a day, Wynn gets calls from young people who are technically old enough to take care of themselves but don’t have the resources — usually a job or a job that pays enough — to afford housing. “I call them my kids, our kids,” Wynn said. They are kids, a few of them with kids of their own, although most do not have children. Several were asked to leave their homes after turning 18, despite pleas for help and offers to pay the rent. Some aged out of foster care. Others fled abuse. Some have parents in prison, while others have no parents at all. Aims to reunite family That’s the case for Lenae, 20, also of Kenosha. Lenae is studying at Gateway Technical College to become a chef. “She’s also trying to reunite all of her siblings,” Wynn said. Lenae didn’t want her last name used to protect her family, which includes four siblings ages 13 to 24. Lenae is working to become her youngest sister’s guardian, a responsibility she can’t legally assume until she is 21. Lenae was 11 when her mother died from breast cancer. The loss was painful, but when her mom died, Lenae lost a woman she never really knew; Lenae and her siblings were taken away from their mother when they were very young, she said. Lenae was 15 when her father died of cancer. The loss was a blow in every way. “For a minute, I was homeless,” she said. Her family splintered, and Lenae moved in with a brother, but his fianceé kicked her out. A school counselor found Lenae a foster mother, but she’s too old for that anymore. Lenae dropped her head to stare at her hands. “I really don’t need anything,” she said. She has a place to live. She started school last January. And she has a job — one of three she’s held since coming to Kenosha. Still, she said, “It’s real hard trying to live without your parents’ support. I wish they were here all the time. I’ll make it though.” Wynn provides support Lenae, like Renee and several others at Walkin’ In My Shoes, said she feels like she can make it through her struggles because of Wynn. “When times are hard and you feel like giving up and you wish you had someone to talk to, I have JoAnna’s shoulder to cry on,” Lenae said. Several of the young women at the drop-in center consider Wynn a kind of foster mom, even though all she can offer them, besides her love, is a warm place to check e-mail, search for jobs and look through donated clothes. Wynn also encourages her kids to volunteer in the community. “It’s an outlet for them because they’re not just thinking about their problems. It gives them purpose, too,” Wynn said. A sense of pride For Shay, a 20-year-old who has been on her own since she was 14, filing paperwork and taking inventory of donations at Walkin’ In My Shoes has instilled a sense of pride she never thought possible. “I wasn’t always the young woman that you see right now. I was bad, doing things that I wasn’t supposed to do, that I hadn’t been raised to do,” said Shay, an admitted drug user, who didn’t want her full name used. Shay moved from Baltimore, where a first cigarette at age 13 sent her tumbling down a dark hole of addiction to PCP, a drug Shay said far-eclipsed meth, cocaine or even heroin. In Kenosha, Shay found supportive grandparents and friends who didn’t tempt her to do drugs. Shay, who is working toward a cosmetology apprenticeship, also found Walkin’ In My Shoes, an agency she has used for a hand-up and then offered a hand-out as volunteer. “It’s helping me with my self-esteem and my confidence,” she said. “You have to have it, really, to make it in this world