Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope

Thursday January 10, 2013
7:00 PM
Join local author Tina Kelley as she reads from her book Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope which tells the coming-of-age stories of six extraordinary children, now young adults, from across North America.

Each year, as many as two million young people in the United States become homeless, on their own. An overwhelming number of them are forced from home because of violence, neglect or rejection, and many age out of foster care with no place to call home. In Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope (Wiley; October 2012), Covenant House President Kevin Ryan and Tina Kelley, who shared in a Pulitzer Prize at The New York Times, show how despite almost unimaginable suffering and adversity, these six profiled children exceeded almost everyone’s expectations as they fought to make their dreams come true.

Almost Home isn’t just about the six young people profiled in the book. It pays tribute to the hard work done by mentors and supporters as well—the adults who see a child in need, and work with him or her to make it through hard times. The stories in this book are a testimony to the power of having someone in your corner, cheering you on when the outlook is bleak.

Tina is on the staff of Covenant House founded in 1972 “with the mission to help homeless youth escape the streets.” She was a reporter at The New York Times for ten years and was part of its coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks that won a Pulitzer Prize. She also ran The Local, a news blog covering Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange, for the Times. Previously, Tina worked at the Seattle Times and Philadelphia Inquirer. Her first book of poems, The Gospel of Galore, (Word Press, 2003) won a Washington State Book Award.

Covenant House is the largest charity helping homeless, runaway, and trafficked children and youth in the Americas. Each night about 1,300 kids stay at the charity’s shelters across the U.S. and Canada, and each year Covenant House shelters more than 11,000 youth, most between the ages of 16 and 21. Tens of thousands more benefit from the organization’s mobile van outreach and hotline. The authors’ total proceeds from the sale of each book will help support kids who benefit from Covenant House’s shelter and outreach services.

This event was co-sponsored by Covenant House.
 

This program is supported through funding from the Friends of the Morristown & Morris Township Library.