A new home for shelter benefits kids in program

Children living at Daybreak are happy to be allowed outside at the new house.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A program that has provided shelter for more than 7,000 runaway, throwaway, homeless and abused kids just got a new home and is holding an open house today to show it off.
Daybreak Youth Crisis Shelter has offered refuge to kids in crisis since January 1976. Since then, thousands of children, most between the ages of 12 and 17, have sought shelter and help in resolving their problems, reuniting with their families or finding alternative places to live. Back then, no one stayed at the Daybreak house on Youngstown's North Side more than 30 days, said David Arnold, president and chief executive officer of Family Service Agency, which operates the shelter.
But the problems today's kids have are often more complicated, requiring longer stays, said Jan Baharis, Daybreak program director and Family Service Agency chief operating officer.
Because the kids stay longer, the house they occupy and the neighborhood where it stands has become more of an issue. The house on the North Side had fewer bedrooms, requiring residents to move their belongings and switch sleeping arrangements whenever the ratio of girls to boys changed. The neighborhood also changed over the years, becoming less friendly for children, Baharis said.
What they found
Recognizing that a move was in order, Family Service Agency, with generous support from several foundations and area businesses, obtained and renovated a more suitable house on the city's South Side.
Daybreak's new house at 2611 Homestead is open today from 3-5 p.m.
Originally built for the superintendent of Woodside Receiving Hospital, the house has five bedrooms plus an overflow room, two bathrooms, two offices for counselors who staff the facility around the clock, living room, dining room, kitchen and basement with a rec room and laundry facilities.
There are lots of windows -- new windows donated by Pitzulo Brothers, Bi-Rite Windows and Excel Exteriors -- so there is a lot of natural light, Baharis said. Plus, the house is in a quiet, family neighborhood close to a park, is across the street from Woodrow Wilson High School where Daybreak kids have a self-contained classroom, and is within walking distance of Family Service Agency's headquarters.
Thankful for change
A handful of children formerly housed at Daybreak's original house on the North Side appreciate the change.
"We can go outside here. We weren't allowed outside at the other place," one of the children offered.
Another child likes sharing bedrooms with only one roommate. Two siblings who hadn't seen each other in more than a year were able to share a room -- just like old times -- and catch up, one of the children noted.
"Ain't no telling where I'd be if I weren't here," said another.
A younger child just shrugged. "I don't know where I'd be, either."
Baharis said she is hoping to have a basketball hoop installed in the back yard so residents can play without going to the park. Children are not allowed to go to the nearby park without an adult supervisor.
kubik@vindy.com