Homeless, but Hoping for a Return to College
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| Steve Demain at the Create shelter in Harlem, where residents are ages 18 to 26. He described the two months he spent at another shelter, on the East Side of Manhattan, as “scary.” |
Like many people his age, Steve Demain checks his Facebook page, reads the news, writes e-mails and surfs the Web on his laptop. But unlike a typical 20-year-old with a laptop, Mr. Demain is homeless.
“If you have the Internet, you have unlimited access to unlimited information,” Mr. Demain said one recent afternoon at Create, a homeless shelter in Harlem for young men. “I use the laptop to look for housing, colleges and jobs.”
His computer is a result of a $425 donation from The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, in conjunction with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, one of the seven beneficiary agencies of the fund.
Tall, lanky and baby-faced, with a scraggly beard, Mr. Demain has a dream of returning to college and studying philosophy, a subject, he says, he fell in love with during his one year at College of Lake County in Illinois: “It’s the study of thought; how beautiful is that?”
His hope is to one day become a professor.
Mr. Demain grew up in a middle-class suburb of Chicago. But as a teenager his relationship with his family, particularly with his father, became strained. His father, Mr. Demain said, often spoke to him harshly, and they fought constantly. “There was really not a thing I could do right in his eyes,” Mr. Demain said.
In summer 2009, Mr. Demain visited a friend at New York University. Two days before Mr. Demain was to return, his mother told him over the phone that his father did not want him back. “Basically I was stuck,” he said.
Mr. Demain’s father, Dan Demain, declined to comment. His mother, Aimee Demain, in a telephone interview, declined to describe the situation at home, saying only that “Steve decided that it would be better for him to leave.”
She added, “I miss him terribly.”
At first, Mr. Demain’s friend helped him with money for a hotel, but after a month, he felt he had no choice but to turn to a shelter. Before being placed at Create, he spent two months at the Bellevue Shelter on the East Side of Manhattan.
“Bellevue was scary,” said Mr. Demain, who remembered sharing a room with seven other men and a bathroom with 35. “I was with a bunch of guys who were old enough to be my dad, hearing them talk about going to jail, robbing people, smoking crack. It took a long time to get adjusted, but I had to adapt.”
Mr. Demain said he was lucky that one resident looked out for him: a nightclub bouncer named Jimmy who had become homeless after being kicked out of an ex-girlfriend’s apartment. “He’s basically the reason that nothing happened to me there,” he said.
Arriving at Create was a big relief. It is still a homeless shelter, but the residents there are all between 18 and 26. Today, Mr. Demain shares a sparse, dormitory-style room with one roommate. It has a bathroom, two beds, two lockers, two fans and two closets.
His counselors at Create have been impressed with Mr. Demain’s ability to make friends, despite the obvious differences in his background compared with many of his peers.
“My first impression was, oh my God, this kid has victim written all over him,” said William Boone, responsible for monitoring the progress of clients at Create. “But he started blending in with guys that traditionally even tough guys would have a hard time getting along with. There’s some element to him that attracts people. He has an accepting-type personality.”
In April, Mr. Demain found work at the Kmart in Pennsylvania Station. Since then, he has been working 35 hours a week in the store’s electronics department, making $7.75 an hour. His counselors at Create put aside 60 percent of his paychecks in savings for when he moves out of the shelter. Mr. Demain has applied for subsidized single-room occupancy housing and is waiting to hear if he has been accepted.
“My goal is for spring or summer next year to get back in school,” Mr. Demain said. He would like eventually to pursue a degree at Hunter College, but he knows it will be challenging.
Stephanie Ali, the vocation coordinator and mentor at Create, is confident that Mr. Demain has what it takes to succeed.
“He just needs a chance,” Ms. Ali said. “The good thing about Steve is he bounces back, takes it all in stride and just keeps on going.”
“If you have the Internet, you have unlimited access to unlimited information,” Mr. Demain said one recent afternoon at Create, a homeless shelter in Harlem for young men. “I use the laptop to look for housing, colleges and jobs.”
His computer is a result of a $425 donation from The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, in conjunction with Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, one of the seven beneficiary agencies of the fund.
Tall, lanky and baby-faced, with a scraggly beard, Mr. Demain has a dream of returning to college and studying philosophy, a subject, he says, he fell in love with during his one year at College of Lake County in Illinois: “It’s the study of thought; how beautiful is that?”
His hope is to one day become a professor.
Mr. Demain grew up in a middle-class suburb of Chicago. But as a teenager his relationship with his family, particularly with his father, became strained. His father, Mr. Demain said, often spoke to him harshly, and they fought constantly. “There was really not a thing I could do right in his eyes,” Mr. Demain said.
In summer 2009, Mr. Demain visited a friend at New York University. Two days before Mr. Demain was to return, his mother told him over the phone that his father did not want him back. “Basically I was stuck,” he said.
Mr. Demain’s father, Dan Demain, declined to comment. His mother, Aimee Demain, in a telephone interview, declined to describe the situation at home, saying only that “Steve decided that it would be better for him to leave.”
She added, “I miss him terribly.”
At first, Mr. Demain’s friend helped him with money for a hotel, but after a month, he felt he had no choice but to turn to a shelter. Before being placed at Create, he spent two months at the Bellevue Shelter on the East Side of Manhattan.
“Bellevue was scary,” said Mr. Demain, who remembered sharing a room with seven other men and a bathroom with 35. “I was with a bunch of guys who were old enough to be my dad, hearing them talk about going to jail, robbing people, smoking crack. It took a long time to get adjusted, but I had to adapt.”
Mr. Demain said he was lucky that one resident looked out for him: a nightclub bouncer named Jimmy who had become homeless after being kicked out of an ex-girlfriend’s apartment. “He’s basically the reason that nothing happened to me there,” he said.
Arriving at Create was a big relief. It is still a homeless shelter, but the residents there are all between 18 and 26. Today, Mr. Demain shares a sparse, dormitory-style room with one roommate. It has a bathroom, two beds, two lockers, two fans and two closets.
His counselors at Create have been impressed with Mr. Demain’s ability to make friends, despite the obvious differences in his background compared with many of his peers.
“My first impression was, oh my God, this kid has victim written all over him,” said William Boone, responsible for monitoring the progress of clients at Create. “But he started blending in with guys that traditionally even tough guys would have a hard time getting along with. There’s some element to him that attracts people. He has an accepting-type personality.”
In April, Mr. Demain found work at the Kmart in Pennsylvania Station. Since then, he has been working 35 hours a week in the store’s electronics department, making $7.75 an hour. His counselors at Create put aside 60 percent of his paychecks in savings for when he moves out of the shelter. Mr. Demain has applied for subsidized single-room occupancy housing and is waiting to hear if he has been accepted.
“My goal is for spring or summer next year to get back in school,” Mr. Demain said. He would like eventually to pursue a degree at Hunter College, but he knows it will be challenging.
Stephanie Ali, the vocation coordinator and mentor at Create, is confident that Mr. Demain has what it takes to succeed.
“He just needs a chance,” Ms. Ali said. “The good thing about Steve is he bounces back, takes it all in stride and just keeps on going.”
"Every year since 1911, New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families and the elderly in New York. Articles will appear daily through Jan. 30, illustrating the difference that even a modest amount of money can make in easing the struggles of the poor.
Last year, 10,428 donors contributed $6,280,242, which was distributed to those in need through seven New York charities."
Last year, 10,428 donors contributed $6,280,242, which was distributed to those in need through seven New York charities."
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