Showing up for kids on the margins
Abbey Fagan
Young Life ONE goes after “the one.” The one kid who will be sleeping in a car. The one who will be moved to another foster home. The one lost in the sex-trafficking world. The one recently incarcerated.
The newest specialized ministry within Young Life, the people of Young Life ONE hear a call to let vulnerable youth know they belong, and that they’re loved, safe and can have a bright future.
Rachel Karmen came on Young Life staff in 2015 with a focus on homeless youth in San Diego. An evident need for ministry dedicated to vulnerable youth led to the official launch of Young Life ONE in 2020. Her growing team of staff and volunteer leaders are now in 46 areas across the United States — all with the same mission to tell "the one" about Jesus.
In Young Life, leaders earn the right to be heard.
In Young Life ONE, leaders simply earn the right to show up.
That’s what Rachel did for the entire first year. She kept building relationships with staff and students at Monarch School (San Diego, California), the first school in the U.S. dedicated to educating students impacted by homelessness. But doubts started rolling in. What was she doing? Would it ever make a difference?
Then she made a new friend — Genesis.
Genesis came face-to-face with homelessness during middle school when her single mom of four was evicted. Genesis eventually enrolled in Monarch School, and it was here in 2016 the high school student met Rachel.
“There was an immediate connection in my heart to Genesis,” Rachel says, “even before we built a relationship. I walked in the room and thought, There’s a girl I want to know.”
Their friendship slowly grew. Rachel showed up. They played card games like UNO. Rachel kept showing up, and they kept playing. One day, Rachel shared with Genesis about a Young Life camp called Woodleaf, and Genesis began recruiting friends from school to come to camp with her.
“Doesn’t He leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.”
— Luke 15:4-6a, NIV
All week at camp the two continued to bond. On the last day of camp came a bombshell. The 17-year-old confided she was pregnant.
That moment at camp was the next step in an unexpected journey for the two friends. Despite sharing her secret, Genesis found Rachel continued to show up in her life.
Genesis remembers living in uncertainty, with a lack of stability and support surrounding her. “I was very scared because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew Rachel was there with me.”
Rachel was there when they went to the clinic to get a positive pregnancy blood test. Rachel was there in the car saying, “Let’s pray,” as Genesis and her now fiancé, Josh, sat scared. Rachel was there along the way, checking in.
“I thought she was weird,” Genesis said. “Why would she be checking up on a homeless girl who didn’t have many people around her? Why does this person want to know how my doctor’s appointment was? What does she want?”
Rachel never stopped showing up.
She was in the delivery room when Viviana came into the world. Rachel was there when Genesis and Josh were in transitional housing at 19 years old. She was there when they separated for a time.
“During the dark times, I prayed to God to physically feel Him, and He sent Rachel,” Genesis said. “Anytime I needed a hug, she would just hug me. I felt His unconditional love through her. In our community, we were so caught up in, ‘Are we going to have food on the table? Are we going to have a home? What shelter are we going to be at tonight? Are my parents going to be there? Is there going to be a person that makes me feel unsafe?’ With all those thoughts running through my head and for Rachel to step in even just a little bit, I knew there was hope if there are people like her.”
Statistics
- There are 2.5 million youth in the United States who are incarcerated, homeless, trafficked or in foster care.
- The average foster youth lives in 13 different homes before the age of 18.
- Within one year of being released, 55% of incarcerated youth will be arrested again.
- Within two years of aging out of foster care, 66% of adolescents are dead, homeless or in jail.
- Around 60% of child sex trafficking victims have been in the foster care system.
* Stats taken from Chapin Hall’s Voices of Youth Count Study
Rachel was there when Viviana needed clothes, asking her “mom-friends” for help. She brought over three bags, and they had a photoshoot. With the clothes Genesis didn’t need, she gave them to other teen moms. Through no fault of her own Genesis lived in positions where she struggled; it was tempting to hold onto physical things given to her, but Genesis didn’t stop giving.
She continues to give. Genesis was a surrogate mother last year because she wants “to give everyone all the babies.” She started volunteering for her local YoungLives last year too, walking alongside other teen moms, celebrating and loving them where they are. She is now the one showing up like Rachel did for her. Genesis has two young daughters and an upcoming wedding (Rachel is the officiant), yet she continues to give her time and her love of Jesus to others.
The love Genesis and Rachel have for each other is undeniable. They see each other as family. Their families see each other as family — as Genesis had been dying to see “who created this person that is Rachel?” Their families met in 2021.
The level of trust and respect they feel toward one another is proof of how God brings people together, people who might not have ever met if it wasn’t for games of UNO at Monarch School.
God longs for “the one” to know His unconditional and never-changing love for them. He’s used Rachel and Young Life ONE to remind Genesis of how He will always provide through the people she meets.
“Rachel has sparked this whole organization of Young Life into my life. I have people in different places who have offered their homes to us and another family offered their backyard for our wedding in June. They’re rooting for us. It’s cool to see people step into, not only my life, but my family’s. Even though we aren’t students anymore, people are still sticking by us.”
Lessons
Lessons we can learn from vulnerable youth like Genesis
These kids are everywhere.
There’s a strong chance kids like Genesis are in your neighborhood, town or city, but they blend in. It’s our job to develop the eyes to see and love them.
These kids are not all troublemakers.
Honestly, most are not. There’s a sweetness and sense of wisdom we can learn from kids who’ve seen more challenges than most have at their age.
Stay soft and kind in a world that is not.
The world can make us bitter because it’s often hard and unkind. But when kids find community and the love of Jesus, they’re free to become more empathetic and caring.