SuperMomSpotlight~Shaylee Hatch Shares with us her Homeless Experience

SuperMomSpotlights are our way of connecting powerful influential people to your lives and inspire us through their true stories.

I am excited to introduce to you a dear friend, a light of hope and leader of youth…Shaylee Hatch.   Shaylee has a true story of faithfulness, courage and leadership.  Join me as we get to know her and share in her journey.

SMT: You are a young lady with a mission.  When did you first recognize your passion to help other people?  How did Temporary Home Foundation come to be?

SMH: Helping people has always been a passion of mine, even when I was a little kid it’s always been a huge part of who I am. My first big fundraiser I put on was my sophomore year in high school and that’s when I realized I was capable of making an impact on someone’s life and I instantly fell in love with that and wanted to keep going! Temporary Home was inspired by a few girls who I met in my high school choir class. Before talking to these girls and hearing their stories, the word foster care system was never in my mind or vocabulary, but then I heard what happens to these 18 year olds who “age out” of the foster care system and learned that 65% of these youth need immediate housing upon release at the age of 18, most of the time they don’t have people to rely on. I instantly knew I needed to change that.

SMT:  Who would you say has been the most influential in your journey?

SMH: Oh, that is a hard question to answer! I’ve been blessed and have had many influential people in my life like my great grandma, teachers, and mentors but honestly as of right now the person in my life who has been the most influential person in Tiffany Peterson.

SMT:  How has their support helped you to realize your dreams.

SMH: Tiffany has taught me that I am creator of the quality of my life and that I get to create the life I want, I have never believed in myself or my capability to achieve my dreams as much as I do now after receiving her support, it is life changing and then she continues every day without fail to inspire me! Her support has truly been what I have needed to really pursue my dreams with all of my heart. 

SMT:  Tell us about the day you decided to experience being a homeless youth and start #projectImHome?

SMH: Well I was at work, I am a nanny so I was making Macaroni and Cheese, while I was waiting for the water to boil I got on Facebook and read about a pastor who went undercover homeless and was shocked by the reaction of his congregation.  That article really hit me and literally in that moment I knew I needed to take action instead of just telling people about Temporary Home, I needed to go out there and show people. I have never felt stronger to do something in my life and it’s been the craziest, most challenging and uncomfortable thing I have ever done but by far the absolute most powerful experience I could have asked for.

SMT:   Did you experience being treated differently as a homeless youth?

SMH: Yes, honestly it was hard not being looked at as a person. You might be thinking what does that even mean? Well, I would smile at people and literally they would see me but it was like I was not there, almost as if I was a ghost yet I was in complete sight of people but they did everything to avoid really seeing me. I was ignored, felt like I was being judged and constantly overlooked.  To say it was a humbly experience is an understatement.  But, I am so grateful for that because I made a commitment in that moment to ALWAYS not only look at every homeless person I meet and see, regardless if I have extra change or food for them I will always, always, always at least smile at them and acknowledge them.

SMT:  What would you do now that you have experienced living on the streets? 

SMH: My first thing is to ask people to show more respect and kindness to the homeless people in their communities, now that doesn’t mean always handing them your spare change or buying them food, whatever that is for you is great but we are all human and I would just love to see people being less judgmental towards the homeless population in general and be more willing to help them regardless of why they are in that situation. I received a little taste of what it’s like to be out there, just a little tiny glimpse and it was rough and I am at least 100 times more passionate and motivated about getting Temporary Home going than I ever have been so now my call to action is to make it Temporary Home happen on a whole new level!

SMT:  What in your opinion is the most important thing needed?

SMH: I think awareness is the most important thing, not just knowing about it though but really being aware of how big of an issue homeless in youth is and seeing that we need to do something and change it. Sadly this issue is everywhere, and we all have the opportunity to do something about it.

SMT:  How can we help?

SMH: There are so many ways to help, which I think is so amazing! You can help by going to Temporary Home’s website and make a donation, spreading the word on how big of issue homeless in youth is and sharing what Temporary Home is a lot about and sharing our vision itself is a huge help! Also you can help local homeless people in your communities by donating blankets, jackets, food etc. by giving them to organizations like Soul Food USA or even dropping them off to your local shelters. Always remember that anything helps and its incredible to see how something so small in your eyes be a life changing thing in someone’s life it is so powerful, just never under estimate your ability to impact someone else’s life because we all have the potential to make the world a better place!

SMT:  What do you see happening in the near future for #projectimhome  or The Temporary Home Foundation?

SMH: I see #Project I’m Home continuing to help spread awareness on the issue of homelessness in youth and then, I see it raising awareness for Temporary Home Foundation’s vision and help let people know what we are doing and why. One day I see Temporary Home Foundation being a very well-known nonprofit organization that is helping in every community and changing the lives of aged out foster youth for the better it is my strongest passion and my greatest goal!

Get to know Shaylee even more by connecting with her of Facebook, visit her website and watch her videos about her Thanksgiving Homeless experience.   She is accepting donations to build her non profit organization.  Please help make this a reality.

We know there are many SuperMoms and influential people.  But we need your help to connect and share their stories. If you have someone in your life that you would like to nominate for our SuperMomSpotlights please send am email to stephanie@supermomtested.com subject line: SuperMomSpotlight nominatio