Greetings!

A table covered with handwritten pages tells only part of this story.

During a recent People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos program at the Lancaster County Youth Intervention Center, young women navigating homelessness and in transition gathered weekly with coordinator Scott Feifer to listen as literary short stories and poems were read aloud, discuss what they discovered - and then write.

One day, a participant greeted Scott by saying:

“I’m so excited.”

In his final report submitted following the eight-week series, Scott wrote that he assumed she had received good news about going home or moving to a new placement.

When he asked what had happened, she answered:

“Because we’re doing this!”

Over a period of eight weeks this summer, these young women talked about home as something one might miss - while also needing to escape. They considered grief, family, trust, boundaries, and what it means to begin seeing your own history differently.

As they read and discussed stories together, they reflected on how the circumstances and labels that may define one moment in a person’s life can never tell the whole story.

Creating a safe space for personal recognition is at the heart of People & Stories.

Around the table, the young women listened closely, challenged one another’s interpretations, and, inspired by weekly writing prompts provided by Scott, transformed the stories into words of their own.

Another young woman told Scott that the program gave her an opportunity to express herself, to feel heard, and to receive responses she deeply needed on that particular day.

The handwritten pages above hold grief, insight, courage, humor, questions and hope. Most of all, they remind us that no label or moment in time contains or defines a person's life.

We are grateful to the Youth Intervention Center staff for welcoming People & Stories, and most sincerely to Scott for creating a space where these young women were able to find and share their voices - and truly be heard.

With many warm hugs,

Debra

Debra Lampert-Rudman, M.Ed.

Executive Director

debra@peopleandstories.org

This program was presented with generous support from PNC Charitable Trusts.