The saying “home is where the heart is,” came alive as 15 eager teenagers of SHELTER, moved into their new home, “SHELTER 3”. The move was the climax of a three-year wait, when the first bricks were laid, so to speak, through the “Buy A Brick” campaign in 2002.

A house warming and thank-you event was held in April to celebrate the realization of SHELTER 3. In welcoming guests who included Encik Mohamed Umar bin Peer Mohamed, President of Petaling Jaya (South) Resident Society, committee members of Rukun Tetangga (Section 8), representatives of MCA Wanita and Youth, donors and neighbours, James Nayagam, Executive Director of SHELTER, said, “Their eagerness is made all the more poignant by the fact that a few years ago, the word, or notion, of ‘home’ was alien or non-existent for them, coming as they did from highly dysfunctional family backgrounds.”

James explained that the move, which meant merging the teenage boys from two homes (‘SHELTER 3’ and ‘SHELTER 5’) into one, was significant for various reasons. Firstly, 75 percent of SHELTER’s residents are made up of young people (13-18 years old). The move to this new place, ‘SHELTER 3’, was a much deliberated decision in terms of meeting the needs of this growing age-group. The lay out and recreational facilities of ‘SHELTER 3’ were planned with growing teenage boys in mind. To enhance emotional and physical space, as well as the staff-resident ratio, the number of persons in the home is capped at 20.

Secondly, unlike some other SHELTER homes, ‘SHELTER 3’ is not a rented property. ‘SHELTER 5’ had to move three times in four years because of rental issues. Having weighed the risks and benefits carefully, it was decided that in the long term, it would be in the best interest of the growing number of young people under SHELTER’s care to buy, instead of rent, a house, despite the daunting task of finding extra funds.

The cost of the house, including renovations which were required, is 900,000 ringgit. To date, SHELTER has raised some nine percent of the total cost through various initiatives and events. Raising the rest of the funds present a challenge.

“The challenge is tremendous, indeed. We are always mindful of the dysfunctional family backgrounds and the scars which bear on the children and young people with us, in all our deliberations. We want SHELTER to be a haven, nurturing and leading them in their journey of healing hearts and minds, so these unfortunate children and young people may have every chance of growing up into purposeful and contributing members of society eventually,” said James.

“We are appealing to the public to help us in helping them along the journey by donating to SHELTER 3. Every ringgit counts.”