News & Updates

Adopt-a-kid updates - ashley's success

In January 2011, you met Ashley.  “We’re just kids who get forgotten.  We’re supposed to be grown-ups but we don’t know how... We need help BEFORE we get older.”   Today, Ashley is a 21 year old mother of 2 who is living independently.  After working with Life House staff to graduate from high school, she continued working with them in the "futures" program to obtain valuable life skills that would assist her in obtaining employment and maintaining a household for her family.  Ashley is a successful graduate from the Life House Program, is currently employed by Hampton, and has an apartment of her own.  Ashley is well on her way to breaking the cycle of abuse and neglect that she suffered for years.   Congratulations Ashley - job well done!!!

Stay tuned for more updates on previously featured Life House youth. For more on their stories, visit our 2011 Adopt-A-Kid Yearbook.

Life House Youth Finds Success In and out of the ring

Life House youth, Shawn Fuller, has been making a stir in the boxing ring and the media. Since coming to Life House, Shawn has found a new sense of confidence by learning to box. This new outlet has led to both success in the ring and in classroom. Congratulations to Shawn on all his accomplishments.

To learn more about Shawn's story, follow the links below for the full articles:

Homeless Teen Finds Outlet in Boxing - Northland News Center

Winning His First Fight and Winning in Life - Northland News Center

Benefits of Boxing: Boxing Provides Hope - Badlefthook.com

Life House participates in un-fair anti-racism campaign

Life House has joined other local organizations in launching the Un-Fair campaign to raise awareness about white privilege in our community and provide resources to overcome the problem. On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, members of the Life House team joined with other community members at a press conference to introduce the campaign.

The theme of the campaign is "It's hard to see racism when you're white" with the goal of getting the community to "See It, Know It, Stop It." Desired outcomes of the campaign include:

• Creating opportunities for white people to see white privilege (Images, stories, timelines, statistics, workshops, films, dialogues).
• Creating dialogue throughout the community on white privilege.
• Breaking the silence around white privilege and racism.
• Moving white people to accept racism as their issue/responsibility.
• Building a base of white allies to work together with people of color to eliminate racism individually and institutionally.

Key Messages of the Campaign:

• It is unfair that some members of our community have unearned advantages because of the color of their skin and others face barriers, discrimination and disadvantages because of the color of their skin.
• People of color in Duluth experience incidents of racism every day.
• It’s hard to see racism when you are white because we live in a monoculture where the norms of whiteness are seen as normal.
• It is time for white people to see the privileges, power and advantages they have and how white privilege perpetuates racism.
• Our community needs a strong and vocal voice that says racism is unacceptable and white people need to step up and work to eliminate it as allies with people of color.

To learn more, click below to read the article in the Duluth News Tribune:

Twin Ports Coalition Launches Anti-Racism Campaign

Life House Marketing Specialist named 2011 Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year!

Amy Ugstad, owner of OneUP Creative graphics and marketing company, and Life House Marketing Specialist, was recently named the 2011 Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year!

For the full article, please click here.

Amy, a long-time member of the Life House Team, has proved herself an invaluable asset to the organization. Her skill and knowledge in marketing has helped raise increasing support for Life House programs and services, helping homeless kids get off the streets.

Congratulations, Amy! We're proud of you, and the amazing work you do for our community!

Life House RECEIVES GENEROUS YEAR-END GIFt of $10,000 from HOM Furniture

Life Staff and Youth receive a Year End Gift of $10,000 from HOM Furniture’s Shaunna Gulvig!  Life House Staff include (Top left , clockwise):  Jeff Woolverton, McKenzie Pangerl,  Ahna Pelto, Mary Allen, Jennie Backus, Shanise Parker, Shaunna Gulvig, Kim Crawford, and Chris LeBlanc.   The gift will go directly to meeting the needs of Duluth’s at-risk and homeless teens during the upcoming year!

Life House Joins Effort to Rally for Homeless Youth

On June 30, 2011, Life House staff and youth joined a broad section of concerned citizens from Duluth, along with other communities from across Minnesota, to rally in St. Paul. The focus was to give voice to the issues regarding the possible government shutdown. 

“What we're looking at is about 10% of our overall budget that will immediately go away,” said Kim Crawford, Life House Executive Director. “This amounts to a 25 to 35% staff reduction in our emergency youth services,” said Crawford.  “That means about 200 kids each month won’t get their crisis needs met who desperately seek help in our Youth Center.”

In the event of a government shutdown, Life House hopes for community support to help supplement the loss of funding, through fundraisers such as their "Adopt-a-Kid" monthly donation program (for more info, please see below).

See below for photos of the event (click image to enlarge):