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It takes a community to make a holiday for the youths at Synergy Services.

In recognition of National Homeless Youth Awareness Month in January, Parkville-based Synergy Services took the opportunity to promote the spectrum of social, economic and educational programs it offers to itinerant young people from across the region.

For hundreds of youths in emergency housing and transitional living programs, the nonprofit organization will be the only reason why they are able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. But that charity doesn’t happen without a lot of help from community members, businesses and other organizations, according to program participants and officials.

“We can’t do that alone. We truly need the community to do that with us,” said Rachel Francis, youth services program manager. “We really rely on the community to bring donations and provide volunteers.”

The need for help is particularly acute during the holidays, but Synergy Services is always looking for volunteers to mentor youths, answer the organization’s crisis hot line, cook meals and lead activities, according to Francis. There’s also an ongoing need for donations of hygiene items, blankets, sheets,

towels and gifts for teenagers.

Like many others helped by Synergy Services, Janelle Paster, 18, has mostly bad memories from Christmases and Thanksgivings past. She remembers the violence and stress of spending those holidays with dysfunctional parents, the kinds of difficult times that drove her to leave home at 15.

“My mom just didn’t want me to live with her,” Paster said.

Now, Paster has an infant girl and is steadily rebuilding her future in the transitional living program.

This is Paster’s second year in the program. Last year’s festive Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations thrown by Synergy Services were a revelation, Paster said.

“I always wanted to celebrate the holidays with my whole family, but that faded,” she said. “Now I know that can be good.”

With the help of Synergy Services employees, volunteers and donations, the transitional living program participants this year will create their own Thanksgiving dinner Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Brigit Derby, 19, who joined the transitional living program this spring, said she was looking forward to marking the holidays with her

new family.

“When I was with my relatives, I felt more like a visitor, a tax write-off,” Derby said. “I feel like I’m home here.”

One of the goals of the transitional living program is to provide the youths with the tools, knowledge and motivation they need to build their own families, Francis said. The program’s Thanksgiving dinner is emblematic of that shift from a dysfunctional environment to a healthy, fulfilling life.

“We try to teach them to create their own traditions apart from what they might have experienced

in the past,” Francis said.

TO HELP

To learn more about Synergy Services and how to volunteer or make donations, visit www.synergyservices.org or call 587-4100.

Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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