“Try to imagine for a second what it would be like to have your family say, ‘I want nothing to do with you. Neither does God.’” mentioned Elevate founder Jason Vallejo.
PLANO, Texas — A number of us spent 2020 strolling and considering. But considered one of Jason Vallejo’s each day walks modified his life and sure saved different lives.
“Something I’d do every day to just get my mind off things and clear my mind,” Vallejo mentioned.
More than two years later, he retraced the steps he took on a May 2020 stroll.
He handed Plano’s Haggard Park after which noticed a younger man asleep in a close-by vacant lot, simply throughout the road from the DART station.
“It became real that, yes, this is the very reason. This is why I need to do something,” Vallejo mentioned.
He believes he was about 5 years previous rising up in Victoria, Texas when he first knew he was homosexual.
But it might take 25 extra years earlier than he let anybody else know.
“I was about 30 years old when I finally came out,” he mentioned.
After faculty, Vallejo battled melancholy and even tried suicide.
But he says his household, a deep love of God, and a rediscovery of his religion guided him by means of.
He went to seminary and have become a pastor.
He fell in love with a person he met at a bible research.
Vallejo says individuals at his church made it “uncomfortable,” saying unkind issues about their relationship and marriage.
He and his husband left the congregation.
“But I never let that stop my relationship with God,” he mentioned.
“When individuals come to me and say I can’t be Christian and homosexual – you may have your ideas and your opinion, however I do know my fact. And I do know the reality that claims I’m beloved and accepted simply as I’m. And I really feel like I’m doing the work that God has referred to as me to do,” mentioned Vallejo.
Vallejo and his household stay shut.
But he says his husband’s father hasn’t spoken to him in years.
That might need been on his thoughts when he found that younger man sleeping in that overgrown grass in Plano on that stroll in 2020.
“He said his name is John. And I said, ‘Hey John what are you doing out here? It’s hot.’”
John advised Vallejo he was homeless with no household.
He had spent one night time in a Dallas shelter, however he was solely 21 years previous and he didn’t really feel secure there.
So, John took a DART practice to the suburbs and fell asleep.
When Vallejo and his husband moved to North Texas, he had taken a job working with homeless individuals in Dallas.
He knew individuals between 18 and 24 confronted distinctive difficulties as a result of shelters usually felt unsafe for those that age.
Vallejo took John to a McDonald’s, discovered him assist by means of an present company, then went straight dwelling and started sending emails and making calls.
That was the second he knew he needed to construct his personal nonprofit – particularly aimed toward serving to homeless youth.
“We are the first emergency shelter serving 18- to 24-year-olds,” he mentioned.
Since Elevate North Texas launched, it has offered 91 youth with short-term lodge rooms, counseling, and case managers.
They’ve additionally provided leads on jobs and located some long-term housing with host households.
Vallejo says 60 % of his 91 purchasers establish as homosexual.
“The national stat shows that 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ plus. So for us to be seeing 60 percent is just really quite telling of where we are politically because of a lot of the hate speech and rhetoric,” Vallejo mentioned of the local weather in Texas.
He’s helped youth he mentioned have been on the verge of suicide and a few who’d been victims of sexual assaults whereas sleeping in parks as a result of shelters felt unsafe.
“Try to imagine for a second what it would be like to have your family say, ‘I want nothing to do with you, neither does God and we’re taking everything away, we want you out of the house,’” Vallejo mentioned.
“I know that a lot of youth end up taking their lives or end up homeless because of family rejection.”
To these struggling to search out love or acceptance, Vallejo says to maintain the religion and contact him.
He is aware of the ache of hiding who you might be. And the enjoyment of lastly dwelling it.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is at all times open. Dial 1-800-273-8255 any time of day.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link