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Different people have varying stories about their time in Norman. From football games and tailgating to late nights studying, the stories of people’s experience in Norman vary. For some youth, there are extenuating circumstances that bring them to our Crossroads’ Emergency Resource Center for Youth tucked away in Norman. These circumstances are usually traumatic and result from the child being removed from the home due to abuse or neglect. It is the goal of the Emergency Resource Center to make this a riveting time of healing and safety for these youths. This is their home away from home.
The CERC, formally called the Emergency Youth Shelter, is a place for youth to stay while awaiting placement with family, foster families, or adoption. I can't believe that this service started in 1969, helping tens of thousands of youth along the way. In the current location, 30 flew by and countless lives changed.
This Thursday, July 21, the doors are open from 3:00-6:00 PM for a walk through to see all of all the changes made to the CERC over the past year thanks to a communitywide effort. This is a collaborative effort of staff, community members, and donors that choose to help make this home away from home an oasis for displaced youth.
This is not the first facelift the CERC received over the years. In 2009, with the help of Impact Oklahoma, a community of women who combine individual $1,000 gifts into $100,000 grants for Central Oklahoma nonprofits helped transform the kitchen, provided a new nursery, and safety improvements to the playground. With their help, thousands of youth eat and enjoy healthy meals, family-style every day. Click here to read about the former renovation.
As many know, houses often need countless updates regularly. Because of funding issues, the safety of youth and staff remained at the forefront of the youth shelter, but besides those updates, this renovation helped to make this a true whimsical, youthful space.
The help and support from community members helped make this happen. Cleveland County provided a beautiful, open classroom. Volunteers from Victory Family and OU’s BSA Brigade reorganized spaces, Ideal Homes provided experts, volunteers, laughs, and funding to help bring the space a new view. New Life Bible brought the gazebo, originally gifted in 2009, back to life. So many people gifted this space with love that Crossroads plans to continue to pour into the children and youth we work with every day.
This would all not be possible without two key partnerships in the Norman community. Norman North SPUD choose Crossroads as their SPUD Recipients in 2021 which kickstarted a domino effect of resources pouring into the CERC. Later, a chance meeting at the United Way connected Crossroads with Ronda McKown and Ideal Homes. The project was underway.
The children's lives we connect with on a daily basis are greatly influenced by community members, past and current employees, board members, and leadership. We want to share the progress with you.
If you are unable to attend in person, there will be a link to a virtual tour and the renovation video on our website at www.crossroadsyfs.org/renovation. Hope to see you there!
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