Finding a teen in the woods

I really don't remember when this actually happened, but I will never forget this delivery.

We started the usual trip, but it started with the news that a teen female had been seen in an area where an abandoned camp sits. Anne told me she was happy we were on the schedule in case we contact this person. We also had 3 teen females doing the delivery that day.

Now this camp is basically a dump, I'm serious. The person who lived there before had all kinds of issues and he never threw anything away. Trash is every where. A mattress is on the ground with a bunch of blankets and sleeping bags all covered by a tarp. The person who used to live there did not like the idea of being enclosed in a tent. It really stinks there. Rotten food is everywhere, clothes litter the ground along with random tires, chairs, shopping carts and so many other things.

The person who lived there had been missing for a while. Rumor has it that he is in jail, but we can't confirm.

When we arrived, there is a teen girl sleeping on a bunch of cardboard boxes on the ground covered by a blanket. Anne starts to talk to her and asks me to talk to her while Anne tries to see what services she can find for this poor thing.

This girl had been outside for a while, she was very dirty. Ants were crawling all over her. We gave her a bag of food and she immediately began to eat. Ants were on her hands, they were everywhere. I started to ask her a million questions to try to learn about her and to see if she was OK. Ants were on me. There were hundreds of them. She was very tired and at times didn't focus on me. She was 18 and had dropped out of high school.

She told me her mother had died two days ago and she did not want to be in her house. I had the girls try to talk to her while Anne and I decided what to do next. The girl really wanted a ride home, which was in a trailer park north of our location. We took her there and no one was home. She fell asleep a few times and when she woke up, she ate more food.

Anne talked her into going to Grassroots. At first she did not like this idea, but agreed and away we went. They took her in and we found out later that they took her to the hospital because she kept zoning out. We learned she checked herself out and we have never heard anything about her. Anne tried the different numbers she gave us, but they were disconnected.

She really seemed like a sweet girl, but I can only imagine what was going on in her life. She knew all the homeless people in the area.

We ended our delivery after taking her to Grassroots. It was getting late. That was a strange one, but it is getting to the the norm for Bethany Lane. Even Anne mentioned that we seem to get the strange deliveries.

The lesson here - Not sure, that was so sad. She was too young to be in the woods. She was still a kid. She should be worried about iPods, cell phones, hair, boys, part time jobs, classes, makeup, homework, designer clothes. Instead, she was covered with ants all alone, inhaling a PBJ sandwich, candy bar and chips that we put together the day before, falling asleep in a car with total strangers. We only had a few moments to be with her. I continue to pray for this young lady, please join me.

I guess the face of homelessness just got even more diverse.