A Lifetime of Heartache – A Future of Hope

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Abusive families, years of foster care, a liftetime of heartache and a glimmer of hope. Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist David Leesson tells the story of homeless teenagers in Houston, Texas and their struggle to survive. Produced by David Leeson for the Do1Thing project

http://do1thing.org

To see more of David’s work: http://www.davidleeson.com/index/welcome.html

Learn more about Covenant House: http://covenanthousetx.org/

Portrait of Perseverance – From Homeless to Hope

Sakina Lockhart never planned on being homeless. She came to Atlanta from Baltimore full of dreams and drive, pursuing her goal of becoming an interior designer. Looking out towards the front door of her apartment, provided with the assistance of Covenant House International, Lockhart reflects on how far she has come from just a few years ago – a homeless college student sleeping in shelters (or run down motel hallways depending on the day), walking miles to class every day and never losing hope.

It is the goal of Do1Thing to empower homeless youth to move themselves from homelessness to a permanent housing. Empowerment comes by outfitting the teens with training, items and supplies needed to overcome their current situations move forward.

We partner with Covenant House International, the largest privately-funded agency in the Americas providing shelter and other services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth. Our second partner is StandUp for Kids. The mission of StandUp for Kids is to help homeless and street kids.

They do this, every day, in cities across America, carrying out their mission through volunteers who go to the streets in order to find, stabilize and otherwise help homeless and street kids improve their lives.

Do1Thing is a project of the Heart Gallery of New Jersey, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by the generous contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations.

Chris Stanfield has more than 15 years of experience as a versatile photojournalist and picture editor. Working at eight newspapers across five states, Chris was named by Presstime magazine as one of the top 20 journalists under the age of 40 in the United States. Stanfield is a founding member and past president of the Associated Press Photo Managers one the nation's largest organizations for photo managers, picture editors and photo educators. A graduate and faculty member of the Eddie Adams Workshop, Chris resides in Atlanta with his wife and two children and works as an independent photographer and storyteller.