Walking to help homeless youths and young adults

Danny Burkett walks her talk when advocating for homeless youths and young adults.   

The founder and Executive Director of Our Ark, a community-based nonprofit with the mission of breaking the cycle of homelessness for youths and young adults ages 13 thru 25 in Thurston County, Burkett began a 45-day walk on Jan. 10. 

It  will take her to and through Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Yelm before it ends on Feb. 24.  While walking, she engages in conversations with homeless youths, community and religious leaders, and charities.  

“I am walking and spreading awareness for 45 days and nights because our young people do not get to opt out of homelessness,” recently explained Burkett as she walked down a dark street near the Capitol Campus   

“As the founder of Our Ark, I have listened to too many stories of youth who spent nights alone, scared, and unseen, not because they lacked potential, but because they lacked safe housing and consistent support. This walk is my way of standing in the gap and saying clearly: our homeless youth matter, their lives matter, and their futures matter," Burkett said.

Our Ark has a range of programs that includes the following: 

• Mentorship, where a stable, knowledgeable adult is matched with a youth to help them achieve their goals. 

• Food Network, where volunteers get together to bake meals for youths.

• Laundry of Today, where they provide supplies and money for youths to do laundry at a public facility, or volunteers wash their clothes in their homes.

• Host Homes, where families can open their home to provide a safe, stable environment to help them work toward a sustainable lifestyle.

• Youth Street Outreach, where volunteers hit the streets to connect with youths living on the streets, provide support, supplies and to educate them on the programs available. 

Other services include referral support with medical, dental and mental health services, life skills education and help with obtaining state identification cards and social security cards. 

“Our primary goal is the success of the youth and young adults, through mentorship in life skills, job training and placement as well is confidence and esteem building,” Burkett said. 

She added that recent federal funding reductions are having a significant negative impact on how Our Ark’s programs serve to help youths escape the hold of homelessness in Thurston County.   

A look at 2024 data indicates that nearly 150,000 children nationwide experience homelessness — a 33 percent increase from 2023.  The same data shows that more than 1 million public school students — or 2.2 percent of all students — are homeless. 

The North Thurston County School District is the largest of the county's eight districts, and it has been reported that it has more than 1,500 homeless students. 

“This walk is my way of taking responsibility as a leader when systems move slower than the crisis itself. We urgently need to expand host homes and transitional housing, and that requires community action alongside public funding,” Burkett said. 

“I am doing this because I believe our community has the capacity to respond now, not later — and because our young people matter too much to wait for funding timelines to decide their safety and the course of their lives.” 

On the corner of 4th Avenue East and Franklin Street Northeast, Burkett stopped to talk with Jacee, a young lady who had been homeless for two years, and then was helped by Our Ark to begin the journey of putting homelessness behind her. 

 “Danny and her team cared about me and what I needed to escape the streets,” Jacee said.  “They are good people who work hard to make a difference.” 

 To learn more about Our Ark, click here.