Troy McDonald Kane is a board member of the National Runaway Safeline ( NRS ), an organization that communicates with youth across the United States who are going through a rough time in their lives. Kane, an openly gay man, talked with Windy City Times about the work of the NRS and the annual Spirit of Youth fundraising event, of which he is co-chair.
Windy City Times: What is the National Runaway Safeline?
Troy McDonald Kane: It is the national communication hotline for runaway and at-risk youth. Our mission is to keep America's runaway, homeless and at-risk youth safe and off the streets.
WCT: How is the hotline set up?
TK: Every year we make 250,000 connections through our call center which is run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We have done calls with parents who are dealing with youth who are threatening to run away or there are other issues in the household whether it's about acceptance, lifestyle or misunderstanding—as teenagers and parents tend to have.
WCT: As a gay man growing up, did you face any issues with your parents that resulted in you running away or wanting to run away?
TK: Not myself personally.
WCT: How does NRS help LGBT youth and what are some of the issues that they face?
TK: A lot of the calls that we get from the LGBT community usually stems around acceptance. A lot of youth have been kicked out of their homes and may be living on the street, or are dealing with frustrations with their parents because they don't feel accepted in their homes and are thinking about running away. We do have a large amount of LGBT homeless youth that do call in that are looking for a bed or a place to get a meal. We have access to over 10,000 youth and family agencies around the country through our database.
WCT: Why was it important for you to get involved?
TK: I've volunteered at different youth centers throughout Chicago for LGBT. I was at the Broadway Youth Center for a few years, and was introduced to NRS through working in those organizations and also through a fellow co-worker of mine who was also on the board. I went and took a tour of the call center and saw the atmosphere and spirit of the volunteers. NRS has over 100 volunteers which is a lifeblood of the organization. We run on an operating budget that is very lean and we try to divert as much of our dollars that we can, to the services that we give. So we heavily rely on volunteers for that reason. I just got inspired to want to contribute to making the organization better and improving the financial stability that the organization has and needs to continue to provide these services to America's youth.
WCT: Tell me about this years Spirit of Youth event?
TK: It's our main event for fundraising and community awareness. Through our sponsorships of the event, it allows us to get in with major corporations who send guests and their staff to the event, so they also become aware of what NRS' mission is.
WCT: This year's event will be different from past events. How so?
TK: Traditionally our event has been more formal with a traditional fundraising gala where people get dressed up, go to a dinner and there is an auction and entertainment. That's worked really well for us over the last five years. We wanted to appeal to a much more diverse participant, and not just the very wealthy or people that are looking to go to a very formal gala. This year's event is an indoor street festival and it also has a more youthful spirit surrounding it. We will be having food trucks drive in, we have games where people can play and win prizes and we are having different kind of festival activities like tricycle race tracks and mini-golf courses.
WCT: How can people support NRS?
TK: The main way is to volunteer to be a liner which is a commitment of two hours a week and you go through 40 hours of training to prepare you for the type of calls that you would be taking. The other way that people can get involved is through donations and participating in Spirit of Youth and supporting the cause that we've created and continue to fund.
Spirit of Youth takes place at Navy Pier, Festival Hall B, 600 E. Grand Ave., Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. For ticket information and to find out more about the National Runaway Safeline visit, 1800runaway.org .
