Let Me Tell You A Story – The Hangar

It’s time to tell you a story. The people we work with at The Hangar are real, as are their stories. This story, however, is not entirely real but instead made up from parts of many real stories. I am not going to use real names or specific details. This will protect those involved, however by combining some of the details of the people we have helped, it will allow you to understand what it is we do and why it is that we are doing it. Hang in there, this one is quite a long one.

Look around your home. Take a look at your loved ones, your partner, your kids, your pet. Grab a sip of your nice hot coffee and enjoy the things that you have, things that you may have taken for granted recently. This is not going to be news to you however, not everyone has these things to enjoy nor the life that you have.

Now think about how you would feel if, whilst are driving home, it is dark and as you turn that last corner to drive up your street, you see a single figure, wearing a hoodie, walking towards you, away from where your house is. What is going through your mind? Has this person, just come from breaking into your house? Are all your possessions still where they were when you left for work this morning? What assumptions did you just make? What life did you just assume this person has had? So many questions and things to worry about.

His name is Danny. He is 14 years old and he is now living on the street. He doesn’t want to be living on the street, but he is. So how did he get there and why was he in your street?

2 months earlier, Danny came home from school, it was a Thursday afternoon and he found his mother crying in the kitchen, his uncle was sitting at the kitchen table – not saying anything. Danny’s little brother was up in his bedroom and could be heard crying. What was happening? Danny’s father had just been hit by a drunk driver and had died from his injuries. With absolutely no warning, Danny’s mother had just become a single parent, raising two teenage boys.

Not only was Danny’s mother now trying to do her best job of raising two teenage boys, she was dealing with the tragedy and grief of losing her soul mate, the one person she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. She had known him since they were both Danny’s age – now he was gone.

Danny was just about to finish Year 9 and then get stuck into his tenth year of high school after the Christmas break. All through his schooling, he had been an A student, he hadn’t struggled with anything. Life was pretty amazing for this young man – right up until this day. From here, things were going to change.

It didn’t take long …. for the behavioural issues to start

At first, Danny was just quiet and didn’t want to engage in class. His mind constantly drifted off to memories of his father and the things that they used to do together. It didn’t take long however for the behavioural issues to start and the detentions to dominate his days. This A student was starting to spiral, and many were worried that this spiral was about to get out of control.

His mind was constantly in battle with itself. What had he done to deserve this life? Why did he care what anyone thought? His mother was under enormous pressure now that she had become the only income earner for the household and was working long hours to make ends meet. Danny and his brother didn’t see their mother all that much anymore. She would leave for work before they woke up and would get home well after dark when the boys had gone to bed – or so she thought.

His outlet from the pain and memories of being in the house in which his father once lived, was to get out and enjoy the cool night’s air of the surrounding neighbourhood. Because he was still at school, he didn’t want to be seen by anyone in case it became an issue there. He learnt to hide when cars were coming and to move silently in and out of the shadows so no one could see or hear him.

She had lost her ability to communicate with him,

let alone help him work through the challenges of life

– his life.

The late nights started to take their toll, with fatigue setting in and regular micro naps in class. These soon became more substantial and on one occasion he began snoring during his physics lesson. No longer was he an A student; he was spending almost as much time in detention as he did in class. Gone was his male role model, the father that he once had, who provided the ever guiding hand as this young man went from being a boy to becoming a man. His mother had arrived at a point where she was not going to be able to fill the role of her late husband, so just didn’t try.

Detentions to late-night adventures, fatigue back into detention – it was a ‘perfect’ cycle. A well-balanced machine, although an extremely destructive one. His mother, as mentioned, was managing her grief and was growing increasingly distressed by Danny’s actions. She had lost her ability to communicate with him, let alone help him work through the challenges of life – his life. How was Danny ever going to recover from this? Many believe a young man needs a father figure to develop – Danny had lost his.

With his mother working long hours, his late-night adventures stretching into the early hours of each day. It wasn’t long before he would just stay out well into the morning, and on occasion would skip school completely. He would wander the streets, contemplating his future. Trying to make sense of everything that was going on. It was on one of these walks, that he was found heading toward you, on your street, coming from the direction of your house.

This hoodie-wearing figure hadn’t just come from breaking into your house. He was in his own world, trying to make sense of the things that had happened. He felt like he had little to no support, and no one really to help him. His mother wanted to help however, she struggled with her own grief, let alone helping with that of someone else. She needed help if it was going to mean Danny would get back on track.

This is an extreme story, however one that contains real details and one that provides an example of where The Hangar’s Youth Mentoring programs may be the right answer to engage with people like Danny. If we get the opportunity to engage with young Australians like Danny, we may just give them some hope.

Our programs are designed around some of the most common, likely challenges that the youth of today may face. Ensuring they step back and gain a big-picture PERSPECTIVE on things. We also show them that they need to ACCEPT that there are some things in life that they are just going to be unable to change. For the rest, they must TAKE CHARGE to ensure they get to the outcome that they want, and step up to the CHALLENGES that life throws at them. Ultimately, The Hangar’s youth mentoring programs look to provide them with a chance to REACH their full potential.

So what can you do?

To do all of this, we need help. We need people to support in whatever way they can. Some have provided their time as Mentors, some their aircraft for our flying programs. Others are regularly allowing us to use their hangar space to conduct our youth mentoring programs and finally we have those that are reaching into their pockets and providing the much-needed funding.

Ordinarily, when someone hands over cash, they are ‘buying’ something. So what is it that our supporters are ‘buying’ with their donations? They are ‘buying’ young people like Danny a chance to succeed. They are ‘buying’ him a future.

Although there is nothing that can be held in their hand as a result of their donation, what they are ‘buying’ is worth far more. It makes you feel far better on the inside than any physical item could. Every contribution large or small makes a difference. Whether it is $5 or $50,000, it all counts to us at The Hangar.

If you have any questions about what we are doing at The Hangar – Youth Mentoring, please contact us by sending an e-mail or Facebook message. We would also love for you to share this story with all of your friends. Maybe we can reach out and touch someone else’s life and #makeadifference.

If you are wanting to help, whether it is $5 or $50,000 then there are a couple of options. We are currently running a Go Fund Me campaign, which will accept your donations. Alternatively, you could just deposit the funds directly into our account.

Finally, if you have an aircraft that is sitting around collecting dust that we could use for our youth mentoring programs, or you want to get involved as a mentor, just drop us a line and we can talk about the options.

Let me buy you a coffee and we can talk about how we can all help.