Houston Residents Jason and DeMarco to Open Gay SAFE House
If you have followed Jason and DeMarco , the gay christion pop singers, than you know about their vision of S.A.F.E.
Jason says, “Last year a young man who I had been emailing with had been struggling after “coming out of the closet”. He had been kicked out of his home and was going from friend to friend, sleeping on their couch. He finally ended up with a friend who told him that he could stay there as long as he needed to. Unfortunately, a month later, that same friend of his emailed me letting me know that this young man had taken his own life and that she wanted me to know how much he had said that I meant to him. I knew in that moment that “IT IS TIME”.
The longtime Houston residents have had a vision for a non-profit organization that would help kids who have been kicked out of their homes, or who were in foster care because of being kicked out or rejected by their own parents, or perhaps were aging out of the foster care system and had no support and nowhere to turn.
After moving to Houston I saw the need for an organization like this more than ever before and it fueled my dream. That dream is finally being realized with the launching of our new non-profit S.A.F.E. (Safe, Affirming, Family Environment).
We officially received 501(c)3 non-profit status on June 22, 2010 and are in full force preparing and planning for the work that S.A.F.E. is to do. By January 1st 2011, it is our intention to open the very first “Safe Spot” in Houston which will provide a drop-in and resource center for “throw-away” youth and young adults who will be offered snacks, coffee, clothes, books and a computer station.
It is also our intention to begin forming a community of house parents and ‘Safe Houses’ who are willing to offer transitional housing to GLBTQ young adults and ‘Safe Houses’ run by foster parents currently certified through Child Protective Services or those wishing to get certified to foster GLBTQ kids. Our intention with the homeless community is to encourage GLBTQ kids to enter the Foster Care system and educate them on the benefits offered to them by the state, knowing that they will be placed with a GLBT friendly foster home found through our organization.
If you are interested in joining our online community, please visit Safe House For All . Our goal is to start with Houston and then help other cities create “Safe Spots” and form S.A.F.E. communities locally with S.A.F.E.’s mentorship and guidance.
We filmed a new music video to our song ‘Safe’, the title cut from our latest CD, also entitled “Safe (W/Dvd) “. We are in post-production with the video and are planning to release it by the end of the year. We believe that this video is powerful and is going to put a face to the issues that the organization S.A.F.E. is striving to bring to peoples’ awareness. Our hope is that we will strike a chord with talk show personalities who help get the mission and need for S.A.F.E. out there to America!
This new venture is going to take much time and energy, and with us beginning a family, it is the perfect opportunity for us to make this our focus while taking time off of the road to adjust to parenthood. Many of you have been along with us on our journey from the very beginning and we are so excited to get to share this next chapter with you.
We cannot do this alone. There are kids out there who need us. They are all OUR kids! So please visit Safe House For All to read more about our mission, our vision and be a part. We currently have a donor who is willing to match funds up to $25,000. We have raised $30,000 to date and our intention is to raise $100,000 by the end of the year so we can begin the work in the New Year.
deMarco and I will continue recording and releasing new music and we will continue touring occasionally through most of 2011. Please share S.A.F.E. with anyone you know and join our online community by visiting the website.
Together we will create a world where EVERY heart has a home!
Stay Tuned!
We have also launched a new online Radio Program called “The SAFE Spot”.
Tune in for updates on S.A.F.E. and the work that we are doing by visiting “The SAFE Spot Blog Talk Radio”.
