Help Mira raise money

Hello! 

My name is Mira Ptacin. I'm a mother and author and I live on Peaks Island, Maine. This summer, I'll be running the Beach to Beacon 10k to raise money for the Preble Street teen center, a cause I care deeply about (there but for the grace of God go you and I). I hope you will support me in this cause and consider a donation to help me reach my goal of $6500.

What is Preble Street's teen center? 

Youth at the Teen Center include young teens who have been forced to leave home because of physical or sexual abuse and young adults struggling with substance use and/or mental illness. In addition to being without family or community support networks, many have educational deficits or learning disabilities, are at high risk for pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections, and frequently interact with the criminal justice systems.

Most do not have the option of returning home, often have experienced multiple foster care placements, and have been unable to succeed in transitional housing or residential treatment programs. Many have been primarily responsible for their own care for years, struggling to survive, often in dangerous and self-destructive ways.

Preble Street Teen Center is the hub of services for homeless and runaway youth, providing immediate access and an acclaimed service coordination model. As the core component of Preble Street Teen Services, the Teen Center helps to meet immediate needs — providing warmth and safety, nutritious meals, clothing, and crisis intervention — while building  positive relationships with young people, enhancing their self-esteem and offering them the opportunity to develop life skills that promote stability and independence.

The Teen Center empowers youth to make healthy choices and to plan healthy, hopeful futures through:

Street outreach to encourage youth to leave the streets and to be safeBasic shelter services that provide a safe alternative to the streetsTransition back to their homes or another safe living situation, including residential care and independent livingCasework services to help youth identify and achieve their goals for health care, employment, mental health and/or substance use counseling, legal assistance, housing, etc.

At the Teen Center, Preble Street and its collaborative partners provide integral service components — Day One for substance use and mental health services, the City of Portland Public Health for health services, and Portland Adult Education Street Academy for educational services — and work with other youth service providers throughout the community.

More than 200 youth visit the Teen Center each year, and despite setbacks and disappointments, every time one of them takes a life-affirming step forward — begins a GED course, agrees to counseling, or finds someone to trust — and Preble Street has kept their promise to them.

 Please support my cause and donate what you can to those who need our support and our love. I will keep you posted on my progress. 

https://www.beach2beacon.org/?_ga=2.257330317.740827328.1713906507-807288198.1713906507

Thank you!

With love,

-Mira