Heartland Alliance’s Youth and Residential Services (YRS) has been graced with the energy, enthusiasm and committed participation of dozens of interns and volunteers over the years.  In 2011, these energetic and dedicated volunteers provided upwards of 6,000 hours in direct services ranging from counseling and case management, tutoring, mentoring, and facilitating recreational and social activities, including the occasional yoga lesson to the hundreds of youth that receive care in our programs.

One particular volunteer stood out amongst this amazing group of interns and volunteers. Elizabeth Eccleston was a social work student intern at our Neon Street Dorms young adult shelter and drop in center. Neon Street Dorms provides shelter services, linkage to community resources and helps participants achieve full independence each year through assistance with finding sustainable employment and housing permanence. In this role, she provided hands on case management services to program participants experiencing homelessness. 

Elizabeth embodied the mission of Heartland Alliance in her commitment to advance the human rights and respond to the human needs of endangered population. Elizabeth was able to engage participants from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds who sought help. Her outstanding work included helping youth at Neon manage the stigma of homelessness, linking participants to housing and employment, and actively supporting youth to restore a frail social network.  

Elizabeth's work and dedication were summed up well by one of Neon's Drop In participants. He stated, "Elizabeth is the reason I am doing so well. I have had other case managers before, but Elizabeth really cared about me and worked with me. When I would screw up, forget things, or lose things she would not get mad and yell at me. She would keep working with me, help me figure out ways to not screw up and would make me even more copies of stuff in case I lost one. I'm really going to miss her."