After deciding he wanted more from life at the age of 18, David Thomason left a job with his father’s dry walling company in Illinois and hitchhiked across the country, arriving in Boulder in August.

With no money and no established support network, Thomason at first spent his nights on the banks of Boulder Creek. That changed the day he encountered an outreach representative from Attention Homes, a local organization dedicated to providing treatment, counseling and shelter to at-risk youth.

The woman gave Thomason some food and hot cocoa and told him about the organization’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelter, a place where he could sleep out of the rain, feel safe, and be directed to available support and services.

“They instantly let me in and were extremely helpful,” said Thomason, now 19. “I’ve never seen any place like this. The staff is really good at keeping you motivated to stay on course. They’ll help you find a job so you can stay off the streets.”

Street dangerous for the young — even in Boulder

Located at 3080 Broadway, the shelter, commonly referred to as “The Source,” is the only emergency overnight space in Boulder County for unaccompanied homeless persons ages 11 to 21. The shelter typically takes in kids over the age of 15, but will not turn away younger people, although parents and/or social services are contacted in those cases.

All the shelter’s clients are expected to contribute by performing chores and must keep their space clean.

The house was donated to Attention Homes, a nonprofit in existence for 47 years, in 1985 and up until this year had not seen major renovations, according to Executive Director Jim Rianoshek. The building formerly served as the organization’s adolescent residential care center, which provides full-time care and housing for youth referred by social services, but in December 2010 it transitioned to its current use. The residential care center has since moved to South Boulder.

“We discovered there was this great need and people really weren’t paying attention to or weren’t aware of it,” Rianoshek said of Boulder County’s homeless youth population. “The street is a dangerous place, even here in beautiful downtown Boulder.”

The Source provides clients with emergency shelter for an initial period of three weeks and connects them with resources and programs designed to help them transition to long term housing and/or family reunification, according to staff. Clients can stay for about three months if they begin working with a case manager and establish, then begin striving for, long-term goals.

“This is the time in these kids’ lives where we can prevent them from becoming chronically homeless,” said Katie Green, the runaway and homeless youth program manager. “This is the time where we can help them turn it around and realize their dreams and become contributing members of society.”

After months of major construction, staff last month unveiled a $613,000 renovation and 2,200-square-foot expansion at the Source that added six beds on top of the 10 it offered previously. A much-improved kitchen area was also constructed, as was an updated, separate space in the basement for day drop-in programs.

Rianoshek said the added space was “huge” in terms of what it means for those it serves.

Major project benefactors included the Wyss Foundation and Jackie Long, the City of Boulder Affordable Housing Fund, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Colorado Group, and The Steffens Foundation.

‘When everything else is falling apart’

While staying at the Source last year, Thomason found a job canvassing for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and saved enough money to buy bus tickets for himself and his girlfriend, Kayla Golden, 19, to California. He and Golden returned to Boulder last week and are staying at the Source again while looking for new jobs.

Thomason said he was impressed by the expansion project. He said moving the drop-in center from the main floor — which also houses the girls’ bedrooms — to the basement has helped keep the living areas cleaner, and the additional capacity can only be a good thing for the many homeless youth he encounters in the Boulder area.

“There are a lot of kids it keeps off the streets,” he said. “It’s really nice to have a place to go when everything else is falling apart. Someplace you can go and feel safe.”

The expansion at the Source was based on necessity, according to Attention Homes staff. After serving an estimated 200 unduplicated youth in 2011, the facility helped more than 500 last year. As of last week, the facility had provided services to 240 individual youth already in 2013, according to Green.

A point-in-time study conducted by the Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative on Jan. 23, 2012 identified 162 unaccompanied homeless people between the ages of 13 and 24 staying in Boulder County, including 19 between the ages of 13 and 17. Results of the organization’s 2013 study are not yet available.

Attention Homes estimates there are 90 youth-specific homeless shelter beds in the entire seven-county Denver metro area.

Homeless youth are far less likely to graduate high school than their peers — only about 75 percent do so — and are susceptible to exploitation, with 80 percent of runaway girls reporting some form of sexual or physical abuse, according to statistics provided by the organization.

Considering the depth of the need, adding six beds may not seem like much, but as Green explains, every bit of space is helpful.

“We’ve had to turn away as many as seven kids in one night. It feels horrible to say no,” Green said. “It’s just nice having the increased capacity so we don’t have to make those tough decisions as often and so we can offer the space for the youth in need.”

Expansion translates to added programs

The expansion also benefits youth seeking to take advantage of drop-in programs in the afternoons, which are open to clients as old as 24. Increased space means as many as 40 clients can receive meals and other services provided at drop-in, up from about 25 before the project.

More space also means more room for staff, who provide 24-hour supervision as well as goal-focused casework for every client who stays more than three weeks at the shelter, Green said. And it means more space to expand services, such as regular visits by a nurse from the People’s Clinic who meets with clients and helps them schedule necessary medical appointments.

“When the kids come to us they are usually wary of adults but once we establish a relationship, in time they trust the services and they are more likely to access the services or show up at the appointments,” said Green. “It is so much more successful when service providers can come on site and meet the kids.”

Green described the Source as “the hub of a wheel” that partners with many other organizations, including Workforce Boulder County, the Bridge House and area food banks, to alert clients to available services and teach them how to access them.

The drop-in program also provides a chance for enrichment, with groups such as Art as Action visiting the shelter the past three weeks and engaging the youth though various arts opportunities. Sarah Leversee, Art as Action’s artistic director, said her organization had donated tickets to its live performances to Attentions Homes clients for years, but the expansion has finally provided a chance for some on-site interaction.

Attention Homes relies heavily on the work of dedicated volunteers, with individuals and groups helping out at the Source all year round, whether it be by preparing meals or reaching out to kids sleeping on the street.

A longtime volunteer recently recognized for his service to Attention Homes is Dan Hanesworth, who has been performing all manner of handyman and repair work at both Attention Homes residential facilities for nearly six years.

A retiree who spent most of his professional career in commercial real estate and construction, Hanesworth said he reviewed plans for the expansion project before construction began. From his perspective, among the most important things achieved by the project is sending the message that people care about homeless youth and want to improve their lives.

“That house before the expansions and the renovations was in OK shape but it was clearly an old used facility, and the kids coming in there — I don’t know what they expected — but it was just an old house,” he said.

“I think what they have done to expand it to make it more modern just speaks to someone caring enough about them to say, ‘Here is a facility that we’ve done to make your lives better in what way we can.'”

Life, like art, is ‘what you make of it’

Among the young people taking part in an Art as Action creative writing/poetry workshop at the Source on Thursday was 19-year-old Ty Ridenour. Ridenour first came to the Source seven months ago when he aged out of the foster care system and had nowhere to go. Through working with Attention Homes case manager Tawny Rogers, Ridenour was able to focus on his goals and will graduate from Skyline High School later this month.

“You get the feeling they are here to reach out to you, not just because it is another paying job, but because it’s their inspiration,” Ridenour said of the staff.

Ridenour has transitioned out of the Source, and is now staying at the Boulder Shelter For the Homeless while looking for steady work, but he still comes by the Source for drop-in programs like the Art as Action workshop and an ongoing graffiti mural project. He said he especially likes the graffiti project because what was once — and sometimes still is — considered vandalism, is now being considered a legitimate art from.

“Art is what you make of it, just like life is what you make of it,” Ridenour said.

It’s that idea that Ridenour tries to convey to other homeless people around Boulder when talking about the opportunities at the Source. As far as he is concerned, the expansion project will be a huge success if even a few more young people take advantage of the additional beds.

“It’s that many people fewer on the street,” he said. “They’re all trying to take a step in the right direction.”

Contact Camera Staff Writer Joe Rubino at 303-473-1328 or rubinoj@dailycamera.com.