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Shelter for homeless teen moms opens next month By MELISSA MARTIN Pregnant teens and young moms will have a new place to take shelter next month when the Magdalene Home opens in Medford. The five-bedroom west Medford house operated by a nonprofit, nondenominational group will become a shelter for homeless teens who are pregnant or trying to survive on the streets with a baby. "If this is successful, it will help a great deal and maybe others will follow and open up another home," said Mike Stepovich, one of five board members for Magdalene Home. Supporters are following a model developed by retired priest Charles Taaffe. His foundation has run three Salem homes for 26 years. Much of the support so far for the Magdalene Home has come from members of Sacred Heart Catholic Parish. One of its priests, the Rev. Liam Cary, serves on the board of directors. Other board members include St. Mary's School teacher Carolyn Bowman and Sacred Heart's education director, Connie Moyer. "We talk about the sanctity of life, but we need to give a hand to those who are choosing life," Cary said. Over the past month, area residents have contributed $15,000 toward the project, including $1,000 collected by area Windermere real estate agents who save a small portion of every transaction annually for projects that benefit the homeless. The house, which can take as many as five residents, will cost about $300 a day to operate. The Magdalene board of directors will lease a house that formerly was a teen mother shelter that closed. Board members declined to make the home's address public, citing concern for residents' safety. Magdalene Home will have curfews for both babies and mothers, along with cooking, cleaning and shopping responsibilities. Mothers must attend school or work. The home will be staffed by a "house mom." "She will be a role model to teach the girls life skills like how to cook and do laundry," said board member Kathy Morgan, a volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul's homeless shelter. "We want it to be like a home." The home is greatly needed in Medford, school officials say. At South Medford High School, 20 of the 131 students enrolled in the teen parent program last year were homeless, said Debbie Johnson, case manager. About a half dozen of the 78 students in the teen parent program at North Medford High were homeless, said case manager Ruth Chittock. "That's one of the hardest things for us to do is place students in housing," Chittock said. "People will not rent to somebody under the age of 18. And for pregnant or parenting teens, it's virtually impossible to find a place to live." The Magdalene Home is one of several options for homeless girls. Community Works provides housing for 16 teens through its transitional living program, said manager Janet Alpine. But teens must be at least 16, and some girls in the Medford School District program have been as young as 12. The Medford Gospel Mission also helps youth through its Women's Shelter, and Medford minister Jeff Shelton started a Christian program called Woods Home for Girls. The Magdalene Home is named after one of the followers of Jesus, Mary of the Galilean town of Magdala. The board of directors chose the name because she was "a disciple of Christ who never denied him, was there when he died and was the first to witness the resurrection," Morgan said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.