Homeless teens give meaning to Thanksgiving

Nancy Amaya came close to becoming a queen without a castle.

The homeless student was nearly elected prom queen at Desert Pines High School last spring, but few knew her story.

Amaya, 19, did not play up her homeless circumstances: "I didn't want the pity vote." At the time, however, she was a "couch surfer," drifting from one friend's house to the next and always feeling like an intruder.

Amaya said she was forced to leave home because of conflicts with her mother and her mother's new husband.

Wearing a $20 dress from a Ross discount store, Amaya was first runner-up on the prom's royalty court. A teacher gave her money for the dress.

Although she graduated last spring, Amaya still keeps in contact with another one of her teachers, Hillary Niccoli, her modern literature teacher. Niccoli took her out for her birthday and to vote.

"She checks in with me once a week," Amaya said.

Because homeless youth often must create new families of their own, Amaya and about 25 other homeless teens gathered for a holiday-style feast Wednesday at a drop-in center on South Maryland Parkway, north of Tropicana Avenue.

Thanksgiving staples such as carved turkey, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, green Jello salad and pumpkin pies were spread out over two long tables. Dennie Fidler, a volunteer, brought home-made whipped cream. "I can't imagine store-bought whipped cream," she said. "It doesn't go with the holidays."

Amaya munched on a turkey leg and used pieces of ham to scoop mashed potatoes from her plate. "This is delicious," she said.

The kids who came to dinner face incredible challenges rooted in domestic abuse, poverty and abandonment, advocates said.

Because of the economic crisis, demand for services has more than doubled over the last year, said Matt Hirsch, executive director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.

Clark County School District officials have counted 3,400 homeless students so far this year and suspect the numbers will exceed last year's total of 4,800. Homeless students represent 1 percent of the school district's enrollment.

The Homeless Youth Partnership estimates there are 400 homeless youth on the streets of Las Vegas every day.

In contrast to negative stereotypes about teenage runaways, homeless teens are much like other teens, advocates said.

"They're well-adjusted kids put in precarious circumstances," said Niccoli, the Desert Pines English teacher who befriended Amaya. "She has never been in any trouble with the law."

Besides being prom court royalty, Amaya was on the Desert Pines swim team and was elected class clown. Because Amaya kept her personal problems to herself, the accolades were "more affirming than people realized," Niccoli said.

Some homeless students also learn to be very social and friendly as a survival skill, advocates said.

"The kids who come to our table don't have to practice social skills," Fidler said about the teens at Wednesday's meal.

Niccoli said she normally does not get involved in the lives of her students. But in Amaya's situation, Niccoli said she realized Amaya had few adults she could talk to.

Larry Lovelett, the community relations manager for the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said he knows from experience that homeless teens tend to avoid drugs and alcohol "because they recognize that's what caused the problems at home."

Lovelett said the longer teens are on the street, the more likely it becomes that they will turn to "self-medication," Lovelett said.

"That's when they become the habitual homeless adult you see on the street," he said.

Californian Nicole Carrothers was a three-sport athlete enrolled in the International Baccalaureate academic program before she ran away to Las Vegas a year ago because of an abusive family member.

When she got off a Greyhound bus, she wandered the Strip for three days without sleeping.

"I came here with the clothes on my back," Carrothers said.

Carrothers said she was rescued by undercover casino security who suspected another woman was trying to lure the teen into prostitution. She said she was too naive to understand what was happening.

Because of her association with a prostitute, Carrothers spent her last Thanksgiving in a juvenile detention hall.

She has since been in and out of group homes, a foster home and shelters. Like Amaya, she now lives in a condominium sponsored by the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.

Carrothers has succeeded in getting off depression medication and is enrolled in an adult education program to finish her high school education. She also takes dance classes and works part time as a hotel registration clerk at Wynn Las Vegas.

Amaya last worked at a Halloween Express shop. This season's most popular costumes were "bumblebees for kids, the Joker for dudes and anything skanky for girls," she said.

To stay in a condominium owned by the Nevada Partnership for Youth, Amaya has to continue her education.

She is going to the College of Southern Nevada and wants to be a probation officer. She has developed empathy for kids who get into trouble.

"Many adults see them as the bad seed," Amaya said. "But if you knew what they went through, you would be different" in your judgments.

At her condominium, Amaya will prepare a holiday meal today for some homeless friends she met at a previous shelter.

"Everybody deserves a Thanksgiving," she said.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-799-2922.