IRMO, SC - (WIS) 11,000 people live in Irmo. But not all of them have homes.
"Traditionally, Irmo, Dutch Fork, Chapin... they consider that to be the 'rich district,'" said Richland-Lexington School District 5 social worker Jennifer Felkel.
Most residents make between $30,000 and $100,000 a year and Irmo's schools are tops in the state.
"We do have a lot of affluent families, but we've noticed over the past few years a trend in homelessness, and the face of homelessness has changed," Felkel said.
Right now in Richland-Lexington School District 5, every school has students who are homeless.
"These are families who are unemployed, had businesses, are college graduates, their families are just without income," said Felkel.
In last three years, Felkel spent much of her time finding motel rooms for students, finding them cabs and even finding them food for the weekend.
"The parents are scared to tell the staff they don't have food in the pantry for fear that they are going to be taken away," said 19-year-old Questa Bald Eagle. "I was so tiny from not getting nutrition I needed, my hair was falling out. I lost skin color."
Bald Eagle spent her early years on a Native American reservation in South Dakota. Her mother, she said, was an alcoholic. Her father was never there.
After years in foster care, an Irmo-area family adopted her. Then she said at the end of her sophomore year they told her to leave.
"Because I grew up in foster care, I couldn't do it again," she said.
Without a ride, Bald Eagle dropped out of school and for a year and stayed with friends whose parents would allow it and walked up and down Harbison Boulevard, favoring places that were always open, like Denny's.
"I used to go to the mall a lot," she said. "I used to steal clothes from the mall. It's not something I'm proud of doing."
Bald Eagle said she never tried a shelter. There is one family shelter in Columbia. While it could have helped Bald Eagle, the family shelter is not open to teenage boys.
"When we end up with a handful of teenagers here, things just got out of control," said Jon Artz with the Columbia Family Shelter.
And boys older than 12 are not allowed.
Artz said turning them away is one of the hardest parts of his job. He said he would love to accept more teens but that would require more staff and more money.
It seems for any teen on the streets, rejection is all around.
"It was really hard because you always felt so unwanted everywhere you went," said Bald Eagle.
She knew she was risking even more rejection when she went back to enroll at Irmo High School without a birth certificate and without a guardian.
"School was my survival. School was my way out," she said. "I wanted to go back because I knew I'd have food and something to do to motivate me and definitely food."
And it was there that Bald Eagle was accepted. She found a fit at the district's alternative school. A social worker helped her enroll and one of her teachers adopted her.
Bald Eagle graduated last year. She works full-time at Walmart, pays her own rent, and has her own car.
"It's really hard, but I have support I've never had before," she said.
And that, she said, is what changes the course for her and for all the other local kids without homes. Someone who said "yes" when it seemed the world said "no."
"It's almost like you can see the shame is no longer there," said Felkel tearing up. "The weight is off their shoulders, someone's there to help them come alongside them and that's what we all should be doing everyday."
And the first step, Felkel said, is recognizing that the streets of America are no longer as they may appear.
The best thing you can do is be aware. Your child's friend may need a place to stay.
Felkel also suggests calling your child's guidance department or school social workers and ask them what you can do to help. It may be food, it may be clothes, it may be help finding a kid a ride or a roof over their heads.
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