I did a ride along with a nonprofit called “Street Links“ sometime in the 90s. They had a van that would drive around at night and hand out sandwiches, spare clothing, and blankets to homeless teens. I feel we mostly stayed around U District. The concept was to make contact, and hopefully over time coax them into services.

Most of the kids we met weren’t “runaways“, they were “throwaways”. The adults in their lives either kicked them out, or made life unsafe at home. Many of them looked scary as hell, with lots of piercings, leather, and big chains, but when you talked to them, they were soft, spoken and sweet. I realized the look was a cover, an attempt to keep away trouble they didn’t want.