PORTSMOUTH, Va. — It’s a critical resource for at-risk teens in Hampton Roads, but it’s getting harder to help them because of its worsening conditions.
Like the young men who call it home, the Westhaven Boys Home in Portsmouth deserves a second chance. The 70-year building is showing its age, and the resources haven’t been there to make improvements.
“We do a lot of patchwork here,” Westhaven Boys Home Program Director Carlos Hooker told 13News Now.
Hooker has helped rehabilitate at-risk teen boys at the home for more than 20 years.
Westhaven is one of three homes operated by the Tidewater Youth Services Commission.
Right now, they’re doing all they can to make improvements at all three facilities with a fundraising campaign that, if successful, will help change more lives.
Angelo Porter found himself at Westhaven 20 years ago as a struggling teenager.
“Got into a bit of trouble,” Porter said. “Caught up in doing the wrong things.”
But inside Westhaven is where Porter found hope and turned things around. After leaving the home in 2003, he enlisted in the Navy, eventually became a Navy recruiter, and started a family of his own.
“One of the things that was important about Westhaven is that it centered a lot of that focus,” Porter said. “It allowed me to have those types of goals.”
Hooker has devoted his life to creating success stories like Porter’s.
“Angelo represents what hard work looks like,” Hooker said. “He represents what we’re all about.”
But with a building aging out and in constant need of work, it’s getting harder to let these teens know that they’re valued, and to show them, from the very beginning, they care.
The Second Chance and Revitalization campaign is happening right now to improve conditions at all three Tidewater Youth Services Commission homes.
You can see how far your investment goes by visiting the organization’s fundraiser page.