1 R Special Advertising Section | Sunday, April 23, 2023 57 still has a photo of them taken in the shelter’s living room. Doar now holds two master’s degrees and works in IT at the University of Washington. Standing inside the center’s bright, airy living room with his wife, Sarah, Doar recalled the memories of his life-changing two months there. He said he remembers the shelter’s refrigerator GIVING GUIDE By Mindy Schauer !e Orange County Register Kevin Doar said he doesn’t like to think about the what-ifs of his youth. He remembers a decent childhood, he said, but by age 16 he was living in an RV behind a pool repair shop in Anaheim Calif., just a few miles from Disneyland. To escape the “total squalor” and distract from being hungry, he spent hours at the Anaheim Central Library, he said, “reading books, or newspapers, or magazines that were free,” going home only to sleep. That’s where police eventually intervened, taking the “shell shocked” teen from the library to a youth shelter in Laguna Beach, Calif. run by the nonprofit Waymakers. Last month, the now 45-year-old Seattle resident was back, thanks to a computer search and a safe-deposit box full of cash. Carol Carlson, now director of the Youth Shelter Program, said she remembers the strawberry-blond teen from when he arrived in 1993 and she was a young volunteer. She Seattle man uses inherited money to give back to the nonprofit youth shelter that helped save him and the luxury of opening its door and having food whenever he liked. He remembers the basketball court in the backyard and missing a lot of his shots despite his 6-foot-2-inch frame. He remembers his third-story bedroom with the ocean view and field trips to an art museum and the beach. Carlson said she remembers the lanky boy’s MINDY SCHAUER / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER head hitting the door jam on his way into the kitchen. “To go from a beatup RV to this was pretty amazing,” he said. “When you arrive, you’re on a path, and if you keep going it’s not good,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to see that future … I don’t want to think about it. “It gave me an offramp,” Doar said. He didn’t have to think only of his survival. “I had a sense of normalcy. I was able to breathe.” Arrangements were made for him to live with “the other half of my family,” in North Carolina, he said, where he finished high school and went on to college. A couple of years ago, Doar did a search of unclaimed money from the government and discovered his now deceased mother had a safe-deposit box. He was hoping it contained photos of himself as a kid, but instead it held $2,000 in cash. He didn’t know how his mother came into the money, and he didn’t feel right spending it on himself, he said. Instead, he decided to give back to the place that set him on a different road. Carlson was curious when the donation came in. She wanted to know why someone from out of state would give to her local organization, she said. After some investigation, CEO Ronnetta Johnson learned the story behind the money and they invited Doar to visit if he was ever in the area. As luck would have, Doar and his wife were planning a 16th wedding anniversary trip to Dana Point, Calif. for the FestiKevin Doar of Seattle ducks under a “Welcome Back Kevin!” Banner at the Waymakers youth home in Laguna Beach, Calif. He stayed there when he was a teen. Thirty years later, he reunited with volunteer Carol Carlson, now the director of the Youth Shelter Program. val of Whales. Carlson picked the couple up at their hotel and drove them to the shelter for a tour. Strung across the front porch was a banner: “Welcome Back Kevin!” “It looks exactly the same,” Doar said as he entered the three-story home, remembering the room where he’d watched “The X-Files” on TV. But Waymakers isn’t the same. During its early days, the nonprofit’s focus was on runaway, homeless and at-risk kids, Carlson said. “In 2006, we answered the call for more mental health services and we hired more professionals to work with kids with higher mental health concerns.” Annually, about 100 children pass through its Laguna Beach, Calif. doors with severe anxiety, depression and other needs, some who have tried to commit suicide. The nonprofit has expanded to four homes in Orange County: two in Tustin and another in Huntington Beach joined the original Laguna Beach home. So far, 4,400 teens have been served since its inception, officials said. Waymakers’ mission is to help “individuals make their way through conflict and crisis to a place of strength and stability.” It is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. “It was a long journey,” Doar said. “The anger and pain will be with you for the rest of your life. It can burn you up or you can use it to drive yourself to a better place.” Scan to donate now or visit: https://my.5thavenue.org/donate/q/givenow 5THAVENUE.ORG GIVE BIG FOR THE 5TH!
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