Emergency shelter for young girls opens in Saginaw

SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - A new emergency shelter in Saginaw is opening up its doors to serve young girls.

TV5 spoke with organizers of the House of Love and they said they’re eager to provide support to young girls who need it.

“I feel so great. My heart is just so warm, and I’m excited to open,” Tanual Gaskew-Collins said.

Gaskew-Collins is the Child Welfare Director for the House of Love emergency shelter in Saginaw. The shelter aims to provide quality, 24-hour short-term residential care for girls between the ages of six and 17 that have been removed from their homes.

“We will be able to give them hope and I think that’s where a lot of them, they lose hope. So we want to be able to provide that for them,” Gaskew-Collins said.

The shelter will be able to house up to eight girls at one time.

“Helping our youth with their education, self-esteem, we will provide services with different community partners,” she said.

Gaskew-Collins has worked with children for years and she’s proud to see her efforts making an impact. “I do run into those kids and they say ‘hey, it was because of you that I kept going’. So I’m so excited, I still want to hear things like that coming from our youth.”

Now she’s eager to make new impressions on young girls that could use some support.

“We’re going to be able to give the kids something that they really need and just really make a difference in their lives,” she said.

The open house, located at 720 S. Michigan in Saginaw, continues until 8 p.m. Organizers aren’t sure when young girls will be moving into the emergency shelter.

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