Convo 2018 is supporting the NEPA Youth Shelter founded by Maureen Maher-Gray.

Maureen was raised in the desert southwest. She attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington where she earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Arts degrees. She worked in corporate America for several years while raising her family. Maureen went back to school and earned a teaching degree which she joyfully used at St. Aloysius Catholic Grade School and Gonzaga Preparatory. In 2009, circumstances allowed her to move to Pennsylvania where she took up the mantle of issue politics. Her passion for social justice and her local work opened her eyes to the issue of youth homelessness in NEPA. After much research and organizing community meetings about the subject, Maureen began the nonprofit NEPA Youth Shelter to address this issue. She

Maureen her Board of Directors opened an After School Teen Drop In Center in Scranton in October 2017. The center serves all youth, especially low income and at-risk youth. As of June 15,2018 the center had welcomed 113 individual teens, averaging 36 teens per day. She is actively working with 3 of the youth who attended the center to find housing because they no longer live with their families/guardians. She is honored to be a part of this year’s Youth Convocation.

Maureen would like to especially thank the attendees for their community service project for the teens who attend the Center. May the Lord’s blessing be upon you in all your good works.

NEPA Youth Shelter
541 Wyoming Ave,
Scranton NY 18509