After many years of working at Trail-Youth, I was forced to quit due to conditions which are not conducive to working at all. I am saddened to say that as the Board has gained new leadership, they have also become more bigoted, religious, homophobic, and generally hateful.
Trail Youth used to be safe
Now, it has become a problem child within the community and within the volunteers and staff that keep it running. Today I went to meet my friends at the coffee shop (which still touts that it is a "safe space" despite vocally supporting bigotry) and was body blocked by Stone Fleshman, the new manager at the shop. Without any warning, he said that i was not allowed in the shop because I was a (and I quote) "Safety hazard." Now of course I respected this and never entered the shop despite never getting an in depth explanation on why I was a "Safety hazard" to the shop and its customers. From then on we (my friends and I) left the property. Around 30 minutes later, a sheriff pulls up to the shop and goes in to talk with Stone. Once a friend of mine entered, Stone and the officer walked to the back of the shop and hid in the conference room and talked for 30+ minutes. I am still unaware if this situation was related to myself or to others, and will not enter the shop unless I am told that I am allowed back in or that I will be trespassed if I try to enter.
Now, this is something that has been going on since the board forcefully changed management. Trail's coffee has decreased in quality, and it has become less of the 'teen safe space' that it touts itself as. I would advise against going to Trail Youth in North Bend until we can finalize our findings and fully understand what is going on. Especially as most of the donations you make are going to raffle prizes or religious figurines than to the actual cafe in and of itself.
As I collect more data and information, a much more formal journal entry (non blog-style) will be put out on this site.
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