Non-profit that helps teens could close by February due to $500K budget gap

December 18, 2019 7:31 PM

Kyle Simchuk,

Posted: December 18, 2019 7:31 PM

Updated: May 20, 2021 12:33 PM

by Kyle Simchuk

SPOKANE, Wash. — A non-profit that saves teens from suicide, sex trafficking and substance abuse is in need of help itself.

Daybreak provides therapy and treatment to nearly a thousand teens in Spokane and Spokane Valley each year.

Now, staff at the non-profit say they have to close their doors because of a $500,000 budget gap.

It’s a gap the two Spokane County locations had nothing to do with.

The non-profit spent a lot of money expanding a facility north of Vancouver. Medicare reimbursements stopped when an employee was put under investigation.

Though charges were never filed, the non-profit as a whole missed out on nearly $3 million. It’s a loss that’s being felt in Spokane.

“I was put into foster care and I’m moving into this new family that I don’t really know and, like, I have a drug problem and all my friendships are going downhill because of it,” said 18-year-old Mya Roberts. “I always, like, tried to help myself but I wasn’t able to.”

All of that changed when Roberts went to Daybreak.

“She was very quiet and didn’t have a lot of self-confidence, self-esteem, and we really worked hard- she worked really hard,” said Dawn Flees, who works with the non-profit.

NEW AT 11: A non-profit that saves teens from suicide, sex trafficking and substance abuse is desperate for help themselves. Daybreak is facing a $500,000 budget gap and employees say they may have to close the doors. One former patient says that can’t happen. #4NewsNow pic.twitter.com/nL1ZrjKQDy

— Kyle Simchuk (@KyleKXLY) December 18, 2019

Roberts is just one of many success stories. Between the Spokane inpatient facility and Daybreak’s outpatient center in Spokane Valley, roughly 1,000 teens are given a second chance each year.

Some come for six hours a week, others stay for six months.

Now all of that support is at risk.

The non-profit needs $500,000 to stay open through March, when the Vancouver facility can begin collecting Medicaid and restore the collective budget.

Flees and other employees are asking for donations and praying for a Christmas miracle. Without the money, Spokane facilities may have to shut down as early as February.

Roberts has been sober for a year and a half. She’s also received a full-ride scholarship to Whitworth University. She hopes to become a Chemical Dependency Therapist just like Flees.