On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, the Rainbow House youth shelter participated in a public panel on youth homelessness at the Daniel Boone Regional Library. The Rainbow House organization includes a homeless youth shelter, children's emergency center, and child advocacy center. At the panel, homeless teens currently living at the Rainbow House shelter spoke about their experiences and how the shelter has helped them learn skills to become self-sufficient.

1. COLUMBIA- On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, the Rainbow House participated in a public panel on youth homeless at Daniel
Boone Regional Library. The Rainbow House organization includes a homeless youth shelter, a children's emergency center
and a child advocacy center. (11/3/2011, Allie Hinga, J2150F News)

2. COLUMBIA- Columbia residents gathered Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011 to see some teenagers from Sol House speak on a youth
homelessness panel. This part of Rainbow House provides a place where teenagers can live up to 18 months rent free, finish
their education, find employment and learn to be self-sufficient. (11/3/2011, Allie Hinga, J2150F News)

3. COLUMBIA- Claire Slama, the homeless youth program director, introduced the youth panel on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011.
Slama said 100 percent of the teens who entered the emergency shelter have transitioned to safe housing.(11/3/2011, Allie
Hinga, J2150F News)

4. COLUMBIA- The Rainbow House youth panel consisted of three homeless teens currently living at Sol House and one at the
children's emergency shelter waiting to move to Sol House. The Sol House is the home for teenagers that Rainbow House
opened in 2007. It has housed 65 teens since its opening. (11/3/2011, Allie Hinga, J2150F News)

5. COLUMBIA- Diamond, who spoke on the panel, is a teenager that currently lives at Sol House. She spoke about how her
experiences there have helped her learn to open her mind to try new things. (11/3/2011, Allie Hinga, J2150F News)

6. COLUMBIA- A.J. spoke on the homeless youth panel Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. AJ spoke about how she will graduate high
school in 2012 and wants to be a designer and work with artists. (11/3/2011, Allie Hinga, J2150F News)

7. COLUMBIA- The Missouri United Methodist Church offers a meal on Wednesdays that provides a place for the church
congregation to interact with the community's students and homeless population. The program, called Wednesday Night
Live, has been going on for over 10 years. (11/2/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

8. COLUMBIA- Participants in the Missouri United Methodist Church's Wednesday Night Live dinner help themselves to the
food provided. The church offers a hot catered meal every Wednesday during the academic year. (11/2/2011, Margaret
Bedwell, J2150F News)

9. COLUMBIA- The Missouri United Methodist Church serves the dinner in their new multipurpose room that was an addition
to the church last year. The attendance to the event varies with an average of 60 to 70 people that come each week.
(11/2/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

10. COLUMBIA- The Missouri United Methodist Church provided a meal of barbecued ribs, corn, rolls, green beans, baked
beans and cookies Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. The meal content varies each week. (11/2/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F
News)

11. COLUMBIA- Rylie Miller and her babysitter Hannah McCort attend the dinner every Wednesday before choir practice. Rylie
and Hannah are both regular attendees of the Missouri United Methodist Church. (11/2/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F
News)

12. COLUMBIA- The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri is located on 2101 Vandiver Drive. The food bank is a storage
and distribution center for food items in bulk. (11/11/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

13. COLUMBIA- The Food Bank does not give food to people from this location; rather, it just collects the food. The bank serves
32 counties from the Ozarks to the Iowa and Illinois border. (11/11/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

14. COLUMBIA- Twenty pounds of food can be bought with every $2 donated to The Food Bank. It serves 135 agencies and the
average turnaround time for food is 10 days. (11/11/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

15. COLUMBIA- Buddy Packs is a program providing food to hungry elementary-aged students. It started from a story of when
one student wouldn't get on the bus to go home for spring break. When a teacher asked why, the student said there wasn't
any food at home. Now the program serves 8,500 kids at 137 schools. (11/11/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News).

16. COLUMBIA- The Food Bank has a cooler that can store hundreds of pounds of fresh food. The cooler was recently renovated
and is now twice the size it used to be. (11/11/2011, Margaret Bedwell, J2150F News)

17. COLUMBIA- On Friday Nov. 11, 2011, volunteers separate the bulk food and put it into bags. Last year, volunteers
contributed 66,000 hours of work, which is the equivalent of 33 full-time employees. (11/11/2011, Margaret
Bedwell, J2150F News).