Do1Thing Blog

Rocky writer James Meadow, a gifted storyteller passed away Sunday night of injuries sustained in a bicycle accident Friday. James was a true wordsmith and had a gift for storytelling. His unique style brought sparkle to whatever subject he was writing about.

One of the last stories he wrote was about homeless teens Michael and Leah featured in the Do1Thing project. James and photojournalist Judy DeHass document these teens struggle to survive. You can read the story here.

Many of us never met James personally yet all of us were moved by his story about Michael and Leah.

You can also view the video of Michael and Leah on out multimedia page. The video is called Denver:Boundless Promise of Love.

Not long after The Rocky Mountain News ran the story, the newspaper folded leaving hundreds of journalist out of work and a city left without a Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper with a magnificent 150 year history. Two Pulitzer-prize winning photographers who donated their time to shoot for the project, Judy DeHaas and Preston Gannaway both lost their jobs. Judy was fortunate to be hired by the Denver Post and Preston by the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk. Just weeks ago the Virginian-Pilot announced yet another round of layoffs.

Several other photographers and journalist lost their jobs when their newspapers folded or layoffs took place during and soon after the Do1Thing project launched. None of them question why they spent hour after hour documenting the plight of homeless teenagers, all volunteering their time to do so. You see, we are storytellers. This is what we do. We document history and are compelled to share it.

We believe that regardless of todays economic climate or the nations propensity to want to know more about what million dollar movie stars, overpaid athletes and crooked ceo’s are doing than helping to change the world we all live in, we at Do1Thing will continue to document the injustices and social dilemmas facing Americas youth. That’s one thing you can count on.

As for James, our words can not comfort his families tremendous loss. We want him to know that because of the story he wrote about homeless teens for the Do1Thing project, he did yet 1 more thing to raise awareness for a great social injustice and we hope that you all will be moved to Do1Thing to help.

As a tribute to you James, we urge all of you to got to “I Want My Rocky”, leave a note for James’s family and show your support for the journalists who refuse to let the Rocky Mountain News die.

The thoughts and prayers of the Do1Thing community are with his family and friends and the more than 1.3 million homeless youth struggling to survive. Here’s to you James.

Judy DeHaas, a photojournalist at the Rocky Mountain News, documented the lives of a young couple for Do1Thing.org. Michael Cunningham, 20, and his girlfriend Lea Hallaway, 18, have been together for about a year. They stay from time to time at Urban Peak, a shelter for homeless youth in Denver. DeHaas tells Do1Thing.org:

Being homeless is difficult for the pair, but they strive to stay together and support each other.

Michael was taken from his alcoholic father when he was three-years-old and placed in at least 42 foster homes by the time he was emancipated in February 2008. His mother disappeared when he was around 3. After leaving foster care, he was unable to hold down a job and wound up on the streets.

His last foster home was with Lea’s aunt, where the couple met. Lea’s mother, a crack addict died when she was 6, and she was taken into the system at 2. After living in a series of foster homes, she was adopted, but Lea started to run away when she turned 13 and was asked to move out by the time she was 16.

The couple has slept on friend’s couches, in shelters and in cheap motels while trying to get a grip on their lives and stabilize, something neither of them learned from their parents or their brief stays in foster homes.