Last spring, three months before she was set to graduate high school, 19-year-old Cali Johnson dropped out.

She was living in her car with her boyfriend, two friends and a pit bull. She lost her job at McDonald’s.

It wasn’t until early June when her boyfriend drove her car and her friends to Queen’s Canyon that Cali got a wake-up call.

Her best friend, Sydney Causey, got lost and died of complications from diabetes on national forest land, and her car ended up totaled. One teen remains in a coma after that crash.

Before Causey’s death, the pair had discussed going to Urban Peak for help. In late summer — alone, without a job, car or high-school diploma and determined to turn her life around — Cali turned to the place well-known among street kids as a way out.

She has been living at Urban Peak for three months, where she’s been given a bed and tools to become a self-reliant adult. 

“It is helpful to have a warm place to stay,” Cali said. “When you’re on the street, it is hard to focus on anything but day-to-day surviving.”

Cali says her mother is supportive but has little money or room in her house for Cali to live. But most of Urban Peak’s clients have run away or are kicked out of their parents’ homes and have been the victim of some form of abuse.

Urban Peak, which operates a shelter, counseling and other programs to assist homeless teens, is one of 15 area charities receiving grants from The Gazette-El Pomar Empty Stocking Fund.

Cali went back to school and is on pace to get her diploma in December.

The staff at Urban Peak has helped her write a path to her initial goal of becoming an emergency medical technician, a stable job she sees as a way to help people and pay bills while she seeks other education.

In her short time at Urban Peak, Cali also found a partner with a similar background who is equally motivated to turn his life around.

She married Kevin Johnson, 20, in a ceremony in Manitou Springs in October and is expecting their first child in July. Urban Peak has supported the couple in their quest for their own apartment, helping them navigate the sea of applications for affordable housing.

Johnson, who dropped out of school when he was 16 and was kicked out of his house, plans to take the GED in December and attend culinary classes.

“For people like me who didn’t have a family who really cared or supported me in getting onto my feet, they give you the push to get out there,” Johnson said of Urban Peak.

EMPTY STOCKING FUND

Make a secure donation at www.fillanemptystocking.org.Call 476-1673 to make a credit card or stock donation.Make check payable to the Empty Stocking Fund and mail to P.O. Box 400, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.