In 2005, a small class of young kids came to a stark, simple realization: “If there are homeless kids who need our help, we should do whatever we can to help them.” It’s hard to argue with that logic. This simple view of the world – and their place in it – made it possible for them to face the reality of child homelessness fearlessly. Their first fundraiser brought in $5,000. Their second raised $40,000. They either didn’t know, or didn’t care, that kids aren’t supposed to be able to do that.

When you take on something as ambitious as ending child homelessness, your mission should be crystal clear, and your approach better be fearless.

Having seen the efforts and effect a handful of kids could have first hand, HALO’s founders saw an opportunity to create an organization that would believe in its mission, and its ability to fulfill that mission, fearlessly.

Now, HALO gives homeless kids a home in which hope emerges from hardship, poverty gives way to potential, and where drawings of the past unlock dreams of the future.

We work wherever kids who have been abused, abandoned, and orphaned, need the kind of love and support other kids get from living with their family.

We work so that one more child will spend one less day alone.

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Kids are the greatest cause.

We partner with shelters and programs to stretch their services and fill the gaps between existing agencies. In other words, through a mixture of heart and hustle, we find a way to meet every need – even the ones that other organizations can’t, or won’t.

Our programs include housing for hundreds of homeless youth in 11 International Orphanages and Two Domestic Shelters, education in Learning Centers that offer a variety of future-focused programming, from simple life skills, to help with school to scholarship funds, and healing through a mix of therapeutic art and medical and mental support.

When kids rediscover their value and embrace their potential, it puts them on a path to becoming contributing members of their community, ultimately saving over $300,000 in potential welfare and incarceration costs.

At our core is a small team charged with keeping the vision clear, the gears turning, and the fire burning. They embody the deep compassion and relentless determination that has come to define HALO as an organization, and made us a force to be reckoned with in the fight against child homelessness.

HALO Team
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Rebecca Welsh

Founder & CEO

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Nicole Gerken

Chief Operating Officer

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Carly Schultze

Chief Program Officer

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Chelsea Diepenbrock

Senior Operations Manager

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Joyce Neuenswander

Support Manager

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Betty Sundermeyer

Financial Coordinator

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Kayla Keller

Jefferson City Operations Manager

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Aubony Chalfant

Clinical Manager

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Key Okolo

Jefferson City Program Coordinator

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CHRISTINA CUMMINS

Operations Coordinator

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TERRANCE SMITH

Jefferson City Boys Program Facilitator

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Alayna Howard

Kansas City Program Manager

Nikki Lynn Barker

New York Liaison

International
  • Harriet Adongpiny
    Uganda Liaison

  • Alice Kiiza Namagembe
    Uganda Finance Assistant

  • Rodolfo Fuentes Valdez
    Mexico Liaison

  • Raja Sekher
    India Liaison

  • Matthew Orcutt
    Founder of Simama Project & HALO Kenya Liaison

HALO Board of Directors

    HALO KC Advocate Board

    Amy Munce, Annie Anderson, Becky Krueger, Cheryl Bicknell, Courtney Filing, Dorothy Duffy, Erin Duba, Holly Mihalovich, Jamie Martin, Jen Grammer, Jennifer Call, Jill Jackoboise, Jody Albers, Julie Welsh, Kara Hoolehan, Katrina Radenberg, Lori Lewellen, Mara Hodes, Maureen Weibe, Melissa Batz, Sally Sallee, Sarah Dodge, Shannon Haverty-Thrun, Susie Wollard, Tatia Batz, Teresa Olsen, Teri Scanlon, Vanessa Connell