After becoming homeless as a teenager, Kimberly Waters thought her life was over. “I didn’t want to be alive. I knew I was different, and the world was never going to accept me as I was, and I just didn’t want to deal with it,” says Waters. Waters would later graduate at the top of her class at Georgia State University with a degree in music, as well as becoming a successful real estate agent in Atlanta. 

            Waters is one of the 1.6 million people who became homeless as a teenager, a statistic very common within the LGBTQ community. Waters found refuge in the Atlanta based organization Lost-n-Found. Lost-n-Found provides help to homeless youth with finding food, shelter, showers, hygiene supplies, STD testing, computer access for job searching, and access to emergency clothing from the Lost-n-Found Thrift and Consignment Shop. The thrift and consignment shop is a place for donation in clothes and money, with all proceeds helping to put a stop to homeless LGBTQ youth. 

            “If you would have told me at 18 that I would be where I am, I would think you were making fun of me,” says Waters. Waters has lived he majority of her life as a woman, “I’ve always felt that I was a woman, even when I was very young. My parents were always very supportive, and didn’t mind the clothes I wore, as long as I was being myself,” says Waters. 

            In 2013, Waters lost both of her parents unexpectedly. Her siblings were not willing to support her transgendered identity as her parents did. Waters was able to work and support herself through college, but shortly after graduating had to leave her campus dorm and check into a homeless shelter. 

            “It’s dangerous for someone like me. They wouldn’t let me stay with the women because I wasn’t born a woman, but if I stayed with the men, I wouldn’t have made it out alive,” says Waters. Waters’ fear didn’t allow her to stay for more than one week. On her last day at the homeless shelter, a caseworker told her about Lost-n-Found Youth. 

            Lost-n-Found in a non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 2011, it is now a high functioning help center for homeless LGBTQ youth in Atlanta. Lost-n-Found specializes in teens and young adults aged between 16-25. 

            Waters met with a now retired social worker and employee by Lost-n-Found who helped her find shelter at the Lost-n-Found Youth Center. Within two weeks Waters was sent on her first job interview to work the front desk for a real estate company. Six years later, Waters is now the head agent for the same company. 

            “Some of the stories I hear would blow your mind, but what’s really shocking are the success stories. You see a kid come through here and the look on their face is just hopeless, then they leave with a job, and regardless of the job, it gives them hope,” says John Truett, an employee of the Lost-n-Found thrift store and former member of the board of directors. 

            “I know I’m strong. I won’t say that I would have died without them, but they’re why I’m here. They’re the reason that I’m doing as good as I’m doing,” says Waters.