During homecoming week, senior Kylie Krumenauer and her mother, Julie Nelson, organized the Common Basket for Mass. Krumenauer and Nelson spent all day Monday of Homecoming Week educating students on the organization, TreeHouse. The BSM students raised $1,228.

TreeHouse is a local organization that has a goal to end hopelessness for teens. “TreeHouse is a Christian organization whose goal is to end hopelessness among teens. They have meetings and programs on Tuesdays and Thursdays where teenagers just get together and talk about what’s going on in their lives,” Krumenauer said.

Nelson got involved long before her daughter did. “My mom got involved when they asked her to MC one of their fundraisers. She speaks at a lot of events, but after she heard about the work that TreeHouse is doing she wanted to do more with the organization. Ten years later, and she is on the board,” Krumenauer said.

For Krumenauer and her family, TreeHouse is an organization close to their hearts, and one they continue to volunteer for. “I got involved with TreeHouse through my mom. She MC’s events for them a lot, which basically means she speaks and introduces people and moves the event along. She would bring me and my sister with to the events if there were people talking who she wanted us to hear. One time we heard her favorite Christian writer when he spoke at the event, and we got to meet Gabby Douglas, the Olympic gymnast, when she came too,” Krumenauer said.

TreeHouse likes to focus on building relationships for teens, educating teens through mentors, and learning how to seek support through peers. As a teenager herself, Kruemauer sees how important it is to help teens. “TreeHouse is important to me because it’s helping people in our community who are our age. I have heard first-hand accounts at the events, and they are really having crazy impacts on teenagers,” Krumenauer said.