Created: 2/20/2007 11:20:06 PM 
High Point, NC -- Most teenagers look forward to 18 as a milestone of independence. But for kids in foster care, that age can bring a lot of pain. It's the time most foster kids age out of the system. The state stops paying the people who have been taking care of them, and many teenagers end up on the street. It's a crisis one local man lived through. Now, he's on a mission to help others.
26-year-old Travis Burrell is proud to show off the first home he's bought. The six bedroom house in High Point isn't for his own family. It's for those without a family.
"We don't really see this population. They're not standing outside with a sign saying we're homeless," he says.
They're foster kids, aging out of the system.
"When they turn 18 they're put in a situation where they have to step out on their own and they're not ready, truthfully."
Travis knows that first-hand.
"I grew up in foster homes and group homes."
Now an entrepreneur with his own marketing company, Travis says he was blessed.
"Mentors really stepped in my life and kinda took me under their wing."
His two younger brothers weren't so lucky.
"They're in prison now. They've been in prison now for 6 years."
Travis wasn't able to save his brothers, but with this free transitional home, he's determined to help others who are lost.
"They don't have to worry about where am I going to sleep, what am I going to eat." And that's not all.
"We're going help them with education, entrepreneurialship, job placement, building character, bridging that gap between the community and them."
Travis is calling the home crossroads. He says it represents the point in life where young people make the decision to turn right or wrong.
He wants to open the home as soon as possible. He says he just needs to finish furnishing it. If you want to make a donation or become a mentor, call 906-5150.
WFMY News 2
