Two steps towards hope
Written by Kiandra Lane
Victorian secondary students have taken steps to raise awareness for youth homelessness week, writes Kiandra Lane.
Celebrating thirty years of commitment, The Steps Outreach Service displayed a youth homelessness photography exhibition in Federation Square, to raise awareness for homelessness week.
The Youth Homelessness photography exhibition began on Friday August 5, and ran for three days displaying photography that captured the struggles of young people experiencing homelessness.
The Steps outreach Service organised the exhibition and selected Victorian secondary students to photograph the plight of homelessness in support of struggling youths.
After recently celebrating thirty years of service to the homeless the Steps Outreach Service program organised a fundraiser concert and a homelessness photography exhibition right in the heart of Melbourne, with over two hundred people attending.
Since 1985 the Steps Outreach Service workers and volunteers have been meeting at the steps of Flinders Street Station at night to engage with youth experiencing homelessness. Offering support to encourage connection back into the mainstream community.
All photographs displayed in the exhibition were taken by Victorian secondary students ranging from year levels nine to year twelve. The photographs were entered into the “Homelessness Photography” competition.
The Steps Outreach Service successfully raised seven thousand dollars for youth homelessness with their fundraising concert and youth homelessness photography exhibition. The exhibition displayed the winners of the homelessness photography competition.
The winning photograph was called ‘Hope’ by Mac.Robertson Girl’s High School student, Zainab Sayeda. Who described her image as a representation of the constant struggle homeless people are faced with.
Lauryn Schellebeck was also one of the students who had her photograph displayed in The Atrium, and her photograph represented how even someone who owns hardly anything can still have faith in a miracle.
The exhibition helped educate current students and encourage them to understand the struggles youth homeless people face.
Homelessness Australia believes that homelessness is increasing and that it is not a choice. The organisation believes that the majority of people are homeless due to financial and emotional hardship.
The Steps Outreach Service hopes to continue raising awareness about youth homelessness and reduce the number of homeless people under the age of twenty five.
Follow Kiandra Lane on Twitter, Kiandra__Lane for more stories.
