Homeless helped

By Bridget Cook
WHILE the festive season is on the mind of most, a group of youths from Greater Dandenong are raising awareness about homelessness.
The Centre of Multicultural Youth, based in Dandenong, is supporting local young people to develop their own program in the hope they can make a positive difference to the issues they feel passionate about.
The group of youths, aged between 16 and 21 and from multicultural backgrounds, decided they wanted to do something about homelessness and global poverty.
Since making the decision, the group has been involved in workshops and have volunteered to help the homeless.
Maureen Rodgers, a worker with the Centre for Multicultural Youth, said during a workshop about homelessness, the group learnt nearly a half of all people experiencing homelessness in Australia are aged under 25.
Group member Sahar Ramazani, 16, said homelessness was a big issue for a number of reasons.
“Homelessness is an important issue because if no one cares about it, it’s going to get bigger – and it’s not fair,” she said. “We all are humans and we all deserve the same thing.”
On Wednesday 8 December, the group volunteered to help out and meet people at the Cornerstone Contact Centre in Dandenong.
Cornerstone offer free meals and support to people who are doing it tough. Following the visit, group member Abouk Tel, 19, said the day was a rewarding experience.
“It was great helping out at Cornerstone because it showed me these people are not different than me and also I’m not better then them because I have a place to sleep and warm food to eat,” he said.
The group will also be volunteering their time to soon make food hampers for the Salvation Army and will be learning more about global poverty through an Oxfam presentation.