Students from Years 10 to 12 were invited to spend part of their Friday night at the College last week, learning more about the plight of the homeless. Over 40 girls participated in the Young Vinnies Homeless Reflection Evening.

The aim of the evening was to build empathy and teach the girls more about homelessness in Australia. The girls enjoyed a variety of activities. The highlight of the evening was the presentation from Heather, our guest speaker from St Patricks Community Centre in Fremantle. Heather runs the ‘Street to Home’ program at St Pat’s and her experience of working with the homeless was evident when the girls asked her questions, it was also clear that she has a strong passion for her work.

Additionally, Heather prompted the girls to think about the basic things they take for granted like having a letterbox. The lack of a letterbox impacts on the ability of homeless people to survive, as they have no address to give to government agencies. Furthermore, she encouraged the girls to continue advocating the issue of homelessness.

Other activities included; brainstorming about what homelessness sounds like, discussing the validity of the representation of homelessness in movies, making posters to better inform the rest of the Santa Maria College community about the issue of homelessness in WA, undergoing a homelessness visualisation and planning how we as a community can better serve the community.

The night also included eating soup and bread for dinner in the stormy weather, which reinforced how lucky we all were to be going home to warm beds at the end of the night. Homelessness is a growing concern in WA, with women over 55 being the fastest-growing group suffering homelessness.

Kate Miller, Young Vinnies President