National President of the YCW, Marc Besford, travelled up to visit St Patrick’s YCW Group in Thornaby recently, to check out the latest work of the young leaders there.
The Group informed Marc that they have been using the YCW resources to explore the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping in their meetings. Through the SEE-JUDGE-ACT Method, the young people discovered that young people are increasingly at risk of becoming homeless and the figures nationally show that the number of young people who are homeless has increased dramatically over the last decade.
When it comes to rough sleeping, since 2010 estimates show an increase of 165%.
In response, the young leaders decided to raise money for their local Salvation Army homelessness service. They came up with the idea of trying to engage young people and their families by holding a gingerbread house making competition. The money raised through this was then donated to the homelessness project.
They also told Marc about their visit to a nearby residential home where they spent time with the residents, listened to their stories and helped out. This was part of a project looking at loneliness and inter-generational issues.
Marc said: “The work of this Group is inspirational. They’ve done a lot to promote the power of young people taking action and being the difference. I hope to come back again soon and hear about some of the other plans they have coming up.”
