WITH BRIGHT signs, a group of young people protested the lack of a youth shelter here with a hunger strike for 24 hours starting yesterday into today, July 9.
Led by Jessica McCallum-Miller and the 24 hour Youth Centre Committee, the group waved their signs or sat in chairs while making themselves heard and seen along Greig Ave. near their campsite on the green space by Staples.
Cardboard boxes were out and every so often someone would sit down in one or lay down in it, showing what it can be like to be a homeless youth. Some even slept in the boxes last night.
McCallum-Miller said earlier that the goal of the hunger strike was to spread the word and gain support in trying to solve the problem of youth homelessness and help vulnerable youths.
It is an issue that is close to McCallum-Miller’s heart.
She knows youths who have been, or are, homeless.
In a peer-group survey she conducted, she found 10 youths who were either homeless or living in unsafe housing.
She and the committee want a 24-hour youth shelter to come of their efforts to raise awareness.