Third-year nursing students at the University of Calgary have partnered with a local business to help fund their cause: challenging the public’s erroneous perception of homeless teens. The group of eight students are hoping that their April Fool’s party at local lounge Opus on Eighth will net enough money for them to start a poster awareness campaign dispelling the myths that at-risk teens are not productive members of society. The project arose from a community health practicum with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary (BGCC).
“We conducted an assessment process with the residents of the BGCC’s shelters like Avenue 15, Safe House and Eleanor’s House, and the people who work with them,” says Lara McRitchie, a student involved in the initiative. “We were really shocked to find there was an overwhelming stigma in society around homeless youth and we felt like we needed to do something to combat it.”
The idea for the poster campaign seemed like a good starting point for the group, but the funding was harder to figure out. That’s when one of the students approached Opus co-owner Alim Velji with their idea.
“We see some homeless kids around here from time to time and really applaud what the students are trying to do to help,” says Velji. “We are usually closed on Wednesday nights so we figured we would make it an event, open our doors and raise some money.”
Everyone is welcome to attend the party which begins at 8 p.m. on April Fool’s Day. The students will be selling tickets in Science Theatres at the University of Calgary from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday March 26 and Tuesday March 31 at a cost of $10 each. Tickets are also available at the door on the night of April 1. All proceeds from ticket sales for that night will go toward the design, production and placing of the posters. Opus on Eighth is located at 628 8th Avenue SW.
Shazin Charania, a Youth Worker with BGCC, says that even though homeless youth are talented individuals, in the public’s eye, they are homeless first and youth second.
“This stigma does not make it easy to integrate into mainstream society and overcome obstacles that they are facing,” Charania said. “The nursing students rebranding initiative is an exciting opportunity to remove labels and have the teens seen, instead, as young people experiencing issues of homelessness.”
For information e-mail supportyouthnow@gmail.com
story link:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/march26-09/cocktails
image:
Ken Bendiktsen
