Exeter Youth Squad's 24-hour famine raises money for St Petrock's homeless charity

On 29 and 30 July, members of Exeter Youth Squad took part in a sponsored 24-hour famine to raise money for Exeter-based charity St Petrock’s.

The group of 13- to 19-year-olds are raising awareness of homelessness in and around the city as part of a community action project devised by the young people themselves over the past few months.

After identifying homelessness as a key issue in the local area, they decided to hold the sponsored 24-hour famine, which involved participants not eating for a whole day.

Amber Lovelock, a member of the Youth Squad, felt that the project would open her eyes to the challenges faced everyday by homeless people. She said;  “It puts ourselves into a homeless person’s shoes, to get a feeling of how bad it would be to have no food even though we have homes to go back to."

Set up as part of the Exeter, East and Mid Devon Youth Panel in 2012, Exeter Youth Squad aim to represent the voices of young people in Exeter. As well as community action projects, the youth panel also makes decisions about grants to youth groups and makes quality assurance visits to other youth centres and projects. 

Young people met on the Friday evening at The Knight Club in Beacon Heath for a final meal, then again 24 hours later to have a meal at the end of the event. The project was organised and researched by the young people who decided the direction it would take from start to finish.

Paige Wonnacott from the Youth Panel who completed the famine said “It’s really hard to do especially when there is so much food around you and knowing you can’t eat it. It must be harder for homeless people  when they have no food."

A representative from St Petrocks came to the start of the famine to wish the young people good luck and tell them about the important work of the charity and how the money raised could help provide food, clothes and accommodation for homeless people.

From the pledges young people have received, they hope to have raised over £150.  

Senior Area Youth Worker Jonathan Scott said  “I’m really proud of the positive effort these  young people have made to make a difference in their community. They identified what they wanted to do and did most of the organisation themselves and I know going without food was a challenge but they did it!”