Homeless youth share art

[attach]1666[/attach]In the late 1980’s a few homeless youth were lucky enough to find refuge in the basement of a church surrounded by kind people.

In 1991, that small basement was relocated to a 930 square metre building by Pape and Cosburn Avenues, and rechristened Touchstone Youth Centre.

“It was started because there was a need for shelter and safety for homeless youth,” says executive director Susette Clunis.

“We provide housing and beds, employment services and also programs to encourage their interests and independence such as basketball programs, money management programs, and cooking classes.”

To help raise money for the centre and awareness about youth homelessness, Touchstone is hosting the Dream Under Construction event which showcases the work of the centre’s users. The youth painted t-shirts depicting their thoughts about Toronto.

The t-shirts are on display at the centre from noon to 5 p.m. throughout May. After the show the shirts will be auctioned off.

“The youth all have many different stories on how they got here, and they all have many different dreams — some of them have come out of a lot of incredible things like escaping a country of war, or abusive families,” Clunis says.

The centre will also be holding a golf fundraiser at Royal Ashburn on June 10.