21 November, 2016, Brisbane: The Lady Musgrave Trust, Queensland’s oldest charity and a champion for homeless young women, will be lighting up the Story Bridge this week to raise awareness and funds for the shocking number of vulnerable women and their children who will be living rough on the streets of the Sunshine State this Christmas.
A significant number of women are continually turned away from emergency accommodation. With the festive season just around the corner, the Lady Musgrave Trust is calling attention to the skyrocketing demand for women’s support services, with thousands of extra requests for assistance each month that the state is struggling to meet.
With over 2,000 homeless or near homeless women without a roof in Brisbane each night, a new campaign to address this urgent need has been launched – the ‘Shelter Her from Homelessness’ project – critical to breaking the cycle of homelessness by providing safe and secure accommodation and customised support services so that young women at risk can feel safer this holiday.
Karen Lyon Reid, CEO of The Lady Musgrave Trust, says that while the reasons for homelessness and services provided may now be different, there remains a strong and growing need for safe shelter for Brisbane’s young, vulnerable women at this time of year.
“The Trust has established the emergency, ‘Shelter Her from Homelessness’ crowd-fund to acquire additional accommodation so that we can address this immediate need and continue the work of the Lady Musgrave Trust long into the future,” says Reid.
“The Story Bridge is one of Brisbane’s most iconic landmarks, and is the perfect way to shine a light on the issue of homeless women and their children in Queensland. We want to spread the message that it only takes $35 to shelter a young homeless woman for a night – the best present one Aussie can give to another.”
The Trust was established by a group of community-minded people, under the leadership of Lady Jeanie Lucinda Musgrave, wife of the then Governor of Queensland. The Governor of Queensland has been the patron of the Trust ever since.
Last year the Trust celebrated 130 years of service to more than 10,000 at risk and disadvantaged members of society up to the age of 30 who are facing critical homeless situations as a result of domestic violence, family breakdown, banishment due to pregnancy and other complex issues.
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