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Austinites and homeless youth volunteer together

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By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Thursday, 21 May 2009

AUSTIN — It was an unusual sight Sunday, May 17 seeing homeless teenagers in ragged clothes and members of Austin churches strolling down Guadalupe Street together, holding trash bags, picking up trash with their rubber gloved hands.

This type of community healing was the aim of organizer Terry Cole, a member of the Covenant Presbyterian Church who founded the Street Youth Ministry last year. The organization provides resources and spiritual care to Austin's street-dependent youth. Cole, who is commissioned through the church, organized the Reaching Out event to bridge the gap between the street youth population and the rest of the community because of the animosity he saw from both sides.

"It's hard to hate somebody when you get to know them," Cole said. "I think the event was a big success. I thought that an event where the street kids could volunteer alongside others would be win-win. We chose to clean up the area around the drag because that is where many of the kids hang out, and there is a lot of friction between the business owners and the kids."

More than a dozen church volunteers and about eight homeless youth showed up for the inaugural event, which was sponsored by members of Pedernales River Fellowship Church, who provided supplies, food and drinks for the volunteers. Keep Austin Beautiful provided tools and supplies. Together the team cleaned up 350 pounds of trash from alleys, hangout spots and streets in the west campus area.

Cole hopes to repeat this event monthly with different groups or churches sponsoring each month. For more information about Street Youth Ministries, or to sign up to sponsor a Reaching Out event, visit streetyouth.blogspot.com.