From Friday, November 7 at 7 p.m. through Sunday, November 9 at 8 p.m, Rick Westbrook, the Executive Director of Lost-n-Found Youth will join the homeless in surviving on the street with no cash or credit cards in order to raise awareness about the 900 LGBT youth in Atlanta who are without homes.
Why 48 hours? Typically, homeless youth are faced with difficult survival choices within 48 hours of leaving home. One of every three teens on the street will be lured into prostitution. Homeless youth are 16 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV and 7 times more likely to die from AIDS than the general youth population. This vigil is designed to raise awareness and funds for these young people.
As the organization marks its third anniversary, Rick will commemorate the date by depending on the charity of others for food and the basic necessities to survive on the streets. During the vigil, the staff from Lost-n-Found Youth will collect donations for homeless LGBTQ youth at a parked moving truck across from Burkhart’s Pub.
Lost-n-Found Youth is Atlanta’s only nonprofit agency working to take homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer youth off the street. Lost-n-Found Youth provides temporary housing, job search assistance and counseling, and many other services for LGBTQ youth aged thirteen to twenty-five who are homeless or facing imminent homelessness.
a recent addition to the board of Lost-n-Found Youth is GLAAD Atlanta attendee Daniel Pierce, a 20-year-old gay man who was kicked out of his home when he came out to his family. He used his horrific circumstances to fuel his drive for advocacy. "Lost-n-Found was there for support from the earliest moments and they stepped in before I ever got to the first critical 48 hours of homelessness," Pierce says. "Their quick response is proof that there is a safe place in Atlanta for youth like me to turn to for support. Even though my personal story was extreme, I hope my experiences can continue the dialogue about GLBTQ youth homelessness and get people off the street by engaging the community." Pierce is now working alongside the organization to do exactly that.
Pierce, Westbrook, and other board members of Lost-n-Found Youth attended our first annual GLAAD Atlanta gala.
For more information on how you can help, visit http://lnfy.org/events-and-fundraisers/.