Get Onboard the 2023 Winter Appeal

Imagine going to school today, not knowing where you are going to sleep tonight. That’s the brutal reality for many young people.

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Support workers at Newcastle Anglican service agency Samaritans often speak of countless experiences where children as young as 12 reach out for help. This often occurs after leaving unsafe homes.

Amazingly, they are still driven to succeed but need support and stability to continue their education.

Bree is one of these incredible young people. Bree suffered a traumatic family breakdown. She didn’t feel safe and felt that she wasn’t welcome at her own home. With all her possessions in a bag, she started staying with friends at 16.

Her friend’s parents helped her find a place to stay at Samaritans refuges, but Bree always had a goal to secure a safe home at Samaritans Student Accommodation. She described it as like “a mirage in the desert.”

Bree‘s dream became a reality.

Now safely in the accommodation program, Bree got her HSC a year early and was accepted into the University of Newcastle to study Coastal and Marine Science, which she says she loves with all her heart.

Bree, now 18, is studying full-time and working part-time. The Samaritans Student Accommodation has given her the security and stability she craved.

Bree believes she wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what she has without the service. In fact, she says she may not be alive today if it wasn’t for the Samaritans.

“Without Samaritans, I wouldn’t have survived.”

Samaritans Student Accommodation doesn’t receive any government funding and can only continue to provide this vital support thanks to the generosity of donors. Samaritans is calling for people to help them change lives by donating to its Winter Appeal.

If you are able to help, go to www.samaritans.org.au/donate.