Service Learning

Learning to Pay It Forward

From 6pm on Friday, 1 September until Saturday morning, 35 Year 7, 8 and 9 students simulated what it might feel like to sleep rough on the streets of Perth during our annual awareness event, Sleep Out on the Roof.

Led by six Anglicare Ambassadors, students played a homelessness simulation game, ate soup and bread for dinner, donned sleeping bags, beanies and thick jackets and put down cardboard sheets to counter the rain that had fallen on the roof-top deck.

During the evening we welcomed Dharmesh Patel, pictured above, who owns and runs Game City Espresso Bar next door to our school. The coffee shop runs a pay-it-forward program aimed at helping disadvantaged and homeless individuals in the community. It involves customers buying a drink voucher (generally a cup of coffee) for someone in need and attaching a heartfelt note to it. These notes are placed on a designated pay-it-forward wall - and there are plenty. Anyone can go into the shop to claim a note, at which point the staff prepare a coffee, engage in conversation and connect with the recipient. The claimed notes are then displayed on the wall, forming a landscape of kindness and community support.

We learnt a huge amount about youth homelessness from Mr Patel and we are eternally grateful for all he does in actively supporting the homeless of Perth. We encourage those who can afford it to pay it forward and add to the wall of notes at Game City. A special thank you to the teachers for their support and encouragement throughout the night – events like these would not happen without this and we are hugely appreciative of your willingness to give so willingly of your time beyond the school day.

Anglicare Ambassadors