Drop In This Saturday

Local News, By Cheetah77, 25th July, 2008

GLBT youth service, Twenty10 has been running a weekday drop-in centre in Newtown since 2006 and have recently expanded this to include Saturdays as well.

Saturdays have more activities planned than during the week and it is fast becoming the place to be on a Saturday afternoon in the inner-west for GLBT people under 26.

David Moutou of Twenty10 says the Saturday program began due to weekdays not being convenient for everyone.

“We have been running groups on weekday evenings for years. That’s been fine if you can get there and home. But a lot of young people just live too far away, or don’t want to have to tell their parents where they’re going on a weeknight. A Saturday afternoon can be a lot easier for them.”

GLBT young people are welcome to drop-in to surf the net or play X-Box, grab a bite to eat, use the laundry or just hang out and chat with workers and each other.

“At the moment we are running DJ skills workshops with legendary Sydney DJ, Stephen Allkins. He’ll be here every Saturday until August 2 but if it is successful we may run it beyond that time. It’s hands on, so you get to create music, not just watch. We also have some photographic workshops, self-defence classes and a couple of politicians coming to visit in the coming months.”

As well as these workshops and activities, they have also had a number of guest speakers including playwright Tommy Murphy, Rev Dorothy McRae-McMahon, and a fire fighter come along to speak to the group. Anyone under 26 can attend the drop-in sessions and you don’t even need to reserve a spot!

“Anyone who’s interested can just drop-in! It does help if you let our group worker Evan know that you are coming, so we can make sure that there is enough lunch for everyone. But we are very happy for you to just rock up and knock on the door.”

Evan can be contacted on groups@twenty10.org.au or 0419 213 614.

Drop-In is open on a Saturday from 12pm-4pm and open Monday-Friday from 10am – 5.30pm. Twenty10 is at 45 Bedford Street Newtown. For more info, visit www.twenty10.org.au.

Your Thoughts

Hey there, you need to be logged in to get involved with SameSame, click here to login if you're already a member, or here if you need to become a new member.