Students’ great idea aids homeless
Living on the streets would be hard enough without having your possessions stolen or exposed to the elements.
A class of year 10 Manurewa High School students have come up with a way to stop that happening to rough sleepers in the Auckland suburb.
They’re working with staff at Habitat for Humanity in Flat Bush to construct six large lockers in which homeless people will be able to securely store their possessions.
The lockers are expected to eventually be placed in the Manurewa Town Centre.
Teacher Dilys Fong said the school has an inquiry class that asks students to investigate a community issue and come up with ways to address it.
She and several of her students attended meetings at the Manurewa Methodist Parish in late 2017 with people who are working to help local rough sleepers.
‘‘On the street if their [rough sleepers] stuff gets lost it makes it so much worse for them,’’ Fong said. ‘‘If they have lockers they will have some security.’’
Habitat building manager Jay Davies said he got involved with the initiative when Fong contacted the charity to ask for help.
‘‘She said they already had the design [for the lockers] and needed someone with technical expertise.
‘‘Our motto is that everyone deserves a decent place to live.
‘‘This sounded like a cool project to get involved with.’’
Davies met with the students to look at the design they came up with.
‘‘We’ve just tweaked it,’’ he says. ‘‘We built it with the students.’’
The six lockers were built in two halves and will be fitted together when they’re installed at the site, Davies said.
‘‘They’ve got locks and the hinges are bolted through so they can’t be unscrewed.
‘‘The lockers are a nice size so people are able to fit large items such as duvets, clothes, and other things in them.’’
Among the students involved with the project are Shanelle McKinney, Gemma Wu, and Ever Catapang.
Ever saids he and others looked at where the lockers could be installed and then used computer software to design them.
Shanelle carried out research and helped with the fundraising, while Gemma sent out letters and created a presentation about the initiative, and talked to people using Manurewa Methodist Parish’s community soup kitchen about their needs.
The students earned almost $200 through a sausage sizzle at the school to put toward the project.
‘‘We learned that if we are in a bad place, there are other people who are in a worse place than us,’’ Gemma said.
Fong said she’s talking to the local board about where the lockers will be placed.
She expects them to be installed in February.