Envy Homeless Youth Backpacking Adventure? Don’t

A group of backpackers socializing on a city street
Backpacking... photo by Alba Campus is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

They’re young, sitting together laughing on the sidewalk. If only you could do the same, toss aside life’s burdens for a few moments, be footloose and carefree!

Be careful what you wish for. City Councillors in Penticton, a city in the interior of British Columbia, got a sobering picture of how much youngsters may be forced to sacrifice in order to stay off the streets — in many cases what amounts a hopeless task.

The eye-opener for the Council was a youth-led report based on anonymous interviews with local kids that outlined just how much ugly and distasteful sacrifice is often necessary to avoid homelessness. Footloose and Carefree Adventuring? Not so much.

Read more at iNFOnews.ca: Penticton youth resort to desperate measures to avoid homelessness