Couch Surfing for Youth Homelessness Matters Day

The annual Couch Surfing event for Youth Homelessness Matters Day was held in Darwin on Wednesday 17 April. Over 500 people attended the action, which fell during the school holidays and Youth Week.

Under the warm sun, 22 couches raced, young people enthusiastically joined in activities, families lined up to support their couch racing teams and local organisations represented a wide range of support services at information stalls – as well as handing out free goodies!

The couch races were fast-paced and competitive. After numerous heats, the Saltbush/NAAJA team won the final race against the CREATE/Office of the Children’s Commissioner team. The Palmerston Girls Academy won the best dressed couch, which had wonderful artwork and messages including strength, hope, courage, connection, family, love and friends.

Other couches were decorated with watercolours, sequins, quotes, graffiti and screen printing – but the creativity didn’t stop there. Many team members were also brightly dressed in matching outfits. Our favourites were the teams with the yellow afro wigs, the rainbow tutus and the Hawaiian themed team with a real surf board.

Away from the races, young people and families were entertained with face-painting, circus activities facilitated by Corrugated Iron Youth Arts and football skills with NT Thunder players. Free food and drinks, including Lo Castro ice-cream, Bunnings sausage sizzle and snow cones, kept everyone’s energy levels up. The young MCs provided fantastic race commentary as well as drawing attention to important statistics and stories on youth homelessness.

Overall, the event was a fantastic day of community awareness raising, youth engagement and festivities. Thank you to all the organisations and sponsors who made the event such a success!

You can check out Aboriginal TV’s broadcast from the day here.