The Proud Trust Freshers Week Spirit Story - "It’s a safe space where you can be yourself and not feel judged”

Chris and Max are two volunteers at The Proud Trust who are busy in the Sydney Street Café right now as part of Freshers Week. At 3pm today, around 25 students were in the café finding out more about The Proud Trust and how they can get involved.

Chris said that “A lot of students are new to the city and can feel very isolated. These sessions are an introduction to The Proud Trust and it’s a great place to meet other LGBT young people. It’s really important to them and to me as a volunteer as it’s a safe space where you can be yourself and not feel judged”

Ten minutes later and we're on the phone to Max, who is another volunteer, and the numbers of students in the cafe has quickly increased to around 40. Max said that the biggest impact of their project is that the students “know that there is a centre for them. It’s an open environment where they can meet people like themselves” There’s been lots of great feedback and comments already, but a lot of students that Max has spoken to find that it is “easier for them to be out in a new city if they don’t feel able to do that at home. It gives hope for the future that they can live a happy life”

The event is running until 6pm today.

The Proud Trust is a LGBT youth and community organisation which runs 15 LGBT youth groups, a peer support project, community café, 5 allotment plots, work in schools, events and conferences