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LYNN — The Haven Project, a Lynn-based organization for homeless youth, will host a Friends-themed Trivia night Friday at Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Shop on 61 Monroe St. to raise money for homeless and unaccompanied youth.
Haven Project Executive Director Tracey Scherrer said that her organization, which focuses on providing housing, employment, transportation, and food stability to unaccompanied young people aged 17 to 24, has recently seen an uptick in homeless teens.
“We’ve never had a higher number of homeless youth or unaccompanied youth on our caseload, so we’re looking to get our name out there, make sure people know how big of an issue youth homelessness really is, and that there are things we can do to support this population,” Scherrer said.
Scherrer said that all proceeds, including food and drink sales, will go directly toward stability for youth homelessness and housing insecurity. The Haven Project, Scherrer said, is planning on holding more fundraising events in coming months.
“We’re looking to start doing more events because people are out and about again and starting to feel a lot more comfortable. Especially right now, it’s summertime and we want to get people to come out and support, but also have some fun. A lot of the time, people don’t want to go out to a big dinner, or out to a bar or something like that, so this is a really good alternative for a Friday night and it’s supporting a good cause,” Scherrer said.
In addition to raising funds, Scherrer said she wants this trivia night to raise awareness about youth housing instability, and its connection with the foster care system.
“A lot of youths who are in foster care longer term end up on our caseload as a homeless youth, so we definitely want to bring awareness to all of that and not only raise money for our organization, but make sure that we’re calling awareness to this as something we need to look at as a whole,” Scherrer said.
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at anthony@itemlive.com.
