Most homeless kids aren’t on the streets out of choice. But a surprising number of people think otherwise.
Charity Depaul UK wanted to find a way of challenging these beliefs.
We believed that by telling the stories of how they ended up on the street - people would be more willing to help.
Under the campaign line, “don’t let their stories end on the street”, we used the streets where they slept to tell their stories.
They were compiled on streetstories.org.uk.
And instead of donations we asked the public to buy a limited edition portrait inspired by the stories.
Every time a screenprint was bought, a section of the digital wall was cleaned away. Brick by brick, the tragic stories were removed from the street.
The results? People got to think about the homeless in a different way.
And the stories became a talking point on social and mainstream media.
But best of all, we sold out of the limited edition screenprints.
Which paid for 800 nights in sheltered accommodation. Helping make sure lots of kids’ stories didn’t end on the street.
Which just goes to show what you can achieve with a few cans of paint and a lot of hard work.