Streetlight Australia Day Awards

Congratulations to our friends at Streetlight, 2 of whom were awarded Australia Day Awards on January 26th this year.

Jess Ferdinands was awarded the “Young Active Citizenship” Award while Ben Rowe took home “Active Citizenship” for their contribution through Streetlight to the City of Playford.

For Jess it all started with a remark…

“In March 2020, I heard someone make an arrogant statement about young people in the North. I couldn’t get it out of my head for a solid week, and I began praying, seeking answers for how I could be part of building a stronger, healthier and safer community.

Noticing a lack of healthy, affordable food options as well as limited positive community in the midst of lockdowns and panic buying I designed and launched Street Eats with the Streetlight Community. Street Eats is a free virtual cooking program to help young people learn to cook healthily and engage with the community through lockdowns. This involved dropping ingredients off to young people’s doorsteps and then getting online together, to learn how to cook a healthy meal together.

It had such an impact on me, the young people and their families, that I quit my job of 13 years, and stepped out in faith with Streetlight fulltime.

In my role as Project and Initiative Officer I work alongside young people, their families, the community, and the church to lead initiatives that create lasting change.”