Sunshine Coast musical duo Sametime have teamed up with Youturn Youth Support for a benefit concert to raise money for the rising number of youths facing homelessness.
With a passion for community, musical brothers Sam, 19, and Tim, 22, Aitken came up with the Youturn It Up concert initiative as ambassadors for Yourturn’s Big Hearts Tiny Homes campaign.
“We were raised with a strong sense of community and often used our music to raise funds for kids and families in need of support,” Sam said.
“By the time we were 14 and 16, we had raised and donated around $50,000 for various causes.”
Tim said this event was based off a previous concert they held to raise money for youths going through cancer.
“One of the events we organised was a small concert to raise money for two local kids who had cancer here on the Coast and were able to give their families $10,000 each to help out with the expenses.
“The Youturn It Up concert is pretty much a much bigger version of that original idea.”
Sam said the duo see how homelessness was impacting young musicians and others within the community.
“We heard about Youturn and saw the great work that they do for teenagers and young people around the Sunny Coast that are experiencing homelessness or find themselves in unsafe environments,” Sam said.
“It just blows our mind to see how many young people need the services that Youturn provides and we hope that there is hundreds of other people our age on the Coast that can help us raise some money just by getting a ticket and having a great night with us all.
“We are thrilled to be able to use our music to raise funds and awareness for such a worthy organisation.”
The Pelican Waters brothers began their musical careers young, already marking a decade of playing together.
“We started playing music when we were pretty young,” Tim said.
“We were only nine and 12 when we did our first live performance, and we haven’t stopped.
“Were now 19 and 22 so it nuts that we’ve been playing together for 10 years!” Youturn Youth Support started 30 years ago and works across southern Queensland in child safety, homelessness and mental health.
Support local news and subscribe to our FREE daily news bulletin. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article.
Youturn CEO Andrew Anderson said the concert would raise money to build tiny homes, a cost effective and simplified living solution for home buyers.
“One of our shared goals this year is to continue raising funds to build Tiny Homes on the Sunshine Coast for local young people, aged 18-25 years, who have experienced homelessness and need support as they transition from crisis accommodation to independent living,” he said.
“With the rental crisis going on at the moment, this is topical as it has become such a problem – and there are many in our community who never considered the possibility, but who are now facing homelessness.”
“With their well-known profile amongst young people here on the Coast, Sametime are the perfect fit for connecting with youth in our local region.”
The Youturn It Up concert will feature several other young artists, including Tia Gostelow, Shag Rock, Toxic Fox, Euca, Sailing in Space and Sellma Soul at NightQuarter in Birtinya on April 11. Tickets: tickets.nightquarter.com.au
