Carl Siciliano, the centre's founder made a Facebook posting about the damage, which led to the support New York: A social media plea has helped raise thousands of dollars to replace a Manhattan emergency drop-in centre for homeless GLBT youths, after its predecessor was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Four feet of water swamped the hallways and rooms, buckling the linoleum floors and caking the electrical outlets with sea salt at the Ali Forney Center, ABC News reports. Now funds raised will allow an even bigger centre to be built, so dozens of young people can be given medical care, counselling and a safe place to sleep each day. "I wish every day thousands of people would help get homeless kids off the street," says the centre’s Executive Director Carl Siciliano. "Too bad it takes a storm to get people to see how bad they have it." Siciliano founded the drop-in centre in Chelsea 10 years ago, naming it after Ali Forney, a gay 22-year-old who was shot to death on a Harlem street in 1997. He had been homeless since age 13, when his mother threw him out. A Facebook posting he made about the damage to the centre went viral after being picked up by a blogger and on Twitter, and donations poured in. City officials estimate GLBT youths represent about half the city's nearly 4,000 homeless young people, who sleep outdoors or in city subways, abandoned houses and even on rooftops, ABC says. Even before Sandy, the centre had planned to relocate to aHarlem space, which is six times bigger than the original one and will be open 24 hours a day.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 18th November 2012 - 1:28pm