Our Vision
Street Level Youth Care is a Christian outreach that longs to see the homeless and disadvantaged people of Cairns cared for with the love, truth, and transforming hope of Jesus Christ. We envision a community where every person, especially vulnerable young people, knows their worth, experiences authentic care, and is given a path toward a healthier and more stable future.
Our Mission
Street Level Youth Care (SLYC) exists to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ through practical action and personal relationship. As a volunteer-run ministry, we seek to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of homeless and disadvantaged people in our community.
We do this by
- Providing meals, basic essentials, and support to care for immediate physical needs.
- Offering friendship, encouragement, and conversation to affirm each person’s dignity and value.
- Building trusting, non-judgmental relationships founded on respect, compassion, and genuine care.
- Encouraging young people to seek further assistance through the many community support networks around Cairns.
- Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the opportunity naturally arises, pointing people to the hope and new life found in Him.
We believe the needs of disadvantaged young people are a whole-community responsibility. Rather than relying solely on government support, SLYC is sustained by churches, private donors, and volunteers united in providing a local response to homelessness and youth disadvantage.
Our Objectives
Street Level Youth Care is committed to
Compassionate presence
Demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ through tangible action and compassionate presence.
Provision of essentials
Providing food, clothing, first aid, and practical help appropriate to the situation.
Support
Supporting disadvantaged youth without discrimination and regardless of their circumstances.
Direction to other servies
Offering direction to appropriate services for longer-term support.
Demonstrating christian character
Living out Christian character as a motivation for young people to pursue positive change.
Our
Guiding Principle
At the heart of all we do is the command of Jesus:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34–35 (ESV)
And His call to serve the vulnerable:
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Matthew 25:35 (ESV)
Our History
Street Level Youth Care was founded in 1991 by Dr Harald Falge, a Cairns-based chiropractor, and his wife, Sally. Harald served as Youth Director at Cairns Baptist Church from 1987 to 1991, and together he and Sally raised three children and were later blessed with several grandchildren.
The vision for the organisation emerged during one of Harald and Sally’s regular evening walks along the Cairns Esplanade. They were confronted by the number of children and young people, 21 years and under, wandering the streets unsupervised, many experiencing homelessness, violence, exploitation, or hunger. While some believed discipline alone might fix the problem, Harald and Sally saw that the issues went far deeper. At the time, only a few agencies offered limited support, and most operated only during office hours. There was no after-hours service providing meals, blankets, or immediate care.
Burdened by what they saw, the Falge family discussed the situation with members of Cairns Baptist Church and committed to creating an outreach for street-affected youth. The very next day, a young person experiencing homelessness entered Harald’s clinic seeking help for back pain but unable to pay. Harald treated him without charge and shared their vision. The young man enthusiastically spread the word, and within days Street Level Youth Care had begun.
The Falge family began cooking meals and bringing them to the Esplanade, soon supported by volunteers and church members. What began as serving meals three nights a week quickly grew to seven nights by November 1991. Over time, the work expanded beyond food relief to include practical support, advocacy, and relational care built on dignity, compassion, and consistency.
Alongside the street outreach, Harald pursued a long-term solution for young people needing stable accommodation. His vision resulted in Harald’s House, a supported accommodation service later operated by Carinity. Offering a safe home for up to six teenagers at a time, it helped hundreds of young people complete their education, seek employment, and rebuild their futures. In recognition of his service to the Cairns community, Dr Falge received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2008.
Dr Harald Falge OAM
A Difficult Chapter
In the years after Harald stepped back from Coordinating SLYC due to declining health, handing the ministry over to Roy and Sue Edwards to continue the work. And so between 2013 and 2018, Roy and Sue Edwards formed part of the organisation’s hands-on care for several years. Until SLYC faced a significant challenge. Roy and Sue Edwards were charged with misappropriating a significant amount of money from the organisation. The fraud case damaged the charity’s reputation and public trust, resulting in financial strain and a period of instability.
Despite this setback, the Far North Queensland community rallied. Generous donations, renewed oversight, and strengthened governance helped the organisation recover and continue its mission. While that season represents a painful chapter in SLYC’s story, it also highlights the resilience of the volunteers, supporters, and community partners who refused to let the organisation’s purpose be lost.
A Lasting Legacy
Dr Harald Falge passed away peacefully in February 2017 at the age of 66. Though Harald’s House later closed in 2016 due to limited funding and organisational changes, his legacy remains woven into the fabric of the Cairns community. Today, Harald Falge Park stands in his honour, a space dedicated to community connection, inclusion, and the values he lived by. It also remains the place that the service continues to run 3 nights a week.
Street Level Youth Care continues to stand on the foundations Harald laid: meeting young people where they are, offering practical help, and demonstrating compassion in real and tangible ways. The organisation’s history includes moments of vision, growth, hardship, and renewal, but through it all, its mission has remained unchanged: meeting young people where they are, offering practical help, and showing the compassion of Christ in real, tangible ways.