Youth Emergency Shelter Nemo II – Zurich, Switzerland

The Nemo emergency shelter in Zürich offers young people who currently live on the street or have no home, shelter, protection and security. The stay at Nemo is intended to give young people the chance to recover from exhausting life on the streets, to gather strength and to improve their health and social situation.

Last year Cura Children’s Foundation donated 16 weeks of overnight packages to Nemo. The shelter offers 10 places and is open 365 nights a year from 8pm until 8:30am. In 2022 Nemo hosted 161 young adults and this led to 2000 overnight stays.

The majority of the young adults either work or go to school until about 5pm. The cold fall winter months are very harsh and not having access until 8pm into the shelter leads the adolescents getting into risky situations and temptations, i.e., buying drugs or drinking alcohol in a cosy bar.

The extension of the opening hours, starting from 5pm instead of 8pm requires an increased number of staff in order to guarantee the professional support.

Due to a lack of funds, Nemo reached out to us, looking for help to finance staff for a 3-month trial period. After which the new hours will hopefully be permanently implemented.