Sleepout more than a fundraising event
News
The 125 business and community leaders who slept outdoors at the Adelaide Zoo as part of the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout might not be among the 6000 people who are currently homeless every night around South Australia. But they could be.
That was the message from Sam Walker, who heads up a team of 16 volunteers at Vinnies’ Royal Park store, at the event on June 19.
“We are seeing more and more people doing it tough all the time. It could be anyone,” she said.
Sam told the story of a man in his 60s who had come to the store to buy a suitcase and a few minutes later she noticed him moving all his clothes from an old bag into the new purchase.
After inviting the man, Duncan, back inside for a drink and cake, she found out he’d been sleeping rough after losing his job as a carpenter earlier in the year.
Duncan shared his story at the CEO Sleepout, explaining how his life had collapsed and what it was like sleeping rough with nowhere to leave his belongings. He expressed his gratitude to Vinnies for assisting him in finding somewhere to live.
Vinnies SA CEO Evelyn O’Loughlin reiterated the importance of raising awareness of the issue of homelessness and said it was equally as important as raising money.
“While our participants do spend hours sleeping outside on the ground on cardboard, the purpose of the CEO Sleepout isn’t to replicate homelessness, because we know we can’t do that.
“What we are trying to do is to raise awareness, to increase compassion and to start conversations about homelessness.”
Addressing his fellow sleepers, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the government could only do so much and it was “organisations like Vinnies who make a difference on the front line”.
When the Southern Cross went to print, funds raised had reached $688,791 while a ladder of individual fundraisers on the night of the sleepout revealed the Premier at the top with $71,000 raised. The money will help services including Vinnies SA’s Women’s Crisis Centre, Men’s Crisis Centre and Fred’s Van food vans and more.
Many of the sleepers were returnees, Premier Malinauskas was in his eighth year and was brought along initially by former Recreation and Sport Minister Tom Kenyon, who along with commercial property guru Craig Feely, has attended more times than anyone – 14 sleepouts each.
Craig was running his own business when the first sleepout happened and said he thought he should “help out”.
“I can’t do what they do,” Craig said, pointing to the Fred’s Van volunteers who had come along to feed the group, “but I can ask for money and give something back”.
An auction at the end of the night brought in another $30,000, with $3000 paid to sleep outside the tigers’ enclosure (separated by a glass partition).
Steve Meredith, homelessness services manager for Vinnies SA in central Adelaide, said the aim was to break the cycle of homelessness.
“We need to ask the questions, we need to be curious,” he said.
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