AU – Gympie Sleepout Raises Funds for Homelessness
“…Every day was physically and mentally exhausting. Finding safe places to park the car long enough to rest and eat, carrying enough water to drink and wash in, conserving fuel and being careful not to draw attention to myself, was the daily routine. After almost 5 months, I was weak, unwell and so tired: I knew I could not go on.” This is just one traumatic story of a woman who found herself homeless.
To most of us the idea of being homeless is a vague concept. Something we don’t contemplate on a daily basis. For most of us there is a comfortable home just a short distance away. But for some people homelessness is a daily challenge.
For two years now Community Action Gympie has held a Sleep-out to raise money to help alleviate homelessness in the town. Gympie, a town approximately 160km north of Brisbane, QLD, has no homeless persons’ shelter. This means on any given night almost 100 people in the town ‘sleep rough’.
On Friday night the 7th August, the 2015 Sleep-out was held at the City Centre Stage in Mary Street, Gympie. The Rapid Relief Team were out in full support preparing and serving the evening meal of Rib Fillet Burgers and a tasty dessert for approximately 80 of the town’s business people before they bunked down for the night in their swags on the concrete.
The event has raised about $15,000 so far, with more donations still coming in. These funds will be put towards the community vision of being able to establish facilities for people experiencing homelessness in Gympie. A portion of the funds will also be used to ease immediate needs by providing swags to those people with no accommodation.
The event coordinators were very thankful to be relieved of the responsibility of supplying the meal and commented on the “fresh food and friendly and helpful team” that the RRT provided. The Gympie Team was honoured to be involved in the event and are glad that they could do their bit to help make a positive change in our community. We look forward to seeing you all again next time!
