Start Your Conversation

Eight days, nine cities, twelve Orange Sky shifts and 20,000kms.

Our east coast tour saw us hit the road in a small orange car – with a large screen television in the back – to show off our new short film and yarn with friends, volunteers and the community about its possible impact. We traversed the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne and pulled up at as many Orange Sky shifts as we could. 

The amazing Light and Shade team are the masterminds behind the feature. They donated their time and resources to produce the film, meaning the impact presented could go directly to our friends without overheads. The aim of the short film was to show three different stories in support of a better understanding of the 116,000 people experiencing homelessness across Australia. We knew we were onto something special, but until we could present the final product to our friends, we weren’t 100 percent sure we had it right. 

From our friend Keith in Melbourne to volunteer Hugh in Sydney, everyone provided thoughtful and consistent feedback about the importance of community understanding around the diversity of people doing it tough in Australia. There was also a lot of discussion about the power of connection by sitting on our six orange chairs and having genuine conversations.

The feature video will now be playing on SBS and across Foxtel channels as community service announcements for at least the next year. We hope that the people watching will spend some time chatting with their family and friends about their own ideas around homelessness and ways that we can all play a part in supporting everyone to feel positively connected.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be introducing you to some of the people we met on our tour. One of those people is Luke, a friend in Sydney who is getting his life back on track after some tough times. He believes there could be better understanding and support for people in need, and is now doing his part to give back and lend a hand. Watch our conversation with Luke here.
You can also check out what we got up to during our week on the road…

Interested in joining the team?
Check out our volunteer page  to find out more and register to get involved.

Volunteer Now

Orange Sky Australia • 2020 • 17 Dover Street, Albion Queensland 4010 • (07) 3067 5800 • ABN/Charity ID: 85890622990 • We are a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible as a Deductible Gift Recipient by the Australian Tax Office

Orange Sky acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the lands across Australia. We pay our respect to Ancestors and their descendants who hold a continued cultural and spiritual connection to the land, seas and community and would like to recognise and uphold First Nations knowledge and contributions of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We are committed to working together to create a positive future through our Reconciliation Action Plan.

by Megan Groundwater

Keith's Passion for Connection

We met Keith on a cold winter morning in Fitzroy where he told us about a “fella in a wheelchair” that he once met on his way to the shops. The man had a sign resting on the floor asking for donations and was also unable to speak. Keith didn’t have money to offer him, but said “good day” to him in sign language (it was one of the few words Keith could remember in sign language – along with all the vowels).

“It just rung with him and he looked like a different fellow altogether because I’d said good day to him. He was really miserable before that,” Keith said.

It was clear to us to that Keith understood the power of connection and the value of a simple conversation to a person experiencing homelessness. He has first hand experience living many years on the streets of Melbourne feeling disconnected from the community.

“I had my own house once and things happened. I got assaulted on the street and it took me two years before I could walk straight again,” he said.

“I lived in parks and things like that but I didn’t stay in the same place every night, I kept on moving around the suburbs. Once I got used to living in that way, it became a way of life. And then the St Vincent’s Hospital [in Melbourne] found out how I was living and they found me a room to live in. It was a great help.”

Being part of a community is important to Keith. He came to Australia from Manchester in 1956 for the Olympic Games, and said he felt “at home” in Melbourne where the architecture was similar to Manchester.

Keith visits the Orange Sky laundry and shower van in Melbourne each week and said that everyone deserves a feeling of connection to the community.
“Since I’ve been in the Fitzroy area, I’ve seen lots of people sitting in doorways late at night, and most people just walk past them and give them a dirty look,” he said.
“I’ve found them to be very interesting people. Many of them have had a really good education, and they’ve had a rough trot in life and have hit the bottom.
“They’re on guard because they’ve had bad experiences, but just by saying hello and giving them a smile and a little chat, their personality comes out that is hidden.”

Keith said he hoped for more understanding across the community for people in tough situations.

“There’s a big gap between people that are right at the bottom end and people that have everything,” he said.

“When you’ve got everything you want and you want more, you’ll have more than you need and you’ll lose sight of other people that are struggling.

“Communication between everyone in the world is a very important thing.”

Interested in joining the team?
Check out our volunteer page  to find out more and register to get involved.

Volunteer Now

Orange Sky Australia • 2020 • 17 Dover Street, Albion Queensland 4010 • (07) 3067 5800 • ABN/Charity ID: 85890622990 • We are a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible as a Deductible Gift Recipient by the Australian Tax Office

Orange Sky acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the lands across Australia. We pay our respect to Ancestors and their descendants who hold a continued cultural and spiritual connection to the land, seas and community and would like to recognise and uphold First Nations knowledge and contributions of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We are committed to working together to create a positive future through our Reconciliation Action Plan.

by Baxter Butler