Orange Sky positively connects people experiencing homelessness with access to free laundry, warm showers and, most importantly, genuine conversation. Over the past five years, we have been forced to innovate to support the community to recover after major events like bushfires and floods - and now is no different. We will be forced to do things differently, but nothing will stop us from supporting our friends on the street at a time when they need us most.
We are currently trialling a new community response service model, with increased health and safety measures, after recently pausing our free laundry and shower service across Australia. We are bringing back shifts across the country and you can find the most recent shift information by clicking here.
We acknowledge that every hour of every day might look different in this COVID-19 world, and the way we operate our service will continue to evolve, but what remains the same is the reason why we do it. Our mission is to positively connect communities and we will do all we can to make sure the conversation doesn’t stop. We are one community experiencing the impact of COVID-19 together and we need your support to #continueconnection.
A Message from Ros
"We should be looking out for each other, everyone can do their part. It will be rough if services are not able to run. I am hand washing now and many people sleeping near me just go without. The people sleeping in the city are going to struggle as you cannot live without these services for long. People are avoiding each other and there is a lot of disconnection, I feel like there is going to be lot of mental health problems really soon."
One in seven homeless Australians are 55 years or older
A third of people over 55 are living on less than $400 a week
Between 2011 and 2016, the proportion of older people who were homeless increased.
Older people living in severely crowded dwellings increased to 44 per cent in 2016, from 35 per cent in 2001.
The Continue Connection Playlist
How Your Donation Helps
Innovate our model for a COVID-19 world
Our team has been working hard to develop a new community response service model that can operate in a COVID-19 world to help our friends doing it tough.
Deliver our service and evolve as things change
Our team is committed to finding innovative ways to keep the most vulnerable people in our community connected and supported during this time. We know that every day might look different, and the way we operate our service will continue to evolve, but what remains the same is the reason why we do it and who we do it for.
Connect this new service model with our business as usual model
We expect there to be a higher need for our service not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also when it slows down. As we look for innovative ways to deliver our service during this pandemic, we remain committed to ensuring that our regular services will be ready to support people when we’re needed.
Please donate now to help us continue to support those doing it tough.
Ways To Get Involved
Facebook Fundraiser
Have a birthday or milestone you want to celebrate? Or just want to help us #continueconnection? Did you know you can set up a fundraising event that's connected to your Facebook account?
Fundraise With Your Colleagues
Sitting on a video chat and don't have anything cool to talk about? Why not suggest an office fundraiser to support Orange Sky. We have thought of everything for you so just click below and get started!
Invite Nic & Lucas to present at an upcoming event or meeting.
Do you have an upcoming event or staff meeting you would like a guest speaker to present at? Invite Nic & Lucas to share the Orange Sky story virtually with your team as well as how we are embracing innovation during these times.
Updates
Nic & Lucas are providing below a behind the scenes look at Orange Sky's innovative approach to services during COVID-19.
13 May
Hi Orange Sky community,
We want to thank every one of you for your continued support for what we do and our mission to positively connect communities.
Orange Sky continues to operate in a world where things are changing daily, but what remains the same is the commitment of our team to continue innovating and supporting our friends on the street.
We’re so proud to share that we have more than 40 shifts up and running in locations across Australia on a weekly or fortnightly basis. To access the latest shifts information, please go here.
More than 200 volunteers have completed additional training modules to be able to volunteer safely and we continue to stay up to date and collaborate with state health departments, local councils, police and community partners.
We have also recently developed a volunteer well-being declaration and have modified our shift set ups to enable social distancing. Shower shifts have returned and we will be rolling them out across the country over the next few weeks.
We will continue to provide information on our progress as it comes to hand, but you can stay up to date by subscribing to our emails or following along on Facebook or Instagram.
Stay safe and we’ll chat soon,
Nic and Lucas.
24 April
Hello Orange Sky community,
It has been another huge week at Orange Sky. We have all heard about the possibility of relaxing some of the social distancing requirements around Australia, and there is little doubt that this will go a long way to assisting us to support our friends.
As we start to edge closer to getting back to our ‘normal’ lives there has never been a more important time to be supporting our friends who continue to do it tough everyday. This is driving our team to do everything we can to continue our connections by getting more shifts up and running to provide the reliable service and genuine conversation we all know and love.
We are happy to announce that we have more than 50 shifts either started or in the final stages of planning before starting in all major cities and most regional services across Australia.
We are so grateful to our amazing volunteers who have let us know how excited they are to get back on shift. This passion is so important as we look to bring on more volunteers to assist us to, for example, trial our shower services in the coming week.
Orange Sky is also working on bringing our training sessions back online to support more volunteers getting back on shift. This will be a huge step to creating efficiency for volunteers and getting you out on shift fully informed and as soon as possible.
If you’d like to find out what shifts are operating make sure you jump on the find a shift website page. There is a new button in the top menu or next to the map on the homepage.
Stay safe everyone and we will report back with more updates soon.
Nic and Lucas
16 April
Hello Orange Sky community,
We’ve always said that innovation is in our DNA, and this has been evident in how quickly our team has come together and found new ways to support our friends.
Since last week, we have delivered 10 shifts across Australia under our new operating procedures and been able to provide friends with free laundry and a place to connect. We are also pleased to announce that we have another 10 shifts in the pipeline that we are looking at rolling out very soon.
We are extremely grateful for the support of volunteers, who have put their hand up to be part of shifts in this new COVID-19 world. We’ve implemented increased health and safety measures to ensure the risk to our volunteers is as low as possible. We’ve also received a lot of positive feedback from the community since re-starting our shifts, and we hope that we’re able to partner with more service providers to continue supporting our friends.
If you’d like to find out what shifts are operating, look for the find a shift button in the top menu or next to the map on the homepage.
Nic and Lucas
9 April
Hi to our Orange Sky community,
Today we continued to progress our plan to roll out our new service operating model across Australia. Our team delivered their second shift in Brisbane today at Jeays St with Valley Hearts from 9am to 11am. The feedback from our volunteers that it was so great to be back out there connecting with the community. Our friends were so grateful to see that Orange Sky is starting to re-launch shifts and we can’t wait to be back at Jeays St again next Tuesday and Thursday. In addition we ran our first shift back in Perth tonight on Moore Street from 17:30-20:00 which was great for our friends, volunteers and service providers.
Remember that the latest shift information can now be found on Orange Sky’s homepage as well as our social media channels.
Nic and Lucas
8 April
Hi to our Orange Sky community,
Today we continued to progress our plan to roll out our new service operating model across Australia. We’re excited to share that tomorrow we will be running a second shift in Brisbane at Jeays St with Valley Hearts from 9am to 12pm, as well as additional shifts in Perth and Adelaide over the weekend. Our website will continue to be updated with the most relevant information.
Remember to keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram accounts for updates on our #continueconnection campaign. We’re also taking over Instagram Stories tonight with a Q&A, so make sure you jump in and have a look!
Nic and Lucas
7 April
Hi to our Orange Sky community,
Today we continued to progress our plan to roll out our new service operating model across Australia. We’ve received so much support from both service providers and volunteers who want to get involved, and we can’t wait to get back out there and connect with our friends. We’re excited to share that tomorrow we will be running our first shift back out in NSW on the Central Coast at Mary Mac’s Place, and we’re thrilled to be returning to Jeays St with Valley Hearts on Thursday 9 April from 9am to 12pm. We are planning to have more than 20 shifts back up and operating under refined health and safety operating procedures by next week and the team is working hard to make this happen.
Remember to keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram accounts for updates on our #continueconnection campaign. We’re one community and together, we can’t let the conversation stop.
Nic and Lucas
6 April
Hello to our Orange Sky community,
We’ve got another huge week ahead as we prepare to roll out our new operational guidelines to support shifts coming back online across Australia.
After a successful trial shift in Brisbane last week, we can’t wait to get back out there and continue supporting our friends during a time when it’s needed most.
We’re getting great ideas and feedback from the community on ways to support and get involved, so please feel free to reach out if you’d like to know more.
Have a great week,
Nic and Lucas
3 April
Hello to our Orange Sky community,
After running our first trial shift in Brisbane yesterday under new operating guidelines and launching our #continueconnection campaign live on Facebook last night, we are certainly taking today to reflect on what’s been a huge week. Things are changing daily, but what remains the same is the commitment of our team to continue innovating and supporting our friends on the street.
Last night, we put a call out to volunteers to be part of our COVID-19 community response shifts and have been overwhelmed with support. Today we’re processing these responses as a priority and continuing to assess other locations for shifts.
Please follow along on our Facebook and Instagram over the weekend as we’ll continue to share stories and updates from our community about how we’re all continuing the connection.
Thanks and we’ll be in touch on Monday,
Nic and Lucas
Tim Apple
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Show your support for our friends and #continueconnection
Join us on this journey as we find ways to #continueconnection during COVID-19. You can download images and editable templates via the link below to use across your social channels. Share with us what you're doing to keep the conversation going.
HERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY WHO ARE CONTINUING CONNECTION AND MAKING SURE THEY DON’T LET THE CONVERSATION STOP.
“We’re one community and I can do my little bit to make sure the conversations don’t stop. Let’s continue connections with our friends on the street.”
- You
“I look forward to it every week, simply because I know you guys are going to be here. The community is really important because that’s where I connect and feel part of something”- George, Friend
“An Orange Sky shift is my favourite place to be. I feel at home and I know that our friends feel the same way. It’s like little family. Talking, supporting each other and having a genuine connection.”- Helen, Volunteer
Every day matters and every person matters, so every conversation matters as well. We know the importance of finding a community to collaborate with others helping our most vulnerable- Sonia, Service Provider
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a few questions about Orange Sky's service or our #continueconnection campaign? Hopefully we can answer them here for you.
Media
If you’d like more information, please click the link below to get in touch.
Orange Sky Australia • 2020 • 17 Dover Street, Albion Queensland 4010 • (07) 3067 5800 • ABN: 85890622990 • All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible • We are a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
