Locations

Newcastle’s van, ‘Hunter,’ was first launched in August 2017 to help our friends doing it tough.

Hunter hit the streets running, and within the first week, had established 12 shifts across six days alongside the Development and Relief Agency (DARA) van. DARA, who kindly funded the Newcastle van, offers hospitality and support to our friends to better connect the community.

There are more than 28,000 people experiencing homelessness in New South Wales, and alongside DARA and the Maitland Catholic Diocese, Orange Sky Australia is able to offer essential services to our friends in need across Newcastle. Hunter was aptly named after the main street in Newcastle, and will continue to proudly operate with the support of the community.

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Orange Sky’s Darwin service launched in July 2018, providing laundry, showers and conversation to people experiencing homelessness.

‘Betsy’ was warmly welcomed into the Darwin community in 2018. The rates of homelessness in the Northern Territory are more than 12 times the national average, so our service plays an important role in helping to positively connect people doing it tough through free laundry, warm showers and genuine and non-judgemental conversation.

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Orange Sky Australia has three vans located in Sydney, which service the needs of the community through free laundry, showers and conversation. Find a shift operating in Sydney here. 

Rebecca is a laundry van, Poppy is a shower van and Busby is a hybrid with both laundry and shower facilities.

Sydney’s shower van, Poppy, has a special story that started in one young girls genuine belief that “homelessness is unfair”. On her normal route, Poppy Littlewood would see the same man, experiencing homelessness, sat alone in the park. Much like our Orange Sky family, she knew she needed to help. At first she brought food, but her ideas quickly grew. She wanted to make care packs – not just for her friend in the park, but for friends all around Australia. Poppy, with the support of her friends, family and community, has now made thousands of care packs in special bags with a proud logo. Our van in Sydney was named to honour her work and to show that no matter how young, we can always help our friends in need.

Orange Sky Australia’s Sydney vans carry on this work with our friends on the street by providing free mobile laundry and showers. We positively connect communities through the power of non-judgemental conversations with our friends while out on shift.

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Lockhart River is a remote Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland near the world-heritage listed Great Barrier Reef, with untouched beaches and amazing fishing.

Lockhart is also the location of Orange Sky’s first remote laundry service, launched in 2017. We first arrived with a custom-built ex-defence truck with three washing machines and dryers. ‘Pytham,’ which was named by the community, has since been retransformed into a fixed location. This new pod has the same washing facilities and is located at the heart of the town, run by local employees. ‘Pytham’ is adorned with the artworks of three local artists; Silas Hobson, Fiona Omeenyo and Rosella Namok.

Orange Sky was able to work with locals to support community-driven ideas, aimed at improving hygiene standards and providing the opportunity for a yarn. It has been a privilege to be welcomed into the Lockhart River community and brought along the journey towards improved health outcomes. As with all our services, Orange Sky’s biggest impact has taken place on the six orange chairs that are set up at shift locations across this small community.

We pay our deepest gratitude to the community of Lockhart River and acknowledge the Traditional Owners Kuuku Ya’u, Wuthathi, Kanthanumpu, Uutaalnganu, Umpila and Kaanju peoples.

Orange Sky Australia was proud to launch its laundry van, ‘Mikey,’ in April 2017, running services all the way from Caloundra to Noosa.

Prior to Mikey, volunteers on the Sunshine Coast were custodians of our first every laundry van, ‘Sudsy,’ which started operating exactly one year earlier.

A quick trip to the Sunshine Coast will show you beautiful beaches, bustling towns, and of course, a little orange van providing laundry services to our friends on the street. Like many of our vans, Mikey holds a special place in the Orange Sky fleet and family. Our generous sponsors named the van after their late son, in hopes to carry out his charitable work. Through Mikey, our volunteers are able to positively connect the communities through non-judgemental conversations, inspiring genuine friendships with those that use our services.

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Orange Sky’s Brisbane service supports people experiencing homelessness and hardship across the community through access to clean laundry, warm showers and genuine, non-judgemental conversation.

Under our collaborative partnership model, Orange Sky always operates alongside service providers (like food vans or community centres) to provide holistic support to those doing it tough. We know that by working together as a sector, and more broadly as a community, we can collectively provide the support needed.

We aim to create a safe and inclusive environment at every shift, and welcome anyone who is in need of support to come along.

A special thanks to our donors Harvey and Margie, who have been supporting the Brisbane community for many years. We are very proud to have Margie (the van) on the streets of Brisbane, helping more friends and connecting more people.

Orange Sky’s Melbourne laundry service was launched in July 2015 and is still one of the busiest services across Australia. Our first shower van was also launched in Melbourne in December 2016, proudly supported by the Shine On Foundation.

‘Sadie’ and ‘Monty’ work alongside each other to help positively connect people experiencing homelessness by providing free mobile laundry and shower services in Melbourne Central. Our other Victorian vans, ‘Dasher’ and ‘Jelley Fish’, service areas from Frankston to Pakenham, visiting 10 shifts across 6 days of the week.

Like each one of our services across Australia, the greatest impact we have is through genuine and non-judgmental conversations that happen every day on shift between friends and volunteers.

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