Located in the Northern Territory’s Western top end, Wadeye is home to Orange Sky’s fourth remote community service, where we launched our laundry truck in September 2021. For over two years, we have been grateful to support Wadeye’s culturally abundant and diverse community alongside our partner, Thamarrurr Development Corporation (TDC), building impact through free laundry, local employment and local partnerships.
Since 2020, our services in remote communities have grown from three to 13 locations, as a result of the demand for ongoing expansion and longer-term presence. Higher purchasing costs and limited service support mean that it is extremely difficult to access reliable laundry facilities, resulting in increased critical health issues such as scabies, bedsores and Rheumatic Heart Disease. Through providing access to essential health hardware which helps provide clean bedding and clothing, Orange Sky helps to reduce negative health outcomes in these communities.
Our remote services are some of our most utilised in the country, with Wadeye’s wash numbers overtaking those in metro Sydney and Melbourne services, which operate multiple vans at once. To meet the increased demand we set up a second van, which our Remote Program Manager Jude visited last December.
“It’s really valuable to be able to respond to the extraordinary need in Wadeye and to build on our partnership with Thamarrurr Development Corporation (TDC). We have incredible feedback from TDC and the community about the impact created with the van” – Jude, Remote Program Manager.
Our service expansion would not be possible without the ongoing support from our amazing partner employees (from L to R) Sophia, Terese and Gabriella (supervisor) – thank you for keeping our washers turning and conversation flowing in the community!
