More than $12,000 has been raised for St Vincent de Paul after three Marathon Health Dubbo staff spent the night sleeping rough.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nationally, $8.19 million was raised for Vinnies through the CEO sleepout. In NSW alone, $2.81 million was raised.
The funds raised will enable Vinnies to provide crisis accommodation, food, clothing, healthcare, emotional support and long-term assistance for people experiencing homelessness.
Marathon Health chief executive officer Megan Callinan, chief operations officer Justine Summers and chief financial officer Ron Charlton all took part in this year's Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
On June 17 they joined other CEOs, business owners and leaders sleeping outside.
Ms Callinan said it had been an "eye-opening experience".
"One of the activities that we got to do was talk with someone who had a lived experience [with homelessness] that Vinnies had helped," she said.
"Michael came in and spoke with us, he was a man in his 40s who had been living on the streets since he was 13. It was really interesting to hear how appreciative he was of the help that he was provided and the support."
Ms Callinan said the man was now in stable housing and had employment.
"I came out of it feeling pretty grateful to have a home and a warm bed each night," she said.
As well as giving all the participants a taste of what it was like to be homeless, Ms Callinan said it also started conversations within the Marathon Health office.
Vinnies member Dan Sullivan thanked the Marathon Health staff for taking part in the fundraiser. Mr Sullivan said not only did it raise money, it also raised awareness of homelessness.
Ms Callinan said local businesses had been very generous in donating and she was thankful for the support.
Members of the Dubbo community will also have their chance to sleep rough to raise money for Vinnies.
The NSW Vinnies Community Sleepout will be held on Friday, August 27. Participants will spend the night in the cold at the Old Dubbo Gaol.
All of the money raised by local participants will be used to help local residents.
Mr Sullivan said at June there were 399 people on the general waiting list for social housing in the Dubbo allocation zone and another 20 people on the priority waiting list.
People can register to take part in the sleepout, or donate to one of the Dubbo participants at vinnies.org.au/communitysleepout.
Sleepout posters will also be displayed around Dubbo with a QR code that will take people to the fundraising page.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News