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The St Vincent de Paul Society is calling on Dubbo locals to give up one night in a warm bed to help raise funds and awareness about homelessness in our community.
"The community sleepout is so important for us. It helps people learn about the issue of homelessness and gives us a chance to raise some funds," long-time Vinnies volunteer Ian Wray told the Daily Liberal.
"The funds are desperately needed because we rely on the community so that we can do our work."
This year Mr Wray hopes the annual community sleepout will raise $15,000 for the Dubbo care and support service, which provides assistance to local people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Through the free service, vinnies vollies work with clients to cover rent arrears and bonds and source furniture, appliances, linen and other household goods to set up a home.
"One hundred per cent of donations will go to the community because we're all volunteers and there's no fancy overhead. So all the money we raise here in Dubbo will stay in Dubbo," he said.
Mr Wray said, with rental prices and cost of living soaring, Vinnies is receiving more calls for assistance than ever before.
"This year the amount of people looking for food assistance has doubled. People are having a really hard time, there are a lot of people couch surfing with no real place to call home," he said.
"A lot of people who are on welfare payments only get two or three days into their next payment before they have no food - private rentals are so expensive that by the time they pay their rent there's no money left over.
"So they come to us and we carry them until they can get back on their feet again."
Dubbo local Paul Hagarty has been taking part in the community sleepout for seven years now.
"I was asked to participate about eight years ago and I thought it's something that really needs to be done here in Dubbo," he said.
"I had no idea how bad the problem of homelessness was at that time and over the years it's got steadily worse.
"More and more people are feeling the pinch and unfortunately that includes a lot of young people - that's what drives me to come and do my bit."
The community sleepout will be held at the Old Dubbo Gaol on Friday, August 25 starting at 6:00pm. Those interested in participating can register online through the St Vincent de Paul Society's website.
If you can't make it on the day but still wish to show your support, donations can be made online through the event's sponsorship page.
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