‘Everybody needs a home’ is the theme of this year’s Homelessness Week, which takes place from 2-8 August.
The Port Macquarie-Hastings Homelessness Committee has organised a series of events and activities to highlight the plight of homeless people.
The committee aims to raise enough money to provide lockers in Port Macquarie for local people without a home. This will enable them to safely store belongings. Additional funds will be used to support weekly breakfasts at Port Macquarie’s Kooloongbung Creek.
The committee is encouraging people to join its ‘Surf @ Home’ campaign and commit to sleeping on their couch for the week. Funds will be raised through donation or sponsorship via Go Fund Me. Money can also be dropped off at New Horizons in Port Macquarie at 2/137 Gordon Street.
Once $5,000 has been raised, Tracy McColgan from The Buttery and Tracey Rogerson from New Horizons have pledged to sleep rough in Port Macquarie for a week. They will document their experience through Facebook and Instagram.
During Homelessness Week, donation bins to collect toiletries will be set up in local IGA Stores, at Lake Cathie Community Centre, at the Port Macquarie Neighbourhood Centre and in Laurieton.
On 6 August, the committee is planning an event to feed homeless people. There are believed to be around 500 homeless people living in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area and 116,000 Australia-wide.
To register for Surf @ Home, click here.
To visit the Go Fund Me page, click .
For more information about the committee and its endeavours, follow them on Facebook.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we live and work, the Bundjalung, Arakwal, Yaegl, Gumbaynggirr, Githabul, Dunghutti and Birpai Nations, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to elders past, present and future.
