fbpx Skip to main content
Donate to SleepSafe
Tag

community impact

Community Grants Providing Immediate Impact

By Community Grants, COVID-19
Our network of Emergency Relief (ER) and Material Aid community organisations provide a crucial safety net for people experiencing a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how critical these organisations are in supporting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people. To reflect this, our recent Community Grants, made possible through a philanthropic partnership, have focused on providing $80,000 of support for immediate impact. Read More

SleepSafe – A safe night’s sleep for 37,000 vulnerable Australians

By COVID-19, Grant Impact, News, SleepSafe
Our SleepSafe campaign launched in August 2019, so has just turned two. We have been blown away by the support from donors – in particular over the past 12-months – where we have almost tripled (+274%) our impact, raising $410,000.

To date, the program has raised more than half a million dollars, which will help over 37,000 vulnerable Australians who are at risk or experiencing homelessness. Read More

CafeSmart powers local community groups

By CafeSmart, Homelessness in the news, Projects StreetSmart, StreetSmart News
Not even a global pandemic or lockdowns can dampen the community spirit of the coffee community, who are uniting to take action against homelessness through CaféSmart (2 – 8 August).

During Homelessness Week 2021 cafes across all states and territories are becoming homelessness advocates by raising awareness about the devastating crisis facing thousands of Australians without a home, and encouraging customers to dig deep to help provide vital funding. Cafes will also be donating $1 per coffee sold on Friday 6 August. What a huge effort in such a tough year.

Read More

Recovery Fund grants target homeless flood victims

By Homelessness in the news, Recovery Fund
A few weeks ago, two massive storms converged over eastern Australia dumping more than 40cm of rain in just five days across huge areas along the coastline, and in some cases as much as 80cm. Rivers rose rapidly, some by over 10 metres. Tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate, and many people have lost their homes, many have lost everything.

The flooding stretches 600 kilometres from Sydney to the Northern Rivers as Fiona Johnson, a hydrologist from the water research centre at UNSW explained, “It’s just the sheer scale of having it from the border all the way down south of Sydney.” In areas that suffered severe bushfires just 12 months ago, the storms have continued and compounded the devastation.

Read More

StreetSmart Helps FareShare Provide Food Relief and Employment

By COVID-19 Emergency Response Grants, DineSmart, Grant Impact, News
William and Lorena working at Fare Share

Visa holders William and Lorena working at FareShare

In March, as COVID-19 hit, we saw food relief programs, community kitchens and soup vans ceasing to operate. Anxiety about the virus, social distancing recommendations and a dependence on vulnerable older volunteers meant quick closures.  This left vulnerable people without their usual support and social connections. We also heard from our hospitality partners that they had been hit hard and many vulnerable staff were likely to suffer dis-proportionally.

Read More

Vulnerable Hospitality Workers Receive Meals Through COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Grants

By COVID-19 Emergency Response Grants, News
The EAD Team prepping meals

The EAD Team prepping meals

The Hospitality sector has been devastated by COVID-19. 100,000’s of workers have been laid off, or had hours drastically cut. Last week we made five more grants from our COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund all targeting the basic needs of these workers, many who aren’t covered by Government support.

Read More

Domestic and Family Violence Spikes During Lockdown

By StreetSmart News
May is Domestic and Family Violence Prevention month

There is often a misconception that homelessness only affects people sleeping rough on the streets. Where in reality this only represents a small number of people living without a safe place to sleep. A significant number of the community partners we support provide services for victims of domestic violence. Women and children fleeing dangerous circumstances may have to leave without any belongings and need immediate care. And the current pandemic is placing even more strain on already stretched services.

“Unfortunately, family violence is more prevalent during and after times of disaster such as bushfires and COVID-19. As a result, we are expecting to see an increase in the number of women and children seeking our service and needing safe accommodation,” said Emma, Family Violence Support Worker, Women’s Liberation Halfway House.

Read More

DineSmart Powers COVID-19 Response Grants

By DineSmart, News, StreetSmart News


“I truly believe this grant will be lifesaving…”
Peter Valpiani, The Haymarket Foundation

It seems an entire lifetime ago but back in December and before the January bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, just over 100 restaurants around Australia teamed up with their customers to raise funds for local homeless services. This was our 17th DineSmart campaign and our dedicated band of restaurateurs and their staff drove the event – chatting with customers and advocating for a world without homelessness. Little did they know what lay ahead for them and their businesses, and just how important these funds would be for frontline services dealing with a crisis the likes we haven’t seen in a generation.

Last week 33 community grants worth $191,150, funded by DineSmart 2019 donations, were distributed in VIC, NSW, QLD and SA. Read More