A charity group that had earned accolades in Australia for making life a little easier for those living rough is heading to New Zealand.
With a fleet of 27 vans containing mobile showers and laundry facilities, Orange Sky Australia’s 1200 volunteers help wash more than six tonnes of laundry per week – for free.
The unique idea, billed as the first of its kind in the world, was launched three years ago by two young men who converted an old van and began visiting parks in Brisbane.
The New Zealand service, set to launch in Auckland later this year, will start under similarly humble circumstances – with one or two trucks. The organisation is hoping to recruit about 100 volunteers.
"All of us take for granted the fact that we can get up in the morning and put on clean clothes," said Orange Sky Australia CEO Joanne Westh.
"It's a basic right to most of us, and it's denied to many of the people that are on the streets doing it tough."
But equally important to a shower and clean clothes is the non-judgemental conversation between volunteers and those who need the service, Ms Westh explained.
"The conversations that happen on shift while the washers are washing and the dryers are tumbling is really, really the power of the service," she said.
Orange Sky New Zealand is still looking for additional funding before it launches. With the proportion of homeless Kiwis nearly twice that of Australia, volunteers are eager to get the service up and running.
"We don’t pretend to have all the answers but we do know that we have a service in Australia that works really well, and we think we can help out a lot of people here in New Zealand," Ms Westh said.
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