Ray White & Loan Market’s Concierge team recently presented a $5000 donation to Orange Sky Australia – a Brisbane-based charity which helps the homeless with free mobile laundries and hot showers.
Orange Sky Australia is the world’s first free mobile laundry service for people experiencing homelessness in Australia, and it has just expanded to Auckland.
The idea was born five years ago in a Brisbane cafe by two 20-year-old school mates, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett.
In late 2014, the duo installed a couple of washing machines and dryers in the back of their old van and visited parks around Brisbane to wash and dry clothes for free.
What started as an idea to improve hygiene standards and restore dignity to people doing it tough has evolved into something much bigger and more powerful.
“Clean clothes goes to self confidence and dignity. People can spiral down quite quickly if they don’t have a support network and many people are just one or two steps away from homelessness,” Mr Patchett said.
“This $5000 donation will run 18 shifts out on the streets which will help up to 200 people gain access to our service for clean clothes, hot showers and above all conversation.
“The most important thing in our vans are these six orange chairs which bring people from all walks of life together to chat in the street.”
Concierge CEO Kelly Tatlow was touched by the topic of homelessness at a recent real estate conference in the US.
“As a family-owned and led business at Concierge, we are conscious of helping people in need, as homelessness is a universal problem,” said Ms Tatlow, who runs the Concierge call centre in Brisbane.
Concierge has had a long history of providing complimentary insurance to home buyers plus they offer everything from pet-sitting, pet care and pet transport to tax depreciation schedules and solar power solutions.
“There’s no doubt that clean clothes make all of us feel better about ourselves and we applaud the work that Orange Sky is doing and encourage others to dig deep as they are self-funded.”
Concierge’s $5000 donation was the result of the team’s recent customer competition with insurer Allianz, and Concierge pledged to donate $5000 to a charity of their choice.
The 85-strong Concierge team has a history of supporting many local charities from The CEO SleepOut to local food vans helping to feed the homeless.
