oOh!media and its team members in Australia and New Zealand are supporting Orange Sky this September as it launches its annual fundraising initiative, ‘The Sudsy Challenge’, to help people experiencing homelessness.
Orange Sky, an oOh! community partner, provides free mobile laundry and shower services, and most importantly a connection to vulnerable people who don’t have a permanent place to call home.
Each week Orange Sky volunteers connect with some of the 157,000 Australians and New Zealanders experiencing homelessness across 40 services around both countries.
Participants taking on The Sudsy Challenge wear the same clothes for three days to raise awareness of the state of homelessness and funds to keep Orange Sky’s vans on the road and drive meaningful connections with those in need.
To encourage the community to get involved, oOh! is running advertising across its national Out of Home network in both Australia and New Zealand.
In addition, team members from the company across both countries, will join CEO Cathy O’Connor; and the executive leadership team and take part in the three-day challenge to drive genuine conversations around homelessness and raise money.
Orange Sky, which was the world’s first free mobile laundry service for people experiencing homelessness, has provided over 4.5 million kilograms/460,000 loads of free laundry, 55,600 showers, and 393,000 hours of genuine and non-judgemental conversation across 40 services in Australia and New Zealand.
O’Connor said: “While Orange Sky provides essential services to people experiencing homelessness, it does much more, creating a safe and positive environment for people who are too often ignored.
“oOh! is delighted to support this year’s Sudsy Challenge, both on our national Out of Home network and with our brilliant team, who are getting involved by wearing the same clothes for three days and continue to drive awareness and raise money for oOh!’s community partner,” she added.
The Sudsy Challenge takes its name from ‘Sudsy’, the first ever laundry van built by Orange Sky co-founders Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett. It took them three days and three sets of washing machines and dryers to get Sudsy operating.
Marchesi, head of Orange Sky’s innovation and imagination team added: “What started as an idea to improve hygiene standards and restore dignity to people doing it tough has evolved into something much more powerful.
“Now in its third year, we value our incredible partnership with oOh! and their ongoing support to share the Orange Sky mission, and in particular for this year’s Sudsy Challenge.
“We are thrilled that so many of the oOh! team will be taking part, to help wash away the stigmas surrounding homelessness,” Marchesi added.
–
Top image: oOh! Brisbane team and Orange Sky van