Orange Sky is a not-for-profit organisation that provides free mobile laundry and shower services for people experiencing homelessness and hardship. Most importantly, Orange Sky offers a welcoming space for anyone in need to come and sit down for a genuine, non-judgemental chat.
Orange Sky Co-Founder and CEO said the Orange Sky team are grateful to be joining the Melbourne Zero movement to help raise further awareness and create action on the state of homelessness.
"Orange Sky first launched our services in Melbourne in July 2015. We now operate four vans across the Melbourne region offering 24 shifts per week to support anyone in need," Lucas said.
"Melbourne continues to be one of our busiest services, and according to the specialist homelessness services dataset from July 2021 to June 2022 from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, four of the five regions across the country with the highest numbers of people accessing specialist homelessness were in Melbourne. showcasing the need and the increased importance for change within Melbourne."
Orange Sky was founded in a Brisbane garage in 2014 by two twenty-year-old mates Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett. The duo hatched a world-first idea to provide a simple, yet essential service to support people doing it tough. They threw two washing machines and two dryers in the back of an old van, with a plan to visit parks around Brisbane and provide access to free laundry services.
Eight years on, Orange Sky now operates in 36 locations across Australia, providing over 300 shifts every week supporting their friends (service users) doing it tough, and is supported by over 2,500 incredible volunteers.