Winter Sleep Out

The Winter Sleep Out is held in collaboration with many other schools from across the Sandhurst Diocese during National Homelessness Prevention Week to help raise awareness for the plight of the homeless.

In the last five years Australia’s homeless population has risen by 13.7% and has had a 9.9% rise in youth homelessness. 27,000 young people are homeless. Australia’s homeless population is 116,000 people, 20% of these in Victoria.

Poverty is very relative and living in poverty means you are denied the opportunities others would have. In Australia, the poverty line is $426 a week and if someone lives below that line it takes very little to push them into homelessness. Extra debt, loss of income, domestic violence, and deteriorating health can all lead to homelessness. With this considered it means two million Australians are at risk of becoming homeless.

Liam Tinker

This year’s Winter Sleep Out event took place from Thursday 9 August to Friday 10 August at Marist College. Six students from Catherine McAuley College were lucky enough to go. We got to hear from some amazing guest speakers, participate in interesting workshops about social justice issues in Australia and have a dinner of bread and soup.

The experience of sleeping outside with nothing but a sleeping bag to keep warm was something we will never forget. Learning about the conditions and experiences of those who have to sleep like that every day was an eye-opening experience for everyone.

Thalia Thirunavukarasu