Simon Rowe says Sleepbus is a charity he never wanted to start and a charity that shouldn’t exist.
But unfortunately, these days it is a charity that’s sorely needed.
Due to the rising number of men and women sleeping rough in the region, the specialised safe space for the homeless to sleep is calling for volunteers to help staff the facility.
A second Sleepbus, dedicated to women and children, is now officially on the road to being transformed and is expected to roll into Maroochydore in February.
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CEO and founder, Mr Rowe, created Pink Sleepbus in response to the rising number of vulnerable women exposed to, mostly, domestic violence.
“Our traditional Sleepbus takes in men or women, but we are seeing far more women using the service than when we started,” Mr Rowe said.
“In Maroochydore, we are seeing a lot of younger girls under 30 and under 20 using the service more often.
“They are quite often by themselves; they are trying to get out of harm’s way and a lot are getting out of situations they don’t want to be in.
“They are using up their couch surfing credits as well, which has a short-term life span.”
He said with the growing number of vulnerable women and children in the community, there was a crucial need for more long-term solutions from government agencies to help people find affordable housing.
“But in the meantime, we need to be there to keep them safe and healthy until they find their pathway out of sleeping rough,” he said.
The new Pink Sleepbus is the result of a tireless fundraising community campaign led by the Maroochydore Neighbourhood Centre, which has raised $200,000 for both services.
The Pink Sleepbus service is designed for women and children only and will comprise of a female volunteer force too.
With its fit-out nearing completion, Mr Rowe said the new service, that will be parked next to the traditional Sleepbus, needed female volunteers to get aboard now to make the implementation as smooth as possible.
Pink Sleepbus is also in need of a business sponsor or five, to chip in $50,000 to run the project for a year.
“If they get onto it now, we might be able to get their logo or some advertising onto the side of the bus before it rolls in,” he said.
Volunteers needed for Unisex Sleepbus
Mr Rowe said the region’s first Sleepbus had helped many vulnerable guests sleep safe since its launch, but volunteer numbers had dwindled to the point where the facility was in dire need of new recruits.
He said they desperately needed more volunteers to staff the weekend shift and eventually expand the service to seven days a week.
“We had such a fantastic response when we first launched but a few people dropped off because they maybe thought they were no longer needed … that’s not the case,” he said.
“If you care about your community and you see people on the street and always ask yourself ‘I wish I could do something to help’ well Sleepbus is just that.
“We are a very small charity – we can’t afford staff – so we really on volunteers to run it.”
While the number of guests on board each weekend varies, Mr Rowe said their focus was to always be there so if people needed them, they could trust that they would be there.
“One big bill and you can be out of your home, it can happen that fast,” he said.
“I’ve been speaking to people locally who have kids in their 20s, who can’t afford to live in the region, so they have to go to Brisbane and share with four people to get out and be independent.”
“That shouldn’t be the case, we should have better options.”
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