How SleepSafe empowers individuals and communities through homelessness support.
When you’re facing crisis, sleeping in your car, fleeing domestic or family violence, or couch surfing with strangers, being handed clean, new sheets of your own and a soft towel brings a sense of dignity, comfort and support. SleepSafe has been able to provide that feeling to over 159,700 people who are facing homelessness.
SleepSafe gives generous Australians a simple way to give back, with donations collected in Sheridan stores enabling brand new sheets and towel ‘kits’ to be produced and distributed to those facing homelessness. Charity partner StreetSmart Australia ensures the impact is kept local to fundraising stores and communities, helping distribute kits to grassroot community services that are providing care and support to vulnerable people.
The kits help support women and children fleeing violent homes, young people who are navigating the homelessness system alone, refugee and migrant communities, families moving into homes after sleeping rough, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. One SleepSafe community partner in NSW shares that “the women and children we support often leave domestic abuse with next to nothing so being given brand new linen empowers them and makes them feel valued, reminding them of their self-worth.”
SleepSafe has not only supported individuals and families in their time of need, but it has empowered more than 680 grassroots organisations on the frontline of homelessness with donations that save valuable time and money for a sector already stretched thin. SleepSafe kits have saved over 20,000 hours of precious staff time, and the sector $5.9 million in total estimated wages and replacement costs.
Also read: Homelessness crisis deepens: Urgent call for action
Isabella Stanley is the Impact Coordinator at StreetSmart Australia, where she plays a key role in coordinating the SleepSafe program, a material-aid collaboration with Sheridan. Working with frontline community partners, Isabella helps connect organisations with SleepSafe, ensuring people facing homelessness can access sleep kits that bring dignity, comfort, and support.
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