Base reaches $109k after homeless week
Most successful fundraiser for service to date
AFTER a week of sleeping rough on the Toowoomba streets, Nat Spary was tired and had a sore throat - but his feelings of exhaustion were wiped away by news he had reached his $100,000 target for Homeless for a Week.
The Base Services director has been out on the streets since last Monday with his friends Bryce Smit and Casey Wolverton, raising vital funds for Toowoomba’s only soup kitchen.
As of yesterday, $109,367 had been donated to the Homeless for a Week campaign 2019, well above the $100,000 target. Mr Spary said the funds would go towards keeping the Base in operation, which costs about $120,000 a year.
Although Mr Spary has been doing Homeless for a Week for five years, he said he had gained a new insight this year, having fallen sick prior to the start of the event.
“I had a really bad, deep cough, and I got sicker after (the event). I think it is a chest infection,” Mr Spary said.
“I managed to get a whole lot of medicine, which I have been carrying around.
“It really highlighted to me that homeless people get sick, it makes you sore and tired they deal with this and live with it day in, day out.
“I feel really physically drained this time, and I think it’s because I’m sick.”
Mr Spary said he was “overwhelmed” by reaching the target and he thanked the “kind, compassionate Toowoomba community”.
He finished the fundraising campaign on Sunday, however donations to Base Services are welcome year round, as it receives no state or federal funding.
Photo: Alexia Austin