CEOS TO SLEEP ROUGH TO RAISE AWARENESS
Gold Coast executives are preparing to crash out in the open on sheets of cardboard, with nothing but a meagre meal for the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout at CBUS Stadium.
On June 20, hundreds of the city’s biggest philanthropist are expected to brave the harsh outdoors to better understand homelessness and to raise essential funds.
This year, the CEO Sleepout aims to equal last year’s total of $500,000.
Just under $20,000 has been raised so far.
“This is the eighth year for the Gold Coast. This year we’re going to smash it,” founding ambassador Karen Phillips said.
“We’re expecting well over 200 participants – business leaders, CEOs, executives, politicians and community leaders,” she said.
The Sleepout was a “powerful platform” to raise awareness of homelessness on the Gold Coast, she said.
“In this post-Covid era, currently one in 10 Gold Coast households are being impacted by housing stress,” she said. “We’re at a tipping point where people who never thought they’d ever be homeless are now facing serious risk.”
The Sleepout was also a “unique” opportunity for city leaders to meet each other and discuss how they can bring change, she said.
“This event is just a small glimpse into homelessness, of how uncomfortable it is to sleep in the cold on concrete and feel it right to your bones. How every sound wakes you up and how tired you are getting up the next day after a rough night’s sleep.
“You times that by 365 days a year and you begin to understand what it’s like. It changes the conversation.”
Ms Phillips said if the Sleepout smashed its target, next year they would look to raising a record $1m. “We’re really calling on all the city’s leaders to either donate through someone they know or to register for the Sleepout,” she said.