Fundraiser Profile – Louise McCabe

"Who doesn’t want to dress down for work every now and then..?" Louise McCabe 2007

Louise McCabe and the Charity Committee at Boston Consulting Group, Sydney, held a Casual Friday on 31st August 2007. BCG chose Mission Australia as their nominated charity to tie in with Homeless Person’s Week and asked staff who dressed casually to make donations to the cause.

The event is a simple, fun way to generate funds and increase awareness about Mission Australia within your work place – and let’s admit, it’s a great excuse to leave the tie or heels in the wardrobe!

Fundraiser Profile – Gary Heffernan

Every year the Christchurch Anglican Church in Victoria puts on a community nativity play. The audience is encouraged to make donations and in 2007, thanks to Gary Heffernan (a committee member for the play), Mission Australia was chosen as the beneficiary charity. The organisers saw the event as an “opportunity for giving and contributing to a worthy cause” as well as a great way to spread awareness about Mission Australia within the community.

Volunteers from across the community help with the preparations, from making costumes and decorations, to promoting and performing in the play itself, all in the spirit of Christmas. Mission Australia would like to thank the Christchurch Anglican Church for its support.

Fundraiser Profile – Natalie Costello and the Hills Montessori School

"Winter Sleep Out – developing social conscience…"

Students from Year 6 and 7 at the Hills Montessori School, South Australia, participated in a sponsored Winter Sleep Out during Homeless Persons Week. The sleep out raises funds for Mission Australia and spread awareness of the issues facing homelessness. Their teacher, Natalie Costello, wanted to educate the students in a fun and interactive way about homelessness in Australia and used the Winter Sleep Out model to achieve this.

The children were sponsored to sleep overnight at school on a Friday. It fundraiser was educational and enjoyable for the students; they slept in sleeping bags on the floor, watched movies and presentations that explored issues of homelessness. The event was successful in raising money and developing students’ awareness of homeless issues in Australia today. Donations raised from the event went into providing Mission Australia homelessness services.

Fundraiser Profile – Sean Heinz and Peter Morsley

Life Changing Experience

Sean Heinz and Peter Morsley chose to live rough on the streets of Sydney for five days to experience a taste of what it’s like to be homeless. They wanted to do something radical after their constant exposure to homelessness and managed to get an ABC JTV camera crew to film them during their ordeal.

Family and friends sponsored the pair and the public donated through collection boxes left at their place of work. To watch Peter and Sean’s experience log onto episode 1 at: http://www.triplej.net.au/tv/vodcast/default.htm

Although Mission Australia is grateful for Peter and Sean’s fundraising efforts, we do not recommend others ‘live rough’ on the streets to raise money without sufficient preparation and insurance.

For more info visit http://www.hopeaus.org/