How it all began...
In 2014, Nic and Lucas – two 20 year-old guys in Brisbane, Australia built a free mobile laundry van to help people in their community doing it tough. That van was named Sudsy…
It didn’t take Nic and Lucas long to realise that while clean laundry was important, it was the conversation and regular connection that had the greatest impact in the lives of our friends. That’s why we pull out six orange chairs at every one of our shift locations to sit down and have a chat.
New Zealand
After growing our laundry and shower service all over Australia, we knew it was time to look across the ditch and start helping the 41,000 New Zealanders who were experiencing homelessness. Now we are proudly operating four services in New Zealand with future expansion plans on the horizon.
Along came Eddie...
We met Eddie in 2018 – he had his own dream to start a free mobile laundry service to help his fellow New Zealanders doing it tough. Lucky for us, Eddie decided to jump on-board Orange Sky’s mission and be apart of our first ever New Zealand service!
Eddie has been with us ever since and is now the Orange Sky New Zealand, Manager of Service Operations!
EVEN MORE GOOD STUFF
Auckland Launch
The Hugo Charitable Trust stepped in to support our first van, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development helped us get set up in New Zealand and supported us in keeping the van on the road in our first year.
We launched in Auckland on World Homelessness Day, 10 October 2018. Our first wash was for a friend named Mike, you can watch his story by clicking the link below.
Community Partnerships
We are super lucky to work alongside some amazing service providers, allowing us to provide our friends access to free laundry, warm showers and genuine connection.
“The Orange Sky shower van takes a lot of pressure off. It's great to take some pride in my appearance and have a chat with the volunteers. Makes you feel human again.”
“I motivate myself everyday to get up, especially with Orange Sky here. You are part of my plans everyday. Without Orange Sky… I wouldn’t be walking around with clean clothes and I wouldn't be sleeping on clean blankets.”
“We have been struggling with accommodation for some time and find it hard to get stability. Orange Sky coming here to the library has been so helpful. Knowing we can have a shower, have our clothes washed helps a lot.”
What's Next?
We have plans to grow our services across Aotearoa over the next few years – but we can’t do it alone. Help us reach more people doing it tough by making a donation to Orange Sky.
