Speaker 1: Appogia production. Hi everyone, thank you for tuning back into
Speaker 1: Tenantus for Nurses. I suspect Woodbine here this season. I
Speaker 1: am so excited to announce that the podcast as being
Speaker 1: supported by Nutritia, which is a global leader in medical nutrition.
Speaker 1: They understand the needs of nurses in the nutrition space
Speaker 1: and for over one hundred and twenty five years have
Speaker 1: provided products to support child health. Some of Nutrita's pediatric
Speaker 1: brands include Neo Kate Junior for children who have food
Speaker 1: allergies and app to Grow for those fussy eaters. And
Speaker 1: those of us who have children know many kids who
Speaker 1: go through the phases of definite fussiness. For more information
Speaker 1: and resources, visit the nutritiona Pediatrics hub at nutritia dot
Speaker 1: com dot au forward slash Pediatrics. I just want to
Speaker 1: say a huge thank you to Nutritia. Their desire to
Speaker 1: support nurses is truly appreciated, and they are allowing me
Speaker 1: to continue this podcast so that we could all grow
Speaker 1: as nurses. This season, we have some amazing speakers in
Speaker 1: the pediatric space which I cannot wait to share with
Speaker 1: you all. Hi, my name's beck Woodbine and welcome to
Speaker 1: Tenderness for nurses.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful for the person that I have the opportunity to.
Speaker 1: Be, so I hit it and parked it for Nelly
Speaker 1: four years.
Speaker 2: We always have free will, We always get to choose.
Speaker 1: We are autonomous. Hi everyone, thank you for tuning back
Speaker 1: into tenderness for nurses. It's been a few weeks since
Speaker 1: I actually recorded a podcast because, as you know, I
Speaker 1: had to have major back surgery and I just want
Speaker 1: to give a really big shout out to the nursing
Speaker 1: staff and the medical staff at Brisbane Private and Spine Plus.
Speaker 1: Their care for me was just remarkable and as a
Speaker 1: nurse being in hospital it is a very different experience
Speaker 1: and I have to say I was very great to
Speaker 1: everyone who cared for me and took the time to
Speaker 1: check on me. We are so blessed to have the
Speaker 1: healthcare system we have here in Australia. It really hit
Speaker 1: home for me when I was in there for actually
Speaker 1: for a week. So thank you for everyone that reached
Speaker 1: out and sent well meaning messages. I really appreciated it.
Speaker 1: And I'm back on the wagon. So I have the
Speaker 1: fabulous Nick and I'm going to say wrong now, Mikezi
Speaker 1: smash it from Orange Sky with me today. I've been
Speaker 1: following Orange Sky for quite a while and I have
Speaker 1: some friends that have done volunteer work with these guys.
Speaker 1: They provide laundry and showers for people that are having
Speaker 1: issues with homelessness. It's such an amazing need that is
Speaker 1: being fulfilled and one you just don't think about when
Speaker 1: it comes to basic necessities. Interestingly enough, I saw you
Speaker 1: guys when I was looking out of the hospital. Put
Speaker 1: a smile on my face every day to see all
Speaker 1: these people there and getting a system and help and
Speaker 1: people chatting with them. So how about you give us
Speaker 1: a little bit of an overview of what Orange Sky
Speaker 1: does and what it means to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So Orange Sky started in October twenty fourteenth, but
Speaker 2: probably the story starts a little bit before that, where
Speaker 2: Lucas and I went to school together and our school
Speaker 2: had a food van that went out to that park
Speaker 2: and fed people. And I can remember my mum taking
Speaker 2: me to participate on that school food van one morning,
Speaker 2: and at that point in time, I never met a
Speaker 2: homeless person, and my perspective of life was that that
Speaker 2: was something that I just didn't want to engage with,
Speaker 2: and Mum actively gave back to the community and that
Speaker 2: was a big part of her life, and Mom had
Speaker 2: to bring me. And you know, that morning changed my
Speaker 2: life because of a couple of reasons. One is I
Speaker 2: met this guy by the name a Harry, and Harry
Speaker 2: knew everything about me and my family, and you know,
Speaker 2: he reminded me of my granddad or my uncle. But
Speaker 2: at that point in time, Harry was sleeping rough and
Speaker 2: I can remember going to school a day and just
Speaker 2: thinking about Harry, because that morning opened my eyes to
Speaker 2: a whole cohort of people that were in my own
Speaker 2: backyard that I wasn't aware of. And I guess that
Speaker 2: balance of having access to give back through the school van,
Speaker 2: that amazing gift that my parents gave us in having
Speaker 2: some perspective, Yeah, it was foundational an orange sky. But
Speaker 2: two years later, Lucas and I were then more actively
Speaker 2: volunteering on that school food van. We both then finished
Speaker 2: high school. Lucas was at the top of the class,
Speaker 2: I was at the bottom of the class. And then
Speaker 2: Lucas came back from traveling overseas and we caught up
Speaker 2: in a cafe. We were talking about ideas, and the
Speaker 2: idea of this mobile laundry had come up again a
Speaker 2: very selfish thing to continue what we enjoyed doing, which
Speaker 2: was giving back to the community. So I had this
Speaker 2: idea of building a free mobile laundry. New you needed
Speaker 2: some serious washing machines, so we jumped on Google and
Speaker 2: we started looking up serious washing machines and this company
Speaker 2: comes up in Brisbane that sells washing machines. So we
Speaker 2: sent some emails and convinced this company to a meeting.
Speaker 2: And the night prior I came home from work, I
Speaker 2: was working in a different job and I said, you know, mom, Dad,
Speaker 2: Lucas and I are going to start a free mobile laundry.
Speaker 2: And my mum looked up and she said, how about
Speaker 2: you start washing your own clothes. So we knew very
Speaker 2: little about starting a charity, but we had this vision
Speaker 2: of building this van. So the company told us that
Speaker 2: no one would ever wash and drive their clothes in
Speaker 2: a park and you never get washing machines to work
Speaker 2: in a van. But we sort of invited them to
Speaker 2: be a part of this crazy idea and we said,
Speaker 2: you know, well, if it does work, how cool would
Speaker 2: it be. So you know, they gave us some washing machines.
Speaker 2: We took the van out to their workshop, It was
Speaker 2: a bit of a standoff because they were like, no, no,
Speaker 2: we're not having any part of building this.
Speaker 1: This is your thing.
Speaker 2: So we took the van and the washing machines back
Speaker 2: to our garage and built our first van Sudsey and
Speaker 2: took that van outside our old school food van in
Speaker 2: that park and Wickham Street and Orange Sky was born.
Speaker 2: Why the name so Orange Sky's song by a British
Speaker 2: singer songwriter called Alexi Murdock, and the song talks about
Speaker 2: everyone being under an orange sky and helping out your
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters and you know, the same kitchen table
Speaker 2: that I told my parents about the starting this mobile
Speaker 2: laundry was the founding place of Orange Sky. And I
Speaker 2: were debating it was either a Brisbane laundry van or
Speaker 2: mobile washing van, or why don't we just call it
Speaker 2: Orange Sky? And if it was called Brisbane laundry van
Speaker 2: right now, it'd be a bit awkward because we're a
Speaker 2: bit far from Brisbane and a lot of our spots.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. I was going through your website and looking
Speaker 1: at different things, and you're trying to develop further initiatives.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're seeing gaps and one of them was women
Speaker 1: for women. How did that come about?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think maybe coming back to our missions
Speaker 2: is always important. So our mission at Orange s Guy
Speaker 2: is to positively connect communities, and that wasn't our mission
Speaker 2: we started with. Our first mission statement was to improve
Speaker 2: the hygiene standards of the homeless. And so we had
Speaker 2: that first van alongside our old school food van. We
Speaker 2: set the van up that first morning in October twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: You know, we started stealing water from the council. We
Speaker 2: convinced this guy up and I said, hey, I know
Speaker 2: this sounds a bit crazy, but I can you know,
Speaker 2: wash and drayer clothes over there. And a few minutes
Speaker 2: later he walked over with potentially his only possessions in
Speaker 2: his life, and he introduced himself. His name was Jordan,
Speaker 2: and we put Jordan's washing in that left washing machine
Speaker 2: and we pressed the top button and the bottom button
Speaker 2: and there was a massive bang, and we're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I don't know if washing machines did to make that sound.
Speaker 2: Caught up the washing machine company and they told us
Speaker 2: we'd broken both the washing machines. So we apologized to Jordan.
Speaker 2: We went back out to the workshop. You know, sorry,
Speaker 2: this really angry laundry technician. We broke both the machines.
Speaker 2: They gave us some new ones. Out the next morning
Speaker 2: there was Jordan. Jordan trusted us with his only possessions.
Speaker 1: We put it in the van and the van broke again.
Speaker 2: But what we realized that morning is that Orange Sky
Speaker 2: was something that really needed to work, because we'd let
Speaker 2: Jordan down and it was sort of two days and
Speaker 2: he was keen to trust these two idiots to wash
Speaker 2: and dry his clothes. So we went out the third morning,
Speaker 2: made some few changes to the van, and we put
Speaker 2: Jordan's washing in and the van worked perfectly, and we
Speaker 2: sort of reached that finish line to what we thought
Speaker 2: was Orange Sky's mission. We were improving hygiene, we had
Speaker 2: the van going. But what we realized and what we
Speaker 2: never thought about, is like, what do we do now?
Speaker 2: Because Jordan was his only possessions in his life were
Speaker 2: trapped in our van and we were tethered to the
Speaker 2: park because we were stealing water, and so I was like, well,
Speaker 2: what should we do? And it was really simple. We
Speaker 2: just had a conversation, and that conversation, without a doubt,
Speaker 2: changed my life and change the trajectory of Orange Sky
Speaker 2: because we realized that we had this really sacred special
Speaker 2: opportunity to connect with the people, so we rewrote our
Speaker 2: mission to positively connecting communities and Orange Skuy's grown a
Speaker 2: lot in the last ten years and it's overwhelming to
Speaker 2: see how much Orange Skuy can impact communities that don't
Speaker 2: have access to what we provide. But now that Orange
Speaker 2: Sky is in a privileged position to be able to
Speaker 2: have that trust of the friends and the volunteers and
Speaker 2: the donors and the broader community, we're really always looking
Speaker 2: at how can Orange Sky help more people? And that's
Speaker 2: where the women's only shift came from, is that homelessness
Speaker 2: in Australia. You know, fifty six percent a male, forty
Speaker 2: four percent of female from the last census, and we
Speaker 2: know that the census isn't perfect, but a place like
Speaker 2: we can park in Brisbane isn't a safe place for
Speaker 2: a vulnerable female to be accessing our service. And a
Speaker 2: lot of Orange Skuy services operate in parks in very rough,
Speaker 2: sleeping communities, and what we acknowledged is that Orange Sky
Speaker 2: could be helped being women in a more tailored and
Speaker 2: appropriate service delivery model, and that's where the idea of
Speaker 2: running women's only shifts operate, so you know, that's a
Speaker 2: newer thing to obscud and something that we're really proud of,
Speaker 2: but also you know, humbled that that is required, and
Speaker 2: also you know, looking at services that aren't even on
Speaker 2: our website to provide a really safe and dignified way
Speaker 2: for people to access our service.
Speaker 1: It really piqued my interest because the fastest growing demographic
Speaker 1: is older women. The homelessness it must be terrifying being
Speaker 1: a female and vulnerable, and it really makes me feel
Speaker 1: sick that these women are sleeping in cars or sleeping
Speaker 1: rough because they've just got nowhere else to go. I
Speaker 1: feel the same way for men, but I think women
Speaker 1: are so vulnerable, but I think everyone is in those situations,
Speaker 1: aren't they.
Speaker 2: One of the biggest things I've learned in the last
Speaker 2: ten years is that my stereotype about homelessness was completely
Speaker 2: wrong and there are so many stereotypes and stigmas around homelessness.
Speaker 2: In Australia, one and two hundred people are classified as
Speaker 2: homeless and only six percent of that population are sleeping rough.
Speaker 2: We see so many people who work multiple jobs who
Speaker 2: are sleeping in their cars, and to realize the incredible
Speaker 2: challenge it is to be a parent and be homeless.
Speaker 2: Just blows my mind. And in particular women's space. If
Speaker 2: you have teenage children and those children aren't female, you're
Speaker 2: not able to go to some shelters because you know,
Speaker 2: males aren't allowed at those those shelters. So you know,
Speaker 2: if I think about my mum, she was in a
Speaker 2: vulnerable spot. The first priority for her is looking after me,
Speaker 2: and so that shelter is foregone by that, whether it
Speaker 2: be you can't have you children or you can't have
Speaker 2: certain people. And I've got a dog, Gambino, and in
Speaker 2: most shelters you're not allowed pets and that so there
Speaker 2: is access potentially to shelter, and then that might be
Speaker 2: at for some people, but also acknowledging that we have
Speaker 2: our different needs and desires. Some people want to be
Speaker 2: in extroverted, vibrant communities, some people want to be by themselves.
Speaker 2: And how do we actually tailor the services that are
Speaker 2: available to what the end user wants And that's a
Speaker 2: big way the sector needs to improve.
Speaker 1: At the end of last year, there was a young
Speaker 1: guy sleeping rough down at the park and I was
Speaker 1: quite concerned. Couldn't see him moving or breathing. So I
Speaker 1: went and checked on him, and a couple of us
Speaker 1: got him some food and blankets and pillow and when
Speaker 1: he was able to talk, you know, I had a
Speaker 1: bit of a chat with him. And he was there
Speaker 1: for a few days, and saw him around a couple
Speaker 1: of times, and you know, he went out of his
Speaker 1: way to say thank you to me. And I haven't
Speaker 1: seen him since, but he was telling me he had
Speaker 1: a job, he was in a terrible accident, became addicted
Speaker 1: to pain medications and then his life spiraled and he
Speaker 1: moved up to Queensland. And it just breaks your heart,
Speaker 1: but a little bit, doesn't it mean it wasn't through
Speaker 1: any fault of his own really that he ended up
Speaker 1: in this position. And what do they say, We're two
Speaker 1: paychecks away from being homeless most Australians. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: scary stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And my partner always talks about this quote.
Speaker 2: We get sick alone and we heal together and the
Speaker 2: power of a community. I know, some of the toughest
Speaker 2: times in my life, my friends or family have rallied
Speaker 2: around me. Life is not linear, and life can change
Speaker 2: in a blink of an eye. You know, you injure yourself,
Speaker 2: you lose your job, and then you're in a position
Speaker 2: where maybe you're too a shamed to ask your support network.
Speaker 2: So then this spiraling effect happens where you might run
Speaker 2: away and then your community is completely disappears. So that's
Speaker 2: why we are so passionate about that mission of positively
Speaker 2: connecting communities. And you know, we're not naive enough to
Speaker 2: think that we are substituting family or deep relational connections,
Speaker 2: but what we are provide is consistent, genuine friendship to people.
Speaker 2: And to see that grow over the last ten years
Speaker 2: has been tremendous. Seeing friends who are in a tough
Speaker 2: position come together and help each other, or to see
Speaker 2: volunteers who also go through our life's trials and tribulations
Speaker 2: come together and rally is really beautiful. And I'm constantly
Speaker 2: reminded that the community that Orange s Guy helps. We
Speaker 2: might be able to label people like a volunteer or
Speaker 2: a don or a friend, but most of the time
Speaker 2: it's actually impossible to because we have humans that are
Speaker 2: complex but very simple come together and connect. And I
Speaker 2: guess that's the beauty is that's where the magic happens.
Speaker 2: Humans want connection. That's imperative to our well being.
Speaker 1: That's one of the things in our saying with Alzheimer's
Speaker 1: is that if you don't have that community and feeling
Speaker 1: of belonging, that can actually exacerbate dementia other autoimmune conditions.
Speaker 1: It's really quite fascinating what loneliness can do. You would
Speaker 1: have seen huge growth in this space since covid.
Speaker 2: You know, since Orange Guys started, we've grown about twenty
Speaker 2: five percent each year because of the need and because
Speaker 2: of yeah, I guess one one of the factors is need,
Speaker 2: but also our growth. So you know now Orange Skuy's
Speaker 2: got sixty eight services in forty seven locations in Australia
Speaker 2: and six services and five locations over in our to
Speaker 2: Row and New Zealand. Those vans go out over four
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty times a week alongside service providers like
Speaker 2: our old school food vans. So we've added a lot
Speaker 2: of services and that's sort of fueled our growth. But
Speaker 2: also here in Brisbane we're always adding new shifts, whether
Speaker 2: that be a women's only shift taking our vans to
Speaker 2: a motel to help people who are an emergency accommodation
Speaker 2: have access to it, or a big part of Orange
Speaker 2: Skuy's growth at the moment is into remote communities, first
Speaker 2: nations communities providing basic health hardware, but also you know,
Speaker 2: we're looking at having laundry and schools at the moment
Speaker 2: because we know a big barrier to people having access
Speaker 2: to good quality education and safe community is also laundry.
Speaker 2: So you know, a lot of the graphs at Orange
Speaker 2: Skuy just show a trend that is always going up,
Speaker 2: and COVID was a big part of that. We had
Speaker 2: to make a really tough decision at the peak of
Speaker 2: COVID to press pause on a lot of our services
Speaker 2: because of the frameworks that we're making decisions, and that
Speaker 2: was only for a couple of week period that we
Speaker 2: had all of our services shut down, and that was
Speaker 2: an incredibly tough decision, knowing that you know, people potentially
Speaker 2: only opportunity to talk to someone in a week was
Speaker 2: an Orange Skuy shift. And then knowing that this bright
Speaker 2: orange van wasn't going to be in a park and
Speaker 2: wasn't going to be providing people who were already disconnected
Speaker 2: and vulnerable and marginalized. They were even further disconnected, vulnerable
Speaker 2: and marginalized through the pandemic, and so there was a
Speaker 2: significant spike in our growth, going from you know, turning
Speaker 2: those shifts off to back on. But I think what
Speaker 2: the pandemic did is it reminded people of the importance
Speaker 2: of hygiene and human connection. And we wouldn't wish that
Speaker 2: upon anyone. But it's been really interesting that conversation since
Speaker 2: where people being like, you know, it was really hard
Speaker 2: not going and connecting with my community. Maybe the most
Speaker 2: lonely they've been has been through the pandemic, and now
Speaker 2: there is this relational point where they say, oh fuck,
Speaker 2: I couldn't imagine what it's like, you know, living on
Speaker 2: the streets and losing that community.
Speaker 1: In your experience, what is the number one cause of
Speaker 1: homelessness in our country.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's one cause. I think that there
Speaker 2: is one or two events that happen that then send
Speaker 2: people on a trajectory very quickly in finding themselves in
Speaker 2: a tough spot. Jordan, our first of a friend, you know,
Speaker 2: we had these few interactions with, was our first ever wash.
Speaker 2: He trusted us, he came and went. But then we
Speaker 2: sort of started seeing all these other people use our service.
Speaker 2: And we've told Jordan's story for ten years, but we
Speaker 2: actually lost track of Jordan. You know, we heard along
Speaker 2: the grapevine that Jordan might have access ourselves on the
Speaker 2: Gold Coast and last year we got in touch with
Speaker 2: Jordan and that was an incredibly special moment and we're
Speaker 2: still in touch with Jordan. And Jordan went to school,
Speaker 2: had a loving and incredibly supportive family, had a job
Speaker 2: at Macquarie Bank working on the IT desk, and was
Speaker 2: probably on the limit of his relationship with alcohol, but
Speaker 2: that was in Australian context, probably a normal social all point.
Speaker 2: And then Jordan's father passed away and his first night
Speaker 2: of being homeless was a day after his dad's funeral,
Speaker 2: and that then very quickly compounded and escalated. And I
Speaker 2: think that I always remind myself that if you think
Speaker 2: about our stereotypes of homelessness, Jordan had a very high
Speaker 2: paying job, he's incredibly intelligent, incredibly loving, has an amazing
Speaker 2: supportive family, but then in a process of a couple
Speaker 2: of years, found himself accessing our services. So there is
Speaker 2: you know, over one hundred and thirty Jordan's out there.
Speaker 2: There's for every star around. You know, a mother who
Speaker 2: comes home one day and is completely locked out of
Speaker 2: their home and have no access to financial bank accounts
Speaker 2: and those sorts of things, or is fleeing violence and
Speaker 2: it might be the most costly thing you ever do,
Speaker 2: but your safety is paramount. So I guess, yeah, there's
Speaker 2: no one thing that we see. I think on the
Speaker 2: back end, what we see is that everyone is looking
Speaker 2: for a sense of human connection, dignity, and just to
Speaker 2: be treated as a fellow human. And I think that's
Speaker 2: the common thing we see. Is like the situation that
Speaker 2: got someone to be around an Orange sky van is
Speaker 2: different for everyone, but the commonality is that they're there
Speaker 2: to hang out and connect.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, which is one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I started the podcast, I went through a really rough
Speaker 1: patch and had severe depression. Always been fine, and when
Speaker 1: I reflect on that now, and I'm very grateful at
Speaker 1: that stage. I'd stop drinking before then because drinking, my
Speaker 1: drinking was getting out of control. If I hadn't have
Speaker 1: had the loving support of my husband and my kids
Speaker 1: and my family, was quite obvious to me that I
Speaker 1: could have ended up in that position. It can happen
Speaker 1: to anybody. That's why I think kindness is so imperative,
Speaker 1: because you don't know what anyone's going through. Everyone's got
Speaker 1: a story. People not my choice want to be on
Speaker 1: the streets, and often it might be safer to be
Speaker 1: on the street than it is to be at home.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and Orange Sky's now got over four thousand volunteers,
Speaker 2: and that hardship and loneliness is also present in that community.
Speaker 2: And you know, we have an extraordinary volunteer, Robin in Hobart,
Speaker 2: who was one of our first volunteers in Hobart. You know,
Speaker 2: she joined Orange Sky in sort of that next act
Speaker 2: of her life in a sense that she'd retired and
Speaker 2: was looking at giving back to the community. And Robin's
Speaker 2: world very quickly changed in a period of time where
Speaker 2: her son in law and her husband passed away. Robin
Speaker 2: talked about how hard it was being disconnected from her
Speaker 2: community and those challenges that she was facing through to grief,
Speaker 2: but the friends at Orange Sky and having an opportunity
Speaker 2: to go and give back to the community was so
Speaker 2: significant in her life. And I think that's the thing
Speaker 2: that I'm always reminded by is that the people that
Speaker 2: come to Orange Sky all have their own hardships. We
Speaker 2: also all have our own successes and highs and the
Speaker 2: beauty of the community is that we're on that journey
Speaker 2: together for that moment, and that might be for one
Speaker 2: load of washing which takes an hour for one person,
Speaker 2: and that might be their only interaction with Orange Sky,
Speaker 2: or it might be one whole shift every week for
Speaker 2: ten years that a volunteer has been going on or
Speaker 2: a friend's been going to. That sort of space and
Speaker 2: moment is really special and valued.
Speaker 1: If your friends come in to use the laundry services,
Speaker 1: if you perceive they've got a health issue or they're
Speaker 1: going through a psychosis, how do you guys handle that?
Speaker 1: Is there other services it's like one bridge that you
Speaker 1: might refer them to, or how do you go about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the core to that mission of positively connecting
Speaker 2: communities is realizing that partnerships are integrals. So at every
Speaker 2: location that we operate, we're working with others service providers
Speaker 2: like one Bridge or street Side Medics New South Wales
Speaker 2: and Victoria or the Frio Street Doctor or in Wa
Speaker 2: or it might be a clinician that's inside a homelessness
Speaker 2: hub that we're operating outside of. So you know, we
Speaker 2: talk about our volunteers aren't trying to preach, teach or
Speaker 2: fix anything. They're there to provide friendship and connection, but
Speaker 2: their success is actually to be able to get someone
Speaker 2: a service that they maybe weren't aware of or comfortable
Speaker 2: to get to the past. And was talking to Lucas
Speaker 2: about a shift out in Redcliffe the other week where
Speaker 2: he was just talking to a friend who was worried
Speaker 2: about an upcoming operation and their health literacy wasn't great,
Speaker 2: you know, Lucas was able to connect them with another
Speaker 2: service provider who then was able to call them and
Speaker 2: talk to them about getting to their appointments on time.
Speaker 2: And of that friendship is something that you probably had
Speaker 2: the same journey of being like I'm about to go
Speaker 2: in for this operation and friends being let me drop you.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing.
Speaker 2: And I think that that's actually the beauty of that
Speaker 2: idea that we can be better through that sense of community.
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, the people who need that most are in
Speaker 2: the community that we service, and there is a big
Speaker 2: gap of the people that are rallying behind and around them.
Speaker 2: But I think if we can collaborate more and provide
Speaker 2: access to those services is where we need to really focus.
Speaker 1: Clean Slate Clinic has collaborated with one Bridge for those
Speaker 1: people that have addiction issues, and I just thought, isn't
Speaker 1: that just the best service to do? Those two working together.
Speaker 1: When I heard that, I was so delighted because they're
Speaker 1: both amazing services as well me being medical. That's where
Speaker 1: I sort of lean towards how you can help people.
Speaker 1: If someone wants to volunteer, how do they go about it?
Speaker 2: Yep, So you don't need to be a washing expert
Speaker 2: or a shower kind of sir. We do a lot
Speaker 2: of healthcare professionals that volunteer with Orange Sky, a lot
Speaker 2: of retired nurses and doctors, and they're usually the ones
Speaker 2: that are like in there with like the best cleaning
Speaker 2: procedure and very diligent, but also the most amazing connectors.
Speaker 2: And for some people who leave a very care based industry,
Speaker 2: who retire for their next chapter, you naturally do lose
Speaker 2: this opportunity to give back, and that can be quite scary.
Speaker 2: And so the cool thing about volunteering is that you
Speaker 2: can fulfill that experience of caring, and I think that
Speaker 2: that's why we attract so many amazing people. So yeah,
Speaker 2: we always encourage people to jump onto our website orange
Speaker 2: Sky dot org dot au. You can see all the
Speaker 2: locations that we operate and the services that we're needing volunteers,
Speaker 2: but also, you know, the great thing about our country
Speaker 2: is that we see a problem and we want to
Speaker 2: do something about it. And there's so many ways to
Speaker 2: give back in a wather, be through volunteering as a
Speaker 2: practicing nurse with one bridge, or whether it be actually
Speaker 2: saying I don't want to be practicing, I just want
Speaker 2: to come and chat to people and volunteer. I think
Speaker 2: that's the cool thing is that there's so many ways
Speaker 2: to give back to the community.
Speaker 1: I would assume running Orange Sky with Lucas there are
Speaker 1: things that would really impact you. How do you guys
Speaker 1: cope with that?
Speaker 2: You know, I think there's a mixture. One of our
Speaker 2: first employees who was an organizational psychologist, Emily, she taught
Speaker 2: us something very important.
Speaker 1: Early on.
Speaker 2: We used to use this idea around positive and genuine,
Speaker 2: non judgmental relationships, and you know, we train our volunteers
Speaker 2: in that and train them in the f word, use
Speaker 2: the word friend. And then it was that second bit,
Speaker 2: and you know, Emily came to us and said, you know, actually,
Speaker 2: I think by Orange Sky labeling everything as positive and
Speaker 2: non judgmental, you're actually excluding this very important part of life,
Speaker 2: which is the darkness, and not everything in life is positive.
Speaker 2: So if you actually just acknowledge that you're providing space
Speaker 2: to really see people in that moment, and that was
Speaker 2: an extraordinary insight and shaped the trajectory of Orange Sky.
Speaker 2: So we deeply acknowledge that challenges a part of our community,
Speaker 2: and challenge is probably the reason why people have come
Speaker 2: to Orange Sky. They could be potentially the toughest time
Speaker 2: of their life. We're also trying to get washing machines
Speaker 2: to work in a vent. We're also trying to fundraise,
Speaker 2: you know, we're also trying to deal with people that
Speaker 2: are innately complex, and you know, we all have our
Speaker 2: own challenges. So I think, you know, just acknowledging that
Speaker 2: the stuff we're doing is challenging, I think then actually
Speaker 2: gives us a space to then want to be able
Speaker 2: to get support or help. Orange Skuys have got an
Speaker 2: extraordinary team of staff and volunteers that deliver our servers
Speaker 2: and Lucas and I are incredibly blessed that we've got
Speaker 2: so many people around us that are supporting, you know,
Speaker 2: whether that be our board, or our families or our friends.
Speaker 2: So I think there's a couple pass thing. One is
Speaker 2: acknowledging that, you know, the stuff that we're doing isn't easy,
Speaker 2: but we enjoy the challenge and acknowledging that the challenge
Speaker 2: is there and to be able to name it and
Speaker 2: see it. The second is that you know, we're surrounded
Speaker 2: by amazing people, you know, as we preach it Orange
Speaker 2: Sky the power of community. We're very lucky with their community.
Speaker 2: And I think also, you know, we have really beautiful friendship.
Speaker 2: You know, Lucas now leads and runs Orange Sky is
Speaker 2: our CEO and does an extraordinary job at that and
Speaker 2: it's still the smartest guy I know. And you know,
Speaker 2: I'm able to build a few things. And you know,
Speaker 2: our complementary friendship is really important with your volunteers.
Speaker 1: If they chat to someone one of their friends that
Speaker 1: come into user services and you know what is shared
Speaker 1: with them is a little bit traumatizing. How do you
Speaker 1: care for the volunteers?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so a couple of different ways. One is we
Speaker 2: really support our well. Our volunteers are work, so there's
Speaker 2: no difference between being a volunteer and a worker. From
Speaker 2: a legislative process, so our volunteers are treated as workers
Speaker 2: and we take their safety incredibly seriously. You know, we
Speaker 2: support our volunteers with training and onboarding around how to
Speaker 2: have some of those difficult conversations, how to refer to
Speaker 2: service providers. We also support our volunteers in a EAP
Speaker 2: program where they can have access to counselors to debrief
Speaker 2: and connect, but also acknowledging that we can always do
Speaker 2: more in that space. So, you know, I'm proud of
Speaker 2: what ourrange Guide provides for our volunteers and our community
Speaker 2: at the moment, but I'm always interested in, you know,
Speaker 2: how can we take that experience to the next level.
Speaker 2: And that's something that we're always looking at as an organization.
Speaker 1: People find homelessness really confronting. How should people treat or
Speaker 1: address someone that's homeless? So I always say hello and
Speaker 1: just go hey, how are you going? When I'm in
Speaker 1: the States with my daughter, I probably spend more money
Speaker 1: buying coffee for everyone else them myself, because the homelessness
Speaker 1: there is out of control. It's tragic. But here in
Speaker 1: a strait it is something we find very confronting us like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to see that. How do
Speaker 1: we change that dialogue? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think a couple things that one is acknowledging.
Speaker 1: It's hard.
Speaker 2: And the great thing about Orange Sky is that we
Speaker 2: build very deep, almost immediate relationships because we have this
Speaker 2: side thing which is, hey, do you have some washing
Speaker 2: put in the machine, and then the conversation takes place.
Speaker 2: So we are going into people's living rooms or homes,
Speaker 2: whether that be a park or a drop in center,
Speaker 2: that's their space. So we are going into a very
Speaker 2: sacred space, and we are providing something that is very intimate,
Speaker 2: which is laundry and showers. So we are fortunate that
Speaker 2: we are able to form a connection quite quickly. But
Speaker 2: I think, you know, for engaging with people out there
Speaker 2: in the community when you're not at an Orange Sky
Speaker 2: s us. You know, we love the F word, which
Speaker 2: is friends. It's something that's incredibly respectful and inviting to
Speaker 2: acknowledge someone as that and if you don't know their name,
Speaker 2: and I think starting a conversation and you know, coming
Speaker 2: back to not trying to fix anything or teach anything
Speaker 2: or tell anything.
Speaker 1: It's just to check in.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think there's so many things that
Speaker 2: we do with our own friends that has just applied
Speaker 2: to that cohort of people. It may be introducing yourself
Speaker 2: finding commonality. You know, one of my favorite conversation starters
Speaker 2: is remembering something about a previous conversation. Hey, John, how
Speaker 2: good was it that sporting team one? Hey Michelle, did
Speaker 2: you see that tram arrived on time? You know, those
Speaker 2: really simple things that you do with with your normal,
Speaker 2: everyday friends, I think is so important. So I'm always
Speaker 2: thinking about the weather and the impacts that the community has,
Speaker 2: and I always find myself, you know, if there's a
Speaker 2: big storm and I'm falling asleep hearing the rain on
Speaker 2: a roof, thinking, you know, I hope friends out there
Speaker 2: are okay, but actually knowing there's not much I can
Speaker 2: do right now. But the next day you can open
Speaker 2: that conversation with you know, how are you doing after
Speaker 2: last night?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And I think that is a really simple way to
Speaker 2: show that you care, because you're not sugarcoating. It's just
Speaker 2: providing a little bit of space to acknowledge, like, hey,
Speaker 2: I was thinking about you last night because that was
Speaker 2: a really hectic storm. And the person might be like, oh,
Speaker 2: a great sleep I was tucked away in here, or
Speaker 2: some might be like, you know what it was?
Speaker 1: Shit? Yeah, and thanks for seeing that that sucked. When
Speaker 1: I first started with my business, I used to do
Speaker 1: that same thing. I'd have a sheet of paper and
Speaker 1: I'd be writing down order's name, spouse's name, has a dog.
Speaker 1: And it's quite interesting how it builds a raport so
Speaker 1: fast because you've taken the time to actually remember something
Speaker 1: about them, and it makes them feel worthy and valuable
Speaker 1: that they meant enough to you that you remembered something.
Speaker 1: I'm sure people that are doing it tough really love
Speaker 1: it that someone is actually thinking about them, just beyond
Speaker 1: their situation. And I really struggle that homelessness is growing
Speaker 1: so rapidly in our country, and when we are just
Speaker 1: so blessed, and with my trips to the States where
Speaker 1: my daughter lives when she first went over there before COVID,
Speaker 1: from then to now, you know, the different places we've
Speaker 1: been to and the huge demographic growth of people sleeping
Speaker 1: rough has blown us away. And you know, I just
Speaker 1: don't want Australia to be like that. We meant to
Speaker 1: look after each other, and sometimes I think, is it happening?
Speaker 1: Means people like you doing the right thing, But you
Speaker 1: know what can the rest of us do? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think it's easy to get overwhelmed sometimes. But also
Speaker 2: you know, I was in Sydney last week and I
Speaker 2: was out for a run near Circular Key and had
Speaker 2: this great run and then I was running down the
Speaker 2: street and there's this bright orange van. You know, there's
Speaker 2: volunteers sitting out and they're having an awesome chat and
Speaker 2: you know, I go and introduce myself. They have no
Speaker 2: idea who I am, and you know, hey, I'm near like,
Speaker 2: oh God, do you want to wash your clothes? And
Speaker 2: I'm like, nah, I'm just here to say, you know,
Speaker 2: thanks for what you do. And so, you know, I
Speaker 2: think kindness is in so many pockets. I think sometimes
Speaker 2: we forget about the extraordinary people that you know, go
Speaker 2: and do good. But I was just thinking about a
Speaker 2: very good friend and mentor to us at Orange Sky
Speaker 2: Camogra talked about in one of our first stories. It's
Speaker 2: knowing that someone cares, and it's all about hope. And
Speaker 2: you know, I think we can get more sophisticated in
Speaker 2: policies and procedures and technology around you know, engaging with
Speaker 2: people and whatnot. But I think it in a simplest form,
Speaker 2: if you care, then all of that other stuff falls
Speaker 2: into place. And if that means that you just care
Speaker 2: or you're passionate about something, then I think that's going
Speaker 2: to flow onto your relationships. Whereas like, if you care
Speaker 2: deeply about nature and then you're talking to someone about nature,
Speaker 2: that'll probably be the thing you talk about next time.
Speaker 2: You actually don't need those prompts around asking questions about
Speaker 2: people's interests and hobbies. But I sometimes get overwhelmed with
Speaker 2: being like, oh fuck, I is this assignment sheet on someone.
Speaker 2: But if you just start a genuine conversation and you care,
Speaker 2: all of that mesh of tissue of relationship will form,
Speaker 2: and then you might find this pattern where you know,
Speaker 2: you both realize that you grew up in the same area,
Speaker 2: or that you both like a certain artist, or you know,
Speaker 2: like you could never predict that. And I think that's
Speaker 2: the beauty of orange sky is like, you know, we
Speaker 2: used to say, let's get one volunteer from this demographic
Speaker 2: and one volunteer from this demographic, and then let's get
Speaker 2: you know, let's put them on that shift because they
Speaker 2: might be safer. And then you realize that you know,
Speaker 2: a volunteer that you never thought would be appropriate for
Speaker 2: a shift or would get on with another volunteer, they
Speaker 2: become best friends, you know, and it's like, why is
Speaker 2: a eighteen year old become best friends with the ninety
Speaker 2: six year old who's volunteering, and why do they now
Speaker 2: drive to shift together? And you can ever predict some
Speaker 2: of these things. You know, both their families grew up
Speaker 2: in a similar area and now they're hanging out outside
Speaker 2: of Orange Sky and helping each other at the library
Speaker 2: and this sort of stuff. So yeah, I think it
Speaker 2: can get overwhelming seeing the rates of loneliness and isolation
Speaker 2: and polarization grow in the world, and we shouldn't not
Speaker 2: acknowledge that. But I also think that it's not too hard,
Speaker 2: Like we know the fix. It's really basic. It's connecting
Speaker 2: with people, it's treating people well. And I think that
Speaker 2: that like we're not having to find a cure. This
Speaker 2: is something that is really preventable.
Speaker 1: And people know when you're being genuine you know, they
Speaker 1: can tell when you're genuinely interested in them and what
Speaker 1: they have to say, you know. So I mean, do
Speaker 1: you find with your volunteers that they're looking for something
Speaker 1: more or they really want to give back to the community,
Speaker 1: Like is there a particular recipe around what your volunteer
Speaker 1: is are looking for No.
Speaker 2: It's the same as like why the friends rock up there? Right,
Speaker 2: Like there's you know some volunteers that might have more
Speaker 2: time they registered a volunteer. You know, one of my
Speaker 2: favorite stories is there was an elderly volunteer who in
Speaker 2: the early days signed up. I was out and ship
Speaker 2: with them, and this volunteer like pulled me aside and
Speaker 2: was like, this is the laziest volunteering I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: And they're like, you know, you just set the van up,
Speaker 2: you plug it in, You're just sitting around talking. What
Speaker 2: an absolute joke. And I was like thinking to myself,
Speaker 2: like pretty much all we do is like, you know,
Speaker 2: like how did we get that wrong? But for that person,
Speaker 2: you know, they're volunteering was painting a wall or building
Speaker 2: a fence or reading someone a book, and Orange Skuy
Speaker 2: just wasn't the right outlet for them to volunteer. And
Speaker 2: that's totally fine. I actually feel bad that Orange Sky,
Speaker 2: you know, didn't clearly articulate what we were doing. But
Speaker 2: I think that's the great thing is, you know, some
Speaker 2: volunteers really love setting the van up and putting the
Speaker 2: washing in and cleaning after a shower where some volunteers
Speaker 2: have like never touched, you know, anything to do with
Speaker 2: the van. They just rock up and they sit on
Speaker 2: a chair and they hang out with people, and I
Speaker 2: think that that's the cool thing. But I think, you know,
Speaker 2: there's so many ways to connect and give back, which
Speaker 2: is sort of what we're all about.
Speaker 1: Do you have lots of younger people volunteering.
Speaker 2: We've got a whole Like our youngest volunteer is eighteen,
Speaker 2: and you know, our oldest volunteers is ninety seven. So
Speaker 2: you know, our most common age used to be twenty
Speaker 2: four and fifty five. But you know, so many different
Speaker 2: different reasons people volunteer, and that can change over time.
Speaker 2: You know, for Robin in Hobart, she wanted to join,
Speaker 2: she had a bit more time, and she wanted to
Speaker 2: give back. But now she volunteers because that's her community
Speaker 2: and that's her human connection and she couldn't see a
Speaker 2: world without having a part of Orange Sky in it.
Speaker 2: Whereas for some volunteers, you know, they might move to
Speaker 2: a new area and not have any deep friends or
Speaker 2: community in the area. They volunteer, form some friends and
Speaker 2: their job might change and so then they don't volunteer
Speaker 2: with Orange Sky. But you know, like it was moving
Speaker 2: around all these sorts of things. You know, we have
Speaker 2: volunteers that start when they're on paternity or maternity leave. Like,
Speaker 2: there's so many different reasons why why people volunteer?
Speaker 1: Do you have to be eighteen to volunteer? You can't
Speaker 1: be younger? Or can you do it with a family member?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we made the call, which is a tough
Speaker 2: call because, like I said, it was a big impact
Speaker 2: on my life. But yeah, to volunteer at orange skuy
Speaker 2: you have to be eighteen. But also all of orange
Speaker 2: Sky shifts at public, So if a young person did
Speaker 2: want to see an Orange Sky service, you know they could.
Speaker 2: They're all in public locations where they're most welcome to
Speaker 2: pop down and have a look.
Speaker 1: What would be the biggest life lesson that you have
Speaker 1: learned through running setting up Orange Sky?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, you know, one of the things I'm
Speaker 2: incredibly thankful for is Orange Sky's taught me so much.
Speaker 2: And so it's hard to say one thing, but I think,
Speaker 2: you know, the first thing that comes to mind is
Speaker 2: the idea of this quote is dysfunction is the difference
Speaker 2: between what you know and what you apply, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, we're always especially in this day and age,
Speaker 2: like it's very easy to access knowledge or to know
Speaker 2: that to be healthier we need to exercise, or to
Speaker 2: know that volunteering is a good thing, so we should volunteer.
Speaker 2: But then the gap being around well, you know, we
Speaker 2: say we're busy or you know, something comes up, and
Speaker 2: so if you apply it to Orange Sky's context, we
Speaker 2: knew that people didn't have access to laundry, and you know,
Speaker 2: we knew that there were ways to give back to
Speaker 2: the community and charities and that sort of thing. But
Speaker 2: the only difference to to why Orange Sky might have
Speaker 2: worked is that we just did something about it and
Speaker 2: now you know, Orange Sky is what it is today.
Speaker 2: But I think acknowledging that we're all dysfunctional to some
Speaker 2: level and that's a part of life. But I think,
Speaker 2: you know, the biggest lesson is thinking about how do
Speaker 2: we when we know something do something about it and
Speaker 2: then what the learning from that? And I think, you know,
Speaker 2: that's something that I really try and take into to
Speaker 2: my life is thinking about, you know, what is something
Speaker 2: that I know I should be doing that I'm not doing,
Speaker 2: and then just give it a bit of energy and
Speaker 2: then see what happens.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming in today. I have
Speaker 1: been looking forward to this chat for a long time.
Speaker 1: I actually was on there last night looking about more
Speaker 1: of the volunteering side of things. So, guys, I will
Speaker 1: put up all the information about Orange Sky in the
Speaker 1: show notes so that if you decide do you want
Speaker 1: to look into it a bit further, or you want
Speaker 1: to volunteer or go on the board or all that
Speaker 1: information will be there. I know you are super busy,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate you coming in and chatting about
Speaker 1: the amazing work you do, so thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you. And it's probably a bit of hing pong,
Speaker 2: but I always like reminding people that you actually don't
Speaker 2: need an Orange Sky service to care or give back.
Speaker 2: And the majority of people probably listening, if you've made
Speaker 2: it this far, career in healthcare is innately caring. It's
Speaker 2: very easy to get overwhelmed with the business or the
Speaker 2: bureaucracy or the process, but reminding yourself that you can
Speaker 2: deliver that hope and care, and you are delivering that
Speaker 2: hope and care each and every day, and it's just
Speaker 2: those little tweaks around what Orange Sky is doing is
Speaker 2: no different to what a nurse is doing in seeing
Speaker 2: someone and potentially the toughest time of their life, whether
Speaker 2: the most scared and confused and vulnerable. One of our
Speaker 2: volunteers here in Brisbane was a head of a pediatric
Speaker 2: ICU for thirty or forty years or whatever, and I
Speaker 2: sort of said to them, like, you know, what's the
Speaker 2: biggest lesson that you learned in that whole time? And
Speaker 2: they said, you know, the first thing that I teach
Speaker 2: every one of our team in ICU is before we
Speaker 2: even look at the patient or the young person is
Speaker 2: we ask the parents, you know, what's the child's name
Speaker 2: and why did you call them that? And in that
Speaker 2: moment that was the most profound thing because we could
Speaker 2: tell so much about their health, literacy, and their upbringing
Speaker 2: and their values just by asking them their name. And
Speaker 2: I was like, that's all we do at Orange guys,
Speaker 2: we say hey, friend, what's your name? You know, and
Speaker 2: it's just the simple ast thing that you know, they're
Speaker 2: probably working in incredibly time precious and a bit of
Speaker 2: a deviation at the end of him we're coming into land,
Speaker 2: but I think just really want to acknowledge the extraordinary
Speaker 2: impact that you know your audience and you you listening
Speaker 2: is having on the communion.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your service. Oh, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming in. And like I say to people, kindness
Speaker 1: cost you nothing, and it's okay to acknowledge someone. I
Speaker 1: think it's worse when you walk past someone the's homeless
Speaker 1: and try to pretend they're not there. You know, give
Speaker 1: them a smile as if they want a coffee. That's
Speaker 1: my go to just show some kindness. And I think
Speaker 1: the world would be a better place this season. I
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