Fletcher St Cottage needs you!

With Byron’s Fletcher Street Cottage needing ongoing funds to continue the vital work they do with the homeless community, a sleepout fundraiser is planned on Saturday, August 17. 

Co-organiser, Mandy Nolan, says, ‘Just one week after national Homelessness Week, the Big Byron Sleepout gives caring community members an opportunity to experience a night on the street, address stigma and raise awareness and money for one of Byron Bay’s most vital homelessness support services’.

High homeless rate

‘The latest NSW Street Count data tells us that we have more rough sleepers in our community than the City of Sydney. Yet Fletcher Street Cottage is not fully funded and has to raise most of its operational budget with fundraisers and donations.

Frontline service 

‘Fletcher Street Cottage is a frontline service that provides much-needed support to people experiencing and at risk of homelessness: food, showers, laundry, social work, support services and community. It’s a lifeline for our community’s most vulnerable.

‘To stay fully operational, the service needs $800,000 per annum to operate at four days a week, so we are committing to raising $70,000 at the Big Byron Sleepout.

‘The sleepout is an opportunity to experience what it is like for those doing it tough. It’s uncomfortable, cold, there is no privacy, it’s vulnerable and it can feel, and be, unsafe. It’s hard to sleep and hard to maintain your mental health.

‘The CWA has kindly offered hot soup and beverages, as sleepers are gathered and welcomed to the inaugural event’, Ms Nolan added.

What: Big Byron Sleepout
When: Saturday, August 17
Where: Outside The Book Room, on Fletcher Street, Byron Bay
Why: Fundraiser for homeless service provider, Fletcher St Cottage
Register at: bigbyronsleepout.com