He pledges to match donations of $100+ until he reaches his $10K goal.
On Thursday 18 June CEO of Platinum® Freight Management Peter McRae will sleep rough at Luna Park to support the 10th annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
He will be adequately dressed. He will be allocated a place to bed for the night. He will be amongst like-minded people. This is not the reality of homelessness in Australia, but sleeping out is his very real effort to help make a difference.
Having raised just over $1000 to date, he is begging for the support of his local community to help meet his $10,000 goal. This target is a stretch from his inaugural effort in 2014 when he raised $2500.
Sleeping rough for one night is only a tiny insight into a terrible reality for so many, explains McRae:
“My first night on the street in 2014 was shocking and eye-opening. I learned that more than 100,000 people live homeless in Australia in 2015, more than half who are younger than 35, younger than I am. More than 30,000 are just children. It is a crying shame.
“If there is any social issue we can help to fix, surely it is giving people safe shelter. I urge everyone to support Vinnies by donating to my profile.”
Platinum® Freight Management is an independent customs brokerage and freight forwarding specialist which launched in 2000 in Sydney and has grown into a national presence.
Since its inception it has operated a social responsibility program that has continued to grow and today donates 5 to 10% of profits every month to individuals and social welfare organisations. Previous recipients of the program have included Stuart House in Sydney, Salvation Army in Grafton, the One World Futbol Project nationally, and countless others.
The company also operates a Green Customs®, Green Freight and Green Cargo® program to incentivize companies importing environmentally friendly goods, and a young entrepreneurs program to help give business people under the age of 25 a boost to start.
McRae will sleep out amongst Australian business leaders including the top fundraiser so far this year, Gretel Packer of Crown Resorts Foundation who is currently sitting on $95,757 and Malcolm Turnbull who has so far raised $50.
This year Vinnies’s goal is to raise $10 million. This provides the potential to give crucial assistance to people experiencing homelessness as well as to make inroads to addressing the causes of homelessness and breaking the cycle of homelessness permanently for as many people as possible.
McRae urges the local community to please donate any amount they can. He challenges businesses to donate generously and he will match them.
Please donate via Peter’s Vinnies profile:
https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/nsw-ceos/peter-mcrae-platinum-freight-management-pty-ltd-20/
FACTS ABOUT HOMELESSNESS, FROM VINNIES
- There are 105,237 people experiencing homelessness every night across Australia; this represents an 8% increase since the 2006 Census.
- 60% of the homeless population is under the age of 35, dispelling the myth that the ‘average’ person experiencing homelessness is the stereotypical older man.
- More than 17,000 Australian children under the age of 12 have no permanent home. A further 10,900 young people aged 12 to 18 are experiencing homelessness; most are estranged from their families.
- 17% of homeless Australians are aged over 55. Of these, 36% are women.
- 39% of Australians experiencing homelessness are living in severely crowded dwellings (those requiring four or more additional bedrooms to accommodate them adequately).
- People living in ‘severely crowded dwellings’ represent the greatest increase of 31% since 2006.
- People experiencing homelessness are more likely to suffer from severe mental health issues than the rest of the population. The experience of homelessness can trigger and exacerbate mental illness.
- The experience of homelessness brings with it a heightened vulnerability to violence.
- Unemployment, family breakdown and drug and alcohol abuse are additional factors that lead to homelessness.
- Homelessness Australia estimates there are over 1,300 homeless assistance services across Australia. Each year the homeless service system provides almost 3 million nights of accommodation.