It was a cold and 'batty' night sky in Wingham on Saturday, August 22 - the night that 33 joey's, cubs, scouts, venturers and leaders from the First Wingham Scout Group camped out at the Wingham Scout Hall.
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The scout group camped out in the wintery conditions to experience sleeping out in the rough, like may homeless people do every night.
Winter Sleepout participants have been sleeping out in winter for more than 20 years. The original Winter Sleepout was in Sydney's Martin Place in 1988, when 50 participants braved a cold night on the granite pavement.
Dinner on the night was a 'soup kitchen' experience with chicken and vegetable or lamb and vegetable soup on offer, with hot chocolate and damper twists by the fire for supper.
Reverend Brian Ford of the Wingham Anglican Church came along to talk to the group about some of the reasons why a person can become homeless, who are most at risk, and types of places a homeless person may find shelter.
There are an estimated 105,000 Australians who are homeless every night. Of this figure, 45,000 are young homeless people under the age of 25. Twelve per cent of the homeless population are under the age of 12.
It could be friends and colleagues, or people in your community. Often, through no fault of their own, families are facing crisis situations that leave them mentally, physically and financially at risk. Without support, these situations can quickly spiral out of control.
Families are losing grip on secure housing and face the very real prospect of sleeping out in the cold. By sleeping out, the scouts took important steps to raise money and build awareness of this very real problem in our local community.
The money raised through this event will be donated to Mission Australia and will go towards helping people who are homeless or at risk to receive support they need long-term to help them get back on their feet.
