As much as 500kg of washing were made clean for people experiencing homelessness and hardship across Australia in the hour between 6pm and 7pm on Wednesday, while the Brisbane founders coordinating the massive wash shared their success story and challenged homeless stereotypes during Brisbane’s first Game Changers event for 2024.
An initiative of QUT and State Library of Queensland’s Business Leaders Hall of Fame, Game Changers invites innovative leaders from business, technology and creative industries to share their insights with aspiring Queensland entrepreneurs.
Orange Sky founders Lucas Patchett OAM and Nic Marchesi OAM kicked off the free series for 2024 with a candid look inside their world-first free mobile laundry service for people experiencing homelessness or cost-of-living stress.
“We’re helping more people than ever before,” Mr Patchett said.
“In the last 12 months, due to cost of living or the rental crisis, a lot more working people are using our service.”
This week alone, more than 2300 loads of washing have been completed across Australia and New Zealand through Orange Sky Laundry. More than 150 friends (people who use Orange Sky’s services) have been showered, and more than 2400 hours of conversation have been logged.
“Betty lives at Musgrave Park; she’s a full-time cleaner,” he said.
“Her rent went up $150 a week and she couldn’t afford that and couldn’t find another option, so she’s forced to live in a car. She’s put in 36 rental applications.
“For her, that ability to use the service, to wash her clothes and engage with volunteers, and to feel a sense of non-judgement and connection was a big thing as well as the practical help for the need that she had at the time, while still holding down employment and working as a cleaner.”
This is the eleventh year of the Game Changers series which is run in the lead-up to the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame induction dinner to be held on July 25.
State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald AM said State Library was proud to partner with QUT to bring Game Changers to Queensland audiences for another year.
“The series brings together great minds from the business, technology and creative industries who have had the courage to take a risk on a bold idea,” Ms McDonald said.
“Through State Library’s diverse collections, we promote Queensland’s stories and achievements to the world, nurturing active citizenship and providing opportunities for meaningful discussions.”
Professor Amanda Gudmundsson, QUT Executive Dean in the Faculty of Business and Law, said all Game Changer events are livestreamed and attract varied audiences, depending on the type of business.
“Game Changers gives you a personal insight from the founders or the CEOs or the entrepreneurs, into why they decided to undertake their business, the challenges they face and the way in which innovation has developed,” Professor Gudmundsson said.
“This is the kind of support and mentoring that people have found valuable in the development of their own business ideas.
“With social enterprises like Orange Sky, what keeps them going? Once you’ve established a business, you’ve generated enough support and funding and it’s becoming self-sustaining. What next?”
Orange Sky’s corporate partners, philanthropists and everyday supporters keep the washers spinning on Orange Sky assets across Australia, supporting people doing it tough from Perth to Doomadgee to Hobart. In addition to this, the Queensland Government announced in December it will provide $3 million to fund half of Orange Sky establishing a Brisbane headquarters. This will align with the charity celebrating 10 years of providing free laundry services to 45 communities across Australia and New Zealand.
“When we started it was really about giving it a go and seeing if it worked,” Mr Patchett said.
“Now there’s more maturity in the model, now it’s an obligation. We did 80,000 loads of washing last year. How many people would have had to make choices, or sacrifices or had no access to laundry services without this service.”
Find out more about Orange Sky Laundry HERE.
Sign up for the next Game Changers event HERE.
Media contact:
Debra Bela, 0412 417 552, debra.bela@QUT.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
