Spend one uncomfortable night to raise money for homeless support

During 2023, three CEOs from the NSW Far South Coast braved cold temperatures to raise $30,500 and provide awareness for those experiencing homelessness in the Bega Valley.

Due to such a successful event, which helped partially fund two new part-time specialist caseworkers, the CEO Sleepout will return on June 20, 2024 in Merimbula with Vinnies asking local business owners and community leaders to join.

Stephen Pope from Pope Logging was returning for a second year, while Kim Poso, owner and licensee of Kim Poso Properties, said it would be her first year participating.

Due to being in the real estate industry, she experienced housing issues every day and wanted to help in some sort of way.

"I think it would be a good way to highlight it and keep people talking about it, and I don't know how they will every resolve it all, but at least if it is still being highlighted then hopefully that would help," Ms Poso said.

"I always find myself very torn with [rentals], because we're there to look after the property and the property's best interest for the owner, however for people that you want to be able to give a go and rent to, sometimes on paper they're not the best looking applicants. It's very difficult."

Vinnies regional support officer Corinne Brown said she had extracted data from her system to analyse how much help Vinnies had provided over the past 12 months, and found that between Batemans Bay and Eden they had given $389,000 worth of help.

In the past year, Vinnies volunteers from across the NSW Far South Coast had assisted approximately 600 people in the region, many of which were due to the cost-of-living pressures, but Ms Brown said help was for anyone doing it tough.

Registrations for the CEO Sleepout are now open. To email Corinne Brown click here, or visit CEO Sleepout website and register under 'ACT & surrounds'.