THIS YEAR has seen some important initiatives that have provided instant support for the homeless, nothing more obvious than sleepbus that is available at APEX 3 nights a week.

Thanks to the $100,000 donation by the Community Bank Hervey Bay, part of the Bendigo Bank, sleepbus arrived in Hervey Bay in April of this year.

Tim Evans, Branch Manager for Community Bank Hervey Bay, is proud of their support to bring this facility to the community.

“Homelessness is a heartbreaking reality in our community. We see the issues first hand for affordable housing and we love making it possible for families to find a home but we understand not everyone can achieve this.”

The kind donation has enabled the build of a sleepbus vehicle, which provides safe, temporary overnight accommodation service, getting people off the street by offering an immediate, first stop, cost-effective solution for our society’s most vulnerable, catching them early until they can get back on their feet.

sleepbus has up to 20 secure, climate controlled, individual sleep pods with a lockable door and toilet. Everyone is looked after with overnight volunteer caretakers and CCTV surveillance, with under bus storage for belongings, and pets are welcome to stay also.

sleepbus is the brainchild of Simon Rowe, with multiple services operating across Australia, which have provided more than 2,000 safe sleeps to people in need.

Simon said there has been 247 safe sleeps in just over 87 service days and the usage by the homeless continues to grow. They even provided ten safe sleeps for pets.

“The Hervey Bay sleepbus is experiencing a high demand from young people, working families and the elderly at present” Simon says.

Simon understands the feeling of being homeless when in his 20s, found himself evicted from his rental and lived in his car for four months. His story is very relevant today with a housing crisis being one of the biggest social issues Australia is facing.

sleepbus is based three nights a week, depending on volunteer availability, at Apex Park car park from 8pm to 8am. sleepbus returns to the depot during the day for cleaning and reset tasks.

Simon also wanted to thank the many volunteers and the support from the general community in helping making the sleepbus available.

For further details, please contact www.sleepbus.org