By Luke Voogt
Washing and folding a homeless man’s clothes was all it took to make him feel “human” again, according to Orange Sky’s Margaret Francese.
“It meant the world him,” the Lara mother-of-two and public servant said.
“He said, ‘you just gave me respect and treated me as a human. When you’re homeless, people often don’t see you’.”
Margaret joined the Australia-wide mobile laundry charity in 2018 after two decades volunteering for troubled youths, and recently recruited daughters Caitlyn and Emily to help.
Since 2018, Orange Sky’s Geelong volunteers have provided 3128 washes for those in need across 944 shifts.
But COVID-19 halted the charity’s efforts, and many of its Geelong volunteers, especially older ones, have since left.
Orange Sky is now searching for 50 new volunteers for five shifts in “priority areas” of Geelong, amid National Volunteer Week.
“It’s not a lot of physical work – it’s more about the conversations and making an impact on people’s lives,” Margaret said.
Details: www.orangesky.org.au/volunteer
