The Long Walk Home for Wayside Chapel
A Sydney institution since 1964, Wayside Chapel in King’s Cross has been serving the local community for decades. Founded by Reverend Ted Noffs, Wayside has been central in providing shelter to rough sleepers, food for the socially isolated and vulnerable, and easy access to mental health care. After a year of insecurity and hardship for so many, it was important for our team to recognise an organisation that was directly making a positive impact in people’s lives. So we went walking in someone else’s shoes for the day.
28 is the average amount of kilometres a person who is experiencing homelessness travels on foot to find shelter. Within these 28 kilometres, a rough sleeper may experience personal and verbal abuse and have an increased vulnerability to becoming permanently homeless.
As part of our pledge, the team walked from the Sydney office in Surry Hills to Bondi Beach. Surprisingly, for some of our team, this was their very first time visiting the iconic stretch of sand. Being prepared with water, snacks and good shoes, it gave us pause for thought to consider how the many rough sleepers and people affected by homelessness in this city are in short supply of such resources.
As our CEO Toby Wilcock has previously discussed on LinkedIn, the walk was pretty special. Not only did the team hit a $6000 donation high through fundraising, it enabled everyone to get outside of their projects and own lives to take a look around and be a part of their community. In short, it was the perfect way to kick-off the 1% Pledge.
COVID in India: A cause close to home
For our second project, it was a crisis of a different kind.
It’s no news to anyone that India is experiencing a devastating second-wave of COVID and humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. Due to our close ties with India through team connections, we didn’t think twice about helping out wherever we could. In collaboration with Seva Sahayog, an NGO that provides on-the-ground support to underprivileged communities in Pune City, we teamed up to do our part.
One of the problems that aid organisations in the Pune region experience is working within an area with poor infrastructure, making it harder to receive and distribute charitable donations. This was a particularly tricky barrier, as demographically, the urban slum communities needed urgent health aid, food and COVID resources more than most.
As many of our team in India were (and still are) in lockdowns themselves, and the rest of our team are scattered across the globe, we had to find another way to help. So, we called in the devs.
Over two days, 25 developers and Salesforce Administrators built (as a part of a hackathon) a donation portal that gives everyday citizens the ability to donate money and resources to where they’re needed most. This bespoke tech has enabled the NGOs on the ground to connect with a global community that previously had no idea how to directly give or donate money for this monumental crisis. Currently, the Seva Sahayog ground crew have distributed 20,000 food kits across the Pune, Mumbai and Maharashtra regions.
