"This story of Orange Sky really started a few years, before Orange Sky got kicked off in high school, my best mate, Nic and I went to school together and our school actually ran a food service for people doing it tough. So we had this opportunity when we were 15, to head out, cook breakfast for people, a kilometre from where we went to school who were sleeping in the park or sleeping, crisis accommodation centres around that centre." - Lucas Patchett
In the latest episode of the Collective Engagement for Social Purpose podcast series, we chat with Lucas Patchett, who is the co-founder of Orange Sky alongside his best mate Nic Marchesi.
Orange Sky is a platform that provides "for every day Australians to connect through a regular laundry and shower service. The focus is on creating a safe, positive and supportive environment for people who are too often ignored or who feel disconnected from the community. Our volunteers are not social workers or experts on homelessness - they are empathetic listeners and great conversationalists."
Dr. Taylor Wilmott, a member of the University of Adelaide's research team for the Collective Engagement for Social Purpose research project, also joins us in this episode.
"So we spoke about a different food van, we spoke about showers in the first instance to, but then we said, "Well, actually let's just do one thing, do it well, give it a go and then we can build on it from there." And that I think has been a really key foundation to what we do now. It's really simple. It's doing a couple of things really well and then plugging in and collaborating with other service providers to make the biggest impact possible." - Lucas Patchett
Discussed in this episode:
To check out everything Orange sky does head to: https://orangesky.org.au/
To access the transcript for this episode: Collective Engagement for Social Purpose episode four with Lucas Patchett and Dr. Taylor Willmott