As part of the Youth Ministry Leadership Team, we were pleased to host this year’s Vinnies Winter Sleep Out to aid the homeless. This Sleep Out aimed to promote further awareness of homelessness in Australia by taking initiative and creating ‘care packages’ to ensure the essential needs of homeless Australians. Thank you to Kelly McCrohon, the Vinnies Youth Engagement Officer, who has informed us about the concern of homelessness and ways to help as students. It is that 40% of people who are homeless are employed and 1 in 6 children fall under the poverty lines. Ways that we as students and members of the community can combat this is by donating to the Vinnies appeal and purchasing from Vinnies’ second hand stores. Compassion flourished during this night as we packed items for the homeless (organised based on the necessities of families and individuals) and wrote letters as a way to encourage love and hope! 

We were very fortunate to have Kelly enlighten us after the disadvantages homeless people experience on a daily basis. In order to assist with combatting this challenge of individuals lacking essentials, students formed bags of hygiene products and food that the Vinnies Van will distribute to the homeless. These bags were arranged in categories for males, females and families to ensure each individual has access to all of their requirements. We also placed hand written messages inside of the bags to remind those who are disadvantaged that God is with them and they are loved.

To immerse ourselves with the experiences of the homeless, we consumed light supper consisting of cup noodles and bread rolls. As we ate our food in a lit room wearing warm clothes and conversing with our peers, our empathy towards the homeless was reinforced, remembering that they, unfortunately, cannot experience this opportunity that we see in a daily routine. 

At the conclusion of the special event, the Youth Ministry Team, with the assistance of the teachers present, conducted a Liturgy to pray for the homeless as a Mount Carmel Community, reflecting about what we as a society can do to help them. We entered the library with a lack of knowledge about the challenges faced by a large portion of society, and we left the event with an appreciation for the essentials we have, constantly contemplating about what humanity can do to ensure every single individual has the same essentials we find always accessible to us.