roughing it so others don't have to

The Downtown Community Ministry (DCM), the Soup Kitchen, Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust, Wellington Night Shelter and The Salvation Army have joined together to raise funds for their work with homeless people and to raise awareness about Wellington City Council’s Te Mahana initiative to eradicate homelessness in the city.

Collectively these organisations work with hundreds of people each year who are sleeping rough, staying in overnight emergency accommodation, temporarily with family or friends or living in dilapidated or unsafe dwellings.

Along with concern for people who are homeless is concern for the large number of people who are ‘at risk’ of homelessness.

As Wellington’s Acting Mayor, Justin Lester says, “Many individuals and families the agencies are working with are living on the verge of homelessness through high rents versus low incomes, racking up debt just to get by, relationship breakdowns and domestic violence, poor mental and physical health and a myriad of other causes. Without a stable home a person’s physical and mental health and their spirit declines greatly and they are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to getting an income and re-establishing themselves.”

Roughing it so others don’t have to is the name given to Wellington’s 14 Hours Homeless event on October 9. Teams of three or more will spend the night on cardboard or couches under the stars or sleeping in cars.

To take part in the event or donate to it read more here and let’s put an end to homelessness in Wellington City and else where.

Homelessness is not a New Zealand phenomena but world-wide and World Homeless Day is marked across the globe on 10 October. Wellington’s 14 Hour Homeless event supports this global effort to eradicate homelessness across the global.World homeless day