NewsMaker - Shhhh….Let's hush to help homeless Australians

NewsMaker - Shhhh….Let's hush to help homeless Australians

Riding for homeless youth

Yohei Takahashi – a 21-year-old university student from Japan – will today complete his journey after riding a push-bike across Australia in an epic 7000km ‘Ride for Youth’ to raise money for young Australians suffering from homelessness, addiction or mental illness.

Of course, his final leg from Northam to Perth has been dogged by driving rain and unpredictable wind gusts, making it all the more important for West Australians to kick in some dollars to make his efforts worthwhile.

And I strongly urge you to read Yohei's blog updates - the English isn't great, but the intent and insights he captures in his short posts are priceless. When you consider donating, remember this is a guy who has been living off $5 a day and considers his daily can of cola his little piece of 'heaven'.

Why? Well when he was studying English in Brisbane, Yohei saw a level of poverty – particularly among young people – that he hadn’t seen in Japan. Moved by the generosity Australians had displayed towards him during his stay, Yohei decided to ‘give something back’ and started his ride to help disadvantaged Australian youth.

Yohei hopes to raise $1 for every km he rides, but is unfortunately behind on his target. He has already travelled through Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, Adelaide and is currently riding through the outskirts of Perth.

If every West Australian blogger, twitterer or facebook friend donated just $1 to support Yohei’s efforts, we could out-do the rest of Australia.

Yohei will donate all proceeds from his Ride for Youth to Mission Australia's services to help disadvantaged young people - a cause that's very close to the Cookster's heart.

So come on WA, it’s time to show the rest of the country that we care about disadvantaged young people just as much as Yohei does by supporting his efforts.

Yohei’s journey across Western Australia – and all the way to Perth – can be followed via his online blog and you can also stump up some cash while you're there - click here

Christmas Lunch in the Park

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year's Mission Australia Christmas Lunch in the Park such a great day for the 1,400 men, women and children who came along.

It was my first 'CLIP' and it was a hectic few months in the lead-up to what is without doubt Australia's biggest charity Christmas lunch, but the end result is worth its weight in gold.

A big thanks to Nathan Morris from NOVA breakfast fame, who bought along his family while he did the MC gig and made everyone chuckle as they tucked into their turkey and ham lunches.

I'll be asking for your help again next year, so be ready folks. Numbers were down this year, probably as a result of the federal government's $1,000 bonus payments allowing many families to spend Christmas in their own homes, but I reckon next year is going to be the big test.

But for now, stay safe and have a very happy start to 2009. X

NOVA crew wrapping for charity

It was great to see Nathan and Cambo head down to Mission Australia's East Perth headquarters today to wrap a few presents in the lead up to Christmas Lunch in the Park.

There were lots of bright, shiny things to keep Nathan distracted and a large bunny that needed binding before he managed to seal it in its Christmas wrapping. Cambo, of course, chose a cricket bat to parcel up, then had a go at wrapping Nathan up in some stunning gold paper - he came up a treat.

We're looking for more volunteers to do their stint in Santa's special workshop, so if you have a spare hour to help out give Jan at Mission a call on 9225 0413.

What are you doing Christmas Day

Mission Australia's Christmas Lunch in the Park provides a special day out for Perth's homeless and disadvantaged communities.

And this year we need your help to stump up the dollars to make it all happen and to lend us some of your time to come into the East Perth offices and help wrap presents - details below.

Now in its 33rd year, the annual lunch held at Wellington Square Park in East Perth looks set to attract a record attendance in 2008. Indeed, increasing financial pressures will see attendee numbers rise considerably at this year’s event, which plays host to between 1,500 and 1,800 people.

Those numbers to rise even more sharply in 2009 and beyond as the economic crisis bites deeper into the WA economy.

The good news for Mission Australia and the people who join us on Christmas Day is that the overwhelming generosity of the WA public during the 2007 appeal meant that we had almost enough gifts left over to cover this year’s event.

What that means is we can focus on raising the funds required to pay for the cost of hosting the lunch and start preparing for 2009. It might seem premature to be looking ahead to next Christmas, but we’re expecting there will be a lot more people needing our help in the year ahead.

We’re asking the WA public to help us today, to make sure that those in our community who are most in need don’t suffer even more tomorrow.

It’s really a matter of putting things into perspective – we all talk about the impact of a global financial crisis, but it’s worth remembering that for those that are homeless or disadvantaged, ‘doing it tough’ is a way of life every day of the year.

Many families are already in a position where they can’t provide a Christmas meal and presents for their children and for them it’s going to get even harder.

Christmas Lunch in the Park continues to be a key feature of Perth’s festive season, bringing companies and hundreds of volunteers and donors together to make sure Christmas is a special time for everyone.

It's both an important service and a social event for families and individuals whose lives have been affected by poverty, sudden illness, marriage breakdown, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse or homelessness.

Perth’s biggest Christmas Day charity event provides a meal, presents, entertainment and companionship for Perth people and struggling families.

Financial donations are particularly important to help us run this event and the people of WA can get involved through donations or table sponsorships.

We’re also looking for individuals and corporate groups to spare some time to come into our offices to wrap gifts, from Monday December 1 until Friday December 19.

For enquiries regarding donations of money or gifts, please contact Mission Australia on 9225 0416 or email huigenss@missionaustralia.com.au. You can also make online donations quickly and easily by clicking HERE.

To volunteer to help wrap gifts, please call Jan Gilbert on 9225 0413 or email gilbertj@missionaustralia.com.au or me direct at john.cooke@ppr.com.au

I'll be there on the day, along with our very special MC Nathan from NOVA and his Mum and Dad - watch this space for the post-event piccies and PLEASE, do what you can to help.