A Bit About Orange Sky, Go-To’s Charity Partner For 2024

This holiday season, Go-To is donating $1 from select limited edition holiday gifts, to our 2024 charity partner: Orange Sky. A not-for-profit organisation that offers complimentary laundry services and warm showers to people experiencing homelessness and hardship. 

Beyond improving hygiene standards and restoring individuals dignity, Orange Sky’s initiative aims to create safe, supportive, reliable spaces for people in our community who are doing it tough. 

10 years on from their inception, Orange Sky now operates 63 services across 40 locations in Australia, and a further nine services across six locations in New Zealand. Few of these vans are now fitted with washing machines, dryers, and a shower. 

Best mates and co-founders, Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi, never really set out to establish Australia’s first ever mobile laundry service. But they did. 

Here’s their story. 

When did the idea for Orange Sky first come about, and why?

Lucas: Nic and I volunteered together at school where our school ran a food van. One morning a week, we would go to local parks around Brisbane and cook brekky for people experiencing homelessness. This was our first experience having our eyes opened to this issue. We left school, went into uni and full time work and after a couple of years decided to do something that recaptured that part of our brains. We started throwing ideas around and landed on laundry. The crazy idea to chuck two washers and two dryers in the back of an old van and start washing and drying clothes for free. Once we got the van to technically work, we hit the road. It actually took three days and three washing machines to do our first official load of washing. Sudsy – our beat up old van – broke down the first two mornings in Spring Hill’s Wickham Park (Brisbane) in October 2014. The first friend that we had met, Geordan, believed in us. Geordan was doing it tough, and he trusted us with his only possessions.

Nic: After our van broke down the second time, Geordan was waiting for us again at the park on the third morning. Geordan's belief in us became our motivation to fix the van each time. On the third morning, we successfully washed and dried Geordan's clothes and I can't explain how truly happy that made all of us. Through this experience, we realised that washing took time and that actually it’s the conversations that are had when the washing is on that are the most important part of what we do. Connecting with our friends doing it tough, providing a safe space for genuine, non-judgemental conversation, is what has the greatest impact on the community.

How has the business, and therefore your roles, evolved since Orange Sky launched in 2014?

Lucas: Mine and Nic's roles have certainly changed over the years, however we are extremely grateful to have always been, and continue to be, very hands on. I am now the CEO of Orange Sky and Nic leads our Delta team, which is responsible for the innovations and testing and trailing of new ways we can grow and support the community. 

Nic: As we turn 10 this year we are starting to think about the impact we want to create in the next decade. We know that we want to play a more active role in the homelessness and hardship space and ultimately make a greater impact for people doing it tough. To do this we are finding more ways to tailor our service and provide meaningful support in the communities we operate, both in regional and remote areas. But in order to drive this impact and keep up with the demand, we need to grow our team of volunteers and supporters who are integral in fuelling our impact. 

Is there a standout interaction or moment or milestone from the last 10 years, for both of you? 

There are too many to count, our first wash, our first donor or our first volunteer all the way through to where we are now. Everything always comes back to a story for us though; if that’s a friend who through our service was able to find employment or reconnect with their family, a volunteer who prior to joining us was lonely and isolated themself, or a donor who wants the legacy of their loved one who has passed to live on by naming a van after them. Those stories have made up the highlights of the last 10 years.

The work Orange Sky does is important all year long, but when it comes to the holiday season, what does your service mean to the communities and people you visit?

Lucas: Homelessness and hardship does not take a break and neither do our services. We are so thankful for our volunteers who show up for our friends during this time and our donors who generously give to keep our washers and dryers spinning and conversations flowing. 

How can people get involved and further support Orange Sky?

Nic: Orange Sky wants to continue to be there for people doing it tough, however we can't do it alone. It takes incredible people like yourselves to keep our vans on the road and conversations flowing. If you would like to get involved in our mission of positively connecting communities you can join our team of dedicated volunteers on a shift near you, help us maintain and grow our services through a donation, which allows us to reach more people across more communities or even just simply spread the word to your network.

What’s next for Orange Sky?

Nic: Expanding our reach and impact and launching new assets in new locations to connect with people in need, no matter where they are.

Lucas: In the last financial year we have seen a 21% increase in the demand for our services across the country. So many people are doing it tough – without access to essential things like washing or warm showers – and they’re counting on us to be there.