Updated
Photo:
Jak Vaessen challenged himself to spend 24 hours sleeping rough in Brisbane's CBD. (Supplied: Ashley Smith, Crystal Essence Photography)
A hair stylist and philanthropist who spent 24 hours
sleeping rough in Brisbane's CBD says he is "disgusted" with how the
public treats homeless people.
Jak Vaessen, who has raised more
than $1 million for local charities, said his sleepout was in response
to this month's Vinnies CEO Sleepout.Instead of bunking in with the city's leaders at the Brisbane Powerhouse for a night, he sat in front of the Treasury Casino to raise funds for New Farm's 3rd Space homeless shelter.
He said what he saw and experienced over the weekend left him in shock.
"There were at least 10 women asleep in the street on Saturday night around the casino and a woman with half her pants hanging down laying on the footpath," he said.
"Not one person helped her.
"[People] demand a safe Australia for all women and then step over a woman lying in the street."Friends and supporters arrived periodically to wish Mr Vaessen luck, but he could only accept food or drink from strangers.
Photo:
Jak says people's reactions to the city's homeless were shocking. (Supplied: Ashley Smith, Crystal Essence Photography)
He said he was surprised that only one stranger stopped to offer him help.
"I felt embarrassed and ashamed because of the way people looked at me."They think that when you're homeless you're either are a drug addict or an alcoholic.
"In my 17 years working with the homeless that's a very small percentage."
Mr Vaessen was invited to a homeless shelter to have a hot breakfast on Saturday morning but said he lacked the energy to walk there after a night spent sitting on cold concrete pathways.
"I was hungry, I had dry lips and a dry throat, and it was only for one day," he said.
"I just have so much admiration for homeless people and how they survive mentally, physically and spiritually."They have to put up with abuse from the public and they don't retaliate, they just have to take it on the chin."
Mr Vaessen said the $20,000 he raised would go to 3rd Space to provide meals, hot showers and a place for the homeless to rest.
He said above all the sleepout made him realise how lonely life was on the streets.
"Don't look away from these people. A bit of empathy and a bit of compassion would go a long way and it doesn't cost you anything."
Photo:
Jak says he saw 10 women, and plenty of men, sleeping rough at night in Brisbane's CBD. (Supplied: Jak Vaessen)
Sleeping rough to prove a point
Mr Vaessen told ABC Radio Brisbane he named the project the Joe Blow I'm Not a CEO Sleepout in response to St Vincent De Paul's annual homelessness fundraiser.The Vinnies CEO Sleepout asks business leaders to sleep rough for a night to raise awareness and money to "break the cycle of homelessness and poverty in Australia".
There's evidence to show the CEO sleepout has effected social change, but Mr Vaessen said he believed it was too far removed from what people living on the streets experienced on a daily basis.
"I'd love to take a group of CEOs out for two full days and let them walk in the city and see people's reactions to them when they look like a homeless person," he said.
"That's what makes change."
Anti-Poverty Network spokesperson Miles Whitaker protested at this month's CEO Sleepout in Brisbane and said there needed to be a more nuanced conversation around the struggles facing the homeless at such events.
"We're looking at it and seeing security guards and fences and portable toilets ... cars coming and going and food being delivered," he said.
"The homeless in Brisbane aren't getting that. They're living on park benches and in doorways in the bitter cold and they don't have security guards watching over them."
Photo:
A few items to keep the cold away during the sleepout. (Supplied: Ashley Smith, Crystal Essence Photography)
Vinnies commits to 'colder, harsher' experiences
Vinnies Queensland chief executive Peter Maher said the organisation's sleepout events in Brisbane and the Gold Coast raised a record-breaking $1.5 million.He said CEOs slept in a gusty wind corridor in nine-degree temperatures at Brisbane Powerhouse, formerly a derelict building used by the city's homeless sleeping rough.
"Vinnies CEO Sleepout can't ever replicate the real and confronting environment a homeless person endures every night," Mr Maher said.
"Its intention is to give people the opportunity to reflect on the issue of homelessness in our community, empathise, and raise vital funds for Vinnies homelessness services."
Photo:
Two people sleeping rough on a cold winter night in front of the Treasury Casino. (Supplied: Jak Vaessen)
Mr Maher said participants heard from two people who had experienced homelessness and were invited to walk a mile in their shoes by taking on a persona and going through the motions of seeking support and finding a bed for the night.
He said Vinnies was committed to giving CEOs a "colder, harsher and harder" experience every year to drive fundraising efforts.
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