ORANGE SKY – World’s First Free Mobile Laundry and Shower Service dedicated to the homeless

We are helping to positively connect our friends in need through free laundry, showers and conversation.

What started as an idea to improve hygiene standards and restore dignity to people sleeping rough has evolved into something much bigger and more powerful. Whilst the washing is on and we sit down on our six orange chairs and chat with the friends using the Orange Sky service, we’ve learnt that although access to laundry and shower services is important, it’s the conversation and regular connection that creates the biggest impact in the community. 

Our mission is to create a safe, positive and supportive environment for people who are too often ignored or who feel disconnected from the community. Nine years on, Orange Sky now operates 56 services across 37 locations in Australia. Each week, across the country, thousands of volunteers help to positively connect our friends doing it tough by providing access to free laundry, warm showers and genuine, non-judgemental conversation.

Orange Sky was founded by an innovative idea. The initial concept and the whole organisation started with some young friends just giving an idea a go, doing something that had never been done before and learning along the way. Nine years on, innovation is still part of Orange Sky’s DNA and continues to be the driving force behind our five year strategy. Our target is to triple our impact by 2025 whilst exploring new and improved ways to help more people in the community doing it tough. 

In Orange Sky’s early days, we pushed the limits to build the world’s first laundry van, ‘Sudsy’. Every day since then, we’ve strived to think outside the box to reach more people in areas and ways we never could have before; from our expansion into mobile shower vehicles and hybrid vehicles, that have washing machines, dryers and a shower in them, to building a SaaS platform that supports other not-for-profits to manage their volunteer operations, and innovative engineering of a clothes dryer that reduces energy consumption by up to 80%.

Innovation has been a core part of our mission since the very beginning, and we’re incredibly proud to be recognised as a leader in this space. Most recently, Orange Sky was awarded Best CSR Innovation Award and the Most Innovative Government, Education & Not-for-profit Company by The Australian Financial Review and the Australian Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Social Impact category for outstanding design and innovation. We have strong core values, with ‘giving things a crack’ embedded in everything we do. Innovation shows up not only via our dedicated ‘Imagination and Innovation’ team, but is encouraged across the organisation, presenting many learning and development opportunities internally and exciting partnership opportunities with our supporters.

Orange Sky’s service involves thousands of volunteers across the country operating our laundry and shower services to support people (‘friends’) doing it tough. Whilst our friends wait to use the facilities, they can engage in friendly, non-judgemental conversation with volunteers, providing a way for everyday Australians to connect in a safe, positive and supportive environment, fuelling our mission of ‘positively connecting communities’.

Orange Sky supports anyone in need, so at each shift around the country, our volunteers meet, chat and support people from many walks of life. Some of our friends have been kind enough to share their stories with us, and have shared what Orange Sky’s services mean to them. 

MEET BETTY

For people doing it tough the current economic climate is making it harder to get by. The 2021 Census revealed that one in 210 Australians, or 122,494 Australians are experiencing homelessness – up 5.2 % since 2016. 

One of Orange Sky’s regular friends Betty understands the harsh reality of the housing crisis and the rising cost of living. 

When Betty first moved to Australia from New Zealand, she fell on tough times and found herself living out of her car for a number of months. 

After nine months of living in her car, Betty secured housing. However throughout the years, Betty had to move from apartment to apartment as her rentals were either being sold or demolished.

Most recently, Betty had to move out of her apartment again as the rent was increased and she wasn’t able to afford living there anymore. Over a span of six weeks, Betty submitted 36 rental applications. After six weeks of trying to secure housing, Betty was unsuccessful and again found herself living in her car for six months until she finally secured housing with the support of The Salvation Army. 

Despite working full-time as a cleaner for 14 years, Betty struggles to make ends meet. For the six months she found herself homeless for the second time and living out of her car, Betty was using public toilets and showers, and that’s how she came across Orange Sky in Musgrave park. Now, even though Betty is housed, she uses Orange Sky’s services to save money – as she was previously paying to get her items washed at the laundromat, and as a way to connect and socialise. 

“When I was living in my car, I felt very unsafe. I was never comfortable, I didn’t feel secure, like you do when you have a home. I could never sleep properly, I was always alert. It’s not a great way to live,” Betty said.

“Coming to Orange Sky’s services is very inviting. Even if I can start washing my clothes at my new home, I think I would still come to Orange Sky to chat and catch up with the volunteers. I feel very grateful that there are so many charities that have been there to help me.”

Orange Sky cannot support people experiencing hardship like David and Betty without a team of passionate volunteers – just like Mary-Anne who understands the enormous impact that simply taking 2-3 hours out of her week can have on the lives of those doing it tough. 

“Being able to connect with someone week on week and check in with them about their lives is really important. It shows our friends that we are in their corner, that they have someone who cares about them. Everyone needs to offload and have a human connection, and we don’t pass judgement, we’re just there to simply listen.” – Mary-Anne, Orange Sky volunteer.

Orange Sky operates a number of different “assets” to carry out our service of free mobile laundry and showers. We have:

1. A metro laundry and shower van 
2. A remote laundry truck 
3. A laundry pod 
4. and; the ‘Laundromat of the future’ 

Please see below for the details on each of these asset types. 

Our free laundry and shower service is predominantly operated out of our iconic orange mobile laundry vans, which contain two washing machines, two dryers and a shower in the back. Every time a washing cycle starts, the right amount of liquid detergent is automatically dosed into the machines. All our volunteers need to do is put laundry in to the machine and press go! All of our metro laundry and shower vans carry their own clean and waste water onboard and are powered by solar. Each van has set locations and times in which it operates. We always partner with local support service providers in areas with the highest need, and ensure that we set up at locations where it is convenient and our friends feel most comfortable. 

When Orange Sky was invited to help supply our services to remote Australian communities – we were eager to get going! However we quickly realised our standard laundry vans weren’t built to last in some of the harsh conditions in these remote areas. This led us to create the Remote Vehicle 3.0 (RV3.0). The RV3.0 is a truck that contains three washers and three dryers, and the latest in Orange Sky’s mobile laundry innovations (including the Waru Dryer). The RV3.0 is powered by REDARC solar panels, lithium batteries and a charging system in order to effectively capture, store and use the renewable energy harnessed. This gives the vehicle the ability to produce more power than it uses (reducing electrical consumption by up to 80% per shift).

Another asset type we operate our shifts out of is a laundry pod. The laundry pod is a standalone structure fit with two washing machines and two dryers, with shifts operated by a team of local volunteers, carrying out the same trusted and free service that can be accessed by anyone in need. With a vision of supporting communities in need quickly, and operating in less-populated regions more efficiently, the ‘Laundry Pod’ was ideated.

As part of our goal to triple our impact by 2025 and help more than 40,000 people, we decided to see where else Orange Sky’s impact could be expanded. This is where the idea, ‘Laundromat of the Future’ (LOTF) was born. LOTF is all about partnering with amazing laundromats who are keen to support Orange Sky’s mission by allowing our same trusted and free services to regularly run from their location(s), as well as enabling their patrons to ‘pay it forward’ and contribute some of their payment to Orange Sky’s services. 

This new service means larger quantities of washing can be carried out but in a more efficient way, whilst simultaneously supporting local businesses to increase their patron volume and sales, with Orange Sky covering the cost of each load.

To find out more about what we do, where we operate, how you can volunteer or support Orange Sky you can head to our website Orangesky.org.au and to keep up to date on stories, service launches and life at Orange Sky you can follow us on social media 

Facebook: Orange Sky Australia

Instagram: OrangeSkyAU 

LinkedIn: Orange Sky Australia