Business leaders will sleep in beanies and make-shift cardboard beds to raise money and awareness of the homelessness crisis at Vinnies CEO Sleepout, 16 June 2011.

Staging Connections, national partner of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout for 2011, has joined in the battle against homelessness. Managing Director Tony Chamberlain will be donning the winter woollies and gloves when he sleeps under the stars to raise much-needed funds for St Vincent de Paul services for homeless people – but that isn’t the only thing that will be achieved on the night.

He is ‘sleeping rough’ for the third year at the national event because he believes leadership is making a conscious effort and a serious contribution of time as well as money.

“Business leaders are often asked to make donations; however, that is only half of what we can do.

“When we experience the issues first-hand we can get a real sense of the extent of that issue. We can then share that knowledge with our staff and communities.

“By participating in Vinnies CEO Sleepout, I also get an opportunity to engage my staff in something I am passionate about other than our company.

“I’ve asked the team at Staging Connections across all sites to hold fundraising events and get behind the effort to raise funds and also awareness. It might be me sleeping out, but I hope to have gotten everyone thinking about the issue of homelessness and that is the first step to real change,” said Mr Chamberlain.

A fellow industry leader who also agrees that the power of the CEO Sleepout concept is experiencing homelessness personally is first-time participant Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

Inspired by the stories of his colleagues about getting involved, Mr McEvoy is dedicated to raising money and sharing the experience of sleeping rough with people around him.

“Living in such a salubrious city as Sydney, it still surprises me that so many people have no roof above their heads.

“I decided to participate in order to get an insight into what it feels like to sleep rough, but also to combat a few misconceptions about the homeless.

“We see a lot of images in the media depicting the homeless and I’ve recently discovered that this is all my children know about their life stories. By being ‘homeless’ for one night I want to show them people living on the streets, are often ordinary people who have fallen on hard times,” said Mr McEvoy.

This year, Vinnies CEO Sleepout is hoping to beat the $2.9million raised in 2010. All money goes directly towards the ongoing provision of Vinnies’ homeless services across the country.