How Orange Sky is changing the game

The day Nicholas Marchesi and Lucas Patchett received their Young Australians of the Year award, it rained. Various black umbrellas floated behind them in the background to shield them and Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull as they accepted their plaque and it’s a picture proudly hanged on the wall stretched in canvas. However, the scene set is far different on their own turf, as Nic Marchesi sat on an exercise ball the whole time as he recounted the story of Orange Sky Laundry.

Chilling in a room covered in fake grass carpet and littered with two or so bean bags, Nic cuts a relaxed figure in a hoodie and shorts. He looks young and he is young, at 24, Nic is the co-founder of Orange Sky Laundry- a charity organization offering free laundry services to homeless people around Australia.

According to Homelessness Australia, there are currently 105,237 people in Australia who are homeless. It’s not an issue hidden or unknown, nor one we can feign ignorance too. The Brisbane CBD is home to lone figures in corners and walkways, and it’s these figures that become an unfortunate part of our daily commute.

It’s a problem that was exposed to Nic when volunteering at his Brisbane school’s food van alongside his mate, Lucas Patchett. From this experience, stemmed their passion to do their own thing about the problem and in 2014, the two mates took on the endeavour of a mobile washing service and it’s one that took many false starts.

“We broke a lot of machines, had a lot of issues getting power and water but finally we were able to wash this gentleman’s clothes by the name of Jordan” Nic recalled. It’s a story that three and half years later he still remembered fondly.

“We had no idea what to do next and we realised that morning was that Orange Sky had nothing to do with washing and drying clothes, it was about sitting down and having a conversation”.

It’s the conversation that would change the evolution of Orange Sky Laundry from merely looking to improve the hygiene standards of the homeless to going one step further and connecting people in the community.

Their first van ‘Sudsy’ now sat outside the room, parked in front of the front door. The distinct bright orange of the vans is hard to miss and two washing machines and dryers are packed in at the back, a layout now seen in all Orange Sky Laundry vans.

Since those early days, Orange Sky Laundry have got 26 vans around Australia and have washed 286,000 kilos of laundry but more importantly every week on orange chairs, 1200 hours of conversation have taken place.

“The conversations are what make it different from other volunteering jobs. You get to know the people, they get to know you, it’s such a direct impact you’re making” said Eden Grace, a newly joined Orange Sky volunteer. She’s one of the 1200 volunteers the organization now has and helps setting up the van, washing the clothes and facilitating conversation at one of the service locations in Brisbane.

“I think there’s a lot of stigma involved with homelessness and it can a very complex issue but the people are real and their stories deserve to be known and it’s a different attitude towards other big charities”.

It’s an attitude reflected in the bare bones of the community, from the founders, it’s workplace to its’ operations. There’s no room for ‘clients’ or ‘customers’, each person looking for help is a friend, and it’s a small title that helps cultivate bonds.

One of these bonds is with Neville, an old friend of Orange Sky Laundry who met Nic and Lucas out on shift. Neville is shy and quiet, with Nic filling in the gaps of silence about Neville’s work.

“Coming here is good. Waking up to do something” said Neville, as he sat a little awkwardly on the couch. He works for the company full time doing screen printing and Nic isn’t shy to boast about his friend’s accomplishments.

“How many t-shirts have you printed in one day? I think it was about 200” Nic said and Neville shyly laughed.

With so many conversations happening every week and the growth and buzz surrounding their company, it’s unsurprisingly that Nic remains humble about it all, still taking his time to go out and do what Orange Sky is all about — connect with the community.

A recent conversation with a friend, Mikey, is the latest one he can recall after they were unfortunately unable to finish drying his clothes in time and had to give him back his clothing damp.

“He asked for a chat with me and I was nervous, we’ve let this guy down, he’s got every right to be disappointed but instead he wanted to me to check up on a volunteer. That volunteer’s dad is having a heart surgery and he wanted to know if he was okay and that really got me. Here we are helping this gentleman who we’ve let down and he’s caring about one of your volunteers. It’s conversations like that, that remind everyone is the same and it’s about coming together particularly in tough times… it’s just one or two things that go wrong down the path that can make you homeless”.

It’s a perspective and attitude Nic and Lucas bring to every location they scout out for potential business and growth. Since their inception, they’ve grown to offering mobile showers, social impact washing and it’s not just local cities they help but also those in natural disasters.

“There are people who become homeless through natural disaster having a simple thing like a clean towel or t-shirt can be massive at the time like that” said Nic. In 2015, following Cyclone Marcia, Nic and Lucas were in Cairns and made the call to drive down in order to help out. What resulted was 2.8 tonnes of free laundry washed and dried and since they have continued to help with Cyclone Debbie and floods down in Adelaide Hills.

Nic and Lucas’s work have no doubt created a large impact, from the small daily conversations they facilitate each day to the recognition of their work in the awards and trophies littered on the small table. At 24, Nic is young but he’s informed as he rattled statistics off the top of his head and recounted an origin story he’s no doubt told many times since Orange Sky started generating buzz.

The buzz of orange sky is one circulating in international waters, with support and donations coming in from the US and Europe.

“The night a story about us was posted on Reddit, it trended overnight and soon we had 500 emails and all this support”.

At the heart of it, there’s no ego present, and it’s a repeated story he’s happy to share but what’s next for orange sky laundry?

“The Northern Territory has 12 times the average rate of homelessness, so hopefully before the end of this year, we’re getting a van in Darwin and we’re looking to roll out services in Auckland and the US” Nic reveals.

“But even if it’s 50 vans, 3000 volunteers or 130,000 hours of conversation every week, what I hope is that our mission of connecting people is strong”.