By Mikayla van Loon
Inspiro CEO Sue Sestan is taking on the challenge of sleeping out in the cold for the third time in a row in just under a month to raise money and awareness for homelessness.
The Vinnies CEO Sleepout takes CEO’s from various companies and not-for-profit organisations and places them in the winter’s chill for a night on 23 June.
Ms Sestan said this year’s sleepout truly is the “real deal” after spending the last two in her own backyard because of Covid-19.
“This is actually sleeping in a car park in Port Melbourne whereas the last two years has been in my own backyard and that has its own challenges because I’m afraid of the dark,” she said.
“I think being in a group of people makes it a bit easier and you know that everybody is there for the same reasons.”
Being kept awake by wind or the slightest noise during the night, Ms Sestan said it taught her a lot about what it must be like to live without a home.
“I can’t even think how people that are homeless might be feeling day in and day out with all of the elements and hunger so it really puts you in a place of empathy.”
Ms Sestan said she often wondered why people who are homeless sleep during the day but knowing now how constantly alert you need to be during the night, it makes complete sense.
Now I actually understand because at night, they’re pretty unlikely to be asleep,” she said.
“So you could imagine that fight or flight concept being constantly on and how draining physically, emotionally and psychologically that must be. No wonder it has a significant contribution to ongoing mental health issues because that is just an abnormal, unnatural state to be.”
When it comes to raising awareness, Ms Sestan said she has learnt that all it takes is just one person to be an enabler and the smallest donation can go a long way.
“We know that $75 makes a significant difference to one individual for a period of a month, it can feed them for a whole month.
“So for me to raise $10,000 doesn’t sound like a lot of money but when you have so many people contributing at least that amount, that’s phenomenal.”
Last year the CEO Sleepout raised $9.3 million, with a goal this year to raise $8.7 million.
That money, Ms Sestan said, is now more important than ever on the back of Covid when those who had been given hotel accommodation are back on the streets.
“Covid is definitely still a problem for that vulnerable group and so is the flu. Don’t worry about Covid think about the added complexity of flu.
“There’s all these compounding issues that we’re not facing or not acknowledging. So I’m pleased to hear that the State government is investing in housing but we’ve got such a long catch up.
“If we actually had people housed, managing their mental health condition, imagine how much more they can give back to society. Usually, homelessness occurs for people that have had something just really go wrong in their life.”
Ms Sestan admits she was one who thought homelessness was an issue only affecting people who were disadvantaged in life somehow and yet she has learned homelessness can reach even those in positions of power and those who have been in some sense ‘successful’.
“There are different circumstances that create this and I think we’ve got an opportunity to actually say we could find ourselves in this position.”
Raising money for homelessness is just a small way Ms Sestan said she can make a difference this winter but encourages people to give what they can to homelessness services to ensure people are protected during these colder months.
To help Ms Sestan reach her $10,000 target, head to https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/suesestan/victoria
