Welcome to our Winter Appeal schools page!
Vinnies NSW supports tens of thousands of individuals and families each year who are experiencing financial and housing insecurity. This year, our Winter Appeal focuses on the Working Homeless, an emerging group of people who are experiencing housing hardship and disadvantage despite being in employment.
The Vinnies Winter Appeal plays a major role in ensuring our Members and Volunteers can continue to provide support to the people we assist and that our services are able to meet their individual needs.
We invite your school community to join us in participating in the 2024 Vinnies Winter Appeal. Your school’s contributions will help rebuild lives and dismantle the communal constructs that lead to disadvantage in the first place.
What you can do
Your school could hold a fundraiser, a donation drive of food, warm blankets and clothing, or make your appeal about advocating to the government to address the shortage of affordable housing.
Whatever you’d like to do, we’ve got the following resources to help you:
- School Activities Kit – for everything you need to know about holding your appeal – including a Case Study, statistics around this year’s Winter Appeal theme and a range of classroom resources to help support your school’s campaign
- How to Give – for everything you need to know on how to donate, check out this one-page explainer (printable PDF)
- Schools Poster to promote your chosen activities in the Winter Appeal in your local area
- Certificate of Appreciation and State President Thank You Note – A Vinnies Member or your Youth Engagement Officer would be happy to present in person.
- You can also build momentum about your campaign and invite people to donate online. The sky is the limit when raising funds, so create your own snazzy event and get involved in a way that best suits your school community! Create your own School Fundraising page now.
Alternatively, our general donation page is where any school or individual can make a once-off donation.
Vinnies School Sleepouts
Vinnies School Sleepouts provide students with an opportunity to get a glimpse of what it is like to experience homelessness by ‘sleeping rough’ for one night. Students gather sponsorship from friends and family for their Sleepout. Schools can run sleepouts in a variety of ways. You choose which grades participate and whether the sleepout will be at school or ‘at home’. Vinnies Staff can support with activities, reflections and resources for the night, or you can create your own.
School Sleepouts must be registered with Vinnies. For all sleepouts, schools can create a school sleepout fundraising page and track their progress. Students can tap into a whole range of Vinnies School Sleepout Resources to help with planning and promotion of the event.
Contact us
Our staff and Members can also give presentations and talks about the cost-of-living crisis and inspire the community to give to your school’s local Appeal. If you’re not in touch already, see list below to find the contact email for your region:
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- Armidale: armidaleyouth@vinnies.org.au
- Bathurst: bathdio@vinnies.org.au
- Broken Bay: metroschools@vinnies.org.au
- Greater Western Sydney: metroschools@vinnies.org.au
- Lismore: lismoreyouth@vinnies.org.au
- Maitland/Newcastle: mnyouth@vinnies.org.au
- Sydney: metroschools@vinnies.org.au
- Wagga Wagga: svdpwagga@vinnies.org.au
- Wilcannia Forbes: wcfsvdp@vinnies.org.au
- Wollongong: wollongongyouth@vinnies.org.au
For general enquiries, please email: youth.nsw@vinnies.org.au
Thank you so much for your school’s support of the 2024 Vinnies Winter Appeal.
The NSW Vinnies Youth team – Kate, Roydon, Chris, Ket, Ana, Cassie, Kim, Rosie and Sarah
Don’t forget to share your Winter Appeal pictures and stories by tagging us on your school’s socials!