By Emilie Ng
JACOBA Brasch remembers searching for her brother among the bushes of Brisbane city’s Botanic Gardens less than 20 years ago.
She eventually found him sleeping on a bench.
Her brother was homeless, forced with “little choice” to sleep rough on Brisbane’s streets.
“His life was such that he ended up with little choice, he thought, but to live on the streets, live under bushes, to have his particular chair that he liked to sleep on down in the gardens,” Ms Brasch said.
“I wished for a magic wand but I didn’t have any of those things.
“You just want to swaddle him, give him love.
“You just want to say, ‘I love you, come and stay at my house’.
“As much as I loved him that didn’t solve the many problems that homeless people usually have.”
Her brother died in 1997.
While she can’t reverse time and bring him back, Ms Brasch, a member of the Bar Council, Bar Association of Queensland, is prepared to brave the winter night for one night in memory of her brother.
She is among the 191 community and business leaders who will swap a bed for a sheet of cardboard and sleep at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium for the sixth annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
A St Vincent de Paul Society spokeswoman said the number of homeless people in Australia, which numbered more than 105,000 Australians, could fit into Suncorp Stadium twice.
The annual fundraising event has given more than $24 million towards other St Vincent de Paul homeless services.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 19,838 people are homeless in Queensland, the third-highest rate in Australia.
More than 57 per cent are under 34, and 27 per cent of homeless are children under 18.
St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland chief executive officer Peter Maher said he was “concerned” about Australia’s high homelessness rate.
“I think in Australia in the 21st century, nobody should be homeless,” Mr Maher said.
“And I think it’s a pretty sad reflection on Australia when people are having to sleep rough.”
The former teacher and school principal fought back tears when speaking about homeless children.
“It is disgusting,” Mr Maher said.
“There are children that are basically sleeping in their car, then they go to the public toilets to clean their teeth and then they’re off to school.
“Those sorts of things really hit to the heart.”
Mr Maher said the support given by CEOs, mayors and community leaders was “wonderful”.
He said the St Vincent de Paul Society hoped to invest the money raised from the sleepout into building 20 to 30 accommodation units over the next 12 months.
Donate to the Vinnies CEO Sleepout at www.ceosleepout.org.au.
