I am ‘chairman’ of the Manning Homeless Action Group.  We started after a small public meeting in MUC on 7th July, when our committee was formed.  Your readers may have read about this in the Manning Community News, and seen it on TV or heard about it on the radio. We have also been in the Manning River Times.  Our objective is to get a Sleep Bus for the Taree area.  These are converted buses which can give up to twenty people a good safe night’s sleep.  Readers can find out all about Sleep Buses on the sleepbus.org website, and they also have videos on YouTube.

Our campaign is called Bed Inn Bus.  The link is:

https://www.sleepbus.org/fundraisers/manninghomelessactiongrouptaree

We have a Bed Inn Bus Facebook page. We are also one of the projects on the Fundraiser part of the Sleep Bus website.  Our page shows a picture of Martin Bridge, and once clicked it, it tells about us.  Why do we use a picture of the Bridge?  Because it is one of the places where the homeless sleep.  We have been greatly hampered by the lockdowns, but are now able to get our campaign going in earnest.  Even so, up to 26th September we have been able to raise getting on for $6000, with some other money in an account with Rotary International.

Suzi Rowe at Samaritans Taree is very supportive of our project.  She and her team work very hard at the job of finding accommodation for homeless people, and sometimes there is just nowhere to put them.  She is keen on the idea of being able to send them to the Sleep Bus, which is safe, supervised, with CCTV, air-conditioning, toilets, and even TV in the sleep cubicles.

If your readers belong to a group or club, I should be very happy to come and talk to them, and answer their questions.  And please, please, make a donation.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Stanton.

Tinonee, NSW 2430.