Kennards Self Storage April eKourier

CHARITY

BEDDOWN The Goodnight Initiative

YOUR FIRST STEP TO FREEDOM Escabags provides free 'Escape Bags' filled with the necessities that a victim of domestic or family abuse and his/her children may need when initially escaping an abusive or dangerous situation.

T he objective of Beddown is to take spaces that are commonly used and busy during the day but at night are left vacant or empty. Beddown activates and repurposes theses spaces at night into pop-up accommodation to ensure the homeless, in particular those who are sleeping rough are able to access a safe, secure shelter to get a great night’s sleep and have access to a range of services that restore dignity, respect, self-esteem and confidence. Beddown collaborates with other charitable organisations to provide complementary services such as laundry and showers, food and beverages, health and wellbeing, new clothing to name a few. Their first space activated and repurposed was a car park. Car parks offer great spaces that are sheltered, secure, spacious, clean and can be activated very quickly into pop-up accommodation and be popped down very quickly, with minimal disruption to the business. Beddown have partnered with Austral- ia’s largest car park operator, Secure Parking, who operate over 600 car parks across Australia and New Zealand. Kennards Self Storage at Milton are proud to be helping Beddown, providing donated storage space for a number of items including bedding, mattresses and toiletries. Sharon Munro Executive Assistant

L to R: Stacy Jane - Founder and CEO, Marie Copp - Board Director, Sue-lei Hunt-Mingay - Fundraising Committee Member, Antonia Leuzzi Puntillo - Volunteer

"Since being founded in February 2020, we now distribute our 'Escape Bags' to over 200 official Escabags stockists, namely Police Stations, Health and Community Centres and other privately owned businesses, across all states in Australia. We proudly cater to all victims of abuse, which is why we offer two variations of our Escape Bags - 'Parent and Child' and 'Single Adult'. Kennards Self Storage has very generously supported our organisa- tion by providing us with a donated storage unit since July 2020, which has enabled our organisation to grow exponentially. We now have the space required to store the essential items donated to us, and can also utilise the space with volunteers who assist us with packing the 'Escape Bags' ready for distribution each week. We are incredibly grateful to all the Team at Kennards Self Storage for their continued kindness and support for our mission, especially to all the Team at Mittagong and Wollongong

branches for going above and beyond their job roles. It is genuine consideration and compassion from organisations like Kennards Self Storage for causes that affect all local communities, which enable us to assist those most in need." We now distribute our 'Escape Bags' to over 200 official Escabags stockists

Stacy Jane Founder & CEO Escabags Ltd

17 Kennards Kourier April 2021