One in 200 people is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Australia, and in these cold, winter months the time to help your fellow Aussie out is never better than now.
Ask Izzy is a website focused on the needs of people who are at risk of becoming, or are homeless. The website aggregates all the various services for the homeless from housing through to food, health, financial aid and rehabilitation for addiction. There’s over 350,000 services listed and AskIzzy has helped homeless Australians access these services more than 500,000 times since launching last year.
Accessing that website is predominantly done through mobile phones these days, with almost 80 per cent of people who are homeless owning a smartphone. But they rarely have anywhere to charge it.
That’s where the AskIzzy Power Card comes in. Google Australia, in partnership with NewsCorp Australia, REA Group and Infoxchange have jumped onboard to support AskIzzy and are currently appealing to the public to help too.
For $15 you can give an Ask Izzy power card to someone in need, which will allow them to charge their phone for up to four hours — just enough to find a meal, health services, a blanket or even a bed for the night.
Knowing people who have sadly been homeless at one stage or another in their lives, this has really has made me thing about the people who are doing it tough this Winter. If you’ve got a little bit of coin to spare this week, or as an ongoing donation head to the donation page to look after those who need it.
Well done on a great article.