Give it a crack: Nic Marchesi, Orange Sky

What started with a busted washing machine, a borrowed van, and a parental reality check has grown into one of Australia's most beloved charities.

In this episode, Adam sits down with Nic Marchesi, co-founder of Orange Sky Australia, to hear the story of an organisation that has never been afraid to think differently or back itself when others said it couldn't be done. From humble beginnings in a Brisbane park to over 4,000 volunteers across 57 locations, including some of the most remote communities in the Red Centre, Orange Sky has scaled without ever losing sight of what matters most.

Because beyond all the innovation and growth that keeps those drums spinning day in, day out, it comes back to one thing:  what happens when people come together, waiting for their clothes to dry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everyone, Adam from Friendship Tree. Welcome back to our awesome podcast series. Today, very special guest, Nick Marchesi from Orange Sky. Nick, before we start, just want to say, dude, our whole team has been such a follower of your organization over the last decade. Seeing the impact you've made, things you guys are doing and the growth. I'm I'm a local here in Brizzy and we see your vans everywhere. And it's just super cool, man. So I guess before we get into uh, you know, all the good things you are currently doing, I really just want to a little bit of storytelling, a little bit of origin. Um I know there's a story with a van, a washing machine, and a and a garage where you were. So can we just start there just for our community to really sort of understand about the passion behind all these amazing organizations? So yeah, Nick, fill us in.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah, thanks, Adam. And Orange Sky started here in Brizi in 2014. But I think my or I know that my eyes were opened to homelessness here in Brizi much earlier than that. So I was fortunate enough to go to school with Lucas, my co-founder. Um, Lucas was at the top of the class, I was at the bottom of the class. And um one morning my mum came into my bedroom and she said, Um, Nick, you got to chuck your school uniform on. We're going on Eddie's van. And Eddie's van was our school's food van that went out and fed people doing it tough. And I can remember that morning as a teenager not wanting to go. I couldn't think of anything, you know, less that I would want to do. And my mum sort of dragged me into the car kicking and screaming. And um, we drove out to this this van and this park, and I can remember getting out of that car and sort of like hiding, um, not wanting to be there. And um, I met a guy that morning by the name of Harry, and um Harry was just like my uncle or my granddad. Um, but the difference was is that he was sleeping in that park, and um Harry's meeting Harry had a massive impact on my life. I didn't realize that there were people out there in my own backyard that didn't have access to things that I'd taken for granted. And giving back um really sort of started from there in realizing how privileged and lucky you know I was and and Lucas and I were in our community was, and also really curious around like how can we support fellow people in our backyard. So finish finished school again, Lucas, the top of class, I was pretty close to the bottom, um, and had an opportunity to um, or really missed that opportunity rather, to give back to the community. And so this crazy idea um came, which was around could we provide basic hygiene services to that community? And um, you know, our first mission statement at Orange Sky was to improve hygiene standards. So I guess what you do when you have any idea is you ask people you love. And so I can remember coming home, I was living at home, and I told my parents, I was like, Mom, dad, Lucas and I want to start a free mobile laundry. And my parents said, like, how about you start washing your own fucking clothes? And so, you know, Lucas, maybe they didn't swear, but um that's how I interpreted it. So, you know, Lucas and I knew very little about washing and drying clothes. We knew very little about starting a charity, but what we knew a lot of is that there was an opportunity to help people um in our own backyard. And I guess that was the sort of seed to this big orange sky tree is that you know, we wanted to provide a way that a couple people in Brizi could wash and dry their clothes, and that's grown into something much bigger.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah, that's awesome, man. And I guess one thing that really strikes me, and you know, from looking at what you guys do and even being out to your side here in Brizi, uh meeting some of your gang, it's amazing people, and also being able to see some um friends in need out there that day that were getting some washing done, having a chat with them. The piece that maybe a lot of people don't see is the connection piece, Nick. Can you just, you know, it's one thing to have a shower and get some fresh clothes, which obviously is amazing, but it's the offshoots, it's the branches that lead out from that. Tell us about those conversations in those orange chairs that happen.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So our first van's name was Sudzi, and you know, we convinced this company to give us some washing machines. We had an old van. Um, and the idea was that this van would go out alongside our old school school's food van and a bunch of other locations in Brisbane and provide that mission statement, which was improving hygiene services. So we took the van out alongside um our old school food van, we set it up. I um, you know, woke someone up and I said, I know this sounds really random, but that van over there's got some washing machines. Do you want to wash your clothes? And um that first ever wash was a guy by the name of Jordan, and we put Jordan's washing in the washing machine. Uh, we started the van and there's this massive bang. Like, oh, I don't know if washing machine is meant to make that sound. We called up the big laundry company a few weeks earlier. They told us that this would never work and you know we were going to break the machines. And we told them what happened, and they were like, You've broken both the washing machines. Um, so that morning was really, really, like, really sucked because we'd been added to a long list of people throughout Jordan's life who'd let him down. Um, but we were really curious around this is something that had to work. So we begged and pleaded for some more washing machines, went out the next morning. There was Jordan. For whatever reason, Jordan was gonna trust these two blokes to wash and dry his clothes. We put Jordan's washing in the machine, and the van had a massive bang. Um, and it was at that morning that we really realized that Orange Sky was something that had to work because Jordan had trusted us two days in a row. So we begged and pleaded for some more washing machines, went out the third morning in a row, Jordan trusted us again. We put Jordan's washing in the machine, and everything worked perfectly. And it was at that point that we actually realized that what we thought we were out there to do at Orange Sky, which was wash and dry clothes, was completely only a small part of what Orange Sky would ever do because we're like, what do we do now? Yeah. You know, Jordan's only possessions in his life were um stuck in the machine. We were stealing water from the council and plugged into the tap, so we couldn't go anywhere. So it's like, well, let's sit down and get to know each other. And you know, that conversation changed Lucas and I's lives forever. Yeah. Um, and it changed the trajectory of Orange Sky forever because we then rewrote our mission to positively connecting communities. And how we do that now each and every day is through um providing really important hygiene services like showers and laundry, but most importantly, creating spaces where people from all walks of life can come together and get to know each other. And you know, we talk about Orange Sky better for being orange and leaving a shift in a better place than you came. And um, that's not only um for the friends that come. We hope that they leave in a better place because they've got clean clothes and an awesome chat, but it's also the volunteers that too are lonely and isolated, so they get to come down, have a chat, connect, have a massive impact in the community, and everyone leaves and um hopefully a much better place.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah, it's um even just from my, I was only there for a couple of hours with your team and obviously seeing you guys around for years, but to actually be at one of your facilities where the machines are being modified, the vans are being sorted, and just the passion of your team, the you know, the the young men and women coming in and driving these vans and getting around and just the conversations had. So I guess it's the piece that I really want to share with with the communities that you and I want to reach is is just that. The the community, it's you know, you're offering an amazing service and um you know uplifting our our friends out there that need a bit of a help. But tell us about the communities you're building because you've got uh, you know, a lot of teams around Australia, offer a lot of different communities you're actually servicing. Um I stood in uh your foyer there and saw your amazing map of Australia and even NZ now and saw all your locations. It was really inspiring. So I know that there's been a really big push, and you guys have uh, you know, obviously had to break through a lot of technical stuff to get out out west um and get into inner Australia and to get out to those rural communities. Can you just tell us a little bit more? Because I guess when people from the city think about Orange Sky, they think that Orange Sky is just in all our capital cities. But Orange Sky is actually really big. WA, NC, Central Queensland. Um, can you just tell us about that? Tell us about those communities and the impact and the uplift.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah, so um we planted that seed in in October 2014 with that first van Sudsey, and uh we have now over 80 assets around Australia operating in 57 locations. We launched our 57th location um this week in in Charters Towers. And you know, now Orange Sky is this massive tree with um, you know, those assets operate over 450 times every week. We've got over 4,000 volunteers that run those services. Um, you know, 40% of our services are in some of the most remote parts of Australia, um, whether be through Cape York and Queensland or through the Kimberley region or through Arnhem Land or the Central Desert. And so I guess what we've realized over the last decade or more is that um, you know, homelessness and hardship isn't just people rough sleeping in Brisbane, and there's a lot of stereotypes and stigmas around homelessness. You know, what um I was taught about homelessness growing up and what I saw as homelessness and hardship here in Brisbane is actually completely uh different to what is actually a reality. Only 6% of homelessness in Australia is rough sleeping, and the other uh large majorities is people in um unsafe or or temporary accommodation or in overcrowded accommodation and all the other flow-on effects of um having you know inadequate housing or hygiene services. So I guess we've been blown away when you know we got a phone call or we had a donor actually rock up uh to the first park that we ever operated. Um her name was Carol, and we'd just become a registered charity. And Carol was like, What's next for next for Orange Sky? And we had this like dodgy van sudsy with a massive generator and like it was just this like patched together um you know experiment. Um we're like, we're gonna build another van. And Carol's like, Well, how much is another van? And we're like, like we were 19. And we're like, it costs a hundred grand to build another van. We want to put water tanks in it and generators. And she went down to her handbag and wrote a check. And she said, Go build that second van. And so incredible. That moment completely changed the trajectory for for Orange Sky. And now um, you know, we've got thousands of donors, thousands of volunteers, but most importantly, thousands of friends each and every week that trust Orange Sky. And, you know, back to the beautiful tree that we always talk about is that you know, what is called Orange Sky is the trust of that community. It's volunteers trusting us with their time, it's supporters trusting us to have an impact with their um amazing support, and it's friends trusting us to provide a really safe space for them to come in, have access to our service, but also have an awesome chat.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

And look, I I guess through the journey, you know, if we can just dive a little bit deeper and it's really good for people to know like how how obviously you've learned heaps, I'm sure. Um it's such an amazing the giving space and you know, the sort of people in planet space is an amazing space to work in. Very challenging and can be really difficult. How how was you being innovative within you know a new Australian organization over the last decade? How how's that changed you? What have you you know, what are the some of the key things you've learned? And then we'll talk about a bit of growth.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yeah, like it's been one of the greatest privileges, if not the greatest privilege of my life being a part of Orange Sky. And, you know, we talk about curiosity at Orange Sky, we talk about connection, we talk about giving things a crack. Um, and I think they're all fundamental to our brand. Um, we spoke about trust, like all of these really basic human values are really on display and tested at Orange Sky. Um, you know, you talk about challenge, and um, it's very easy to get overwhelmed with the significant disadvantage that's in communities, the challenges of getting washing machines to work in a van, the challenges of fundraising in a difficult environment. But what we really believe at Orange Sky is that we can embrace that that challenge. And that's actually a big part of our mission is that we are working with people in potentially the toughest times of their life. We're working in an environment where it's not easy. But if we actually embrace that challenge, I think there's a well there is an amazing opportunity to to innovate. And you know, some of those greatest innovations have come through when we've had scarcity or when we've had um multiple setbacks. Like, you know, if if we hadn't had the challenges of getting our first van to work, we might have never done what we had had done because we sort of enjoyed that challenge of people telling us you'll never get washing machines to work in a van. And for a period of time, they were all right. Like we broke so many machines and we still break a lot of machines, but what what what we didn't know is that the impact that that it would have. So I guess yeah, we we sort of try and embrace those those values. And you know, one of my favorite Orange Sky values is giving things a crack. And I think if we always give things a crack, our organization will be doing good.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, awesome. And talking about innovation, um, can you tell us about uh I've heard something about the Wara dryer? Can you uh explain a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, so the the Waru dryer is a pit and jar word for fire, and um, you know, fire has been bringing people together for millennia. So um what were the reason why you know we invented our own clothes dryer is that um, you know, a couple years ago in every one of our vans we had these massive generators to dry clothes. And drying clothes is really important to us because um when you wash someone's clothes when they don't have a place to to dry them, there's no point, you know, washing the clothes if you can't hand them back clean, warm, and and dry. So we'd sort of got this mindset that we needed these generators to run. These generators are really expensive. And um, I went to place an order, we did a big trip around Australia, and I was currently in the central desert. And um, you know, Luke's and I had a chat and it's like, cool, let's order another 10 generators and called up the company and they were like, There's no generators for a couple years. I was like, what do you mean? Like, we need these generators, we're doing good, we're helping people, we're gonna pay for them. And they're like, we're just we've got such a backlog of these generators. And I can remember sitting in a tent all night just thinking about how we were gonna power our vans. There was no other generator we could use, there was no other battery big enough to power the these dryers that we're using. And um, yeah, then we just had the idea around like, how about we build our own clothes dryer? Um, and the idea was around using a fuel source to generate heat. And so um, yeah, we we came up with the idea of the the Waru dryer. And the Waru dryer uses 90% less electrical energy than any dryer in the market, um, but has the same thermal performance through burning it, burning a fuel. And what that meant was that we had this crazy idea. We did a lot of trial and error, we made a lot of mistakes, and we got it to a point that we were happy to put it in our vans. And what that meant is that we could remove all the generators across our fleet and run on solar and and batteries. But you know, there's still lots of innovation that we need to do at Orange Sky. You know, we we sometimes think that Orange Sky is a hardware organization where we've got these vans, we've got these pods, and we've got these trucks, and there's so much we can change about them. We can make them better or more efficient or safer or you know, more impactful. But also what we realize is that Orange Sky actually isn't a hardware organization, it's a people organization. And each and every week we've got those thousands of volunteers, thousands of friends, thousands of supporters coming. And that's where our biggest um opportunities and also challenges will be is that how can we find ways to create really safe or impactful places for people to rock up? And that's sort of something that really gets me out of bed every day, is that there's so much optimization we can have to have further impact.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah, and like when you look at the stats, 4,000 plus um volunteers is absolutely incredible, man. So for you guys to generate that amount of authenticity for people to get you, you know, to get behind you. Um I guess what what's the logistics behind that? What's the tech? Like, as you said, you know, you're uh your your your whole sort of um ethos, let's give everything a crack. How as you as a leader, how does that ethos move through those 4,000 people? And how do you manage that? How do you manage that? It's a must be that's a massive system.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

So Yeah, I think you know, um, like a good tree is that it grows over time and you know, it blows my mind. I was at the um Orange Sky Sunshine Coast 10th birthday on the weekend. Lucas was at the Canberra's 10th birthday, and we've got you know hundreds of volunteers that have volunteered for over a decade, and you know, looking these volunteers in the eyes, and it's like we came up here 10 years ago and knew no one on the Sunshine Coast and you believed in us. And for 10 years you've been coming out at the same time, same place every week. Like there is something that is far greater than any process or policy or system. There is this inner commitment or this inner love or generosity or whatever you want to call it from a fellow human that's just been so determined to show up. And if you think about how much the world's changed in the last 10 years, for someone to be that consistent just blows my mind. And so, you know, we when we started, you know, we didn't need a rostering system. It was like our friends and family. I was like, pick up the phones like, Dad, I need the van taken to help. You know, like and and then we had like, you know, just friends and family. And then I can remember when we launched in Melbourne, um, you know, we left and we're like, we don't know if the van's gone out. Did it help anyone? Did we leave the key in the van? And so they had this little notebook that they left in the glove box that did their rostering and that sort of thing. And so, you know, now with with thousands of volunteers, we've got an incredible um team of staff that support um, you know, those those amazing volunteers. We've got volunteer leaders, we've got, you know, incredible policies and and rostering systems, but um, they sort of sit around. But what I think is the glue that keeps everything together is really activating those values or those philosophies at Orange Sky. You know, some Orange Sky volunteers might not know that they're part of thousands of other volunteers. Some volunteers might even know that the van goes out in New Zealand or um the logistics behind it. But what I hope they know is that um, you know, we use the F-word at Orange Sky. We don't have clients or customers, we have friends. We hope that, you know, they know that we talk about the power of a conversation at Orange Sky. And so, yes, they are there to get the van to work and wash clothes, but what they're really there to do is sit down and have a chat or or connect with someone. And so, you know, maybe some of our volunteers, uh, if you compared all of our volunteers, they're probably doing everything a little bit differently. And I think that's the beauty and the nuance of Orange Sky is that we're not trying to replicate one form of connection. We're trying to inspire people to be like, go out there and and connect.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah. And I like going into your headquarters here in Brizzy and just meeting your team, just like people are there because they want to be there. And you know, if you look at that with the volunteers and the vans going in and out, it's also a two-way street, right? Because you're there supporting and helping friends on the you know that are doing things, doing maybe having a tough time. It's also you know, what's the feedback from your staff and your volunteers about how what they get out of it? Because it is a two-way street for everything you give, there's something you're getting back. And I found that value very early on in my life when I did a lot of volunteering. And um, you know, people would say, Adam, why are you spending your weekends doing this and that? I'll be like, dude, I'm getting I know this sounds weird, I'm getting more back for me by giving than anything else. So it's like it really is a two-way street. So tell us how that, how your employees and your how your volunteers feel about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, and it's been one of those greatest learnings at Orange Sky, you know, like when we started, it was like this van will go out, we'll help someone wash and dry their clothes, and it was almost like a linear val value exchange.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Um, but then what we realized is that, you know, like all these thousands of volunteers, they too can be lonely, isolated, and disconnected. You know, we talk, we've heard so many stories about friends that we help not talking to anyone else throughout the week apart from our Orange Sky volunteers and how special they feel when a volunteer speaks to them. But at the same time, we now hear so many stories of where volunteers too are having a terrible week or are lonely or isolated. And Orange Sky is the greatest couple of hours in their week because they're like, I'm gonna go out and I'm not gonna get judged. I'm gonna connect with people and I'm gonna um feel feel useful or whatever those things are. So, you know, people volunteer for so many different reasons, and people come to Orange Sky for so many different reasons, and so I think that's the beauty, is almost like this um jam of humans where we never exactly know what's gonna happen on a shift, we never um know who's gonna be there, who's gonna rock up. Like we don't take pre-bookings for laundry or anything like that. We have sort of a roster, but people change, we don't know about the weather, we're operating outside. And so there's sort of this magic where there's a bit of yeah, magic that just operates where we're like, cool, we'll be at this location from 6 till 8 p.m. every week. Yeah, and there'll be some similar things, like there'll probably be a van there, there'll probably be chairs, there'll probably be people doing washing, but there is this magic where you know a volunteer will say, you know, hey Richard, how did you go last week at your job interview? And Richard says, I got a job. And volunteers and and Richard will connect and be like, That's awesome. Or, you know, a volunteer might rock up and be like, I just had a shit day. And a friend be like, Hey, tell me about it.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Hold up. Yeah. Like again, we thought this was about to be a volunteer helping a friend, and now a friend's helping a volunteer. It's community. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah. And tell us, like, you know, you guys have been on obvious obviously a solid curve of growth. And, you know, for pe everyone out there, obviously, you know, the whole the whole space of helping and uplifting is based around raising money and being able to do more. Because if you if you get more funding, you can do more great work. So can you just share what your aspirations are between now? I know you've got some big ones between now and 2030, and like what that what you see and if there's anything new that you're going to add into the mix on in over this next three or four years.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Yeah, our our goal is to double our impact over um between now and FY30. And you know, coming back to that little seed, I can remember we had one of like a one of our more serious meetings when we started. It's like, let's do a workshop about the future of Orange Sky. And at that point in time, I think we'd just had that second van. We thought it was about a hundred grand to build a van and and to run it. And um, you know, the the conversation was around well, where do we want to see Orange Sky? And you know, I was like, let's have 10 vans. And everyone looked around the table like, 10 vans? Like, that's so many vans. You know, I was like, no, let's just go for 10. Yeah. And, you know, we all sort of had this agreement well, if we want to build 10, Vans, then that would be a million dollars. Yeah. As like when you're 19, it's like the thought of raising a million dollars was just like the most ridiculous thing ever. Yeah. Um, and like I said, now Orange Sky's nearly got a hundred assets around the country. We've got, you know, over 57 locations that we're operating. And so I guess so many times throughout Orange Sky's existence, I've sort of s had one of these dreams, or we've spoken about a dream, and it's felt incredibly um ambitious or ridiculous. And then we've actually realized that, and or we've actually gone into a completely different space. And I think, you know, that's the the nuance of Orange Sky is that um, you know, in the the next five years we want to um really show up where um Orange Sky should be showing up. And what we mean by that is that you know, we know that there's these massive populations of people that need Orange Sky services, and at the moment we're not helping them. You know, one example of that is that we know that one of the greatest um growing um cohorts of of friends is young people. And so a couple of years ago we trialed a laundry in a school. Um, and now, you know, over the next year we'll launch another seven schools that'll have Orange Sky services. And you know, I already already struggled going to school and I had opportunity to um have clean clothes and have food and have um you know a supportive family. But there's so many people out there that have so many barriers to even going to school, and so you know I'm incredibly proud to see you know Orange Sky operating in schools now. We know that Australia has the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world, and a key driver of that is having access to a washing machine. Um my grandmother had RHD and she lived till 90. But if my grandmother was indigenous or Aboriginal in a community that didn't have access to washing machines, it's incredibly likely that she wouldn't have had the same health outcomes because of an uh lack of access to laundry services. So, you know, we have a massive um growth target in growing our services into remote communities in in Australia, but I think you know, the beauty of Orange Sky is that we actually never know where it'll go to, and that's actually a reflection of the community. You know, we could have never predicted a pandemic that um reminded people of the importance of hygiene human connection, but our team showed up and they adapted through that. We know that the cost of living is causing a massive impact on um, you know, volunteers having to pay to drive to shift and use their own fuel, or volunteers having to work multiple jobs and they can't volunteer. And so we're really gonna have to continue to to innovate. But the beauty of Orange Sky is I think what we're always um able to listen and do something with that.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Awesome. And just to really simplify things um for our donors listening out there, tell us monetary-wise, um, you know, I think it's $24, is it? So just expand on just you know, people really want to know what they can do, where their money goes, and what that what what they're gonna get for it. So just give us a little short sharp blast on that one.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Yeah, and my belief is that anyone can help Orange Sky. And so that's in a financial way, that's in a volunteer way, but that's also just telling someone about Orange Sky services. And um, you know, we always talk about Orange Sky, the biggest impact you can have is have a conversation. And so um, specifically from a financial um impact, um, it costs us $24 to wash and dry someone's clothes. And you know, what we really want to do is for people to see the direct impact that their service is happening. Yeah, but also what we realize is that to run Orange Sky, there's so many moving pieces. Like you saw, you know, we build the vans, we recruit volunteers, we maintain the vans, we um fundraise to keep the vans on the road so a volunteer can just go out and run the service. Um, you know, we we do so many aspects of of Orange Sky, and all of that costs costs money. We have to ensure um our our assets, we crash vans, all these sorts of things happen inside the the organization. And so I think you know what I've always been interested in is that you know, so many little pieces need to come together, but then also if people can see the direct impact that they're having, then that sort of fuels the the work that we do. And you know, I think the greatest example of that is that you know, volunteers aren't paid. Yeah, they're giving their time, but they go out there and every week or fortnight that they volunteer, I guess they're validating is this having an impact. And I think that's one of the things that keeps us so close to our mission is that I'm really confident that if a volunteer is giving up their time and going out there out there week after week, that they're they believe that they're having a massive impact.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah, yeah. I couldn't agree more. And from the other side of things, there's obviously a lot of small organizations, charities, and foundations out there that are starting out. What's a couple of key things that you've really learned? Um, obviously, Friendship Tree, we've started our own foundation over the last year or two, and we've learned a hell of a lot. And um, so what's something, a couple of three or four little pieces of advice or or sort of encouragement? Um, because it's tough to start. Um, you're usually starting with nothing, no money, um, getting funding. Just tell us what you can explain to those people out there who are really obsessed and committed, like us, to to making change.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, I I think you know, building on this beautiful tree we've spoken about, um, there are so many ideas in the world, and you know, Orange Sky may never have existed if we didn't just plant that seed and give it some some nurturing. And we told so many people about this idea. Like I said, we told our parents, and they were like, start washing your own clothes. We told councils, we told donors, we told anyone that would listen to it. It's like, we're gonna build this van. They're like, Yeah, good luck, that'll never work. Oh, yeah, well, that sounds great. You know, like, but then we actually built it. Like the seedling cracked, and all these people came around it and they admired it like this beautiful baby. Yeah, and they were like, Wow, this makes sense. You could bring it here, you should get make another one. And it would have never happened if we just kept on talking about it. So, you know, one of my real beliefs is that you know, life is this balance between wisdom and action, and there's so many things that we know we should do, but we actually don't do them. And so, you know, that piece of advice around just giving things a go, giving things a crack, and really trying to realize that I think has been a big part of Orange Sky. Um, and then the second is just really thinking about um how to activate community. And I am still blown away of the people that come and make Orange Sky possible. And and Orange Sky, you know, is is far from Nick and Lucas. It was Nick and Lucas back in 2014 when we had one van, but now it's thousands of volunteers, donors, and and supporters each and every week. And so, you know, I'm blown away that there's so much generosity and support out there, but also there's so many things that still need to happen in this world. And and that's what, you know, again excites me is that there's incredible innovations like Friendship Tree, where it's around let's actually really think about how do we revolutionize giving in this country or um activating volunteers or responding to certain needs. I think that um, you know, one of my curiosities is that um there's 54,000 charities in Australia, um, and as a as a country, it's in our DNA to give back, but also there are so many opportunities to optimize that or to share more, and you know, there's so much um potential out there, there's just opportunities to keep on tweaking it, and that's the thing that excites me is that we're a very generous country, we've we've got incredible volunteering, and there's so many opportunities that that people need help, and so there should be an opportunity to keep on optimizing that.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Yeah, great. And um look, I guess I just wanted everyone to know that uh Iron Sky is obviously for us at Friendship Tree um one of our favorite organizations. Forget about um giving and you know the the foundational networks for Australia. I'm talking about organizations in general, one of our favorites, one that we've followed, one that we've also and the times when it's been really hard for us too, Nick, and the tough times that you question yourself because, like you said, a lot of people go, Oh, you'll never get that done. Um, when you see other people that have actually done it and are still doing it, um you guys have been an inspiration. And um, so please, everyone, reach out, come through our platform. And Nick, where else can um what what else can people do to help? It's not just about money, right? Fire away. What what else can we do?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah, I always encourage people to jump onto our website, orangesky.org.au. You can find out where Orange Sky operates if you need access to one of our services. You can register to volunteer. Um, you can find out how to make a a donation, but most importantly, um, you can read more about homelessness in Australia. And, you know, like I said, we talk about the power of a conversation. And um, you know, after listening to this, you might have a think about how do you want to give a couple hours of your time every week? And that might be actually just going and signing up for a local charity and and volunteering, or it might be signing up for a regular donation and keeping informed about organizations having an impact.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Awesome. So, dude, so thanks so much. We're we're incredibly honored to be partnering with Orange Sky. Um, so look to everyone out there, jump on board, get in touch, either friendship tree, Orange Sky, get in, donate, find out, become part of the community, help. It's good for you, it's good for everyone. Um big thanks, man. And I'll look forward to seeing you out uh on one of the sites really soon. And no doubt um it's been really nice to connect with you, and uh, I'd really like to continue our friendship and a lot of the way you guys talk that you know, all the people that you look after and try and serve are your friends, and hence the whole reason of friendship tree um for us. You know, trees go into the ground, a lot of the work happens where you don't see like organizations, and you know, to me, friends and and spreading communities, especially in our in our crazy times, is really one of the most important things. So, man, lots of love from us to you, and um we'll look forward to chatting again soon. And thanks everyone, and get on to Orange Sky, 100% backed and partnering with Friendship Tree. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Thanks, friends.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Cool, awesome, brother. Cool. You happy with that?