Kayleigh Brewster and Lisa Jamieson campaign for Sleep Bus in Mackay

Two formidable women are teaming up to build an innovative project that will stop the region’s most vulnerable suffering cuts, bruises, beatings and stolen belongings.

Australian Street Aid Project founder Kayleigh Brewster has teamed with Orange Sky Laundry Mackay service coordinator Lisa Jamieson to bring a Sleep Bus to Mackay.

Two formidable Mackay women are doing everything in their power to finance a bus capable of sheltering up to 20 homeless people each night.

Australian Street Aid Project founder Kayleigh Brewster has teamed with Orange Sky Laundry Mackay service co-ordinator Lisa Jamieson to make the $100,000 dream a reality in the next 12 months.

The women want to take children, adults and the region’s “most vulnerable” off the streets to stop them suffering cuts, bruises, beatings and having their belongings stolen.

And they need the public’s help to get the project across the line.

The sleep bus, at capacity, can house 20 people a night in its 10 dual pods with safe, dry storage for personal belongings.

Inside one of the sleep bus ‘pods’.

Each pod would be airconditioned and have TV screens, with a channel that will display numbers for support services.

Ms Jamieson said mission Safe Sleep Mackay was borne out of an increasingly desperate situation, with about 1200 people currently experiencing homelessness across the Mackay region.

“When you see your rough sleeping numbers soar, you know you’ve got a problem,” Ms Jamieson said.

“We were seeing, early in the year, probably one new person a month.

“Then it was getting to the stage where it was one new person a week and then by October - we do three shifts here a week - and every shift we were seeing someone new who hadn’t experienced homelessness before.

Australian Street Aid Project founder Kayleigh Brewster has teamed with Orange Sky Laundry Mackay service co-ordinator Lisa Jamieson to bring a Sleep Bus to Mackay.

“It went from being late teens, early 20s right up to the 70-year-olds…there was a total change in the demographic.”

Ms Brewster said their organisation, which primarily offered meals for those dealing with primary homeless - “that is squatting, rough sleeping, sleeping in vehicles, or in abandoned buildings or makeshift camp sites” - was only witnessing the “tip of the (crisis) iceberg”.

She added they were further concerned about those at risk of slipping into homelessness.

What the daily schedule of the Sleep Bus will look like. Photos: Safe Sleep Mackay

“We’re (currently) turning (people) back onto the streets - kids, adults, vulnerable people,” Ms Brewster said.

“This (bus) gives us somewhere ... we know they’re going to be safe at night, they’re not going to come in the morning with cuts, bruises, beaten up and having all their belongings stolen and they’re not going to be taken advantage of.”

The sleep bus will be able to provide a bed for 20 people at capacity. Photos: Safe Sleep Mackay

The women said it was Mackay’s turn to have a sleep bus with Maroochydore and Hervey Bay already having two of their own.

“The sooner we secure (our) $100,000, the sooner we’re in the queue and then on the road to actually getting the bus,” Ms Brewster said.

“We don’t want to see this blow out and take years.

“We want this to happen at the end of this year or the beginning of next year at the latest ... we know the long term goal is to get people into safe long-term housing, but we have to be realistic here.”

To donate to the Safe Sleep Mackay initiative, including for corporate sponsorship, email Lisa at [e-mail] or Kayleigh at [e-mail].

Australian Street Aid Project are also one of the two beneficiaries of this year’s Mackay Mayor’s Charity Ball.

Ms Brewster is also campaigning to bring a fit-for-purpose medical van to Mackay, which would be operated by a nurse.