Toowoomba’s Base Services co-ordinator Nat Spary reveals why 10th Homeless For A Week in 2024 will be his last

This is what happens to your body and mind from just one week of sleeping rough on the streets.

Sleeping on the streets for an entire week every year for a whole decade has ironically made Nat Spary realise how lucky he really is.

“It just reminds you that (there are) people that are sleeping rough in our city, sleeping in cars,” he said.

“You’re so vulnerable sleeping on the streets and (people who are homeless) have got no choice.”

The co-ordinator of the Base Services says 2024’s Homeless For A Week campaign will be his last, as his charity gears up to try to raise $1m as part of a relocation effort.

Mr Spary, who first started the fundraising exercise in 2014, said spending seven nights in the Toowoomba cold every year had taken its toll on his body and mind during that time.

Base Services co-ordinator Nat Spary has confirmed 2024's Homeless For A Week campaign, his 10th year in a row sleeping rough for seven days, will be his last.

“I’ve just discovered that I’ve got a few health issues and over the last couple of years, I’ve found it really affects me sleeping out for that whole week, like diet, diabetes, sleep apnoea,” he said.

“I just don’t function that well, doing the sleepout.

“When I was a teenager, I was in and out of homelessness from the ages of 15 to 25, so it does raise a bit of trauma from the past (every time I do it).

“I find my mental health hasn’t been as well (to the point where) I don’t want to do it again.

“We gotta remember that, what happens in our lives happens in (homeless residents’) lives too – they get sick, they get the flu.”

Mr Spary said the threat of violence doing the sleepout had also increased in that time, as Toowoomba’s homelessness crisis became more visible.

“There have been times that I’ve been physically threatened, like shaped up to, and I’m so glad there was someone else with me that (helped me),” he said.

“People (could be) screaming and yelling at you across the road, that they’re going to come and bash you.

“10 years ago, when I did the sleepout, people used to pull me up when I was sleeping rough and say there was no such thing as homelessness in Toowoomba.

“You don’t hear those comments anymore because it’s so visible.”

Base Services co-ordinator Nat Spary has confirmed 2024's Homeless For A Week campaign, his 10th year in a row sleeping rough for seven days, will be his last.

Mr Spary and his wife Tiff will now focus on growing the Base Services’ two major annual fundraisers in Homeless for a Night and the Hike for Homeless, with the charity hoping to hit $1m by the end of the year.

The money will be used to start a transition to a larger CBD site that will include the soup kitchen, administration and the charity’s hugely-popular 2nd Shot program that helps people exit poverty.

Mr Spary said centralising all aspects of the organisation in one space would also help ease the explosion in costs, including insurance, rent, food and electricity.

Participants (from left) Suzy Wenitong, Jacqui Armstrong, Matthew Drury, Nat Spary, Mark Rawlings, and Georgia Hanrahan at the Base Services' 2021 Homeless for a Night sleepout.

“10 years ago we knew we’d outgrown our space, and we just used what we had, but now it’s really time,” Mr Spary said.

“We’re scraping the barrel (while helping) 40 per cent more clients, but the big thing is we’re paying three lots of rent, three lots of electricity.

“It’s just incredible, our electricity has gone up $3000 in a year and our insurance went up $19,000.

“I’m really amazed how people are still signing up for the Homeless for a Night and I think that’s what we’re going to concentrate on.”

Mr Spary’s vision for the new Base Services would allow it to be hired by smaller community groups to host events for their own fundraising efforts, with 2nd Shot trainees to be incorporated for food and drink service.

The Basement (and Base Services has) been around for 30 years, I want to see it exist for another 30 years,” he said.

The Homeless For A Night sleepout on August 9 has raised $335,000 so far.

To join or donate to participants, head to www.homelessforaweek.com.au.