KSS October Edition eKourier 2025

CHARITY

HELP END YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

Above, L to R: Our Sleep Out Team in 2024 - Debbie Stainsby (CCC), Fiona Harding (THQ), Tony Vuong (THQ), Deepa Chriyath (THQ), Jared Mobbs (THQ), Javier Perez (THQ), Anthony Heng (Centre Manager - Thornleigh KSS) and Darryl Hodgson (THQ) taking the photo!

W hat would you do if you had nowhere safe to sleep tonight? For more than 44,000 young Australians, this isn’t a hypothetical question it’s their reality. Night after night, teenagers and young adults are forced to find somewhere, anywhere, to rest their heads. Couch- surfing, cars, shelters, and streets become the backdrop of their lives. On Friday, 24 October, a team from KSS will step into that reality, if only for a night. By taking part in the Annual Stepping Stone House Sleep Under the Stars event, they’ll swap the comfort of their beds for a KSS Heavy Duty Jumbo Box, sleeping bag and the open sky. The event isn’t about pretending one night can capture the full hardship of homelessness. Instead, it’s about empathy, awareness, and action. Every dollar raised goes directly to Stepping Stone House, a not-for-profit dedicated to helping young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

a real home, where young people can live their youth in safety, receive professional care and counselling, and build confidence through education, mentoring, and life-skills programs that prepare them for truly independent futures. Their work has transformed lives for more than 600 young people since 1989. Kennards Self Storage is part of that story and success! By joining Sleep Under the Stars, we’re showing what 'Store With People who Care' really means: putting people first, supporting vulnerable young people, living our values through action, and coming together as a team to make a difference. By spending one night outside, we hope to spark conversa- tions about what youth homelessness really looks like, and how it can be prevented. How You Can Help The Freedom Fighters are calling on colleagues, friends, and families to get behind the cause:

shelter, education, and hope. https://shorturl.at/i5NDY • Spread the word - share the campaign on social media, talk to friends, and shine a light on the issue. • Take part - there’s still time to sign up and sleep out under the stars yourself, with your team, with your kids. If you’re not in Sydney, you can even host a remote sleep out with your own team! Please reach out if you’re interested. Sleeping outside for one night won’t end homelessness. But it can start conversations, raise vital funds, and remind us all of the comfort we often take for granted. For the young people supported by Stepping Stone House, it can mean the difference between fear and safety, despair and hope, welfare vs independence. So while we’ll be counting stars instead of sheep on October 24, you can help by throwing a few dollars our way, every donation brings a young person closer to a brighter future.

• Donate to the team’s fundraising page - every contribution helps provide

What makes Stepping Stone House unique is that it isn’t just a shelter, it’s

Fiona harding Head of Business Development & Partnerships

21 Kennards Kourier Oct 2025