OrangeSky co-founder Nic Marchesi. Photo / Supplied
OrangeSky co-founder Nic Marchesi. Photo / Supplied
One night in a food van changed the life of an Aussie entrepreneur and sparked a AU$5.3 million (NZ$5.5m) charity.
The charity, Orange Sky, offers a free mobile laundry service for the homeless and since its humble beginnings in Brisbane has become an Australian-wide phenomenon.
It has even received international attention with co-founder Nic Marchesi, having just returned from the Obama Foundation's Emerging Leaders APAC summit.
Marchesi was one of 13 Australian leaders invited to learn about leadership from the former US President.
The event, held in Malaysia, invited 200 young people in the APAC region to learn how to be a better leader and what values need to be applied to lead.
"Something that I really took away was around values and that we all have more values in common than those that divide us," he told news.com.au.
Leadership is a long game, said Marchesi, and his own pathway to leadership started as a child with his mother.
"My mum one night took me on a food van to help people doing it tough. I realised my privilege and that people didn't have access to things that I did.
The two entrepreneurs met in High School and started out by driving around Brisbane offering a free wash. Photo / Supplied
"It gave me insight into 116,000 people that are doing it tough and it gave me the curiosity and drive to help."
Helping the less fortunate has been the driving force behind Orange Sky and has seen it go from a one van business to exceeding AU$5 million in revenue last year.
"My best friend Lucas and I had a crazy idea to just drive a van and wash clothes. We just wanted to improve hygiene for people but that simple idea grew to much more," he said.
The charity began back in 2014 when co-founder Lucas Patchett and Marchesi drove around Brisbane washing clothes in the back of a van for the less fortunate.
It has now grown to 23 vans across Australia, including as far north as Lockhart River in Queensland and has washed over 500,000 kilograms of washing since it first started.
However, while washing is the main service offered by Orange Sky the real value of the company lies in the conversations the 1000 volunteers have each day with the less fortunate.
Marchesi began to have conversations with the people using the vans to wash clothes as there was nothing else to do while waiting for the washing to be done.
He soon realised the value of these conversations and now Orange Sky states its mission is to Positively Connect Communities.
"We often talk about Orange Sky as a magnet for drawing people together from all walks of life, a magnet for building friendships and building relationships. A magnet for conversation," said Patchett in the company's end of year report.
In fact, conversations have become a key metric of the company's success story with 60,516 hours of conversation this year alone and over 100,000 since Orange Sky began.
Marchesi said the company had pivoted to focus on creating connections, as opposed to just improving hygiene and it was important that volunteers helped enable this.
"It's the most important thing that our volunteers just listen and connect people. We aren't there to preach or teach just to listen and we support everyone through the power of conversation," he said.
The website even states "Laundry and Conversation" and one user of the service, George, said it was the conversation that kept bringing him back.
"I can come down [to shift] and start talking about fishing, camping, whatever and you guys are always a good laugh and join in. You throw your stories in and have a good laugh," George said.
Most vans come equipped with orange chairs to encourage people to sit and chat. Source / Supplied
"It just alleviates a lot of pressure out of people's lives and that can really help people."
There are currently over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness in Australia or roughly 1 in every 200.
Orange Sky gives the less fortunate access to clean clothes and many of the vans are hybrid models and supports both washing facilities and showers too.
The goal for the company now is to focus on the vans that they have and growing their social impact to help more people in the areas they are at.
"We have been growing for a long time but now we want to look at the vans we have and seeing how to do more shifts in them and expand our reach," said Marchesi.
Of course, some growth will occur with another two vans expected to be on the road early next year and there are talks about expanding the reach in New Zealand.
Marchesi said the sky is the limit and even after five years the boys did not know just how large it could grow.
"I think we still don't know how big this can become. Every day we find out about more people that could use our services and I think it's looking at how we keep helping people in a sustainable way."
