Fundraising success for Real Estate Sleep Out for Youth On The Streets
They’re best known for putting roofs over heads when selling multimillion dollar homes, but last night real estate professionals, lead by auctioneer Damien Cooley of Cooley Auctions, hit the sack on chilly Bondi Beach to help youth in need.
The Real Estate Sleep Out was again well supported, and expanded this year to Melbourne and Brisbane.
Sydney had the coldest temperature getting down to around 8 degrees. Agents slept out at Reddacliff Place, Brisbane and St Kilda Beach in Melbourne.
It was organised to raise money and awareness for Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets, a charitable community program aimed at helping homeless and troubled youth.
2016's inaugural event chalked up more than $134,000 with over 100 attendees.
Last year that tally exceeded $278,000 with 180 attendees.
The preliminary tally last night was some $170,000.
Some of last night's top fund raisers included Frank Colacicco, David Gray and Gordon Macdonald.
Passionate about Father Riley’s community work, Damien Cooley (pictured below at this year's sleepout) has a longstanding relationship with the youth specific agency.
“Events like the Real Estate Sleep Out go a long way to keeping organisations like Youth Off The Streets alive.
“They rely on people like us.
“The sleep out is as much about raising money as it is spreading awareness of the incredible work Father Chris and his team do,” said Mr Cooley.
The tally stood at $150,000 when the sunset on a cold night across the east coast.
It was around $170,000 by dawn.
