Giving back to your community with Lucas Patchett

0:02 A listener production. Hey guys, you're listening to Crappy to Happy. I'm cash done. I'm a clinical and coaching psychologist, a mindfulness meditation teacher, and author of the Crappy to Happy books. In this series, we look at all of the factors that might be making you feel crappy and give you the tools and the techniques that will help you to overcome them. In each episode, I introduce you to interesting, inspiring, intelligent people who are experts in their field, and my hope is that they will help you feel less crappy and more happy. In today's episode, I'm speaking to Lucas Patchett, who is one of the co founders of Orange Sky Australia, which is a charity that positively connects people living on the streets with laundry, showers and most importantly, conversations. I have been a volunteer for Orange Sky and you might be asking what does this have to do with feeling happy?

0:54 But studies have shown that when you volunteer for a cause that you feel passionately about, that you believe in, and you can see the positive effects that you were having on others, it can drastically increase your own happiness and overall satisfaction. I wanted to talk to Lucas about his journey of starting Orange Sky, what the benefits for him have been personally, and how giving back can actually be the best thing you can do for your own mental health. You are one of the co founders of Orange Sky Laundry along with your best mate Nick Makezi. First of all, for our listeners who aren't familiar with Orange Sky, can you just explain what it is? Absolutely so. Orange Guy is a really crazy idea between my best mate Nick and I nearly five years ago. Now to get two washes too dry is chuck in the back of an old van and start driving around and washing and drying clothes for homeless people for free. It started as a really simple idea, just wanting to improve the hygiene standards of the homeless with that one van in Brisbane, but then very quickly started to evolve into much much more than that. We realized the most important thing our vans would do wasn't actually washing drying clothes or provide showers, is actually providing a place for people to come and have a conversation and be connected with the community. That that little one van in here in Brisbane has now amplified and grown to now twenty nine vans across Australia and one vent over in New Zealand. We've got eighteen hundred volunteers who every single week of doing over ten times a free laundry, providing of one hundred and fifty safe out showers, but most importantly, most simply providing about one thy five hundred hours of genuine and non judgmental conversation for people in our community who might be ignored,

2:26 who might be walk past for so many hours of the day, and for them to have a place to come and feel connected, not feel judged, and just have a genuine yard with everyday people. It's really a grown from that improving high instead it's to positively connecting communities. The growth has been phenomenal. Like when you say you're I think you're just coming up to a five year anniversary, right, and so you said thirty vans now and how many what does that equate to in terms of the amount of washing and the amount of people you're actually servicing and helping. Absolutely, I never thought, you know, the edge of twenty five that I'd be responsible for, you know, over ten tons of laundry happening every single week. That's facilitated by eighteen hundred amazing, empathetic, compassionate, amazing volunteers who put their lives on hold and do that. We also launched showers about halfway through our journey, so provide abou one hundred and fifty safe hot mobile showers for people on the streets.

3:20 But what that all equates from, what that boils down to is about fifteen hundred hours of genuine and non judgmental conversation. So those conversations can be about anything. It's really about providing a place for people to feel welcome, to feel connected. For some of our friends on the street being ignored for nine to nine percent of the day, having an opportunity to come together and have a place is really really important. So, yeah, fifteen hundred hours of conversation takes place every single week, and that I think the power of multiplication and having more and more people on board has been what's blown definitely blown me away, and it's been a privileged to be part of. What intrigues me is like, how what gave you this idea? How did this actually start? You said it was a crazy idea.

4:00 What gave where did the idea come from? The story really comes back to the age of when Nick and I are about fifteen and our school actually ran a food van, So, you know, the age of fifteen, were up nice and early every Thursday, our school put a breakfast on for people on the streets doing it tough, and that was a massive part of the school community was actually volunteering on that van. So it wasn't something that you just did to tick a box. It was really culturally ingrained in the school. So from the age of fifteen, I'm having experience and having exposure to people who were on the streets, seeing, you know, people two hundred meters from where we went to school every day sleeping in a park. I can remember, you know, my first shift going out and meeting people and being absolutely blown away that people could be in that situation and that in a place like Brisbane that you know, I didn't never thought that I'd be exposed to something like that.

4:50 So that always stuck with us. With both Nick and I have something that connected us. Were quite different in lots of ways, but quite similar in that sense. So we sort of went through school did that a fair bit. Left school. I went to unifull time. Nick went to work full time. I went overseas for six months, came back and had a lot of time my hands didn't have UNI, didn't have work or anything like that. Had a couple of months and Nick and I was sitting in a cafe in Brisbane and we said, you know this, there must be a way for us to re engage with that community, for us to get a sense of that giving back that we used to have at school, and it was really really easy at school was another thing. So we thought, well, let's do something. Let's do something a little bit different. Let's not do another food van because that's something that's done really really well. Let's look at something else. So started throwing ideas around and I think Nick said washing machines, and we sort of looked at each other and said, well, I reckon, that's pretty cool, and we started looking started searching around. I found that it was nowhere else in the world. There was no one else had ever put washing machines in the back of it and made it work, so we yeap. Essentially that was the start of the journey, and it really exceeded from I suppose at an early age having exposure to homelessness, having exposure to people just around the corner who were just like my uncle or my auntie or my granddad, who were sleeping on the streets and doing it really really tough, and finding a really simple way, in a basic way for us to provide a service to people who were in that situation.

6:13 And obviously people really took to the idea well. I suppose. Another another trial and tribulation was the first morning taking the van out. We loaded the machine up. We need a generators. Who went and com inced a high company to let us borrow a generator, steal it, borrow One of the two managed to hook this generator up and went down to the park and was actually the first morning alongside our old school food van. We thought what better place to start than place that we'd sort of started our really journeying in homelessness, so turned up to the park. We hadn't done any testing on the van. We literally just picked the generator up and we thought, well we might as well test out in the streets, you know, no better place to start, so turned up alongside the old school food van. I was in charge of finding Nicker was in charge of finding the washing r that and I was in charge of setting the van up. So again set up, proceedar water power waste, turn everything on, and then as I flicked the final switch in Sudsey said this massive bang. I thought, well, it sounds a little bit weird. But meanwhile Nick had found some washing. There's a young guy my name of Jordan, had a couple of T shirts, a couple of pairs of boardies in his backpack, and he was ready to be the first ever wash. So I didn't sound quite right.

7:24 So I caught up the washing machine company, I said, and I spoke to this guy, and I always joke about this guy. They name of Dan. Now I think Dan might be one of the world's angriest laundry technicians. But he's a lovely bloke who has helped us out a ton over the last five years. But Dan caught up down It's like, oh, Dan, the screen, the machine's made a bit of a weird noise and now it's a CE on the screen. What does that mean? Soas Lucas, that's a critical error. You've broken both the machines. I told you that this wouldn't work. So that point is like, well, We've got Jordan's washing ready to go, We'll just let him down. We've been added to that long list of people that had let your and down in his life. And Dick and I sort of had this like, holy crap moment, you know, we need to we need to sort this out, we need to fix this. So caught up Carol and the big Boss begged and pleaded. She grew to give us two more washers, hit the streets again the next day and the exact same thing happened, and we were so then Jordan was there again, washing machines, fired up seee on the screen, and I was like, maybe that maybe all these people were right. And we sort of had this this moment of terror of saying, well, you know this, maybe all these people who said it's not going to work are right. So what we did again breaking down to bite sized chunks and looked at well, how can we work through this? And I think the big motivator for us was that Jordan was there again the next morning and he's waiting and he was saying, you know, I've been looking forward to this for twenty four hours to come back, and you know, for us to be incredibly determined to not let Jordan down, even though we did for that one morning. So went back

8:55 to the drawing board. We're putting way too much water pressure in, We're putting the wrong power conversion in. So made a few tweaks of the van, hit the streets again. The next morning, got ourselves two more washing machines from Carolyn and these were definitely the last two that she was going to give us, and hit the streets again. The next morning there was Jordan fired everything up, turned it on and everything started perfectly. And then was at that moment it was like we're onto something here. Jordan and I had that conversation that I had with him changed my life forever. He went to school just up the road for me. He studied the same degree as me at the same university. He works as an engineer for some big firms around Brisbane. But all of a sudden he had fallen in some tough times. He became disconnected from his family and from his community, and Jordan found himself sleeping on the streets and being the first wash in our van. So that was definitely a challenging time in starting up. But also I think that fuel that kept us going was people like Jordan, who were trusting us with the only possessions in the world to wash and dry them and to bring them back when we were a total unknown quantity in this community. So yeah, it's definitely a little journey that we went along there, but it was definitely worth.

9:59 At the end. What I was most interested in what you were saying, Lucas, is that it's not about the washing, It's about the conversation. And you know, I do want to also get to talking. To you, obviously about the power of volunteering, the benefits to volunteering. The shows called crapy are happy and there is so much happy to be found in giving back to your community and making a contribution, and often that is directly related to the impact that you have specifically on individuals, and that conversation aspect and connecting with somebody and knowing that you're having a positive impact. So from your experience, what has been how has it personally changed you? I think Orange Scott has absolutely changed my life forever and much for the better in terms of I think everything from how I have perspective on different things and how you know, being out and shift I think is such a great grounding thing for me in how many other things are going on in my life and in the world, But then you head out and you have a you just completely switch off from technology and everything and you just see on an orange chair and have a conversation with someone. It can be a great grounder, a great perspective check, I think for myself and I know for a lot of our volunteers as well, all the way through to how we manage eighteen hundred volunteers and how we look after the risk of an organization our size, and being on the forefront and being the I suppose one of the faces and one of the leaders within Iron Sky, and I like to think everyone within Iron Sky is definitely the leader. But being a part of that I think has been a massive learning experience for me and I definitely have learned a tremendous

11:30 amount in the last five years, from a business side of things, from not a profit side of things, from a life side of things. I think in all aspects has really touched me in lots of different ways. So yeah, incredibly grateful to be a part of it. I hope you're enjoying season four of the show, and hey, I would love for you to check out my brand new YouTube channel where I'm sharing even more tips on how you can feel less crappy and more happy. It's YouTube dot com forward slash cast Done, So come over check it out. I'd love for you to subscribe, And if you haven't already taken my free seven day Happiness challenge, you can sign up for that at castdone dot com Forward slash Happiness. So, I think when we are talking about being happier, the thing that I see a lot that we all experience, is that we focus on like doing more or having more or accumulating more. And you know, when we look at giving back to the community or volunteering or making a difference in the life of somebody who is less fortunate than ourselves, there is so much happiness to be gained from that in a couple of ways.

12:35 First of all, every time we do something kind for something else, it actually increases our sense of self worth. I think there's that like you feel like a good person when you've done something for somebody else. And it also it's that massive perspective shift, isn't it like just to take the focus off yourself and our own all our own self interested, self absorbed kind of issues that we struggle with and actually turn the perspective outwards and you know, really get some perspective about how fortunate often we all are. Is that something that you have experienced as well in your own life? Absolutely? I think again the broad range of people that support us, and that's in a volunteering sense, but also from a financial sense as well, is that you know, some of our Dona is an incredibly wealthy and well off people and they're really looking for more in that space.

13:23 So it might be through financially contributing to supporting Orange Sky, is there a way of doing it, Or it might be a volunteer who has a lived experience of homelessness and who has been through the system and who wants to now give back to that system through to someone who you might have as a story of a lady over in New Zealand who her husband passed away and her two kids have moved out and she lives about two hours out of Auckland, and now every week, twice a week she drives two hours into Auckland, does a shift for three or four hours, and then drives two hours home. So it's a full day exercise for her and we overheard what of our volunteers overheard her chatting to some friends on the other day, telling about her circumstances and being in this house byself and all these sorts of things. And one of the friends said to her, that must be lonely, and she said, oh, it is a little bit lonely. But also this is my new community and this is my new family, and this is how I get my connection is through that opportunity to come to Orange Sky and to have that. So definitely it's goes both ways from a friend and a volunteer perspective, and it only starts from I think, taking that first step and giving it a crack. If people are looking for things out there. There's so much science and research behind how good volunteering, how good giving back is for you, But until I think you experience it for yourself, they're just words and numbers on a page.

14:37 And I think it really is a case of getting over ourselves and getting over this. It's an illusion, really that we don't have the time because we all fill our lives with all of this stuff and offer, and you know, just we waste so much of our time and then tell ourselves that we're too busy for the things that are important, and just carving out that bit of time can just have such a profound impact for ourselves but also for other people. And that's one thing we've found is that by cutting it down to sort of two hours a week or a fortnight, it's it does fit in quite easily. And I think everyone everyone can look at their phone now and see how much time they spend on their screen every day, and that's a bit of a scary thought. But if you can take some of that out and put it into something a bit more worthwhile, I think, like volunteering, it's you're definitely definitely worth it.

15:21 Lucas you said that you know the experience of starting this charity and growing this charity has really changed you. But I get the sense that you were always it kind of inclined to be a giver. I think culturally it was definitely a big part of my family, of my school was, you know, at an early age seeing mum give up her time on P and F committees and school fate organizing and all these sorts of things in giving back in their own little ways to their communities, through to being a high school and being out on those food vans, So it was I think definitely part of my upbringing for me, my culture, and we see so many people now wanting to get their kids involved and have that a similar experience to it to what we have, and I think for me, I was on a path of you know, go to UNI getting an engineering degree, become an engineer and sort of start start the grind, and then Orange Sky sort of divergent took us in a different direction. So I'm a unique dropout or it's on hold, depending if you ask Mum or not. And then but really focusing time and energineto Orange Sky for me, you know, two of my key values is really about having fun and learning, and Orange Sky gives me that every single day in leaps and bounds and being out and Shift does that as well in terms of having fun in connecting with people, but also learning is that we've got people coming to our vans, both in a volunteer capacity or in the service capacity, who have got amazing wealth of knowledge and being able to listen and learn from from those sorts of people is what really gets me going and gets me excited.

16:51 Yeah, and I just want to pick up on something you said earlier too, about how almost this culture of giving or you know, was ingrained in you for young age, not just through your school, but through your family, and your mum gave up her time and you witnessed her doing that and experienced, you know, indirectly, you know the benefits of that observation. And I think that's really important as well. I think as parents, when our kids see us doing something and giving back, like I would hope that that instill some sense in them of the value of contribution and you know, moving out of that whole self interested sort of world that we live in. I know that, you know. I've actually taken my daughter from a young age first to Borneo and we did some tree planting in the rainforest, and then I took her to Cambodia and we taught English.

17:39 She was eight the first trip and I think ten the second trip, and they were really fun overseas trips, but they were also about doing something, you know, of value while we were there. So I think that if families can be thinking about even how you incorporate the idea of doing something or giving something back or making a difference even into a family holiday, it's a great cultural experience as well. But then it was actually that that got me thinking about, well, that's all fun, but what can I be doing kind of closer to home and on a more regular basis, which is what got me interested in coming and volunteering for Orange Sky. So I don't know, I would like for people listening to be thinking kind of in those terms as well, like how can this be a family a kind of a family thing. Absolutely, I think it's for me. It was a massive part of my upbringing and seeing all those different parts come together and encourage anyone to do the same.

18:28 For you, what is the best part of being out on shift? It's a hard thing to explain, I think in that it's multifaceted in you on a very tangible level, giving someone access to something that they haven't had access to for a while, or that they've been looking forward to all week. In having a fresh set of sheets, or a fresh sleeping bag, or a fresh clean clothes. I think we all know how good the feeling is of putting fresh clean clothes on, So I think that from a really tangible sense. We often talk about, you know, what are the best conversation starters at Orange Car, and we always talk about the absolute best conversation starter is remembering something about the person from the week before or the fortnight before, So being able to go up to someone and say, hey, Cass, you know you're telling me about the footy on the weekend.

19:09 How'd it go? And being able to recall that conversation And because that does two things when it continues building that relationship, but also tells the person you're having the conversation with that that was a memorable and an important experience for years, and that value and self worth for people is something that is definitely missed for people on the streets. I think it's this sort of weird conglomeration of lots of different things, from a really tangible hands on experience and giving someone a shower or clean set of clothes to more intangible relationship based things that are incredibly hard to measure but definitely I know make me feel amazing when I live shift. We've got so many volunteers who a volunteer in Brisbane who talks about he volunteers every Thursday morning, drives a van, so he's out of bed by sort of five point thirty, in the van by six o'clock.

19:57 An at shift by quarter past six and for him, he says that every Thursday morning, regardless of how he's being, how tired is, he springs out of bed and it's his favorite day of the week by far. And that you know, for people who are mourning, people that might be might be hard to comprehend, but definitely it's the whole whole thing, I think, in coming together, in connecting with volunteers that you haven't seen for a week or for a fortnight or for a month, connecting with friends you haven't seen for a similar amounts of time, and providing that tangible aspect to come all together. And for me too, I think some of the most rewarding experiences were because you see these people and you know what their journey is, and they're often looking for work, they're looking for housing. You know, they've just found themselves in an unfortunate situation. But these are people with who have had jobs and lives and families and then they find themselves in this situation where perhaps they're having to sleep in their car or whatever it is. But then they get somebody gets a job or somebody you know gets some accommodation, and it's everybody celebrates. It's thrilling to see them making progress. And often what I noticed too was that those people would come back to shift just to say hi, like even after they were working, if they could manage to fit it into their schedule to come back and say hi, because they valued those relationships as well.

21:14 It wasn't just a laundry service. It's a real community. Absolutely, it's always a bittersweet moment I think when people go, because it means they're not going to be back at shift and those relationships might sort of waiver off. But also the excitement that all of our volunteers and all the team feels when someone does make those steps. And knowing that Orange guy didn't play the whole part, but we played a little piece in that is a really special feeling. Yeah, for anybody listening who is now maybe thinking that, you know, they could go out and do something. And I know that you said that you've got an oversupplied volunteers and capital cities, but do you have any advice that you would share for people who are looking to go out and do something. Absolutely, I think it starts with just giving it a crack and getting out there. There's a ton of websites that can connect volunteers with organizations seeking volunteers, including Orange and by no means do we want the wait list to deter people. They can still get their names on there, and we will. We are cycling through and getting to as many people as we can to get them out on shift. But absolutely it starts with taking that first step.

22:12 I think you never know where it might lend you. The so many volunteers who might evolve in their time at organizations and actually find themselves working at an organization. So what I think it starts with is finding that passion, finding that thing you're most passionate about. If it is homelessness, if it is animals, if it is refugees, or whatever the cause might be. It's finding that cause, finding an organization that has a tangible way for you to support that cause that fits with you, and then taking that first step and making it happen and reaching out asking the question. I think from a not for profit perspective, everyone's under resource and everyone doesn't have as much time as they want, so sometimes it does take a little reach out and ask the question if it's if it's possible to support in any way you can.

22:55 That's great advice and I would say, you know, I'm on the Sunshine Coast and we definitely could use more volunt he is up there. But what you said, also, you know, is finding out what you feel passionate about, because I know people who go on walk dogs, the RSPCA or you know, it might be domestic violence, it might be refugees. There's loads of causes that are always looking for people who feel passionately and who are willing to give up some time. There's fifty five thousand not for profits in Australia, so there's definitely one in your doorstep and on a cause you're passionate about, such as about connecting with them and finding the right way. And I know what the answer is, but I know there'll be people listening to say, why are you called Orange Sky? Can you tell us where the name came from? Absolutely so. Orange Skuy is the name of a song by British singer songwriter by name of Alexi Murdock. In his song Orange Sky talks about helping out your brothers and sisters and everyone standing underneath an orange sky together. And for Nick and I when we kicked off, we like the song, we like the name, we like the color, We couldn't really think of anything else creative, so we call it orange Sky and we're not politically or religiously associated. They need a name to really reflect that, and yeah, it's a great color and it works for us, so we put on Sudsey and it's stuck ever since.

24:00 Lucas, thank you so much for giving up your time to come in and have a conversation with me today, And I really hope that some people listening are inspired to go out and do something in their own community to make a difference. Thanks so much having me. Lots of us find meaning in life through our work or our family, but maybe you've overlooked the power of volunteering to add that joy and social connection and the sense of purpose missing in your life. If you've been inspired to think about some ways that you might be able to give back and make a difference, you can find out more about Orange Sky Laundry at orange. Sky dot org dot au. Or just google volunteering opportunities in your community or even volunteering holidays. My new book, Crappy to Happy, Love What You Do is out in all good bookstores, so if you want to find more happy in work, go and check it out. On the next episode, I'm talking to author, coach and international speaker Margie Warrel. The happiness that's available to all of us when we choose to live a braver life, and the steps that you can take to live more bravely.

25:08 Crappy to Happy is presented by Cash Dunn, produced by Davis Lenski, Audio production by Darcy Thompson. Listener