|PIC1|Australians were challenged to "hush" for at least an hour on Friday to help raise funds for the 105,000 homeless men, women and children in the country.

Mission Australia, a community service organisation, ran "Hush for Homelessness" with the theme "Say nothing and do something for homeless Australians".

"Hush for Homelessness symbolises the 'invisible' and 'voiceless' lives that homeless Australians lead," said organisers. "Mission Australia challenges you to experience what it’s like to be voiceless, by not speaking for an hour (or more!) on Friday ... and to seek sponsorship for your silence."

Thousands were expected to participate in the initiative, said to be the country's biggest fundraiser for the homeless.

According to Mission Australia, half of Australians who have no place to call home are under the age of 25 and 10,000 are children under 12-years-old.

Participants were asked to mobilise funds and seek sponsorship from family and friends for keeping silent.

The funds raised will go to Mission Australia's services providing crisis care, transitional or medium-term accommodation and essential support for the homeless.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said ahead of the effort: "It’s wrong for us to accept homelessness. It’s wrong that we’ve got a lady on our streets, only 200 meters from here, who hasn’t got a bed to go to.

"It’s wrong that tonight we’ll have a mum and dad, and their kids sleeping in a car. And it’s wrong that we’ve got teenagers having to sleep with men so they’ve got somewhere to have a bed for the night.

“But that is what’s happening in our city – and it’s not a long way from here every night if you walk through the square you will see homeless people – and it's wrong and we should not accept it."

He suggested that people nominate their bosses to "zip it" and have the office donate funds to keep him or her quiet for an hour.

"When I offered to take part in Hush for Homelessness last year I was inundated with staff sponsoring me – and I’m confident I’ll get a similar response today," Hall joked.


On the web: www.hushforhomelessness.com.au