Melissa Donnelly

One night won’t fix everything. But it shows we’re not looking away.

Every night, women and children across Australia are forced to make an impossible choice. Stay in a home where violence, control and coercion rule - or leave with nowhere safe to go. 

That’s why I’m taking part in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.

No one should have to choose between safety and a roof over their head. But the reality is:

++ In 2023–24, over a quarter of people receiving support from homelessness services identified domestic and family violence as the main reason for needing help

++ 45% of women and girls seeking homelessness support do so because of DFV

++ And in the past year alone, there’s been a 23% increase in women and children sleeping rough

For seven years, I served on the Board of the Domestic Violence Prevention Centre. And in that time, I saw how often homelessness is the price women pay for trying to protect themselves and their children.

So on 19 June, I’ll be sleeping outside for one night — in solidarity with those who don’t have the privilege of choice.

I’m aiming to raise $3,000 — and every donation helps move us closer to a community where no woman, no child, has to sleep in fear.

Will you help me reach this goal?