Media Release:

Mission Australia and Bayer Launch Campaign to Help Homeless Australians

Help transform Homelessness without having to spend a cent

With the global economic downturn, the need to support Australia's disadvantaged must be a priority. High costs of living, the burden of debt and the looming growth in unemployment have all intensified financial pressure on disadvantaged Australians, says Mission Australia, and will lead to a surge in demand for crisis services over the coming months.

With the threat of a recession, and an estimated 200,000 job losses predicted next year, Mission Australia is asking Australians to assist vulnerable people in the community by getting behind today's launch of the Transform Homelessness campaign, a joint online initiative between Bayer Australia and Mission Australia.

The Transform Homelessness campaign encourages Australians to visit www.transformhomelessness.com.au and create a butterfly to show their support for the 105,000 Australians who are homeless each night¹. The butterfly is Mission Australia's symbol for transforming the lives of disadvantaged people.

For every butterfly created, Bayer Australia will donate $1 to Mission Australia - and it won't cost you a cent. The aim is to create a map of Australia with 60,000 butterflies and raise $60,000 for Mission Australia to inject back into the community and support homeless Australians.

Mission Australia's Executive Leader for Community Services, Lincoln Hopper, believes the Transform Homelessness campaign is a great way for Australians to contribute to the community and raise muchneeded funds.

"In recent months, Mission Australia has already seen an increased demand for food and travel vouchers and even worse, an increased number of Australians who are homeless for the first time due to a single financial crisis such as a major illness or even losing their job.

"When tough economic times hit, it's those at the margins who suffer first. Interest rates may be coming down but the cost of living, particularly rent, is still high and if unemployment rises substantially we'll see more families and individuals turning to us for help. The lead up to Christmas can be particularly tough when expenses usually go up.

"This is a time when Australians need to help one another. Christmas is the time for giving so we hope all Australians will support the Transform Homelessness cause by visiting the website and forwarding the link onto their friends.

"We rely on the generous support of corporate partners like Bayer to fund our services and the $60,000 raised from this campaign will be vital to support disadvantaged Australians in the coming year," said Mr Hopper.

Senior Bayer Representative for Australia and New Zealand, Hans-Dieter Hausner is thrilled Bayer is able to help the Australian community through the launch of this initiative with Mission Australia.

"Bayer has been a long-term supporter of Mission Australia and we look forward to the money raised from the Transform Homelessness campaign helping our fellow Australians through these tough financial times. It's a great way of supporting Mission Australia," said Mr Hausner.

To find out more about the Transform Homelessness initiative and how you can help, please visit www.transformhomelessness.com.au.

References:
1. ABS, 'Counting the Homeless', 2006.

Mum Zone Release Date: 16th December 2008

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