Stand with Wayside Chapel and warm a heart this winter.
You can help people sleeping rough come in from the cold – into a safe place where they can enjoy home-cooked meals, receive warm clothes, hot showers and be surrounded by a loving community.
Donate now and help us raise $600,000 this winter to fund Wayside’s Community Services Centres, and provide essential support for people doing it tough during the cold winter season.
Choose love over hate and show Sydney's most vulnerable that they are not forgotten.
Donate before June 30 to claim it this tax year.
Donate now to provide a home-cooked meal, warm clothes and a hot shower to a person sleeping rough on our streets this winter.
Guy just donated $43- Kathryn MacPherson just donated $43
- Dominique Zanolla just donated $43
- Anonymous just donated $121
- Anonymous just donated $43
- Susan Williams just donated $121
- Irene Zahra just donated $50
- Anonymous just donated $43
- Robyn just donated $121
- The Walkers just donated $43
- Alicia Harrison just donated $38
- Forest Family Practice just donated $403
- Anonymous just donated $43
- DEBORAH Beeston just donated $28
- Anonymous just donated $43
- Anonymous just donated $80
- Benjamin Parkinson just donated $319
- Cullinan family just donated $43
- Nicole Alexander just donated $121
- B C Jones just donated $43
The Challenge
Right now, there are 35,011 people experiencing homelessness in NSW alone.
Winter is one of the toughest times of year for our community, and for people sleeping rough, facing the cold, rain and wind... the colder months are brutal.
With the cost-of-living and rental prices skyrocketing, more people than ever before are turning to us for help.
Last winter, we had over 18,000 visits from people seeking urgent support and wrap around care... and we're expecting those numbers to grow even more this year.
We are determined to warm the hearts of people who need us most by providing home-cooked meals, warm clothes and hot showers this winter. But we need your help…
Together, we need to show the most vulnerable people in our community that they are loved, and not forgotten.
The Solution
We’re asking YOU to ‘Warm a Heart’ by making a donation to provide a home-cooked meal, warm clothes and a hot shower to a person sleeping rough on our streets.
Your kind gift also extends to helping our visitors find a path out of their crisis. It could be support in finding a job, arranging a place to stay, untangling legal issues or escaping family violence.
Stand with us to ensure we can continue to provide unconditional love, care and connection to our community, and a warm and loving place for people in crisis.
A donation of $38
can provide...
Home-cooked meals and a hot cuppa.
Warm clothing like jackets, scarves, beanies and gloves.
A hot shower with toiletries.
A welcoming and safe environment to connect with community.
Referrals to long-term support and housing services.
You can warm the hearts of people like CJ
Winter is an especially dangerous time to be sleeping rough on Sydney's streets.
The cold and the dark make everything harder. For the 262 visitors who come through Wayside's doors each day, the greatest fear isn't always the weather — it's the feeling that no one is fighting for you.
CJ knows that feeling well.
After a difficult divorce, CJ moved to Sydney for a fresh start. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he suddenly lost his job — leaving him in a new city with no income and his friends and family far away.
He found himself alone, sleeping rough in Sydney. Severe asthma had already sent him to hospital more than 25 times and nearly killed him. Chronic gum disease had left him unable to eat.
Then he found Wayside, and Nate, and experienced something different. Not a short-term fix, but someone who showed up for him. Someone who spent months navigating the system to find him a home. Someone who refused to let him down.
“It didn’t take long for me to lose everything. COVID hit and I lost my job. I didn’t have any friends or family, or really any support network in Sydney. Soon, I was living in my car with nowhere to go.”
- CJ, Wayside Chapel visitor
How does your donation help?
This winter, we're expecting more people will come to us feeling hungry, lonely and isolated.
Last winter*, our generous supporters have enabled us to provide...
10,344 clothes and bedding to keep a person clothed and warm.
2,595 hot showers and toiletries to people who are sleeping rough.
19,643 freshly-cooked meals to people who need it the most.
262 visitors a day on average, welcomed into the centre to support them the best we can.
*The above stats are from statistics captured from 1 June to 31 August 2025.
We are so grateful to our 1,413 supporters who are warming hearts this winter.
Together, we will show people sleeping rough on our streets that they are loved and not forgotten.
Guy
Kathryn MacPherson
Dominique Zanolla
May you be warm physically and mentally.
Anonymous
Anonymous
Susan Williams
You are brave and strong
Irene Zahra
Anonymous
Robyn
The Walkers
We hope this helps keep you a little warmer xx
Alicia Harrison
Forest Family Practice
Anonymous
DEBORAH Beeston
Anonymous
Anonymous
Cannot imagine being on the streets in winter. Let us all donate whatever we can afford to, to help somebody from shivering all night.
Benjamin Parkinson
Cullinan family
Nicole Alexander
B C Jones
