"Moving cities from poverty to equality"

Established in 2009 by 23 year old Mr Leighton Walters, Heart for the Homeless is a not-for-profit organisation focussed on empowering industries to be active in reducing poverty. By implementing cutting edge and innovative initiatives, Heart for the Homeless aims to get resources such as food, clothing and furniture to those who would otherwise go without.

At Heart for the Homeless, we believe that homelessness and poverty is a very complex issue, however, we aim to directly assist those living in poverty and hardship by building solid relationships with other like-minded charitable organisations.

Heart for the Homeless works on identifying industries where usable wastage can be directed to support those suffering hardship. Once identifying these industry sectors and the processes within, Heart for the Homeless compiles and executes initiatives and systems in order to maximise the resource generated and minimise the wastage and damage to the environment.

As a young organisation, Heart for the Homeless is passionate on inspiring a generational shift focussed on igniting the future of our industries to be pro-active in seeing poverty come to dramatic halt.
At Heart for the Homeless, we believe in people. If you are interested in becoming a valuable Heart for the Homeless Volunteer, please click here.

“When Compassion becomes Action”
July, 2009

I had just gone shopping after work for the bare essentials in groceries. Loading my car, I noticed an hurried people turning a blind eye to a homeless man on a busy street corner seeming unusually interested in an empty brown box. I saw person after person walking past and looking down and simply ignoring the obvious need for this homeless gentleman.

It was almost as if I could hear the thoughts of the people; "someone else will deal with it" or "he deserves it". But on this day, I chose to listen, offer and meet the need of this homeless gentleman. In an act of sheer spontaneity, I offered this homeless gentleman the food I had just purchased. This gentleman simply wept. As he was deaf, we found it difficult to communicate, but as our eyes met I gained some understanding. My heart just fell, and my eyes began to well up with tears. It was this day that all my complaints seemed to fade away. This day, for me Homelessness just got Human.

I decided to never be the same again, I wanted to do something but thought, ‘as a young professional in the real estate industry, how can I really make a difference?’ It was over the following days at work that the idea sprang out at me. Wasted non-perishable food, clothing and furniture thrown out during relocation could be salvaged. In my experience, anywhere between 15 and 50 kilograms of usable resources gets thrown in the bin and wasted, destined to the landfill when every person moves. Being brought up in a family in the real estate industry, I saw that I could invent a system and network that required only minor additions to the already existing procedures. This system could begin to generate resources with every person moving through a partnered agency, given an opportunity to donate effortlessly.

With this system in place when residents move house the opportunity to give any unwanted goods is almost 100%. So, after conducting several focus groups and trialing the system, I have found that we can implement it at no cost or inconvenience to either party. My vision is to develop and operate a national network of Real Estate Agencies and volunteers who use our minor additions to already existing procedures to consistently generate and maximise resource for already existing charities and thus minimising wastage.

What if one of Australia's most solid industries can literally breathe resource into charities helping those in need?

So, after months we have established "Heart for the Homeless". We are a small group of young professionals wanting to make a difference and mobilise our community to do something, instead of nothing. After just word of mouth discussions, and one agency participating we have generated over 1.6 tons of clothing and 1.4 tons of non-perishable food items. As the initiative grows, we are excited to begin moving cities from poverty to equality.

Leighton Walters
CEO and Founding Director