For decades, the Vinnie’s night patrol van has been travelling the streets of Canberra -- providing people doing it tough with food, clothing, and emotional support. Those who rely on it, say the night patrol is life changing. This year, ABC Canberra has partnered with Vinnie’s for the 'ABC gives' campaign, to raise money for services like the van.
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00:00 It's been pretty rough. I was on the street for a year or two, not that long ago. Yeah,
00:11 the van boosted and supported me during those times when I had trouble, which I was on the
00:17 street and it's phenomenal. Yeah, like some nights I would go without food if it wasn't
00:22 for Vinnie's, so I'd say it's helped me tremendously over the years, yeah.
00:26 The night patrol van comes out to different stops in Canberra and to give out food, clothing,
00:33 necessities to get people through the night, and people that live doing it rough in the
00:36 streets of Canberra.
00:37 They don't look down on anyone. They treat everyone the same. Everyone's equal to them.
00:42 And I find I've gone into cafes and people just, they leave you to like, and you can
00:47 see the kind of the smear happen, you know, they don't even mean to do it I don't think,
00:52 but it happens. These guys are great. They come in, they've got real jobs, they're real
00:56 people from the real world, and they treat us as if we're the same. And that means a
01:00 lot psychologically I think. Well for me it does. I go away feeling better.
01:05 So like you know, if we don't get the donations from people, whether it be material donations
01:09 or financial donations, we can't then supply the van with petrol, with sandwiches, with
01:14 your milk, your condiments like your tea and coffee, and just things like that. So people
01:19 just will struggle even harder and not feel safe and secure.
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