Heart for the Homeless Launch Digital ‘It’s Your Move’ Awareness Campaign
By Street News on 7 Mar 2014
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Click to view the Heart for the Homeless ‘Cardboard City’ stop-motion video
Media Release
• Heart for the Homeless team up with creative agency The Lume in new initiative to raise awareness around homelessness in Australia
• Approximately 105,000 people will be homeless tonight
• Homelessness has risen 17 per cent since the 2006 census
‘It’s Your Move’ digital initiative uses 60-second stop-motion video to encourage household goods donations to charities, using the Heart For The Homeless website.
According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, homelessness has increased by 17 per cent since the 2006 census with an estimated 105,000 people homeless each night.
“There is no silver bullet to homelessness,” said Heart For The Homeless founder and former real estate agent, Leighton Walters, “If we can creatively connect supplies to those in need I believe we could see their lives significantly impacted.
“That is why we have teamed up with the creative people at The Lume to promote the ‘It’s Your Move’ initiative.”
Put simply, ‘It’s Your Move’ is an online initiative that swiftly notifies local charities where to collect unwanted household items from sold properties, or from residents looking to offload their furniture and downsize.
“Rather than throwing away their disused or unloved clothes and furniture, we are encouraging all tenants and homeowners to think about donating their unwanted goods to someone less fortunate in the community through our organisation,” said Mr Walters.
“Essentially, we want to give meaning to the mundane task of getting rid of unwanted goods.”
“Put simply, ‘It’s Your Move’ is an online initiative that swiftly notifies local charities where to collect unwanted household items from sold properties.”
The charities then redistribute the goods to those in need, or sell the goods with the proceeds going to help fund crisis counseling and emergency housing.
According to Mr Walters, the concept behind the new website is to better connect homeowners and tenants with existing charitable services in an age where technology is ever-increasing.
“It is exciting to dream of what is possible when we invest our time into a cause,” said Mr Walters, “and by utilising technology we can see our efforts multiply in outcome.”
Tenants and homeowners are being encouraged to donate their unwanted goods
Photo: Meathead movers
To support the awareness around the launch of ‘It’s Your Move’, the team at Heart for the Homeless approached John Cavallaro and the creative minds at The Lume to help construct a 60-second stop-animation video, titled ‘Cardboard City‘.
The team at The Lume spent 900 hours taking over 2500 photos of 450 cardboard cut-outs to create ‘Cardboard City’. The materials used were 8 Ikea boxes, 5 cereal boxes, 18 LED torches, 47 batteries and 2 cameras.
“It was a great learning curve for us as we had never done stop-motion or built a miniature set before,” said Mr Cavallaro.
“I sought the advice of several of the world’s leading stop motion animators who had worked on movies like Caroline, and the new Lego movie. Most of the time we felt like big kids playing with toys.”
According to Mr Cavallaro, the team at The Lume got behind the idea because they believed in the Heart for the Homeless cause.
“Unfortunately when it comes to homelessness, there is no one size fits all…”
“When I met with Leighton and heard about his cause, I loved the idea,” remarked Mr Cavallaro.
“The simplicity of the idea and authenticity of all involved is inspiring and I hope that it continues its rapid growth across Australia.”
“Ideally, I would love to really see this charity become recognised in the public consciousness,” said Mr Cavallaro.
Despite the achievement of the ‘It’s Your Move’ website and video, when it comes to raising awareness around homeless in Australia, Mr Walters conceded that there is no silver bullet.
“Unfortunately when it comes to homelessness, there is no one size fits all, which is why we are working to develop systems that are diverse and broad, yet efficient and effective.
“If we can creatively dream on connecting these supplies to those in need, I believe we could see millions of lives impacted locally and billions impacted globally by the vision that is Heart for the Homeless,” said Mr Walters.
“I feel like we have been entrusted the huge privilege of being a part of the next generation of charitable works.”
To find out more about the services of Heart For The Homeless, visit www.heartforthehomeless.org
