On such a horribly cold weekend, it should not take much to think of people in Canberra who are homeless, who can't walk into a warm, safe home or sleep soundly in a cosy bed.
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YouthCare Canberra says on any given night, nearly 500 young people in Canberra are homeless. Some couch-surf with friends; others are on the street or hidden away in bushland.
ActewAGL is coming to the party and hoping to raise at least $10,000 for YouthCare Canberra through an online auction of memorabilia at allbids.com.au.
Paul Walshe, ActewAGL's can-do man, was going through a company storeroom where about 20 years' worth of memorabilia was piling up. They were items usually purchased at charity fundraising nights or items given to ActewAGL by organisations it had sponsored such as the Brumbies or Capitals.
"I thought, 'Why don't we auction them off for charity?' which is a much better use for them than just gathering dust in a storeroom at ActewAGL,'' Mr Walshe said.
There are 25 items in the online auction which is open until Wednesday evening, with bids starting to close from 7pm that night.
"It's an eclectic selection of sporting and political memorabilia,'' Allbids Auctions CEO Rob Evans said.
One of the quirkier items is a 2002 photograph of Gough Whitlam, signed by the great man himself, in front of Jackson Pollock's painting Blue Poles, the $1.3 million purchase of which he controversially approved in 1973.
There is also a framed Capitals championship singlet from 2008/09, a signed Canberra Cannons print from 2001-2 and framed ACT Brumbies Super 12 Champions 2004 signed team jumper. And lots more.
Mr Walshe said the fundraising went initially to Hands Across Canberra, the umbrella group which helps 200 charities across Canberra.
Hands Across Canberra CEO Peter Gordon said ActewAGL wanted to target youth homelessness and YouthCare Canberra was at the cutting edge. Coincidentally, YouthCare Canberra outreach worker Zack Bryers, the ACT's 2018 Young Australian of the Year, spoke at a Hands Across Canberra function at the Lodge on Friday night.
Mr Evans said charities using Allbids Auctions had raised well over $3 million, with more than $500,000 raised this year alone.
"We work with all sorts of charities around Canberra and we're very parochial about helping Canberrans and ActewAGL is the same so we saw this as a great way to work together,'' he said.
