When the dinner, simulation game and discussions about homelessness ended at the Fusion Community Centre on Saturday night 14 people went home to the warmth of their beds.
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But another 11 stayed, most to sleep in their cars to experience braving a chilly winter’s night in Orange when you have no home.
Fusion Community Development Co-ordinator Bev Rankin said it was a chilly night.
“It was around two degrees at midnight, it was snowing at 6am, it was a wet night,” she said.
Mrs Rankin said they raised $1200, with donations still being accepted.
She said all 25 particpants, including Orange City councillor Tony Mileto and Nationals candidate for Orange Yvette Quinn, played a simulation game about the homeless who sought a bed for the night with official agencies.
“It highlighted for the different people who took part in it how some get lucky and you can get a bed or you just get referred to [another] agency,” she said.
“That is what the reality of life is like, sometimes there are no beds.”