Dignity, a registered national charity established in 2015, has a clear vision: end homelessness in Australia.

This vision makes up Diginity’s simple mission: empower people with Dignity to prevent, respond to and end their homelessness by providing support, food, shelter, clothing, advocacy and education to empower people to regain control of their lives. This mission is more important than ever in the lead up to Christmas.

Tonight, 116,000 Australians will be homeless. Together, Youfoodz and Dignity aim to make that number zero.

Dignity currently provides supported temporary accommodation and longer-term housing for hundreds of people every night of the year and operates multiple programs to prevent homelessness including food relief and education across Australia.

Dignity has an incredibly high success rate of providing guests with positive outcomes within 14 days. Since their inception, Dignity has provided over 95,000 nights of supported temporary accommodation, more than 460,000 meals, and have had 84% of longer-term residents secure stable accommodation.

Dignity was started by Suzanne Hopman, a social services worker of more than 20 years, who sold her own home to open the first Dignity guest home in 2015.

“I had been working in social services for a long time and became increasingly frustrated by the way many people were treated, and by how many people fell through the gaps. I dreamt of what would be a better way, what would it look like if we treated people with Dignity?” said Suzanne Hopman.

“When most people think of homelessness they think of a man on the street with a brown paper bag asking for money, but people who are rough sleeping make up only 7% of homelessness. The other 93% are the hidden homeless - the men, women and children that you can’t see.

“Homelessness can happen to anyone. It usually takes only a few things to go horribly wrong for someone to find themselves experiencing homelessness. At Dignity, our oldest guest was a 90 year old man, our youngest - a newborn baby.

“Our basic needs of food, shelter and clothing need to be met before we can look at what’s next,” said Suzanne Hopman.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Dignity identified a growing demand for food relief, with demand significantly increasing and surpassing a level their busy volunteer network were able to meet - with so many people in the community finding themselves in need of food relief assistance for the first very first time.

In addition to supported temporary accommodation for persons experiencing homelessness, Dignity’s Food Relief Program assists those experiencing the financial burden of putting food on the table.

“So many people are on the edge of homelessness. Our partnership with Youfoodz supports us in the prevention of homelessness by being able to provide delicious, nutritious meals to people who are at-risk of homlessness, and having to make tough decisions of whether to put food on the table or pay their rent. It’s enabled us to do so much more for people,” Suzanne Hopman.

Since establishing their partnership in August 2021, ready-made meals brand Youfoodz has donated 1,500 healthy and hearty meals each month to Dignity, supporting their Food Relief Program which has now expanded to community centres around the country, directly assisting those at-risk of homelessness.

“We have been proud to donate over 1,500 meals a month and, to date we’ve donated over $75,000 worth, and for us that’s just the start,” said Youfoodz Founder & CEO, Lance Giles.

“We’re really excited to embark on a new year, to continue to support, help grow and expand with Dignity, and help more and more Australians in need,” said Lance Giles.

In the spirit of giving, Youfoodz is using their platform to raise awareness and to encourage the community to get behind Dignity and those experiencing homlessness this Christmas and beyond.

In addition to monthly ready-made meal donations, this Christmas Youfoodz is donating $1 for every online order placed between 16th - 22nd December towards meals for Dignity, feeding those most in-need around the country.

“Making Christmas Day special is a way we can celebrate the individual's self worth. It’s a time where they can meet some new friends and share in what might be the first happy Christmas that they’ve ever had,” said Suzanne Hopman.

Further supporting Dignity, Youfoodz’ Brisbane-based staff have banded together in the spirit of giving, donating hundreds of food hampers and gifts for men, women and children to bring joy and care to the community in need this Christmas.

“As a company, Youfoodz has a strong focus on supporting Aussie growers, families and communities,” said Lance Giles.

“We have been proactive in responding to and providing community support by way of emergency meal relief throughout the bushfire crisis, floods, and across the Covid-19 pandemic, and in 2021, we are proud to align with Dignity as our dedicated charity partner.

“The goal is to make a meaningful and impactful contribution to the community, now and into the future - by empowering people with Dignity,” said Lance Giles.

“Homelessness is a problem that can be solved. It just takes us to care enough to do something about it,” said Suzanne Hopman.

Join Youfoodz in supporting Dignity to help homelessness in Australia.