For most Western Australians, a car represents freedom, convenience and the daily commute, however for a growing number, it has become something else entirely.
It is a bedroom, a dining room, a place to keep the few possessions they have left. Increasingly, it is where employed people, families and children are ending their day after exhausting every other option.
Western Australia's housing crisis has reached a point where homelessness no longer fits traditional stereotypes. Many of those experiencing housing insecurity are still going to work each morning. They are paying bills, contributing to the economy and doing everything society asks of them, yet they are quietly slipping into crisis as soaring rents, limited housing supply and the rising cost of living outpace their ability to cope.
For Foodbank WA, this growing reality has revealed another consequence of the housing crisis: food insecurity.
As more households direct every available dollar towards keeping a roof over their heads or simply finding somewhere safe to sleep, food is increasingly becoming the expense that disappears first.
It is this intersection between housing and hunger that inspired Park for a Purpose, a new initiative that asks one simple question: what if more business leaders truly understood what it means to have nowhere else to go?
On 10 September, corporate executives, directors, business owners and community leaders will spend a night sleeping in their vehicles, not to recreate homelessness, but to better understand the uncertainty and vulnerability experienced by thousands of Western Australians every night.
The experience has been deliberately designed to move beyond fundraising, instead, it seeks to replace statistics with perspective and awareness with empathy.
Foodbank WA Chief Executive Officer Kate O'Hara believes genuine understanding is often the catalyst for meaningful change.
"This experience initiative goes far beyond fundraising," Ms O'Hara said.
"For a growing number of Western Australians, spending a night in a car isn't a choice it's their reality. Park for a Purpose challenges us to confront that reality, to step outside our comfort zones and truly understand what hardship in our community looks and feels like.
"When people come together in this way, it builds awareness and drives action. And that action is critical if we're going to reach more people, earlier, and stop families from slipping into crisis. We want to help keep people in their homes."
The event also reflects a growing recognition that housing insecurity is no longer solely a welfare issue. It is becoming a workforce issue, an economic issue and a challenge that increasingly affects employers, businesses and communities alike.
That broader perspective has attracted strong support from Western Australia's corporate sector.
Presenting partners Brain & Cognitive Function Clinic and Perth Integrated Events Team have joined major partner Perth Airport, alongside supporting organisations including Kinetic and Brollie Brigade who will help bring the initiative to life.
For Dan Sweet, Chief Property Officer at Skyfields by Perth Airport, supporting Park for a Purpose aligns with Perth Airport's commitment to strengthening the communities it serves.
"Perth Airport is incredibly proud to be supporting Foodbank WA's inaugural Park for a Purpose event. This important initiative will help raise awareness of housing and food insecurity in our community, while raising vital funds to help deliver food relief where it's needed most."
For Ian Wee, Founder of Brain & Cognitive Function Clinic, the event is also an invitation for leaders to pause amid increasingly busy professional lives.
"It is often said that we see our lives go by as we drive. We miss details, we forgo the scenery, we forget the pause and what matters," Mr Wee said.
"This September 10, let's change that notion by Parking for a Purpose as we showcase and share with leaders, CEOs and directors that while transport and commute are essential, there is more to our daily hustle. Let's pause for a purpose, reconnect and build the relevance and connections that matter."
Perhaps the most powerful perspective comes from those choosing to participate. WA Mining Club Chief Executive Officer Cassandra Brennan admits that while spending one night in a vehicle cannot replicate homelessness, it has already prompted her to reflect on the privileges many people take for granted.
"It's raining. It's cold. Tonight I will go to bed with a full stomach and a warm doona.
"I won't be afraid of getting mugged. My children won't have to share a pillow on the back seat. We won't wash in the local park's toilet block, "I am so grateful and I am so privileged.
"I'm taking part in Park for a Purpose because I can and because I should. I can afford to support this cause. I have a network of fantastic contacts who can support me.
"Because no parent should have to explain to their children why they don't have a bed to sleep in.
"Because no parent should have to explain to their children that they can't have a visitor over because he or she sleeps in their car."
Foodbank WA Ambassador Kerri Burrman says that same sense of responsibility has motivated her long-standing support of the organisation.
"I have always believed that those who are in a position to give back should do just that.
"It is unfathomable to me that people in WA are struggling to put quality food on the table for their family, largely due to the rising cost of living.
"Foodbank WA has been my charity of choice for many years because I can see the impact they are having, and as a supporter it's heartening to see first-hand how they help so many people in our community. By supporting Foodbank WA I feel like I am genuinely part of something meaningful."
The funds raised through Park for a Purpose will support the establishment of an additional Mobile Foodbank, enabling Foodbank WA to deliver food directly to communities where access to traditional food relief services is limited, particularly for people living in cars, caravans and temporary accommodation.
But perhaps the initiative's greatest ambition is not measured in dollars. It is measured in perspective.
Because meaningful change rarely begins with policy alone. It begins when people choose to understand a reality different from their own.
For one night in September, a parked car will become more than somewhere to leave the office. For hundreds of Western Australians, it will become a reminder that for too many people, home is no longer a place it is simply where they happen to park.
https://foodbank-wa-park-for-a-purpose.raiselysite.com/
By Hearts and Minds
