On one of the coldest nights, almost 1,500 CEOs around Australia, including insurance industry leaders, took part in the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout. The Thursday night vigil on a cardboard mattress with a sleeping bag raised more than $8 million. The money will fund St Vincent de Paul Society’s efforts to care for tens of thousands of homeless and prevent others experiencing the same misfortune.
Steadfast CEO Robert Kelly (pictured above) was among the fundraisers. His sponsors gave more than $137,000, putting the Steadfast boss into overall number-one place on the nationwide CEO Sleepout Leaderboard.
In Sydney, Kelly’s overnight effort was shared by a cohort of about 10 insurance executives, including Steadfast COO Nigel Fitzgerald. With about 200 others, this group of insurance professionals spent the night at White Bay Cruise Terminal in Rozelle.
Kelly spoke with Insurance Business just after leaving the terminal following a bacon and egg roll breakfast. He was in very good spirits despite the occasional sneeze likely induced by his cold night on the concrete.
“It's pretty exciting to think a whole lot of people raised that sort of money, I’m pretty thrilled,” he said.
The CEO explained how the previous night unfolded, starting at 5pm.
“You get two sheets of cardboard and a bowl of soup and a bread roll for dinner – which is really nice,” said Kelly. “Then there are talks about a whole lot of things related to sleeping rough.”
He said he heard some “great stories” about people who slept rough for many years and then with Vinnies’ help were able to get back into society.
“At about 10 o'clock that part of the evening ends and you all retire out,” said Kelly. “You're allowed to take a sleeping bag and you go and lie on the concrete and sleep till the morning.”
Kelly said, despite the cold, he was able to get to sleep at about 11pm.
“We were talking a bit and mucking around,” he said.
Scott Leney, country corporate officer in Australia for the global brokerage Marsh, was also there. Kelly said it was Leney – now on his 10th Vinnies Sleepout – who enticed him to get involved about 10 years ago.
“He and I then hatched a plan to see if we could use our connections in the insurance industry and get other people to come,” said Kelly.
Over several years, Kelly estimated that this group of insurance industry CEOs has raised about $1.4 million between them.
IB asked Kelly what he was thinking about as he lay in the cold trying to get to sleep.
“I reflected mostly on my grandfather who died an alcoholic on the streets,” he said. “As a small child I went many times with my mother and father to collect my grandpa who was in a rotten state and hadn’t washed himself or anything.”
Kelly said his grandfather would be in and out of the Matthew Talbot Hostel. This Sydney shelter and support service for homeless men has operated since 1938.
“Then he’d disappear for a few months and eventually, unfortunately, as is the fate of many alcoholics, he was found dead in the streets,” said Kelly. “I remember that clearly as a small child.”
However, there was another side to his grandfather that he also remembers.
“He fought in World War II and actually enlisted by putting his age back about 10 years because he wanted to go and fight,” said Kelly.
The Steadfast CEO said his grandfather, suffering from traumas experienced during his war service, failed to adjust back to civilian life and became an alcoholic and homeless. Unlike today, where war veterans have some support services, Kelly said those didn’t exist for WWII veterans.
“I reflected on what life might have been for him,” said Kelly. “He was a fine, outstanding man and a tall, good looking fellow but he died a derelict in the streets.”
Kelly said joining the Vinnies CEO Sleepout is, in part, a way of paying tribute to the memory of his grandfather and what could have been.
“At the time, I didn't understand his life, but of course retrospectively I now fully understand,” he said. “It wasn’t a very pleasant way to live or a very nice way to die, lying in the street cold,” he said.
Kelly said he was glad to see NSW Premier Chris Minns taking part, sleeping out in the cold with everyone else.
“I think the more people you can get to do this and publicize this sort of the thing, means the money will flow in,” said Kelly.
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