Cate's Cause

At the end of 2009 Cate Bolt became homeless. She left her home after being evicted on the 17th of December, her family were just one of several small business owners hit hard by the global financial crisis. With 9 children in tow, Cate and her husband, Rick set off on a unknown “adventure”.

The next day, one of the longest and most torrential wet seasons in South-East Queensland began. Armed with an expensive hire camper trailer and two tents, the family battled a flood of water and lost most of their clothing and food to mold and mildew. On the 6th of January, Cate published An Open Letter To The Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Kevin Rudd, & Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh MP on her blog, An Ordinary Life. Within hours she was inundated with a stream of emails as the link went viral on social media.

Some emails were of support, others were not. Cate learned in a very painful way that not everyone cared about homelessness, and worse still – many people have NO sympathy whatsoever for the homeless. The family was bombarded with a tyraid of abuse, criticism and even death threats from the collective conservative public.

The family have since found temporary housing, which does not accommodate the whole family but are grateful to have a bathroom (without cane toads, rats or mice) and a kitchen. Cate still sleeps in a tent but she’s on a mission to raise awareness on the issue of homelessness, assistance and support to existing homelessness services.

Since writing her Open Letter a national appeal has been established in her name in conjunction with the Bendigo Bank and community housing organisation 4 Walls Ltd.

Her greatest dream (and challenge) is to encourage compassion amongst the greater community towards homeless people.

This is Cate, this is her dream. This is Cate’s Cause.