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The largest single donation to Nedd Brockmann’s Uncomfortable Challenge has come from the real estate sector.
REA Group, the parent company of property listings giant realestate.com.au, has pledged to donate $122,000 to Nedd Brockmann’s Uncomfortable Challenge, which raises money for homelessness support through the charity We Are Mobilise.
The amount, $122,000, also has a symbolic meaning, with $1 donated for every Australian estimated to be experiencing homelessness on any given night.
Brockman has been highlighting the need for homelessness support since October 2022, when he completed a 3,952-kilometre run across Australia, from Perth to Sydney, raising roughly $1.4 million in the process.
This month, the ultrarunner attempted to run the fastest 1,000 miles ever with the goal of raising $10 million for Mobilise.
Though his effort didn’t break the 10-and-a-half day, 1988 record, with injuries putting him at a disadvantage, Brockmann’s 12-day run has inspired the nation, with over $3 million donated and a fundraising push now on for regular Aussies to tackle their own uncomfortable challenge for the cause.
In announcing REA’s donation, the group’s CEO Owen Wilson stressed how the support of homelessness services is fundamental to the company’s mission.
“REA’s purpose is to change the way the world experiences property, this includes those experiencing homelessness,” Wilson said.
REA has long contributed to causes that support homelessness services, with the group most recently donating 100 per cent of ticket proceeds from its Ready24 event – amounting to more than $400,000 – to several organisations working on the frontlines.
Wilson commented that Brockmann had highlighted the need for “communities and corporate Australia to do more and to be part of the solution”.
We Are Mobilise founder and CEO, Noah Yang, said the group was grateful yet not surprised by REA’s donation.
“We have been working with REA in the lead-up to Nedd’s run, so it was no surprise that when we put a call out to corporate Australia, they stepped up to take a stand and no longer accept homelessness as a fact of life, as they have been for years with other great homelessness movements,” Yang said.
He noted that REA’s funding is “the largest single donation to the campaign to date”.
“We’ll be tenacious in our efforts to make both REA Group and the other 40,000+ donors proud,” Yang added.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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