Christmas on the Streets

Home
Australia
Melbourne, VIC
Christmas on the Streets

Founded in Melbourne, with global plans, Christmas on the Streets (COTS) is working to break the stigma against our homeless brothers and sisters. You and I.

Christmas on the Streets, also known as COTS, is a nonprofit organisation aiding those who are homeless, on the verge of homelessness or poverty stricken. COTS provides food, clothes, sanitary items, gifts and companionship to individuals or communities that are in need. Through their service, COTS also works towards breaking the stigma against those who have found themselves in unfortunate circumstances and reminds whoever they encounter that they are unconditionally loved, important and always have a purpose. COTS came to fruition in Melbourne, Australia in the year of 2016. Although seeds were being planted in the hearts of the founder for years prior to the establishment, COTS unexpectedly began as a supposedly one-off event (which you can read about on the website). The response following the first event became the spring-board that launched COTS into what it is today. It didn’t only open our eyes to show how serious and real the homelessness crisis in our very own backyard was, but it revealed the beauty of the human spirit that reigns because of the overwhelming number of people who also want to bring about positive change. It wasn’t just the striking stories which were shared on the streets that impelled COTS to take off, rather this entire movement is a true testament to the open and generous hearts of the incredible volunteers who have supported making the world a better place since day one. COTS is not just another ‘charity thing’ – it’s a human thing. All of us are called to help and pick each other up when one has fallen. That’s why COTS does what it does; because we believe it’s time to stop judging and turning a blind eye, but instead pour endless love into a world that desperately needs it. We will change the world. Together. Today.

28/09/2026

Some birthday wishes stay with you forever 🤍

For her 10th birthday, Sienna could have wished for anything.

Instead, her one birthday wish was to come back to Melbourne, join us on a COTS Street Run and spend the night serving alongside her “friends.”

Sienna and her beautiful mum, Megan, have been volunteering with COTS since Sienna was just two years old.

What started as a curious little girl coming along beside her mum has grown into the most compassionate, confident young leader - someone who reminds us all what it means to love harder, see the person before the circumstance, and lead without judgement.

So when Megan told us they were flying down to Melbourne and shared what Sienna’s birthday wish was, there was only one thing to do…

We organised an extra Street Run and surprised the birthday girl.

This carousel holds just a few memories from Sienna’s journey with COTS over the years…from that tiny two-year-old beside her mum to the incredible 10-year-old standing and serving beside us today. What a privilege it has been to watch her grow.

Our greatest wish at COTS will always be for the day Street Runs no longer need to exist because nobody is sleeping on our streets waiting for a meal, a warm jacket, a conversation or simply someone to remind them that they matter.

But until that day comes, hearts like Sienna’s give us so much hope.

Because when a 10-year-old’s birthday wish isn’t about what she can receive, but about what she can give, you’re reminded that the future is in some pretty extraordinary hands.

Sienna, never lose that beautiful heart of yours. Keep loving harder. Keep choosing kindness. Keep seeing people for who they are.

Maybe, with future leaders like you, the day homelessness ceases to be a reality really can go from being a dream to something we one day get to witness.

Happy 10th birthday, precious girl. What an honour it has been to watch you grow and have you part of our circle 🌏❤️

09/09/2026

It’s been quite some time since I’ve sat behind a podcast microphone 🎙️

A huge thank you to Chris Christofi | Entrepreneur | Philanthropist and Mel Yu for welcoming me onto the RELENTLESS: Life On Your Terms podcast. It was special to be given the opportunity to pause, reflect on the past 10 years of Christmas on the Streets, and share more about the journey, the people and the purpose behind it all.

Chris and Mel are both people I genuinely look up to and feel inspired by, and I’m so grateful to have them in my circle.

The conversation will go live and be shared with our COTS community soon 🙏🏼🌏❤️

05/09/2026

Our September and October Street Run dates are here! 🙏🏼

We can’t believe this is already the second-last release of COTS Street Run dates for yet another year - where has the time gone? 🤯

Mark the dates in your diaries and please let us know which Street Runs you can join. Everyone is welcome! You can come on your own, bring a friend or gather a group and join us as we walk the streets of Melbourne, sharing meals, essentials and connection with our friends experiencing homelessness.

If you can’t make it, you can still support a COTS Street Run by making a donation towards the meals and essentials we distribute. Every contribution makes a difference.

And keep your eyes peeled…we have a couple more exciting COTS 10 for 10 events happening across September and October that we cannot wait to share with you! 👀

Thank you, as always, for your overwhelmingly generous and ongoing support. Whether you volunteer, donate, share our mission or simply help spread the word, you make it possible for COTS to continue showing up for our community 🌏❤️

24/08/2026

THE WAIT IS OVER ✨ TICKETS FOR THE COTS 10 YEAR GALA ARE NOW LIVE!

Before we’ve even been able to share them publicly…60% of tickets are already gone.

Ten years of COTS.
Ten years of showing up.
Ten years of choosing compassion, dignity and hope — and proving what can happen when a community decides to leave the world better than they found it.

On Saturday the 5th of December, we celebrate everything that has brought us here, and everything still to come.

This is THE gala to end the year on. We promise you, this is an event you do not want to hear about afterwards and wish you had been in the room for.

We have an unforgettable night in store.

Special guests.
Incredible auction items.
Raffles and surprises.
Stories from a decade of impact.
And some major announcements about what comes next for COTS — in 2027 and beyond 🚀

Some things are being saved exclusively for that room, on that night…

Beyond the celebration, there is something much bigger behind every seat at every table.

Every ticket purchased is a donation to COTS.

Your ticket doesn’t simply give you a seat at our 10 Year Gala. It helps launch COTS into its next decade of service — another decade of reaching people doing it tough, restoring dignity, creating connection and reminding those experiencing homelessness and hardship that they are never without hope.

So when you join us, you’re not just celebrating the impact.

You’re helping create what comes next.

With more than half already sold, remaining tickets are extremely limited and we genuinely expect them to move quickly.

Bring your partner. Bring your friends. Fill a table. Make a night of it.

Come dressed up. Come ready to celebrate. Come ready to give.

And most importantly — come be part of the next chapter.

10 YEARS. A DECADE OF IMPACT.
ONE UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT 💫

📅 Saturday 5 December 2026
📍 The Promenade Docklands
🕖 7:00PM

TICKETS ARE LIVE NOW. LINK IN OUR BIO AND WEBSITE.

Get in quick, you do not want to miss out ✨🖤

17/08/2026

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON! 🥂✨

After 10 years of Christmas on the Streets, we’re getting ready to celebrate the people, the moments and the impact that have made this journey what it is.

Tickets to the COTS 10 YEAR GALA officially go on sale to the public next week - MONDAY 24 AUGUST 2026.

Our partners, sponsors and those who have been part of the COTS journey from the very beginning have already been given priority access, and tickets are already moving.

When public sales open next Monday, availability will be extremely limited and we anticipate this event will sell out quickly.

So put the date in your diary. Set the reminder. Get the group chat ready.

Come on your own. Bring a plus one. Or get a table together with the people you want beside you for one of the biggest nights in COTS history.

🗓️ Saturday 5 December 2026
📍 The Promenade, Docklands

Ten years of COTS. One room. One unforgettable night.
Be there! 🖤

12/08/2026

Sunday marked the final day of Homelessness Week 2026, and we spent it where the heart of COTS has always been: on the streets ❤️‍🩹

It was cold, wet and busy in Melbourne’s C*D. As we walked through the city, our volunteers met many of our friends sleeping rough, sharing warm meals, essentials, conversations and connection.

On our walk back, we passed friends setting up for the night, and others already asleep on the cold ground. For those sleeping, we quietly left warm meals beside them with the hope that when they woke up, there would at least be something there to eat.

For those we met and spoke with, the gratitude was overwhelming. Gratitude for a warm meal. For some essentials. For stopping to have a conversation. For remembering them. For seeing them.

But the truth is, we are the grateful ones, and the reality is that each COTS Street Run reminds us of what COTS has continually reminded us over the past decade - that there is still so much work to be done.

Homelessness Week may have ended on Sunday, but homelessness didn’t.

The people we met are still sleeping on Melbourne’s streets tonight. They are still navigating the cold, the rain, uncertainty and circumstances that no person should have to face alone.

This is happening in our own backyard.

These are our people, and they need us.

A huge thank you to every volunteer who joined us on Sunday and continues to show up, week after week, to make our Street Runs are possible.

And a very special welcome and thank you to our new friends at Blessing Bags Melbourne, a volunteer-led organisation providing hygiene packs and essential items to people experiencing homelessness and disadvantage across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. We are incredibly grateful to have teamed up with them, and for the essentials they have generously donated for us to distribute through our outreach.

We’re looking forward to continuing to work alongside people and organisations who share the same belief we do - that looking after our community is something we all have a part to play in 🙏🏼

Homelessness Week creates awareness.
Awareness matters.
But showing up matters too 🌏❤️

28/07/2026

Some moments don’t need explaining.

Thank you, Leon, for sharing yours with us 🤍

And thank you to Billi, and every single volunteer at our annual COTS Winter Event, whose kindness is a reminder that compassion has the power to change the way someone sees themselves.

In turn, that reminder of a person’s inherent dignity can go on to change a life - something we’ve been incredibly fortunate to witness throughout the past decade of serving our community.

This truly is our why 🌏❤️

20/07/2026

Everything you need to know about our 2026 COTS Winter Event is right here ❄️🤍

Please take a moment to read through these FAQs, then help us spread the word by sharing this post to your stories, your page, or with your family and friends.

If you’re in a position to please to support us, every donation makes a real difference. Your generosity helps us:
☕ Support our incredible coffee cart, Blue Cup Coffee Melbourne, who are generously donating their time to serve hundreds of free coffees on the day.
🍲 Cover the cost of catering and food supplies.
🧦 Purchase enough life-saving winter essentials including sleeping bags, warm jackets, socks, blankets and more for our friends doing it tough this winter.

If you’d like to contribute, donations can be made directly to our charity bank account (details in the slides or via the link in our bio).

And if you’ve been thinking about getting involved, this is your sign. We would love to have you with us on the day. Please remember to let us know you will he joining and register on our website so we can prepare accordingly 🙏🏼

Everyone is welcome to volunteer!

Together, let’s make this our biggest and most impactful COTS Winter Event yet 🌏❤️

09/07/2026

July & August COTS Street Runs ❄️

We’ve got a big couple of months ahead, and our COTS Street Runs are continuing as we head into the coldest part of winter.

Our July outreach kicks off this Saturday and we’d love to see you there. Whether you’ve joined us before or it’s your very first time, everyone is always welcome 🙏🏼

COTS Street Run starting times remain the same.
Saturdays are at 4:30pm, Sundays at 2:30pm and weeknights at 7:00pm. Briefing takes place just outside Flinders Street Station, before we get into groups, walk our route, catch up with our friends and then regroup for our final debrief.

As the weather gets colder, the need on our streets continues to grow. For many of our friends experiencing homelessness, winter is the toughest time of the year. Every conversation, every meal, every warm jacket, blanket and sleeping bag makes a difference.

If you’ve been thinking about coming along, this is your sign. Bring a friend, your family, your workmates, or come on your own.

If you’re unable to join us in person but would still like to help, you can support our mission by donating towards the food, drinks, sleeping bags, warm clothing and other winter essentials that we purchase week in, week out.

COTS is run entirely by volunteers and it’s been this way since the beginning - for almost 10 years.

Every contribution, no matter the size, helps us continue showing up for those who need it most.

You can also help us by sharing this post so we can reach more volunteers and supporters.

Thank you for standing with us this winter. No one should ever have to do it on their own, especially not in our own backyard.

Please let us know when you’ll be joining by sending us a message. We look forward to serving alongside you soon! 🌏❤️

04/07/2026

Last week, Nas shared our COTS Winter Event flyer on LinkedIn.

It was a simple post, but it made me incredibly nostalgic.

Many people don’t know this, but I first met Nas in November 2016, just weeks before COTS was born, while I was walking the streets asking people what their dream Christmas present would be.

When I had the idea to hold the very first COTS Winter Event in July 2017, COTS was only six months old.

Nas was the very first person I told.

I remember asking him, “If I hire a hall in the middle of winter and invite all of our friends from the streets inside, will you come and cut hair?”

Without hesitation, he said yes.

What people also don’t know is that behind the scenes, I was a 20-year-old with absolutely no idea how to run a charity.

I didn’t have experience or a blueprint.

I just knew I loved people, believed everyone deserved dignity, and trusted that if I kept showing up, God would make a way.

But a week before that first Winter Event, I was so nervous I almost cancelled it.

I remember saying to Nas, “Imagine no one comes. Imagine we’ve done all this work and none of our friends walk through the doors.”

I’ll never forget his response.

“And so what if they don’t? You’ll have a hall full of good people with big hearts who’ve given up their day off to do something good. It’ll be a good day regardless. Whoever is meant to be there will be there.”

Those words were enough to keep me going.

When we opened the doors, more than 100 people walked through.

Lives were changed.

The next morning, we woke up to a double-page spread in The Age.

But more importantly, that day cemented the mission I knew God had placed on my heart.

As we get closer to COTS’ tenth birthday, I’ve found myself reflecting on the people who shaped this journey.

Nas is one of them.

Ten years of serving alongside each other.

Ten years of friendship.

And in just a few weeks, we’ll walk back into that very same hall and do it all over again.

What a gift.

Thank you, my brother, for believing in me before there was much to believe in.

I’ll never forget it.

Ten years later, you’re still saying yes.
Thank you. We are so grateful for you 🙏🏼🌏❤️

Address

Melbourne, VIC

Website

http://www.christmasonthestreets.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Christmas on the Streets posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Christmas on the Streets:

Featured

Outback Academy Australia

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in Melbourne?