Toni Joel OAM

The Carey Medal Committee was thrilled to announce that Toni Joel OAM (1982) is the recipient of the 2024 Carey Medal. Toni is the co-founder and director of Tonic Australia and the founder of the Off Your Back winter coat drive, a charitable initiative dedicated to providing warm clothing to people in need during the colder months. In 2024, Toni was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her significant contributions to the community.

The Carey Medal represents an important commitment to community service by recognising people in our community making positive change. It is presented to a member of the Carey community (a past or present student, staff member or parent) in recognition of exceptional and outstanding service to the wider community either within the state, nationwide or internationally.

The award recognises selfless achievements, whether high profile or not, made in a short time or carried out over a long period. The recipient can be starting out in their community service journey or have years of service experiences.

Toni's story

When walking through the city it is not uncommon to come across people less fortunate than most of us, who have no work or home. Many wear old clothes, carry their belongings in a shopping bag, or are in situations where they simply have nowhere to spend the night with a roof over their head.

It is estimated that in Australia on any given night, approximately 120,000 people will be experiencing homelessness, and many more are living in insecure housing, ‘one step away from being homeless’. In Melbourne it’s estimated that an average of 700 people are ‘rough-sleeping’ every night, with thousands more living in temporary lodgings. Many of these individuals face complex issues – mental health challenges, addiction, trauma, poverty or systemic inequality – that make it difficult for them to break free from their circumstances.

To some, unhoused people can seem a little scary or confronting, and it is easy to look away when passing them by. We might feel a mixture of guilt, helplessness and sadness.

Yet these encounters serve as a reminder of the urgent need for more compassionate support systems and a greater sense of community care, which some individuals take upon themselves to advocate for.

One such person is Old Carey Grammarian Toni Joel.

One night, Toni saw a man lying on a park bench in the freezing cold and felt moved to give him her own coat off her back.

Toni thought, ‘Imagine if everyone opened their wardrobes and took out the coats that we, or our kids, are not going to wear again, and put them into the hands of people who needed them’.

Toni has said that an important part of her idea would be that, ‘No money would change hands, no complexities, just a pure and simple initiative’. Just giving something you no longer require to help a person in need.

After that night, Toni started the Off Your Back charity, which over the last two decades has received over 300,000 preloved, good-quality coats to re-distribute to disadvantaged people in the community.

The organisation operates on a simple model that collects and gives. The initiative has evolved to include school collections, company collaborations, and ‘the invaluable contributions of individual volunteers who dedicate their time and efforts to the program annually’. About the many contributors, Toni said, ‘They find joy in knowing that their cherished items embark on a new journey, bringing warmth and comfort to those who truly need them.’

Off Your Back now distributes coats widely, including to Youth Projects – a charity that provides front line support to young people and individuals experiencing disadvantage and homelessness – as well as to the Prison Network charity for ex-inmates, Salvation Army centres and a number of women’s shelters.

The simple, kind and selfless act of giving changes many lives.

If you want to learn more about Off Your Back, go to offyourback.com.au

Michael Lord
Carey Medal Committee Chair