Beau Haywood is one of those people. He is the kind of person whose kindness isn’t something he switches on when it’s convenient, it’s something he lives and breathes. While many of us wake up thinking about our to do lists, Beau wakes up thinking about what he can give. How he can lift someone’s spirits. Who might need a hot meal, a tent, or simply someone who sees them. His heart seems permanently tuned to the needs of those around him.
It was this natural instinct to care, combined with the hardest parts of his own story, that sparked the beginning of Nourish Street Inc. Just two years ago, Beau was homeless, addicted, and suicidal. After 25 years battling addiction and losing his ability to work due to carpal tunnel surgery, life fell apart in ways many never return from. But Beau did. He reached out for help, entered a rehabilitation program, rebuilt his life piece by piece, and stepped into a sense of purpose that came straight from lived experience.
That lived experience became the foundation for his charity. Beau understands homelessness and addiction because he has been there. He knows what it feels like to sleep rough. He knows what rock bottom feels like. And he knows how deeply a single act of care can impact someone who feels invisible. It is this understanding that guides everything Nourish Street does.
Nourish Street Inc. is a grassroots charity run by Beau, his partner Jenny, and their kids. Together, they provide hundreds of hot meals, tents, essential supplies and support for people sleeping rough across the north side of Brisbane. Each meal is cooked with intention. Each tent is delivered with dignity. Each conversation is held with humanity. The mission is simple but powerful. To meet people where they are and remind them that they matter.
People often ask Beau how he chooses who to help. His answer is simple. He pays attention. He notices the tired eyes of someone who hasn’t had a safe place to sleep. The weight someone is carrying on their shoulders. The quiet resilience in someone who has been overlooked for too long. His intuition has a remarkable way of guiding him to the right person at the right moment. Time and time again he has shown up exactly where he was needed most.
And the impact speaks for itself. Nourish Street feeds hundreds of people every week. They deliver tents, clothing, toiletries and essentials to those sleeping rough. They provide connection, consistency and hope. Behind the charity are real people giving everything they can even when they are exhausted. Beau and his family show us what kindness looks like in action. Imperfect. Persistent. Human.
People like Beau remind us that true generosity still exists in Australia. They remind us that kindness is thriving, often in the quiet corners of our community where no one is watching. And they remind us that sometimes the smallest gestures can be the ones that shine the brightest.
If you know someone like Beau someone whose everyday actions make the world softer, warmer and more hopeful you can nominate them for the chance to win 50,000 and be crowned Australia’s Kindest Person. It is one way to honour the quiet heroes among us. The ones who give not for recognition but simply because it is who they are.
