Hi, my wife and I at different times have done a bit of volunteer charity work with homeless people, predominantly in the city. Small stuff like making and handing out warm food(Toasties) and staying to chat with the people who find themselves on the streets. This has mostly been in group settings.

Over the years we’ve periodically bought Winter sleeping bags. I keep a few in my car to give to homeless people we sporadically see sleeping on the streets.

In my mind one of the kindest gestures you could make for a homeless person doing it tough on these freezing cold Melbourne nights, would be to give them a warm winter sleeping bag. Those people I’ve given them too in the past have been majorly appreciative! (Shout out to ‘D——‘ in footscray last week haha)

We usually buy about 10 or so sleeping bags at a time and stock up again when I run out. Sometimes you can get warm winter ones from Aldi for $25-$30 each. We are a one income family so we don’t have a lot of disposable income to splurge.

This gofundme is just a potential extra source of funds so that we can purchase more to have on hand to give out to people we see sleeping out at night. The target donator audience would be people who’d like to contribute but wouldn’t feel comfortable actually handing out the sleeping bags.

I intend to approach a few stores and ask managers if they could do a discounted/bulk rate on the sleeping bags. With the savings we can purchase more.

In summary:

Where the money goes:

• $25 = 1 warm sleeping bag

$25 raised will go toward purchasing a winter-rated sleeping bag rated for cold nights, prioritising water resistance and insulation. I’ll personally hand out in areas where rough sleepers are known to camp.

• I’ve started giving out warm pizzas, toothbrush’s and toothpastes with the sleeping bags.

• Bulk buys or discounts from local stores or wholesalers to stretch your donation further. (Places like, Aldi, big W or camping stores)

• There is potential that a small pack could be put together which could include; a sleeping bag, warm gloves, beanie etc.

• Melbourne’s west - I will specifically be visiting footscray and sunshine to hand them out.

How You Can Help:

• Donate what you can — even $5 helps.

• If you know someone who you think would be keen to donate please share the link.

• If you work at a retailer or know a supplier who can help with discounted winter gear please shoot me a message.

Lastly, I want to be clear in saying that this is not a major charity or donation campaign. I will be continuing to purchase the sleeping bags and handing them out if this gets some funding or not. If people donate I will be able to buy more or even include the extra items mentioned above.

I also have a young family and realistically have time constraints. So this isn’t something I’ll be doing for major periods of time. Thankfully the donation can be done very quickly; ask the person how they are, offer them the sleeping bag and wish them well.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

(if you recognise who my wife and I are are, please keep it anonymous when sharing. We’re not interested in credit etc. We are just Christians and we believe that charity is something that is a moral good to engage in)