Swags for the Homeless
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Lisa Clark and her husband Tony have addressed a problem of which we are all aware, but have not probably seen as the emergency that it really is. They have set out to save lives that are at great risk, and have developed a unique approach through designing and providing a Backpack Swag. |
Throughout Australia there are 16,375 homeless people living on the streets. Of these 2,204 are in Victoria and, each night, 848 are sleeping in the streets of Melbourne. There are insufficient hostel facilities to provide them with a bed and a place to sleep, so they have no alternative, when they are turned away, but to gather whatever they can to make a bed and, if possible, find a sheltered street place to sleep.
As well as the indignity of sleeping in this way, they are open to health risks and often suffer from hypothermia, frostbite and trench foot.
Tony and Lisa’s solution answers these problems with the backpack swag providing some dignity, as a well-organised pack containing bedding and is lightweight (only two and a half kilos), enabling it to be carried on the back all day. It has storage compartments (including a lockable pocket) to carry belongings and is warm, waterproof and fire retardant: Best of all, it will fit people of all sizes as the mattress in the pack is 190cm long.
The canopy formed by the top of the pack, when secured at each end to an appropriate support, provides a tent-like cover with provision for ventilation and mosquito proofing.
The units cost $68 to produce, but a donation of $98 covers all the costs involved in getting them to the homeless.
In 2007, Swags for the Homeless was formed as a registered charity, operated by volunteers. In 2009 they began distributing these Backpacks free to the homeless through the major charities dealing with the homeless, such as the Salvation Army and St. Vincent De Paul. The idea has now caught on throughout Australia and has come to the attention of a number of overseas countries.
A trial is taking place in Cornwall in the U.K while Germany considers it to be an important tool in dealing with the problem in their country. The USA is trialling it in New York, and New Zealand has shown interest in using the idea.
On top of that the Backpack Swag has won 3 awards including the prestigious Red Dot award in Germany, for the ‘best-of-the-best’.
Lisa has now become the first employee (rather than a volunteer) of Swags for the Homeless, as manager of partnerships and operations. She urges us to tell our families about the charity, as well as politicians, and to support funding wherever possible to enable this emergency assistance to be available to all who find themselves in this plight.
It is also a unit attracting the attention of bush walkers and others who find they need to spend a night sleeping outside.
It appears to be a very worthy and practical solution to an urgent need, that will surely gain great support and, who knows, might prove an adjunct to our Rotary Shelterbox solution for major disasters.