The Great Commuknitty Event

I live in Tasmania, an island state to the south of mainland Australia; quite close to Hobart our capital city.

 Just before Easter 2018 I heard a report that our island state was going to experience a harsh winter.  This got me thinking about the homeless in our community and the effect a harsh cold winter would have on them.  Some years previously I had knitted some beanies and donated them to an organisation called St Vincent de Paul who ran a Van around lower socioeconomic areas supplying hot soup and sandwiches each evening.   

I was thinking that there is only so much knitting I can do, and that one person wouldn’t be able to make much of a difference. I gave the situation some more thought and touched base with two Neighbourhood Houses I had contact with and put a proposal to them, (Risdon Vale and Rokeby Neighbourhood Houses).  That we could set up a facebook page called The Great Commuknitty Event and encourage people to knit hats, beanies, scarves, mittens, rugs, children clothes and drop them into the Neighbourhood Centres.  We would then take these donations and drop them into a few different places that assist the homeless and those on low incomes. (We currently have 171 members on our facebook page).

I also shared the details of our Great Commuknitty Event on Kindsprings website https://www.kindspring.org/  as I love random acts of kindness, and reading of what others are doing to spread kindness around the world.

I then sought some donations for prizes for those that donated, and one friend that I approached offered some vouchers for free bread through their franchised Bakers Delight Bakery. Everyone who donated was given a voucher for a free bread loaf each day for one month.

Donations came in and were distributed to a homeless drop in program that provides showers and washing/drying facilities, a place to relax and get a hot drink, breakfast, lunch and access to service providers.  

Donated items were also distributed to “No Bucks Café” a church run program in the City which offers a 3-course lunch for free; Colony 47 an organisation which assists people to apply for public housing and offers other services to them (debt consolidation and budget planning) and to The Link which provides assistance to youth between 12 and 25 years of age.

In July I received an email from Kindsprings commending our Commuknitty Event and asking what we would do with $100 if we were to be awarded a prize in a kindness contest.

After some deliberation and consultation with Coordinators at the Neighbourhood Houses and the drop-in centre (Richmond Fellowship Tasmania) the decision was that the homeless were in desperate need of essentials such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo and conditioner, underwear, socks and razors.    I cashed the cheque and went to a nearby Coles supermarket to check the prices and quality of items and work out a shopping list. My husband spoke to the manager and asked if they would be willing to give a discount or throw in some items for this worthy cause.  We were asked to come back the following Monday with a letter outlining what we were doing, and they would see what they could do; Coles then gave us a $50 voucher which meant that we had a total of $170 Australian to buy items for the homeless who use the drop-in centre.

These items were purchased and donated to Richmond Fellowship Tasmania’s Drop in Centre; it was lovely to see some people there putting on clean fresh socks, getting toothbrush and toothpaste packs, shampoo and conditioner.  To most these items are essentials it was humbling to see the gratitude expressed for items most of us take for granted.