The Rucksack Project 2017... We're Back!

We're back!!! 

For the last 3 years the Rucksack Project event has been held in Portsmouth.  Jo asked me to help out with organising of the event a few years ago and it's been just amazing.  I've had a blast, we've made a real difference with the help of the community and I made a very lovely friend in Jo.  We've seen the donation of over 10,000 rucksacks in this short time and these have been distributed to many local charities, shelters and foodbanks across the South Coast. 

The Rucksack Project was started in 2009 by a guy called Mathew White.  He decided with the last of his Christmas shopping money not to buy any more useless items people didn’t really want and he went about buying a rucksack and items to put in the rucksack including food, clothes and useful items.  He gave the pack to a homeless person on the street and said it was the most rewarding Christmas present he had ever given.  

Mathew spread the word and the Project was founded, he ran the project for 7 years; he co-ordinated events that were arranged by volunteers all over the country and maintained a website with useful info and questions and a list of the events and how people could help.

 

The Rucksack Project wasn’t a charity, it never took a penny in donations, it was simply a community movement in order to help people less fortunate.  The Project encouraged people to buy items from charity shops, thus extending the promotion of re-use and recycling in the best possible way.

 

After 7 years Mathew decided he wasn’t able to continue and the Rucksack Project was officially closed.  To quote from the statement on the Facebook page, ‘No idea can be truly closed though and I have no doubt many of you will continue to carry out this concept under one name or another and that is a testament to its simplicity…. I will of course continue in my own way to do my bit each year and my very best wishes to all of you who I know will do the same.'

Jo and I had a conversation about it and we knew that there was no way we wouldn’t want to organise an event, after the resounding success of the last few years and knowing that we helped so many people.  So we held an event anyway, which was a resounding success and hope this year will be the same too! 

We aren’t going to change the housing crisis or the root cause of homelessness over night, but to know you’ve made someones day/week/month/life a little easier, is certainly a good place to start.

 

The event this year is going to be held on November 11th and we are very excited to announce we are again going to be holding the event at ‘Pompey in the Community’ centre in Anson Road right next to Fratton Park. 

Link here...  

Rucksack Event

For those wanting to participate, the concept is the same as always and is fairly simple.  Grab yourself a rucksack (from a charity shop is always a good shout – helps the charity also) and fill it with these items –

Gloves

Socks

Undies

Warm Jumper

Sleeping bag

Wooly hat

Flask

Tissues

Small toiletries (no medication or razors)

Tins of food with ringpulls/packet soups/longlife food/high calorie food

 

The list is of course, not exhaustive and you don’t have to have everything on the list by any means.  You could do a rucksack specifically for a woman -include sanitary product/wipes/hairbrush/hairbands/nappy sacks (to dispose of sanitary items), specifically for a person with a dog – include dog food, a bone, small toy etc.  The possibilities are endless!  

Get the children involved, teach them about homelessness, ask what they would like to include and discuss with them what would and wouldn’t be a good idea.  Make it a charitable, community and family thing to participate in, you won’t be disappointed – I promise!  It will be the best Christmas present you’ll give this year.  Every year we have clubs of cubs/scouts/brownies etc involved too!

 

If you’re unable to make a rucksack for whatever reason, we’ll be more than happy to take donations of toiletries, sleeping bags, boots, food (tins/longlife/packet soups/high calorific food) also.  These are all really useful items.  The other thing you could do - is buddy up with someone else and make a rucksack between you, pop a post on the event page saying what you have and what you need – that often works well too.

 

Essentially all you need to do is bring the rucksack along on the day (or to a drop off hub prior to this – there will be a list on the facebook event page) come and have a cuppa and a chat and all the charities/shelters/hostels/churches will be there on the day collecting rucksacks to take back to their services and distribute to their service users.  There will be plenty of people to talk to about the event, about the charities and to meet like-minded people.  Likewise as per other years, we will be running a drop and run - should you just want to drop off your rucksack or items and not pop in.  Both options are more than welcome!

 

We are contacting and finalising the list of local charities who will benefit from the event this year and we are busy organising the logistics.  As and when we have further info – we will post and share these in the event page.  If you have a charity /shelter/hostel/church in mind who would benefit from the event – please let us know and we’ll make contact with them.

 

The event is very much in the early stages; we only launched last week - so we are busy drumming up support, sharing the event on facebook and encouraging people to do the same.  As there is no official charity behind this event – just little ol’ Jo and I (and now Pompey in the Community), we have no official publicity, website, flyers etc – it is simply word of mouth and social media to get this event out there and to make it a success. 

It's admin’d by Jo and I, and someone is always around to answer a question if you have one, we’d certainly be grateful for a share or two!

Thanks for reading and we hope to see you there!

Sammy xx

 

As a ps… Don't forget we now have a bus! Take a look....  

here