We're back!!!
For the last 3 years I have been involved in the Rucksack Project and the event held in Portsmouth. Joanne asked me to help out with the organising of the event last year and it was hard work but just amazing. I had a blast, we made a real difference with the help of the community and I made a very lovely friend in Jo. We saw the donation of over 3000 rucksacks and these were distributed to many local charities, shelters and foodbanks across the South Coast. I am very honoured and so thrilled to be asked by Jo to help again, as it is a cause close to my heart and one I truly believe in.
The Rucksack Project was started in 2009 by a guy called Mathew White. He decided that Christmas; 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. Jo was one of these individuals who took on the mammoth task and began by organising Portsmouth’s event!
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.
Sadly after 7 years Mathew decided he wasn’t able to continue this 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.’ So… This is where Jo and I come in! Jo and I had a conversation about it and we knew that there was no way we wouldn’t want to organise an event this year; after the resounding success of last year and knowing that we helped so many people. 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.
So The Rucksack Event Portsmouth is born.
The event this year is going to be held on November 19th and we are very excited to announce that we have a new venue! We are going to hold the event at ‘Pompey in the Community’ centre in Anson Road right next to Fratton Park. How exciting that the local football club are going to be at the heart of this community 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. Last year we had 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 is 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 station in the Fratton Park car park - 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.
The event page is here - https://www.facebook.com/events/521038881440314/?ti=icl
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… Last year the event was covered by the local news, TV and radio – so we will of course be making everyone we can aware that we are up and running again for this year.
Here is a list of some of the charities/shelters/hostels who benefitted last year from rucksacks and kind donations –
Hampshire Homes for Veterans
Hope House (Salvation Army), Portsmouth
Camrose Centre, Basingstoke
Central Point, Portsmouth
Society of St James, Portsmouth/Southampton
United Reform Church, Portsmouth
Family Church, Portsmouth
St Simons, Portsmouth
Family Welfare, Portsmouth
Bournemouth Outreach, Bournemouth
Two Saints, Portsmouth/Southampton
