Backpacks 4 SA Kids: Great Aussie Charities You’ve Never Heard Of…
The spotlight is on Backpacks 4 SA Kids, a fantastic group of volunteers who work tirelessly to make life better for vulnerable children and young people who need a hand up. These guys have a big Christmas drive coming up and need a few elves to offer a helping hand.
Backpacks 4 SA Kids exists to provide resources that contribute to the care, safety and well being of children and young people during periods of dislocation from home and routine care.
Where did it all begin?
It all began with two mums, Rachael and Lucinda who were friends. Lucinda dreamed of being a foster mum, but was unable to do so due to her diagnosis with a terminal illness. In order to go some way toward achieving Lucinda’s dream, the two began putting items together to help foster children.
Tragically, Lucinda passed away, but Rachael vowed to continue Lucinda’s legacy of ‘making the minutes count’, and Backpacks 4 SA Kids was born. From Lucinda’s dream, Backpacks has grown from a few packs organised in Rachael’s carport to an organisation that assists over 2,000 South Australian kids every year, and we are still growing.
Why is this a problem?
Each year, across Australia, approximately 51,500 children and young people are removed from their families due to neglect, abuse or violence and are taken into mandated care (AIHW 2015). Approximately 44,000 other children become homeless, often leaving in a hurry with their mums due to family violence (Mission Australia 2015). What all these children have in common is that they leave home with no or little notice and often have no clothing or other essential items beyond what they are standing up in.
Backpacks 4 SA Kids works across South Australia, in conjunction with child welfare, family violence and homelessness agencies, plus organisations such as SAPOL, and provides as many displaced children as possible with an age-appropriate backpack containing clothes, pyjamas, underwear, toiletries and comfort items (such as a cuddle toy),a book and a toy, plus nappies, bottles etc for babies. We commenced in 2013, assisting 564 children in that year, and currently assist over 2000 children per year, and around 1000 carers in South Australia alone, as demand for our service increases.
In the coming year we anticipate requests for around 2,600 backpacks. In addition, we are also launching two new programs under the Backpacks 4 SA Kids banner. The first is our Home Starter Packs, which will go to young mothers who have left a violent relationship at home and need to start again.
They can access assistance to find a rental property, but do not have any essential items to move in with. The Starter Packs contain items such as sheets, towels, pillows, quilts, and kitchen necessities such as plates, cups, bowls, pans and utensils. The second is our Anchor Packs, which are designed for young people aged 12–24 who are experiencing primary, secondary or tertiary homelessness. These packs contain essentials such as a sleeping bag, toiletries, drink bottle, sunscreen and so on, plus a Metro Card, AM/FM radio, a note pad with information on where to get help, and a phone so they can access mental health and sexual health help lines, or even call home if that is an option. These items will help to keep them as safe as possible until they can be connected with agencies to assist them into accommodation and support services.
A day in the life at Backpacks 4 SA Kids:
A typical day begins with the sorting of donated goods which are collected from our 28 collection points across SA. Volunteers check all the donations and store them in containers, ready to be packed into Backpacks. Another group of volunteers packs the Backpacks according to lists of contents which have been compiled by the child welfare professionals we work with. The Backpacks are then stored on our extensive rack system, waiting to fill orders as they come in.
Our coordinators receive requests for Backpacks from the agencies we work with across the State. These orders are processed and our Helper group, which is made up of long-time experienced volunteers, locates the Backpacks on the order from our shelving system and checks the contents to ensure quality control. This is done to be certain that every Backpack which leaves our warehouse is full of high quality goods. The kids deserve nothing less.
When the order is complete, it is ready to be shipped out to the requesting
agency, and the Backpacks are then taken by the agency workers when they go out to assist a child, or a homeless family. The same process is followed for Home Starter Packs and Anchor Packs. With the exception of one paid employee, all tasks are done at our warehouse by a fantastic group of volunteers, who work tirelessly to make life better for these vulnerable children and young people.
That is the structure of a typical day, but in reality, so much more happens on any given day, as Rachael and the other coordinators run sessions for new volunteers, both individual and corporate; make visits to community groups and schools to promote Backpacks 4 SA Kids; liaise with new agencies; fill emergency orders, and organise our extra activities such as the annual Christmas Drive, which involves ensuring that every child or young person who is displaced over Christmas receives three gifts.
Impact Story:
There are so many wonderful stories that illustrate the impact we make on the lives of kids who are doing it tough. One recent one is from a foster carer:
‘We have supported Backpacks 4 SA Kids for a while and have finally been approved as foster carers. Our first visitors came with Backpacks. I didn’t think much of it to be honest, but I showed them to their room and they carefully put away the things from the backpacks. I waited for them to come back to the lounge room and when they did they still had their backpacks on their backs and grinning from ear to ear. They only had their toys, books, colouring and DVD left in the backpacks and the clothes, pyjamas and underwear were in their drawers…but those smiles took my breath away. You do something so simple, but it works for these kids. Amazing.’
Another, from a mum who had experienced domestic violence: ‘You don’t know me, but I had to leave home because I believe my husband was going to kill me. My children watched time after time, while he hurt me in so many ways and the effect this has had on my children has broken my heart and I honestly didn’t think we could ever be happy again. I was finally strong enough to leave and we had to stay in a very small motel room and to leave we had to pretend we were going to the shops so we didn’t have anything with us. My children are 4 and 6 and very active so you can imagine the challenge of staying in a small room has caused us, mainly because I’m too scared to leave our room. Our case worker came with backpacks for each of the kids and some basic toiletries etc for me and I wish I could show you the kids’ faces. They were miserable and scared until they received their backpacks and as they emptied the backpacks they were really smiling, I heard laughter I haven’t heard in a long time and I felt I could take a deep breath and get myself ready to start again. I just wanted to let your team know, what you are doing does make a difference and I am so thankful for everything you have given us.’
And from a foster dad: ‘Mate these backpacks are pretty great, they have all the things you’d pack for a kiddies weekend away, but the catch is these kiddies have never had a weekend away with great items. My mate arrived today and loved having a scrub with his own toiletry gear, new undies and pj’s. Thanks heaps for giving these kids the backpacks, they are simple things but the kids love them so they definitely work! Cheers.’
What do you do with your donations?
We receive both goods and cash as donations. The goods, such as toiletries, books, DVDs, and pre-loved clothing go straight into our Backpacks after sorting and checking. Cash donations are used to purchase the items which, despite our generous donors, are always in short supply, such as pyjamas and clothing for older kids, plus the items for Home Starter Packs and Anchor Packs.
Are Backpacks 4 SA Kids tax deductible?
Yes
Check out the website if you’d like to volunteer or want to find more information: http://backpacks4sakids.org
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