Care Pack Tetris

2023-11-01

A guide to making care packs for the homeless

By Damian Brennan, Green Issue Co-editor

With the ongoing rental crisis there have never been more people sleeping rough on the streets of Perth. All the homeless support services are currently working at full capacity. I wrote the first version of this guide as a resource for my Care Sack Project team back in 2015 as a guide to making up a care pack to give to a homeless person. Today it is as relevant as ever.

Before you make a donation, it is worth knowing that financial records for registered charities are a matter of public record. You can look them up on the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (https://www.acnc.gov.au/tools/reports). It is a sad reality that over a certain size most charities spend most of their budget on administration costs. The contents I describe here can be sourced for less than $20. The bigger charities will want a $50 donation for making up a care pack for one of their outreach teams.

Small is beautiful. Making up these care packs is something practical you can do, either in a small group or on your own. Keep a few in your car to hand out when you see someone in need.

Care packs meet the immediate need of the homeless for some food and the toiletries to have a shower, but more importantly, they are an opening for a conversation and the opportunity to pass on information to refer them to further help. Be ready with contact information for further resources they might find useful. If you are including a note pad you can write some info in there for the most used resources such as outreach teams and crisis support.

It is worth noting that for safety reasons you should always go in company if you are feeding people on the street.Care pack

Firstly, you can just use a spare supermarket shopping bag to make up a care pack, but if you are making up a lot of them for a small homeless support group, it is cheaper and more to get a bulk order of swim bags, like the one pictured here.

I like to write messages on them using a white correction pen. Here’s one with a quote from Mohammed Ali – “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

Next you are going to want four different sizes of resealable plastic bags. They will keep the food and drink items and the toiletries separated and to ensure everything is packed away compactly for easy storage.

The care pack contents are packed into three bags with the largest holding the other bags and the water:

  1. Pack the Dental Care bag. If you have a travel size toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste they can go in a 15cm x 10cm snack bag; otherwise use an 18 x 16cm sandwich bag. Seal the bag.
  2. Place the soap inside a snack bag, both as a soap holder and to slow down the soap from flavouring everything else. Wrapping the soap in an extra layer of alfoil will help keep everything becoming soap flavoured. Seal the bag. Place the soap in the Toiletries sandwich bag together with a Roll-on Deodorant; shampoo (& conditioner); Razor; Wet Wipes; Bandaids and Tissues. Seal the bag.
  3. Next pack one snack bag with a couple of plastic spoons + mints. This will go inside your Food and drink pack.
  4. Pack the Snacks and Drinks bag in a large 20cm x 25cm bag. This is where you need your Tetris skills.  I pack the tuna on top of the beans on one side and the juice and milk next to them. The other items go down one side with anything fragile on top.  I leave enough air in the bag to keep the fragile items from being crushed.
  5. Put everything in a large 28cm x 33cm storage bag. Place the water and toiletries in the storage bag with the dental care bag in between. Slide in the snacks and drinks pack sideways. Add any bonus items e.g. beef jerky, socks, scarves and gloves. Seal the bag.
  6. Place the care pack in a back pack, back sack or shopping bag. I write an inspirational message with a white correction pen (search #messageofhope) on the back sacks I have been using.

There should still be plenty of room in the care sack for some bonus items such as a sleeping bag; gloves, socks or beanie (dark colours); a small notepad and pen (for appointments); a coffee shop or supermarket cash voucher; chewing gum, lip balm, torches, ponchos and umbrella.

Care pack contents

You don’t have to follow this way of packing them – just tossing them into a spare shopping bag works fine. However, it is a good idea to at least bag the toiletries separately. The rest of the food will provide a homeless person with food for two or three days. The toiletries will last longer. If you are going out regularly, you can give out toiletries separately, and have a separate pack with feminine hygiene products and so on.

A care pack shows you care, but if you fill it with cheap generic products you are saying you don’t care that much. Lash out on cans with rip tops or include a can opener. Don’t put anything in it you wouldn’t eat yourself. Its better to make up less packs that have quality food in date. Rough sleepers have enough health issues without making them sick by giving them expired products. 

There are over 70 homeless support services in Perth. 

Here are a few I would recommend:

Header photo: Homeless man, Chatswood, NSW. Credit: Sardaka CC4.0

[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]