SENIOR SCHOOL
Blankets by Boys
Helping young people in need
A Year 9 student and his brother have created a
program to help young people living rough on the streets.
Year 9 student Alexander explains more about the program
and how members of community can become involved.
Blankets by Boys is an initiative created by
brothers who want to help those in need.
We began after visiting a Perth restaurant in
December 2017 and noticed many struggling
young people. These street-children were
given food to help them survive but what
they really needed was something warm for
wintertime. With our parents encouragement
we decided to knit 20cm x 20cm squares to
make up blankets to donate to the homeless.
We weren’t fast enough, even though
the entire family was knitting daily, so we
came up with the idea of placing boxes in
retirement homes and medical centres so
that they might make some squares for us. It
was a huge success and so our Mum created
a Facebook page for us.
From the Facebook page we received
many calls and messages. All kinds of
people became involved - girls groups,
the Ellenbrook Senior Socials, Real Estate
agencies, Medical Centres and schools. The
instructions on the boxes we distributed were
quite clear - while you are waiting for your
appointment just knit a few lines! We even
have an 82-year-old gran who knits beanies
for us!
Once we had the Facebook page up and
running the community became very
supportive and bags of blankets, pillows,
socks and beanies were delivered to our
home on a daily basis. We gave some to
StreetConnect, associated with Anglicare,
but we still had so many more blankets to
hand out. We found Perth Homeless Support
Group and began volunteering with them
and every week we would go and distribute
the items.
The nicest part of the project is talking to
the people we meet during these visits and
some of their stories inspired us even more.
We met a young man who was very nicely
dressed and very smart and he told us that
the city was helpful in terms of where you
could clean-up and shower. He said he was
homeless but could always be clean, he said
I knew straight away
that she only said
she was a boy as she
felt safer on the streets
that way.
socks were the most important item to him
and many others. Another young person
slept on the street at night and got food
from various places and went to TAFE during
the day. One of the most memorable stories
was from a young girl, who called herself
Michael. I knew straight away that she only
said she was a boy as she felt safer on the
streets that way. I will always remember
how happy she was even though life was
not easy. We found these people to be very
grateful because we spoke to them, greeted
them and shook hands.
After a few visits, we noticed the homeless
wished that they could take many more
items with them, but the problem was how
to carry them. That’s where the idea came
from to collect suitcases on wheels, so they
can pack their stuff into them and move
around easily. I knew that I couldn’t do
this by myself, I needed help, so I asked my
school for some help.
We advertised in the School’s weekly
Bulletin and on their social media pages for
families to donate any suitcase on wheels
that they were not using. Four weeks later
I collected all the bags - a total of 58 bags,
from suitcases to backpacks and handbags.
Volunteering the following week we gave
out the bags, but the problem was that
there were 150 homeless people lining up.
We needed more. I returned to school and
thanked everyone on social media. In the
future, we plan to collect more.
We are always looking for suitcases (preferably
on wheels); backpacks, beanies, scarves,
socks, blankets, the squares to make up
blankets, wool, thick knitting needles, torches,
even old mobile phones (with phone cards).
Please follow our Facebook page
@blanketsbyboys and help us with this
project.
Alexander Pepermans (Year 9)
Late note: Alexander and his brother William
received an Australia Day Award from the
City of Swan for their amazing work.
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