At Christmas time, a lot of Australians were busy thinking about what they want for Christmas, while others didn’t even have what they need. The basic, yet vital, essentials that most of us take for granted.
And so, instead of expecting people who were doing it tough to know where to find the support they needed at Christmas time, we went out and found it for them. We focused our efforts close to home, visiting the City of Belmont Civic Centre and the Town of Victoria Park Administration Centre, to source pre-existing support service information.
Then, on the 23rd December, 2025 we headed to some of Perth’s affected areas and attempted to spread some much-needed Christmas kindness in the form of care packages, cold drinks, and conversation, as well as pamphlets for local support services. Unfortunately we only managed to find three people in these areas to offer our support to. And so on December 27th we headed out again for the unexpected part II of our Christmas Campaign.
This time we headed to Perth’s most affected areas, including Perth CBD, Highgate, Northbridge, and East Perth. With the Ute packed full of water and soft drinks on ice, we walked the streets and spoke to as many people doing it tough as possible, spreading the word that they are not alone, we are here, and in their corner.
We handed out the care packages each stocked with water bottle, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, deodorant, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, hand sanitiser, moisturiser, lip balm, face wipes, face towels, tissues, feminine hygiene products, first aid supplies, a notepad and pen, and even spray bottles filled with water to keep them cool during Australia’s summer months. Along with some Christmas goodies and pamphlets for local pre-existing support services, all packed into a weather-resistant drawstring bag – kindly donated by Tasman Safety.
Further to the care packages we also offered prepaid meal vouchers (with special thanks to Lord of the Fries in Northbridge for their cooperation), and/or a $15 grocery gift card, as well as purchased meals for people we met along the way, from Subway foot-longs to McDonald’s meals of their choosing.
The saddest part of this experience was when we arrived at Hyde Park — by this time we only had two care packages left, but were shocked to find that there were a large number of individuals (and one family with children) that were residing there. We were grateful that most were asleep, as we did not have enough supplies left to offer everyone. We ended up giving out our last care packages to the family with children, we even donated the esky we were carrying that contained the remaining cold drinks.
It was tough to face the reality that right now, real people, are really out there, living on the streets, but the biggest takeaway was how grateful these people were to have support come to them.
A special thank you to Tasman Safety for donating weatherproof bags as well as funds to purchase some of the essentials inside them.
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