As the country's housing crisis and cost of living woes deepen, a group of community-minded South Australians is taking it upon themselves to support their vulnerable neighbours.
Pauline Verwaal Whitford organises the Life in a Bag initiative across the southern Adelaide suburbs and the Fleurieu Peninsula.
She said the "very simple idea" encouraged people to put together a bag of toiletries, long-life food, treats, and warm winter items to be donated to a person experiencing homelessness or escaping domestic violence.
Ms Verwaal Whitford and about 10 volunteers have coordinated the annual winter drive for five years, following the lead of a similar project north of Adelaide.
The group does not accept money, lobby businesses for goods, or do a lot of publicity. Instead, the volunteers want communities to share the word amongst themselves and help one another.
"It's quite simple, we don't have any overheads or any complicated things," Ms Verwaal Whitford said.
"Our accountability is really through our Facebook page, showing the bags when they're collected and when they're distributed, so people can see where they go."
Last year, 570 bags were donated before being distributed to agencies servicing the same local communities they were collected in.
The volunteers are now preparing for their 2022 winter drive which runs between May 21-30.
"People who we work with through the agencies tell us that people need to know they're not on their own, because that's often what they feel like."
Initiative grows as demand increases
Demand is something Ms Verwaal Whitford expects to have risen in the past year.
"Unfortunately, [the need] has really escalated through the lack of affordable housing for people and the changes in the rental market in the last 18 months," she said.
She said the bags were a practical way for people to give back to vulnerable community members.
"A lot of the women, in particular, are in a motel or a hotel somewhere that they get put in for sometimes up to 18 months. They're living out of a hotel room, it's not a very pleasant thing to do," Ms Verwaal Whitford said.
"For homeless people living in a tent in the caravan park at Victor Harbor they need something warm and snug over winter, and a little bit of cheering up.
"There is such a need, and if people can afford to donate to [larger] agencies it is amazing, but this is just our little drop in the ocean."
And despite COVID-19 causing issues with collections in recent years, Ms Verwaal Whitford said there had been a cosy silver lining.
"Certainly since COVID we've had a lot more people making handmade things to go in bags, which is just fantastic," she said.
"There's nothing nicer than, when you're feeling like, 'What's happened to my life?', that somebody's taken hours to make something and they've given it to you. It's a lovely feeling.
"You don't realise the little things do make a big difference to people."
