Short of a Sheet supports people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in southern Tasmania. We spoke with one of their volunteers, Lisa Rime, about the organisation and what they’re up to leading into the cooler months.

Tell us about Short of a Sheet. It started as a conversation between friends in a sharehouse at the beginning of COVID-19, and has become an impactful little local charity kicking well above its weight! “Short of a sheet” is cockney rhyming slang for being on the street, a name suggested by Danni Cananzi’s (our founding President) nan. Short of a Sheet provides resources for locals experiencing and recovering from houselessness in multiple ways, from stocking free clothing racks and mini-distro boxes at key locations, providing dozens of backpacks full of resources with our annual appeals, to providing furniture and homewares to individuals and families transitioning into housing. We’ve even facilitated the donation of cars. The ethos of Short of a Sheet has always been about fostering respect and dignity by meeting people where they’re at, sharing community care and resourcefulness. We remain 100% volunteer run, with no political or religious ties.

What made you want to volunteer? I knew that in an organisation like Short of a Sheet, my contributions would be more than just tokenistic. I’d be part of something that makes a difference to people in my community. That means a lot to me because having experienced housing stress, I’m scared of the impacts of our growing housing crisis on individuals and our society.

Tell us about your distributions and how they work. Our monthly distributions are one of the targeted ways we get our donated resources out to community members in need. We hold them at various locations, always syncing up with complimentary services for folks who have been unhoused. Currently we’re focussing our distributions at key locations in the Northern Suburbs, syncing up with Louis Van and Moreton Group. If we can get vollies in other areas we’d be keen to expand our monthly distributions to Clarence, Kingborough and Brighton. Our distributions are great because they give us regular direct contact with locals who are currently experiencing primary homelessness. Getting to know people and learning their stories is a great privilege.

As we head into the cooler months, what items are in highest demand? Cooler weather can bring a greater need for the items that are used by folks sleeping rough. Those living in tents and cars need to replace their gear more frequently as it gets more heavily impacted by rain and mould. If you head to our Facebook page you’ll see a pinned post (that we edit regularly) listing our currently most needed items. At the moment it lists things like warm jackets, blankets, heated hand and body warmers, and deodorants. Our most frequently requested items throughout the year are socks and underwear in adult sizes. These must be new so we also appreciate financial donations to enable us to purchase them. Being a registered charity, donations over $2 are tax deductible. I’m regularly slightly shocked and heartbroken by how grateful people can be for new underwear. We also use our Facebook page to do call-outs when we get requests for items we don’t already have in storage.

How can our readers help out? The most obvious way to assist is by donating, but at the moment I think we’re actually more in need of volunteers! Being small, responsive, and growing, means we’re needing to work hard behind the scenes on organisational things. That can be tricky when we’re out all day moving furniture. We would welcome volunteers to assist with practical things like sorting donations and assisting with distributions, but we’d also welcome those with an interest in governance, writing protocol or sourcing training. You can get in touch with us to be added to our volunteer group, where we post general info for vollies. There is the scope for being involved rarely or regularly. It’s all appreciated!

Community members can donate in many different ways. Smaller items can be dropped off at Artosaurus in Moonah, Artgym in Hobart, and Valley Floral Boutique in Lenah Valley. If you operate a small business let us know if you’d like to become our latest drop-off point! We can also collect from the greater Hobart area and assist with removing items from estates and those preparing to move house. Perhaps most importantly people can help by sharing what we do. That could be in a conversation with a neighbour or literally sharing our call-out posts on social media. Here in Hobart so much happens via connections, and your conversation could be the connection that provides someone with a car or a tent to sleep in, or provides a bed and fridge for a pregnant mum in her new home.

For more information, email shortofasheet@gmail.com or head to www.facebook.com/shortofasheet.