A Clothesline team distributes garments to Sydney’s poor and homeless.
Sydney-based clothing charity Clothesline is seeing a growing demand for its services in the city and Western Suburbs.
With poverty on the rise in Australia, the mobile service is in constant need of good quality new and used clothing for disadvantaged people, which volunteers hand out each week in the CBD, and throughout the year in Campbelltwon and Mt Druitt.
During Anti-Poverty Week this week, The Newsroom accompanied Clothesline on a charity run into the city.
Clothesline has been providing people living on the street with high quality clothing for five years.
The aim of the organisation is to improve the living conditions of those in need and to help people in their ability to find employment. They provide people on the street with blankets, clothing, essential toiletries and food.
Founding member of Clothes Line, Stephen Cowie, said that creating a charity to help the homeless was always something he wanted to do.
“I used to drive a food van in the city one night a week … I did that for about 10 years and during that 10 years people would say, ‘Have you got a coat or a jumper you can give me?’ So I always thought to myself one day I would dedicate a vehicle purely for clothes,” Mr Cowie told The Newsroom.
Unlike other charities Clothes Line does not have clothing bins in which the public can leave donated items so they rely on people seeking them out. But because of this they are able to ensure all of the clothing they provide is either brand new or high quality second-hand clothing.
The Clothesline website emphasises the charity is “only interested in receiving clean, good quality clothing, of a standard that you or I would be happy to wear.”
Clothes Line operates out of the city every Wednesday night and also travels to the outer suburbs throughout the year. Every weekend Clothesline also puts on a sausage sizzle at Bunnings Warehouse hardware stores to raise funds for new clothes. – story by Daniel Walker, video by The Newsroom’s Digital Media Team
Top photo taken by Ra’Eesah Lillah.
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