GOOD BOX, GREAT IDEA
SEEING THE HOMELESS ON THEIR WAY TO WORK MADE A BIG IMPACT ON GALI BLACHER AND MADELYN JONES
It was the morning commute to work that changed how Gali Blacher and her friend Madelyn Jones lived their lives.
The pair, who now live in Townsville and the Sunshine Coast, were working at a media agency in the heart of Sydney.
They couldn’t ignore the plight of those sleeping rough.
“We would see people walk past those sleeping rough, ignoring these people like they weren’t even there,” Gali recalls. “We couldn’t do that, didn’t want to do that.”
The pair would take the time to find out why a person was sleeping rough.
“I realised that homelessness can happen to anyone by stopping and talking to those on the streets.”
The friends also noticed that many people wanted to be able to help those experiencing homelessness but didn’t know how.
“People believed giving money directly to the homeless person didn’t seem like the right thing to do as they were not sure where the money would go,” Gali explains.
“We also realised that some people didn’t want to help at all because they had preconceived ideas and stigmas about why people experience homelessness. Therefore, people were ignoring those living on the streets, which was increasing the amount of isolation they faced every day.”
The women decided to take action. Although they acknowledged they were not going to solve homelessness, they wanted to make a difference to the lives of those who were homeless.
The pair came up with an idea to provide those experiencing homelessness with a beautiful gift along with a conversation to brighten up their day.
“Homelessness is multifaceted and is not confined to those sleeping rough, so we knew that we also needed to establish relationships with homeless charities to provide boxes to those that aren’t as easily reached,” Gali says. “We would meet after work every Tuesday and just come up with some ideas and thoughts.
“We then cold called and contacted some people in the industry and they were very happy to give us some mentorship.
“We then put some of our own money together and with the help of great mentors, we were able to showcase our idea.
We presented it to a panel of five people in front of a live audience of 500 people and came second in a pitch competition called Jumpstart Pitch Night and won $15,000.
“We used that money to get The Good Box off the ground.”
Fast forward three years since the idea was conceived and The Good Box helps thousands of Australians experiencing homelessness to receive beautiful boxes with first hand quality items.
The Good Box creates packaged gift boxes for people experiencing homelessness in Australia.
The boxes are full of the essentials such as roll-on deodorant, baby wipes, face towels, tampons, canned food such as tuna and baked beans with a biodegradable fork
Instead of relying on donations, The Good Box is a nationwide social enterprise that relies on sales of the boxes to keep doing good.
There are four different boxes available to buy online at www.thegoodbox.com.au – a Blokes Box, Gals Box, Goodie Box, and a Winter Box. In the future a Beauty Box, Kids Box and a Pets Box will be available.
They only cost $21.99 and you can either buy a box to give to a homeless person yourself or write a personal note and let The Good Box’s distributing partners including Orange Sky Australia, YumbaMeta, and F.E.A.T. take care of it for you.
“The Good Box is more than just about handing out gifts, it’s about facilitating positive conversations and helping to restore the dignity to those who are doing it tough.” Madelyn says.
www.thegoodbox.com.au
QDaniella Maggs from South Johnstone asks why are my velvet anthuriums looking unhappy. I’ve repotted them in good soil and mulched with wood chip, but they’re full of ants?
ADaniella most anthurium species are semi epiphytic, as such, their roots require lots of aeration. Anthurium should be potted in an open mix; one part coir peat, one part coir chip and one part course perlite. The wood chip is problematic in that it will attract ants, possibly termites. If you need to top up the mix on anthuriums use coir chip and add a complete organic fertiliser at the same time. Try this and you will have beautiful new leaves on your plant in no time.