With Sydney in the midst of its coldest winter in three decades, Leichhardt local Rick Everett is helping those who are doing it tough to stay warm through his "take a coat leave a coat" project.
"When you walk around the streets of Newtown you do see people sleeping rough and I've definitely seen, many times, people who are cold. Several times before this project was born I've seen cold people and just given them the coat that I've been wearing," he said.
Through the first week of June, temperatures across Sydney remained below 18.5 degrees - the coldest start to winter since 1989. Temperatures are predicted to warm up slightly in July but more wet weather is on the way.
In 2021,15 rough sleepers were counted across the Inner West Local Government Area during the annual street counts - down from 25 in 2020 and 30 in 2019. Notably, that number only captures people visibly sleeping rough in areas volunteers could access on the night of the count - the actual number is higher, the council says. The LGA also has one of the highest concentrations of boarding houses in the Sydney metropolitan region.
Wanting to do his part to help people in need get through the winter, Mr Everett built an outdoor coat rack with donated materials which he then stocked with warm winter coats, scarves, gloves and beanies for people in need to take for free.
Before COVID-19 hit, Mr Everett worked as an acrobat and aerialist. Since then, he said he's been taking whatever work he can in the arts industry and using his free time to start "kindness projects".
"I run a community pantry and community fridge and a few other things here and there. The pantry and fridge have been running for about two years now, I just served up my 1000th meal two weeks ago. It's just a small drop in the ocean of what's necessary," he said.
"Initially the rack was going to be added to my project in Leichhardt but the demand just isn't there. We don't have a lot of people sleeping rough, so I thought Newtown would be better. At first I was just going to go rogue with it and put it somewhere but then I thought, I put so much effort into it so it would be nice if it lasts."
Mr Everett decided to put the coat rack outside the Newtown Mission Uniting Church, a fitting spot as the church serves up 500 meals a week to people in need through their Jordan Cafe.
Initially, nearly 90 coats were donated by members of the Leichhardt community. In the first three days of the coat rack being up, Mr Everett estimated about 80 had been taken. Now, he's hoping the community will drop off their unwanted coats to keep the rack full and keep up with demand.
"The only trouble now is finding a way to keep up with the demand. If we're going through 25 coats a day it will be 1800 coats by the end of winter."
- Rick Everett
"The fact that so many coats have been taken shows there's definitely a need. The only trouble now is finding a way to keep up with the demand; if we're going through 25 coats a day it will be 1800 coats by the end of winter," he said.
"I'm not sitting here watching it all the time, so I don't know who's taking them, but I do know that it was empty after the church did the meal service today. Hopefully it is people who really need it taking it and hopefully we get enough people who want to contribute to it to keep it going."
Anyone who would like to help out can drop off clean and good quality winter woollies to the rack on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm.
Have something to say? Send a letter to the editor at: editor@innerwestreview.com.au
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark Inner West Review
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Facebook
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram