Two Belconnen mums who last year crowdfunded socks and beanies for Canberra's homeless are at it again, this time hoping to buy jackets for some of the city's most vulnerable people.
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Soudalay Thammavongsa and Emma Madsen started Spare10 last year, a charity drive that asked Canberrans to donate the $10 they would have spent on coffee and a muffin to a GoFundMe page.
The money raised bought thermal gloves, socks and beanies for people who were homeless but the pair raised enough to buy more than 120 sleeping bags too.
And while gloves, socks and beanies are still the main items they're hoping to buy this year, Ms Thammavongsa said if they exceed their fundraising target they would like to buy jackets as well.
"Last year we only distributed through the Vinnies Night Patrol and we got calls from shelters asking if they could be a part of it too, so we're going to distribute more widely," Ms Thammavongsa said.
"They said at the men's shelter, the homeless men are requesting jackets, so we'd like to purchase jackets too."
Ms Madsen said they had the same motivation and the same model as last year's drive.
"The motivation is we always want to help, we'd like to do it every year. Last year people were really generous, we had one person donate $500.
"Often when you donate money people don't know where it goes so people loved that we took them on a journey, we had a Facebook page that showed each stage of the process."
Even though Spare10 stopped raising money last June, the pair have been busy.
In their off-season, they started We Ain't Boring, a social enterprise that supplies bottled water to Canberra businesses, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to a charity chosen by their suppliers.
The first quarter, they raised $500 for Youth Care Canberra, in the second they got $600 for the Stella Bella Little Star respite centre and this time they're giving the proceeds to Annabelle Potts' family.
"We've got such passionate stockists who choose our water over that of multimillion dollar companies," Ms Thammavongsa said.
They have set the bar at $1000 again this year - although would love to match the $10,000 they raised last year.
"[The people we helped last year felt] getting goods was great but they really felt like someone cares. They felt so much more recognised and it brings back that dignity as well," Ms Madsen said.
You can Spare 10 through this link: gofundme.com/spare10CBR
