A splendid use for used camping gear

BYRON BAY, Australia - July 23, 2019 - PRLog -- Music lovers at this year's Splendour in the Grass festival have donated hundreds of items of unwanted camping gear which will be distributed to rough sleepers across the Northern Rivers.

It's the fifth year that the initiative, championed by local not-for-profit Momentum Collective, has run at the festival, with this year yielding one of the largest collections of camping gear to date.

Sarah Walker, Acting Director of Service Delivery at Momentum Collective, was inspired to organise the campaign after many years camping at the festival near Byron Bay.

"I've seen a lot of good camping gear left behind by festival goers and decided to set up a way to collect and donate the goods to people in need," Ms Walker said.

"We have more volunteers each year and more socially aware campers are leaving their gear packed up and ready to be re-homed.

"Our Australian Disability Enterprise team, with volunteers from Momentum Collective and Social Futures, collects the donated equipment in a truck and makes sure it's clean and in good condition for the new owners."

CEO of Momentum Collective Virginia Walker said while the camping gear would be put to good use, more needed to be done help people affected by homelessness in the region.

"The Northern Rivers region of NSW only represents 4% of the NSW population, yet we have 18.7% of the State's rough sleepers (up from 18.4% in 2011) ," Ms Walker said.

"We are seeing more and more people displaced because of the housing affordability crisis in the region and we're committed to working with all levels of government and other organisation to find a long-term solution to this growing problem."

Sarah Walker thanked Splendour campers and the festival organisers for the support.

"Splendour have got behind this initiative from the start, as have the festival-goers," Ms Walker said.

"And the benefits are two-fold – it helps people in our community who don't have a home and prevents the unwanted gear from going straight to landfill."

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