Tackling homelessness with dignity and hope: The Good Box
Gali Blacher is the co-founder of The Good Box, a social enterprise that provides gift boxes to people experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, and displacement. Since launching in 2018, The Good Box has delivered thousands of packages to Australians in need, as well as education programs to break the stigma and open up the conversation around homelessness in our cities.
Working as a journalist at a charity magazine in Sydney’s inner city, Gali recalls seeing many homeless people struggling on the streets as she made her way to her office daily. However, what most caught her attention was the dehumanising way the general public treated them – at best, ignoring their plight and, at worst, treating them as a nuisance.
“Walking to work every day, I saw people sleeping rough on the streets. What really bothered me is that they would be walked over as if they were a piece of rubbish,” Gali told editor Cec Busby on the Flying Solo podcast. “I then realised what was needed – simply treating people like humans.”
Teaming up with co-founder Madelyn Jones, the pair decided to do something to help people in need and remove the stigma around homelessness. Inspired by Gali’s parents, who, during her childhood, created and distributed boxes filled with goods for vulnerable people in their community, the determined duo approached businesses and charity organisations for donations to fill similar boxes for Sydney’s homeless. And The Good Box was born, providing vital resources such as food and hygiene products to those in need.
And in a nod to their determination to humanise and connect with people experiencing homelessness, each Good Box contains a hand-written note of hope and kindness from those who have donated or taken part in an education program.
“The notes inside the boxes are so important,” says Gali. “The idea came from talking to people experiencing homelessness and discovering that they’re very isolated and don’t feel connected. So when we’re doing our impact reporting and look at what made the most impact on someone’s life, they always mention the note. It makes them feel respected, treated with dignity, and like they matter. It’s a message of hope.”
A perception problem
Gali says a large part of The Good Box’s success has been tapping into and solving an inherent problem with the public’s perception of those sleeping rough. The idea that each homeless person is to blame for finding themselves without shelter and for the related drug and alcohol problems that are often a direct result.
“People don’t want to give money because they’re scared it will go to drugs or alcohol. That’s a big misconception,” Gali reveals. “When you look at the causes of homelessness, drugs and alcohol make up only three per cent of the reasons someone becomes homeless. People rarely become homeless because of drugs and alcohol; most people turn to it when they find themselves on the streets.
“We’ve been able to remove that stigma and create something tangible. Customers know what’s inside the box and exactly what they are donating. Everything’s first-hand and good quality, the process is transparent, and we distribute the boxes for them. And, so they can have that connection, customers write a note, and we put it in the box. The note is the most special thing; it creates that connection while also solving that issue of, ‘I want to help, but I don’t want to give them money’.”
Listen to Gali Blacher on the Flying Solo podcast:
Bringing The Good Box to anyone in need
Since launching in 2018, Gali and Maddie have expanded the Good Box range to include various boxes for women and men and opened up their offering to vulnerable people experiencing any sort of displacement.
“We’ve removed a lot of the ‘homelessness’ wording, especially since COVID, because we’re seeing a lot of people who aren’t necessarily homeless receiving the box,” Gali reveals. “The boxes are for anyone in need. Since COVID, we’re seeing a very different type of person needing boxes – people who might be living at a person’s house or couch-surfing and may not want to call themselves ‘homeless’, even though technically they are.
“We’ve also created new boxes, such as our YouBeauty box containing things like makeup items, lotions and period underwear, specifically for women who’ve survived domestic violence and are living in emergency accommodations. The feedback we got from domestic violence shelters is that the boxes are great for people who are on the streets or have nothing, but the shelters already provide a lot of this to people. So they need products for dignity, things to make women feel good and feel like they are cared about. And we’ve created a male version of that, called the YouLegend box, which goes out for Father’s Day.”
From donation to education
Initial months of cold-calling and “almost begging” to gain interest from local charities, businesses and community services to build their business into a viable product finally bore fruit. The power of word-of-mouth quickly saw The Good Box become a go-to for local charities seeking goods for vulnerable people and individuals and corporations keen to find a way to give back to the community.
To further their aim to bring dignity and understanding to the plight of people experiencing homelessness in Australia, The Good Box has diversified its revenue streams with homelessness education and team-building programs for schools and corporations. The programs aim to break the stigma around homelessness and include hands-on involvement from participants, who help to pack boxes and hand-write notes of hope and kindness to include in the box.
Bringing social responsibility impact to the public has proven extremely popular, driving The Good Box to become a sought-after educator for large corporations like Telstra and NAB.
“We’ve seen a lot of shift, especially from staff members,” says Gali. “That push of, ‘we only want to work for your organisation if you are doing some good with that’. People don’t want to come to work every day to do something without any impact.
“Businesses also realise that people want to do business with those who have a good impact. It’s a clever business decision to be doing good because people want to see that and support it. Social impact is a lot more genuine now, too. We see people genuinely want to help and not just tick something off. That’s why organisations love to work with us because they’re not just giving money and ticking that off. They’re volunteering and packing boxes and getting involved.”
In this inspiring Flying Solo episode, Gali shared plenty of insights into The Good Box journey, including advice on starting your own not-for-profit or charity business. Listen now.
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