People from all over the Penrith area and beyond have united to make the lives of our homeless community a little more comfortable this winter. 

Glenmore Park resident, Debbie O’Connor, and her team at The Creative Fringe set the “Plastic Fantastic” challenge earlier this year. They invited the locals to join them in creating waterproof sleeping mats from used plastic bags. These will be donated to Mama Lana’s Community Foundation. 

It was during last year’s “Think Outside the Square” knitting challenge that The Creative Fringe learnt about the need for not only warm blankets but for waterproof sleeping mats for the homeless. 

700 grocery bags are required to create one single mat, that’s 700 less grocery bags in landfill and waterways. This makes this challenge more than helping people in our local community, it also has a positive environmental impact. 

“After last year’s over-whelming success of the Think Outside the Square challenge, we decided to not only run it again this year but to add the Plastic Fantastic challenge to the mix” said Community Manager Rienna Kroh. “Being able to help those less fortunate is very rewarding and seeing the community come together is amazing”. 

The aim was to be able to donate 10 sleeping mats along with the blankets to Mama Lana’s at the start of winter. So far, they have 4 completed mats and 24 blankets. This will be an ongoing challenge throughout the year, so there is still time to get involved in this amazing cause and help bring comfort to our rough sleepers. 

For more information on these challenges and to find out how to be a part of this incredible initiative, head to www.thecreativefringe.com.au/events or call 1300 722 896.