Our Story So Far
Kirsten Ritchie (Pictured in the middle) is the founder of Strike It Out Inc it all began in January 2017 when she read a local post about a young man who was homeless and hungry on the streets of Launceston here in Tasmania. All the services were closed for the summer holidays, so he was unable to receive support or assistance. Back then I had no idea we had any body living on our streets it was not really seen, but there was a hidden problem with many I found down alley ways, in local parks, around the back of buildings and people sleeping in cars in car park spaces.
Kirsten comes from Auckland, New Zealand and living over there the people without a home, sleeping rough it was very visual and not hidden. Moving to Launceston, Tasmania a much smaller city with less population she did not see anyone sleeping rough it never played a thought in her mind, until she read the young man’s post.
A single mother with two children in her full-time care but were attending school during the day and of an evening they were old enough to leave at home and dinner would be ready for them and they knew all the safety rules such as they were not allowed to use the oven but they could use the microwave as long as they did not put any metal objects in there. Emergency contact numbers were given, and they were not to unlock or answer to the door.
Next her car has been loaded up with food supplies she had in her cupboard muesli nut bars, crackers, noodles, tin food, apples, bottled water etc. along with some camping supplies stretcher beds, blankets and sleeping bags she drove off into Launceston city stopped off at the supermarket to buy some sausages to cook on the BBQ down at Royal Park later on and to find the young man who had written the post.
Entering Princes Park on arrival there was an older person looking really sad, so Kirsten went up to them to introduce herself and ask their name. After the greeting she asked them if they were hungry, and they responded with eyes welling up responding with I am starving. She handed some food items over, and they would not accept them as they had no teeth so not been able to eat chewy muesli bars or apples or other items that were not suitable. So, she said wait there I will be back very soon I will pop down to the supermarket. She came back and the person was still in the same spot sitting on a bench seat. Some items such as bananas, sandwiches and soft muesli bars were handed over and they were most grateful. She asked this person where they were staying? they said that they were sleeping on the concrete behind the church down a set of stairs. They were then offered a stretcher bed, sleeping bag and blanket, they could not believe this was happening saying their Christmases had come all at once. They walked together with the items to set up a bed this helping with giving more comfort instead of sleeping on the cold ground.
Kirsten had not realized how many alley ways there were around central Launceston and so many people sleeping directly on the ground some with only a blanket to wrap around themselves hugging along cold concrete walls. There was a person sitting in a wheelchair which had bags hanging off and they were reading a book under the light which was left on outside the library in Civic Square. She approached and did an introduction, and she asked if they were hungry and that she was planning on putting on a BBQ down at Royal Park and would they like to attend? In a most worrisome voice they asked where did I come from? What organization or church did I belong to? She responded with you are looking at her it is just me, not belonging to any organization or religion but I care about all the people who are hungry in our community and not provided for with life’s basic necessities.
They said they were the boss of the streets, and they would attend to the first BBQ tomorrow night and if that went all well then, they would allow all the other people who are sleeping rough and hungry that they can attend the following night all going well. Kirsten headed to the Royal Park BBQ and started cooking up sausages the next night and took some bread, onions, sauce and water bottles and along came the person in the wheelchair. They had a good feed, and they were very impressed, handshakes took place, and it was all going ahead for the following evening to have the homeless and hungry to attend. Kirsten was so grateful that she passed the test of approval.
A Facebook page was set up called Launceston Feeding the Homeless and it went viral with 3000 likes in the first week and Kirsten committed to BBQs down at Royal Park every night of the week. Community members started donating many items to help support our less fortunate community members.
The young man who wrote the original post came down to Royal Park it was so amazing to finally met with them in person and they were overwhelmed with all the support.
It just grew and grew both with people giving and the numbers of people who were hungry and homeless showing up.
From the beginnings having donations taken home to a rental property running out of space and a rental inspection on the cards I had to find another space to store and distribute out. A go fund me page was set up to raise funds to lease a warehouse space up in Mowbray which went fantastic, and we operated from there until we ran out of space to situate some large infrastructure, so we moved to our existing space with leasing down at Launceston Storage Solutions. The assets have grown over the last seven years with now having the following which allows us to deliver our services efficiently:
Refridgerated Transit Van and a Holden Combo Van for pick up and deliveries keeping the food safe
20 Ft Freezer container and a 40 Ft Refridgerated container
Lots of racking and shelving
An office space with desks, computers, filing cabinets and a photocopier
Square system set up for inventory of goods donated and outgoing of food packages
Mobile Locker Trailer situated down at Royal Park servicing 24 individuals with a safe space for their personal belongings available for them to use 24/7 at their convivence
40 Ft High Top Container refurbishing it to a manager’s room and basic kitchenette
Mobile shower trailer consisting of two individual showers and change rooms
Mobile sleep pod trailer which has seven individual sleep pods installed
40ft Container Dome
We wish to thank each and every one of our community members who have given to help us to help so many people and allowed us to grow into the space we have all to make it happen.
What People Are Saying
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I want to thank you so much for what you did for my family also it helped another elderly lady with some of the food truly you have blessed my family so much
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I want you to know that you played an important part in my life during this pandemic... I needed help, and you were there at exactly the right time in the right way… you’re like an angel sent by God.
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Truly thank you so so much. You are truly a blessing… you have made my lil family happy an I’m less stressed an watching my babies play an smiling makes it all perfect”
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You have made our christmas worth wakin up for
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Awards and Finalists Strike It Out Inc have achieved
Winner of the Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Community Services Award 2023
Finalist in the Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Community Services Award 2024
Finalist in the LIFE Awards Hobart 2023
