HELP
FOR THE HOMELESS By Kristy Martin Photos: Jarryd Bravo
A local boy is single-handedly keeping homeless people’s feet warm and dry, as Kristy Martin discovers.
K
indness is afoot in the Berry household of Mt Eliza. Ten-year-old Josh Berry is leading the charge, as he aims to collect two pairs of socks for every homeless person in Victoria.
And with 23,000 homeless people in the state, Josh hopes to get his hands on a whopping 50,000 pairs of new socks. It’s a hugely ambitious project for a 10-year-old, but then Josh is not your average kid. The home-schooled local lad has a kindness and compassion rarely found in most adults, let alone someone so young. “Josh has a very compassionate heart,” says his mother, Jane. “He is kind and he just loves helping people.”
Desperate to help, Josh went home and googled ‘What do homeless people need most?’ and was surprised to find that housing wasn’t among the most sought after items – but warm socks were. “Homeless people say that one of the things they need most are clean, warm socks,” Josh explains. “People give blankets and jackets, usually when they no longer fit them or get another jacket, but you never give away your holey socks.” Clean, well-fitting new socks are an integral part of foot care, agrees Melanie Raymond of Youth Projects, one of the organisations Josh is helping. “People experiencing homelessness have major health issues with their feet, because it is difficult to care properly for your feet in those circumstances. “You can’t simply kick off your shoes and relax at the end of the day when you are homeless.
She and her husband Gary are, understandably, incredibly proud of their son.
“Being on your feet all the time in the same shoes and socks, exposed to damp, causes infection and puts people at risk of ‘trench foot’.”
The 2 Pairs Each Project was launched mid-last year, after Josh was walking through Melbourne’s CBD with his parents and saw a group of homeless people.
Trench foot is a painful medical condition caused by prolonged immersion in cold water or mud, which leads to a blackening of the foot and death of the surface tissue.
The weather was chilly and he couldn’t believe these people would remain out in the cold.
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16 | PENINSULA
November 2016
“Imagine if you only had one pair of socks,” Josh says.