The Illawarra community has rallied in support of six-year-old Noah Harb's efforts to help the homeless.
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The Bulli child has collated nearly 700 sleeping bags to be distributed among the region's homeless.
Earlier this year, Noah saw a series of homeless people on the streets of Wollongong, and decided he wanted to help them.
The Bulli Public School year 1 student therefore set a goal to collect and donate 1000 sleeping bags and pillows to the homeless people of Wollongong by April.
With his family's assistance, Noah set up an unofficial not-for-profit via Facebook, whereby the public could donate items or make a monetary contribution.
Noah said he wanted to collect the items by April because "I didn't want the people to get cold in winter".
This week, his mother Diana said they had collected a total of 686 sleeping bags.
Of these, 129 were donated and 557 were purchased via the $6798 raised from community donations and fundraising.
Mrs Harb praised the community's support.
"I am beyond stoked with it all," she said. "I cannot believe how much effort has gone into this.
"The school even got on board; they had a movie day and raised over $400 for him.
"Two of his friends decided to do a magic show busking at Wollongong mall, and they raised $300.
"One of the people donated about 50 beanies as well that I think she'd hand-knitted herself."
Mrs Harb was proud of her son's efforts.
"He didn't hit his target, but he did really well.
"He's a little disappointed that he didn't get to a thousand sleeping bags, so I had to talk him through it and explain that the fact he got almost 700 was an amazing achievement.
"So he's so happy. He keeps asking, 'when are we handing them out?'
"Taking him into purchase them at Big W, the girls there got teary, I got teary. It was an emotional experience."
Mrs Harb said the Wollongong Homeless Hub would be taking 200 of the sleeping bags. The remainder will be distributed to other agencies, such as The Salvation Army.
"Noah wants to walk around and hand some out too, so we might do a drive with him around Wollongong," his mother said.
Brendan Crabb
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
