I think that you have got yourself a great idea here. I don't know of anything like this on the market, but it should be. Don't know how one would connect with a manufacturer, but this is worth looking into.

You should sketch this idea and make a picture of it. If you don't want to get it manufactured, it would make a great DIY project.

Welcome to the boards!

 

Thanks for the tips. I have direct access to a manufacturing resource. Believe it or not there are still a few cut-and-sew operations left here in the states besides the tent and awning shops.

 

It sounds like a great idea but you know most homeless people are broke ass poor so unless your marketing to the yuppie homeless that have jobs it might be kinda hard to recoup your costs. Maybe you should use cardboard and newspaper along with a shopping cart and papermache some sort of eco home on wheels using 2 liter bottles for lighting. If you do just remember to give me credit as alot of ideas I have get stolen.

 

Relating to the recycled/reused materials idea, I heard of someone using recovered dryer lint as a material for making boot liners to be donated to homeless folks.

 

Look at the Armys ECWCS system its a wearable sleeping system. With a outer waterproof shell you can take off. Just a product to base your Ideas off of.

http://www.us-elitegear.com/catalog/gen-iii-ecwcs-level-2-balaclava.htm

 

I know an awful lot about this subject. First off, like that one guy said, marketing anyting to a homeless person is a lost cause. They want beer/drugs and that is it. They won't invest money in anyting else. I know all you "liberal" doods will think that is a stereotype, but it's not. It's a statistically solid fact. I've got experience to back it up.

Between the ages of 14 and 25, I spent my free time hiking and hanging out with homeless people. I've got absolutely nothing against them, but I've met 3 of them in my time that were willing to invest in anyting other than alchohol and drugs. I spent two years of my life homeless, and the entire time I panhandled to get money for drugs and booze with other guys that were panhandling to get money for drugs and booze. Homeless isn't poverty, it's a state of self-imposed pity.

1. Homeless people will not spend money on your product.


As proof of #1 I offer the testimony that I tried to convince untold numbers of homeless people from 'Ol Tom in Riverside, CA, to Dave (who wanted to have his **** together so bad) in Newport, OR that they will save money by buying synthetic (I didn't even push wool at the time) products, if they took care of them. They still bought cotton products, because they were much cheaper (which meant more drugs/booze, and discarded them in favor of the local church or homeless shelter when the weather got bad. Cotton would've worked well in the Oregon rain if the people I met could've taken care of their things... Although, if they could take care of their things, I suspect many of them would not have been homeles. They sacrifice "living comfort" (as we would call it) for dugs/booze.

2. Homeless people will not engage the required upkeep for your proposed fragile product.

Again, These are my FRIENDS that I speak about. They are truly great people in their own rite, as is every person on this planet, but they absolutely will not spend money on, nor will they take care of the product you mention trying to sell to them. I love each and every homeless person I've ever met to death, they will get infinitely more personal than people you encounter on a daily basis, but things don't mean **** to them. Stuff is stuff. Matter is matter.

Conversely, when I was homeless, the conditions I encountered would rip apart your proposed product. This is one of the reasons you'll consistently find me eternally endeared to durability in my gear.




If I had to sum it up in one sentence: Your heart is in the right place, but your paradigm is skewed.

I challenge you to spend some time with your target consumer before you come up with a saleable product. You know where they can be found. I advise bringing a 12 pack.

Sorry for the rant, just near and dear to my heart. :thumb:

 

Well I do appreciate the input. Vinyl catch canvas survives conveyor line abuse quite well. What material were you thinking of -- maybe neoprene? I don't know what kind of abuse you have in mind. If it could survive in the environment you describe, how about everyone else? A good test. :thumb:

These are intended as gifts first of all. If they work, then the money will be there to cover the cost. No quick buck to be made.

By the way, what's the estimated lifespan of a homeless person once they go that route? thanks much, and your post is quite helpful. :thumb:

 

Motivation for success often works at the expense of everyone else, because it's focused on making me better off. Motivation for significance does the opposite and it generates creativity. I'm wanted and needed if I'm helping someone else. It's like an investment.[/QUOTE]

So are you saying all expenses are going to be paid by you and just the satisfaction in their bloodshot eyes is going to make it all worth it and will be the only payment you need? If so it's good to hear about somebody in a position to help the living conditions of the less fortunate and I salute you for it, furthermore I'm more than willing to help you in any field testing of such products as I'm not too far distant from being homeless myself.

 

as I'm not too far distant from being homeless myself.

Don't you know the politically correct term these days is 'homefree'?

 

I don't do very well with the pc terminology.lol I did learn today from watching dukes of hazard that hillbillys like to be called Appalachian Americans though.:

 

PS: at least they can get a free sleeping bag from somebody that gives a sh*t

 

That give a **** is what they need, you're right. Are you gonna be the one? I bet you that, in 10 years, your "give a ****" will fade with the names of the people you tried to help.

You might be to young to understand that, when you give and give and give and give without reciprocation, you're walking a soulless dead-end street.

Prove me wrong. Document it right here in this thread with photography so that we can all see. I'm certainly not too big to admit I was wrong.

We're all waiting! :thumb:

 

Hi folks - If I was homeless and had to carry my belongings on my back or in a cart, I would want 2 or 3 surplus miltary ponchos and liners.

Just like the Marines on patrol in Veitnam did. Light weight and minumim bulk.

 

poncho can make a good tent if you know how.

 

Call me crazy but I think you should develop a badass sleep system and sell it for millions to the goverment and then have cash money to support whatever cause you feel like at the time. I hear the U.S. goverment spent millions of the taxpayer dollars to develop a pen to write in space and the Russians just used a pencil. Sometimes the greater good can be done thru other means. Good luck to you in your endeavor.

 

I'm trying to come up with a survival sleeping bag for homeless people and I'd like to share some ideas and get inputs.

The idea is to have a sleeping bag that combines as a back pack and a rainy weather poncho made from vinyl canvas. The bag will deflate/inflate by squeezing/venting foam-rubber pads in the lining. It will zip and seal as two pieces so you can go without a tent, and it will have a hood that pulls over with mosquito netting. The lower flap will have stainless steel grommet holes so it can be staked to the ground. The inside lining will probably be Gortex and the foam pads might be inside reflective mylar (space blanket) for severely cold weather.

It's possible this sleeping bag could be used as some type of life-preserver that prevents hypothermia in ice cold water. Perhaps it could have a use on boats and aircraft. Is anything out there in the marketplace?

lol sounds extremely heavy and extremely impractical to wear.

what homeless ppl need is equipement they can depend on... inflateing something is just more than can go wrong

lol a sleeping bag life-preserver lol and they are going to wear it as a poncho :headshake:

 

lol sounds extremely heavy and extremely impractical to wear.

Foam rubber pads sound extremely heavy to you? If it was saturated with water it would be extremely heavy, but why would somebody want to do that to a sealed pressure system? A water bed maybe? I suppose you could do the same thing with an inflatable raft, but what's the point?

what homeless ppl need is equipement they can depend on... inflateing something is just more than can go wrong

foam rubber inflates itself -- squeeze it down then turn it loose. Bags for storing clothes work this way. They have been around for about 20 years now

lol a sleeping bag life-preserver lol and they are going to wear it as a poncho :headshake:

One piece of it would be a poncho and the other piece would fold into a back-pack.

 

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=143099

 

Years ago, I worked in a large city ion the mid-west. Doing landscape work, I got to know many homeless people there. When they begged for money, "so they could get a good meal." they would spend it on booze and drugs. Many times, my buddy and I would offer to take them in the restaurant with us and buy them the meal. After numerous attempts, we never had one single homeless person take us up on that.

My church donated winter jackets and other clothing for me to give to the homeless. Within hours, they would be standing on the street corners selling the stuff I gave them, even though they needed it. (Yes, to get more money to drink.)

So, I'm wondering, how many of these sleeping bags would get sold after you donate them.(?)

disclaimer* I admire you for what you are attempting to do.

Kev
<><

 

It looks like someone has already made something that work great for the outdoor living crowd, look up 3 stage convertible hunting parka system. Make a cheap knockoff with tyvek and a wool blend and your in business.

 

The best bang for the buck for homeless is a tarp and army blanket. Toss one of each in a surplus army duffle bag. Last spring, there was a panhandler right across from local surplus store. I had him come in with me and gave him this setup along with two MRE's and he could not thank me enough!

 

There is a project that has been going on for a few years taking old blankets an fabrics and making sleeping bags for the homeless....project ugly quilt http://www.uglyquilts.org/

 

Check this out..this young gal is doing something very cool in Detroitistan..

http://detroitempowermentplan.blogspot.com/

 

Quite a few homeless people are mentally handi-capped people that have just been screwed by the government. That's why I feel bad for them, but I think we should focus more on getting them off the streets and into a job. Hence my idea of all round communal homeing for damn near everyone.

 

Okay! Just one last comment! :

Portland, OR has an EXCELLENT homeless program whereby the homeless are given free apartments to live in, no strings attatched. No rent. No rules. Sounds like it wouldn't work out well, right? Apparently, it is the most successful program in America (even though we stole it from the Canadians) in terms of getting homeless people into their own jobs, into their own homes, and off of the streets.

So, apparently, you're onto something good! Give homeless people a place to live, and the rest seems to fall into place. :thumb:

 

Northern, if you didn't notice, Twyggy said he lived on the streets for a while. He's been homeless. Dude knows what's up. Homelessness is mostly preventable. HOWEVER! Sh*t happens sometimes, and nothing can be done about it. There are a lot of reasons people are homeless. For some it's a choice, for some it's a temporary predicament while they pull themselves back up. For many, it's apathy and antipathy that have lead them to the state they're in.

For anyone who is homeless and needs a warm bed, though, I think the OP is working on a cool thing. So let's work on that, eh? The why and the how and the tangential sh*t doesn't really matter. Let's just be gear heads where it matters.

Goretex is probably just going to run your costs up. Synthetics are going to get torn to shreds. Homeless folk tend to sleep on pavement or well packed dirt. Think under overpasses, city parks, allies, behind dumpsters, or in vacant lots. Sometimes in trashed cars in junkyards. Basically anywhere between the cheapest store in town, and the most densely populated foot traffic area.
Do like twyggy said. Go figure out where they're staying. Then figure out what would fit the area.

Something else to think about is how fast they can get in and out of it. Sleeping in the city means not really getting much rest. Being ready to get up and move at a moments notice. If the police or a land lord are ****y and want you to vacate, you don't want to have to wrestle your way out of a bag. If someone's about to kick the crap out of you and take all your stuff, you don't want your arms and legs stuck in a bag.
Ground insulation and padding would be merciful. Pavement just sucks all the heat out of you. And it's hard as... well... pavement.
If you used a foam rubber mat, you could rig it so it's like a backpack, and the padding just goes around in a U shape, as it were. That way it loosely rolls up onto itself, while making a sort of storage pack. The foam part doesn't need to be full length. Cut costs and let it roll up tighter around the feet to save room. If it had wool as insulation, and some kind of super tough outer coat, that would be great. Even better would be a sort of vulcanized rubber bottom for the mat part, so that it forms a tough shell as a backpack, or on pavement. It might not be the most comfortable to wear on your back, but seriously, for as long as it'd last, who'd GaF?
Give it a couple inner storage pockets big enough for like, a wallet when you're sleeping, or a storage case for needles or blow, and I think they'd actually hang onto it instead of hawking it to the nearest passerby.

 

This is a tangent from your topic, but Cody Lundin described a how to make a homeless person/survival/makeshift sleeping bag by:

taking a large garbage bag, lining it with cardboard, and filling it with newspaper. You'd then place your body inside with the newspaper providing the insulation.

Never tried it, but I think it might work rather well as a short-term solution.

 

That's gonna be an expensive bag. How are homeless people going to afford it and keep it from getting stolen?

 

We do that here
http://www.swags.org.au/

Of course our economy suffers with all this charity for the worthless.
By worthless of course I mean poor people. I mean if you are not rich you deseve to be treated like crap. That is why lawers are basicly better people than firemen.

 

We do that here
http://www.swags.org.au/

Of course our economy suffers with all this charity for the worthless.
By worthless of course I mean poor people. I mean if you are not rich you deseve to be treated like crap. That is why lawers are basicly better people than firemen.

Everybody wants to be rich, but how many rich people do you admire for their personable qualities? maybe Paris Hilton or Priscella Presley?

 

Well PawPaw I think that this is a great idea. I would love a sleeping bag like that for myself. Perhaps there could be a way of marketing it and using the profits to make others to give away. Just a thought.

There is a lot of strong opinions being voiced here. Some are being voiced as if some have been asked to donate to this project, as if this means that they will personally suffer loss because of your desire to do a good deed. ?? Don't quite understand where that sort of stance comes from.

I believe that those who seek to do good ought to be encouraged and applauded for their initiative.

There is a lot of stereotyping going one here too about the homeless. I know up here in Canada, in order to collect social assistance you need an address, but in order to get an address you need the social assistance. This is often the fatal recipe that condemns those in this catch 22 to a life on the streets.

I personally have met a few people like this. My neighbour took in 4 young girls who were in this situation. Yes, it s true that they were on social assistance for a while, but now all of them are contributing members to society. Sometimes, they just need a chance - someone to believe in them. No all that are out there are entrenched in drug and alcohol addictions.

This same neighbour is trying to raise the other half of the money for a new furnace for a building so she can open a girls home. We have a lot of young people that are homeless in a hidden way. They may not sleep on the streets, but sleep on friends couches. 2 of the girls my neighbour took in were sleeping in a stair well.

http://www.sandamianofoundation.ca/

This is a charity that I invest a lot of my time in.

I refuse to believe that contributing time and resources doesn't help! Even if just one is helped .... then it is all worth it!

 

thanks survive,

I went to the church under the bridge on Sunday. I must admit that some of my stereotypes were broken. Some tough ex-cons wish there was just some way to get started with legitimate work that requires hands-on skills. Some of them did a lot with shop while they were in the pen.

BTW the inventor of the carbine rifle did it while he was in prison. :

 

I think you're gonna spend a small fortune on this, go broke, not even given a thank you by the bums you wanted to help, and end up joining their ranks. TP

 

Interesting topic and idea!

Give me credit and acknowledgement if you use my ideas please.

You can make a bog standard cheapo model and a deluxe model. Basically what you are looking for is some kind of heavy duty tarp material that lasts and lasts.
Need attached straps to rolll up and configure into a pack/tie up. Can use snaps or loops to hold the cords.
The shape-need to experiment with plastic samples-probably a large triangular shape-with allowing for overlap coverage and folding up the foot area to cover feet.
Need to have a comic style instruction diagram sheet laminated onto the bag showing how to use/roll up/different uses/how to use carboard/newspaper for insulation.
Double material with open ends like an envelope pocket-slide in cardboard/newspaper so the material stays around you like a cocoon. Can have a flap covering the opening so the material stays inside/does not get wet.
Check the old boy scouts method? of using two wool blankets as a sleeping back-that style of cutting/design should cover your purpose.

You need to make it cheap-how about using staples? Check a Home Depot for tarp materials/truck cover tarp.
Big enough to use as a tarp but not overly huge. Diagrams and multiuses will make it valuable.

I sketched out something like this years ago. Check out that girl's coat idea in Detroit that someone posted and also look at the Ecotat Freedom shelter for illustrations of multiuses.