Our Clothes Bank

One of the programmes of Satpuda Foundation and NCSA is distribution of clothes to tribals and other villagers living in and around tiger reserves. If you visit these communities you will see that they are cripplingly poor and some of the children are dressed practically in rags - a sad state to be in, specially in winter.

We usually follow a "clothes for work" scheme, that is, the clothes are distributed after the villagers have completed some stipulated community conservation work. We also sometimes distribute them on a need basis, after our medical camps.

A number of people have been donating clothes regularly for the bank, and from last year I started collecting from my friends in Mumbai as well. I take them to our office in Amravati whenever I go there but I am thinking of sending them by train/road transport at regular intervals if we can collect enough. At present this appeal applies only to people in Mumbai, Nagpur and Amravati, but later it would be great if we could spread this idea around to other places as well.

If you live in Mumbai and would like to donate clothes, please email me on rajashree.khalap@gmail.com

Some points to keep in mind:

1. All donated items should be in usable condition, not torn or badly stained.

2. Village women wear sarees from the age of around 16 - never kurtas, churidars, shirts, trousers, dresses etc. If you'd like to donate adult women's clothes, sarees are best. However, teenage girls wear kurtas and salwars.

3. These villagers are extremely thin. And city people often aren't.
So I am looking for medium and small sizes at present. Of course it is possible to alter larger sized clothes, and at a later stage we can possibly do that too.

4. All kinds of children's clothes will come in useful.

5. Warm clothes are needed for all age groups (shawls, woollens)

6. Please don't donate underwear.

7. These items would all be very useful: bedsheets, blankets, mosquito nets, towels, pillows.

8. Items for children like school bags, boxes for pens and geometry sets etc are welcome

Do spread the word about our Clothes Bank - it's a great way to recycle our unwanted clothes, and it really makes a difference to these communities.