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Our underwear reaches the right places

To ensure the underwear we collect is distributed to those who need it most, we work with a number of organisations. They help us to give all the brand new pants and bras we collect directly to the people who need our support, donating them for free.

The ‘gently worn’ (laundered) bras we collect are also given to the women we help, as well as sold to family run recycling company LMB Textiles to help us raise the vital funds we need to support our work. LMB send the bras they get from us to people in developing economies like Africa to help them earn an income by selling bras.

To date, our pantastic supporters have donated a phenomenal amount of underwear as you can see from our pantometer. Our underwear timeline shows where and to whom all the underwear you’ve donated has gone. And the countries we’ve reached so far include Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, England, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Wales, Zambia, Zanzibar and Zimbabwe.

A pants journey

We charted the story of a pair of pants we received following a special appeal for ladies’ black pants back in 2019.

Mairi from Clovenfords spotted our appeal and kindly popped an extra pack into her basket when she was out shopping. “I’d never even thought about not having knickers,” she said. “Something so fundamental and that we all just take for granted. I know a pack of pants isn’t much, but I hope it makes a difference!”

When the pants arrived at the warehouse to be ‘sorted’ by our wonderful volunteers, it was opened by Shelagh.

“My job is to sort your donations,” said Shelagh. “We split them into pants and bras, then ages and sizes, so when we get requests from our partners who distribute the underwear, it’s so much easier to get it bagged and ready.

This particular appeal was to help us fulfil a couple of orders, one of which was from the Tumaini Fund, a charity that supports HIV/AIDs widows and orphans in Kagera region of Tanzania. Tracy collected your donations on behalf of the Fund – including the pack sent by Mairi.

“[I was] Delighted to collect hundreds of pants for our sustainable hygiene kits,” Tracy said. “Each kit lasts a girl 3 years, buying back over 180 days of education and restoring dignity and freedom.”

She then set off with them on their 5,000 mile journey and attended 3 different distributions of kits to orphans in Kagera, northwest Tanzania.

Social worker Rivina helped demonstrate the kits to girls at Kirusha secondary school in Ngara, Kagera, and Joyce received the kit containing pants Mairi had donated. “Now I can go to school every day, just like the boys!” she said.

Unfortunately, we can’t track and tell the story of every pair of pants. But we can assure you that they all find equally good homes and are appreciated more than we can say. On behalf of everyone who has received a donation, THANK YOU. And please keep them coming – in particular ladies’ black pants, sizes 8 to 10-12 in full, midi, mini or high leg.

 

 

 

 

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