Total underwear collected is 2,118,133

Thank you for sending us a pantastic 1,989 parcels in July.

Happy birthday to us – we attained charity status on 10 August 2010 which means we’re 13 now! What started off as a one-off collection for an orphanage in Ethiopia that I volunteered at, has turned into over 2 million items of underwear being given to those in need in Africa and the UK. Huge thanks to you – our friends, supporters and volunteers – for your kindness and generosity over the past 13 years.

Since our last Talking Pants, we’ve provided new pants and new and gently worn bras to 3 organisations:

• 500 pairs of pants to Streets Kitchen, who work with people all across London who are homeless.
• 273 pairs of pants and bras to Care4Calais, London and Stansted.
• 745 pairs of pants and bras to Happy Baby Community, an organisation in London supporting women who are pregnant or have young children.

Thanks to you, we were able to provide 160 pairs of pants to an organisation working in West Africa. They told us, “We exist to help people in need by reason of ill-health, sickness, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage, by providing support for children in need in our country. We run a menstruation workshop and need pants for girls aged 12 and up. So far, 150 young girls have received handmade, reusable sanitary towels made by the program in kits with handmade soaps and underwear. This gift is life-changing for these girls who can continue now with their schooling. We look forward to distributing the donated pants from Smalls for All in our next workshops.”

We were also able to provide underwear to the Little Green Sock Project, a baby bank based in Manchester.  The organisation’s founder Catherine told us, “We support families in severe financial hardship on a referral-only basis – from health visitors, social workers, domestic violence refuge or food banks. We wanted to be able to provide underwear but didn’t have the funds to be able to do this for every family. However, since finding Smalls for All, we’ve been able to include underwear with every bundle!”

A belated happy 60th birthday to Carmel & Jackie, who were lovely enough to suggest to their party guests that they donate pants for Smalls for All rather than bring presents. And thanks to their guests’ amazing generosity, they were able to send us a box of over 260 pants! We hope you had a pantastic time, ladies, thank you!

Big thanks to everyone who sends us photos, videos and notes when they send us donations (of underwear or funds) – they’re always lovely to see!

Thank you all for continuing to support Smalls.

Best wishes, Maria