Total underwear collected is 1,850,804.
I mentioned last month that parcels addressed to my home had decreased substantially, but I spoke too soon! A well-intentioned social media post put out in 2019 is doing the rounds again, so I’m looking for some help from you, if you don’t mind being a ‘smarty pants’ champion.
The post had some misinformation in it suggesting we collect underwear to help prevent rape, which is not why we collect it. As well as having inaccurate information, the post results in us receiving donations of make-up which we don’t collect and can’t use, and in parcels being sent to our old address causing delays and transport costs. There are other old posts out there too that aren’t quite right. For example, we don’t collect tatty bras – recycling companies tell us there’s not enough material in them to make this worthwhile. So we only collect gently worn bras that have enough wear left in them that they can be worn again. We have to pay to send any well-worn ones we receive to landfill.
If you see any posts with the wrong address or wrong information, I’d be grateful if you could put the poster right and let them know:
- We collect only NEW pants and new and gently worn (laundered) bras to help those in Africa and the UK who can’t afford or don’t have access to underwear.
- We collect underwear because – for example – having pants means women can stay at their work and girls can stay in school each month, and to provide the dignity everyone deserves.
- The address for donations is now West Calder rather than Livingston.
- If they want an acknowledgement email, to please enclose their email address with their donation.
Where we see misinformation we try to have it fixed, but that’s not always easy and it would be wonderful if you could help us by correcting any old or inaccurate information you see being shared/re-shared. It’s pantastic to have the support of so many kind and generous people – we just want to make sure they know what we collect and why, and that we can use what people send us.
Since our last Talking Pants, we’ve provided underwear to 5 organisations:
- 46,000 pairs of new pants and new and gently worn bras to NPAC.
- 1,088 pairs of new pants to the Baby Bank Scotland, a charity supporting their local community.
- 850 pairs of new pants to Freedom for Girls UK, an organisation supplying washable reusable period pads to girls in Kenya and Uganda.
- 1,500 pairs of new pants to Chifundo UK, an organisation supporting girls in and around Blantyre, Malawi.
- 1,000 pairs of new pants to Pass it on Trust Uganda, supporting girls and women in Kampala and other remote parts of Uganda.
It’s always lovely to get feedback from the recipients of your donations. Here, charity Gecko on the Move are handing out pants to 5-year-olds at the Bandari School in Tanzania which educates the most needy and vulnerable in the area. Says founder Celi, “We were measuring the kids for uniforms earlier this week and noticed none of the new kids were wearing underwear.” Can’t help but smile looking at the wee boy in the middle of the group!
Thank you for helping to put smiles on faces. Hoping we can continue to reach more people this year.
Maria
