common - Dignity U Wear

March, 2011
Drop Your Drawers to Restore Dignity
Non-Profit Org.
US Postage
Sometimes it’s the little things that make or break a day. A
pair of underwear is a little thing, but if you don’t own any
underwear every day is discouraging. Every day starts with
an insult to your dignity.
Paid
Permit # 490
Jacksonville, Fl
One single dollar can turn that insult into an affirmation. One
single dollar.
136 North Myrtle Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32204
www.dignityuwear.org
By joining Dignity U Wear’s Undie Sunday Undie Monday
underwear drive, you can help us collect 100,000 pairs of
underwear by May 15. Six weeks, 100,000 brighter days!
Dignity is Our
Common
Dignity U Wear • New Clothes. New Life.
Stand Down Helps Veterans Stand Up
It’s not easy standing in line to ask for help, especially if you were once a proud soldier. On a
recent morning in Gainesville, Florida, a long queue of men who have served, most of them
homeless, waited in front of the U.S. Army Reserve Center to learn what assistance might be
available to them. They came to the annual Homeless Veterans Stand Down/Resource Fair
hoping to find the support they need. Organizations were on hand to assist with benefits
enrollment, medical care, haircuts, food and clothing. One hundred fifty veterans were served
that day.
Dignity U Wear was at the fair - providing
underwear and socks, a hat, and blankets to every
veteran that needed them. Ron Palhete, who
served in the U.S. Air Force from 1979 to 1982, was
appreciative. “This will help,” said Ron, who lives
in a subsidized apartment. “I was curious about
coming here today, not knowing what’s available,”
he said. “It’s a great thing that people are going
out of their way to help us.”
Charles B. Jones
“I don’t think there’s anything more
worthy than making sure veterans get
the care they need,” said Charles B. Jones,
who served as a Marine in Vietnam
from 1969 to 1973. “A wounded veteran,
honorably discharged, deserves all the
support he can get.” After losing his
job, Charles has not had a steady place
to live. “I lost everything,” he said. “It’s
frustrating because you know you’ve got
the ability. You feel even worse about
being unemployed when you know you
can work.”
“Stand Down is a nationwide program
serving veterans who need help re-adjusting to
civilian life, and we are proud to support it,” says
Bob Bryan, Executive Director of Dignity U Wear.
“Our goal is to serve homeless and struggling vets
Dignity U Wear strives to create real change in the lives of
children and adults in need; change that restores broken
spirits and restores hope, dignity and self-esteem.
For every $1 raised, we will deliver one pair of underwear to a
person in need.
• $7 provides new underwear for a child for a week
• $36 provides bras and underwear for twelve victims of rape
or sexual assault
• $150 provides underwear to area homeless veterans
through a community Stand Down initiative
Undie Sunday Undie Monday, a grassroots campaign in its
6th year, is easy and fun. Simply sign up to be a team captain
and recruit friends and family, co-workers, members of your
congregation or civic group to join your team. They, in turn,
reach out to their network to collect new underwear or cash
that is used to fill in the sizes and styles requested by over 300
charities we support across the US.
This unique and highly impactful campaign helps us stock our
underwear needs for the entire year. We simply cannot keep up
with demand, and every item is highly valued by the recipients
as they strive to move their lives to a better place. Thanks to
you, men, women and children who are in critical situations will
start each day with dignity. Six weeks, 100,000 brighter days.
across the country. With increased funding, we can
support more Stand Down events.”
“We take clean underwear and socks for granted,
but getting new ones is really important to these
vets. This becomes a new beginning for them
and they are very happy to receive them. They
appreciate that there are people they don’t know
who care for them and want them to succeed,”
says Bryan.
When you are out shopping between now and May 15,
throw a package of boxer shorts into your cart or a
couple dollars every week into the enclosed envelope.
Then “drop your drawers” or your cash into the
collection bag provided in your team-captain kit. Not
a member of a team? No problem. Simply use the
attached envelope to make your donation
directly. Or, easier still, click on
www.undiesundayundiemonday.org
and make a donation so we can leverage our
industry relationships to buy even more
new underwear.
To support Dignity U Wear in helping homeless
veterans move forward with their lives, please
contact Genelle Thomas at 904-636-9455 or
[email protected].
A note about Stand Down: “Stand Down” is
a grassroots, community-based intervention
program coordinated by the National Coalition
of Homeless Veterans and supported by the US
Department of Labor – Veterans Employment
and Training Service. It is designed to help the
nation’s estimated 107,000 homeless veterans
access community services and support in a single
location for one to three days. The program is
modeled after the Stand Down concept used
during the Vietnam War to provide a safe retreat
for units returning from combat operations.
Go ahead, make someone’s day.
Call Pranoo at 904-636-9455 or go to
www.undiesundayundiemonday.org to register.
Then drop your drawers for dignity!
N
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Dignity U Wear • New Clothes. New Life.
Big Change for Small Change
For us, underwear is very cool. We
frequently mention unmentionables. We
love gifts of underwear. We just can’t
get enough of them. Literally, we can’t
get enough of them.
Underwear, you see, is the clothing item
most in demand from the people and
charities we serve. We will distribute over
100,000 pairs this year, and that number
would be much higher if we could get
more. And you might be surprised at
the sheer delight that a gift of new
underwear will evoke in someone who
is without.
This issue of our newsletter is devoted
to our Undie Sunday Undie Monday
underwear drive. We hope the stories
here, each about one of our projects,
illustrates the importance of our Undie
Sunday Undie Monday effort.
For example, children come to Crossnore
School and Children’s Home because
they can no longer remain in their
homes. Their stories
are heart wrenching.
After their arrival they
are given new clothes
that we provide free
of charge. “The kids
especially like getting
new underwear and
socks,” says Melynda Pepple, Chief
Advancement Officer.
Likewise for the victims of sexual assault
who come to the Rape Crisis Center. “It
is amazing to watch the expressions on
the victims’ faces when they are able to
choose new undergarments. They just
light up,” says Meg Mcglamery, Crisis
Center Director.
For those we serve new clothes are a
wonderful gift. An unexpected blessing.
They are “brand new clothes for a brand
new life.”
charities serve increasing
populations. Would you
please participate with us
in our Undie Sunday Undie
Monday drive?
Attached to this newsletter is
an envelope so that you can
make a donation. For every dollar you
put in the envelope a person will get
a new pair of underwear at a critical
point in their life. Our goal is to make it
extraordinarily easy for you to reach out
and express kindness in a meaningful
way. Thank you.
If you are interested in learning how
you can get personally involved, go to
www.dignityuwear.org or call me at
904-636-9455.
Bob Bryan
Executive Director
Our work is critical. There is an urgent
need for underwear as our partner
Helping Kids Feel Worthy
The Crossnore School was
founded 98 years ago as
an orphanage – caring for
children with no known
relatives. Today, most of the
children come from abusive
homes where they’ve been
neglected, abandoned or
physically harmed. Others
come from extreme poverty
and very large families. The
Crossnore staff’s mission is to
restore hope in these kids.
And one of the key ingredients
to moving them toward a
bright future is new clothes.
“Most of our kids are over 13
years old. They are growing
and changing quickly. A
teenager can outgrow a pair
of shoes over the winter
and undergarments are in
constant need. Having new
clothes helps them feel equal
to the other kids here and
to kids in the outside world,”
says school spokesperson,
Kathy Dellinger. “As a small
nonprofit, clothing 170 to 200
kids really taxes our budget.”
By supplying new clothing to
Crossnore School, Dignity U
Wear enables the staff to focus
Shaken and in pain, “Anna” arrived
at the Rape Crisis Center feeling
desperate and overwhelmed. After
reporting that she had been attacked
and raped, she submitted to a rape
exam and allowed police to collect her
clothing to use as evidence against
her attacker.
Throughout the questioning and
the exam, Rape Response advocates
stood by her side to offer support
and encouragement. Despite their
compassion, Anna’s ultimate reality was
this: she had been beaten and sexually
violated and now found herself in pain,
frightened, and, to add insult to injury,
without clothes.
fear and shame, even though it’s a critical
part of bringing her attacker to justice.
Rape Response advocates have reported
that providing clients with new clothing –
underwear, shirts, pants and socks - can
lead to an instant infusion of hope. “You
cannot believe the difference,” says Crisis
Center Director Meg Mcglamery. “From
the time they walk in the door to when
they shower and receive new clothing,
you witness a transformation from victim
to survivor.”
“Over the past five years, we have
established an important partnership
with Dignity U Wear,” Mcglamery
said. “We are able to maintain a basic,
but adequate, inventory of clothes.
Underwear is the biggest thing. When
we are able to provide brassieres to our
clients, it is a very big deal to them. In
a hospital gown they feel exposed and
vulnerable. We want them to feel whole,
not like a victim.”
But at that point the healing began. The
Rape Crisis Center had a private shower
area with nice soaps and shampoos. And
when Anna stepped from the shower,
thanks to the Center’s partnership with
Dignity U Wear, she was handed a new
set of clothes.
Just a week later, Anna confided to the
Crisis Center staff that every morning
she would slip on the pants she had
received to walk her young daughter to
the bus stop. She did this to continue
her healing. “It would be so easy to focus
on the evil, but this gift reminds me that
there is compassion and kindness in
the world.” New clothes made her feel
human again.
Four frightened young brothers arrived in the middle of the
night at the Crossnore School. The dirty clothes they wore
did not hide the cigarette burns and bruises. All of their
belongings, including a few shabby stuffed animals, were
jammed into a single trash bag. What few clothes they had
were threadbare, and they had been eating nothing but cold
hot dogs for days.
Counselors at the school
bathed them, gave them
clean clothes to wear, a place
to sleep and nutritious meals
to eat. For the first time in
their young lives, the boys
were truly safe.
From Victim to Survivor
on counseling and educating
the children, helping them to
thrive and succeed.
Dellinger says she can see the
pride on the faces of children
when they wear a new outfit.
Sometimes, she says, it’s the
first time they’ve ever been
given anything of their own
and it makes a huge difference.
“Receiving new clothes means
to the kids that they are worthy
of “new” or “the best”, not just
whatever is available. That’s
an important lesson for them
to learn – that they are God’s
children and loved. It fits in
with the Crossnore mission.”
“We are proud to support
Crossnore and help these kids
heal,” says Bob Bryan, Dignity
U Wear Executive Director.
“The underwear we provide
comes mostly from our
Undie Sunday Undie Monday
campaign. With demand,
especially for new underwear,
growing from all of our
agencies, we need to collect
as much as we can. We never
have too much.”
Victims of sexual assault suffer feelings
of helplessness and terror, particularly in
the immediate aftermath of the attack.
The confiscation of a woman’s clothing
can unintentionally heighten her sense of
Fast Facts
• Every dollar
donated to Dignity
U Wear makes
it possible for
someone to receive
$10 worth of
clothing!
• Volunteers make
it all possible,
inspecting, sorting
and sizing 95%
of the clothing
donated to Dignity
U Wear.
• If Dignity U
Wear receives
enough cash and
underwear for
100,000 pairs
during this year’s
Undie Sunday
Undie Monday, we
will reach half a
million pairs in just
six years!
• Underwear is the
most requested
item by the 300+
nonprofit, social
service agencies we
serve nationwide.
• Dignity U Wear
has served over
435,000 men,
women and
children since
2000, all made
possible from the
generosity of our
cash and clothing
donors.