The Issue: Children Lacking Proper Clothing
Approximately 22% of children in the Unites States lived in poverty in 2010, according to data from the US Census Bureau, meaning they often lack access to adequate food, clothing, and supplies. When children wear clothes that are soiled, ragged, or ill fitting, it can heighten their sense of self-consciousness, distracting them from their schoolwork.
The Campaign: Distributing New Outfits to Schoolchildren
For each $15 this Grassroots campaign raises, Dignity U Wear can distribute one new outfit to a child in need, including a shirt, pants, socks, and underwear. Donations up to $1,000 will be matched by United Way of Northeast Florida. Volunteers procure the overstock and out-of-season items from local manufacturers. After being sorted and inspected in the organization’s warehouse, the items are sent to local agencies based on need. Each year, Dignity U Wear distributes clothing to children in 35 states to help them feel comfortable in school.
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Dignity U Wear
As a teenager, Henri Landwirth was forced to live in five different Nazi concentration camps. He spent those five years with no clothes, and understands the deep suffering that comes from being stripped of one’s dignity. When he left the camps at the age of 18, he was homeless and promised himself that he would “help other people not to suffer as much as [he] did.”
Having already founded another philanthropic group in the United States, Henri founded Dignity U Wear in 2000. The organization procures new clothing from retailers and sends it to people in need through local agencies and social workers. It focuses on schoolchildren, veterans, and women, to help improve their prospects for the future and combat barriers to success. Since it’s inception, Dignity U Wear has distributed more than 6.6 million pieces of clothing to individuals in all 50 states.