Group urges residents to donate used garments for Asian charities

Dubai: If you are worried about where to give away your used clothes instead of dumping them in the garbage bin - get in touch with the Valley of Love, a Dubai-based Indian organisation, which will channel them to the needy in the India and other South Asian countries.

"Residents who want to donate used clothes should make sure that they are washed and ironed and in good condition," said C.P. Mathew, a Valley of Love (VoL) volunteer.

The organisation has already couriered two parcels of used and new clothes to two charitable organisations in Kerala, India.

"There are two Dubai-based five-star hotels who gave us used bed sheets, towels and staff uniforms. The linen came in very handy for street dwellers in India," said Mathew. "Currently we are doing door-to-door delivery depending on the requirements. Our volunteers spread the message of our initiative to send used and new clothes by word-of-mouth. The response was tremendous. We are now doing collections to send clothes to patients in a mental asylum in Kerala."

He said that the organisation looks for sponsors who are willing to take care of the air cargo charges.

"We also get some good Samaritans who pay us the amount to cover the cost," said Mathew.

Overwhelming response

The response the VoL received was overwhelming and soon the search for a place to store the collected clothes began. To help them out an Indian curriculum school in Sharjah came forward and gave them a spare room to keep the donated clothes.

"There are people who have more than five cartons of used clothes. VoL volunteers sort out the clothes and pack them up neatly based on the requirements that we get from overseas organisations ... clothes and bedsheets have been distributed to labourers at worker's accommodations in Dubai and the northern emirates that were gutted in fires or even during winter and rainy days," said Jijjee George, a VoL volunteer.

She said usually volunteers use their own vehicles to collect the clothes from people's houses but cargo vans are hired when there is a large collection.

"Recently we dispatched two consignments of ... clothes to south Indian cities of Bangalore in Karnataka and Eranakulam in Kerala. We have also come across people who donate new clothes.... We have so far sent around 1,600kg of clothes by air cargo, which makes door to door delivery. Please note that each kilogramme costs Dh7.5," said George.