A store to give the gift of dignity

Citizens band together to make it easier for the poor to accept donations while keeping their pride

KARACHI: Jude Allen and his friends, all young educated professionals, sit at a café on Thursday evening, sipping coffee and excitedly discussing their venture.

On Sunday, November 15, they will be giving poor and homeless families an opportunity to shop for clothes and shoes — absolutely free.



The idea comes from The Street Store, a global initiative originating from South Africa in 2014 to help needy persons by offering them clothes free of charge.

"We want to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, making it easier for people to donate and more dignified for the needy to receive," explains Allen. A friend adds to the conversation, "We [Pakistanis] think of bringing Johnny Rockets to Pakistan but never activism."

Street store

Pakistan's first street store, and the 349th in the world, will be opening in Raiti Lines, a slum area behind Bath Island.



"Before deciding on this area, we took a look around and found children barefooted and people with no money to afford clothes," says Donna Fernandes, a programme coordinator at a private university and one of the group members.

In the one-day activity, the pop-up store will be setup at a school premise; the teachers who hail from the community will be helping the group to identify the deserving families.



On the activity day, families will be made to walk around the store by the helpers, pick whatever they want and walk away with a maximum of five items. Replicating an actual store, it will be divided into men, women and children's sections, the clothes displayed on tables or other ways, separated by size.



So far the group is targeting 50 families but they aim to target 100 in the locality, where 500 families live, if they get more donations.



"To us, homeless means those who live on the streets and those who live in slum areas as they don't have a proper roof over their heads. By helping them we are giving back [to society]," says Fernandes.

Donations

The group would have ordinarily given clothes to charity organisations, like most of the donors do but they wanted to step in and do this on their own. "I can't wait to see the reaction and expression of the people when they take home their clothes," says Allen, a business consultant.

The group stresses that people can donate clothes, shoes as well as toys, books, makeup, accessories and even utensils for the street stores  but all should be in good condition.



"[The donations] should be in a good, reusable condition and washed. It's like giving a gift to someone. We have to keep their dignity intact," says Umair Ahmed.

If the initiative goes off as planned, they plan to launch an appeal for winter clothes in December. Those interested in donating can email them at [e-mail], or contact them through their Facebook event page and drop in at their collection point at Indus Scuba in Bukhari Commercial.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2015.