Clothing Drive

Most clothing drives are done passively where people drop off their clothes in a fire-safe central location.

However, you can do an active drive where volunteers go door to door collecting old clothing.

Either case will require a lot of advertising so people can find items they want to donate...

1) Preliminary organizing:

a) Date(s) of clothing drive and times
b) Location for bin/laundry cart
c) Responsible party
d) Signage for bin & advertising(Contact Us if you want signage mailed to you!)
e) A company that will either pick up clothing or someone with a car who will drop it off at a local charity.

2) Working out details:

Contact the RHA Office in your dorm to:

i) Let them know about the clothing drive, details etc, and ask if they want to help out
ii) Reserve a laundry cart or two for the time period
iii) Ask where they think is a good location for the bin
v) Depending on when you want the bins/carts to be out (i.e. 24 hrs a day or only at certain hours) ask the RHA if they are willing to wheel them into their office when they close, and wheel them back out when they open.

3) Clothing drive!

Some helpful tips:

• Find a local charity/thrift shop that will pick up the clothing. Make sure you have them specify what they accept. Certain locations will not accept specific things. Give them the date and time of pick-ups. If you are expecting a large volume of items you should either: a) get the items picked up every day or b) find a storage space.
  • Big Brother Big Sister is a great place to donate because they will pick up, rather than make you deliver (800-483-5503)
  • BU Community Service Center may also have resources to collect clothes
• Get volunteers! The more people the better.
• Do plenty of advertising for the clothing drive - flyers, announcements, ads etc. - specify what people can donate if need be, along with date and location.
• Boxes/carts are optional depending on how organized you need the clothing to be.
• Finally, when the clothing drive is over, make sure all items are removed from the area - you do not want to put a bad rep on your program.