Collecting woollens under our Odha Do Zindagi initiative starts early in the year, but unfortunately, in cities like Delhi, it only starts picking up when people here start feeling cold,” says Anshu Gupta, founder of Goonj, the Delhi-based NGO that has provided clothing to the needy since its inception in 1999.
Goonj just kick-started their annual initiative called Cloth Week, urging people to start their New Year by donating clothes. “It goes back to my journalism days in Delhi in 1991. I had met a person Habib Bhai who used to pick up unclaimed dead bodies from the area near LNJP Hospital. I still remember his daughter’s words: ‘I hug the dead body and sleep when I feel cold.’ In winter, people don’t only suffer due to the cold but also because of the lack of clothing,” adds Gupta.
The NGO now has its reach in 26 states. However, this winter is very crucial as many lost their jobs and became victims of displacement. “Winter is a predictable annual disaster, but is not considered a disaster. We know that winter is preventable suffering. From the monsoon itself, we start sending woollens in family kits to the rural areas,” adds Gupta.
Earlier named Rahat Winters, the Odha Do Zindagi campaign goes on till April, and people have the option to donate either at Goonj’s processing unit in Sarita Vihar or at their allocated dropping centres and the collection camps.
Harshie Wahie, who is with the urban operations team at Goonj, informs, “We have collaborated with Marks & Spencer and Zara stores that act as dropping centres pan India. We also have dropping centres in Bali Nagar, Dilli Haat, Karkardooma, Naraina Vihar, Palam Vihar, Vasant Vihar, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon and Rail Vihar, three collection camps in Delhi and one each in Faridabad and Gurugram.”
A dropping centre is a home or a workspace of a volunteer, which is considered as a collection space. “Collection camp is a 2-3-hour event that happens usually on weekends, and the details of both are available on our website: goonj.org,” adds Wahie.
The collected material then reaches the processing centres, where it is sorted, segregated, repaired and packed before being dispatched to the remotest villages of India in the form of family kits comprising clothes, shoes and utensils. “We actually match the needs of the people. So, if we get small size sports shoes, they are perfect for the women in Uttarakhand.
We deal with 6,000 tonnes of material pan India every year,” adds Gupta, who totally disagrees on calling their collection drive a donation. “When we give away our second-hand material, we are discarding it and not donating it. Secondly, the mindset of people is ‘you give what you have, not what people need’. That is why after any disaster, a lot of clothes are found lying on the roads because it’s not appropriate for the weather conditions there.”
Apart from this, local distribution happens every night between 10:00pm and 1:00am. The drive will conclude in April with the Don’t Pack Your Unwanted Woollens initiative.
For details, check: www.goonj.org