An Underwear Wrap

It just occurred to me, whilst sitting here looking at the screen blankly, that I failed to write a post about the Underwear Drive, and the end results!  Back in the first week of January (we're almost at February people!!!  How did that even happen?), bushfire season started with way too much of a bang, in the beautiful state of Tasmania.  We had just returned from a week there, we left the day after the fires began, and I entertained the idea of doing another Undies Drive.  I ran one back in 2011 for those affected by the devastating Queensland floods, and thought I would be able to get a box or two together to send to Tassie......

The difference between 2011 and now is that I have a much more viewed FB page, with lots of charitable people it seems!  I set up Events on both my personal and business pages and before I knew it, had parcels arriving on my doorstep, people I had never met before knocking on my door and strangers trusting me enough to deposit cash donations for me to purchase underwear on their behalf.  K-mart became my second home and I became accustomed to strange stares in the underwear department as I filled trolleys and baskets with a varied and interesting array of knickers, socks and bras!

The best plans can sometimes stumble, and when my hope for how it would all be delivered fell through, I went searching.  I found a fabulous page on FB that a lovely gal called Mel had started called  - "Tassie Fires - We Can Help".  I found a post from a lovely lady in Melbourne called Tess, who was taking a 3 tonne truck down on the ship to Tassie, and would be happy to take any Melbourne donations.  I got straight on the phone, and before I knew it, had a way of getting it all there!  I also messaged Mel to find out who I could donate the underwear to, and she pointed me to Foodbank Tasmania.

I was astonished and very proud at the end of the ten day drive to tally everything up.  The Queensland drive delivered just over 400 pieces of underwear.  The Tassie drive?

225 mens jocks, 102 bras, 528 ladies undies & 49 camisoles, 89 pairs boys socks & 6 singlets, 107 pairs mens socks & 6 singlets, 151 pairs ladies socks, stockings, 94 pairs girls socks & 19 singlets, 350 girls undies, 303 boys jocks, 4 schools bags, 6 lunch boxes, 2 drink bottles, 15 hand knitted jumpers & cardi's, 2 bags of school supplies and odds & ends!

That is a ridiculous 2029 pieces of underwear!!!

My house was taken over by bags, boxes and coat hangers.  My kids got used to strangers dropping undies at our door.  And I was overwhelmed with the kindness of people all over our beautiful country!

All the boxes piled up during sorting.

Waiting for more boxes...

All sorted and ready to go!  15 boxes FULL of brand new underwear!

I'm happy to say they were all delivered to Tess on Saturday the 19th of January, and they were to be delivered to Foodbank soon thereafter.

So a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated, spread the word and eagerly helped out!  I'm sure that all the recipients of your generosity would thank you too if given the chance.

And as our country continues to be ravaged by Summer storms, I would urge you to help out a little more if you can.  The Red Cross have appeals set up for bushfires, floods, everything!  You can find details HERE.

On a slightly different but same note, I was just reading over at Edenland, and Eden asked why her readers read her blog?  Amongst other things, Eden gave me a gentle nudge the push I needed to become more charitable last year.  I'm planning to continue.  Do you have plans to be charitable this year?

Ps - Giveaway finishes TONIGHT!