Ever wondered where can you give your discarded clothes which you don't like anymore or the clothes that don't fit you? Have you ever wished that someone would just come to your doorstep and collect the old clothes? Well, that has been made possible by Share At Door Step (SADS), a single individual social enterprise, founded by Anushka Jain. Share At Door Step (SADS) collects discarded clothes and other items right from your doorstep and distributes them to over 135 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who in turn take them to those who need the most.
You can even give away furniture and appliances to them by paying a nominal fee depending on how heavy your donation is and that is how your trash becomes someone else's treasure.
Talking about the idea behind the initiative, Anushka Jain said,
I figured there is a much bigger problem. People are busy and they don't know where to give, what to give and how to give. And that's the problem I was trying to solve.
Detailing the process of donation, Ms Jain said,
They (people) go to a website and schedule a pickup. There is an end-to-end, tech-driven process. It is as easy as placing an order on Amazon or Swiggy. It takes 30 seconds. Once you have placed an order, we come to your doorstep at the point of time and pick up the items. How it works on the backend is that we have a matching algorithm that matches donations to the requirements of the nearby NGOs.
SADS works with 135 NGOs. After an order is placed, an NGO partner is assigned, based on various parameters like urgency, items required, quantity, and others. The items are directly picked up by the NGO partner. Users are informed which NGO has taken care of their discards. This makes the process transparent, believes Anushka Jain. She added,
NGOs segregate the items and distribute them among beneficiaries based on the requirements.
One such NGO is MaxVision Social Welfare Society in Gurugram (erstwhile Gurgaon). They receive donations of clothes, shoes, bags and other items that have been collected by Share At Door Step. Team NDTV visited MaxVision's Dharam Colony centre, where children of migrant labourers, come to study.
MaxVision Social Welfare Society was started in 2004 and runs a school for the underprivileged, providing free of cost education and support for a basic lifestyle. Families and neighbours of the children studying here get to fulfill their basic needs of clothing through the donations received by the center from SADS. Clothes that may be hand-me-downs for donors are of great value to the people receiving them.
The clothes distribution drive at MaxVision's centre may look like a typical Shani Bazaar or Budh Bazaar (local weekly market). Hitesh Trivedi, Project Co-ordinator, MaxVision Dharam Colony Centre explained,
The NGO SADS sends us clothes that they receive through donations. Then our team sorts the clothes according to people's age, size and needs. Then we fold the clothes and separate them accordingly. We call people and then they choose from the pile. The clothes are then folded and delivered.
Further talking about the importance of donating clothes, Mr Trivedi said,
Speaking of clothes, people who can afford them, usually discard their clothes when the new season arrives. Sometimes they give them to a scrap collector at a very nominal price. Instead, if people give these clothes to us or to Share At Door Step, then those clothes can be given to people who need them the most.
A pair of shoes, a bag or a t-shirt that we can buy at the touch of a button on our smartphones whose capacity to make us happy lasts only till the next touch of a button buys another holds the power to bring smiles to the faces of those who do not have this convenience. Geeta, a mother of four, is one of the beneficiaries. She said,
I sew and my husband works as a labourer and we have six mouths to feed. If I had to buy these clothes, it would be very expensive for me. I take the clothes from here and that saves me about Rs. 400-500. I can use that to buy groceries for the house or school books. We need shoes and slippers as well but cannot afford them. A pair of slippers that costs Rs. 50 is likely to break within 10 days. I can use the same money to buy vegetables for everyone for many days. Similarly, if I buy a pair of jeans, it will cost Rs. 500-700. If I get the same pair here, the money I save will really help me.
Ahilya Devi from Uttar Pradesh is another beneficiary. Resonating with Geeta, she said,
I and my husband are physically challenged. I have grandchildren whose parents have passed away. We have nine members in the family. We get everything from the center, we get help from them. You throw your old clothes away, but they are necessary for us. My family wears these clothes, all my children wear them, and so do I. We are poor people. Where will we get the money to buy such clothes. So, we wear whatever we get. If I get clothes stitched, it will cost me money.
Kastoori, another beneficiary, is responsible for managing her house and everyone at home - children and in-laws. Talking about how these clothes and other items help her in managing their expenses, she said,
I take care of all the expenses and necessities with whatever I get from here. I take home things like geometry boxes, clothes, bags, and other such things for my children.
Giving your clothes and possessions a conscience by donating them to organisations like Share At Door Step isn't just recycling and repurposing them, extending their life and doing someone a good deed, it also has a positive impact on the health of those who receive these clothes.
Hitesh Trivedi from MaxVision Dharam Colony Centre said,
These clothes really help these people because they can cover themselves up, prevent themselves from falling sick. Speaking of hygiene, they wear the same clothes for about four-five days but if they get new clothes to wear, they can prevent themselves from getting diseases caused by lack of hygiene. Sometimes we get shoes and clothes. When they go to work, their slippers are in bad shape, they don't have proper clothes to wear and their feet get wounded. Women usually wear broken slippers, but they get a new pair of slippers. It might be an old pair but it doesn't matter to them. If a woman wears a new pair, her feet won't get bruised.
Mr Trivedi opines that it is not necessary that only money can alone beat poverty. Donations significantly help in improving someone's situation. He added,
People take clothes for granted. We buy them, then discard them. It is a very small thing for someone who can afford them. But it is a big deal for those who can't afford them.
Choosing to donate clothes and other materials that we do not need is not only a social contribution but it also benefits the environment.
Through SADS, Anushka Jain is focusing both on environmental as well as social impact. She added,
Social obviously because we are able to give it to the people who are in need. If we talk in terms of numbers, each household has close to 19,000 worth of items, especially in tier-1, lying around. Out of this, 80 per cent of the items end up in the landfill. Out of this, 45 per cent is reusable which can obviously support millions of people in India who don't have the basic necessities.
Further talking about the environmental benefits, Ms Jain said,
Each time you donate your stuff, you increase the life of the items by one to one and a half years and hence reducing the carbon emissions by 20-30 per cent.
Your waste can be someone else's wealth. Your trash can be a treasure for others. But, we all share only one planet and we can collectively help it breathe better if we stop choking it with old clothes and use them to help others.
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