Ron Lurgio (left) and Tom Tighe (right), members of the Friends of Jamestown Seniors, with Jennifer Chase, sales rep at St. Pauly Textile Inc., on the day the shed was delivered in March to Lawn School. PHOTO BY LARRY BARTLEY
Residents who are raiding their closets as part of their spring cleaning now have an option — aside from the trashcan — for their unwanted clothes.
The Friends of Jamestown Seniors have partnered with St. Pauly Textile to install a donation shed at the middle school, 55 Lawn Ave. This shed is designed to give community members a clean, convenient way to donate their clothes, shoes, belts, purses, blankets, sheets, curtains, pillowcases and stuffed animals.
St. Pauly Textile, based in New York, partners with a network of businesses and nonprofit organizations to distribute donated items around the world so they can be re-worn by people who need them. The company purchases clothing from community organizations, like the Friends of Jamestown Seniors, which can use that money to support their missions.
St. Pauly Textile says this is the most cost-effective way for large quantities of clothing to be distributed to needy areas. All clothing is sold for pennies on the pound in large quantities at a time.
The company also guarantees that the sheds remain clean and attractive by monitoring them on a weekly basis. Workers also are available year-round to perform maintenance.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 85 percent of clothing in the U.S. is thrown away, which means only 15 percent could potentially be re-used if collected using existing methods.
With over 1,300 clothing dropoff sheds, St. Pauly Textile collects over 200,000 pounds of clothing daily to deliver to 44 countries, including the United States. The company, in a single year, can help keep more than 20 million articles of clothing out of landfills. In 2022, 68 million garments were delivered to 8.3 million people.
