Fri 24 Jul 2009
It is one of the best gifts my mother has ever given me. She spent the winter piecing it together and now I hold in my hands a bound and translated copy of the letters her own mother wrote to her from a Salzburg refugee settlement in the late 1940’s. From Hungarian to English, these letters unfold the tale of a family coping in a postwar world and they were sent on their way across the Atlantic sealed with love and hope for an eldest daughter’s success. Woven in among the family news were requests for my mother to send back goods that were otherwise impossible to obtain in the difficult living conditions amid Europe’s rubble.
Many of the requests were ones I would have typically expected, given the history of the times: antibiotics, shoes, sugar and so on. But there was a dry good mentioned that caught me off guard. It was a petition for some elastic to sew into the younger children’s underwear which was wearing out. Certainly this was a mundane essential I would never have thought of.
How many pairs of my own children’s outgrown underwear have I jettisoned that were still bright white with plenty of stretch left in them? I have always done so with a measure of guilt but underwear just isn’t the kind of clothing the local thrift shop will redistribute. This makes the picture in my mind all the more poignant: My grandmother eagerly awaiting a package that would allow her to start sewing and take care of her little ones’ hidden needs.
Most of us think nothing of walking into a discount department store and chucking a package containing several pairs of simple undergarments into our baskets. The price is about as unexciting as the product itself, posing no hardship at the cash register. But now I am thinking that my definition of hardship is a very limited one and that there are many depths to this term that coexist in our own American communities.
After a little research, I have discovered that shelters, charities and relief organizations deeply appreciate donations of new underwear, baby diapers and adult incontinence products like adult diapers and pull-ups. It turns out that “out of sight, out of mind” applies to this particular area of clothing contributions. There is always an outstanding request for a supply of these items in unopened, new packaging at charitable organizations.
With that image of my grandmother in mind, it seems appropriate for me to organize a Drawer Drop or Diaper Drive. It would be a marker for me to privately honor that essential link between my mother and grandmother. Of course, the event would also serve the primary purposes of providing for a need and raising the community’s awareness about donating forgotten necessities.
Cotton underwear and disposable baby diaper contributions may initially appear to be the main focus of such an event but there are some other important elements to consider. The expense of both disposable baby diapers and adult diapers do not come under the umbrellas of the WIC , Medicare or food stamps programs. This often leaves an already strapped family in a deeper lurch over some basic necessities that cannot be ignored. Adult diapers and adult incontinence products may seem like an unusual component of a charity drive, but it is important to realize that adult diapers are a financial burden for many seniors living on the edge and family caregivers who already have a full plate of financial obligations.
The rules of organizing a Diaper Drive or Drawer Drop are open to possibility and imagination. After entering a partnership with a charity for the event, it is important to focus on publicity. Churches, fire departments, schools, clinics are all among the myriad places to approach about placing posters and possibly being drop off locations. A local radio station can announce the drive in its public service messages, maybe even send a local radio personality down to broadcast from your central collection location. Outdoor activities can feature as much entertainment volunteerism as you can muster, from balloon animal making to a chili cook-off.
If one wanted to kick things up a notch or two, in the words of a popular chef, a cocktail occasion celebrating the cause could be a ticketed event. Admission would also require the drop of donated undies or adult diapers at the door for a fun “Drop Your Drawers” evening. An evening like this has the promise of popular appeal and could easily become an annual event.
My mother, as an eighteen year old girl working overtime shifts of emptying bedpans and hauling soiled linens, packed many parcels with footwear, clothing and medicine for her far away loved ones. A roll of elastic waistband material was dutifully and carefully tucked into one such package. That was a different era. Although thankfully not on the same scale, there are some similar needs today on our own home front and we can certainly tackle an underwear drive.