Last year, the children of the NCL Modern school decided to do this with their clothes. Each child was expecting to recieve a pair of new clothes for Diwali and so their teacher Ms. Alka Padhye encouraged them to choose one of their existing pairs, and offer it to children of construction workers as a Diwali gift. The clothes were cleaned, ironed and wrapped neatly in newspaper before the children visited the sites and offerred them by hand.

What an inspiring story!

The Safe Festivals campaign would like to promote this concept amongst adults too! In addition we have located someone in Pune who is willing to accept your offerings, sort them and distribute them amongst organisations that work with old people, destitute women and children and tribal welfare groups.

Ms Jyotitai Sachde is an elder lady who has taken up the work of accepting and recycling old items and distributing them to the poor and the needy. Earlier this month several newspapers carried articles on her work. We called her to see if she would be willing to accept items as part of the Safe festivals campaign and she has kindly agreed. Here are her terms:

List of items she accepts:

Clothes, Toys, Books – school and story, magazines, empty notebooks, religious , Utensils – small and big, steel or glass, Umbrellas , Raincoats, Shoes , Chappals, Cycles, Two wheeler and four wheeler vehicles, Mattresses, Pillows, Bedsheets, Carpets, Curtains, Buckets, Water drums, Tv, Fridge, Music system, Gyser, Radio, Tape recorder, VCR , VCD, Camera, Watches clocks, Bags, Purses, Imitation jewellery, Computers, Gas burners, Mixers, Food grains, Furniture – tables chairs sofa cots, Cradles, Sewing machines, Stationary

She adds that she is willing to accept anything under the roof that youd like to donate!

Yet, please be aware that this is not a dumping ground for anything you want to get rid of!

The items you offer may be old but should be clean and usable. All electric and electronic appliances should be in working condition.

Also, she is not responsible for collection and delivery. Items that are collected within companies, societies and families need to be delivered to her at the following address.

Flat no 4, 1st floor

Dhanlakshmi park

A type building

Opp pmt bus depot

Paud road, Pune

Landmark : above Subhiksha shopping center, Bhusari colony

Items offerred by you will be further distributed to the following organisations.

Janseva Foundation, old age homes and orphanages

Sampark Balgram, children and tribal communities

Apla ghar, orphanage

Vanchit Vikas Nihar, children of prostitues

Spandan Care center, old age home, sick old people

Umed care center, sick old people

Tamini ghat, tribal welfare, BPL people

Nivara, old age home

Jyotitais activities are completely voluntary and she does not accept money. This activity runs out of her own home.

Why reuse?
Reuse is an age old tradition in India. In a country where so many people live in dire poverty, it is common for people to offer old clothes and other items to poorer people. Yet, as we adopt more Western ways and shift to a use and throw culture, this tradition is fast dissappearing. The principle behind reusing is that the more an item can be used , the lesser we need to exploit natural resources. Here is a definition of resue taken from the Reuse Alliance.

"Reuse is the recovery and distribution of discarded, yet perfectly usable materials. It's an environmentally and economically sound alternative to export and landfilling. And in contrast to recycling, which processes discards to extract components, reuse preserves materials resources, including the value of the materials, labor, technology, and energy incorporated in them.
By taking useful products and exchanging them, without remanufacturing or reprocessing, reuse saves time, money, energy and resources. In broader economic terms, reuse offers quality products to people with limited means, while generating jobs and business activity that contribute to the city's economy."

Festivals like Diwali offer us the perfect opportunity to share and spread a little more light in the world around us!