St. Margaret’s House, the downtown South Bend nonprofit that helps homeless women and children, needs your help as it nears the finish line of the Undie 500.
For the fourth year, St. Margaret’s House this week is timing its efforts to collect new underwear for clients with the Indianapolis 500 race. They’re hoping to break last year’s record of 3,279 pairs of women’s and children’s underwear collected. They typically distribute about 4,000 pairs a year.
Spokeswoman Lauren Smyth says the effort serves a major focus of St. Margaret’s House to help women feel dignity.
"When life is full of struggles and it feels like everywhere you turn you're getting 'No' as an answer, and you run into lots of barriers to access for the supports that you need, or the resources that you need to survive, it can be a really undignified experience," Smyth says.
Smyth says one way to make women feel more dignified is to let them, once a month, pick out donated clothing that’s typically used but still high-quality. But, perhaps for obvious reasons, they don’t offer donated underwear.
You can bring new underwear to St. Margaret’s House, on Lafayette Boulevard, through Friday. On Thursday they’re extending hours until 6 p.m. You can also donate through their Amazon wishlist.
