Four college buddies have launched a clothes bank in Bengaluru , where the poor and the needy can drop in and pick up any piece of clothing they fancy for a token sum of Rs 1 per piece .
The goodwill initiative of the clothes bank was unveiled on September 12 and is open only on Sundays. Clothes bank being also hailed as ‘Bengaluru’s boutique for the poor’ is aiming to ensure the underprivileged live with dignity and respect besides the right to choose.
This unique clothes bank is the idea of four friends — Vinod Prem Lobo, Melisha Noronha, Nitin Kumar and Vignesh — who used to study together in a college in Mangalore.
The four friends started an NGO — Imagine Trust — in 2013. They used to manage the NGO besides their jobs. The NGO has been extensively involved in social activities for some years now. In September, they opened a clothes bank in Bengaluru.
The reason behind keeping the cost of clothes at Re 1 was that the NGO wanted to take care of the respect of the customers. The poor people are not taking clothes for free but buying them.
The clothes bank offers items like sheets, towels, clothes, curtains etc. and around 150 families visit it every week. The money collected from clothes banks is being spent on the education of poor children.
