Littauer Staff Collects Clothes

Determined to clean their closets while bringing "happy faces" to the homeless in the Boston area, Littauer Building staff members have organized a unique clothing drive.

The clothing drive--scheduled to run from November 16 to 25--is soliciting clothing suitable for work and job interviews, said Kim B. Ayres, assistant to Geyser University Professor Henry Rosovsky and one of the event's organizers.

"We're pretty much looking for clothes that are in great shape but aren't used," she said. Members of the economics and government departments, which share office space in Littauer, have received flyers encouraging them to donate clothing.

Ayres said the women's clothing will be donated to Rosie's Place, a Boston-based shelter for battered and homeless women. She said the Pine Street Inn, which serves homeless men and women in Boston, will receive the men's clothing.

Michelle L. Stanford, a volunteer at Rosie's Place, said that although her shelter primarily seeks winter clothing before the holiday season, business clothing can also be useful.

"A lot of people we definitely try to get jobs for while they're here, so donations of that kind would be super," Stanford said.

Ayers said she expects a large response to the drive. "We bounced it around earlier and everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic about it," she said.