Nonprofit fills invisible need for disadvantaged kids in Minnesota: new underwear
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Rabbi Amy Weiss of Houston, Texas didn’t set out to make kids’ underwear her passion project.
But about a decade ago, she was writing for her local newspaper when she got a story suggestion from a social worker.
“She was telling me that it was great that kids were receiving all these toys for the holiday season, but they really needed underwear and socks and so I wrote about that,” said Weiss.
Inspired by her blog post, readers began sending donations to Weiss, which she then passed along to the local school district.
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After a bit of research, Weiss discovered that there were no social service organizations dedicated to getting new underwear to kids who need them — nothing at least, on a large scale. So, she formed Undies for Everyone.
“There's a gap between the financially struggling parents who can't afford it and children's agencies, whether it's social services or the school district,” she said. “It is an expensive item, so they could not afford to provide it.”
Filling that gap has been Weiss' mission and to date, her nonprofit has distributed millions of pairs of new underwear to hundreds of thousands of kids.
“People really responded to it,” Weiss said. “And the counselors at the schools and the nurses were just elated because they were paying out of their own pocket [for kids' underwear].”
Undies for Everyone quickly expanded beyond Houston through partnerships with underwear manufacturers who now supply and help ship the kids’ underwear. The organization operates in 21 states and is officially coming to Minnesota.
“At first, I was kind of like, ‘Well, we should probably check this out,’” said Heidi Geiss, a liaison for unsheltered students at Anoka-Hennepin schools, Minnesota’s largest district.
Geiss is expecting more than 10,000 pairs of underwear that the district will distribute to nearly 1,500 kids. Each recipient will get seven pairs — one for each day of the week.
Finding enough kids who need new underwear will not be a problem, said Geiss.
“We're seeing a rise in unstable housing for a lot of our students and families out here with the rise in rent prices, with inflation in general and the cost of basic needs,” she said.
Undies for Everyone claims its efforts help keep some kids in school who might otherwise stay home because they are embarrassed about not having what they need.
“It's just one more barrier,” said Geiss, who believes the free underwear program can improve student attendance. “It feels good from the inside all the way out when you know you're put together and ready to go into the classroom.”
Cheryle Atkin, a longtime friend of Rabbi Weiss, has spent her career helping underserved women and children. She currently runs the Phillips Eye Institute’s Early Youth Eyecare Program, which provides vision care to thousands of students in Minneapolis and St. Paul. She said students’ needs are vast and Weiss' effort is a creative way to help.
“I'm thrilled about the program coming here,” said Atkin. “I'm hoping that while it starts in Anoka-Hennepin, I certainly hope it can expand to other school districts.”
Undies for Everyone also partners with businesses to further its mission. Companies can donate money and get a bulk shipment of new underwear, which their employees can then sort by size and package for distribution to kids in need.
The more people hear about the demand for underwear, the more they want to help, said Weiss.
“We know that this is catching on and we know everybody loves it, so I think it's just going to keep getting bigger.”