This year is the 26th year of the Fall Fashion Free-For-All, a program created to make sure those students with the greatest need have all the clothes they need for a harsh New England winter, as well as professional clothing for interviews. We can't cram hundreds of students into a room to take what they need in a pandemic, but that need has not gone away. Last Fall, we ran an online version of our event and helped 160 students get the clothes they needed.
This Spring semester, a whole new group of students, who were not on campus last Fall, arrive deep in the middle of a New England winter. Here's how you can help:
1. Review this spreadsheet, to see what students need.
2. Once you found someone you can help, put your name in the first column, the one headed 'DONORS, SIGN UP HERE', and your email address in the second column. For students who need winter clothes, they sometimes need multiple items (i.e. coat and gloves and scarf). Please sign up for all the items you plan to send, and leave others blank.
3. The Women's League will reach out to you to give you that student's mailing address, and you send items directly to them.
4. Once you've sent your items, go back to the spreadsheet and write SENT in the ITEMS SENT? column.
5. We want to give people things they will use, so we asked students to give us pointers for what they are looking for. You'll see those thoughts and ideas in the spreadsheet. Maybe you have something just right in your closet, or you prefer to buy online. It's entirely up to you.
6. Want to help but don't want to pick out clothes? You're welcome to send your student a gift card via email.
FAQ
How soon should I send these items?
It's really cold out there. Please send clothing as quickly as possible, ideally the same day you sign up if you can.
Where should I order clothes from?
MIT students love MIT gear! There's a great selection of accessories at the COOP.
Affordable winter coats are on Nordstrom Rack, Amazon and on sale at LL Bean and REI, to name a few!
Check out some affordable 'Zoom shirts' for men and women.
I want to give an e-gift card. How much should I give?
You should give what you feel comfortable giving. From our experience, it's possible to source a coat, hat, scarf and gloves for around $100-$120 from an online retailer, so depending on what you choose to give, adjust from there.
How often does this program run?
MIT's current housing policy has different students living on-campus in Fall and Spring. As long as that it the case, we will run it once a semester to meet the needs of both groups. Once campus returns to normal, we may review how often this program runs.
More questions?
Email Kirsty Bennett.