If you need a great excuse to go out and buy some new summer duds, you can now go shopping guilt-free by donating your old clothes to the Give and Gain Clothe America Campaign and make a difference in the lives of more than 250 million Americans who are living in poverty.
The campaign is being done in conjunction with the Tennessee Great American Cleanup, a part of this year’s Keep America Beautiful Inc. program to provide needy families with clothing and at the same time recycle old clothes, preventing them from taking up space in landfills.
Procter and Gamble’s Gain laundry detergent is leading the clothing drive.
“Last year we had more than 149,000 volunteers statewide to get involved in the Tennessee Great American Cleanup, the largest single event cleanup,” said Edith Gholson of the Keep Tennessee Beautiful foundation. “This year, a new component of our program is the clothing drive, and we hope to increase the number of volunteers this year.”
In Maury County, Girl Scouts are already getting involved by collecting old jeans to add to the clothing collection. In the Nashville area, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will be hosting drive-by sites so that citizens can easily drop off bags of clean clothes in hopes that the convenience will increase participation.
Other Tennessee residents may get involved in the clothing drive and cleanup by contacting the Keep Tennessee Beautiful foundation.
“We have contact numbers for all 95 counties so that interested individuals can find out about their county’s events,” Gholson said.
It is important for the Tennessee populace to become involved, she added.
“We are the volunteer state. A clean community reflects community pride and attracts visitors and new businesses,” Gholson said. “On the flip side, when we do not take the time to cleanup our communities, tourists will not come.”
For more information, call the Keep Tennessee Beautiful foundation at (888) 862-5326 or log on to www.ktnb.org. o

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