Bags of support for people living with cancer (From Messenger Newspapers)

Change lives by donating unwanted clothes to Macmillan’s new home collection scheme

12:00pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News

MACMILLAN Cancer Support is challenging people to dig out and donate their unwanted clothes via their new clothes recycling scheme – Bags of Support.

On average, 30 per cent of clothing in people’s wardrobe has been unused for at least a year and it’s these the charity would like to receive so they can help even more people affected by cancer.

Over the next few weeks Macmillan’s official Bags of Support will be appearing on some doormats across Trafford. Macmillan are asking people to fill the bags with their unwanted clothes and leave them outside their houses for Clothes Aid, Macmillan’s chosen partner, to collect.

Macmillan is aiming raise £100,000 in the first six months from this new project - enough to pay for two Macmillan nurses for a year or fund 4,000 nursing hours.

Fundraising Manager, Amy Lewis, said: “Our supporters often ask if they can donate clothes to us as we don’t have a national chain of charity shops. So we’re really pleased to launch Macmillan’s clothes collections scheme Bags of Support – which gives people an easy, cost-free way to donate to Macmillan. By giving clothes, Trafford residents will be helping to change the lives of some of the two million people currently living with cancer in the UK.”

Everyone who donates clothes will also be helping to look after the environment. Nearly half of adults put clothing in the bin, meaning an estimated 350,000 tonnes of used clothes goes to landfill in the UK each year.

Macmillan has chosen Clothes Aid, a social business, to be its collection partner as they lead the way in combating bogus charity clothes collections and will return 95 per cent of profits generated to Macmillan.

The charity would also like to encourage committees, individuals, businesses and schools to organise their own larger collections and support Macmillan with an easy and fun activity.

To find out more, call Macmillan’s Fundraising Support Centre on 0300 1000 200, email bagsofsupport@macmillan.org.uk or visit www.macmillan.org.uk/bagsofsupport.