Clothing Swap Wrap- after the Oakwood Village Urban Market, the collateral benefits

There are many benefits to a clothing swap.
First, new outfits for all! When we pass on our old clothes to our community and our neighbours (and ourselves) and get some new-to-us fancy frocks and shiny slacks. Also we avoid textile waste.
Second, once the swap is over, the clothes that weren't taken are already sorted into type and size and we can pass them on in a useful way to other groups. In this case we got almost no men's clothes, but some very nice women's clothes so we brought a trunk load to Double Take, which supports the work of the Yonge street Mission. And we passed on the children's clothes to Rawlinson PS for their cool Curriculum night Free Store (we did the same last spring with the Davisville Used Book Sale )
Finally, we are building community. When we all trust each other and do favours for each other the community web of relations grows stronger. Oakwood Bia trusted us to do the swap and gave us their support. Oakwood library let us store tables and tents so we could set up Saturday morning, Davisville PS let us use their lobby as a collection site for clothes and the school council let us use their tent and tables for the swap and to collect in Mt. Pleasant area. The Davisville eco club loaned us their woven mats. Donations of clothes came from Mt. Pleasant and Oakwood/Vaughan area, Friends loaned us a van, more tables, Works-in-Progress members donated time and tools, businesses in Oakwood Village let us advertise in their windows and on bulletin boards. Community leaders and trustees advertised and promoted the swap event in both areas and for all this we are grateful and our communities are stronger.