Underwear insecurity makes everything about the school day harder. It’s hard to concentrate on learning or make a friend when a child is afraid they will be “discovered” without undies. With the help of volunteers and donors UFE makes a school day easier with 7 pairs of undies.
One social worker’s observation started the Undies for Everyone revolution—she said that children in need do not have new underwear. Rabbi Amy Weiss highlighted the issue in a Houston Chronicle blog post (2008) and the rest is history.
Undies for Everyone became a registered nonprofit in 2012, when 9,000 pairs were delivered to Houston’s school district headquarters, enthusiastically received by administrators. With each passing year, more area school district nurses’ departments were added, serving students with spare pair access after an accident.
Area districts with greater than 50% “economically disadvantaged” students qualified for help, each receiving annual boxes with 150 pairs of underwear, carefully packaged, and rolled by volunteers.
Recognizing that many children’s underwear drawers are empty, UFE began serving children in a new way, strategically partnering with 5 large social service agencies, giving kids more undies. The UFE board voted to increase number of pairs per child, adding one pair per year, capping at 5 pairs in a bag (for the moment!).
UFE also welcomed Dallas into the fold, sending undies to every elementary and middle school nurse in the school district. We mastered the art of shipping, making way for even more expansion- and given events coming in 2017, that was a good thing.
We’re still a one-person operation!
Hurricane Harvey forever changed UFE, responding to massive need with undies from very generous donors from all over the world. Over 1.4 million pairs of Disaster Relief underwear to affected men women and children were delivered, processed, and distributed, in four months’ time. Shortly after, UFE stepped up again, serving victims of more disasters, including Hurricanes Irma and Florence and devastating fires in California.
It was time to go big.
With five staff members working hard every day, UFE is serving children in 15 cities (9 states), solidifying partnerships with federally mandated school district homeless departments, Child Protective Services and where available, food banks’ children’s programs and children’s hospitals’ pediatric mobile units. Distributing through organizations serving many children is one strategy UFE uses to help more children quickly.
In 2021, over 100,000 students across the United States are each receiving 7 pairs of undies. We couldn’t do it without you!
“as you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands – one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
Audrey Hepburn
Shell Energy North America, Retired
Community Volunteer
PNC Bank, Executive Vice President
Chevron, Contract Administration Manager
Discovery Green Conservancy, President
Calhoun, Meredith & Sims, PLLC, Partner
Director of State & Federal Relations (Government Affairs), CenterPoint Energy
Grace McEwan Consultants, Managing Shareholder
Senior Director, CES Communications at Consumer Technology Association
NRG, VP and General Manager
Prairie View A&M, Lecturer
Comcast, Director of Community Impact
Texas Children’s Mobile Clinic Program, Medical Director
Community Volunteer
University of Houston, Professor
Houston ISD, Director of Health Services, Retired
GCPP, Director of Development
Texas Monthly, Executive Editor
Founding UFE Board Chair
