A community clothes swap in De Beauvoir has raised £605 for Medical Aid for Palestine.
Mimi Evans, the organiser of the clothes swap on 16 November, wanted to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP), a charity which “provides access to essential health services” for Palestinians and aims to “respond rapidly with aid and assistance”.
Ms Evans said that donating the money to this charity was “an obvious thing to [her]…especially after the last couple of years”. She added that it was “our duty as people who have the option to raise money [to do so]”.
A donation to MAP was included in the price of the tickets, and attendees were allowed to bring up to five items. They could then exchange these items for tokens, allowing them to ‘buy’ items donated by other people.
46 tickets were sold, which came to £230 in donations. There was also a cash bucket on the day, along with MAP tote bags and pin badges available for purchase, which raised a further £375.
Connie Pidsley, an attendee, said that it was “great to use a local space” and to meet new members of the community. She added that she would do “anything for this charity” and that reducing the impact of fast fashion was a bonus.
Ms Evans said that the response had been overwhelmingly positive; there were no negative interactions of a political nature. She hopes to host more events in support of MAP in the future.
