A few local organizations are holding a clothing drive on Saturday, to help a Palm Springs non-profit that provides help and services to the homeless population in the desert area. Catalina groups have been helping them in recent years and to some extent providing some benefit to the island as well.
Last year, the drive collected more than 7,000 pounds of clothes to donate to the non-profit, Well in the Desert. Those clothes were handed out to homeless people in the Palm Springs area. The drive also allows people to clean out their closets of gently used clothes that they no longer wear and would likely end up in the islands limited landfill space.
“The drive is a highly valued opportunity for locals to clean out their closets, … and benefit a partner nonprofit in Palm Springs, Well in the Desert (Homeless services),” Michael Ponce said.
The Avalon Rotary Club and its youth group, the Interact Club. The group has developed a working relationship with the desert group. During the holiday season the Rotary and Interact Club raised money where 17 of the students went overtown to help fill and hand out food bags for those in need.
Canyon Inn donates its property for the collection and stores the clothing until it can be shipped to the desert. Avalon Freight donates the barge. The group also rents a U-Haul truck to transport the clothes to the desert and donations are accepted at the drop-off to help cover the cost of the truck and expenses.
Donations can be dropped off at Canyon Inn, in the upper parking lot between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28.
