Donate your used hiking/winter gear and make a difference!
Dave Marcus
Please email dgl...@usgbc.org to coordinate a pick up or if you're in the downtown DC area you're welcome to drop off items at our USGBC offices at 21st and L. I'm also available to meet you nearby if it's convenient. Donations will be accepted until Wednesday, August 19th. Depending on the interest, would the beer tie this month be a good drop off point for the gear donations?
original request below:
USGBC Male Colleagues,
I need your help.
In three weeks I’ll be joining my amazing friend Gillian on a great adventure: hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. To say we're excited is an understatement. This is easily the trip of a lifetime. Kilimanjaro is a major source of economic support for the local communities; it is said that up to 10,000 people are employed as porters to assist with Kilimanjaro excursions. Porters are the heart of the trek; they lug critical supplies, like tents and cooking equipment, up the world’s highest freestanding mountain so that we can enjoy our experience. In fact, guides & porters are required by law to be part of every hike up Kilimanjaro.
But the truth is, porters are often impoverished Tanzanians who depend on this labor-intensive employment in order to feed themselves and their families. And an increasing demand for limited jobs makes porters highly susceptible to exploitation. Only about 20% of companies climbing Kilimanjaro are adhering to proper porter treatment. Because of the high unemployment in the area, many porters climb for much lower wages than they are supposed to be given. And because of this, many porters do not have sufficient clothing for a climb that starts in the tropical rainforest and ends in a glacier-covered mountain top.
Gillian and I did our research, and are using a tour company that adheres to fair wage guidelines set by the Kilimanjaro National Park and Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project.
But it’s not enough! We’d like to bring over a load of gently used men’s hiking & outdoor gear for our porters. While we know they’ll get paid fair wages, it is still not enough for them to take care of their families and purchase proper gear for their hike. We’ll take anything that you would take yourself if you were to hike up the mountain and is in decent shape – socks, shoes, pants, base layers, coats, hats, gloves. Anything that wicks moisture (no cotton) and keeps you warm. And anything you donate, you can feel confident that it will go directly to some of the most deserving people on this planet and not into a landfill or a resale bin in the US.
You’ll be a better person for doing this. I promise. And thank you!!
(To learn more: http://www.deeperafrica.com/…/kilimanjaro-porters-assistan…/)
Best,
Deon
_______________________________________
Deon Glaser ASLA, LEED AP BD+C
Director of LEED International Technical Development
U.S. Green Building Council
2101 L Street NW | Suite 500 | Washington DC 20037
Main: 202.828.7422 | Web: www.usgbc.org
p: 202-742-3768 | f: 202-828-5110 | e: dgl...@usgbc.org
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.