St. Pauly Clothing Drop Off Shed St. Pauly currently has 268 sheds with community groups in Upsate NY. No one has ever asked to remove one. Hello, My name is Zach, and I have worked to expand St. Pauly Textile the last few years to help make a difference. St. Pauly Textile has been around for 18 years in the Northeast U.S. and we work with hundreds of non-profit community organizations. We collect clothing in a unique, clean and community-friendly way and help make a positive impact both locally and globally. We collect clothing by setting up a beautifully constructed, wood frame clothing drop-off shed with a single non-profit organization in a given community (see first page for pictures). Why St. Pauly collects clothing: 1) According to the EPA, 85% of clothing in the U.S. is thrown away instead of donated. This means that only about 15% of clothing that could potentially be donated is collected using existing methods. 2) There is an enormous global need for used clothing. We are able to distribute clothing to people all over the world who need it, and all of the clothing that we collect is worn by someone somewhere. Why non-profits choose to work with us:
1) This project is a service to the community. This builds a unique connection between community members and your organization. 2) Clothing that people donate from your community will be worn by people all over the world who need it. 3) We are able to provide anywhere from $50 - $300 monthly on average to organizations like yours that partner with us. 4) Organizations that work with us have access to all donations first to help with any local need in their community. This can be as small as helping one family or any larger scale clothing give-away. Also, we can donate clothing locally if it is needed. Why people choose to donate to our sheds: 1) Our sheds are well-built and very attractive. 2) We make sure that community members know this project is sponsored by your organization- a local, community oriented non-profit. 3) We guarantee that the sheds remain clean and attractive. Every week we monitor and empty the sheds. Year round our service team is available to perform maintenance on the sheds. Please let me know your thoughts on this project and any questions that you might have. I would love the opportunity to speak with you about this, and I am happy to make a brief presentation to your board or leadership group. Thanks for reading! Zach Cope 585-766-2423 zgcope@gmail.com
We collect over 80,000 pounds of clothing every day -we are the largest clothing collection organization in the Northeast We were able to ship out over 68 million garments in 2014 which clothed an estimated 8.5 million people Over the last 10 years we have sent out over $5 million -to over 1000 non-profit organizations that host our sheds
Where We Fit In A multitude of clothing-donation options exist in most communities. We have co-existed and often collaborated with thrift stores, clothing closets, clothing related agencies and metal drop-off bins for over eighteen years. The fact is, 85% of useable clothing in the U.S. is ultimately thrown away instead of donated (according to the EPA). This occurs despite all the donation options that have been available for decades. However, you may be surprised to hear that thrift stores and clothing closets (which are collecting less than 15% of available used clothing) are often overwhelmed with more clothing than they can handle. St. Pauly often ends up picking up the excess from these organizations, even when we have a drop off shed in the same community. When we place a shed in a community, we do not take away from organizations that are supplying clothing locally: people that support these organizations with donations do so for a reason, and will continue to do so. We instead tap into that 85% of clothing that isn t being collected. Most people find it inconvenient to haul their donations inside a thrift store or clothing closet during their hours of operation (which often coincide with work hours). Most people are also not motivated to donate to a non-descript metal bin- these are rarely affiliated with a community organization, and typically are not monitored or emptied frequently. We have found that the majority of people are only motivated to donate to a nice, clean, convenient clothing drop-off shed that is hosted, promoted, and monitored by a local non-profit organization. This is something that we uniquely provide. Also, we are always happy to help out locally 1. You have access to the shed, and therefore have the option of distributing clothing to anyone you know who needs it. You do not need to ask our permission to do this. 2. If any local clothing closet, thrift store, or distribution agency needs our help, we will be more than happy to help them out with donations.
St. Pauly s Responsibility: 1) We supply an attractive wood-frame shed (see attached photo) -Covered under a $6 million insurance policy -Maintained regularly with touch up paint, roof work, etc. -Includes signage promoting you and informing the public -Includes a tent sign to be placed near the road, advertising shed 2) We pick up clothing from the shed once a week, or once every two weeks depending on a closely monitored weekly evaluation. 3) We send you 4 cents per pound of clothing (paid monthly) 4) We provide a mail box attached to the shed for receipts so that people donating to your organization can get a tax break for making a charitable donation. Your Responsibility: 1)Bags of clothing need to be stacked up inside of the shed. Any loose bags need to be tied off and loose clothing bagged (we provide extra bags and keep them stocked). This should be done anywhere from one to three times a week (as needed) and takes about 10-15 minutes. We can make arrangements if you are not able to take care of this. 2)Typically, 1 out of every 75 donations is a household item (electronics, toys, etc.) that we can t use. Please stack these items in a separate pile next to the clothing donations. We will pick these up every week along with the clothing. (If you would like to find a home for any of these items, feel free). 3)Promote the clothing drop off shed within your community when we first set it up we can provide bulletin inserts, laminated color posters to post around town, a press release for the local papers, etc.
Will there be a mess if I host a drop-off? Frequently Asked Questions Emphatically, no. Our program is set up so that people can donate to a safe and clean facility. Your organization has someone touch the shed two to three times a week. In other words, someone is taking 10-15 minutes to stack donations on the other end of the shed for storage. This keeps things looking great and removes the possibility that someone donating would ever have to leave bags of clothing outside the shed because there is not enough room at the donation chute. In addition, our signs are clearly marked with what is appropriate to donate. People are respectful of that because you are an important non-profit community organization. Additionally, we use a nice, wood-frame shed, rather than a smaller metal structure that potentially looks like a trash collection receptacle. Fortunately, this unique combination of factors has always kept our sheds from becoming dump sites. When do you pick up the clothing from the shed? Cleanliness is extremely important. W visit the shed once a week, or once every two weeks depending on a very closely monitored weekly evaluation of how much clothing is being donated. If your shed fills up more quickly, great! We can often be there the same day if it suddenly becomes filled due to an event like a community garage sale. Where do all the clothes go? The clothing is bundled in our warehouse and shipped to organizations here in the United States and developing countries all over the world. The specific locations are changing constantly depending upon what is happening in the world at any given time. To date, we know that the clothing has been sent to 44 different countries around the world, as well as here in the United States. Also, if you know of anyone in need of clothing in your community, you may help them out with donations from the shed. Is there insurance on the drop-off? We have $6,000,000 of liability insurance covering all of the clothing sheds. This is for your protection and for ours. Proof of this insurance can be made readily available if your group requests it. Where did the name St. Pauly come from? St. Pauly was the nickname of one of the founders of the company, Paul Callerame. He was known for doing a lot of charity work in the city of Rochester and the business adopted that name when it was founded. How is my organization compensated and how is compensation calculated? We send your organization 4 cents for every pound of clothing collected. We use a system of seasonal averages to calculate the weight of clothing collected at your shed. We count the number of bags in 10,000 pounds of clothing every season. Then, we use this information to calculate the weight of an average bag of clothing for that season. We use this average bag weight and multiply it by the number of bags we collect from your shed every week to find the total weight of clothing collected from your shed. This is the most accurate and easy way to calculate the poundage of clothing collected from your shed over the course of a year.
Where does the funding come from? The funding comes from the organizations that we work with, such as foreign governments, relief organizations, the U.N., private companies and the U.S. government. This is the most cost effective way for these organizations to get large quantities of clothing for people in communities that they represent. Are you a for-profit company? Yes we are. We were formed as a business in 1996. We currently have 40 employees and are steadily growing. We are an A+ rated member of the Better Business Bureau, and in the 18 years we have been in operation there has never been a single complaint filed against us. You can read our Better Business Bureau review by searching St. Pauly BBB online. The first search engine hit that appears will be the review. Is the clothing shredded or cut up? Absolutely not. All of the clothing collected is shipped whole-garment and will be worn by someone, somewhere. What kind of material can be collected by St. Pauly? We collect useable clothing, shoes, sneakers, belts, purses, linens, pillow cases, blankets, curtains, fabric scraps over a square yard and stuffed animals. We ask people not to donate rags, small fabric scraps, pillows, toys, household goods or electronics. Does St. Pauly have a contract with those hosting drop-offs? We do not ask for any contracts to be signed. If you need anything from us in writing, however, we are more than happy to provide it. The shed can be easily removed at any time, if requested. Please keep in mind, however, that it often will take a year or more for the donation volume to build up to its maximum level. It is important to give the project time to grow if you are doing this primarily for funding purposes. If I host a drop off, how many more will I see pop up in my community? We place clothing drop off sheds far enough apart so that they do not compete with each other. In a small town we typically seek out only one organization to host a shed. Often in urban/suburban areas there will be a couple of organizations hosting a shed, in order to serve different neighborhoods. However, it is not cost-effective to put sheds on every street corner. Most importantly, we want to maximize the funding that your organization is receiving by hosting a shed.
Letters of Recommendation "It is with great enthusiasm that we recommend your business to others who may benefit from having a used clothing drop off on their premises The income from the box has been a great asset to our operating budget" -Ann Kemper, Fairport United Methodist Church "Another benefit we have received from having the clothing shed is the increase in community awareness of all of the community services we provide through our church and youth center. Your commitment to cleanliness, consistent and friendly service, as well as the concern you have expressed for our community has made our partnership a pleasant experience." -Rev. Jim Hunt, Daybreak Foursquare Church "There was concern that material would be dropped off that we could not use, and that the area would become an eyesore. We are happy to say that we have not had the problem." Karen Cramer, St. Paul s United Church of Christ. Feel free to contact any of our partners to ask them what they think about St. Pauly. A list can be found on our website: www.stpaulytextile.com