Before you read further, open your wardrobe and look inside. Your everyday clothes will probably be in a neat stack out in front. Then in a corner will be the formal and festive attire, sealed in a pack with the laundry tag still on. Students from ten hostel blocks in MIT thought that some of their clothes belonged with somebody who didn’t have a wardrobe with separate sections for everyday, formal, and festive wear. The result? Nearly two hundred and seventy clothes ranging from children’s wear to sarees found their way into numerous households in the Kunjibettu slum in Udupi, on the 29^th of March.

It was team RedX’s amazing work across two semesters that made this possible. Since last year, they had been collecting clothes from hostel blocks, and they spent a good part of this semester having them cleaned thoroughly in various laundries. This was an initiative under RedX’s social wing, Disha. Members of the Volunteer Services Organization (VSO), Manipal, were also present as they engaged the children in sports and games.

Nearly twenty RedX volunteers carried three boxes replete with clothes deep into the slum. The scorching afternoon sun and the weight of the boxes seemed worth it when the kids ran riot with glee upon seeing the clothes. RedX, in a feat of crowd control and management, organized excited children into a queue and went to their individual houses with clothing. The few people who knew Kannada became the default translators to make up for the language gap. A passing ice-cream seller was stopped, and the volunteers bought frozen desserts for themselves and for all the children. What resulted was a crowd of happy children, and an even happier ice cream seller.

It was a great day for both the volunteers and the children. The latter walked away with clothes, and the former walked away with empty boxes and complete smiles. The MIT Post hopes that RedX continues this trend of doing its bit for society. We’ll make sure that charity never has to beg for attention.