A pop-up clothing store for the homeless is set to make its way to Gainesville for the first time this Sunday.
UF’s frank gathering and the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry have teamed up to combat homelessness by setting up a rent-free space dedicated to providing clothing to those in need. Donation boxes will be spread throughout the UF campus this week for students to drop off clothing for the shop.
The Street Store initiative will be lead by Alpha PRoductions, a student-run public relations firm hired by the frank gathering. The frank gathering is a yearly conference of public interest communicators from around the world that come together to discuss social change.
The Street Store began in January 2014 in South Africa and has since become a global initiative, said Elizabeth Boone, an account executive and UF public relations senior.
Boone said she is excited about the way the project has come together. About 130 volunteers and a month of work made it possible, she said.
“The homeless community in Gainesville is prominent,” Boone said. “It’s just a little thing that we can do to help.”
Gainesville’s homeless population has grown steadily, with more than 2,000 citizens living without a home as of January 2012, according to the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry website.
People are encouraged to drop off their donation in the mailroom on the second floor of Weimer Hall or at any other campus donation boxes.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 3/19/2015 under the headline “Clothing drive on campus to support pop-up clothing store”]
