"Mom, my teacher said that Hurricane Mitch hit Central America and that some babies are wrapped in newspapers because their parents don't have any clothes for them. That's really sad! Can't we donate some clothes?"

"I seldom wore these clothes. Since Tzu Chi was having a clothing drive for hurricane victims in Central America, I decided to make a special effort to wash, iron and mend these clothes before donating them. How can we bear to give other people clothes that are dirty, are missing buttons, or have broken zippers or holes?"

"Unfortunately, I just gave away a bunch of clothes. Can I donate some money instead?"

These are a few of the statements made during Tzu Chi's campaign to "Help Central America By Donating Clothes." As soon as the campaign was announced, mountains of clothes began to arrive. The initial goal was to fill thirty containers, but in the end twice that amount was collected. There were sixty-five collection centers throughout Taiwan, and over 50,000 volunteers were involved in collecting, mending, ironing, folding, packing, and then loading donated clothing into containers to be shipped to hurricane victims in Central America.

Community volunteers enlisted the support of their neighbors; school principals urged students and teachers to donate clothes; managers appealed to their employees to respond to the campaign. A huge number of people, ranging from four-year-old children to eighty-year-old senior citizens, came to the collection centers and helped to prepare clothes for shipment. At each center, another set of volunteers served as kitchen staff and provided steaming hot meals to further boost the energy of the workers.

"These donated clothes are in very good condition," one eighty-year old woman commented. "Some are totally new, with price tags still attached to them. People in Taiwan nowadays are very fortunate. I recall the old days when we had to wear clothes made of flour bags that came with the aid from the United States. My grandson once complained that his clothes were out of fashion and that the material was no good. He simply doesn't know how lucky he is!"

Believing that relief work has no religious boundaries, Sister Wei from Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei helped start a clothing drive at the university, and she also came with over ten students to help sort clothes. At the collection center in Taishan, one blind woman folded every garment carefully. She said she wanted to fold her love and blessings in with the clothes.

At another collection center, You Lin-yu, who was still recovering from an operation, said, "Since I would otherwise just be resting in bed at home, I thought I might as well come here to fold some clothes, sew some buttons, and chat with others. This way, I can forget my pain!"

Over the past few years, Tzu Chi has organized several campaigns to collect clothes for South Africa, Azerbaijan, Northern Korea, and other countries. But this campaign was the largest, filling sixty freight containers instead of the ten containers used during the first campaign. "The campaign this time turned out to be much more difficult and complicated than those we had before," remarked activity team leader for northern Taiwan Lin Ya-mei, who has participated in several clothes collection campaigns. "Donated clothes are sorted according to season, size and gender, with over twenty categories of garments in all. The available space in the different collection centers also varies. Details of the work had to be discussed and modified over and over again to ensure a smooth flow."

Every volunteer was given a piece of cardboard to measure the length and width of the folded clothes. Based on previous experience, folding clothes in different ways causes problems in packing them into containers. A standardized folding method allows more clothes to fit into a given box.

"When we prepare the clothes with respect for the recipients, they will also feel touched," said Hung Chun-kui, director of the clothes collection center in Nantou. "Moreover, every activity provides an opportunity to acquire wisdom. Planning is only an idea. It takes the practical doing and modifications during the operation for perfection to appear."