Giving is Winning: overtaking results of first campaign

More than 27,000 items of clothing have been collected already in the first three months of the second Giving is Winning campaign – this is nearly as much as the total number reached by the campaign’s first edition during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The figure shows how well the joint IOC and UNHCR clothes collection project in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has been received by the Olympic Family.

How it works
The concept of the project is simple: the IOC encourages members and supporters of the Olympic Movement to donate unused sports and casual clothes, which are then distributed by the UNHCR to various refugee camps around the globe to enable the holding of sporting activities. Experience shows that sport can provide a semblance of normality and structure to lives that are in disarray. Two considerable donations from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the British Olympic Association (BOA) have reached, or are on their way to, refugee camps in Rwanda and Chad.

Big smiles
Feedback from the field during the BOA distribution, such as from Jerusalem Eyob, UNHCR Field Officer for camps in Rwanda, speaks for itself: “I wish you were here to witness as much as I did the joy and big smiles on the faces of the young refugees - it is a day that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Thank you again for your kindness, consideration and wonderful gift.”
The IOC has received 15 further pledges of donations from various National Olympic Committees, International Federations and other sports bodies, and is confident that more will follow. The potential is big, and it is no coincidence that the second edition of the project is not limited to donations at Games time, but has been extended to run for a whole year in the lead-up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.






Learn more about Giving is Winning and donate now: http://www.olympic.org/givingiswinning