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Fundraiser aims to fill undergarment gap in clothing donations for DTES women

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As part of her "community term" in Langara College's nursing program, Kay McPhee is working at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.

One of her first tasks was to sort through the clothing donations the centre receives.

"The one item that we weren't seeing was underwear and bras - basic necessities," McPhee told CTV News.

"We decided that that was something we could sort of help with."

With a classmate, McPhee launched an online fundraiser with the goal of bulk-buying as many undergarments as they can, in all kinds of sizes and styles, to make up for that gap in donations.

"When people are thinking about items that they're donating, they're giving away clothes they no longer wear," McPhee said. "By the time we're done wearing undergarments, they're not really something we want to be donating to other women."

The GoFundMe page launched on Thursday. By Sunday evening, it had raised more than $2,300, well over the fundraiser's $1,000 goal. 

McPhee said the support so far has been "amazing," and added that the fundraiser will run until April 1.

She also advised people to think about purchasing and donating new pairs of underwear and bras the next time they make a clothing donation to charity. 

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