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Why we’ll never get over undies

one pair somewhere
could be just the change
a child needs

Underwear insecurity makes everything about the school day harder. It’s hard to concentrate on learning or make a friend when a child is afraid they will be “discovered” without undies. With the help of volunteers and donors UFE makes a school day easier with 7 pairs of undies.

mission statement

Undies for Everyone provides children living in poverty or crisis
with new underwear, recognizing the importance of this small basic need as part of a child’s increased chances of long-term success.

A brief history

2012 | 9,000 PAIRS

Founding Undies for Everyone

One social worker’s observation started the Undies for Everyone revolution—she said that children in need do not have new underwear. Rabbi Amy Weiss highlighted the issue in a Houston Chronicle blog post (2008) and the rest is history.

Undies for Everyone became a registered nonprofit in 2012, when 9,000 pairs were delivered to Houston’s school district headquarters, enthusiastically received by administrators. With each passing year, more area school district nurses’ departments were added, serving students with spare pair access after an accident.

Area districts with greater than 50% “economically disadvantaged” students qualified for help, each receiving annual boxes with 150 pairs of underwear, carefully packaged, and rolled by volunteers.

2012 | 9,000 PAIRS
2013–2016 | 416,000 pairs

Serving More Kids

Recognizing that many children’s underwear drawers are empty, UFE began serving children in a new way, strategically partnering with 5 large social service agencies, giving kids more undies. The UFE board voted to increase number of pairs per child, adding one pair per year, capping at 5 pairs in a bag (for the moment!).

UFE also welcomed Dallas into the fold, sending undies to every elementary and middle school nurse in the school district. We mastered the art of shipping, making way for even more expansion- and given events coming in 2017, that was a good thing.

We’re still a one-person operation!

2013–2016 | 416,000 pairs
2017 | 1,500,000+ pairs

Disaster Relief

Hurricane Harvey forever changed UFE, responding to massive need with undies from very generous donors from all over the world. Over 1.4 million pairs of Disaster Relief underwear to affected men women and children were delivered, processed, and distributed, in four months’ time. Shortly after, UFE stepped up again, serving victims of more disasters, including Hurricanes Irma and Florence and devastating fires in California.

It was time to go big.

2017 | 1,500,000+ pairs
2019–2021 | 2,000,000+ pairs

National Expansion

 With five staff members working hard every day, UFE is serving children in 15 cities (9 states), solidifying partnerships with federally mandated school district homeless departments, Child Protective Services and where available, food banks’ children’s programs and children’s hospitals’ pediatric mobile units. Distributing through organizations serving many children is one strategy UFE uses to help more children quickly.

In 2021, over 100,000 students across the United States are each receiving 7 pairs of undies. We couldn’t do it without you!

2019–2021 | 2,000,000+ pairs

“as you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands – one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

Audrey Hepburn

Our Team

Rabbi Amy Weiss

FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Julie Hayon

Finance and Operations Director

Micki Bronston

Administrator

andrea pogach

Strategic partnerships and distribution

Shawna Hayes

Community Engagement Manager

ellie herder

Program and events manager

Luna

OFFICE DOG

Obie

OFFICE DOG

Skyler

OFFICE DOG

Polly

Coming soon <3

Board of Directors

Board Chair

Megan A. Ryan

Community Volunteer

vice chair

Stephanie Magers

Chevron

treasurer

Rebekah herman

PNC Bank

Secretary

Jason Buchman

Alpha Generation

past chair

Lisset Garza

Shell Energy

Member

Dominique D. Calhoun

Calhoun, Meredith & Sims, PLLC

Member

Barry Mandel

Discovery Green Conservancy

Member

June Deadrick

CenterPoint Energy

Member

Jim Grace

Grace McEwan Consultants

Member

Jamie Kaplan

AstroZeneca

Member

Sanghamitra Misra, MD

Texas Children’s Hospital

Member

Mark Parsons

NRG

Member

cyndy garza roberts

Comcast

Member

evan wildstein

Every Texan

Member

Noemi Scantlebury

United Airlines

Member

Jaclyn Goodell

ConocoPhillips

Member

Jay Aiyer

Harris County DA Office

Advisory Board

Dr. Brené Brown

University of Houston

Gwen Johnson​

Houston ISD

Elyse Kalmans

Founding UFE Board Chair

Anne Murphy

GCPP

eduardo rios

Prairie View A&M

Mimi Swartz

Texas Monthly

Our Sponsors

2(x)ist
CenterPoint Energy
Chevron
Dreamwear
Halliburton
Handcraft
H-E-B

Have questions
about Undies?

Here's the
fine print

Repair the world
one tush at a time