"old ski outfits being donated" article

[montoya 0]

pretty interesting article:

 

"Old (ski) Outfits From the U.S. Have Real Value Abroad"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/sports/othersports/25SKI.html

[r45 4]

Hey, do I have to register for that.... (is it worth the hassle)

[Goemon 0]

Here's the article:

 

Old Outfits From the U.S. Have Real Value Abroad

By BILL PENNINGTON

 

Published: December 25, 2003

 

The term swag has many cultural meanings. For employees in the ski industry, it is an acronym for Stuff We Always Get. As in, free stuff. One of the perks, for example, of being a ski instructor is the posh, usually stylish and warm uniform handed over by the resort. As it happens, the uniform is also handed back to the resort at the end of ski season.

 

Every few years, resorts replace those uniforms with new ones because they want their most high-profile employees to look presentable, even fashionable, in the latest colors or designs.

 

Ever wonder what happens to all the old uniforms after they are replaced?

 

They have been made of highly durable materials, insulated and constructed to withstand harsh weather, so they generally do not wear out. Besides, they have been used for only three months a year. They are beautiful garments.

 

And yet, when retired after a few years, most old ski uniforms usually find their way to boxes in warehouses, where they may stay for 10 years.

 

Enter SWAG, the brainchild of Cheryl Jensen, who shaped the initials into an organization called Sharing Warmth Around the Globe.

 

Jensen is the wife of the Vail Mountain chief executive, Bill Jensen, who one evening at home mentioned the storage fees Vail was paying for more than 12,000 retired uniforms.

 

"I thought it would be great if we could put them to use," Cheryl Jensen said. "There are cold-weather countries all over the world where people are literally freezing to death because they do not have adequate winter clothing."

 

But try as she might, Cheryl Jensen could not get the large national charitable organizations to take her chic skiwear.

 

"As a policy, they didn't take used clothing," Jensen said. "Which is not the appropriate word for these goods. These are not clothes collected at a coat drive. Coat drives are wonderful, locally based events, but sometimes you really don't know what you're getting. We were offering $500 designer coats and sometimes matching $200 pants."

 

Finally, in 2000, as thousands of families were displaced by war in Kosovo, Jensen persuaded a local organization to ship and distribute 6,500 retired coats to the tent cities of that war-torn region.

 

"It worked great and I thought: `Well, I'm done. I'll do it again the next time Vail changes uniforms,' " Jensen said.

 

But word spread of whole villages of refugees walking around snug in s**** skiwear. Other international locales started calling. Requests were piling up. A lot more winter wear was going to be needed, and that is when it occurred to Jensen that the Vail Resorts were not the only places storing old uniforms.

 

The competition among snow sports resorts in the mountains of Colorado is fierce, but Jensen found willing cooperation from the Aspen Skiing Company and its four areas, from interstate neighbors like Telluride and from Jackson Hole in Wyoming, too. Jensen then enlisted the aid of the National Ski Areas Association, which helped contact its members nationwide. Coats poured forth, as if leaping to life from the sleepy confines of distant warehouses. From Park City Ski Resort in Utah to Jay Peak in Vermont, 30 areas in all, donations were made.

 

Already this year, SWAG has distributed 30,000 coats. Whether it is Nepal, Mongolia, Albania or Armenia — or nearly a dozen other countries — one can find vivid, colorful skiwear from top American ski resorts. Jensen has a photograph of a woman in Afghanistan wearing her ski coat under a burka, the attire worn by devout Muslim women.

 

Jensen recently flew to Poland to witness the donation of several hundred coats. At a function there, she happened to meet the United States secretary of commerce, Don Evans, who shook her hand and said, "You're the coat lady."

 

"I never saw all of this happening, but it is something that really has made a difference in a lot of lives," Jensen said. "Sometimes a smaller area will say that they only have 20 coats to send us and I say, `Every coat is a person.' "

 

Workers for the many national organizations that now willingly assist Jensen and her organization will descend on a remote village with a truckload of striking Ralph Lauren-made ski coats from Aspen. They will come back a day later and everyone in the village is milling about in their matching bright red garb. Talk about a warmth of community.

 

Swag is a term with a lot of meanings. SWAG, in this case, is a cause with meaning. Stuff We Always Get might sound like a Christmas slogan. Today, as measured in the cozy embrace of thousands of donated coats, it is a Christmas message.

 

(I forgot to include this picture from the article; two Afghan boys pick up their new SWAG jackets.)

[r45 4]

naughty!

 

but thanks!

 

[Siren 0]

American propaganda but good work.

[Goemon 0]

 Quote:

American propaganda

What's that comment all about then? Just because she happens to be American, this is "propaganda"?

hmmph!

[Ocean11 0]

Seems like a simple act of charity to me.

[xxx 2]

me too..

[Siren 0]

I thought everyone has gone skiing.

[kintaro 0]

Typical.

[nagpants 1]

They look like good suits them