Members of the Georgetown community donated used clothes on Tuesday to the New-to-You Clothing Party, sponsored by the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program and the Department of Human Resources.

Donors were allowed to choose three items of clothing for free. The clothes left over at the end of the day were donated to a Goodwill store in the D.C. area.

Sue Johnston, a wellness counselor for the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program and an organizer of the event, said the recession was one of the main reasons for holding the event.

“These are tough times for a lot of people,” she said. “It’s really fun to share what you have.”

Over 20 members of the Georgetown faculty volunteered at the event, including professors, Medical Center staff and faculty from the Kennedy Institute of Ethics. The Hoya Kids Learning Center organized the donation of children’s clothes for the event.

Over the course of the day, other charity groups came to collect clothes for their own organizations. According to Johnston, the Young Lives program, an organization in D.C. that mentors teen moms, came and collected children’s clothing.

embers of the research team for Women’s Interagency HIV Study at the Medical Center collected clothes for their patients.

About 50 percent of the clothes donated were donated to Goodwill at the end of the day, Johnston said.

The Faculty and Staff Assistance Program, specifically Johnston and FSAP Director Eileen Fenrich, organized the project. The FSAP provides free programs for Georgetown faculty and staff, including psychotherapy, mind-body skills groups and an eldercare program, according to Fenrich.

Johnston said she hopes to run the event again next year.

“