NewmarketToday continues its fifth annual tradition of marking the giving season by celebrating Newmarket's Community Angels — the people whose kindness, compassion and community spirit help make our town one of the best to live in the country.
Wanting to leave a positive impact on his community, about a decade ago Newmarket’s Joshua Campbell decided to launch an initiative to help the homeless.
Campbell had always been passionate about stepping up to support the underserved population and wanted to fill any gaps he could while making it easy for the community to get involved.
Having seen firsthand the effects of homelessness through working with Inn From the Cold, Campbell noticed that underwear was an often forgotten item when the community would donate clothes.
He said the shortage is because unlike other clothing, used underwear cannot be donated, so it would need to be new.
"Men’s and women’s shelters constantly need new underwear to help provide self-esteem and respect for those less fortunate,” he said.
That’s how Campbell developed his yearly Underwear Challenge, a drive that he and his team at Knowledge Broker run each winter to support men, women and children from Inn From the Cold and Belinda’s Place shelters.
Given the inability to donate used underwear and how expensive buying it new can be these days, Campbell realized that many of the underserved population can struggle to get clean underwear.
“Having to wear the same underwear over and over again, most people couldn’t imagine,” he said. “Underwear is a necessity that we take for granted.”
One of Campbell’s biggest motivators with the challenge is educating others, particularly youth, on the need for underwear donations.
He often sees families working together to support the challenge and says it’s usually the children who are most excited to be involved in making a positive change.
“Teach them about what they’re doing and who they’re giving it to,” he said. “That creates awareness, and when you have awareness it leads to bigger results in regards to how we treat people, especially those less fortunate.”
The awareness is more important than the actual challenge itself, Campbell said, with it starting a ripple effect of change that has a far greater reach than the challenge itself.
“It’s a win-win because it builds awareness while providing the vulnerable with something that’s hard to get,” he said.
For Campbell, it’s all about giving back any way he can while motivating others to get involved. He said that after all this time running the annual challenge, he loves seeing how the community gets more and more involved each year.
“The neatest thing is seeing how much people start to appreciate what they have and ultimately start sharing it with others,” he said. “We are so thankful for those who have donated.”
The first year that Campbell organized the challenge, a few hundred dollars worth of underwear were donated. Last year, they hit a couple thousand dollars worth with 250 pairs donated.
This year the challenge ran until Dec. 23, and had already reached its goal of 250 pairs collected by Dec. 13. Campbell was ecstatic to see it surpass last year’s total.
"We are so grateful to those who have contributed this holiday season, as the donations received have exceeded our expectations and goal! So far, we have received over 1,000 pairs of underwear, socks and ladies garments," he posted on social media. "A big special thanks to Lions Club Newmarket North for dropping off a massive contribution from their membership."
