Enterprise proprietor organizes first vacation bazaar for London’s needy

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Kay Habib is collecting donations for the London Let’s Be Kind free shopping event she’s organized for Sunday, Nov. 21. Londoners in need will be able to select up to five items. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

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The clothing — about 500 items, all donated — will be arranged on garment racks and large tables.

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Volunteers at a checkout counter will package each shopper’s selection in re-usable bags.

Free Yemeni cuisine, burgers and coffee will be available.

A shopping event like no other, with no money changing hands, the Nov. 21 event in a Dundas Street parking lot is the brainwave of London business owner Kay Habib, who says her goal is to give free clothing to those in need in a dignified and enjoyable alternative to how donations are often distributed.

Instead of accepting donated clothes in plastic garbage bags and boxes, why not let people choose for themselves what they need and like?

With that, Habib’s London Let’s Be Kind event was born.

For more than three years, the interior designer has helped Londoners in need through her homemade home-goods company, Skilled Accents. She employs refugee women from Iraq and Syria, who work from home sewing pillows and other accent items with fabric donated by local furniture stores.

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The pillows are sold online and in Habib’s showroom, Skilled Accents, on Woodstock Street in northwest London.

“I just have a love for sewing because my mom used to make things out of nothing all the time,” Habib said.

Originally from Pakistan, Habib said her desire to help refugees took root in 2009, when she was working in Vaughan to help South Asian women there launch their own craft business.

“They were wanting to do something, but they had so many limitations, even language,” Habib said. “That experience stayed with me, and when I thought about creating something of my own . . . I really wanted to do something for immigrants.”

When Habib first approached the women who became her employees, “they were really excited” about the work and grew with the confidence that gave them, she said. Four of the original 10 women she hired have since moved on to pursue educational and professional goals.

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“Being an immigrant myself, I can really feel what they’re going through,” she said.

It was more complicated when it came to offering the women material support, such as clothing, because the gesture made them “uncomfortable,” Habib said.

“It really hurts their pride,” she said, when donated clothing is packaged in boxes and trash bags.

Enter Habib’s London Let’s Be Kind event. She’s been collecting donations since Thanksgiving. Garments of all kinds for women, men and children — ranging from winter jackets to formal wear — have been donated by friends, colleagues, community members and companies.

Though her business is designed to empower refugee women, Habib said the Nov. 21 event is for all Londoners in need. The only restriction is that each shopper is limited to five items.

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“Let us know that you may have other people at home, and we’ll be happy to give those items to you,” said Habib, adding she hopes the event will be the first of many like it.

“I know there’s a lot of agencies who collect items,” but a yearly event where people can “shop” for donations would have added benefits, she said.

Not only would it bring people together, but it would also “celebrate the spirit of giving – and also give people who need (donations) a good feeling about it.”

IF YOU GO

What : London Let’s Be Kind, free shopping for Londoners in need from clothing donations
Where : Parking lot at Avis Budget Car Rental, at 1737 Dundas St. E.
When : Nov 21, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
To volunteer or donate : Contact Kay Habib at skilledaccents.com

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