If you're cleaning out those closets, toy bins and kitchen cabinets and don't know where to donate items you no longer use, bring them with you the next time you're grabbing a cup of coffee.  

Sylvia’s Children and Starbucks have joined forces to raise funds for children in Africa. Now through Nov. 18, toys, clothing, household items and accessories can be placed in a large bin located in the rear of Starbucks.

Sylvia’s Children is a 501(c)3 organization that supports a school in Uganda, Africa with 1,000 students, ages 3 through 14, of which 25 percent are orphans due to the AIDS crisis.

The charity was founded by Sylvia Allen after she traveled to Uganda with a non-profit organization on a humanitarian trip in 2003. While there, Allen was asked by Geofrey Kawuma, head of the Mbiriizi Primary School, to serve the school’s grandmother. Allen was honored to accept the responsibility and through this charity, hopes to give these children "a fighting chance."

Funds raised from the clothing drive will be used to finance a much-needed health clinic for the children at the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary School in Uganda. It will also assist in providing them with food, clothing, lodging and an education. 

As per Sylvia's Children's website, since its inception, the charity has accomplished the following:

We've Built: 

• A boys dormitory
• Addition to girls dormitory
• A well for fresh water
• Three new double classroom blocks
• A new library
• A building for corn milling
• A playground in memory of Kasozi Moses
• Ten unit teacher's housing
• Sewing Business

And Supplied:

• Money for a clinic
• Three new stoves
• Three new cooking pots to extend the ability to feed the children
 
• Desks for the new classrooms
 
• Medical supplies for the nurse
 
• School supplies
• Seven Christmas parties with gifts
• American and Ugandan flags
• T-shirts for the children
• 1,000+ pairs of shoes and socks
• Books for the library
• Computer and Internet service
• Solar lights for nighttime safety
• Supplied 1,000 blankets - one for each child
• New beds for the boys dormitory
• Built new latrines
• Built a chicken coop
• Have 400 chickens

We've Also:

• Hired a school nurse
• Purchased eight acres of land adjacent to the school for corn
• Increased student population from 439 to over 1,000
• Increased support for orphans in primary and a secondary school

For more information visit the Donate Now page, call (732) 946-2711 or e-mail Sylvia Allen at Sylvia@SylviasChildren.org or visit Sylvia's Children's website.