Helping Students Feel Ready to Learn
Through trusted Title I school partners, we provide new, clean undergarments that support student comfort, confidence, hygiene, and participation in the school day.
The Hidden Need
Some of the Most Important School Essentials Are Never on the Supply List
Families facing financial hardship often have to prioritize food, housing, transportation, utilities, and other urgent expenses. New underwear, bras, and undershirts can become difficult to replace consistently.
Because this need is personal and often hidden, students may not ask for help. School nurses, teachers, counselors, and family-resource teams are often among the first trusted adults to recognize when a student needs additional support.
Through the Everyone Deserves Underwear program, The Undie Chest helps schools respond discreetly with new, clean essentials that support student comfort, hygiene, confidence, and participation in the school day.
Why We Created the Everyone Deserves Underwear Program
Hear from founder Elaine Birks-Mitchell about the need that inspired EDU and why access to new, clean undergarments matters for students, families, and school communities.
Program History and Growth
Built From a Need Schools Were Already Seeing
The Everyone Deserves Underwear program launched in 2021 after school nurses, teachers, and community partners identified an essential need that traditional school-supply drives often missed.
Students and families could receive backpacks, notebooks, uniforms, and other school resources, yet new underwear, bras, sports bras, and undershirts were not always available. Because the need is personal and often hidden, school staff needed a trusted, discreet way to respond.
Since its launch, EDU has grown through partnerships with Arizona school districts and community-based programs, including Tempe Elementary School District, the Threadz program serving Tempe Union high schools, and the Glendale System of Care. Together, the Tempe and Glendale school systems connected to these partnerships enroll more than 30,000 students, demonstrating both the scale of the communities involved and the potential demand for essential support.
The program also serves Title I schools within Gilbert Public Schools.
Through these trusted Arizona partnerships, The Undie Chest helps school nurses, teachers, health offices, and family-resource teams maintain access to new, clean essentials in the sizes and styles their students and families need.
What began as a response to one often-overlooked need has grown into a collaborative school-support program shaped by partner feedback, documented demand, product donations, retail partnerships, and grant funding.
Today, EDU continues to grow with one clear purpose: helping students move through the school day with greater comfort, hygiene, confidence, and dignity.
EDU at a Glance
Launched in 2021
Built in response to needs identified by Arizona school and community partners.
30,000+ Students in Connected School Systems
Enrolled across the Tempe and Glendale school systems connected to EDU partnerships.
Serving Gilbert Title I Schools
Providing support through Title I schools within Gilbert Public Schools.
Why Essential Access Matters at School
Comfort and Confidence Support the Whole School Day
Educational opportunity depends on more than what happens in the classroom. Students may also face non-academic challenges connected to poverty, housing instability, family transitions, and limited access to basic necessities.
When a student does not have clean, properly fitting undergarments, it can create discomfort, embarrassment, or hesitation during everyday school activities. Because the need is personal and often hidden, students may be reluctant to ask for help.
Access to new essentials can support:
Personal hygiene and comfort
Confidence during the school day
Participation in physical education, sports, and other activities
Readiness for unexpected clothing or hygiene needs
Greater ease in classroom and social settings
One less practical barrier for students and caregivers
Through the Everyone Deserves Underwear program, The Undie Chest partners with Title I schools to help trusted staff respond to this often-overlooked need discreetly and respectfully.
What Is a Title I School?
Title I is a federal program created to support schools and districts serving large numbers of students from low-income families.
These schools receive additional resources to strengthen educational opportunities and student support. Even with that funding, however, many personal essentials fall outside traditional school budgets and school-supply drives.
School nurses, teachers, counselors, and family-resource teams may see students who need new underwear, bras, undershirts, or other basic clothing essentials, but schools may not have a consistent way to provide them.
Through the Everyone Deserves Underwear program, The Undie Chest helps fill that gap by supplying new, clean undergarments through trusted school partners.
Understanding Student Homelessness and Housing Instability
Student Homelessness Is Often Hidden
A student does not have to be living in a shelter or on the street to be considered homeless under federal education law. Students may also be staying temporarily with relatives or friends, living in motels, transitional housing, vehicles, or other unstable arrangements because their families have lost permanent housing.
During the 2023–24 school year, more than 1.3 million students experiencing homelessness were identified by public schools across the United States. Most were living in doubled-up situations, temporarily sharing housing with others because of economic hardship or housing loss.
Because many students experiencing homelessness are not visibly unhoused, their circumstances can be easy to overlook. Housing instability can make it difficult for families to store belongings, do laundry regularly, replace clothing as children grow, or keep personal essentials readily available.
Schools may become one of the most consistent places where students and families can connect with trusted adults and practical support. The Everyone Deserves Underwear (EDU) program helps school nurses, teachers, and resource teams respond to this often-unseen need by making new, clean undergarments available through discreet school-based distribution.
How the Everyone Deserves Underwear Program Works
Support Delivered Through People Students Already Trust
The Everyone Deserves Underwear program works through schools and districts rather than distributing directly to students.
1. Schools Identify the Need
School nurses, teachers, counselors, and family-resource teams understand the needs within their school communities and identify when students or families need additional support.
2. The Undie Chest Coordinates New Essentials
We work with donors, sponsors, retailers, and community partners to secure new, age-appropriate undergarments in the sizes and styles schools request most.
3. Trusted Staff Distribute Items Privately
Products are provided through school health offices, resource teams, and other appropriate channels that protect student dignity and privacy.
4. We Track Distribution and Listen
We document what is distributed, gather feedback from school partners, and use that information to strengthen the program and respond to changing needs.
What the Program Provides
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New Underwear for Men and Women
New underwear in a range of sizes and styles for male and female students, as well as family members facing hardship.
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Bras and Sports Bras
New bras and sports bras that support comfort, movement, coverage, and confidence throughout the school day.
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Undershirts and Basic Layers
New undershirts, tanks, and basic layers for men and women that provide comfort, coverage, and an additional clean layer.
Who EDU Supports
Supporting Students and Families Facing Financial Hardship
The Everyone Deserves Underwear program supports students and families connected to Title I schools who may be experiencing:
Poverty or financial hardship
Housing instability or homelessness
Foster care or family transitions
Displacement or emergency relocation
Unexpected changes in family circumstances
Limited access to clean clothing and personal essentials
The program is designed to help school nurses, teachers, counselors, and family-resource teams respond when a student or family needs practical support.
The goal is simple: provide new, clean essentials through trusted school partners so one often-hidden need does not become another barrier during the school day.
Why This Partnership Matters
School nurses, teachers, and wraparound-service teams often recognize needs that remain hidden from the broader community. Their experience helps show why access to new undergarments matters and how the Everyone Deserves Underwear program supports students in practical ways.
“A need for new underwear is very common for families facing hardship, but it is not something easily observed. This issue is often hidden. Through our school health offices, The Undie Chest helps provide middle-school students with an essential resource that supports comfort, dignity, confidence, and participation in physical activities.”
Michele Grimaldi
Director of Wraparound Services
Tempe Elementary School District
What Our Partners Tell Us
We regularly ask schools and community organizations about the needs they are seeing, the populations they serve, and how access to new undergarments supports their work.
Their feedback helps The Undie Chest understand demand, strengthen the Everyone Deserves Underwear program, and communicate the need to donors, sponsors, and funders.
What Funding Makes Possible
Your Support Helps Schools Respond When the Need Is There
Grant funding, financial donations, and product support help The Undie Chest keep the Everyone Deserves Underwear program ready to respond to school and district requests.
Funding helps cover:
New underwear, bras, sports bras, and undershirts in high-demand sizes
Inventory gaps when donated products do not match school needs
Storage, sorting, and fulfillment
Shipping and delivery to school partners
Coordination with nurses, teachers, and family-resource teams
Program tracking and partner communication
The result is practical: schools have a trusted resource they can turn to when a student or family needs new, clean essentials.
Filling an Often-Overlooked Gap
Federal programs such as Title I and McKinney-Vento provide important support for students facing poverty and homelessness. However, schools must use limited resources across transportation, academic services, staffing, school supplies, and many other student needs.
That can leave school nurses, teachers, and family-resource teams without a consistent supply of personal essentials such as new underwear, bras, sports bras, and undershirts in the sizes students and families need.
The Everyone Deserves Underwear program helps fill that practical gap through donated products, grant funding, and trusted school partnerships.
Back to School With Confidence
A Year-Round Need With a Seasonal Focus
Students and families may need new undergarments at any point during the school year. Each August, The Undie Chest brings additional attention to this often-overlooked need through the annual Back to School Undie Drive.
The campaign helps collect essential items and raise funds for the Everyone Deserves Underwear program so school partners can prepare for increased need at the start of the school year.
Supporters can:
Donate new underwear, bras, sports bras, and undershirts
Make a financial contribution
Host a community or workplace collection
Engage employees, customers, or local partners
Celebrating the People Who Go Above and Beyond
Recognizing School Nurses and Teachers Who Make a Difference
School nurses and teachers are often the first to notice when a student needs additional support. Their compassion, creativity, and willingness to respond can make an immediate difference in a student’s comfort, confidence, and ability to participate in the school day.
The Barbara J. Birks Above & Beyond Award recognizes Arizona teachers and school nurses whose dedication helps students feel seen, supported, and cared for.
Created in memory of Barbara J. Birks, the award celebrates the trusted professionals who go beyond their everyday responsibilities to strengthen their school communities.
Help Students Start the Day With Confidence
Your support helps The Undie Chest provide new, clean undergarments to students and families through trusted Title I school partners.
Whether you donate essential items, make a financial contribution, or support the annual Back to School Undie Drive, you help schools respond to a need that is often hidden but deeply important.
