For Immediate Release
Contact: Whitney Tremaine
(212) 645-6900 x121
whitney@jerichopr.com

DO SOMETHING THAT TRULY DEMONSTRATES YOUR DEDICATION TO HELPING OTHERS…
TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT

H&M Gives Shoppers Great, Affordable Fashion
and a Chance to Benefit a Worthy Cause

It’s one thing to give a person a quarter as you walk down the street, but it’s a completely different thing to take the shirt that you are wearing right off your back and give it to someone who really needs it.

At the grand opening celebration of the new H&M store in the Silver City Galleria (2 Galleria Mall Drive, Taunton, MA) the old saying, “Give ‘em the shirt off your back” is being put to the test. On Friday, August 30 at Noon when the new H&M store officially opens its doors, the first 200 shoppers in line that take off their shirt will receive a free H&M t-shirt (so they won’t go home topless), as well as a 20% off discount coupon on the purchase of a new H&M shirt. The shirts received from shoppers at the grand opening celebration will be laundered and donated to the Saint Francis Samaritan House, an emergency shelter that provides safety, warmth, and nourishment to homeless individuals in the Greater Taunton Area through a dignified and professional manner.

“All year round H&M provides people with clothing that fits their personality,” said Karen Belva, public relations manager at H&M. “As a company that is in the business of dressing people with style, we thought it was a natural fit to develop a program that would help dress people in need. Whenever we open a new store, H&M strives to become an active business neighbor and we thought that this would be a great way for us to start in the local Taunton community by supporting this worthy cause together with our shoppers.”

The new 12,000 square foot H&M store in The Silver City Galleria will feature high quality, affordable fashion and accessories for men, women, and teens. H&M, relying on its team of 80 in-house designers, supplies all of its stores with new fashion designs delivered every day. In the U.S. H&M has expanded to a total of 37 stores, concentrated in the Northeast region. The next store opening for H&M is in Harlem, New York on September 6, 2002.

About H&M
H&M is Europe’s leading fashion retailer offering fashion and quality at the best price. Marketing their own brand of clothing for women, men, teens, and kids, H&M sells more than 500 million garments a year. H&M opened their first store in Sweden in 1947 and the first U.S. store on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 2000. Today H&M has more than 800 stores in 14 countries and over 30,000 employees all working to the same philosophy: to provide fashion and quality at the best price. To visit H&M’s web site please go to http://www.hm.com.

About Saint Francis Samaritan House / Gifts In Kind International
The Saint Francis Samaritan House is an emergency shelter for homeless individuals in the Greater Taunton area and serves as the first step through advocacy, referral, and individual empowerment. It is an affiliate of Gifts In Kind International, the world's leading charity in product philanthropy and the 7th largest charity in the United States. For more information visit www.giftsinkind.org.