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Council members;I am writing you on behalf of Campus California TG, a non-profit

organization operating a clothing donation program in Oakland

and the San Francisco Bay Area.As a result of an article in Oakland Tribune, our organization

recently came into the focus of Oakland city officials. The

conduct of the city (city administrator's office & codeenforcement) vas very professional and forthcoming and we

were able to come to an agreement in all points connected with

CCTG's activities in Oakland. Due to the nature of our work,

however we will be continuously paid attention to by the generalpublic and since questions about what is happening in the city

are usually directed to you, I feel it is important for you to be fullyinformed.Campus California TG (Teachers Group) was incorporated in

2000 and its main activities currently are:a.) To train and place volunteers in development projects

abroad (The Development Instructor program)b.) To operate a clothing donation program in the Bay Area toraise funds for the Development Instructor program and to

promote the need to care for the environment through reuse and

recycling.The development Instructor program is run in cooperation withHumana People To People Federation. CCTG offers complete

packages for adults who wish to volunteer in various areas of

development work in Southern Africa or Central America. Theprogram includes:

Different durations of program ( 9, 14 or 18 months), food,lodging & program related travel expenses included, Choice of project type (Education - children or adults,HIV/AIDS prevention, Child Aid, Environment - Tree planting, soil

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conservation, secure water sources or others), Choice of the destination country (Mozambique, Zambia,Namibia, Malawi or various countries in Central America),

Theoretical and practical preparation - In the USA (EtnaCampus, The San Francisco Bay Area and other location) Travel arrangements including visas, vaccinations and othernecessities when traveling to a third world country Regular contact and support during time in Africa or CentralAmerica

Final time for evaluation and readjustment after returnSince 2000, we had over to 2000 people traveling to the projects.

The value of the work they done is reflected in manyinternational awards and partnerships Humana Federation or its

members received. An example of a development project withinternational recognition is Children's town near Lusaka, Zambia.

This project has been featured in a TV series "The New Heroes",

hosted by Robert Redford.(http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/zulu.html ). One of

CCTG's participants choose this project for her volunteer period

in Africa and spent 6 months there working with AIDS orphans in

2007. All the volunteer program expenses are covered partiallyby tuition paid by the participants, fundraising during the

program, grants from Humana People to People and the profitsfrom the clothing donation program.The Clothing donation program has been started in the Bay Area

in 2003. Oakland was one of the first cities where we place the

green donation boxes and for long time it was also the center of

the operation, with warehouse first on Filbert St and later in theformer Army base. Only after the base was closed for businessin 2006 we moved to our current location in Richmond. Currently

we service 26 locations throughout Oakland, and last year wecollected almost 180 000 pounds of used clothing and shoes in

the city. (the whole operation currently has little over 370 boxes

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and collected 3.2mil pounds in 2007). The donated items are

sold wholesale on the used clothing market, mostly domestically.The surplus generated by the clothing recycling program is used

to further expand this program and to cover the running

expenses of the volunteer training (overhead, promotion,scholarships, travel expenses etc...).Attached to this letter is a more complete description of theAfrica volunteer program and also a document which will give

you a thorough understanding of how the clothing donation

program is operated, what criteria we use when looking for box

locations and much more.

If there is anything you would like to know more about, please donot hesitate to contact me, including questions from the public.Thank you for your time.Jan SakoExpansion and Information

Campus California TG

510 302 7117

jan@cctg.org