Bhubaneswar, Oct. 25: Santa Claus came a little early with sack loads of gifts for 70 children of an orphanage who got clothes of their choice, all for free.

A youth association has set up an apparel store here from where underprivileged people can get clothes for free.

The store titled Vastra was inaugurated today at Saheed Nagar.

Jai Odisha, in association with Young Indians (Yi), an integral part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has taken the initiative that is aimed at bettering the lives of the underprivileged people through simple yet useful enterprises.

Subrat Panda, 14, looked happy to have found a pair of red jeans. "I have always wanted these because red is my favourite colour. I am going to wear it on Diwali," said the elated child from the orphanage.

Hemalata Pradhan, an 18-year-old girl from the neighbourhood, couldn't stop smiling after "buying" a dress. "I am going to bring my sister next month. She will be really happy," she added.

"Around two weeks ago, the team began collecting old and discarded clothes from our acquaintances. The initial plan was to distribute them among the homeless with winter around the corner. We spread the word among our near and dear ones and also extensively promoted the venture on the social networking site of Facebook," said president of Jai Odisha Rudra Samantaray.

"However, the decision to set up a store was taken after we saw overwhelming response to our posts."

"We have collected more than 5,000 garments for men, women and children of all ages. After giving it a thought, we decided that instead of distributing them at a particular time, a permanent store would serve a larger purpose. Needy people can take clothes round the year whenever required," said Rudra.

"We have washed the garments, ironed and wrapped them properly. They have been stacked according to size," said Rudra.

The store will provide an item of clothing to a person on their producing an Aadhaar or ration card.

However, one can "buy" clothes only once a month.

"We have put certain guidelines in place to make sure that the clothes are not misused," he added.

Interested people can donate clothing items at the store. A volunteer from the group will be available at the store on weekdays.

"During the collection period, we noticed that there is a huge willingness among people to donate their clothes. But, people do not get a proper place to drop them off. So, we feel the store will be useful in bridging the gap between the donators and the needy people," said Rudra.

They will shortly set up similar stores in other parts of the state as well. "We will get in touch with other youth organisations and I believe the venture will take wings elsewhere too," said Rudra.