The nonprofit STEP UP (Solidarity to End Poverty - United for Progress) is organizing a secondhand clothing and item drive for nomadic Tibetan communities in Qinghai province's Yushu quake zone.

Many yak-herding families endure winters as cold as -25 C while living in tents because of the disaster, their nomadic lifestyle or poverty.

In such places as Longbo town, where the disaster destroyed 95 percent of the buildings, the average annual income is 300 yuan ($47). Families often skip meals to afford clothes and say children's garments are especially troublesome, because they quickly outgrow what they have. Teachers in Yege township, where it began snowing on Aug 4, say there is a serious shortage of shoes for students who call seven tents their "dorms".

STEP UP, a wing of Low-Income Visionary Education, is also collecting such secondhand or new items as computers for schools, blankets, mobile phones and educational toys.

Goods can be dropped off before Nov 13 at the Brand Nu store in Beijing's hip Wudaoying Hutong, near the Lama Temple, during open hours.