Clothes closet

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we offer clothing to our guests in the “Clothes Closet.” This is one of our more popular services. We are able to get thirty people through on each of these days. It all starts with people like you (e.g. anyone).

At any time during any day, people will bring donations to our door. Sometimes it is food, sometimes it is toiletries, sometimes it is something random. But most of the time, the donations that we receive are of clothing- shirts, pants, shorts, shoes, socks, underwear, etc. These donations get thrown into our freight elevator and then put into a pile in the basement where they are then sorted, put on hangers, and put on racks.

Upstairs in the actual Clothes Closet, the thirty people that are first in line come in (not all at once) and shop. The donations are brought into the room and the guests are able to look through what is there, pick out what fits them and/or what they want, and then they check out with a staff member. We make sure that no one takes more than what it allotted to them. We put limits on what they can take so that we don’t run out of clothing. Unfortunately, some of what we give out ends up being sold on the street, so that is another reason we don’t give any one person extra clothing.

This particular activity (which I do on Wednesdays) gets on my nerves a little bit. I think most of it is because it is the day in which I get off in the afternoon, so I’m not so motivated. It is also a time in which some of the guests want to make our lives difficult, so that taxes me as well. I just try and remember that we are giving them the help they need to get back on track in life.