MJ Slaby | Feb. 2, 2010
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| Photo by Ashley DeRousse |
| Sean Moore hung shelves as others sorted clothing and arranged items for My Sister’s Closet, a nonprofit that helps outfit low-income women headed to job interviews. The Ernie Pyle Scholars hoped to earn a day at Disney World while they are on a travel study trip to Florida at spring break. |
I had just spent the beginning of this my summer buying clothes to wear to my internship, and I know how expensive clothes for work can be. Imagine not having an income and trying to buy clothes for work. It would be so difficult. So when I found out we were volunteering there, I was excited to help out this unique organization.
On this Saturday in January, six Ernie Pyle Scholar classmates, associate professor Tony Fargo and other volunteers packed into the store. We stood between racks of tightly packed clothes and amid shoes lining shelves on the walls.
But once we were ready to start, we left the store, walked past the neighboring buildings and down a path to the organization’s storage unit. Inside were cardboard boxes, garbage bags and plastic bins filled with clothes. There were racks to hang the donated dresses and coats, piles of hangers and shelves to build.
As other volunteers worked on shelves, my classmates and I moved the clothes to plastic bins that would be labeled by season. As we filled the bins, we stumbled upon a sweatshirt with Mickey Mouse’s face on it. Laughing, we called it a sign. What better place to find a Mickey sweatshirt than when volunteering during “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day”?
Once we had the clothes in order, we sorted hangers and finished breaking down the leftover boxes to be recycled. The organizers even brought us hot coffee and donuts. As we worked to finish what we could while we waited for the shelves to be bolted together, we talked about the spring break trip to Florida. After three semesters of having classes with my fellow Ernie Pyle Scholars, it’s weird to not see them at least once a week. And some of us haven’t seen each other since before winter break.
We sorted more clothing, carried containers back to the store and were told we were done for the day. The organizers sent us home, knowing there were two more days of student volunteers to complete the tasks.
Volunteering was a great way to give back and I hope that one of those bins has the perfect outfit for someone to nail her next interview.
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