July's WW10: How to give your gently-worn clothes a meaningful second life

My best friend Tiffany is on staff at the Central Indiana Teen Challenge, a faith-based rehab center. Its always refreshing to hear about her job whenever we catch up, since our lives are so different. I'm a web designer, spending my days pushing pixels in New York City, while she's changing the lives of young girls, helping bring restoration and healing to the center she works and lives at in Indiana.

Central Indiana Teen Challenge is a nonprofit residential organization which ministers to girls of the 13-17 age range with at risk behaviors*. They currently have students from all across the United States and offer 12-month boarding services for teen girls struggling with life-controlling addictions.

Its a place to heal in a safe environment, and a place of second chances for these girls. For many of them, this has become a last resort for them to find true freedom for their lives.

Tiffany mentioned recently how their center is completely run on donations, whether it be monetary, food, or clothing. She told me that they get clothing donations, but usually when they rummage through the stuff, its old, smelly, and not very trendy.

I thought of all the clothes in my closet that I don't wear and are in pretty good condition and could definitely have another go. So I went around gathering clothes from my friends, who like me, often overshop and not wear enough of what's in our closet.

I ended up dropping off to Tiff about 6 large bags of clothing. Most of the clothes were in good condition, some even had the tags still on them. This was a simple act, something that didn't really take much planning or head space, something I just decided to do on a whim. I had no idea how much of an impact it would have. So I was pleasantly surprised by this email I received that week:

(excerpts of Tiffany's email to me)

"I am writing to THANK YOU for your generosity on Friday! Wow! I hope you can send this along to your other friends...

...When I got home on Friday night i stayed up till 1:30am sorting through the clothes- because I was so excited! I then put them in piles accordingly and spread them across the hallway on Saturday morning- so the girls could go through and "SHOP".

Many of the girls don't get a chance to get out and buy new clothes because they are stuck within these walls for some - time- and when they do get a day to be with their parents or guardians families often don't have a lot of money to buy lots of new things because they are paying for a hotel/ activities for the day or even just plain it's difficult for them to even make due with tuition for Teen Challenge Center that month.

I allowed the girls to go through in groups of 2-3 and pick 3 items to start with and then come back again and chose more until most of the clothes were picked through. They were so excited!! Trying things on- asking "how does this look, Tiffany".

Since we have a rule that anything that comes through the house has to be washed before worn- many of the girls asked if they could put their new "dress/ or pants/ or shirt" in the wash so they could wear it the next day to church. I put them in all together. SO FUN!!

I am so thankful for what a blessing this was not only for me to witness but also to the girls...

...GIVING is such a beautiful thing- it goes on and on and on and never stops! Many of the girls afterwards were coming up to me giving me things "they dont' wear" or what has gotten too small for them while they have been here and asked if they could donate it to the caring center down the road for homeless. AWESOME! See it continues on!"

After reading this email and seeing the photos of the girls Tiffany sent along with it, my friends and I all agree that we are the ones that were the most blessed by this donation. As one of my friends wrote back to me, "this email has just made my day!"

I think sometimes we don't know how the little things in life, the small acts, can actually make a big difference. I loved hearing from Tiffany how the giving was continuing, with the girls wanting to give some of their stuff to the homeless center down the road.

So along the theme of giving (and of course clothing!), it only seemed fitting that W&W's July WW10 donation would go to Teen Challenge. A portion of our proceeds from July will be going to support the great work Tiffany and her staff are doing at Central Indiana Teen Challenge.

If you would like more information about Teen Challenge and how you too can donate, contact them through their website or through Miss Tiffany herself at tiffann.fischer@gmail.com

If you are in the New York City area, some other places that I've donated my clothes to include Housing Works, an organization that combats AIDs and homelessness, and of course, the Salvation Army.

*At Risk Behaviors = Bulimia, Cutting, Alcohol and Substance abuse, physical/sexual abuse, depression, anger, manipulation, lying, rebellion, promiscuity, or poor self image.