Care Center Clothing, 6 weeks in…
The Clothing ministry has officially launched and it has truly been an exciting time in our Care Center’s history. When the new Care Center opens its doors late next spring, the Clothing ministry will function as both a children’s clothing store and a whole “back-of-house” operation whose entire purpose is to support the Clothing store and make sure that every piece of clothing that goes into the store and into the hands of children fully reflects the goodness of the Lord. It is Clothing’s “back-of-house serving” that has launched, and we have some exciting news to share!
In six weeks, we have launched six teams and trained 100 new dedicated volunteers. Their role is to collect donations from the bins, sort through the clothing and determine what is usable for the store and what will need to be baled. We wash all clothing (yes, wash!) then re-sort and stage the clothing, preparing it to be stored until we can begin filling the racks of our new store.
In this short period of time we have sent over 10,000 lbs of sorted clothing to be laundered. We have collected over 2000 lbs of shoes. We are also about to create our first clothing bale, which will weigh roughly 1000 lbs. Bales of shoes and clothing are sold to a third party, per lb and are then shipped overseas. This ensures that the shoes and clothing will help those in need globally, while also enabling us to become self sustaining.
It’s been an exciting launch and we can’t wait to see where God leads us between now and the opening of the new Care Center. The best is yet to come!
-Jorie Johnson and the Clothing Team