Six Women, One Quiet Tradition of Care

Nearly every Thursday for the past fourteen years, six friends, Melissa, Cissy, Lynn, Maureen, Christy, and Beth walk into our building, roll up their sleeves, and get to work sorting the donations that will eventually become someone’s warm coat, clean shirt, or first outfit for a new job.

What shows up in giant, unsorted piles from the community becomes, through their hands, dignity.

”We’re just dedicated to this now,” Melissa says. “It’s part of who we are. I first showed up because my church was making casseroles, and I asked, ‘What else can I do?’ Somebody pointed me to the clothing room, and well, that was it. The rest is history.”

The six of them have known each other since high school, some since childhood. Their friendship is the kind that has its own shorthand; sorting bins and swapping stories has become its own weekly ritual. “We’ve met so many amazing people down here,” another adds. “Staff, clients… all of it. One time a man came in freezing, and nothing fit him right. Then we found this pair of overalls, total needle in a haystack moment, and he lit up. Stuff like that? That’s why we come back.”

They work alongside our In-Kind Donation team, taking last week’s donations and turning them into order: shirts here, coats there, pants by size, everything ready so case managers can pull what someone needs in the moment they need it.

It’s simple work on the surface. But because of these six women, countless neighbors walk back into the world with a little more warmth, a little more confidence, and a reminder that people who care still show up, week after week, year after year.