By Janice Thomas
Director Homeless Services
Recently a mother and daughter started living at Third Street Alliance after experiencing homelessness for about two years. Moving from house to house and shelter to shelter, items were lost or misplaced and consequently, mom and daughter didn’t have much in clothing.
(It’s common for shelters to toss residents’ belongings if they have not picked up the items within 24 to 48 hour, as there is always someone else who needs to occupy the space. The only things they have are items they can carry in a bag.)
Mom was doing laundry every day, just to make sure they had clean pairs of underwear. So, I made a call to a friend and a mom of twin girls. My friend was able to provide a huge bag of clothing, including shoes and jacket/coats, for the daughter.
Then I posted to my Facebook network, asking for clothing and shoes, including the sizes. I only got two responses.
One was from BW NICE (Business Women Networking Involving Charity and Education), who went through her closet and asked a friend to do the same. The end result was three bags of clothing for mom! The woman dropped everything off the next day, which was perfect timing because mom had a job interview scheduled.
Because of the generosity of just a few folks, this mom and daughter will be clothed as they learn to get back on their feet.
