Paige, Jordan, and I arrived at Dress for Success on Tuesday, October 13th at about 2:30 pm. This volunteering session was largely uneventful, with few tasks having been carried to completion. After we arrived, we signed in and Analisa Wagoner (the organization director/volunteer coordinator) showed us areas around the office space in which organization or rearrangement was needed. All three of us were assigned various seemingly unimportant tasks; Jordan and I made new nametags (although I had made them before, they had apparently been lost in the hopeless abyss that is Dress for Success's paperwork) for all volunteers, and Paige was told to sort some of the haphazard clothing. After some time, Analisa stopped us midway and explained that this branch of the organization was running out of storage space and struggling to keep up with the immense amount of incoming donations. She proceeded to take us to Dress for Success's storage space, an area of similar size next door to the Dress for Success office space.
After Analisa ushered us into the storage space, I paused and took a look around and was sincerely shocked at the amount of disarray. Clothes were strewn every which way and shopping bags littered the floor, to a point where Jordan, Paige, and I had to watch our every step to ensure we weren't knocking over any precariously perched items (I did end up knocking over a couple bags). Analisa then explained how to sort the clothes into three different categories based upon the style, type, and physical condition of the clothing: sale, donate, or keep. Those clothes that were in fine condition but not suitable to be worn as business professional or business casual clothing were to be sold at the organization's sale for spring clothes. Next, the clothes that were lacking in quality were to be donated to other groups that could cheaply sell or supply to economically disadvantaged people. Finally, clothes that were of superior quality and could be used as part of a business professional or business casual outfit were kept aside for Dress for Success, to help fulfill their purpose of outfitting economically disadvantaged women in appropriate business clothing.
Though the task of separating the clothing into these three categories seems simple, it was an exceedingly daunting task. Analisa, however, seemed disproportionately optimistic, nearly optimistic enough to make up for my own apprehension about starting this task. In my opinion, her optimism was gravely misguided: we weren't even able to start sorting during the volunteer session on that day because it took her almost 45 minutes just to explain what needed to be done. In addition, she suggested taking before and after pictures to showcase where we had started and how much we accomplished in organizing the area. I honestly don't believe there will be a significant improvement in the condition of this storage space, but I posted some before pictures below anyway. If, by some miracle, we are able to transform this area or even produce significant changes, I may post after pictures at a later date.
After Analisa ushered us into the storage space, I paused and took a look around and was sincerely shocked at the amount of disarray. Clothes were strewn every which way and shopping bags littered the floor, to a point where Jordan, Paige, and I had to watch our every step to ensure we weren't knocking over any precariously perched items (I did end up knocking over a couple bags). Analisa then explained how to sort the clothes into three different categories based upon the style, type, and physical condition of the clothing: sale, donate, or keep. Those clothes that were in fine condition but not suitable to be worn as business professional or business casual clothing were to be sold at the organization's sale for spring clothes. Next, the clothes that were lacking in quality were to be donated to other groups that could cheaply sell or supply to economically disadvantaged people. Finally, clothes that were of superior quality and could be used as part of a business professional or business casual outfit were kept aside for Dress for Success, to help fulfill their purpose of outfitting economically disadvantaged women in appropriate business clothing.
Though the task of separating the clothing into these three categories seems simple, it was an exceedingly daunting task. Analisa, however, seemed disproportionately optimistic, nearly optimistic enough to make up for my own apprehension about starting this task. In my opinion, her optimism was gravely misguided: we weren't even able to start sorting during the volunteer session on that day because it took her almost 45 minutes just to explain what needed to be done. In addition, she suggested taking before and after pictures to showcase where we had started and how much we accomplished in organizing the area. I honestly don't believe there will be a significant improvement in the condition of this storage space, but I posted some before pictures below anyway. If, by some miracle, we are able to transform this area or even produce significant changes, I may post after pictures at a later date.
