I nearly forgot!!
Congratulations to the winners in our drawing! I am only using first names here. If you won, you will receive a call or a letter soon!
Bath & Body Works gift card—Morgan
Claire’s gift card—Samantha
Flowers—Kelcey, Isabella, and Kendra
Congratulations, girls!!! Hope your prom is all you have been dreaming of.
I wanted to post this update sooner, but I have spent the last few days recovering from the weekend!
First, an update on what we collected. We started collecting prom dresses in August. In the seven months since, we were able to collect 93 dresses, in different sizes, colors, and styles. We also had nearly 100 pairs of shoes. A local florist, Angel’s Floral Creations, donated 3 sets of prom flowers to give away. We also had gift cards for Claire’s and Bath and Body Works donated for the event. A Mary Kay Consultant, Cris Culpepper, generously donated make-up samples for the girls.
We began setting appointments for prom dresses back in January. We scheduled two girls at a time to come in for half hour appointments. Nearly 30 girls signed up to come in. Not all of them came in. In all, I believe there were 21 girls who came in to look at and try on dresses. Of those 21, 13 walked away with the dress she would wear to her prom.
I was asked if it was really worth all of the hard work ahead of time for just a handful of girls. My answer is YES! Even if only one girl had been able to find a dress it would have been worth it. Nearly every one of those girls said, “I don’t know how I would have been able to go to prom without you.” Even if I’d only heard that once, it would have totally worth all the work that I had done.
This is the first dress that went on Saturday. It was donated with a pair of matching shoes. The shoes fit the girl who took the dress!
This dress is more of a bright blue than it looks in the picture. It was one of our most popular dresses. Most every girl in this size tried it on.
I’d like to take a moment to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped at Bea’s Love Closet over the weekend. We had 45 families take advantage of the free clothing we offer. Counting spouses and children, there were well over 115 people there on Saturday. It’s humbling to see the need and to know that together we can fill that need in our community. Without our volunteers, we would never be able to do this. Thank you so much for letting God use you to bless others.
You know, there are moment when I wonder about Bea’s Love Closet. Is it really making a difference? Then we are open for just a few hours each month, and I can see the good we are doing. The people who come in with nothing and go out with bags full of clothing and tears in their eyes…. No matter how hard the work is, seeing the gratitude on those faces is enough to keep me going.
Recently, I was interviewed by David Phelps from Family Life Radio. He wanted to do a piece about Bea’s Love Closet. The interviewed was done before Christmas, and he told me he hoped the interview would air on January 8. With all of the hustle of the holiday season and preparing for my 3-year-old sons surgery (he is having his tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow morning), the interview slipped my mind.
It quickly came back to mind today when I listened to my voicemail.
I was at a baby shower Saturday afternoon when the phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, so I just let it go to voicemail. It wasn’t until this afternoon that I had the chance to listen to that message. It brought tears to my eyes.
The caller was a woman from Lansing who had just heard my interview on Family Life Radio. She wanted to talk to me about volunteering to help at Bea’s Love Closet. And if I understood her correctly, she wants to learn how to start Bea’s Love Closet ministry in her own church.
Wow! Our first franchise!
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: It breaks my heart to see the amount of need in this area for warm clothing. At the same time, I am humbled beyond words to be in a position to help fill that need. And to now have people in other communities reaching out to help us….
This is nothing short of a God Thing!
Red Cross aids 97 people in 33 disasters from Julfy to December in Jackson and Hillsdale counties | MLive.com.
Did you know that Bea’s Love Closet recently offered assistance to fire victims, through the local chapter of the Red Cross? So far, we have helped two families who lost their homes and possessions due to fire in December. The Red Cross has added our address and telephone number to their Disaster Relief List. When a dissaster occurs in Jackson County, our number is provided as a resource.
Right now, we are only able to offer clothing to these families. In December, we were able to provide Christmas gifts to the children of one family through generous donations from annonymous community members and from GG’s Walkers. It felt so good to be able to provide a good Christmas to a family that otherwise may have had nothing.
However, my hope is to be able to do so much more. I want to provide clothing, bedding, dishes, toys–anything to families facing disasters that can make the healing a little easier. Is it going to be possible to do this? I don’t know. At this time, I don’t see that we have the storage space for all of that. What I do know is that God is in control! He will provide us with donations and space to hold those donations if this is in His plans for us.
One year ago, Bea’s Love Closet was little more than a young boy’s dream. Today it is a ministry that seems almost to have taken on a life of its own.
When we started planning this ministry, I thought we would just be providing coats, hats and gloves to members of the community. I was not even sure how we were going to manage more than just a small handful of families. After all, Cascades Wesleyan Church is a small church and many of our members survive on a fixed. I could not imagine where we would get enough coats to help very many people at all.
Of course, I knew that there were people praying for this ministry every step of the way. God would show us what to do and would provide the means to accomplish His plans.
Looking back, I think I am glad I didn’t know just what God had in mind! Honestly if I’d been told that we would help nearly 200 families and that we would provide not only coats, but shoes, complete outfits, and even bedding, I probably would have run away. I did not expect that Bea’s Love closet would grow so big so fast.
We opened for the first time on August 21. It was a modest opening. I believe only 8 families came through that day. We did get a boost in publicity, though, when John Lund from WILX News 10 came out to do a story on what we had put together. Of course I had to let Andru talk to to the reporter, too. After all, this ministry was his idea. The news story was the lead on the 6 o’clock that evening and also aired twice on Sunday and once the following Monday. That exposure allowed us to reach more people throughout Jackson County than we that we would reach. The need for help was so great that we had to add a second date just to help kids going back to school enough clothing to start the new year.
The clothing that we have had to give away has been very high quality. And it has all come from donations. We received a large donation from GG’s Walkers, a team that takes part in the Jackson Relay for Life every year. These ladies held a yard sale and donate all unsold clothing and shoes to Bea’s Love Closet. We also received the unsold clothing from the annual Hillsdale College rummage sale.
By far, the biggest donation we received came from The Hodge Podge Shop in downtown Jackson. This resale shop specializes in brand name women’s clothing. We have received donations from them twice. And not just a few pieces, either. Each time they made a donation, they gave us enough clothing to fill the bed of a full-size pickup. Every time I opened a bag from them I found myself near tears. There were clothes from petites to plus sizes, all in great shape, some with the original store tags on them. I felt like we had been given a huge blessing.
The generosity of people in the Jackson community has allowed us to help, as I said, nearly 200 families in just five months. Not only that, but we have been able to help two families who lost their homes and all they had in house fires.
Each time we are open, people thank us for the clothing and tell us what a blessing Bea’s Love Closet has been to their families. The truth is, seeing the smiles and gratitude on each face is a blessing to me. I feel honored that God has allowed me to be a part of this.
I can hardly wait to see what He has in store for this ministry in 2011.
Here are a few pictures of the clothes that we have received for Bea’s Love Closet. Special thanks to Karen, Pat, and Rose for helping with the sorting and organizing this week!
This week is the first week that we have had women coming into the church, sorting and organizing clothing for Bea’s Love Closet. Everything it really beginning to come together nicely. Not only do we have a large amount of clothing available for the winter months, but we also have a lot to be able to help out next summer. It feels like God is working hard to do something big here!
If you live in the Jackson, Michigan area, be sure to pick up a copy of the Jackson Citizen Patriot on Monday, August 3. Bea’s Love Closet will be featured in the “Pitching In” column.
This Sunday, we will also be picking up a huge donation from a local resale shop. After speaking with Andrea at The Hodge Podge Shop, this can only be a “God Thing”. They are having a large sale this weekend and were unsure where to donate the items that do not sell. Andrea said that they normally have this figured out weeks in advance of the sale.
The way God is moving in all of this is just amazing. I’ve seen Him work before, but this time, I am really feeling it, too. It’s too awesome for words!
Just a little update on what is happening with Bea’s Love Closet. It’s been a pretty exciting week!!
We have received some very awesome donations this week. Thursday evening, we picked up 4 large bags full of clothing. Most of that was plus-size women’s clothing. I am really excited to have that, as it is not always easy to find plus sizes in a decent price range. That means we will be able to help more people. The more we can help the better! Friday afternoon, we received an email from a group that had organized a yard sale to benefit Relay for Life. They had clothing left over and wanted to donate it for Bea’s Love Closet. I brought ten boxes to my house, and there was still more that I just couldn’t fit into my car. This morning, one of the women organizing that sale brought a van load over. There are about 15 more boxes here now, including at least three that are full of shoes. They had collected clothing of all sizes, from toddler up to adult. There are more plus sizes for women, extended sizes for men, and even some husky sizes for boys. I am overwhelmed by this generosity, almost to the point of tears. Just thinking about all of the people we will be able to help through Bea’s Love Closet this fall humbles me. I can’t help but thank God for all of the good He is going to do through this.
We’ve also received a box full of blankets. That is exciting! We’d like to collect at least 100 blankets, so that we know at least 100 families will be able to stay warm this winter. Some young ladies who enjoy crochet are making some baby blankets for us as well.
This week, the official press release announcing Bea’s Love Closet was sent to various TV and radio stations in the area. We’ve also begun promoting the Closet on some local email message boards. Within 24 hours of the announcements being made, emails starting coming in asking dates and times. It’s good that we will be able to help so many people. At the same time, it is kind of sad that there are so many in this community who need the help.
It looks like the local newspaper is interested in doing a story about Bea’s Love Closet. That is exciting! It will be a great way to get the word out to people who need the help.
Well, back to the sorting. More later!
