I've told you before about the free-clothing ministry, The Shepherd's Loft, which our church operates.One might think that finding enough donated clothing items would be a problem for an ongoing ministry like this. That has not been our experience.
Many of our customers donate clothing when they are finished with it. Those of us who volunteer in the Loft and others who attend our church donate used clothing. There are even several consignment shops in the area which give us their items that didn't sell.
The other day boxed donations arrived in this trailer. LOTS of boxed donations.
"All hands on deck" to help unload the truck - - - even pastor, on the right.
This gal was busy shopping in the Loft, but she stopped the shopping long enough to be a BIG help.
The boxes just kept pouring in.
Some of us began trying to organize them out of the path of incoming traffic.Some of us "worked" the camera.
When the entire load was brought in, we had a HUGE pile of boxes in the middle of our Loft work space - - -
Another pile on the left side of the back entryway hall,
Another pile on the right side of the back entryway hall - - -
And one last long pile going all the way down to the pastor's office door!We have since moved all these boxes to less visible storage places and begun the long process of sorting through them and putting the clothes out for our customers.
It is a "good problem" to have our storage "bins" so full - - - but we don't want to be like the farmer in the parable who built bigger barns to store his crops only to have the Lord say to him, "Thou fool, tonight thy soul will be required of thee."
We are praying to find creative ways to share this bounty even with clothing ministries similar to ours but as far away as Texas.
20 comments:
Very cool! Good choice being the camera person :)
I am so glad that people are still so willing to give, and that people like you are there to help. Happy SIMC, have a great week :-)
Wow, that is awesome - what a blessing!!
That is amazing. Your community is very generous.
The Lord always provides and your overflow is shared with other clothing ministries...How wonderful...
Love from NC
How nice to get so many donations.
That is a wonderful blessing. I know it is hard work but the sorting must be fun, seeing what new items have arrived.
That´s great, people can be so generous! :-)
Oh, there´s plenty of good and healthy stuff in the Smörgåstårta - but there´s also a lot of mayo which is the sinful part..! :-)
Always important to be appreciative with an eye to the future. How wonderful of the generous people of you community.
I am AMAZED at the generosity! Your community rocks!
Wow, what a challenge! But a good one. I hope it's lots of good stuff for your shop and others.
Talk about the Lord's work. You're an angel.
xoRobyn
I do that at my place too. I know the problem of abundance - and as you said, it hurts the heart to see stuff that have no life left in them. We have an organization that takes just about anything and gets it over to the rural areas, so every bit of cloth helps, even if it is torn. The women there convert them into cloth pads for use during that time of the month. It is supposed to bring them some income.
The contributions we receive are nowhere as neat as this Keetha! God bless you, Angel. I love what you're doing!
good job :)
You're doing important job, well done!
We have already too much. Everything.
(For me shopping as a main hobby is totally strange way of spending time...)
Have a good week ahead!
What a great project. Perhaps you can combine the clothes distribution with local food pantries.
I SO want to know what is in all those boxes! I also zipped on over to that Quiet Star place and now I am ready to go to Wisconsin! It is one of the few states we haven't visited!
That's great Keetha!
It's so wonderful you do that, so many that need it right now.
If you get a chance come see my post!
We found this very cool place about 25 miles outside of Rapids towards Waupaca, worth a trip!
Hugs,
Cindy
Wonderful "problem" to have.
This is so awesome!!! Our church needs to do something like this. You know, working the camera is hard to do. Way harder then lifting boxes. Someone has to take the pictures. :)
~~~~~~~~~
Forgive me for taking so long to stop by. . .I have had some kind of creeping crud ~ cough, cough, sniff** I just didn't feel like playing on the computer. . .
- It's a good thing I didn't die. :)
xoxo
This is a kind way to really make a difference. I know there are clothing closets where anyone can come in and get free clothing - or, to facilitate your need-based cloting ministry, you could say $5 and you can come in and have whatever you'd like. Then use the $ for the ministry. Good luck with this "good problem to have!"
Hugs and blessings, Beth
Post a Comment