When you donate clothes, you often don’t find out where they end up or who they end up helping. Leon Harris introduces a Northern Virginia organization that gives a name and story to every person receiving a donated piece of clothing.
A nonprofit in Northern Virginia helps the community by providing quality clothing to women and their children for free.
At Women Giving Back in Loudoun County, you’ll find dresses, shoes, purses and some incredible stories of resilience.
“I struggled with 17-year drug addiction and I was pregnant with my twins and I was tired of being tired and I ended up out here in a shelter and in turn from the shelter, I ended here in Women Giving Back,” Michoale Lewis said.
Her twins were 3 weeks old when she went to Women Giving Back.
“When I first walked through the door I was broken,” she said.
Even though many women who go there find themselves broken, the volunteers are ready to build them back up
“We understand what clothing means, what it matters, how it can empower you and make you feel better,” Cyndi Shanahan said.
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Case workers refer clients to the organization, which is staffed entirely of volunteers.
“Helping women to look for clothes for jobs, for their careers, for their lives, for their families,” volunteer Rebecca Geller said. “A lot of these are women who’ve been survivors of domestic violence.”
The organization is about women helping women set each other up for success in their careers and in life.
“We oftentimes forget that outfits and professional clothing does not come naturally for someone,” Geller said.
Mothers can also pick up clothes and toys for their kids.
“It just frees their mind to be able to go find a job and go take care of housing and the other things that they need to do that are really important to get themselves on track,” Shanahan said.
Now Lewis volunteers for the organization. She said it was a divine intervention in her life.
“For me it was everything,” she said. “Women Giving Back is part of my current foundation. They stuck with me.”
Reported by Leon Harris, produced by Michelle Montgomery and edited by Scott Eisenhuth.
