This is a guest post from the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) St. Paul Chapter.
Transform the unwanted clothing eating up room in your closet into something of value for your community. How? It’s easy!
The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) St. Paul collects gently used unwanted clothing from donors who want to make a difference. In partnership with local area consignment shops, the tax deductible profits and proceeds of your donated clothing become dollars that fund new and long-standing NCJW St. Paul community service projects.
It’s super easy to help support these efforts!! Just gather up your up-to-date, gently-worn freshly laundered (or dry-cleaned) fall/winter designer/mall brand men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, jewelry and purses. Call NCJW member Pamela Sulmer at 612-386-1409 to arrange for drop-off or pick-up. Note: Clothing, including, jeans & T-shirts, must be pressed and on hangers
Fashion Cents, modeled after a similar program run by the Minneapolis section of NCJW, was started in 2009. Since then, it has raised more than $3,200. According to former NCJW St. Paul president Stephanie Levine, Fashion Cents works exclusively with local consignment shops Elite Repeat and Encore. “They have been wonderful to work with,” she said.
Another former NCJW St. Paul president, Jacy Grais, also supports the program. “Fashion Cents is a win for everyone involved,” she said. “I donate clothing that I no longer wear and NCJW receives a portion of the consignment shop sale price. So I am supporting NCJW, cleaning my closet, getting a tax deduction, and helping the local economy by providing merchandise for the consignment shop. I feel good about all of those things!”
Founded in 1893 by Hannah G. Solomon, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is the oldest national Jewish women’s volunteer organization in America. The St. Paul Chapter sponsors many social service initiatives locally, including Neighborhood Take-Out (bringing nutritional training to immigrant women) and Reader2Reader (literacy skills initiatiave) and advocates for many issues benefiting women and children at the state and local level.
The National Council of Jewish Women, St. Paul (NCJW) became a charter member of the organization in the late 19th century, providing training, education, and shelter for young immigrant women, advocating for child labor laws, arranging childcare for immigrant families and supplying services to help the disadvantaged. Through its community service projects, NCJW St. Paul continues to focuses on social need. Through its long-standing relationships with community partners, NCJW St. Paul’s past projects have included:
- Shalom Outreach Services (now Jewish Domestic Abuse Collaborative), addressing domestic abuse in the Jewish community;
- McKinley Pre-School Project, supported and influenced the development of Head Start in St. Paul;
- Counselors Aide Program at Mechanics Arts High School, which established a guidance & career resource center
- TLC – Teaching Language Communications, taught newly arrived Hmong children the English language);
- Children Are People, a drug education program that focused on improving the self-image of elementary school children;
- The Holocaust Project, which advocated for tolerance and the value of diversity in St. Paul public school students
- For Our Daughters, a Breast Cancer Awareness series produced with United Hospitals and the St. Paul J.C.C.;
- Ready-Set-Grow, which provided education and instilled self-esteem in 3-5 year olds;
- Teaching Tolerance, (in cooperation with the Southern Poverty Law Center) since adopted as the statewide education program Tolerance Minnesota;
- Girls on the Move, which gave 3rd & 4th grade girls skills, tools, and information in order to develop positive self-esteem;
- Luggage for Freedom, which provided new and gently used luggage to those needing to reside in battered women’s shelters;
- Backpack to School (originally Stuff for School) provides backpacks with school supplies to children in St. Paul schools, now a 3M service project; and
- The Children’s Healing Arts Initiative, which engaged children with physical and mental challenges in creating prominently displayed creative works of art.
(Photo: Lix – Perspicacious.org)
