PACE clothing give away

A week ago Friday I joined my friend, Terri, and her sister, Gayle, over at church to sort and fold clothes which Terri had hauled from her office. I didn't know they were going to do this and was happy to be part of the fun. I can sort and fold clothes to beat the band and do enjoy doing it for the girls. There was much much more clothing coming from the PACE Center which Terri would get help moving on Wednesday. 

This past Thursday Terri and the gang had gotten everything hauled from the back classroom where it was stored to the Fellowship Hall at church where we began in earnest with more sorting and folding. Besides the ATT Pioneers volunteers, Gayle, plus Janet B., from our congregation, came to help. When we had the room all set up Michael came in from the classroom and took our photo. 

 On Friday morning, we were ready for the girls from PACE to come and do their 'shopping'. I was privileged to help this young lady with her selections. The number of items they get to take is based upon an earned point system in the school year. Two young ladies had acquired enough points to get 50 items! They get to choose from the hanging clothes, folded items, purses, lingerie, sleepwear, and even shoes. 

 The girls were transported by their own PACE vans from their school to our church, about 12 at a time. Terri's group is quite organized with the way things are handled for the selections and bagged up. This is important since they are under a time crunch. I thought of Supermarket Sweepstakes where folks run through the aisles of the grocery store and throw stuff into the shopping cart to beat the clock. 

 Here's some of the room all done up and ready to be dug through. In between the visits from the girls we'd have about 45 minutes during which time we'd restack the clothes which had been rummaged through, locate empty hangers in the racks (the hangers were very nicely placed in boxes for the next event) and we'd move some stuff around on the racks to make them easier to see. Some of the groups had quiet girls while others had more excitement. I'm sure it's a bit overwhelming especially for some of the girls who come from less than ideal circumstances or from poverty. At the end of the shopping, I was completely worn out and excused myself while the ladies set about packing up. Terri had to be sure the Fellowship Hall was turned around and ready for Bible study on Sunday morning. She reported to me that she had done just that. 

Thankfully they could wheel some of the racks to the back classroom where they can be gone through again before being packed up for the next time. I look forward to helping with that next week, I'm sure!