Good Works

My parents were Ward Missionaries when I started YW.  There were a lot of families in the area who were struggling to purchase church clothes as their kids (and husbands) outgrew them. Several people had approached my Mom with offers to donate used church clothing (and other clothing) to new-member families and investigators. Some people had clothes they wanted to share, but didn't know how (or who could use the sizes of clothing they had to offer). Someone even suggested holding a ward clothing swap, but soon my parents were released and nothing came of it.

I decided to hold the clothing swap on my own for my "Good Works" Value Project. It was hard, but rewarding for me and everyone who participated.

Some of my responsibilities were:

•  Getting the activity approved by the Bishop (since it was a ward-activity)

• Reserve the building

• Making the hand-outs and posters

• Announcing the activity at church and at mutual

• Advertising by email, etc

• Personally arranging for people to donate clothes

• Making signs for inside the GYM (stating the "rules")

• Arranging the tables and organizing the clothes by type/size

• Training and organizing volunteers (we had a multiple people offer to help)

• Secure a place to put the extra clothes that didn't get taken until they could be transported to D.I., and transfer them there

Here some things that needed to be addressed:

THE RULES: Many people were concerned by the term "SWAP" because they thought it meant that clothes needed to be traded or bargained for, I was careful to explain to everyone that there would be no trading or bargaining. All clothes would be free to whoever wanted them (first come first serve) and everyone could take as many items of clothing as they needed. I made a big poster with "the rules" and posted them up in the cultural hall during the swap (see photo above). The main thing I was worried about was people fighting over things, but I didn't have any problems with that.

I allowed a 1/2 hour for set-up and 1 hour for swapping (drop-off was from 830-9am and the swap was from 9am-10am). We asked people to come with their clothes pre-sorted into mens, womens, kids, and baby.

VOLUNTEERS: I had several people volunteer to help (including those people who had originally suggested the swap) and my parents and grandparents came to help as well. I made signs that said "volunteer" for them to wear so that people would know who they could ask for help. I had one person at the door, directing people where they could put their clothes between 830-9am and handing out shopping bags between 9-10am for the swap. Some people were still bringing clothes after 9am, so they were directed where their clothes should go.

Photo of my grandpa at the end of the swap, wearing all the volunteer signs

PROBLEMS: As soon as the swap was announced, people wanted to know if they could bring clothes to store at the church or at my home. I had to be firm and say no - clothes could be brought to the church at the designated time on swap day only. One person brought 10 garbage bags of clothes and left them outside the church 2 weeks before the swap (and called to tell me afterward). This caused a considerable problem and it took a lot of work to get it resolved.

The only other problem was that people wanted to donated non-clothing items. I chose to accept only clothes because I was concerned about storing an excessive amount of items for the next 2 weeks until the DI truck came to town. I didn't get a lot of non-clothing items at the actual swap, but I did get a lot of inquiries about it beforehand.