Have you ever looked at your closet and thought how you just don’t have enough room? Maybe it is so full of clothes that you can’t imagine how you will add one more piece? Well, now imagine a closet like that but for 400 people!
That’s kind of like what our Resource Centre is for our shelter guests.
Our Resource Centre is the hub of all donations for The Mustard Seed, here they get delivered, sorted at, and then brought to our shelters.
Every item that comes through our doors is checked for cleanliness, sized, packed up and labelled for distribution by staff and volunteers. Then, our Calgary shelters can order what they need or are running low on, and drivers will deliver your donations to the shelters that ordered them. It is from here that our shelters hand out the items to our guests.
However, it is more than just our shelters that utilize these donations. Our Community Impact Centres take extra donations for things like our employment program where we help clients find and start work. This might include work boots, work clothes, steel toes, or dress clothes. Also, more unique donations like sports gear or musical instruments are used for our youth programing.
Our Resource Centre is much like a closet for every one of our guests in Calgary. Every piece of clothing and hygiene item our guests might need is stored in our warehouse. That’s essential items for 400 people!
This past year, our drivers have moved about 185,829 lbs. of clothing donations from our Resource Centre to our shelters. With food donations included, we have moved approximately 200,000 lbs. of donations. That is equivalent to the weight of one blue whale!
I’m betting you can’t fit a blue whale in your closet.
Speaking of your stuffed closet, as the season begins to change, we are looking for winter clothing donations. Please check out our list of urgently needed items here and consider donating today.
