I was naked and you clothed me…
Ask any organization who has a clothes ministry and they will tell you that managing the clothes is one of the most difficult aspects of their work. Providing clothes requires a tremendous amount of dedicated space to store and then display them and a multitude of volunteers to keep them organized. And since the clothes are always coming in and going out, the job is never done!
Impact’s clothes ministry is managed by our Resource Center and along with everything else the Resource Center does has grown tremendously since Hurricane Harvey. It has taken some time to create a system where they can be managed, but the unsorted clothes are now stored in a small room in our Resource Center, sorted (hopefully) on Monday by some dedicated volunteers and the men of our Life House, put in a 40-ft container on campus until they are needed, and then finally taken to the display area where our Resource Center clients can shop for them on our regular distribution times of Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening.
There are many people who are instrumental to this process, (including those of you who regularly donate clothes to us – thank you!), but none more than Perla Martinez, who has been the chef for our daily homeless meal for years but has also taken on the job of organizing the clothes room.
One recent milestone has also been the dedication of a permanent space for the ministry – ever since the hurricane our Children’s ministry has graciously allowed us to use one of their large double rooms but we are now pleased to permanently house them in a portable building on campus. This will allow us to continue to offer clothes year-round and also be more available to help the homeless population or others who are in need of immediate help with clothing.
Managing a clothes ministry can be a pain – but we think it’s worth it! And we’re so grateful that God has called us to this ministry of ‘clothing the naked’ and also provided us the means to do so.
– Patrick Lemmons
