We Are Giving Back

The "Pay it Forward" Philosophy is very much the foundation of the Wish Closet. We provide a much needed resource for the community and whenever we can, we try to give back.
Bernadette, one of our longest serving volunteers, does a beautiful job of creating gift bags and gift baskets for our customers for special events - mother's day, father's day, Easter, Valentines Day. Recently, Bernadette has created beautiful gift baskets for our community partners.

Food For Thought

Multiples N More 

Light A Smile

Thank You Bernadette for your creativity and hard work. Thank you Community Partners for supporting the Wish Closet.

Logan's Leadership

In memory of David Fernay, his grandson, Logan, wanted to find something meaningful to do after all of his grandfather's items were donated to the Wish Closet.

Logan attends Ryerson Heights School and he initiated a clothing drive at his school that included other items such as alarm clocks, toiletries and household items.

Today at noon, Logan and two other students from Ryerson Heights (Abby & Tyler) delivered an overflowing pick-up and van load of items Wish Closet.

This is a tremendous act of leadership and kindness. Thank You, Logan for supporting the Wish Closet. You are an amazing young man to think of others in need and to work hard to make a difference for families in our community.

Family Counselling Centre Day Program Visits The Wish Closet

On of our community partnerships is with the Adult Day Program at the Family Counselling Centre. These volunteers come into the Wish Closet to assist and to shop. Volunteering at the Wish Closet allows the Adults to learn important Life Skills. One of these skills is to learn to be proactive citizens in the community and to develop and strengthen social relationships.

The opportunity to volunteer at the Wish Closet allows the Adults to give back to the community in a productive and meaningful way.

The Adults get to experience the caring attitude, strong work ethic and friendly smiles of the staff who volunteer there. As well, the Adults and indeed everyone who enters the Wish Closet discovers that it is a welcoming place that accepts people, without judgment.

We Are Ready for Easter

One of the lovely things about the Wish Closet is that not only do we prepare for seasonal changes, we also prepare for holidays and special days like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day. In the week leading up to any of these special days, we run a raffle for beautiful gift baskets that have been lovingly prepared by our volunteer, Bernadette.

And inside the Wish Closet, we have decorations and gift ideas that are holiday themed as well.

Operation Cinderella

One of the little known secrets of the Wish Closet is what the volunteers call "Operation Cinderella" This is a collection of clothes that have been set aside for special occasions. This can be grade 8 grad, grade 12 grad, a wedding, a church event, a job interview or any other special event that requires fancier clothing. The items in this collection are kept separate from the Wish Closet, so if you are in need, please speak to one of the volunteers on duty.

 Operation Cinderella is for fellas, too. We have a selection  of suits, dress shirts, dress shoes and ties.

Not only do we have a selection of dresses, we also have dress shoes, pantyhose, bras and underwear.

Cooking Class

On Monday night, not only was the Wish Closet a beehive of activity with shoppers looking for summer clothing (in March!), but the Community Room across the hall was buzzing with activity as well.

In partnership with Grand River Health, Community Food Advisors were on hand to teach kids and adults alike how to prepare healthy snacks with seasonal foods. Seasonal foods are not only healthy, they are in abundance and often inexpensive to boot.

 This is a pineapple carrot cake which has been cut into pieces and formed to make a bunny. This young man is diligently adding the icing as he prepares to create his Easter dessert masterpiece

Its starting to look more like a bunny now!

And these young ladies are making fresh fruit kabobs with bananas, strawberries and apple pieces.

These fruit kabobs are a great after school or after activity snack. They are great by themselves or dipped in vanilla yogurt.

The "Dungeon" Gets a Makeover

Most people are not aware of our large storage room. We affectionately call this teh "Dungeon" It is the room where all of the donations go to be sorted and stored so that we have enough new items every week for our shoppers.

This past school year, we have had a big problem with flooding. As a result, Betty's husband offered to help make the Dungeon more functional and worked to make storage and sorting space that was off the ground and  less susceptible to flooding damage. The make over also means a tidier room which makes it easier for volunteers to find special request items as they come in.

Cleaning up the dust and getting the space ready for a makeover

Labelling the work areas

Creating shelves for storage 

Building cabinets

A new sorting table

Thank you Mr Finley for your work behind the scenes to create a functional workspace and for helping to clean up the Dungeon.

Thank you Audra for your continued dedication of hours and hours of sorting in the Dungeon. You are a powerhouse and your organizational skills keep us in great shape for our shoppers each week.

You are both Angels.

We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by assisting one another.  ~Luciano de Crescenzo