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

Teen Parenting Group Visits the Wish Closet Once Again

This was another busy night at the Wish Closet with 38 visitors, including 10 teen parents. The teens are part of the Teen Parenting program that comes twice a year to the Wish Closet to shop for their children. We time these visit to coincide with the very large, very generous, always welcome donation from the Multiples N More group following their semi annual garage sales. This is a wonderful partnership between the two groups. This time, Paula from Multiples N More came to the Wish Closet to assist and to see first hand how appreciative the young parents are. She said she was most surprised by how discerning the parents were in choosing for their children.

Paula (right) from the Multiples N More group came to assist our volunteers ) sort items for the teen parents. She is seen here with Audra who is organizing the "big ticket items" like toys, car seats, strollers and exersaucers for the teen parents.

Kaitlyn is busy sorting clothing items

Natalie works to sort the boys clothing (some proud papa is sure to take that TML shirt for his little fan!) 

We were also greatly blessed by a special donation of hand crocheted baby blankets courtesy of the Calbeck Crafters for this special visit to the Wish Closet.   

The Good Food Box were kind enough to once again donate a Good Food Box which was given as a draw prize to the teen parents. This is another gift that is gratefully received and the recipients are always delighted that they are able to save on purchasing the Good Food Box which then frees up their limited resources to allow for other necessities to be purchased. 

And to let our young moms know how much we appreciate them and to let them know how special they are, our amazing volunteers work hard to put together gift bags for all of the young moms who come to shop on Teen Parent Night. These gift bags are always well received and the moms leave feeling like it is Mother's Day all over again.

Thank you to the amazing volunteers at the Wish Closet for making this night so special. Thank you to the Multiples n More Group for your generosity in assisting these young parents with your generous donations. Thank you to the Calbeck Crafters for your gifts of love wrapped into handmade blankets. Thank you to the Teen Parenting Group for allowing us to host you and to be able to provide this special night for you. 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.  ~Margaret Meade

October is the Month for Harvest and for Thanksgiving

The Wish Closet has been the lucky recipient of two wonderful harvests this month, and we are truly thankful. The first event that we received a donation from was the Shop Til You Drop event at the Polish Hall on October 13. This is the second annual Shop Til You Drop and the organizers use this opportunity to fundraise for the Food Bank. Betty Finley was fortunate enough to get a call to see if the Wish Closet would like to be given the clothing items that didn’t sell. What a wonderful gift for the customers at the Wish Closet. Armed with garbage bags, 3 Wish Closet Volunteers set to work to gather a variety of items like belts, shoes, purses, sweaters, prom/graduation dresses, plus size clothing and work wear for woman returning to the work force.

Nine garbage bags filled with wonderful items were returned to the storage area of the Wish Closet that night. We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Cathy Bohemier for offering these items to the Wish Closet so that others in the community can benefit.

Then, following the Multiples N More garage sale at the Civic Centre on October 22, the Wish Closet was able to once again receive donations of much needed baby items. This is  a very special partnership for the Wish Closet. All of these items are saved for a very special night when a teen parenting group comes to shop for their babes. This opportunity allows them to get clothing, toys, bedding, furniture and many other things that these parents struggle to provide. Freeing up the money for these items allows the teens to make other important purchases like laundry soap, cleaning supplies and other expensive items that often get left because there is only so much money to go around.

Look for the blog post after November 7^th when this very special group comes to the Wish Closet for their fall shopping.

Saturday’s donations included 10 bags of various clothing, shoes, boots, toys, books, a swing and bedding. It required 2 vehicles to haul away all of the wonderful donations for storage at the Wish Closet.

Thank You once again to the amazing moms of the Multiples N More group.

It's Cool to Be Kind - Meet the Wish Closet's Great Kid

When the nominations opened this year for the Expositor's Great Kids Contest, Wish Closet Creator Betty Finley knew just who to nominate.
Christopher began volunteering on Monday nights when the Wish Closet first opened in September 2007.

He would get picked up from school at 3pm to be "on deck" at the Wish Closet at 3:30. He would sign out at school and always gave his reason for leaving as "going to work" In the four plus years that Christopher volunteered, he carried donations in and out of the Wish Closet, assisted at pick ups from Winners and from the Multiples and More garage sales.

Christopher helped to sort, fill special requests, keep little visitors entertained, broke down boxes and made sure visitors signed in each week.

Christopher continues to keep the statistics of our monthly visitors. At the end of each shift, Christopher would sweep up and spray the room to keep it fresh for the next group of visitors.

When Christopher decided to retire from Monday nights and to continue to help out "behind the scenes", Betty wrote to the Toronto Rock, Christopher's favourite lacrosse team to ask for a special prize for him. He was thrilled to learn that he won 2 free tickets to any game he wants in the 2012 season.

But, Betty wasn't finished yet. She also nominated Christopher for the Great Kids contest through the Expositor. Christopher found out in early August that he had made it as a finalist. His category (Cool to be kind, ages 6 - 12) was the most popular category with the most number of kids being nominated. Making it as a finalist meant Christopher was in the top four. Quite an honour for any kid.

Our table with the Kid of Honour

A thank you and congratulations to all of the nominees from Phil McColeman

Christopher's story is shared with the audience

Our nominee listens to his story

The Wish Closet's Great Kid wins in his category of Cool To Be Kind and celebrates by sharing his spotlight with his nominator, Betty Finley.

Christopher's story will be featured in the Brantford Expositor on Thursday, October 20th along with the other nominees.

As a winner, Christopher received a $500 RESP from RBC, certificates of congratulations from both Phil McColeman and Dave Levac, a gift certificate for Chapters, Cineplex and Wendy's as well as a gift card from the Oh Canada, Eh dinner show in Niagara Falls (which just happens to be one of Christopher's favourite places!)

But best of all, he gets acknowledged for all of his dedication, his caring heart and his years of service to others. Thank you, Betty, for nominating  Christopher. Thank you to the judges for believing in him. And CONGRATULATIONS, Christopher. You ARE a GREAT Kid!