During our time spent at New Circles, we were positioned in their GLOW (Gently Loved Outfits to Wear) clothing bank. It is set up much like a retail store, in which clients are able to browse, try on items and generally just feel as if they are engaging in a shopping experience (as opposed to arriving to collect donations). As a volunteer, I was stationed in the women’s department. I asked specifically to be in this area, as my current job is in a specialty women’s boutique, so I felt that I would be able to apply the skills I already possess into this volunteer position in order to best serve clients. My main duties were surrounding the maintenance of the selling space, including cleaning up after clients, keeping the clothing racks organized and easy to shop and looking neat. I was also able to dress mannequins with pieces that they had on the floor. This further emphasized the retail atmosphere and introduced a level of fashion and styling into the sales floor. Most of the emphasis was placed on helping clients find pieces that suited their needs. This was the most eye-opening and engaging part of the entire experience. I was able to use my previous experience in retail sales and directly apply it to the clients I was helping. The biggest difference between my regular sales job, and volunteering at a clothing bank was the fact that there was no ‘sale’, this allowed me to focus all of my skills on becoming a problem solver for the women I was helping and really take the time to understand them and provide the best help I could at GLOW. The women I helped were all completely unique and each one presented their own needs to be filled by the clothing. One woman needed clothing for an interview, so I helped her find a blazer and a blouse that reflected the level of professionalism that she was looking for. Another needed church appropriate clothes for her and her daughter, both of which were extremely open-minded and asked for fashion advice, they definitely did not shy away from colours or unconventional pieces!
The client service aspect of GLOW was, for me, the most enlightening part in terms of New Circle’s mission. The variety of shoppers in the store highlight the fact that those in need do not fit into one category or demographic. During our volunteer orientation, our coordinator highlighted the fact that many newcomers to Canada are not equipped to handle our notoriously harsh winters and thus comes their ever-growing demand for practical and warm winter clothing. As I worked in GLOW and served clients, I saw that many of the clients were not native English speakers. This presented as a challenge, as I (and many other volunteers) don’t speak the languages that were the client’s native tongue, the language barrier making it slightly harder to identify and thus meet their needs. This opened my eyes to the level of patience and understanding about the experience of what it must be like to migrate into Canada. As someone who was born in Canada, this especially taught me the virtue of patience and the ability to empathize with the struggles that a newcomer would go through. Things that I certainly take advantage of (being prepared for cold weather, speaking our national language and being fluent in my home’s customs) are something that is not second nature to everyone, and is a huge adjustment for anyone migrating to a new country.
On a separate volunteer day, I was able to work in the back of GLOW. The behind-the-scenes operation consisted of filtering through donations and organizing them in terms of condition, size, category and season. During my 3 hours there, we probably went through about 2 massive bins of donations. While this may sound impressive- it didn’t even make a dent in the amount of clothing they had to go through. It was fantastic to see their overflowing donation room and fulfilling to see that so many people wanted to contribute to their cause! It was there that I learned, women’s and baby clothes were of absolutely no shortage! But men’s and children’s items were showing a high demand with not nearly as many donations. As well, many of the donations that we sorted through had to be placed in their summer category, meaning that those would not be useful until next year. This presents a problem for a non-profit, as they have a finite amount of space to store the donations. Especially since they rely on mostly volunteers I can imagine that the pieces could easily go missing or simply be forgotten about over the year. As well, it takes longer for volunteers to go through the pieces in order to find the winter clothing that their clients need NOW. Especially since our temperatures have dropped so quickly and summer items will not be of use to anybody for another six months. 
Additionally, the number of donations that New circles receives gave me somewhat of a comforting reminder that without the charity service there to accept the massive amounts of donations, they most likely would have ended up in a landfill. The clothing industry accounts for a huge amount of pollution and waste, so giving used clothing a second life is not only an incredible choice for environmental purposes, but helps someone who could really need it.
To put it into perspective, a growing child can use a winter coat for probably one or two years before they outgrow it. If the family were to throw that coat into the trash after their child outgrew it, they could potentially go through about 15-16 coats until the child stop’s growing. The idea of throwing all that polyester, down filling, cotton lining, plastic shells and metal hardware into a landfill that would never break it down and ultimately it would contribute to climate change is repulsive and scary. Now, if the family donates each of these coats after they cannot be used by the initial child anymore, not only are they keeping a child in need warm, but now the coat gets a new life, saving another coat from being produced and manufactured to replace the one that went into the trash, and ultimately saving resources, water and all the pollution that comes with its life cycle.
There are so many reasons why New Circles is an incredible Charity; between GLOW, their skills training programs and their settlement support. But my volunteer experience there made me think more critically about the value and the life cycle of our clothing, and exactly how some discarded clothing and a few hours of your time could impact someone in need.
To learn more about Kelly, click here to read her Introduction post!
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