Last year we received a donation of $1400 from volunteer Elle Morton with a note reading “Since Hephzibah has been unable to hold the kids resale event, I sold my kids’ used clothes from the past 2 years and am donating the proceeds. Thank you for all that you do for the community!”
As you can imagine, our staff is impressed and appreciative of the effort that went into this donation.
Wanting to know more about the mom behind this creative form of philanthropy, we got in touch.
Q: Thank you again for your generous donation to Hephzibah. What made you think of selling your kids clothes and donating the proceeds?
A: The pandemic has forced Hephzibah to cancel the kids resale event for 2 full years, I’ve really missed volunteering my time on the resale event and being connected with Hephzibah and our team contacts during these 2 years.
Not only that, but I usually pass along my kids’ outgrown clothing through the resale event, so for the past 2 years it’s all been accumulating in my basement. I have 3 growing children with different styles, so I have heavily shopped past resale events, plus I usually buy my kids a few new items each season (too many if I’m being honest!). Additionally, I have some wonderfully generous neighbors who pass along their hand-me-downs, knowing that whatever we don’t use (or use gently) will end up being sold at the resale event to benefit Hephzibah.
So, you can probably imagine that my storage room was teeming with clothing by fall 2021. With the uncertainty of when Hephzibah will be able to hold the next in-person resale event, I decided to see if I could sell most of it on my own and make an equivalent monetary donation to Hephzibah, both to provide some vital funding to this beloved organization during a difficult time, and to reclaim my basement storage space.
Q: How did you go about finding buyers?
A: We have a very active online resale community in Oak Park, so I was able to mostly sell items through the local resale group on Facebook. For about a month, I set aside 1-2 days/week to organize, photograph, and list bundles of items, and I had a lot of success selling that way. I also have a few friends/contacts I had made through past resale events with kids younger than mine who I knew might be looking for clothes.
Q: There are so many organizations doing good work in the community. What inspires you to focus on Hephzibah?
A: As I had mentioned, I am on the team of volunteers who manage the Hephzibah Kids Resale Event, so I’ve been helping to fundraise for Hephzibah through the resale event for many years. I love supporting Hephzibah because they do such valuable and important work in our community, and I am passionate about supporting kids and families. The team at Hephzibah has always been an absolute pleasure to work with. The staff are incredibly warm, and I have always felt very valued as a volunteer there.
The Hephzibah Kids Resale Event was previously run for decades by Parenthesis Family Center until Hephzibah took it over in 2017. In past years there would be a fall and spring sale at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Forest Park. For families with growing children, this is considered at can’t-miss event. We will not know for several week if we are able to host the spring sale. We hope to share an update in late March.
Elle is just one of our many powerhouse volunteers who plan and organize the kids resale event. To volunteer to help with the eventual kids resale event or to get on the mailing list for news about it, contact Volunteer and Community Relations Manager Ky Stevenson at kstevenson@www.hephzibahhome.org.
If you have your own creative idea for raising funds for Hephzibah, consider using Just Giving, an online platform that can support your own fundraising efforts.