Treehouse

Yesterday my Teamworks team volunteered at the Treehouse Wearhouse. I haven't spent a lot of time around the fostercare system, so what I know about it is what I've read or seen the movies and TV depict it.

The simple fact, as you can see from the link above, is that the state only provides a $100 clothing voucher per child, per year. Let's face it - that doesn't get you very far, especially when you're growing. So kids are able to come to the Wearhouse 5 times a year and get items on their "shopping list."

Only 5 of us showed, which was a nice number. Our first task was to sort through donated items. We were looking for the cream of the crop. No stains, holes, pilling, etc. And we also were able to discern what kids might find fashionable or not. The things that were rejected go on to Goodwill. We sorted through some really nice, lightly worn, brand-name stuff.

The second task was to label items that had been sorted. We were given those little tag guns (like this). There was something satisfying about going through each item, giving it one final nod of approval (or tossing it if it just wasn't "cool" enough) and then placing the tag on it.

I think Treehouse seems like a really great organization and the kind of place I look forward to going back to.