“For quite a whole I watched our amazing community drop off items for homeless youth that would fit into our clothing closet,” said HOPE 4 Youth president and CEO Lisa Jacobson. “Except a lot of times they were items that homeless youth didn’t want or need – high heeled shoes, fancy dresses.”
Lisa and her team had always worked to find new homes for the items the youth couldn’t use, sending them to the Salvation Army or other places that could use them, but decided they could do even more.
“And I just knew that we needed to take those great items and turn them into good from our program,” said Jacobson.
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So, in Champlin, Hope 4 Youth opened Hope’s Closet. It’s a resale boutique that sells new and gently used clothing to support Hope 4 Youth.
In its first year, hope’s closet profited $150,000, which is enough to cover nearly 1/10 of the charity’s annual needs. All of the time and effort put into the store is done on a volunteer basis.
The group of volunteers keeps the store open nearly 40 hours every week, making sure everything on the racks in is great condition, while also making sure everyone who shops there understands who they are helping.
