The public survey was divided into 4 sections & looked like this:
By Wednesday we had received a decent amount of responses & attempted to tabulate & begin our graphic tabulation.
Sorting water-, shelter-, food-, support-, & clothing-related responses
Sketches for an infographic-esque tabulation
Completed tabulation
Kayleigh also emailed Our Closet the interview questions I had come up for them last class. The following is our email interview with Anisha Sinha, program director at Our Closet.
Our Closet is a volunteer-driven organization that provides clothing to vulnerable Philadelphians and their families free of charge by way of operating pop-up shops throughout the city, in partnership with community-based service providers. Our pop-up shops are set up to simulate a true shopping experience that one might have at any other store; the only difference is that our items are all free of charge. We have no eligibility requirements, and no referrals are needed to access our services. Our goal is provide this service to people in a dignified manner so that the shoppers in our pop-up stores can meet a basic need and receive clothing with respect and pride. Since it’s founding, Our Closet has distributed more than 30,000 articles of clothing to more than 7,000 shoppers in the city.
Your website says you "provide clothing in [a] dignified manner..." Can you elaborate Walk me though a shopping experience at Our closet. The dignified shopping experience is what we feel really differentiates us from other free-clothing providers in the city. Although the clothing we distribute is free of charge, we want it to feel as much like walking into any other store. We set up the shop to mimic retail facilities, with hanging racks, a checkout counter, mirrors, and tables to display clothing. While each shopper comes in with a unique set of needs, each person can expect to be greeted warmly by a volunteer, offered assistance while shopping, and receive individualized attention from volunteers in the shop. Our volunteers ask shoppers questions to get a better idea of what they are looking for to help locate items that might work and put together outfits that our shoppers can feel confident and excited in. During “check out”, volunteers collect some basic demographic information from our shoppers while folding items into shopping bags, to complete the experience. These small, one-on-one touches help create a warm, welcoming, and dignified environment for shoppers.
Where do your shoppers come from? Do you serve only the West Philadelphia community? Do you get andy clients from across the river/travel further?
Our two current pop-up shops are located in West Philadelphia, though we actually see shoppers come in from a number of different neighborhoods in the city. One of our main goals is to eliminate a lot of the red-tape that community members often struggle to navigate when trying to meet a basic need, so we do not have any eligibility requirements for our shoppers. This means that really anyone in need of services is welcome to come to our shops, and we do see a good number of people that hear about our work and travel to West Philadelphia to receive clothing. In the future, as we grow, we would like to take our pop-ups to more neighborhoods in the city so community members do not have to travel to receive services.
How does clothing change a person's attitude and life? Any particular stories you'd like to share? Clothing really plays such an interesting role in how we are viewed by others, and more importantly, how we view ourselves. In thinking about our own closets, there are certain articles of clothing that we just feel great in, and that translates to feeling and exuding confidence when we wear these items. For many of our shoppers, who are struggling to make ends meet as it is, feeling confident and excited about a new outfit, accessory, or pair of shoes, can really make a difference as they work towards achieving other goals. They might feel more confident walking into a job interview or to work; it may inspire them to put themselves out there in a way that they hadn’t previously; or, it might simply just meet one basic need, so that they can better focus their energy and resources on other things, like housing stability or paying utility bills.One other interesting component of our work is that the clothing we do distribute is fully donated, and many of our clothing donors actually volunteer in the store itself. We all have ties to certain articles of clothing – our first suit, our favorite pair of jeans, a piece of jewelry that makes us feel special – and when we begin to outgrow these items, it is often hard to part with them given the memories. However, when these items are recycled and bring a similar level of excitement to someone new, that experience can be equally transformative for a donor or volunteer. One of our favorite stories:Aaron first came to Our Closet in the fall of 2012 while living in a nearby men’s shelter. While clothing is what initially drew him to the program, he quickly began getting involved with other aspects of Our Closet, helping to set up and break down the store and explaining our services to other community members. Week after week, Aaron would come down to the shop, sometimes gathering five items for himself or his family, and other weeks, simply helping other community members find items for themselves. In November 2012, we held our annual Coat Day, and as we were cleaning up, a gentleman named Virgo rushed in; he was from the same shelter as Aaron, but had custodial duties at the shelter that prevented him from coming to Our Closet earlier. Virgo was very disappointed to see that we had already distributed over 400 coats, and that there were no coats remaining that would fit him to keep him warm for the impending winter. While we worked in the moment to connect with his case manager to see if there was any way for him to come to the shop earlier the following week to take advantage of what was offered, Aaron did something remarkable; he reached into his shopping bag and handed this gentleman the beautiful shearling coat he had just received from the store, an hour earlier. The moment was incredibly powerful, and tapped into the immense level of generosity, self-awareness, and connection Aaron had in relation to Our Closet. As needy as Aaron was, he saw Virgo as “needier” and was so appreciative that Virgo was cleaning the very shelter where Aaron himself resided, he felt the urge to say thank you. Shortly after this incident, we stopped seeing Aaron at Our Closet every Tuesday. We did, however, meet a new shopper who introduced herself as Aaron’s mother. We learned that Aaron had secured a job nearby, but had suggested that his mother come down to Our Closet, as she herself was facing a period of instability. Aaron had fulfilled his basic need of clothing, used his time, energy and money wisely and found gainful employment. He had moved on from needing the services of Our Closet, but expressed his gratitude and continues to refer others to Our Closet. Are there similar groups serving this need in other areas in Philadelphia? There are a number of agencies that provide free or low-cost clothing in Philadelphia, but none that have no eligibility or referral requirements, or operate like a pop-up shop, as far as we have seen. However, we do believe that collaboration in these efforts is critical, so we are continuing to explore organizations similar in scope to ours to see if there are potential partnership opportunities we might be able to pursue. Is there anything else about your organization that you'd like to share with us? Our Closet is a relatively young organization that in a few short years has grown significantly. We are now ready and excited to begin expanding our efforts – we want to engage more volunteers and more donors so we can better serve even more Philadelphians in need.
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