Cooper’s hosts clothing drive to benefit Dress for Success

Oct. 6, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
daniellee@thereminder.com

AGAWAM – A business in Agawam recently hosted a clothing drive where they asked their customers to donate their gently used professional clothing to help a local nonprofit.

Kate Gourde, owner of Cooper’s Gift Apparel Home on 161 Main St., said she typically hosts her used clothing drive to benefit Dress For Success Western Mass. each year in April. The business, she said, has become one of her favorite charities over the years. The non-profit, based in Springfield, works to help women achieve economic independence by giving them support, professional interview clothes and other tools needed.

Gourde said typically she hosts the drive in April, but because of the restrictions in place due to the coronavirus, she postponed it until September. She said while Dress For Success’ location in the Eastfield Mall was “a great location for them,” it made it a little “tough for people West of the [Connecticut] River” to get to them.

Gourde said Coopers draws customers from all over, including from parts of Connecticut, and “knew we had customers that had beautiful clothes they didn’t just want to throw in a bag for Goodwill.”

In addition to hosting the drive each year, Gourde said the store also created a Roundup Program in 2014 that gives customers the option to round up their total to the next dollar. In addition to customer donations, Gourde said Cooper’s matches 50 percent of each donation, and at the end of each month the total is donated to their charity of the month.

Gourde said typically in September she doesn’t get as much business as usual due to the traffic the Big E brings. With the changing seasons and lack of traffic, she said there were no excuses. She added that she recognized the toll the coronavirus had taken on non-profits, and wanted to do something more. So she decided to host the drive throughout the entire month of  September. “All these nonprofits are hurting, [we’re] just trying to find ways to help them,” she said.

Due to the specific nature of Dress For Success’ work, Gourde said they conveyed to their customers that clothing donations should be interview clothing. “They need interview appropriate clothing. I told my customers, ‘Ask yourself if you would wear it to an interview,’” she said.

She said in addition to clothing such as blouses, blazers, pants, skirts and dresses, she said she asked customers to contribute interview-appropriate accessories as well. “Everything that goes with it,” she said. Such accessories included shoes, purses, scarves, coats and jewelry.

After she posted about the drive on Cooper’s Facebook page, she said customers began flocking to the store with donations “It just took off, I can’t believe how many donations and contributions we took in,” she said.

In fact, she said the drive had been so successful she had to stop accepting donations at one point during the drive. “We were past capacity, we told them we couldn’t take any more donations until we got cleaned out,” Gourde said. At this point in the drive, she said Cooper’s had received enough clothing donations from customers to fill six, fully loaded SUVs.

After the donations were picked up, she said she decided to extend the drive two more days, until Oct. 2, so those who may not have had the chance to drop off their donations could do so. She said after she announced the extension of the drive, customers once again showed up in droves to deliver donations.

“Within four hours [of announcing the extension], 6,000 people had seen the post. All day long people were walking in with arms full of clothes,” she said. In fact, she said she got so many clothing donations that when Gourde spoke to Reminder Publishing on Sept. 30, she estimated she had another two loads of clothes that would fill an SUV.

The clothes, she said, would be used in the nonprofit's annual tag sale on the weekend of Oct. 22 at the Eastfield Mall. There, she said, women in need of interview clothes would be able to stuff a bag full of donated clothes, which are sold at a discounted rate, for just $25. “They’re bursting with stuff right now,” she said.

Gourde said she’s thankful for her customers who donated and contributed to the drive. “Our customers overwhelm me with their generosity,” she said. She added that she has plans to host the drive again in April, and those interested in donation during the annual drive should check Cooper’s Facebook page for updates when the time comes.

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