Hope's Door

When I performed with the DFW Vagina Monologues in February, Hope's Door was one of our two beneficiaries for which we raised over $900 each. Hope's Door is a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

I frequently get rid of my clothes at clothing swaps but wanted to only donate this time and not bring anything new into the house because we're packing to move soon. I decided to give some things to Hope's Door and on a whim to also hold a clothing drive at my Amtgard park, with which I like to periodically lead events to benefit local charities, such as the food drive we held in November for a local pantry.

A few days later, I overheard coworkers mention getting rid of some clothes and individually asked a few to send them my way for this particular charity. I also posted a flier in the break room and immediately received a few extra donations. One coworker requested further details and is going to talk to her kids' Girl Scout troop about donating items or possibly holding a garage sale and donating its profits to Hope's Door.

I was thrilled with the response and how quickly interest grew and spread from my small plans to others.

One coworker even put together a lovely gift basket to donate for Mother's Day.

I then reached out to Russ of the Circus Freaks to ask if I might set up a box in the lobby of the weekly Open Stage event to collect donations from that group as well. He was on board with the idea, and with less than one day's notice, I received a trunk full of clothes the first night and will have to make a few more trips than I first planned.

I wish there was an easy way to quantitatively report the results of this endeavor, but I don't even own a scale. Instead, I think I'll take pictures and report back in a few weeks.

Here is a little more about Hope's Door from its website:

The mission of Hope's Door is to offer intervention and prevention services to individuals and families affected by domestic violence and to provide education programs that enhance the community's capacity to respond.

Hope's Door is the only organization in Collin County specializing in comprehensive intervention and prevention services for all members of a family affected by domestic violence - from victim to abuser. Hope's Door was established in 1986 as a crisis hotline. Clients were housed in local hotels until the opening of a 21-bed emergency shelter in 1989. Since then, services have expanded to include transitional housing, counseling for adults and children, legal advocacy and services for abusers.

Annually, Hope's Door responds to over 1,900 crisis hotline calls, shelters more than 400 women and children, houses over 50 families in transitional housing and provides counseling and legal advocacy to more than 1,300 survivors.