First off, I would like to give a huge shout out and thank you to all who have donated jeans. I live in a community of givers. I’m truly blessed to be a part of this village (Howard County and surrounding areas showed up and showed out – in a great way! Again, THANK YOU!). My mom has always said it takes a village to raise a child. This is so true, and I get it now. I am truly inspired by my community of givers. I will continue doing jean drives for as long as I can.
This 3rd Jean Drive was much easier than the 1st two. What I did differently my 3rd time was I recently found the app NextDoor. I advertised my jean drive there and BAM. So many wonderful people reached out to me – with wanting to donate jeans to my jean drive that I have tried to host every year but of course COVID did mess up that plan. Anyways, the outpouring of support was overwhelming in such a great way. I was coordinating pick-ups and drop offs. I even had a wonderful gentlemen cashapp me money to buy jeans for my jean drive. (Thank you – I also will be sending you your receipts for jeans you purchased!) I had a teacher reach out to me and she wanted her class to make inspirational cards to the homeless. We weren’t able to make it happen this time, but the thought alone was so kind and hopefully we can coordinate something for one of my future jean drives.
I collected 206 pairs for my 3rd Jean Drive and currently have 120 jeans toward my 4th Jean Drive. It took me half the time to collect these jeans since I used the NextDoor App. The first two drives were at a much slower pace than the 3rd and 4th. I was doing flyers and advertising to only people I knew. I would take part of my allowance and buy jeans. It typically took me months to get 200 pairs of jeans. With the Next Door App it only took 2 – 3 weeks to collect 200 pairs. You live and learn. What’s so funny about this and made me in awe of the number of responses I received was I had placed an ad for dog sitting and only received like 1 or 2 responses, so I wasn’t expecting the outpour even though I am so very grateful for it!
Many have asked me, where do I donate the jeans? I donate the jeans to Happy Helpers for the Homeless in Baltimore. I love this organization and its leader Ms. Bobbi Coffman. I thought that after doing my 1st jean drive that I probably wouldn’t do another one because it took me forever to collect the 200 pairs of jeans. However, after going there and donating, I was inspired to keep doing this. Ms. Bobbi was very gracious, and I got to witness some of the homeless pick through the jeans and find what worked best for them. I remember, one guy found a new pair of jeans and went in the restroom to try them on and came back out smiling. (They looked great on him, and it was a pair that my Poppy donated.) My heart was so full that day witnessing the joy something I brought in helped others.
Jeans are important. They help shield the homeless from the outdoor elements such as harsh winters, cool evenings, and even from the hot summer sun. They can be expensive so when you donate used jeans it can help the homeless in so many ways. At this point I have donated over 600 pairs of jeans! 🙂
On February 11th I donated my 3rd Jean Drive. I sort the jeans by gender and sizes so that’s easy for Happy Helpers and the homeless know which stack to look through when they are looking for a certain size. I also donated socks with toiletries when I dropped off the jeans this time. (Check out my sock drive here: January’s Service Project: Sock Drive for Happy Helpers for the Homeless – Love Natalyn)
Quick story, I would like to tell that’s sort of off the subject:
My first time donating to Happy Helper’s for the Homeless, I volunteered with a group of college students who came down to volunteer. They inspired me so much that they are one of the reasons I will be attending that college in the Fall in their Honors College. (Keep reading my blog – I will be posting about where I will be attending school, all the schools I was accepted to, the one that rejected me, and why I chose the school I did in a month or two. Oh, what a fun journey this has been!)
Again, thank you to all that have donated and supported my mission to provide jeans to the Homeless! I am still collecting jeans for my 4th drive. If you or anyone you know is interested, in donating please let me know and we can coordinate pick up and drop offs. My email address is natalyn.f.taylor@gmail.com
For more information about Happy Helpers For the Homeless check them out here!
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