We’re family, me and you Part 2…

I should give some back story. My grandmother was the queen of volunteering. You name the Christian organization, and she probably volunteered there at some time. One of the programs she ran at church was called the Sonshine Closet. It was basically a closet behind Fellowship Hall where church members could drop off their used clothes and household goods – sort of like Goodwill. Then, one Thursday a month, Gigi and her team would sort through the clothes, box them up, and send them to different local and even international ministries. But if something caught their eye, they would pull it for themselves and move on.

Gigi may have pulled for her whole family, but I can only speak for what she pulled for me. She pulled normal clothes for me, but she also pulled clothes for my dress-up collection. She was a firm believer that kids should use their imaginations, but also that they didn’t need to spend lots of money to do so. She was always sending me items for my dress-ups that she bought from Goodwill or pulled from the Sonshine Closet. I don’t think there was any brand-new store bought article of clothing in my dress-up chest.

(The elusive bag-lady fairy.)

After we moved to Cincinnati, I would spend my summer days with Gramps and Gigi. And one Thursday a month I helped her with the Sonshine closet. If I found anything I liked I asked permission to keep it. Sometimes she said no. But sometimes she said yes. Mostly I pulled things that I wanted to keep in my costume collection. I was older, so it was no longer considered a dress-up collection. Costume collection had a more mature ring to it. Once I was allowed to keep a powder blue tuxedo I found. Completely intact with jacket, pants, reversible vest, and clip-on bow tie. The only thing missing was the ruffled shirt, but I’m pretty sure that got sorted in with the women’s clothing.

And sometimes Mom and I would make our own donations….