California Closets Springs into Summer of Service

This spring, California Closets teams embraced our mission to #FirstServeOthers by launching activities in support of a Nashville homeless shelter, Michigan-based animal rescue group and a Dallas-area food bank.

Helping those experiencing homelessness

The Nashville Rescue Mission is a homeless shelter offering a wide range of programs and services to help people experiencing homelessness within the community. Their current men’s closet was in a small room that only allowed one person in at a time. This caused a long line that backed up into the restroom, limiting the functionality of both spaces, and placing additional burdens on volunteers, who had to access a separate storage area on busy days to retrieve clothing.

To address these challenges, California Closets of Tennessee undertook the task of designing a tailor-made solution for the mission. The revamped space now incorporates shelving to accommodate boxes brimming with clothes and offers more hanging space to accommodate longer items like coats.

“This has been an exciting project and Nashville Rescue Mission is over the moon with their new closet. It’s been a huge blessing to see this come to life and offer our homeless population an opportunity to belong in our California Closets’ community,” said Torrey Maloch, Director of People and Community Development.

About Nashville Rescue Mission

The Nashville Rescue Mission is focused on providing hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for eternity to those who are hungry, hurting, and experiencing homelessness. Nashville Rescue Mission gives life transformational hope to everyone who walks through their our door. It’s why they say, “Hope Lives Here!”

Passionate animal enthusiasts from Eastern Michigan join forces for a shelter drive

At California Closets’ Eastern Manufacturing Center in Michigan, Davione Smith, a dedicated member of our PawsFirst Social Purpose Working Group, took the initiative to organize a donation drive in collaboration with a group of enthusiastic company volunteers. The goal was to provide support to the Kent County Animal Shelter. a local animal shelter.

To add an element of excitement, three lucky raffle winners were each granted $50 gift cards as a token of appreciation. Additionally, the team that contributed the highest number of items was rewarded with a team lunch, courtesy of California Closets.

“Organizing the donation drive was an exciting and rewarding experience. Seeing the joy on our teams faces when they took a look at how many items we were able to donate was a priceless feeling,” said Davione.

The impact of this initiative was truly remarkable, as a staggering total of 731 items, including a wide range of supplies from the shelter’s wish list, were generously donated to support the animals in need at the shelter.

Donation drives are a fun and easy way to support a variety of worthy causes. If you are interested in organizing one, check out our helpful How to Host a Donation Drive toolkit!

Dallas Team Helps Provide Healthy Meals to Help Families Obtain Food Security

A dedicated team led by GM Brian O’Keefe from California Closets in Dallas provided much needed human power to assist Minnie’s Food Pantry in their mission to provide healthy meals to those in need. The volunteer team of 17 performed a variety of tasks including preparing bags filled with fresh fruits, vegetable, dairy items and frozen items, such as meats and ready-to-eat meals, unloading deliveries from trucks, stocking shelves, sorting items, facilitating contactless interaction with clients by placing food items in trunks via drive through distribution and also assisting at Minnie’s Resale Boutique.

“It’s such an honor to work with team members who share their personal time to serve others in the community while representing CCDALLAS,” said Brian. “Winston Churchill summed it up nicely when he said: ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’ Serving others is in the Brand’s DNA, and I am fortunate to do life with a team that values it.”

Minnie’s Food Pantry is a charitable organization committed to alleviating hunger in the community. With a strong mission to provide healthy and nutritious meals to those in need, they have been serving as a lifeline for individuals and families facing food insecurity. Through their dedicated efforts, Minnie’s Food Pantry has become a symbol of hope and compassion, ensuring that no one goes hungry in their vicinity. Their unwavering commitment to improving the lives of others has earned them widespread recognition and the admiration of the community they serve.