The following is a guest post from DC EcoWomen Board Member Nicole Dvorak.
A packed house at the clothing swap
The year: 2012. The event: The DC EcoWomen Clothing Swap. I don’t even remember what I was doing that day (do I remember what I had for lunch two days ago? Hmmm…), but I didn’t make it to the clothing swap and afterwards heard nothing but great things about it. I quietly lamented my absence from the free-fest.
Determined to not make the same mistake twice, I marked March 16th, 2013 on my calendar as Swap Day and put on my game face. The week of the event, I found out that we had 80 women RSVP (gulp). Eighty women??? Oh my God, I thought I was going to fall out of my chair. How were we going to fit that many in one room? What was I going to do if we didn’t have enough clothing? I have a few good corny jokes up my sleeve and could use those as a distraction just in case, but it would hardly make up for any noticeable clothing shortage. Breaking out the chicken dance wasn’t going to save us, either.
Our (S)hero and host, Brenna Mannion, accepted the challenge and we embraced the possibility of a very full room of ladies ready to get their “Girl, I’m not Shoppin’, I’m Swappin'” on. We had at least thirty ladies attend, and I could not have been happier. Not only did we have women come in with a few pieces from their closets, we had some who looked like they had adopted a “Swap or Bust” attitude and walked in with whole BAGS full of clothing, much to the excitement and anticipation of the other women. It was like being in a clothing store that got a new shipment in every 5 minutes…and everything was FREE!
I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to Brenna Mannion and her housemates for graciously hosting, and to the many woman who came to swap. I’m thrilled that our swappers were thrilled, and that we could help make that happen.
Of course, any clothing that was left over (about 15 bags of it) was donated to great causes. All professional clothing was given to America Works, and any additional clothing was donated to Martha’s Outfitters, a part of Martha’s Table. Thank you again, and we look forward to the next SWAP!
Brenna, the host, rocks a new vest
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