Several men browse through the racks of donated clothing at the Lions Club’s Monday Night Community Dinners. Submitted photo
The Morro Bay Lions Club in conjunction with Fitness Works in Morro Bay is holding its third annual Men’s Clothing Drive and readers are encouraged to donate clothing to help men in need throughout the community.
The Men’s Clothing Drive runs now through July 24. Drop off donations at Fitness Works located at 500 Quintana Rd.
They are seeking donations of clean, gently used or new men’s clothing. Needed items include shirts, pants, jeans, jackets, sweaters, coats, belts, shoes, socks, and other wearable clothing suitable for everyday use or job interviews.
The drive is a community service project bringing together the Fitness Works crew including owners Adrian and Joe Blandford, and the Lions Club with the goal of helping provide “dignity, comfort, and hope to those facing hardship.”
“Something as simple as a clean shirt or warm jacket can restore confidence and offer hope to someone experiencing difficult circumstances,” organizers said in a news release. “Together, our community can make a meaningful difference.”
Ginger Machado, general manager at Fitness Works was excited about the clothing drive. Their members just love to clean out their husbands’ closets; she laughingly told Estero Bay News.
The past two years, she explained, the men’s clothing drive was so popular that they had the Lions Club volunteers come out nearly every day to pick up the donations, as they piled up quickly.
It’s at least four large Hefty bags full every day, she said.
The past couple of years, a gym member, who is also a bereavement volunteer that assists people who’ve recently lost a loved one by helping them clean out clothing that’s no longer needed, brought in a lot of donations.
The donated clothing is taken to the Lions Club’s Monday Night Community Dinners, held every Monday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Vet’s Hall is at 209 Surf St. Doors open at 4:30 with a Food Bank distribution and dinner is served at 5:30.
The Lions Club has gotten the word out by distributing posters to local businesses for display and Machado said they sent out an email blast to their contact list to let them know about the clothing drive.
She also noted that while some of those who attend the Monday Dinners are homeless, the dinner is open to anyone in the community. The clothing is given away through a freewill offering that she said is organized like a mini clothing shop.
Lions Club member Linda Winters, who oversees the clothing drive and volunteers on Monday nights, credited Patricia Gordon with coming up with the idea. They’ve always accepted clothing donations for the community dinners and had sectioned the clothing off into three sections — men and women plus a separate rack where the nicer articles — coats and jackets — are hung on display. They also have toiletries on a separate table, she said.
“We use the whole Vets Hall,” winters told EBN. And while the giveaways have always been successful, they ran out of men’s clothing quickly. Gordon posed the idea of specifically doing a men’s clothing drive, she said.
“I want to thank Patricia Gordon for spearheading this worthwhile effort,” Winters said. “She is an angel in disguise.”
Last year, she explained they received more than 50 bags of donated clothing, and already this year, in the drives first few days; they’ve gotten six bags dropped off at Fitness Works. “It’s been very successful,” Winters said.
And the Lions Club and the 18 volunteers that typically show up on Monday nights too are angels in disguise. Winters explained that the community dinners are now in their 11th year and in all this time — like the Post Office — they’ve never missed a Monday night.
EBN readers are encouraged to bring donations to Fitness Works, which is acting as the donation collection site. They are open Mondays-Fridays from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
See: morrobaylions.org for more information on the club and its many good works in the community.
