It’s embarrassing to admit it, but most of us have drawers and closets overflowing with clothing that we no longer wear. A few times a year we’ll do the obligatory purge to create space (probably for new purchases) and cart bins off to our favorite thrift store. But what if those gently used items can bless a sister in need instead?

Contact your local women’s shelter, drug and alcohol rehab center or facility for those transitioning out of incarceration. Due to the nature of their situations, the residents often have nothing but the clothes on their backs. Staples like jeans, sweats, T-shirts, bras, socks, hoodies, and shoes are much-needed commodities. When you contact the facility of your choice, in quire about specific needs and arrange a delivery.

Cleaning out your closet can easily become a meaningful outreach to our sisters who are choosing a better life, who are doing difficult and soul-searching work on themselves despite their painful stories, who are striving to leave their pasts in the past. Bless them. Encourage them. Slip a “love note” in the pockets of your donations telling them that Somebody loves them (Jesus) and that someone is in their corner praying for them (you), and that they are not alone.