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Highlighting the Heart in Gifts of the Heart Exchange
Gifts of the Heart Exchange (GOTHE) is an amazing resource that has helped so many students in need. It is a way for student families to help with the cost of clothing while in school by providing second hand clothes for free. There are two amazing Kid-to-Kid stores in the local area that supply us with 70-80% of the donations that are found at the Exchanges. This is such a great resource, and it wouldn’t be possible without the generous donations from the Kid-to-Kid stores. At the time of each Exchange, we accept donations from anyone who would like to help students in need, and this is where the rest of the donations come from. From the closets of those within the program as well as from anyone who has heard about the event and would like to help student families in need.
There is a lot that goes into preparing for and holding a GOTHE event, and that is why it is run by not only by members of MBASA but also members from another spouses association from BYU because we need lots of help to make this program run smoothly.
We have volunteers from within our associations help do the daily pick ups from the Kid-to-Kid stores. Doing a pick up not only means getting the items from the store but also sorting through those items to be sure we keep only usable items, presorting them by gender and size, and bagging them so that when a big event comes, we are ready for the big task ahead. Once the items have been presorted, we store them in a storage unit until the next event.
The big events are an exciting time. Not only do we get the opportunity to see so many student families helped, but we get to see the power of service. It really has been an awesome—literally awe inspiring—experience seeing so many people volunteer so much time and energy to help those around them. It is a big event that brings together so many people all with the same goal—to help others in need.
Each event is a two day process: The sorting day and the shopping day.
The sorting days begin bright and early at 7 am, at which time we ask the initial group of volunteers to meet at the storage unit to help transport the stored items to the location of the event, usually a large church building gym (we need a lot of space). Once all the items are to the location, we have volunteers take the bagged items to the correct location depending on gender and size. Then volunteers further sort through the items so that there is some organization and so that the items can be looked through with relative ease. This sorting can take all day long depending on the amount of donations that we have and the number of volunteers to help. It is a big task, and we have been so blessed to have so many volunteers help us do this.
The most exciting day is shopping day! We have people come bright and early lined up to be able to find clothing and items that their family needs. We call it “shopping day” because it is the day that people get to shop through the items, but it is at no cost—everything is free. We generally have around 120+ volunteers help with set-up and take-down without whom the Exchange would not have been possible. We had about 400 people attend the Gifts of the Heart Exchange that was held in December 2018. It really is such blessing to be able to help those in need. While MBASA and the other program that helps are partner associations with BYU graduate programs, the Gifts of the Heart Exchange is not limited to members of these programs—it is open to any and all students families that are attending a school of higher education.
Once the shopping is finished, we end promptly at noon and have volunteers help us remove everything that was not wanted. We rebag these items and give them to a charity to help the donations reach even farther. For each event held, we reach out to a charity and ask if they are willing to take the items that are left over. It is a long two days of preparation and work and having volunteers come back after shopping to help us clean makes the world of difference. It really is a gift being able to work alongside so many wonderful people who help to make each and every Gifts of the Heart Exchange possible.