“At a time when everyone is struggling during this economy, our First Nations families are truly appreciative of the winter clothing that NewThreads has provided.  Your work is so valuable and priceless that I haven’t the words to describe the gratitude I feel.”

Richanda E. Kaquatosh RN, BSN, MSEL, Coordinator
First Nations Studies, Milwaukee Public Schools

“NewThreads of Hope has been a blessing to the SOS Center.  To receive clothing from NewThreads and to be able to have our families wear new clothes and shoes with pride is immeasurable.  NewThreads has also provided us with the much needed, and hard to come by, infant and toddler clothes.”

Jodi Kessel Lyon,  Executive Director
SOS Center, Inc.

"Sam's Hope Literacy Foundation is proud to be a part of the network of organizations that help facilitate donations to New Threads of Hope. Their organization is an essential piece to insure that people in need in our community are given a boost to finding their own independence.”

Barbara Garner, President
Sam’s Hope Literacy Foundation

 

NewThreads of Hope values its distribution partners as our gateway into the community.  We do not make distributions directly to individuals in need.  Rather, NewThreads collaborates with some 800 plus individual non-profit, faith-based, and social service agencies at home, throughout the country, and across the globe.  New Threads of Hope could not possibly meet all of the needs even in our community, so we continually keep our focus on our four key areas of emphasis: caring for children, helping men and women re-engage in society, support for independent living, and responding to emergency needs.

Caring For Children

With a considerable portion of our inventory consisting of children’s merchandise, NewThreads is in a position to offer significant assistance by making the dream of brand new and season appropriate clothes a reality for the poorest children in our community.  At NewThreads, our “caring for children” services include providing school clothing and backpacks in our “Back to School” programs, clothing support for adoption and foster care families, and distributions to infant and child welfare programs.

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  • Again this year, NewThreads is partnering with Sam’s Hope and the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team to distribute books to children at Buck’s events and at local libraries.  The kickoff event had players from the Bucks read to groups of children from some of the 20,000 books donated by NewThreads.  These books will be distributed to children as the basis for their own home libraries.
  • September was baby safety month.  In collaboration with the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, NewThreads held a media event at our warehouse to promote safe sleeping.  In connection with this event, NewThreads distributed 60 brand new cribs and play yards as well as several hundred blanket sleepers to Children’s Hospital, Penfield Children’s Center, and the SOS Center in Milwaukee and to New Beginnings Christian Church in Waukesha.
  • Lutheran Social Services received over 3,500 articles of children’s clothing to distribute in their programs for foster children in both the Milwaukee and Appleton areas.

 

Helping Men and Women Re-Engage in Society

NewThreads helps men and women re-engage in society by providing professional attire and work clothing to employment and job-training programs, and by supplying clothing and bedding to criminal justice initiatives and recovery and substance abuse programs.

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  • Thanks to a substantial clothing donation from Harley-Davidson, NewThreads shared several thousand men’s and women’s work jeans with 25 local non-profits including: the Salvation Army, Joy House,  the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Council for the Spanish Speaking and La Causa.
  • A number of prison, recovery and substance abuse programs like Justice 2000, Community Advocates and Repairers of the Breach in Milwaukee turned to NewThreads to provide clothing and bedding for their residents.  As residents come to the end of their recovery program and transition back into society.

 

Support for Independent Living

Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.  NewThreads supports independent living for seniors and those living with mental illness, transitional services for the homeless, and assistance for the chronically ill by making available the basics in apparel, home goods, and bed and bath items. 

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  • In the last six months, NewThreads has entered into agreement with two faith based groups to join the NewThreads of Hope network of existing clothing banks.  Risen Savior Lutheran Church on Milwaukee’s north side and New Beginning Christian Church in Waukesha are now receiving thousands of items of new apparel and footwear to distribute to individuals and families that are trying to get back on their feet while dealing with traumatic situations.  Providing a brand-new article of clothing, especially during these difficult circumstances, provides so much more than just an outfit.  Each of these brand new items comes with a message – someone cares enough about you to give, not a hand-me down, but something brand new.
  • We have not forgotten our service men and women, some of whom have returned home either wounded or in need of other assistance.  We make on-going distributions to the AMVETS and to the Disabled American Vets.
  • We also provide substantial assistance to our Native American community, with donated bedding and clothing to the Spirit Guided Giving Program, the American Indian Task Force, Siggnauk, Congregation of the Great Spirit, Indian Council for the Elderly, and others.

 

Responding to Emergency Needs

Each year, NewThreads responds to emergency needs, including support for disaster relief, immigrant and refugee support, and international aid.  Lutheran Social Services, for example, distributes clothing we receive from Lands End to refugees in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.  As the population of immigrants from warm weather climates increases in southeastern Wisconsin, NewThreads hears countless stories from families for whom winter clothes, boots, and coats is often an unexpected and unaffordable expense. 

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  • Volunteers from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Brookfield, Grace Lutheran Church in Menomonee Falls, Blessed Theresa Catholic Church in Hartland  and many others not only help sort merchandise at our warehouse they also work with local non-profit partners to provide the clothing assistance that helps children, adults and seniors stay warm during winter in Wisconsin.  They themselves have delivered warm coats, sweaters, hats and gloves from NewThreads to Penfield Children’s Center, Milwaukee Public School and Messmer Catholic School children, to immigrants from Mexico, Somalia, Sudan, and elsewhere.
  • Through our domestic partners, we provide clothing to orphans in Belarus, and shoes and warm weather clothing to the missions in the Philippines, Haiti and Jamaica.

 Council for the Spanish Speaking

 

If you are a non-profit charity that is interested in collaborating with NewThreads in a merchandise distribution program, please contact us.  We welcome your partnership.