Last summer I heard a single mother of three tell her story about losing everything she had in a flood. As the flood waters were raging towards her home, she did what any loving mother would do. She took care of her children first by cramming a laundry basket full of as many clothes and shoes for them as she could. Only until they reached the car to get away from the ever rising waters, did she realize she didn’t pack anything for herself. The only items that she had were the clothes on her back and the shoes on her feet. Even those, she couldn’t keep because they had been contaminated by flood waters.

Thankfully, this woman had family members to stay.She was also fortunate enough to still have a job to go to and had access to work-appropriate clothes through her family members.

At that moment, as a woman fortunate to have an abundance of wardrobe options, I realized that I had to do something to help women like her. I’ve been her to some extent. After surviving the 1994 Northridge, CA 6.9 earthquake, I understaod that sometimes you just need a shower and clean change of clothes to begin to recovery your sense of humanness.

And that is where the ‘Purge to Splurge’ program began. Please take a few moments of your valuable time to read more about this program and how you can help rebuild other women’s closets by recycling your jewelry and earning rewards for participating.

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