Playing Dress Up

Last week, Maggie and I had a lot of fun getting to dress the mannequins on the store floor. Some of the pieces of the perfect outfits that we picked out did not fit the mannequins well, so we had to improvise by using belts, rubber bands, and clothespins. We had to be careful when changing the mannequins because they were ridiculously anatomically accurate. This made the entire job funnier for us and the rest of the staff because Maggie and I had to do our best to successfully change the clothes on the mannequins without being completely obscene.

Some of the mannequins we styled.

This week, we have been doing our normal jewelry and clothing duties. Today, however, we got absolutely bombarded with clothing donations, so much so that we needed to enlist help from office workers from the Outreach Office. It was definitely intimidating to see how many clothes needed to be sorted and tagged. We did what we could in the short hours we were working, but it did not seem to make a dent in the massive pile. It was a little discouraging, but I still had fun joking and spending time with my fellow volunteers/staff, as always.

The pile of donated clothes that needed to be sorted and tagged.

We have been moving forward with our plans for a Seton Store pop-up shop at the Mount to encourage more young people to frequent the store. Maggie and I had a meeting with Kenny, and discussed our plans with Dr. Ohanian, and are on track to host the event at the end of the month. Over break, I am planning to get the appropriate documentation filled out and submitted to solidify our plans with the university, and Maggie will collaborate with her mom to design promotional material for the event. Sometimes it is easy to forget that one of the store’s primary objectives is to make a profit. Of course, the store aims to provide affordable items, but the store undoubtedly needs to make a profit to support itself and the many programs that the Seton Center offers. This is a major motivating factor for encouraging more Mount students to visit the store. I hope that our efforts with the pop-up shop will bring more young customers in and help the Seton Center continue to support the various invaluable programs that they provide to the residents of Northern Frederick County.