Inspired by a post on social media, friends Kara Fisher and Jaida Auger chose to spend their weekend collecting formal wear from all over Moose Jaw to donate to graduates at three high schools — and the city’s reception to the idea was overwhelming.
Fisher and Auger, with the help of a third friend Cassidy Lynn, traversed across the city from June 11 to 13 to pick up donations from residents that ranged from formal dresses and suits right down to accessories.
The formal wear has since been dropped off at three high schools, to be made available for upcoming graduates to wear during their special ceremonies.
“It was important to us to have our efforts benefit someone else,” said Fisher, about the idea. “Everyone deserves to look and feel good on their special days, so it’s nice to know that it’s going to people in need and staying within the community.”
The two posted on a local community page on Facebook asking for donations, after seeing a previous post from another member selling formal dresses at a wildly reduced price to fit a lower budget.
“Initially I was just going to donate a few of my own old formal clothes (and Jaida suggested) we post about it and see if anyone wanted to donate with us,” said Fisher. “So we did, and it kind of just snowballed from there.”
Fisher and Auger collected more than 30 formal dresses, numerous suits, and plenty of accessories like ties, belts, shoes and jewelry from local residents in a span of just a few days.
Kara Fisher and Jaida Auger drove around Moose Jaw over the weekend picking up dresses, suits and accessories from residents to donate to graduates in need. / (supplied)“We took down everyone’s addresses and made a weekend out of it, and got as much as we could,” said Fisher. “There was more than I anticipated for men’s wear which was good, the guys won’t be left out.”
The two organizers originally planned on taking the clothes to Vanier Collegiate, for graduates to use this year and in years to come. But once the idea went viral, they ended up expanding to include Central Collegiate and A.E. Peacock Collegiate after learning both schools also take formal wear donations.
Fisher said that when she reached out to the schools, they told her donation stockpiles had been running low, and so the weekend blitz was greatly appreciated.
“They mentioned that not many donations had been coming in (recently), so it was nice to keep it going,” said Fisher. “And it means a lot that (these clothes) are going to stay in the community and are going to be helping out grads.”
Fisher also said the response she received from people in the community wanting to donate was more than either she or Auger expected when they made their post on social media.
“Everyone was so willing and it was such a good turnout in terms of the amount of clothes we could donate,” said Fisher. “Our main goal was to have lots of different variety and sizes and options for the grads, and we appreciate everyone being so kind and willing to donate.”
Even after arranging times to drop off the boxes of skirts, suits and shoes early this week, Fisher said she was still receiving messages from people asking if she could pick up their items to add to the collection last-minute.
Terri Lamb, pictured here, was the first stop on the donation tour over the weekend, and one of many who reached out to Kara Fisher and Jaida Auger to contribute. / (supplied)“Lots of people were saying that they’ve wanted to do this for a while but didn’t know how to go about it or who to contact, so it was nice to be the middleman to pick it up on their behalf and connect with the school,” said Fisher.
The idea was so successful that Fisher and Auger are already planning to do it again next spring, bigger and better.
“It was kind of a last-minute decision (this year) but hopefully next year we can do it again with a little bit better of a system to maximize everyone’s time and donations, to get the most out of it,” said Fisher. “It was fun and we want to keep it going because I feel like if we had more time, we’d get even more donations.”
