December is a month full of holiday parties and gatherings where you’re often encouraged to wear your Sunday Best — the kind of clothes you don’t just wash at home but bring to the clothing professionals: the dry cleaners.
This month, Tide Cleaners is partnering for the second year with the nonprofit A Precious Child for the Gift of Warmth Winter Drive. Embrace the season of giving when you step into any of the Tide Cleaners locations across Denver by donating any warm winter wear, and you will receive 20% off services.
Tide Cleaners offers dry cleaning services; wash-and-fold; household items and bedding; outerwear, wedding dresses and other specialty clothing, plus alterations and repairs.
“It’s the season of giving and A Precious Child steps up big to help the community. Knowing how many families are struggling in Denver, especially this time of year with the cold weather, they inspired us to do our part and contribute,” Denver Tide Cleaners Franchisee Brandt Stravlo said.
Tide Cleaners has six Denver Metro locations where people may donate winter items and goods:
- S. Tower Store: 3571 S. Tower Rd., Aurora, CO
- E. Hampden Store: 9200 E. Hampden Ave, Denver, CO
- E. Arapahoe Store: 8008 E. Arapahoe Rd., Centennial, CO
- Highlands Garden Store: 4500 W. 38th Ave, Denver, CO
- The Coloradan Store: 1750 Wewatta St., Denver, CO
- Cherry Creek Store: 201 University Blvd., Denver, CO
330,000 children live three times below the Federal Poverty Level in the eight counties A Precious Child serves. Last year, the organization provided services to over 600 families in just November and December with warm coats, hats, scarves and other warm winter gear.
Receiving quality clothing donations during the winter months is crucial since children outgrow things so quickly and families must find ways to ensure their children are warm enough to attend school and go outside to enjoy the winter, Chief Communications Officer of A Precious Child Courtney Wickberg said.
Children need a lot when they’re growing up, as Wickberg pointed out. A Precious Child has certainly thought of it all when it comes to ways of supporting a growing child, from providing registration fees, sports equipment, musical instruments, backpacks for the first day of school, Christmas gifts during the holidays and even workforce development support. The organization collects and distributes resources in a way that allows children to participate in extracurricular activities just like their peers.
A Precious Child offers a multitude of resources to their customers, including shoes, coats and food all free of charge. Providing these assets takes a weight off the load for families. With the assistance of A Precious Child, families can gain more financial stability and put their dollars towards mitigating the cost of rent and utilities.
“The most important thing for the community to really understand is that we support their neighbors. Poverty is not a cookie-cutter issue. It spans the gamut,” Wickberg said. “And so we can help families that are in generational poverty. We’re supporting grandparents who now have custody of their grandkids. We are supporting families where both parents are working, but they’re still not making enough to support their neighbors, the community and the children that are going to their kids’ school so that they have the same opportunities and resources as their peers.”
In addition to the six Tide Cleaners locations, people may also bring donations to any of the 50 satellite resource center locations that are set up in places like health and human service agencies, schools, hospitals, shelters and police departments. Through these additional locations, partners of A Precious Child can witness on an everyday basis the needs that children face through signs like not wearing a proper coat or wearing sandals with socks during the wintertime and give a referral to A Precious Child.
A Precious Child emphasizes receiving resources with dignity: by the time a family receives a referral to A Precious Child, they can call, make an appointment and go to the main resource center in Broomfield met by an empowerment advocate who assists in resource navigation. Following that, guests can shop for up to 40 items of clothing free of charge.
Commodities are placed in racks and shelving so that kids have the freedom to go in and make a choice of which items they like best or what brings them the most confidence to wear.
To support A Precious Child beyond donating items through Tide Cleaners, people may also make monetary donations or volunteer.