A morning at Burlington
“Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve done something like this?”
one mother asked as she shopped for a winter coat.
This fall, students from Fresno Mission’s Searcy Center walked the aisles of Fresno’s Burlington store, pulling winter coats off the racks, trying them on and deciding which ones to take home. Moms whose children live with them at Searcy Center chose coats for their kids too. Each one was their choice. For women rebuilding their lives, being trusted to choose is a quiet reminder that they matter.
The shopping trip was a gift from Assistance League of Fresno, an all-volunteer nonprofit that has partnered with Fresno Mission for the last three years. Once the shopping was done, everyone gathered outside for a group photo, proudly holding up their shopping bags.
The dignity of choosing
For Paula Bohamed, Fresno Mission’s Donor Relations Officer, who helped build this partnership, the choosing is the whole point. She said the trip gives women “the dignity of being able to pick [their coats] out themselves and the joy of shopping.”
As that mother’s question showed, a chance to choose can be rare for families rebuilding their lives. On this trip, each mom picked out her own coat and, if her children live with her at Searcy Center, chose coats for them too.
That respect carries beyond one morning. Assistance League saves any leftover funds for a spring trip to shop for undergarments, another chance to choose something for themselves. Right after the women finished, men from Searcy Center arrived for a shopping trip of their own, made possible by another generous donor.
Nonprofit to nonprofit
Assistance League of Fresno is a local chapter of the national Assistance League, and every member is a volunteer. Its biggest fundraiser is its thrift boutique on Blackstone Avenue between Shaw and Gettysburg, along with grants and gifts from its own members. Everything it earns after paying the bills goes back into the community.
This partnership is a picture of what happens when two nonprofits with a shared heart for people bring their resources together. Assistance League has funds set aside to clothe people in need. Fresno Mission walks alongside women who need exactly that. Together, those resources go further and reach the right people.
Cindy Borg chairs Operation School Bell, the League’s signature program, and is in her fifth year as a member. Her ties to Fresno Mission grew through former League president Janice Chan and an invitation to a Searcy Center graduation. For Cindy, those connections come from showing up. Her work keeps putting her in rooms with people who care about their community, and the circle keeps growing. “You start to reach the right people that are helping others,” she said.
“I love their mission,” Cindy said. “They do good work. Their mission fits our mission.“
Partnering with Fresno Mission also helps the League reach the people who need help most. With Fresno Mission, she knows the need is real and every gift reaches a family who needs it. The two teams keep fine-tuning the trip so the help spreads as far as it can.
It’s the same heart behind everything the League does, from the coats to the clothes it passes along to other local youth programs. “It’s just trying to use the resources in the best way possible,” Cindy said.
More than coats
Operation School Bell is Assistance League’s nationwide signature program, carried out locally by chapters like Fresno’s. Here, it covers five areas of need: clothing, literacy, hunger, health, and school supplies. Through its hunger work, Assistance League has paid for meals and then served them alongside our team at City Center. Through its literacy work, it has placed books in school libraries across Fresno Unified, Clovis Unified, and Central Unified.
That same respect runs through the League’s other programs:
- Bear Hug gives teddy bears to local law enforcement to comfort children in trauma.
- Gift Box brings Christmas packages and a holiday program to a senior living community.
- Busy Hands supplies fabric and yarn so seniors can make blankets for the community.
- Dream Dress gives high school girls free prom dresses, shoes, and bags from a boutique corner of the thrift store.
The League’s teen auxiliary, high school volunteers recruited in eighth grade, will also help sort coats for Fresno Mission’s coat drive this season.
What your support makes possible
To every donor who gives to Fresno Mission: this morning was yours too. Shopping for a coat is one moment in a much longer journey. The women who shopped that day are working through our program at Searcy Center, sitting down to warm meals from CC’s Kitchen, and rebuilding their lives one choice at a time.
Your gifts keep those meals on the table and those programs running, so partners like Assistance League have families to serve and moments like this one can happen. When a mom chooses a coat for herself and her child, she is choosing a new future, and you are part of that transformation.
Thank you to Cindy Borg and the members of Assistance League of Fresno for helping our families stay warm this winter, and for showing what two nonprofits can do together.
