At the last shopping event in October we received a call from a parent who said she would be able to drop her 12-year-old daughter off to shop, but she had to go to work directly after. She wanted to know if there would be any ALE members who could shop with her daughter until her husband, who would be getting off work within the hour, would be able to pick her up.

Since I didn’t have a position that evening at the shopping event, I decided to shop with her and help her pick out some clothing. She was shy at first but within a few minutes we were going through clothing and picking out really cool clothing for school! I have two sons so this was a new experience for me – shopping with a girl! We were having fun and she told me how much she really appreciated ALE and the ability she was having picking out new clothing for school. She even told me what she’d be wearing to school the next day and how excited she was to be going to school with new clothing.

The experience was amazing for me because I was able to help this little girl and make a direct impact.

-submitted by Julie Sanders, OSB Co-Chair 2020-21