The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

WHITE LAKE – What recourse is there for someone who has a job interview or a new job, but doesn’t have the proper clothing?

The answer is Dress for Success, an international, not-for-profit organization, which provides professional attire to economically disadvantaged people who need to look good for an interview or a job.

Locally, a Mongaup Valley business partnered with an elementary school in White Lake and a national jewelry company to collect gently used clothing for Sullivan County workers.

Dr. Jamie Noeth, the owner of Body, Mind and Spirit Wellness Center in Mongaup Valley, working along with several other people from her practice including office manager Barbara Sush, worked with Patty Sonnenschein, principal at the Duggan School, as well as the jewelry company Lia Sophia on this clothing drive held on Thursday, January 21.

Sush explained that while Dress for Success is international in scope, “we hooked up with our local organization, [administered through the United Way of Sullivan County]. So everything donated today will go to Sullivan County Women.” 

Dr. Noeth talked about the partnership with Lia Sophia, which “is a jewelry company. They have different levels of jewelry, real high-end jewelry that’s really big in Hollywood, and they have everyday collections that are becoming really popular. Lia Sophia is one of the corporate sponsors of Dressed for Success. They donate a portion of their proceeds to the cause.”

Every piece of clothing collected at the event was to be taken to the United Way office in Monticello. There, anyone who needs a good piece of clothing, “… college students, anyone who doesn’t have that available cash, can go get a nice wardrobe and feel good for the interview and good for the job,” said Sush, who added that they also had piles of clothes in their office from the pre-event publicity.

“We reach out to the community to get the clothing,” said Noeth, “and then we bring it to the United Way and they’re in charge of getting it out to the different groups. They’re in touch with all the other [social service] organizations.

After people came in with their dresses, suits and fancy blouses, lots of shoes and tons of purses,  they also enjoyed dips and chips, cheese and crackers, and punch, juice or water. They also got to look over the latest catalogs from Lia Sophia, with a discount card of $10 off a sale of $100 or more. The discount is valid through July and can also be used at the Lia Sophia “Everything Chocolate” event on February 11 from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Dr. Noeth’s office.

Patty Sonnenschein, principal of Duggan Elementary school for nine years, found out about the Lia Sophia connection through her best friend who also sells the jewelry. “I’m supporting this because it’s tied to Dress for Success. Because it’s a non-profit organization we can have this at our school.”

Explaining that the Duggan school strives to promote and support the community, Sonnenschein said that the school is open to many other activities. “The school is a community building, not just a school building, so we promote after-school programs, we have girl scouts and boy scouts, tae kwon do, yoga, and we want to foster more of that.”

The school was on the chopping block last year and Sonnenschein says the teachers and support staff know they are fortunate to be there. “We want to be sure that our taxpayers value the Duggan community, not only as an academic community, but a community that builds relationships, citizenship, health and wellness, and extends the community to the school.”

As the recipient of the donated clothing, the chief professional officer of United Way of Sullivan County for the past two years, Kaytee Warren explained that the local program is overseen by her office. “Our program is called Wardrobes for Work, and we’re part of the national Dress for Success. It already existed when I came on board. It’s in our building and we oversee the day-to-day running.”

Wardrobes for Work used to be utilized strictly by referrals from county work agencies like Workforce Development, “but now, because the economy is so bad and so many people don’t have clothing for work or are trying to maintain clothing for a job, we’re now open to the public on Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.,” said Warren.

Clothing for men is also accepted and there are people on hand to help with the choosing and fitting of the clothing.

The United Way of Sullivan County, which used to act as a channeling agency for donations to other not-for-profits, now mainly works on what they call Community Impact Projects. “We’re part of the partnership for 211, the information and referral number. 211 is a seven-county collaborative, which includes Sullivan, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster and Rockland.”

Warren says that the collaborative is especially needed in times like this. “There’s such a maze of services and people don’t get what they need because they don’t know who to call, 211 can find help for a wide range of services: if you need help for a parent with Alzheimer’s, if you’re looking for a lawyer, help with education expenses, any kind of health care …” The program is sponsored by the State of New York. However, like many social service programs, the 211 collaborative got a 92% cut in funding in 2009. It is now funded by the participating counties’ United Ways and by private foundations.

In 2009, the United Way of Sullivan County distributed over 2800 holiday gifts through it’s Snowman & Dreidel Tree Campaign. The organization also runs food drives to restock county food pantries, administers food and shelter monies that comes from FEMA for one-time emergency help. “We do a golf tournament to raise money, we oversee the SEFA campaign for state employees, and the United Way campaign, and right now we’re doing Haitian earthquake relief,” explains Warren. 

Clothing donations for the Dress for Success / Wardrobes for Work program can be brought to the Body, Mind & Spirit Wellness Center at 12 Plank Road in Mongaup Valley (583-6181). or to the United Way Office at 33 Lakewood Avenue in Monticello (794-1771).

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Dress for Success visit The Catskill Chronicle on Zenfolio.