By Chris Yow
Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Alex Yearout knows when his mother and her church get involved with a project, it’s a worthy cause. That’s why he has enlisted Complete Cleaners to help his mother’s church group’s latest project with a clothing drive to benefit The WellHouse. The drive will begin Nov. 19 and last only three days until Nov. 21.
The WellHouse is a nonprofit organization that rescue and helps restore women who have been through human trafficking.
“The ladies that we serve are adults, right now the ladies we have are 18-53 years old. We give them everything. They’re provided clothing, health care, food as well as other skills, Ashley Anderson, Development Director for the WellHouse said. “When they’re initially rescued, they come into our short-term shelter, but we have two houses on the property. They will be in our short-term shelter about 30-45 days because they don’t have any ID or birth certificates because the traffickers take all of that. We have to help them get their identity back.”
Anderson noted the group is faith-based and The WellHouse trains their ladies for life physically, emotionally and spiritually.
“They’re immersed in Christ and they do go to church,” Anderson said. “We help with education and supply them with the jobs for life program which allows them to find a job, keep a job, dress for a job. We do faith and finance with them, all the things that we kind of take for granted, they’ve not had those skills.
“We aren’t a facility where they spend the night and leave. We want them to graduate the program and be fully independent with sustainable employment.”
The clothing drive will certainly help the process of equipping these ladies for life after The WellHouse.
“They oftentimes forget they are loved because of what they have been through. When people come out and do things or donate things, they don’t understand that these people are giving them something and not asking for anything in return. It gives the ladies a sense of no matter where they are, they are loved and people care about them. This is going to give them that sense of hope,” Anderson said.
The WellHouse asks the clothes donated be gently used, but also be something a female from the ages of 18-50 would wear.
“If you wouldn’t wear it, they probably won’t either,” Anderson said. Also, remember these ladies will be attending job interviews and clothes they could potentially wear during that time would be preferable.
“Once they graduate, they’re going to have to get a job. We want to show them how to dress,” Anderson said.
Yearout said he was excited to be able to help such a deserving cause.
“Everybody here at Complete Cleaners is excited. We serve the community with dry cleaning, but we also want to be known as servants of the community and charities. What better way to do that than to help the ladies of The WellHouse,” he said.
Donations can be made at the Tutwiler location of Complete Cleaners and following the drive, Complete Cleaners will clean and deliver the clothes to The WellHouse.