From Rags to Clothing Thousands –
Penny Glass, who comes from Detroit, Michigan, experienced challenging circumstances in her upbringing. As a determined mother, she bravely founded “The Clothing Exchange,” a non-profit organization. This initiative enables individuals to swap out clothes that don’t fit or are no longer wanted for gently used ones, fostering a sense of community and mutual support. Despite facing personal challenges, including a battle with cancer and the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Penny continues to make a substantial impact by providing clothing to thousands in her community each year. Learn more about The Clothing Exchange at: https://theclothingexchange.info
Summary of the Interview:
The episode of “Life Isn’t Always Easy” features an interview with Penny Glass, the founder and president of the nonprofit organization called the Clothing Exchange. Penny’s story begins in Detroit, Michigan, and leads her to Texas, where she has been putting clothes on thousands of families annually through her organization. Despite facing challenges like Hurricane Harvey and a battle with cancer, Penny remains committed to helping her community.
In the interview, Penny discusses the origin of the Clothing Exchange, starting with her own struggles and the realization of the need for assistance in obtaining school clothes. The organization has grown over the years, providing not only clothes but also backpacks filled with school supplies. Penny shares her personal journey, emphasizing the impact of her experiences on shaping her compassionate and caring nature.
The Clothing Exchange operates by accepting clothing donations, providing vouchers based on the number of items donated, and allowing individuals to “shop” for needed items during designated events. Penny highlights the community’s need for a dedicated building to continue serving efficiently.
Despite personal health challenges, including a battle with colon cancer and long-term effects of COVID-19, Penny remains determined to continue the Clothing Exchange’s mission. She emphasizes the importance of offering hope and support to individuals, helping them feel better about themselves and overcome life’s challenges.
Towards the end of the interview, Penny mentions the Mother’s Day event, her daughter’s achievement in culinary arts, and the continuous support from the community. The conversation showcases Penny’s resilience, selflessness, and dedication to making a positive impact on the lives of others through the Clothing Exchange.
Transcript:
00;00;00;03 – 00;00;35;13
Kim
In this episode of Life Isn’t Always Easy, I interview Penny Glass. Penny is the founder and president of a nonprofit organization called the Clothing Exchange. Penny Story begins literally in rags in Detroit, Michigan, and brings her to Texas. Where she put clothes on thousands of families every single year. I’m telling you, this story is absolutely inspirational. It is full of so much pain, so much grief and so many challenges.
00;00;35;23 – 00;00;47;25
Kim
And every single time that she faced when she turned it around, looked for the opportunity and has changed the lives of thousands in her community.
00;00;53;16 – 00;01;26;06
Kim
This is life isn’t always easy. In fact, it kind of sucks sometimes. The podcast that is all about overcoming the curveballs present. You and I am your host, Ken Kostek, professional organizer Zeigler Legacy Certified Coach specializing in major life changes Hey there and welcome to you. Life isn’t always easy. In fact, it kind of sucks sometimes. I am super excited to present.
00;01;26;08 – 00;01;55;23
Kim
My guest today is Penny Glass. She is a beautiful mother of three girls and founder and president of a local nonprofit organization called the Clothing Exchange. And in the past nine years, they have hosted 18 clothing exchange events that is serving three counties just east of Houston with tens of thousands of articles of clothing that have been distributed during that time.
00;01;56;05 – 00;02;26;29
Kim
And five years ago, they added a back to school drive that is distributed over 2800 backpacks that are filled with school supplies. Penny has a heart of the community and I am so proud to call her a friend for over ten years and in the middle of all of this Penny has also paid some unbelievable challenges like Hurricane Harvey taking away her house and a fight with cancer.
00;02;26;29 – 00;02;52;21
Kim
So I love you, Penny. I am super good. I’m going to cry and see where it’s gotten that you agreed to get in and share your story with me. Pretty emotional. You it’s really hard to believe some of the things that we’ve done and the impact that we’ve had and the challenges that we face while doing it. And I really think about that.
00;02;52;21 – 00;02;54;05
Kim
Do you ever think about what you’ve been through?
00;02;54;25 – 00;03;15;21
Penny
I do, because it makes me who I am today. And I think that if it wouldn’t have been for each and everything that I’ve been through, I wouldn’t be the caring mother, the caring neighbor, the caring person. In the community reaching out and trying to help so many people.
00;03;16;14 – 00;03;41;19
Kim
Thousands of children like when you say 2800 backpacks. Right. That’s what I read. Like when you think of 2800 backpacks, there’s 2800 children, I understand thousands of children that you have made their school year more successful. So tell me, where did this act of service that you have? Where did it come from?
00;03;42;09 – 00;04;05;09
Penny
In order to explain that, let’s go back a little bit further than the cancer, than the hurricane. Let’s go back to age ten with me. Yes. So a long ways back, right? So I grew up poor, OK, so that started before age ten, but starting from age ten to 18, I’m two weeks before my 18th birthday. I was molested by five different people.
00;04;05;20 – 00;04;13;25
Penny
On my 18th birthday, I was raped by two people. And then the day after that I got with a guy that beat the crap out of me for eight months.
00;04;15;26 – 00;04;36;17
Penny
I went through a lot. I went through a lot in a short period of time and in this time of my life. I grew up in Michigan. Let me back up with that too. So I chose to go to Detroit somewhere nobody would think to look at me. And I chose to live in a shelter for four months for when I was lost.
00;04;37;09 – 00;05;00;27
Penny
I felt like there was nobody on my side. I had been through this hurt in this pain and there was nobody there to protect me. And then I go into this shelter and I see this wonderful, amazing father. I wish I could remember his name. And three children that are living in this shelter. There was more there’s different families that impacted me.
00;05;01;09 – 00;05;28;01
Penny
He was in a shelter by choice as well. Getting away from his wife that was addicted to drugs and made it to where they lost everything. I watched the mother that was pregnant eight months going through seizures that they were sitting there saying she was faking and she couldn’t get help. These are just a couple of people that impacted my life, not only in the streets of Detroit, but also in this shelter that I chose to stay in.
00;05;29;12 – 00;05;55;25
Penny
Eventually, I went home and I went in hung out with the wrong crowd. But I tell you what, what changed my life after this happened? I sat on a ground one day and I was going to sit there and slice and I felt something behind me just grabbed me and I dropped the knife, OK, when I was 24 years old, I had yet another surgery on my ovaries.
00;05;56;12 – 00;06;23;07
Penny
And then two months after that, I found out I was pregnant, changed my life because now the purpose the reason I was here in my in my mind, I just wanted to be a good mom. OK, so three kids later. My oldest is now 22, my middle one’s 21 and my youngest a beaming smart alec, 15 year old smart Alec in every way.
00;06;23;07 – 00;06;47;06
Penny
She’s intelligent. She’s got the smart alec from her mom. But to get to that point, this is where we are today. So before my middle, my I’m sorry, my oldest daughter started her sixth grade year. They thought she had a tumor. And we spent four months robbing Peter to pay Paul to pay her medical bills. There was no help for us because me and her dad worked.
00;06;47;09 – 00;07;08;16
Penny
Our income was over the income barriers, so we didn’t have a way to get them school clothes or shoes or backpacks and school supplies that year. And my mom stepped in. But that’s when my argument with God started OK, I’m sorry. I now have faith with God’s help. So when I moved to Texas, that’s where I am now.
00;07;08;23 – 00;07;33;04
Penny
I found an awesome church and I became a family of this church and I found out who God was. And I found that everything that he put me through made me the mom that He was preparing me to be. So I was at this church. It was called Eagle Heights Fellowship. Amazing family. I miss them all. I started arguing with God.
00;07;33;12 – 00;07;51;02
Penny
I argued with God for over a year before I went to the pastor of the Eagle Heights Fellowship. And I said, Pastor, I have this idea I said, I’ve been arguing with God about this for over a year. I said, I’m tired of this argument. And I told him what was going on. And he said, Try it if it works.
00;07;51;07 – 00;08;16;13
Penny
Keep going. The very first one, we helped 30 people. That was it. The August before COVID, we helped 1500 August is always our biggest one. That’s our back to school. We do backpacks, we do food. Last year we gave out socks and underwear brand new. We gave out the backpacks and school supplies. Everybody got a box of food, a box of hurricane supplies, you name it.
00;08;16;13 – 00;08;46;00
Penny
It’s a great big event. In August, COVID slowed us down a little bit, but we still helped 1500 people last year as well. So our numbers are staying at 1500. But what we’re finding now is we need a building. The need is in the community for a building, and that’s where we are with that. And I skipped right over Harvey in cancer because I get so excited talking about the clothing exchange that I forget about everything else.
00;08;46;00 – 00;08;48;07
Penny
I’m so sorry. No, no, it’s OK.
00;08;48;07 – 00;09;21;22
Kim
It’s OK. So, so let me help and then you just kind of add in a little bit more to anybody that is unfamiliar with the clothing exchanges. So, you know, I did talk about, you know, that y’all distribute urban, you know, thousands of articles of clothing. I’m just going to kind of adlib. And then I want you to give like the official clothing exchange description because one of the things about this ministry is and I hope somebody that is listening to this gets inspired and wants to do you want in their community and gets with you and how to be able to do this?
00;09;21;22 – 00;09;47;00
Kim
Because this is something that needs to happen nationwide, to be quite honest with you. OK, so the clothing exchange essentially when I explain it to my clients because because I have clients, as you know, that have them donated to y’all quite frequently every year it is you give up your clothes like clothes that you’re going to be donating or anyways maybe to Goodwill or that you no longer fit.
00;09;47;00 – 00;10;10;22
Kim
Right. You know, children that can no longer fit into their clothes because they grow. Count those items, including purses, belts, shoes, what have you. And then they give you a voucher there’s a collection process of several days where they’re sorting through and they’re setting up for the exchange and they give you a voucher. And then with this voucher, you go back shopping on that Saturday.
00;10;10;22 – 00;10;34;24
Kim
That’s a big fun event shop for the amount of items that were on the voucher that you donated. And it doesn’t have. It’s not like a same exchange or anything like that if you’re just wanting to purge out your closet, but you don’t need any more clothes, then you can essentially use that voucher to get clothes, beds for a niece or nephew.
00;10;34;24 – 00;10;49;17
Kim
The idea, like you said with your daughter that you need needed school clothes and somebody else could use those clothes and then somebody may have a size that you need. Did did I give the clothing exchange enough justice with my explanation of it?
00;10;50;07 – 00;11;07;09
Penny
Absolutely. Absolutely. I tell everybody when I stop them because we go to different we go to farmer’s markets and different things. And I get the pleasure of talking about it. And I always tell them I can give them a little spiel in 30 seconds or less. So, you know, you did good, but let me do it. My version. How’s that.
00;11;07;16 – 00;11;08;20
Kim
That’s what I’m basically.
00;11;08;20 – 00;11;35;18
Penny
All you do is you go through your closets, anything you can’t bitty, you don’t wear, you bring it to us. We have four days, a drop out Monday through Thursday. Thursday the next one is August, first through fourth. You we give you a voucher for how many pieces you bring. You come back on Saturday and you bring your voucher and you can get at least that many pieces however, since we started this, we have been blessed enough to be able to tell the families, don’t even worry about that voucher.
00;11;35;18 – 00;11;54;03
Penny
We don’t count their clothes when they leave. We do when they come in because of bookkeeping purposes. But when they leave, we tell them or when they get there. I have this little meeting before we open the doors and I am honored to tell them that they don’t have to worry about the number on their voucher, get what their family needs.
00;11;55;07 – 00;11;57;26
Penny
Wow. Absolutely.
00;11;58;07 – 00;12;31;05
Kim
That that is amazing in and you’re right there. I remember a clothing exchange, I guess it was last year were there were socks, there were even feminine hygiene products and things that were donated. And the Houston Food Bank has came out and really supported this initiative. And and again, this is something that should be in every community if if you asked me so tell me, what did it cost you to start this?
00;12;32;19 – 00;12;56;16
Penny
It actually cost me absolutely nothing. We were able to get so our first clothes racks were made by two by fours. We still have them. And I think my dad had it as extra wood at his house because he had already went through two hurricanes, so they had extra wood from theirs. So they made us these makeshift clothes racks we still have those.
00;12;57;04 – 00;13;00;29
Penny
And basically it didn’t cost us anything but our time.
00;13;01;24 – 00;13;09;03
Kim
Which is a lot of time. And I’m about to get to that in a second. Y’all are 501 C three organization.
00;13;09;24 – 00;13;10;04
Penny
Yeah.
00;13;10;18 – 00;13;15;05
Kim
You love giving out volunteer hours to students.
00;13;15;28 – 00;13;17;04
Penny
Absolutely.
00;13;18;07 – 00;13;20;12
Penny
At work. Yes, absolutely.
00;13;20;12 – 00;13;32;02
Kim
They absolutely do. Because you do you hold them accountable. And I get that and I agree to that. And but it is a and you’ll have a board of directors, correct?
00;13;32;02 – 00;13;32;24
Speaker 3
Absolutely.
00;13;32;24 – 00;13;33;04
Penny
Yes.
00;13;33;04 – 00;13;41;09
Kim
He retired with the 501c3. So how many regular volunteers would you say that you have to date?
00;13;41;21 – 00;13;44;26
Penny
I would say maybe 15
00;13;45;17 – 00;13;50;21
Kim
OK. And how many more do you think that you need? 150.
00;13;52;27 – 00;14;23;22
Penny
Well, this is where it gets hard for the event itself, rather that when we accept clothes that Monday through Thursday, for one, we never know how many people we’re going to get on the days. So we have people accepting the clothes, people going through the clothes, people taking them and sorting them. How many more could we use? I honestly could say we could use a good 20 a day, if not more, to make it easier for everybody.
00;14;23;22 – 00;14;36;07
Penny
Because what happens is that variety that we don’t take clothes, we’re just trying to get everything done, we’re exhausted and we just want to make sure it’s right for everybody.
00;14;36;23 – 00;14;59;14
Kim
It is organized for, you know, toddler boys, toddler girls, baby boys, baby girls, you know, in your girls, junior boys or I guess it would be whatever. And then adults and then all sizes plus sizes, I mean, and then dresses formal wear is is separate y’all. And it’s pretty organized and I have to give you that. OK.
00;14;59;29 – 00;15;01;09
Speaker 3
So we’re going to go back to the time.
00;15;02;13 – 00;15;28;26
Kim
The time invested into this I know that is hours and hours and not just during the event, but in the middle. And and you do multiple fundraisers now between in between actual clothing exchanges. And like you said, there’s one in the fall and then there’s always one that’s hosted over spring break as well. No spring break vacations for Penny.
00;15;29;07 – 00;15;32;19
Penny
But vacation. What’s that?
00;15;32;24 – 00;16;02;14
Kim
I know, right? I know in that idea, you know, all the time that you invest in between as well and time it comes with an exchange. And one of those things that you really had to fight with was your house and your house while continuing to grow the clothing exchange you’ve been through, still going through a battle. Talk to me about that.
00;16;03;08 – 00;16;05;00
Speaker 3
How when what was it like?
00;16;05;22 – 00;16;14;05
Penny
Let’s start back with I think the first thing you mentioned was the hurricane and I want to say it was 20, 18. I could be wrong.
00;16;14;05 – 00;16;16;04
Speaker 3
I know it’s 2017.
00;16;17;26 – 00;16;22;27
Kim
Before I had my son. I will never forget when Hurricane Harvey was.
00;16;23;13 – 00;16;58;29
Penny
I will tell you, I will never forget the day we evacuated because it was the day before Johannesburg, which is my youngest. I just could never remember the year, which is horrible. Now we know she was 11. She turned 11 the day after so we got four foot of water in our house for Harvey everything I’m going to say, probably 99% of everything we owned got flooded after just remodeling my kitchen dining room, living room, and my daughter’s bathroom from a kitchen fire.
00;16;59;13 – 00;16;59;21
Penny
Yeah.
00;16;59;21 – 00;17;03;28
Kim
I’m going to pause there real quick and say, as a single mom.
00;17;05;04 – 00;17;27;03
Penny
Yes, as a single mom. So me and my kids remodeled the house with the help of my parents because I don’t do electricity just got the house back together, brand new furniture and everything but my room. Here comes Harvey, four foot of water. So it wipes us out yeah. I didn’t even know I had so much stuff in my house.
00;17;27;03 – 00;17;48;07
Penny
But I’m going to tell you, there was one box in my garage. I had tote boxes because I’m a crafter and I crochet, and that’s a whole nother silly story. But out of all that whole boxes that were in my garage, one tool box did not have any water in it, was not damaged in any way, shape or form.
00;17;49;03 – 00;17;51;16
Penny
And that was my clothing exchange box.
00;17;52;06 – 00;17;52;20
Kim
Wow.
00;17;53;10 – 00;18;14;01
Penny
Yeah, that was pretty crazy for foot of water. And that tote was actually on the floor by itself. So there is no telling where it was. We got the house back together. I was working on it. Me and the girls put in flooring. We had horrible contractors. I was able to get all of the house back together except for my bedroom.
00;18;14;17 – 00;18;46;18
Penny
I still had boards hanging from the ceiling, drywall missing from the ceiling. It was a horrible experience. I just figured I would get to it eventually. And then in 2019, probably we started noticing things were going on with me and probably July or August, my stomach was hurting I just didn’t understand, like I would eat and it would just feel like I don’t even know how to explain it.
00;18;47;04 – 00;19;12;09
Penny
Like I constantly had to go to the restroom and it made it it just got harder and harder to eat. We were going to the hospitals. My daughter drove me to Texas Women’s Hospital. They were doing tests and nothing was coming back. Finally, in April of 20, 20, I went to the hospital right after COVID started I spent three days there.
00;19;12;09 – 00;19;40;21
Penny
They couldn’t do any testing because that’s when the government shut down all elective testing because apparently a colonoscopy was elective. They found that I had a severe severe colitis and a severe UTI sent me home with medicine. Three days later, I’m back at the hospital. I can’t even keep water down by this time. I’m in they admit me again.
00;19;40;21 – 00;20;03;01
Penny
Get in the hospital room. The doctor comes in the room and says, Miss Glass, I’m sorry I told you three days ago, there’s nothing we can do for you. The government has testing closed or shut down. There was a nurse in the room, and to this day, we even got her a gift and everything because she looked at that doctor and said, Doctor, they started opening testing back up yesterday.
00;20;05;06 – 00;20;13;28
Penny
Two days later, I found out I had stage two be colon cancer. It had blocked everything from exiting, and that’s why I was getting sick.
00;20;15;28 – 00;20;40;07
Penny
And we now found out the reason they were having problems finding out what was going on is because my markers were never out. If anybody doesn’t know what that means, there’s markers in your blood that tells them by the elevations or decreasing. If you have cancer and my never were out. That’s now something that they have to be more aware of as well.
00;20;41;08 – 00;20;46;17
Kim
So we find out in 20, 20 in the height of a pandemic.
00;20;48;21 – 00;20;49;04
Speaker 3
We’ve got.
00;20;49;04 – 00;20;58;00
Kim
Colon cancer still over the summer yet you still host a clothing exchange a few months later.
00;20;59;06 – 00;21;35;02
Penny
Absolutely. Why because the help is still needed. Just because I’m sick doesn’t mean other people don’t need that Ray of hope. My biggest thing is I was bullied because I was poor and didn’t have, you know, the clothes. If we can help somebody just feel better about themselves, get that better job, go to school and not get bullied because they look nice, or just give them that little bit of hope they need just to be themselves.
00;21;35;29 – 00;21;53;18
Penny
That’s what matters to me. And just because I’m sick doesn’t mean that stops because there’s too many people that rely on what we do. We get a lot of foster families, too, that come in. That’s how they clothed their kids. They look forward to this interaction munity.
00;21;54;26 – 00;22;00;08
Kim
Yeah, mean do. And you’ve made me cry in No Crying Aloud.
00;22;01;02 – 00;22;35;05
Penny
You open that door in October of 2020. I then got COVID for the first time in January of 2021. I got COVID for the second time, got the vaccine in March because I was more scared of not getting covered again. Now I suffer long term COVID and my bones and muscles hurt really horribly every single day from the time I open my eyes in the morning to the time I go to bed at night.
00;22;35;28 – 00;22;38;09
Kim
And on top of that, what’s the status of the cancer?
00;22;39;13 – 00;22;43;04
Penny
Cancer, Bri, as of April 13th, of this year.
00;22;43;21 – 00;22;45;05
Kim
That is amazing.
00;22;47;06 – 00;23;23;13
Kim
This bit scary. You know, I mean, hearing those words that you don’t know what that’s going to mean. I got off the phone and I remember thinking I wish she would have just told me it was cancer because that was familiar. And you’re either going to beat it or you’re not. I understand that that that was an emotional state of mind that I was in in that moment when you just find out that your child has a chronic illness.
00;23;23;13 – 00;24;04;07
Kim
I still would never wish that diagnosis on anybody. And it’s and it’s scary. And I was in a very similar situation with Lincoln during COVID, with the procedures getting shut down, what they call elective that weren’t very elective. They’re making elective and, you know, labeling elective and and which is then hindering, you know, treatment, which was just just making it last longer for you.
00;24;04;13 – 00;24;37;03
Kim
And that’s hard and then to, you know, to have these other situations as a result of COVID. But to see you still pushing forward, I mean, nothing is going to stop you. Nothing is going to slow you down. I’m dead convinced of that, that you were just absolutely invincible when we were at the Mothers Day event, that the the clothing chain hosted a fundraiser.
00;24;37;10 – 00;24;42;04
Kim
I’m hoping it was financially successful for you.
00;24;43;02 – 00;24;48;13
Penny
The first one, it was good it will grow each year. We all know how that works.
00;24;48;24 – 00;24;55;11
Kim
Yes, absolutely. But I remain for not just myself, but other people saying, hey, sit down.
00;24;55;28 – 00;24;57;27
Speaker 3
Be sit down.
00;24;58;08 – 00;25;20;04
Kim
Stop. And not only are you hosting a Mother’s Day event with vendors and food as a fundraiser for the clothing exchange, but your daughter walks across a college stage to be able to get a certificate in culinary arts, which is super cool.
00;25;21;06 – 00;25;23;28
Penny
First level one certification.
00;25;24;07 – 00;25;26;03
Speaker 3
Whatever. OK.
00;25;27;21 – 00;25;29;24
Penny
I don’t know either. To be honest, I am here.
00;25;30;09 – 00;25;31;00
Speaker 3
You see, got.
00;25;31;01 – 00;25;32;07
Kim
Certification.
00;25;32;07 – 00;25;32;14
Speaker 3
In.
00;25;32;14 – 00;26;01;05
Kim
Culinary arts, and when she hasn’t even finished her sophomore year of high school yet, and then you come back to the clothing exchange after having been there since like at 6:00 in the morning I think you said, and they come back to make sure that you close down the event all the while your body is hurting. This just kind of brings me to why I created this platform.
00;26;01;08 – 00;26;03;29
Kim
Your life isn’t easy. It’s had a lot of.
00;26;03;29 – 00;26;04;17
Speaker 3
Suck.
00;26;06;26 – 00;26;07;29
Penny
It surely has.
00;26;08;21 – 00;26;15;16
Kim
And but you’re smiling and you are happy.
00;26;16;11 – 00;26;17;12
Speaker 3
And.
00;26;17;27 – 00;26;19;12
Kim
It radiates from.
00;26;19;12 – 00;26;21;08
Speaker 3
You and.
00;26;21;23 – 00;26;24;24
Kim
You have changed the lives of.
00;26;25;07 – 00;26;28;08
Speaker 3
The thousands of.
00;26;28;08 – 00;26;29;15
Kim
Families.
00;26;30;13 – 00;26;37;15
Speaker 3
I know you’re kind of a rock star now.
00;26;38;03 – 00;27;04;10
Penny
I’m just a normal every day I’ve been through some crap because it does suck. But if I can help alleviate one other person’s life sucking with just a pair of pants or a pair of shoes that fit, or maybe they lost weight or they gained weight and they don’t have anything that fits because, golly, we know about weight loss and weight gain.
00;27;04;10 – 00;27;32;10
Penny
That’s for sure. But sometimes just the right thing that fits your body can change the way you feel about yourself, and that will change the way you go into a job. That way, you go into a classroom the way your whole outlook on life is and not only that, I hope that I get time to talk to them and tell my story because it doesn’t define me.
00;27;33;14 – 00;27;58;10
Penny
I am proud to share my story because it makes me who I am, but I want to continue to uplift people why does it have to be about hatred and anger all the time? I don’t understand. And even my board knows it’s about respect it doesn’t matter who comes through that door. I don’t care if they come in with no clothes on.
00;27;58;10 – 00;28;06;28
Penny
They get the same respect as the last person, and that’s the way it should be. No matter what in my in my little brain of a world.
00;28;08;05 – 00;28;13;21
Kim
Well, I mean, here your brain is kind of created something pretty freaking awesome.
00;28;13;21 – 00;28;15;25
Speaker 3
That we got to say about that.
00;28;16;05 – 00;28;19;11
Kim
So you get a little bit of the say so with that board more.
00;28;19;11 – 00;28;21;01
Penny
So I’m just saying.
00;28;21;01 – 00;28;42;21
Kim
That and that’s my two sense. Not that it matters. So tell me. I’m only going to assume that if somebody said I want to create a clothing exchange in my community, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you would be willing to have those conversations with them.
00;28;43;12 – 00;28;43;27
Speaker 3
And I.
00;28;43;27 – 00;28;45;16
Kim
Want you be able.
00;28;45;18 – 00;28;49;03
Penny
To where they are to help them with their very first one.
00;28;50;00 – 00;29;24;02
Kim
That that is beautiful. I hope that that happens. I really do. So one last question on the clothing exchange. With that being said, because again, I’m hoping that we have inspired somebody to do this for their community what is the number one mistake that you made or an error or the biggest challenge that you had that if you knew, because hindsight’s always 2020, right.
00;29;24;02 – 00;29;26;02
Kim
That you could have avoided.
00;29;27;28 – 00;29;53;05
Penny
Probably document better. I don’t actually have plans for what I do. I kind of go with where God leads me every day. And that sounds kind of crazy. But that’s really how it is. I don’t have a plan. I wake up every day like all this stuff’s going through my mind and then I get a phone call. Like this morning I got a phone call from somebody in there said, I got your number from another nonprofit.
00;29;53;13 – 00;30;00;23
Penny
I hear you’re having a garage sale coming up at 20% garage sale and I have a whole houseful that I want to donate to you.
00;30;04;05 – 00;30;04;15
Kim
So do you.
00;30;04;15 – 00;30;05;02
Speaker 3
Say. Yes.
00;30;05;24 – 00;30;15;23
Penny
Absolutely. But my biggest thing is volunteers then, because we got to move this stuff. Yes. Yes. Ma’am, I did. Yes, ma’am. I said we will do it.
00;30;16;22 – 00;30;23;16
Kim
I’m pretty sure I’ve actually made a very similar call to you before with a client that has had an estate sale.
00;30;24;13 – 00;30;25;02
Speaker 3
They said.
00;30;25;11 – 00;30;27;10
Kim
Come make the clothing exchange, get what they.
00;30;27;10 – 00;30;30;16
Penny
Want real quick. Let me talk about that. So we.
00;30;30;17 – 00;30;31;15
Kim
Do to use Houston.
00;30;31;24 – 00;31;09;06
Penny
Garage sale, we sell everything but the furniture for $0.25. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s not clothes because we save the clothes for the clothing exchange. They don’t get there’s no cost for clothes, period. We sell everything for a quarter. Every money that all the money we make goes for only backpacks and school supplies. That’s it. But again, I want it back up to because there’s no way I would even be able to do these nine years without the support of my board, without the support of my friends like you as well, without the support of my parents, because we’re all volunteers.
00;31;09;17 – 00;31;14;26
Penny
We don’t if we don’t have enough, we come out of our pockets somehow and make it happen.
00;31;15;25 – 00;31;17;18
Speaker 3
So it.
00;31;17;18 – 00;31;24;20
Penny
Does. And without everybody, this would never my little plan nine years ago would have never been where it is today.
00;31;26;00 – 00;31;33;11
Kim
So it’s you’re also saying is the clothing exchange means some type of business planner.
00;31;34;16 – 00;31;36;29
Speaker 3
Yes. Know. And we need that.
00;31;36;29 – 00;31;39;17
Penny
Website to from that business planner.
00;31;40;05 – 00;31;42;21
Speaker 3
Oh, OK. OK.
00;31;44;05 – 00;31;53;22
Penny
Hey, you know what? It’s baby steps. We’re talking about these old people trying to do everything these five year olds can do. And we have no idea.
00;31;54;16 – 00;32;06;01
Kim
But this I will come in to you right now. We talked about it. We played the idea around I will commit to you with the website by the end of the week.
00;32;07;28 – 00;32;08;26
Speaker 3
OK, you got it.
00;32;10;20 – 00;32;14;03
Kim
I know, right? And this is how Penny does it, ladies and gentlemen.
00;32;15;20 – 00;32;17;20
Speaker 3
That like boring people.
00;32;18;17 – 00;32;57;16
Kim
I know because if you missed that whole, like, look that she gave me, I knew where she was going with that. OK, so committed, done. The year is you deserve it. And thank you. I know that. I mean, even though myself and my family tried to give our donations and my business gives donations and my children give their time, especially to rack up those volunteer hours I mean, honestly, they were doing it without before we they were doing it long before they were in high school and volunteer hours actually counted.
00;32;57;16 – 00;33;23;26
Kim
So it doesn’t it doesn’t matter. You want to donate to the clothing exchange? When we put out the show notes for this interview, I will make sure that we have a link to their website and a link to how to donate online. And I’m going to put me on blast with her information on how to get a hold of her.
00;33;24;05 – 00;33;37;10
Kim
So you can create a clothing exchange in your community because she is committed to going rapper. It is helping you through your first one. And let’s let’s grow this. You know.
00;33;38;16 – 00;33;39;15
Penny
Absolutely.
00;33;40;15 – 00;33;58;11
Kim
You know, Penny, you inspire me in so many and I truly believe that you have never received the recognition that you deserve, but your humility would stand in the way of it anyways.
00;33;58;24 – 00;34;01;15
Speaker 3
So you are somebody that.
00;34;01;17 – 00;34;02;28
Kim
I recognize you.
00;34;04;04 – 00;34;23;22
Penny
Never want. I do this for recognition. I’m one of those that likes to sit in the silence. And it takes a lot for me to do that speech, you know, twice a year before we open the doors. It really does. I’m shaking and everything I’ve even like in our prayer, I’ll be going. It’s good. And then all of a sudden I forget everything and I have to end it.
00;34;23;28 – 00;34;38;00
Penny
So, you know, I am one of those that I like to be in the background, but I’m going to get it done. And again, I couldn’t be able to do this without anybody else either. I certainly can’t be this one person nope.
00;34;38;00 – 00;35;06;03
Kim
Nope. You you can’t. You can’t. Well, is there anything else that you would like to add for someone for any money that’s either facing a challenge or somebody that, you know, has gone giving them this plan in their head and talking to them, even if it’s something completely different or just I mean, any money out there, is there any other message that you want to give.
00;35;07;09 – 00;35;34;29
Penny
There’s one thing that I’ve been very strict. Like, I coached soccer for ten years. I have my own children. Of course, there’s one thing that, again, no matter what you’ve been through or what, don’t let people hold your back. Hold you back as long as you believe in yourself, you can do anything. And that’s my biggest thing. Don’t let people take that away because you’re the one who determines your future.
00;35;35;17 – 00;35;48;15
Penny
And I may not be the best of anything, but I’m not letting anybody else hold me back any more either. That’s not going to happen. I believe in myself way too much.
00;35;50;20 – 00;35;56;19
Kim
That’s all right. And you have every reason not to believe in yourself. But you chose to anyways.
00;35;57;24 – 00;35;58;21
Penny
Absolutely.
00;35;59;02 – 00;36;14;29
Kim
Already. My dear. Well, I thank you. I cannot thank you enough. I hope that you I mean, I know that you have inspired many and you will continue to do so. And I hope that somebody actually takes you up on your offer.
00;36;15;12 – 00;36;18;18
Penny
I hope so too. That would be great. That would be great.
00;36;18;25 – 00;36;40;28
Kim
Thank you for listening to Life isn’t always easy. In fact, it kind of sucks sometimes. I would love to connect with you and receive your feedback. You can do so by going to Life isn’t always easy dot com. There you will find every way for us to connect and links to the show notes and transcript of this episode.
00;36;41;03 – 00;36;45;22
Kim
Wherever it is in your life, just know that you matter and keep.