It's official - Partners Family Services in Humboldt is now a referral agency for the Dress for Success program in Saskatoon.
"This is a really great addition to the services we provide, for sure," noted Collette Lessmeister, executive director of Partners.
Partners, she noted, is about empowering the person, about building hope in others, and that's what Dress for Success does.
Dress for Success is a community agency that offers services to women who are working to secure employment and have financial barriers to accessing work appropriate clothing for interviews, employment, work placements and internships.
This means that if women in Humboldt are facing financial barriers, they can be referred to the Saskatoon agency by Partners to get a wardrobe for their job.
"It's any kind of job," Lessmeister stressed.
While Dress for Success has a reputation for providing women with professional clothing for an office setting, they can provide clothes for anyone needing clothes for their job - waitresses who need black pants and white shirts, janitors who need the right clothing, even women who work at hog barns - they can get you the right clothes.
"Whatever the work is, they will give you appropriate clothes for the job," said Lessmeister.
The agency starts by giving women referred to them clothing for an interview.
"The person has to have an interview date," noted Glenda Frey of Partners.
Women in Humboldt or the surrounding area can come into Partners to talk to them about their situation and what they need.
"We fill out a referral form and send it to (the agency in Saskatoon)," Frey said.
Then Dress for Success will set up an appointment with that person.
"It's a one-on-one interview," Frey noted. "They get 100 per cent attention."
The women who access Dress for Success services "are spoiled rotten," Lessmeister smiled.
"They really make them feel special. They do their hair, makeup, colours."
"People come in with their heads down, " noted Frey. "And when they go out, they feel great."
Success according to Dress for Success, she noted, is not about landing that high-paying job.
"It's about feeling empowered, and confident that you have the right clothes for the job. Success is whatever it may be for that person, that job," she said.
Those at Dress for Success gather a lot of information about the women who come in before they ever reach the door. They ask about their size, the colours they like and the job they are hoping to get, and pull appropriate clothing so that there's a lot for each woman to try on. They have a selection ready for when they come in for their interview clothing.
Then, if they get the job they interview for, they get a good selection of clothing to wear to work.
"They go above and beyond," Lessmeister said of the program.
It's not just clothing, she added - it's purses, jewelry, footwear, coats.
Everything at Dress for Success is organized by season and size, she noted, and everything is clean.
Everything Dress for Success offers is donated to their organization. They only accept items that are new or like new, and don't have to be dry-cleaned.
They are always looking for volunteers to go in and wash clothes, steam and iron items, and do mending and alterations, Lessmeister said. Anyone interested can go and spend a day there, volunteering.
People from Humboldt are also invited to drop off donations for the organization. Already, Partners has taken in five bags of clothing.
"They really appreciated it," Lessmeister said.
Other donations from Humboldt can be dropped off at two Conexus locations in Saskatoon.
