For those in need, Father Gene's Help Center in West Allis brings dignity through clothing

Earl Graham Jr. has a fresh start in life.

He’s been sober for five months. He’s reconnecting with his wife and children. And he just started a new job working night security.

He wanted to look the part.

So, he went shopping for clothes at Father Gene’s Help Center. The West Allis thrift shop has been providing free clothing for those in need for 50 years. Recent changes to the center — including increasing its retail space and modifying store operations — allow it to serve more people and families.

Individuals can shop for an array of donated items from jeans and T-shirts to more professional attire like men’s suits, dresses and shoes. The shop also has a selection of infant and toddler apparel.

On this day, Graham perused the aisles, picking up a pair of black Stacey Adams work boots, black cargo pants to match his security uniform shirts and a few dress shirts. For someone who’s starting over, they're essential.

“I need work pants for work. Socks. Undergarments. I need all of that,” said Graham, 42, who was told about Father Gene’s from housemates at the sober living treatment facility where he lives. “I didn’t have the money … so this is perfect. It’s a blessing.”

Father Gene's mission is to provide dignity through free clothing

Father Gene's Help Center isn't a typical secondhand shop. With wide aisles, display cases, neatly folded clothes and an airy atmosphere, the shop at 5919 W. National Ave. presents like a trendy thrift boutique found in Wauwatosa or even Milwaukee's Third Ward.

The inviting décor is intentional —to give clients, who often come from challenging circumstances, a dignified shopping experience. Community members and local businesses donate clothing — both used and new — offered at the thrift shop, which opened in 1969.

“Our mission is to provide dignity through free clothing. It is not about the clothes. It is about how people feel and about the shopping experience,” said Jessica Luebbering, the center’s executive director. “So, how it's arranged is really important.”

Clothes are arranged by size, color as well as by gender and age for infants and teens. Rainbowing the items, Luebbering said, creates visual cohesion. All the items are displayed on racks, shelves or hangers. Merchandise is accessorized and styled to offer suggestions on putting together an outfit.

“When people are checking out, we take the time to fold and count the items,” she said.

The shop even offers clients coffee or water. Those creature comforts are found in tony boutiques for high-end shoppers. Individuals coming to Father Gene’s should be treated no differently.

“It’s that little bit of extra touch that makes you feel like you are welcomed in a place,” Luebbering said, adding people often mistake the center for a retail shop.

That says the center is doing something right.

“We want to be more on the lines like Francesca’s or Anthropology or at least Plato’s Closet," she said. "We are an upscale thrift store … but we don’t sell anything."

The need for clothing assistance is still great

In March, it converted a storage area into more floor space, doubling the shop’s size to 4,000 square feet. This allowed the shop to display its entire inventory.

The shop eliminated scheduled shopping appointments. Instead, clients can shop every 90 days or four times a year at times convenient for them. The goal, Luebbering said, is not to create a dependency, but assistance when needed.

And in 2019, the center shifted from its long practice of prepacked orders. Staff would pick clothing from a list of items and sizes clients wanted. Luebbering said the practice wasn’t efficient and half of the items chosen weren’t used by clients.

That option is still available for those who can’t shop in person. But clients can shop for themselves, a spouse, a partner or children under age 18 for whom they're primary caregivers.

Clients are allowed a certain number of items each visit, but can choose clothing that fits their style, taste and needs. It's important, Luebbering said, for people to choose clothes that express their personality and empower them.

“Style is so individual,” she said. “When you wear something that you feel good in, your posture changes. You stand taller and you carry yourself differently. We want people to take home useful things they are excited to wear."

Since the expansion, the shop has seen a steady increase in clients. Last year, Father Gene's served more than 7,000 clients, distributing nearly 155,000 items. In October alone, the center served more than 2,000 clients and distributed more than 26,000 articles of clothing.

But the need for clothing assistance is still great, specifically for winter coats, plus-size clothing, men's clothing, new socks and undergarments, including bras.

There 's more than just a social impact to what Father Gene’s provides, but an environmental one. Luebbering noted giving old clothes new life keeps them out of landfills.

Father Gene's sees clothing as social justice

Clothing isn't often associated with the term "social justice." But when people are housing-insecure, they can’t take all their items with them when that housing changes suddenly, Luebbering said.

People take a closet full of clothing for granted. But being dressed in attire that makes one feel comfortable allows that person to show up in the world in the best version of themselves, she said.

“Clothing is one piece that helps them do that,” Luebbering said. “While it may not seem like a tangible social justice aspect like housing for example, it is a tool that helps them show up to that meeting, or present themselves to a landlord, to a job interview and that they feel good and are able to do those things.”

That’s why the center partners with community and social agencies to service their clients' clothing needs, too.

Alysia Mullins’s nonprofit, Kant Make Up Inc., is one of them. Her organization serves pregnant women, citizens returning from incarceration and those experiencing homelessness. She said the biggest barrier for a lot of her clients, especially families with small children, is clothing.

“They just don’t have the income for it,” Mullins said.

Having decent clothing affects youth the most. Bullying in school over what kids wear affects them socially and emotionally, she said.

“A lot of it has to do with confidence and being prepared for the weather," Mullins said. "And with the kids, it is more anti-bullying because they don’t have (the latest styles) and it does have to do with the self-esteem as well.”

Father Gene’s, she added, is a better option than other big-name thrift stores run by social service agencies since the clothes are free here.

“It makes a difference,” Mullins said.

A family goes to Father Gene's to prepare for their first winter here

Also shopping the same day as Earl Graham Jr. was the Mesa family, looking for winter gear. It's the first Wisconsin winter for the family, which came to Milwaukee about five months ago.

Andrea Mesa, 28, needed shoes and gloves for her children, 1-year-old Liam and 6-year-old Juan Diego. A social worker at her son’s elementary school told her about the shop.

The center, Mesa said through an interpreter, is important because the family doesn’t have a lot of money for winter clothes.

Also shopping was John W., 66, who asked to only use the initial of his last name. He, too, was seeking clothes for a new start in life.

John described himself as just a man down on his luck, nearly losing everything to a gambling addiction. He moved to Milwaukee from Arizona for a new start and landed a job as a produce clerk at a big-box grocery store. He picked up some shirts, jeans and a pair of Stacey Adams shoes.

If this shop wasn’t here, John said he'd have to go to Goodwill. A $75 voucher from that store went quickly, he said.

“If this wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have winter shoes," John said. "I wouldn’t have nothing.”

How you can help: Donations of gently used and cleaned clothes can be dropped off at Father Gene’s Help Center, 5919 W. National Ave., West Allis, WI 53214 or visit www.FatherGenesHelp.org to make a financial contribution.

Critical need items: Winter coats, shoes and boots, children’s clothing sizes 3T-18, new socks and new undergarments.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Father Gene's Help Center in West Allis brings dignity through clothes