Our Featured Volunteer

Spotlight on a CTK Volunteer: Susan Gill

Susan Gill started volunteering with Clothes To Kids in 2003 when it was just beginning in a tiny location in Dunedin. In 2005, Jode Eye and Marie McClung knew they needed help to run the daily operations in the existing store while they planned and moved to a larger location in Clearwater.  They asked Susan to help and she became the first paid employee at Clothes To Kids. It fulfilled a childhood fantasy of running a store! In her “former life” Susan was a nursing administrator and nurse case manager so she was prepared for working with people.

The Dunedin store was small and 30 children shopping was a big day. As it grew, there was clothing stacked everywhere, and the CTK dressing rooms were two tiny bathrooms. With the help of Macy’s stores, the new store was built out by volunteers and staff. The new store was wonderful, but as the pace of shopping picked up, lots of challenges were found. There was only one phone and it was at the front of the store. There was only one computer, and all of the shopping records were kept on paper.  Susan handled anything that needed to be done, making appointments, answering the phone, and restocking the store. She was always ready to jump in, literally, like the time she went dumpster diving to retrieve a client’s driver’s license!

When a full time store manager was hired, Susan was ready to become a CTK volunteer again! It had been fun and challenging, but Susan says it was time for someone else to step in and help CTK grow.  “Would I do it again, in a heart beat!” says Susan. She happily returned to sorting donations and teasing other volunteers. She often shares some of the more interesting donations with the volunteers in the front and keeps them laughing. Susan says the old adage is true… “Time flies when you are having fun and I love every minute of it.”