There is nothing that boosts faith in humanity more than a youth who chooses to spend her free time giving back. Vy Le, a 16-year-old student at Olympia High School, founded WhereWear, a youth-led project that provides high-quality clothing to shelters in Thurston County and beyond, in April 2024.
“The idea for WhereWear came to me after my cousin had to stay in a shelter,” she says. “When I saw how difficult it was for people to access good clothing—especially for winter or job interviews—I knew something had to change.”
Vy shares that about a year ago, her cousin experienced teen pregnancy, domestic violence and, with little support, ended up in a shelter instead of college. “When my sister and I visited her, we spoke with her and several other residents, and we realized a major issue was access to clothing,” she continues. “Later that week, my cousin had a job interview but didn’t have any business attire, and the shelter couldn’t provide any. We went home, grabbed our old DECA (a business club) clothes, and let her try them on until she found something that fit. She got the job, and that moment planted the seed for WhereWear.”
Washington State Leadership Board Gave Vy Boost to Start Clothing Drive
As a member of the Washington State Leadership Board, Vy went on a service trip to Spain through their Compassion Scholars program. “We learned about domestic violence and the support systems in place there,” Vy explains. “The program allowed us to travel for free to study different systems and ways of life, then return home and complete a service project with mentorship support. WhereWear started as my community service project, but since that phase of my project plan ended, I’ve continued it, and it’s grown into something much bigger.”
With her cousin’s experience fresh in her mind, Vy decided her project for the Washington State Leadership Board would be a clothing drive. She and a few of her friends got together and raised $500 through youth-focused micro-grants. They contacted almost every domestic violence shelter in Western Washington to ask about their clothing needs. With lists in hand, they hit the local Goodwills, purchasing the items.
Their families got together to sort, package and ship the clothing to the shelters.
“After that, I wanted to do more, so with the support of my WSLB mentors, I applied for more grants and fellowships and ultimately joined the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship, which provided me with more funding, mentorship, and a chance to get a fiscal sponsor,” Vy shares.
WhereWear Donates 7,000 Pieces of Clothing to Shelters During First Year
Operating under its fiscal Sponsor Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, WhereWear was able to grow. They still use Goodwill Bins to source clothing they need. As part of their sponsorship agreement, they also hold a clothing drive each year.
While WhereWear is not a registered nonprofit itself, due to their relationship with Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, they can accept tax-deductible donations. “While we have grant funding for these clothing purchases, monetary donations allow us to increase our volume,” Vy says.
In under a year, WhereWear has rapidly expanded, from serving shelters in Western Washington to serving across five states! “While creating our shelter database, we noticed a common trend: Nearly every shelter requested socks, underwear, or both,” shares Vy. “With funding from the Abe Keller Peace Fund, we decided to send bulk shipments of these critical items to shelters across the West Coast, which led to our reach expanding to Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Nevada. In total, we provided these donations to over 50 domestic violence shelters, selecting what to send based on their size, bed count, and whether socks and underwear were listed as general or critical needs. This accounts for approximately 6,000 of our 7,000 donations.”
New Online System, Cycle, Matches Clothing Donors With Shelters in Need
While continuing with their grassroots beginning, Vy says Cycle is the future of WhereWear due to its efficiency and ability to help far more people.
“Instead of simply providing clothing, we want to create a system that benefits both shelters and the environment by redirecting used clothing away from oversupplied thrift stores and into places that actually need it,” explains Vy. “Cycle allows donors across the U.S. to visit our website, report what they have to donate, and specify how far they’re willing to ship or drive. We then cross-reference that information with our database of shelter needs, and then direct donors to places where their items are in demand.”
Vy explains that many people just take their clothes to thrift stores, not realizing they have other options to get their gently-used items into the hands of those in need. “There are so many others—domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, textile recycling centers, and even churches and schools,” she says. “Many of these organizations lack the resources to maintain well-organized websites, making it difficult for donors to know where to give. With WhereWear, all they have to do is fill out a form, and we take care of the rest.”
Currently Cycle is all done manually, but Vy and her team. But she is hoping to have it automated by summer 2025.
You can help by donating – both monetary and clothing donations are gladly accepting. “Trying out the Cycle system is another great way to support not just WhereWear, but also local shelters and organizations that often go unnoticed,” she adds.
To learn more and to try Cycle, visit the WhereWear website.
