Clothing drives · Bloom Swap
What a swap does not use still gets worn. By a neighbor without a home.
Bloom Swap will run clothing drives with congregations and organizations in Salem and Portland, so that clothing reaches unhoused neighbors through the people who already serve them. A congregation that runs a drive will receive Bloom’s bins and signage, collect for two weeks, and hand the rest to Bloom. No drive has been held yet; the first is being planned now.
What a drive is
A clothing drive in Portland or Salem, run with Bloom.
A drive gathers clothing from many people at once, and sends it somewhere a swap cannot reach.
A Bloom Swap is a room of racks that anyone may walk into. Some people cannot walk into it. A neighbor living outside, or moving between shelters, needs a coat and dry socks this week, not a date two months away. Clothing drives are how Bloom Swap will reach them.
Clothing will reach those neighbors from two places. The first is what swaps do not use: after a swap, what nobody takes returns to Bloom’s storage, and part of it will go out through drives instead of waiting for the next rack. The second is the drive itself: a congregation or organization collects from its own people, Bloom sorts what comes in, and it goes out through an organization that already serves unhoused neighbors. Everything is given. Nothing is sold.
To run one, use the host form. The host form on the Host page has a “clothing drive” choice: pick “Run a clothing drive”, or “Both” if you would host a swap as well. It is the same form a congregation uses to host a swap, and the same people read it.
Five steps
How a drive will work. Two weeks of bins.
This is the plan for the first drives. It is written in the future tense because no drive has been held yet.
Bins arrive
Bloom will bring labeled bins and signage to your building. The signage will say what the drive takes and what it cannot, so your people know before they fill a bag.
Two weeks of giving
Your congregation or organization will collect for two weeks. Announce it however your people usually hear about things.
Pickup
Bloom will collect the bins at the end of the two weeks. Nothing will be left in your building.
Sorting
Every piece will be checked against the same standard as a swap: clean, whole and ready to wear. What cannot be worn will be set aside for textile recycling, not handed to a neighbor.
Distribution
Clothing will go out through an organization that already serves unhoused neighbors, named on this site only with its consent.
Who the clothes are for
The people it reaches, and the people who reach them.
The organizations that already serve unhoused neighbors know who needs what, and when. A drive puts clothing in their hands rather than asking anyone to come to Bloom.
That is why distribution runs through them. A person living outside should not have to find a swap, arrive while it is open, or explain themselves to get a coat. The organization they already trust hands it over, the way it hands over everything else.
Organizations that receive clothing are named on this site only when they have said yes to being named. None has been named yet.
Clothing is one need among many. If the people your congregation serves include older adults or disabled neighbors who need more than a coat, Bloom’s senior and disability services are on the main site, and like everything at Bloom they are free.
The swap calendar
If you host a swap as well.
Choose “Both” on the host form and your drive can sit alongside a swap. This is the calendar a swap keeps, from the day dates are set to the impact note a month after.
- T−60
Dates set together
At least sixty days out. Once a date is on the calendar it does not move.
Together - T−45
The kit ships
Signage, table tents, intake sheets and the access card arrive at your door.
Bloom - T−30
Volunteers confirmed
Your two or more, trained with the playbook; Bloom volunteers fill gaps.
Host - T−14
The announcement
To the Bloom list and the region. Share the template text in your own channels.
Bloom - T−7
The room plan
Racks, the changing corner, the quiet corner, the greeter’s table: agreed on one page.
Together - T−1
Delivery and set-up
Racks arrive sorted by size and style. Bloom sets the room.
Bloom - Day
The swap
Greet, re-hang, point to the quiet corner. No photos, no questions, no one at the door.
Host - T+1
Pickup
Everything leaves. What was not taken returns to storage for the next swap or a drive.
Bloom - +30
The impact note
What went out, counted from the ledger, in writing, within thirty days.
Bloom
Bloom does it · Host does it · Together we agree it
A drive on its own is planned with you when you write. The host form asks when you could run it.
FAQ
Questions about drives
Still asking? Write to swap@bloomministries.org and a person answers.
Does a drive cost our congregation anything?
No. Bloom supplies the bins and signage, collects them, and sorts what comes in. Nothing in Bloom Swap has a fee, for guests, donors or hosts.
What should people put in the bins?
The same things a swap takes: clean, whole clothing in every size, shoes, coats and accessories, and undergarments only if new with tags. The full list is on the give clothes page.
Who receives the clothing?
Unhoused neighbors in Salem and Portland, through organizations that already serve them. Those organizations are named here only with their consent.
Can we run a drive without hosting a swap?
Yes. Choose “Run a clothing drive” on the host form. If you would like to host a swap later, the same form covers it.
Clothing drives
Run a drive with Bloom.
Choose “Run a clothing drive” on the host form. The Chancery replies within two business days, and nothing is set until you have said yes.
If you need clothing yourself Tell us what you need, and a person reads it