Clothing drive aims to fill up pantry
A downtown Peterborough business owner hopes to help fill the shelves of a food pantry in Peterborough through a clothing drive.
Nancy Wiskel, owner of Dan Joyce Clothing store on Hunter Street, said she wanted to do something to help the great organizations in the Peterborough area.
“I thought especially this time of year, I know a lot of organizations are looking for clothes, particularly warmer clothes and coats,” Wiskel said.
“I felt like doing a clothing drive this time of year would really help to honour the spirit of Peterborough and really help those in need who have been particularly hard hit during COVID.”
Wiskel, who has volunteered in m a ny organizations throughout her life, said she attributes her volunteering and charity work to her parents, who have always done a lot of work in the field.
“Doing volunteer work and charity work has always just been a part of who I am,” she said.
“My parents are very involved in the volunteering world and that’s just sort of some of the values they instilled in me. I have always done work for various organizations, so when I came to Peterborough, I wanted to find a way I could help and become involved in the community in this capacity.”
Wiskel said she lived in Peterborough back in the 1990s and moved away to pursue her career goals in a bigger city, but she was always doing charity work while there.
“I lived in Peterborough about 25 years ago and then I left,” she said. “I came back a little over a year ago, so I did my corporate life and now I came back as a small-business owner.”
Wiskel aims to bring at least a couple car loads of clothing to donate to St. Vincent de Paul to help fill the pantry during this time of year when need usually increases.
She said she chose St. Vincent de Paul’s because of what the mission offers the community.
“I really love what they are doing, and I love their messaging and I love the support they offer to the community,” Wiskel said.
“The really terrific part is all the profits go toward their food pantry and is such an important support network for those in the Peterborough area. With winter coming and with COVID people have been harder hit, so to have the food pantry there to support people in need is really vital.”
During her time living away from Peterborough, she saw the help these organizations provided.
“I previously lived in downtown Hamilton and I could see so much need for these kinds of organizations.
“Just seeing the lineups outside of food pantries really made me want to get involved and participate and do what I can for these organizations,” Wiskel said.