Young professionals group hosts clothing drive in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Workers transitioning to a corporate environment often find building up a professional wardrobe to be a challenge.

Rise Springfield, a young professionals group associated with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, is hosting a professional clothing drive. Their goal is to ease the burden of purchasing new clothing and helping people feel empowered to take on new roles.

"It kind of goes back to the motto of like in sports, if you look good, and feel good, you play good," said Dakota Greer, the recruiting chair for the Rise Young Professional Group. "The confidence you get when you have a good suit on means you can kind of take your mind off of the interview and not have to worry about the clothing side of things."

So far, Rise has seen a lot of donations from the Springfield community. With the participation they've had, Greer said he would like to make this an annual event.

All of the articles donated during the drive will be up for grabs on October 14th. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Rise will be at the Lincoln Land Community College Trutter Center.

While the drive is organized by young professionals, anyone can come to pick up clothes. Greer said all are welcome.

"We are going to have the clothes out on all sorts of tables and on hangers and you can just wander around and pick what you like," said Greer. "Come on out and we'd love to help. We want to give back."

Rise is still accepting more donations. Clean, gently used professional clothing items can be dropped off at the following two locations:

Springfield Lucky Horseshoes, 1415 N. Grand Avenue
- Drop offs accepted Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM
Express Employment Professionals, 3000 Professional Drive
- Drop offs accepted Monday-Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM