Well before I started MAJAMAS, I worked for a watch company and traveled across the Midwest working with large department stores. On a hot August afternoon, I was leaving a mall in Joliet and was struck by the color of the sky. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was dark green like the bottom of a cold lake and I knew this wasn’t your typical thunder storm brewing above. I ran for my tiny car barely making it inside when the rain started. Determined to get home before things got worse, I jumped on the highway and drove that Ford Fiesta as fast as it could go (about 60 miles per hour…) It felt as if the wind was lifting my little car off the road but I was trying not to panic. The rain let up a little bit and I felt I’d gotten out of danger when I caught sight of a large car behind me flipping over and flying right off the shoulder! Not sure what to do (this was before cell phones) I kept driving, hoping to make it out of that storm. I was shaking when I finally did and realized I’d just made it out of a tornado.
That tornado took out part of the mall and tore up the parking lot where my little car was parked that day. I’m grateful I never experienced the true brunt of that storm and can’t imagine being one of the people who did or the person driving the car behind me. I was truly lucky that day. I made it home in one piece with no damage to my car (or to me!) and found comfort in my apartment that was miles away from any destruction the storm caused.
We hear about people losing everything to “natural disasters” but for those of us never experiencing it, we really can’t imagine how horrible it must be.
We see piles of what looks like junk on TV showing the destruction these storms caused but that junk was part of someone’s bedroom, kitchen and home.
Yeah, it’s just stuff to us but so much of what we have in our homes holds emotional meaning. Photographs from weddings, of babies or family members who have passed. Favorite pillows, blankets, chairs, rugs, antiques and all those things we put into our homes that get damaged or washed away in an instant.
Think of the countless amounts of things we forget we even had until we turn to use them or need them. Stuff as basic as clothing (that favorite tee), gone!
After seeing the devastation in Houston after Harvey, my staff, Russell and I felt helpless. We wanted to do something to help those who’ve lost the basics we all need in life: water, food, even clothing.
We called upon MAJAMAS customers & friends to help us and set up a BUY ONE / GIVE ONE garment donation to aid in our hurricane relief.
We gathered together 15 boxes of brand new clothes, put them on a palette and sent them to the Salvation Army in Beaumont where those left with nothing but the clothes on their backs could use them.
Early this week, we watched as that palette headed off to Texas. We shipped thousands of dollars of new clothes so women who’ve lost everything can put on something new and comfortable in hopes to alleviate some of the stress they are dealing with.
Now we’re focused on Irma relief.
A close friend of mine vacations in St. John and she reached out to me in hopes we could send those directly affected there some clothing. The Virgin Islands were devastated this week (my friend’s sending down chainsaws!) and the situation there is dire. In sending clothing, we’re hoping to provide one of the basic commodities we all need.
I know how thankful I was (20 some years ago) on that August day to get back to my dry apartment where I felt safe and surrounded by the things I loved. To lose everything I owned in a matter of hours would have changed my life forever. Yeah, stuff can be replaced but when it comes to actually losing that stuff, it must be awful.
They say there’s no such thing as a selfless act and I believe that’s true.
Helping those who have weathered such horrible storms makes us feel, in some small way, that we’re not sitting idly by. Seeing we are in the clothing biz and clothing is a basic necessity, MAJAMAS is proud to donate what we can. It goes way beyond the economical for us (kinda how we’ve always rolled) and straight to the core of what’s important.
Doing nothing is not an option for us at MAJAMAS and we encourage everyone to do what you can to help.
Help those affected by Irma and Harvey. Find a list below of organizations you can contribute to and how you can help:
For A List of Legitimate Organizations to Donate to, Check out
the Business Insider
Be sure to read How to Avoid Scams before donating.
– Germaine Caprio, Company Owner & Designer
BUY ONE GIVE ONE
Now – November
for every garment purchased on
www.majamas.com
MAJAMAS will donate a new garment
to Hurricane Harvey victims!
WE LOVE
TO HEAR FROM YOU
What else can we do to help?
Please share your own thoughts with us – let’s get a conversation started in the comments below! Your comment may even win you a free MAJAMAS garment this week!