Made for More in Clare is helping area women start a new chapter

Christine Smith knows firsthand about the power of women coming together to support each other.

“I am built up of a million women over the course of the years,” Smith explains. “I have had incredible, incredible influences in my life that saw something in me when I didn’t see something in myself.”

“They didn’t give up on me when maybe they should have—when I really was struggling—but what they always pointed out was that I was always trying.”

So, with that in mind, “trying” is the word that Smith keeps front and center as she and the women behind the Made for More Initiative look for ways to help other women in their community. 

The group identifies as “a community-driven nonprofit” that helps area women, children, and families through donations and volunteers. In fact, their website states that it “wasn’t born from a business plan. It was born from seeing people we loved struggle and asking, ‘What can we do to help?'”

A little over a year ago, the Made for More Resale Boutique was also formed as a sustainable source of funding for the work the initiative does.

“Every light, every rack, every hanger, every article of clothing, every shoe, every purse was donated,” Smith adds, referencing the retail space in the historic Bicknell’s department store building at 420 North McEwan Street in Clare. 

Volunteers designed the boutique space. Customers use the honor system for purchasing items. Smith says it’s a system that is working. 

But Made for More Resale Boutique goes beyond the typical retail experience.

“We give vouchers to several different organizations in the community so people can come and shop with a voucher so they can pick out their own clothes,” Smith says. “We give clothes for interviews. We give clothes if somebody gets a new job. I mean, it’s just become this incredible something, and I couldn’t love it more.”

Smith says boutique proceeds also fund scholarships for women who are “trying to start a new chapter in life.” Every quarter, potential scholarship recipients are nominated, then asked to write their story in essay form.

“We decide based on their stories,” Smith explains. “And then they’re able to do whatever they need to do because ‘next chapter’ can mean so many different things. It can be that your kids have gone off to school and now you need something to fill your time—you want to go back to school. Maybe you want to learn a trade.”

“It really can be anything,” she continues. “We want those women that don’t realize that we see them working and trying.”

“It’s one of those things that just pulls at me so much because I was that woman,” she says. “Women that are truly trying are generally not the ones that are asking for help … So I’m always looking for other ways that I can make sure people are seen. Like, ‘I recognize that you’re trying because I had people do that for me,’ so I want to do that for other women.“

As this quarter’s round of scholarships is decided, Smith and her team are looking to the future for other ways to help in the community. 

One aspect Smith wants to expand on next is The Lantern Project, offering more resources to children grieving the loss of a parent. The project was born out of tragedy as Smith helped her grandson cope with the grief of losing his father.

Smith also hopes the coming year can be focused on getting more and more community members involved in the initiative’s overall activities.

“We’re just now getting the word out now because we didn’t really know what we were doing. We were just a group of women that wanted to do something,” Smith says. 

“When you find those women and then you can get involved and do something that you both care about together, you know that’s the blessing in and of itself right there,” she concludes.