The Ordinary Incredibles on the Island of Kindness. : Jennifer Dooley ..My Friends Closet Clarkes Beach

I met Jennifer about 2 years ago through her sister Andrea ( a member of the Sunshine Squad) The twin sisters are paramedics with hearts as big as a giant. I asked Jennifer why she does what she does..this is her response

"As kids we always looked out for people that were a little worse off than us, then when Brad was around 7 or 8, he had a friend that wouldn’t get much for Christmas, he came home from school one day and asked if he could clean up his playstation, put it in the box, ( I used to keep that stuff back then ), wrap it and leave it on the little boys step on Christmas Eve from Santa....so we did. A few years later he got sick, I found if you were poor, government took care of expenses, if you were rich, you could afford them but if you were the average working class, living pay check to pay check, you had to foot a lot of it yourself and the little help that was available, you had to go through hoops to get it. I was a thrift store shopper for years, first out of necessity, now by choice and since there was only one in our area, I decided to open my own, I researched how to buy stock but I had to buy a tractor trailer load that cost way too much money ( that I didn’t have ) and not even know what I was getting, I didn’t qualify for funding because they only funded stores that sold new items so I asked all my friends to clean out their closets, hence the name of my store. My boyfriend at the time, now my husband and his brother built my clothing racks out of fence railing, 2x4 and plywood, I found a counter on the classifieds for $40, cleaned it up and painted it, my mother had an old cash register that she wasn’t using and a lot of hard work from my family and a few good friends who continue to help to this day....cost me less than $2000.00 to start and that included my first months rent....glad I didn’t get approved for the loan...lol. I decided that 50% of the proceeds would go towards my Brad’s expenses and 50% would go to others in similar situations since people were good enough to donate their gently used items, why not share with them.....after Brad died, I thought about closing up but a month later it was Mother’s Day, rather than dread that day forever because he was my only child, I decided to start a tradition, I give treats to all the women that come in the store that day, ( some may have kids, some may only have pets, some may not be able to have kids or like me have lost a child )now I look forward to Mothers Day...I have people that come back every year because that’s the only gift they get and they love to have a little chat....now we donate 100% of the proceeds to different causes, the majority to help with medical expenses, it’s never a lot because it’s only a small store but most of the time we will buy things to do baskets to sell tickets so we raise more or hold a function like Paint Nite, we’ve had an auction, a booze survivor, etc, it’s been fun and helped a lot of people, might not be as much others can do but every little bit helps. We’ve put off ball tournaments, done makeovers, food drives, Christmas Projects every year and the list goes on....at the end of the day, it helps me more than anybody else, though I have a full time job as a paramedic, there is a lot of down time waiting on a call, it keeps me busy and keeps Brad’s memory alive...they say everything happens for a reason, maybe this was the reason, still not a good enough one, but there never will be one good enough, I figure it’s better than the alternative....many people ask me why I give away my money and do what I do, my answer is....it’s easy when you’ve been there....and I’ve noticed over the years that it’s the people that may not have a lot that are the first to support us whether it’s donating items to buying tickets or attending a fundraiser....we must be doing something right, this year we will celebrate our 12th anniversary."

These are some of the amazing things she has done to help others...( I snagged them from her personal Facebook, her group "My Friends Closet" and CBC