Youth Works helps Mommy's Closet kick off a Day of Hope for Rapid City families!

Mommy's Closet will represent Volunteers of America, Dakotas, this weekend at the Day of Hope, part of Hills Alive, a free summer concert this weekend. 

This year marks the 25th anniversary for this summer concert weekend. To celebrate, the festival has expanded to include a Day of Hope. Day of Hope is an invitation-only event for low-income families in the area. Everyone is welcome, but the first two hundred participants with an invitation will receive a box of groceries, carefully packed by volunteers. 

Youth Works has come to Mommy's Closet each week this summer to help around the office. Youth Works is a national summer program that pairs middle-school youths with non-profits for a week of service in another state. Today, our Youth Works group was from Colorado and we asked them to help us pack the boxes for the Day of Hope.

Youth Works Volunteers put the boxes together, expertly taped the bottoms to make sure no groceries spill out, and put one item from each group of groceries into a box. 

These girls found a pallet jack and filled six boxes at a time! Another group of volunteers will finish making and filling the boxes tomorrow for this weekend's concert and Day of Hope for Rapid City families.