Dorothy Lee, Neighbor

Dear Supporter;

Before the Transition, Inc. (BTT) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to procuring professional clothing and accessories to help veterans, foster and at-risk youth, ex-offenders and senior citizens attain professional attire to enable them to go back to work. Many of the individuals who seek our services do not have the financial means to purchase their own suits, but they understand the need to look professional when seeking employment.

We now have six closets located at several businesses in the communities we serve: The Los Angeles Probation DRC – serving men recently released from prison; Opportunity Youth Collaborative Alliance for Children’s Right – serving foster youth; Bassett Adult School in Whittier – serving veterans and community students; La Puente Adult School – serving community and veterans; Ortega High School, Lake Elsinore – serving business high school students; and Ventura Employment Development Department (EDD) Disabled Veteran Outreach Program.

Also, provided clothing to Los Angeles Trade Tech College Worksource Center – serving veterans, foster youth, formerly incarcerated individuals, and senior citizens; Worksource Center Compton Employment Development Department (EDD) and other surrounding Worksource centers-serving the community with job resources; PVJobs – serving at-risk youth, construction students, formerly incarcerated individuals, and veterans. We also served single mothers/fathers, and those that have gone through domestic violence.

Being able to provide our clients with professional clothing is paramount for us because we understand that first impressions really make a difference when they go out to seek employment. For some of our clients, getting dressed up and looking professional really boosts their self-esteem and confidence to go on interviews with a positive attitude.

We are constantly contacted by other community-based organizations requesting suits for their clients, but we do not have enough suits to meet the high demand. We recently embarked on a campaign to seek large donations of new and gently-used suits from community businesses, but the response has been lukewarm. The Men’s Warehouse has been a faithful partner since 2010, donating suits and accessories from their inventory. Macy’s has also donated $300 gift cards over the past couple of years to help us procure suits and accessories. We are very grateful for their partnership and look forward to finding more community partners that see the value in offering our clients the resources they need to reintegrate into society. Foster Care Counts, a foster agency donated $1000, and Smart and Final donated $300 to our event “Modeling for a Cause”.

We have many other services that we would love to offer to our clients: housing assistance, professional development courses, life skills training; and youth programming. With additional community partners, we will be better able to serve our clients.

Your support would be greatly appreciated. If there is an application process for requesting funding, please send me the information and we will be glad to submit our application for consideration.

In addition to seeking your financial support at this time, we would be so grateful if your organization (company) would consider holding a clothing drive to collect new and gently-used suits, shoes and accessories and other professional clothing.

BTT is on file as a non-profit organization (501/c3) #27-1145135. We can provide a letter of acceptance from IRS and copies of letter of references for your file. If you know resources or of companies that want to give new clothing, grants to help our cause, donate space for what we do, or donate a van, please share this letter or they can contact us.

Thank you in advance for the opportunity of being part of our dream of becoming the largest "Clothing Closet". BTT want to continue to be part of the solution by providing services to help assist populations of individuals and families in need, especially those seeking jobs.

I thank you sincerely for taking the time to learn more about Before the Transition, Inc., and the work we do. I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Dorothy Lee, CEO, President/Founder

BTT - Before the Transition

Assist in Transitioning Lives Towards Success

562/318-8592

btt_beforethetransition@ymail.com

Website: suit4asuit2