Suits for Session Receives Substantial Amounts of Donations

Volunteer Florida along with Uber transportation service, hosted their first “Suits for Session” program at the Florida Capitol Tuesday afternoon.

This events was to get legislators to donate gently-used business attire for those in need.

Volunteer Florida is the lead agency for volunteerism and national service in Florida, and is responsible for $31.7 million in federal, state, and local funding for national service and volunteer programs across the state.

Volunteer Florida wanted to create a new twist to the program in order to receive a positive amount of participation from the Tallahassee community.

“It’s a first of its kind capitol service project.” said Chester Spellman, the chief executive officer of Volunteer Florida. “Our goal is to help all Floridians get or maintain a job, and to thrive in their career.” said Spellman.

Volunteer Florida along with their corporate partner Uber has also reached out to individuals in the Tallahassee community; picking up gently used business attire and delivering the items to the local Volunteer Florida corporate office.  

State agencies have also collected for the drive for over a week.

Rachel Smith, a state agency, described how she felt about the turnout of the event.

“It’s been an incredible outpouring of just support from not only the state community with our agencies, but also from the general Tallahassee community.” Smith said.  

Smith’s experience collecting donations turned into a heart-warming moment, outlining the reason why she supports causes such as Suits for Session.

Personally at my agency we all came together and supported the cause” smith said. “ we are trying to ensure that someone else has the opportunity to be successful.

Other individual fellows who participated in this event also enjoyed the collaboration with Volunteer Florida, Uber and state agencies who made the event a success.

Molly Murphy, a state agent expressed that the event brought the agency together as a whole.

“This event is different from others because of the fact that we’re all able to participate together and I really appreciate it,” Murphy said.  

Volunteer Florida collected more than six boxes worth of business attire and is still collecting items for the clothing drive

The final donations of the business attire will be donated to three different companies such as: Goodwill, Dress for Success Tallahassee and the Department of Education: Division of Blind Services.

For more information about “Suits for Session” visit volunteerflorida.org.