On the front steps of Trenton City Hall, Mayor Reed Gusciora, Amazon workers, and representatives from Dress for Success and Womanspace welcomed two truckloads of donated goods from the Amazon Warehouse in Robbinsville.
“We reached out to Womanspace and Dress for Success in Central New Jersey and asked them, hey, are there any items that you’re looking for that can help with your nonprofit?,” said Erin Hall, Amazon’s GM Administrative Assistant. She led this initiative to help out the Trenton Community and spoke at the short program, highlighting the great work that Dress for Success Central Jersey and Womanspace do for women and families in Trenton and across the state.
This event was hosted by Women@Amazon, a global affinity group for women, non-binary employees, and allies at Amazon with over 80 chapters worldwide and the largest membership of all affinity groups.
Their donations are noticed and needed by non-profits that have such an impact on the city. Nathalie Nelson, CEO and President of Womanspace, said that Amazon has helped keep food, clothes, and electronics on the shelves for their clients for over three years.
“Amazon pretty much stocks our shelter with food, clothing, electronics… They have been just wonderful for us, like all of our clients, and our staff are so appreciative,” Nelson said. Womanspace is a non-profit that has a mission critical goal to prevent abuse, protect families and change lives through empowerment and a safety net of supportive services.
As for Dress for Success, they received a pallet full of clothing from Amazon that will help them supply clients as they continue to service the Trenton area. They have eight signature programs that work with women and girls of the Mercer Community. Aileen Kornblatt, Dress for Success’ Events Manager, explained that since its founding in 2007, the Trenton Chapter has served over 11,000 women, averages about 1,500 women served a year, and has a goal to serve 2,000 women and children a year.
“We work with women and girls looking to improve their circumstances to achieve economic empowerment and be successful in their career and on their job search,” Kornblatt said. “We provide the clothing, but our programs are also really key. So we teach them interview skills, we teach them to resume writing, we teach them customer service…”
As the Press conference continued, Hall was happy to help the community that many Amazon associates come from. “I think it’s really important to our associates, the employees at our Amazon site, many of them are from Trenton. We work with many nonprofits that focus on Trenton, are active in Trenton, come from Trenton. You want to really bridge the gap between our building and the communities around us…It’s awesome. I’m so excited,” Hall said.
