Passion for fashion: non-profit Dress For Success Regina ready for its new chapter | CBC News

Dress for Success Regina has entered a new era. The non-profit, which aims to help women and non-binary people gain economic independence, recently held a grand opening for its new location at 1920 Hamilton St.

Along with the new digs is a new face. Shannon Chernick is now the program director at Dress for Success. In fact, the June 4 grand opening was only Chernick’s second day on the job.

“[It’s] exciting for me because it means this organization is very healthy. Clearly the volunteers, they’re extremely committed. Everyone’s working really hard,” Chernick said. 

Along with work attire, Dress for Success provides a professional women’s group where women mentor each other and do skill building exercises on different employment opportunities. Chernick calls it “wrap-around service” for people while they’re trying to find employment in the community.

She said that in her new role, she hopes to double the number of clients they serve. Right now the non-profit has approximately 70 volunteers and serves about 160 clients each year. 

Dress for Success first opened in 2008, and called the third floor of Westminster United Church home for years. But with longevity comes growth, and Dress for Success eventually outgrew the space. 

“We’re really excited about this location. We loved our relationship with Westminster United Church. They were very good to us. We hope we were good tenants,” said Barbara Byers, chair of Dress for Success Regina. 

But Byers said the location was not accessible.

“We were up three flights of stairs and with no elevator. And so it meant that there were clients that we couldn’t serve and there were also volunteers that would have a difficulty volunteering.”

WATCH | Go inside the new digs: 

Dress for Success Regina shows off its new digs

Dress for Success Regina has moved into a new space at 1920 Hamilton St. The non-profit was located in the Westminster United Church for years, but now needs a bigger, more accessible space to serve more people.

Part of the funding for the new location came from Dress for Success Canada Foundation, which recently received a grant from the federal government’s Women’s Employment Readiness pilot program.

Byers said the new Hamilton Street location has been a joy to settle into for everyone, including the volunteers. 

“They were absolutely taken aback and they went like, ‘This is so professional now,'” Byers said with a laugh. 

Suit up!

Despite only being program manager for Dress For Success a mere two weeks, Chernick said she already understands why so many people volunteer there. 

“I think that women understand the power of clothing,” she said, adding that volunteers have told her they have never had a bad “suiting.”

“People come and they’re so grateful. You can see what’s happening to our clients. They’re happy at the end. They look confident,” Chernick said. “It’s just a great experience and if you’re retired or you want to volunteer, you want to do something where you feel really good about it. I think it’s a great volunteer experience.”

Prior to beginning at Dress for Success, Chernick was the manager of conservation and education with Nature Saskatchewan, and has worked for a handful of non-profits. As someone who has worked a lot in nature, Chernick said she has typically donned outdoorsy clothes.

Now, that’s all changing. 

“I was definitely not dressing professionally. It was for the weather. And in the whole process of getting ready for this job, getting new clothing, all of a sudden I noticed my shoulders were pushed back a little more. I felt a little bit more confident in myself.”

After that, Chernick had a better understanding of how the clients must feel when they get suited.

The clients are referred to Dress for Success by organizations such as the Regina Open Door Society and the YWCA.    

“They will send someone on a referral and they’re met by volunteers who take them into our beautiful area in the back. They pick out clothing for them and they try it on and they try to make sure that they have enough outfits for their new employment situation that they’re going into,” Chernick said. 

The new 1920 Hamilton St. location boasts a large change room area and plenty of rack space just begging to be filled up with new quality clothing donations. 

In the meantime, Byers said Dress for Success Regina has a five-year lease, but they hope to call the downtown location home for longer.