Champions For Change

Joyce Thomas: Retirement Interrupted

Joyce Thomas came to Suited for Change in 2002 as a volunteer personal shopper helping clients select professional attire. Having retired as a director in the human resources department of a major telecommunications company in New York City, she wanted to use her time to give back to the community. She had the freedom to do so because she was financially independent.

"I had two things in mind," she says. "I was either going to help low-income women or young kids. A friend of mine recommended Suited for Change. I fell in love with the organization, which is easy for anyone who comes in contact with it on a day-to-day basis."

In 2004, after Thomas had been volunteering for more than a year, Mary-Frances Wain, who was then Suited's executive director, convinced her to join the Suited staff. Thomas agreed -- but only to part-time work. She is in Suited's office three days a week. "I still had to feel that I was retired," she says.

As program consultant, Thomas keeps track of Suited's clients – a number she says increases every year. In 2007, Suited served 1,335 clients. Thomas also loves managing Suited's close to 100 volunteers, many of whom have been serving the organization for more than a decade. She knows "the majority of them so well that I know what one volunteer loves to do versus what the other volunteer will do. Getting to know what assignments they like to do here makes it easier."

Thomas says that Suited's volunteers "are magnificent. They are so committed. I can call a volunteer and say, ‘I need you to come and do some sorting [of clothes],' or ‘We're working on a mailing,' and they will come and do it." She points out that one volunteer even drives from Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania – a 95-mile one-way trip -- every week to volunteer. In addition, Suited's volunteers have longevity; the longest serving volunteer has helped clients select professional attire for more than 14 years.

As much as she loves Suited's volunteers, Thomas says she is motivated knowing that the organization is making an important contribution in the lives of Suited's clients and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community. "I was sitting in my office a couple of weeks ago and I could actually hear a client weeping because she was so happy with what the personal shopper had helped her select for her interviewing," she says.

Thomas is also proud that Suited is well known in the community. "When you mention Suited for Change, people know it right away," she says. "So I think Suited for Change has made a great impact on the community in the Washington, suburban Maryland and suburban Virginia area. Not only are we providing suits for clients ... we're also taking it a step further with the Professional and Life Skills Development Program (PLD). ...It's not just about the suit. The PLD prepares clients with interviewing techniques and prepares them for once they get the job. The suit is the first impression. Life skills development comes next," says Thomas.

Thomas still occasionally steps in and helps clients select career clothing, a job she enjoys. She also organizes Suited's clothing drives. She has refined the process of collecting career clothing, streamlining the operation of the drives and also the organization of the Suited boutique.

She says that Suited's current location at 1010 Vermont Avenue was a tremendous boost both for her and for the organization. "Coming from the basement to this, it seems like we've moved up," she says. She's also happy that Suited's racks now include more clothes in larger sizes. "I've seen our boutique space for our plus-size ladies grow. We have many more suits for those ladies than last year or the year before," she says.

Thomas would like to see Suited raise more money – possibly by generating revenue for its own programs -- so that the organization could hire more people and serve more clients. Ultimately, though, she would love it if fewer and fewer women needed Suited's services.

For Thomas, changing the lives of Suited clients has kept her committed to her work, and Suited has also played a role in changing Thomas's life. After retiring,"I actually did not think I would be working a part-time job for four years," she says. "With each year, I get more involved and more committed to the organization."

Thomas has no plans to retire again any time soon. "I am giving back and I enjoy giving back," she says.

Suited for Change thanks Kathleen Currie, a Washington, D.C. freelance writer for writing the profiles and Dara Walsh, a freelance Washington, D.C. photographer, for photographing some of the profilees.

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