GOAL Provides Clothes for Female Offenders Preparing for Release

January 17, 2008

PLCCW Garden

GOAL Founder Tracey Waring fitting Holly Hoyt for a professional outfit

When Holly Hoyt leaves Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women (PLCCW) this month, her chances for success may be even greater if she’s not wearing clothes that remind her of prison.

Thanks to a program called GOAL, Hoyt’s wardrobe will help her think about the future, not the past.

GOAL—which stands for Great Opportunities for a Lifetime Clothing Closet recently visited PLCCW to provide releasing offenders with street clothes and a professional outfit for job interviews—items they will need to increase their chances of successfully re-entering society.

Hoyt, who will be released this month, had the opportunity to meet with GOAL recently and was very excited to have the opportunity to receive their new outfits.

“When I came to prison I lost everything and if I had to leave in state-issued clothes, I would feel like I was still in prison,” said Hoyt. 

The new clothes will add to the feeling that she is making a fresh start, she said. They will lessen her chances of being targeted by drug dealers and will help her stay out of trouble.

GOAL now serves approximately 20 women per month. As the program becomes better known, it is receiving larger numbers of applications weekly.  In addition to the two outfits, GOAL provides releasing women offenders at PLCCW with undergarments, shoes, a coat, purse, hygiene pack, and a duffel bag or small suitcase they can use to carry their belongings as they begin their new lives. 

Women who qualify for assistance from GOAL must be 4-6 weeks from release and must not have received a quarterly package or own clothing of their own.  Applications are available to offenders in the living units. The applications must be filled out and routed through their community corrections officer for verification and then sent to GOAL for processing. Once this process has been completed and approved, GOAL volunteers schedule a fitting with the offender.

GOAL is a collaborative effort between Spokane Catholic Detention Ministries and the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. It is the brainchild of former PLCCW resident, Tracey Waring.

Waring, who is now an Eastern Washington University student, designed the clothing program as a school project.  It mirrors Washington Correction Center for Women’s Clothing Closet Program. Waring drafted the proposal and submitted it to PLCCW where it was presented, tweaked, accepted, and titled GOAL Clothing Closet.

GOAL receives generous support from the community and always accepts donations such as: duffel or overnight bags, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, facial cleanser, body wash, soap, body lotion, brushes, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, feminine hygiene products, gallon-size zip lock bags, etc.

The GOAL Clothing Closet can be contacted by writing to PO Box 1223, Spokane, WA 99210-1223, emailing goalproject@q.com or phoning 509-868-7235.

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