The Road Continues is a non-profit I founded, named from my initials, TRC. My name is Tamara Raye Coffey, Founder. The Road Continues is on a mission for Women Helping Women. Some may think, what a generic statement, right? But The Road Continues is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to empowering women through confidence, dignity, and opportunity by providing donations of professional business and business casual clothing among other things.
We provide women who are preparing for job interviews, applying for an apartment, court appearances, starting a new job, all the activities that make up for life transition. However we can help, we want to support women who are rebuilding, starting fresh, or stepping into a new chapter – including those overcoming hardship, displacement, or personal challenges.
When asked to draft this article about my nonprofit, I was baffled. Write about what? I thought to myself. What is it? What do we do? What do I see for it? Then I was told to simply write why I started it. A simple word – why? That makes you think and look at your inner self.
There was not just one reason I started the nonprofit; there were many. The combination of why the nonprofit came to be and what I want to achieve, I can only hope at the end of the day, The Road Continues helps one woman at a time.
At 22 years old, a single mother of a 2-year-old son, I decided to make my getaway from a “not so healthy and safe” environment. That consisted of leaving Washington State without anyone knowing, driving five days across the country in the middle of winter all the way to Northern Virginia just outside of DC. It so happened a high school friend of mine lived there with her mother, and they were kind enough to open their home to my son and I for one month.
Upon arrival on Thursday afternoon, I was locked in a daycare by noon Friday. I bought the Sunday paper and, on Monday morning, I faxed my resume to any company that was hiring and had a fax number listed. I was called on Tuesday for a Wednesday interview, and offered the job by the end of the week, and started on Monday.
I did not take into consideration during this time that I had no clothes. I had 2 small suitcases of what I tossed in there when I left – but nothing to wear in an office environment in Washington DC.
I was grateful that my friend and I were the same size, and she opened her closet to me. For an entire month I wore her clothes. It is with acceptance, humility, and grace that I held my head up every day knowing I wore someone else’s clothes to work. Of course, as I was moving into my small apartment, she set some clothes aside and gifted them to me. From there on if at any time I looked for something new, that new item would be used and bought from a thrift store.
As young woman, having to work, find a job, find an apartment, attend interviews, and show up to momentous events, it is understandable that not all women have extra money to purchase new clothes. You either have friends that may give you clothes, you borrow them, or you buy them from a thrift store. If you do not have the appropriate clothing to wear for your job, for an interview, for an event, women will either choose not to go because they believe they are not worthy of attending, or they are embarrassed by their clothes or lack of newer and nicer clothing.
Either way, The Road Continues ensures what is collected as donations are in good condition and decent quality. A nice outfit that looks good will go a long way in making a woman feel good about herself, if only for a moment.
Now, fast forward a couple of decades later. I had gotten married and my career was on its way up, and life was good. My mother-in-law cleaned her closet out over Thanksgiving Holiday and had about 20-business suits in the trunk of her car. She came over and said, “Pick out what you want and do with the rest what you think is best.”
These were nice business suits, and I knew something good could come out of it. I knew of three women’s recovery homes, plus I knew a couple of young single mothers in the neighborhood. That was the day I knew I wanted to help, give back, and pay it forward. I was blessed to have my friend from high school who let me wear her clothes and even gave me clothes for some time when she was no longer wearing them.
So, with the first set of business suits from my mother-in-law cleaning out her closet, I reached out to a professional woman I knew and worked with and asked them to clean out their closets and bring it to me to hand out. From there it went from three recovery homes to two transitional housing homes, to ladies calling me and asking if I had something in their sizes, to helping with resumes and filling out applications. I had even built relationships with owners of three thrift stores, and every Friday would make the rounds for the pickups.
This went on for several years and had helped many women, it warmed my heart.
There came a time when due to the loss of my grandparents, I had to make the decision to relocate from Northern Virginia to California and manage their affairs. There were days and years in my life something was missing, then it dawned on me, I missed helping women. I missed paying it forward.
Present day: The nonprofit is in Camarillo CA. The word has spread quite rapidly since revamping and it is amazing how many women genuinely want to go through their closets and give. By giving clothing items, purses, shoes, coats, and accessories we have brought joy to many. The smile on a woman’s face in a domestic violence shelter, being able to pick clothes that will be hers, that are for her, and meant to help her, is beyond measure.
Helping a young person that is in transitional housing only because they happened to age out of Foster Care. Providing them with guidance on resume building, a little mentoring, and a stack of clothes to get them set for that new job they landed, the look in their eyes is amazing. There are so many we have helped, and look to help so many more. I work with agencies throughout several counties, as well as private centers and organizations, and we are all here doing our small part to do good and help others.
My vision for The Road Continues is to keep building it up, get the word out, spread the word and the mission. Reach out to agencies out of state. We recently shipped coats and sweaters and winter wear to a tribal reservation in South Dakota, and shipped to both a homeless shelter and rehab center in southern Arizona). So, in a way the word is getting out little by little. I want to see nonprofit commercials on TV, holding annual events, and people wanting to sponsor and/or give gifts by way of funding because there is so much more to do. But just for today, I am thankful and grateful and my desire for this work is beyond words, here is to another day with light and love.
