More than 14,000 Minnesota women have come through Dress for Success since 2010

Inside a St. Louis Park warehouse, a seven-woman team spends its days sorting through what the rest of the Twin Cities gave away.

"This entire floor is donations. That's the community at work," said Stephanie Silvers, CEO of Dress for Success Twin Cities.

The nonprofit opened its Twin Cities doors in 2010, and since then has worked with more than 14,000 Minnesota women, helping them find the skills, tools and support to build a career.

"It's probably one of the greatest privileges of my life to work with many of these women," Silvers said.

Silvers said the harder problem comes after the interview. Women can learn how to land a job, she said, but far fewer have a path from that first job into one that pays a sustaining wage.

Clothing is one piece of the answer. Dress for Success collects it through donation drives every other month and packs it into what the group calls confidence kits — professional wardrobes assembled for a specific woman and shipped to her.

"These are completed confidence kits, ready to get sent out the door," Silvers said.

Ashley Bolden, a Minneapolis entrepreneur, received one.

"It helps me embody who I am becoming," Bolden said. "It also helps me step into rooms more confidently."

Dress for Success is one of more than 40 nonprofits taking part in the 16th annual Day of Service, the volunteer effort WCCO puts on with Xcel Energy. Volunteer shifts run Thursday through Saturday, and some of them will be spent packing confidence kits.

"We couldn't do it without you," Silvers said. "Volunteers make sure the work we're doing gets done."

The St. Louis Park operation is known as the Wearhouse, and it stocks purses, shoes and jewelry alongside the clothing, WCCO reported last year. As of last September, the group's biggest needs were women's dress clothes in size extra large, along with new socks, underwear and bras.

The next clothing donation drive at Dress for Success is Oct. 3. Volunteer signups for Day of Service are at WCCO.com/DayofService.