Second Chances, Inc.

06/02/2026

Happy Pride Month! Second Chances is proud to support our LGBTQ+ community by providing affirming, empowering clothing to our neighbors as they take their first steps toward brighter futures.

Second Chances offers personalized clothing to help our neighbors feel good in their own skin, empowering them to pursue their goals while ensuring they feel welcomed and embraced by our community. We distribute clothes of all sizes for folks of all ages, genders, and gender identities because we know that anyone could need our services.

Though poverty rates for both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. have declined since the pandemic, LGBTQ+ people are still significantly more likely to be living in poverty than their straight and cisgender counterparts. According to The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, 17% of LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. lived in poverty in 2021 vs. 12% of non-LGBTQ+ folks.*

Thank you for being part of our inclusive and caring community and for supporting our LGBTQ+ neighbors year-round! ❤️

*Source: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-poverty-us/

05/29/2026

Many thanks to these wonderful companies and organizations for supporting our neighbors through public and private clothing drives in March and April:

Style Exchange
Somerville United FC
Hillman Homes
Clippership Wharf - Bozzuto
Deloitte
BW Kennedy & Co.
Naveo Credit Union
Cambridge Savings Bank
DivcoWest | Cambridge Crossing
Prospect Union Square - Bozzuto

When you work with Second Chances to host a clothing drive, your donations benefit folks in our community who are experiencing poverty, housing instability, and other challenges. We are deeply grateful for all our clothing drive hosts - public, private, repeat, and new! Thank you for caring about textile reuse and recycling and our neighbors.

Learn more about hosting a clothing drive at your workplace, large residential building, congregation, or organization: https://secondchances.org/host/

05/27/2026

Thank you to our generous leadership sponsors and funders for recent financial support (September 2025 through April 2026):

Arbella Insurance Foundation
Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation
Cambridge Community Foundation
Cambridge Savings Bank Charitable Foundation
Corderman & Company, Inc.
Eastern Bank Foundation
Hillman Homes
The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust
The M&T Bank Charitable Foundation
Middlesex Federal Savings
MIT Federal Credit Union
Naveo Credit Union
Northern Bank Charitable Foundation
Patricia and Alan Shapiro Charitable Fund
Signature Aviation
The William & Karen Tell Foundation
Triumvirate Environmental
Tufts University

Together, we’re ensuring that each person who receives clothing feels empowered, welcomed, and valued.

Financial support allows us to provide the quality and consistency of support our neighbors need to thrive. Funding to pay for staff, space, supplies, and more enables Second Chances to continue to be a resource for our community. To learn more about sponsorship levels and benefits, visit: https://secondchances.org/sponsor/

Thank you for believing in the power of community and for helping our neighbors take their first steps toward brighter futures. Your support creates opportunity, possibility, and second chances for so many, and for that, we are incredibly grateful!

Additional funders, sponsors, in-kind donors, and bin hosts are listed on our website: https://secondchances.org/sponsors-funders/

05/22/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended and donated to our first-ever clothing swap! It was a joy-filled celebration of Earth Month and our wonderful community, and we’re deeply grateful to everyone who celebrated with us.

Every sponsorship, donation, and ticket supported our mission: providing free, dignified clothing to more than 1,000 neighbors in need this year alone, while keeping 300,000+ pounds of clothing out of landfills.

Together, we raised $40,000 to provide free clothes for our neighbors while reusing and recycling more than 600 pounds of clothing, shoes, and accessories. Participants enjoyed the fantastic weather, festive space, great conversations, and delicious food and drinks. The swapping was successful - guests parted with clothing they no longer needed and found new and gently used items to refresh their wardrobes sustainably and affordably. Earth Month-themed raffle bundles and gift bags and mementos from the fun photo booth rounded out a wonderful evening.

Major appreciation goes out to our rockstar volunteers from Middlesex Federal Savings, The Junior League of Boston, Inc., and our generous community for supporting this fun and festive event!

Many thanks to Upstairs at Bow for providing a beautiful space for our guests. It was the perfect backdrop for finding new wardrobe treasures and connecting with our community.

Lastly, a huge thank you to our Presenting Sponsor, Triumvirate Environmental, a national company with roots in our community and our partner since day one. Special thanks to all our leadership sponsors: the Patricia & Alan Shapiro Charitable Fund, Arbella Insurance Foundation, Eastern Bank, Hillman Homes, Middlesex Federal Savings, Naveo Credit Union, and Tufts University. We appreciate their commitment to our planet and our neighbors.

Additional photos, including some terrific shots by Alex at Happy Dog Photo, are on our website at secondchances.org/clothing-swap-2026/.

Bow Market

05/20/2026

We recently dropped off bags of empowering clothing and accessories at Caspar, Inc.'s Woman Place Residence in Cambridge, one of our wonderful provider partners. Second Chances has partnered with CASPAR for 21 years and has been happy to continue that partnership with Bay Cove Human Services since the organizations merged.

For Woman Place residents experiencing clothing insecurity, the bundles we deliver each month are more than just clothes - they remove barriers to success, offering dignity, self-expression, and choice, one outfit at a time. We are grateful for compassionate people like Adrian Page, a Case Manager at Woman Place, who messaged us this after our drop-off:

“Many of the clients who enter our program arrive with very little to their name. Some clients come with only the clothes they are wearing. Second Chances clothing donations help restore something that is often lost during homelessness and addiction - dignity.

Being able to offer someone clean clothes may seem small, but in recovery, small things matter. A clean shirt can mean walking into a job interview with confidence. A warm coat can mean the difference between safety and exposure. A simple outfit can help someone feel human again after a long period of instability.

As a case manager, the donations from Second Chances enable me to remove one more barrier for the people I work with every day. When clients have access to necessities like clothing, it becomes easier for them to focus on the real work of recovery... healing, rebuilding relationships, finding employment, and securing stable housing.

Second Chances clothing donations are not just items. They are acts of care that help people rebuild their lives, one step at a time.”

Thank you to Adrian and the entire CASPAR staff for offering kindness, compassion, and support to our neighbors facing challenges. Your insights and stories inspire our work!

05/15/2026

The terrific teams at the Rockland Trust Somerville (Davis Square and Union Square), Arlington, and Medford branches are collecting donations of clothing, shoes, and accessories now through June 13 👕

Rockland Trust has been an invaluable partner over the years - not just as our bank, but as volunteers, generous financial supporters, and a cornerstone of our shared community. We are deeply grateful for their longstanding commitment to helping our neighbors navigate challenges.

Thank you to Rockland Trust for making a difference in our community and we appreciate everyone who stops by to donate clothing!

View our website for details and directions to each of the branches: https://secondchances.org/clothingdrives/rockland-trust-clothing-drive-2026/

05/14/2026

A huge thank you to AllUniforms.com for their generous donation of Second Chances branded apparel for our team! We appreciate the high-quality branded zip-ups and quarter-zips with our Second Chances logo beautifully embroidered on each item.

We will wear these with pride, whether we’re on-site visits, collecting donations, or representing our mission within the community.

Thank you again, AllUniforms.com! 💙

05/12/2026

Don’t forget to bring your donations to Steve McKenna & The Home Advantage Team with Gibson Sotheby's International Realty's clothing drive in Arlington by May 15! 🗓️ Make room in your closet for fresh beginnings and give unwanted clothing, shoes, and accessories a second life.

Thank you to Steve McKenna & team and our compassionate community for making a difference in the lives of our neighbors!

Details and directions: https://secondchances.org/clothingdrives/stevemckenna-homeadvantage-may2026/

05/08/2026

Second Chances is honored to be among the 157 nonprofits that received a grant this spring from Cambridge Community Foundation. This funding will allow us to deepen our impact in Cambridge while preparing for continued increases in need driven by rising costs, climate-related weather extremes, and ongoing housing instability. Flexible operating support allows us to remain responsive to partners and residents, adapt service delivery as conditions change, and invest in systems that ensure reliability and dignity at scale.

Learn more about CCF’s annual Community Fund grants at cambridgecf.org/community-fund-2026.

We're honored to be part of the powerful community of nonprofit organizations that are in Cambridge and beyond!

CCF's annual Community Fund is our broadest investment in Cambridge nonprofits, and our widest lens on the city. This spring, 157 organizations received a total of $1.37 million across child and youth development, arts and culture, education, housing, food security, health and wellbeing, economic security, community building, and the environment. That breadth is how we track what's changing in Cambridge and where the need is growing.

It's also a shared investment. Donor-advised fund holders and other local funders expanded what was possible this year by co-investing alongside CCF and contributing 46 percent of this year’s funding pool, allowing us to reach organizations we otherwise couldn't. We're grateful for every person who chose to be part of that.

We built renewal grants and consolidated the Community Fund into one cycle because we wanted the process to embody the values we hold around trust-based philanthropy. Trust runs through every part of this program. Reviewers give their time and knowledge. Nonprofits open their work to outside assessment. Donors invest without directing the outcome. We try to honor all of it—in how we design the application to minimize administrative burden, how we give feedback to applicants, and how we stay present as partners throughout the year.

Congratulations to this year's grantees and thank you to everyone who made this cycle possible. Learn more about our FY26 Community Fund partners in our press release: https://cambridgecf.org/community-fund-2026

05/08/2026

Our caring and compassionate funders make our work possible. We are honored to receive grants from Cambridge Community Foundation, The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust, and Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation to sustain our mission.

Support from these generous funders enhances our ability to provide empowering, free clothing, shoes, and accessories to individuals experiencing poverty, homelessness, and crises. These grants will allow Second Chances to continue building organizational sustainability and capacity, enabling us to reach and serve people in need in our community for many years to come.

We are grateful to Cambridge Community Foundation, The Agnes M. Lindsay Trust, and Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation for their commitment to our neighbors and shared community!