We recently connected with Melissa Kevlahan and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, MELISSA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My nephew Nicholas was a young man that was called home unexpectedly in the winter of 2017. He had a huge giving heart that was perfectly demonstrated in one of his last acts on this earth.

It was a frigid night in Dover, New Jersey when Nick came upon a homeless man in need of a coat. Without hesitation he took the coat off his back and gave to this man. Nick then returned home that night and with his Mom immediately gathered up more clothes and coats to bring to this man and others like him at a local shelter in Dover.

In March 2020, Nick’s Mom myself & another friend came up with the idea to have a “FREE mobile clothing thrift shop” to serve those in need during difficult times including those in housing crisis. We collect gently used clothing from our community, wash, hang and drive up to areas in need and roll out racks and racks of clothes for folks to choose from. We are hosted by New Jersey social service agencies, churches, and shelters where we set up our Free Clothing Pop Up Events outside in their parking lots. These events were a huge success!

We agreed that we would do this in Nick’s honor and to continue what he started. It’s a been an emotional and inspiring journey, to keep his spirit alive while helping others as he did bring us hope.

When the cold weather was upon us, we were looking to set up our pop up events inside community centers or shelter buildings. Unfortunately, in 2020 with COVID restrictions we were unable to enter any of these buildings, so we had to come up with an alternate plan. That is when we decided to offer an ALL FREE ONLINE Clothing shop. In partnership with local social service agencies, community shelters and food pantries. We now offer Shop for FREE with FREE delivery to community centers.

According to the latest data, the poverty rate in New Jersey is 9.7%, which means that more than 3 million people struggle to afford basic necessities like food, housing, childcare, transportation, and health care. This is where we come in. Nick’s Hope helps struggling New Jersey families at the poverty level who face the daily challenge of clothing themselves and their growing family through our all-free clothing programs. We bridge the clothing
insecurity gap by meeting the families where they are.

We provide “clothing with care”

Beauty from Ashes
“to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”

Isaiah 61:3

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Like many other areas in our country, there are communities here that really struggle financially. We believe our free clothing program can help families make their budgets go further, giving them the ability to focus on other basic needs by providing clothes for their growing families.

I’m so proud of how a group of women with all kinds of talents and skills have come together to create something special to help others. Our organization is run mostly by volunteers, and the sense of community among the women involved makes it such a welcoming place for anyone who wants to serve and make a difference.

Nick’s Hope has also become a go-to place for people to donate clothes, especially since they can see through our Facebook posts exactly where their donations go each month at our free clothing events. It’s also really important to all of us to keep clothes with lots of life left in them out of the landfill, and our donors feel strongly about that too.

Since we started in May 2020, Nick’s Hope has helped over 450 families in New Jersey, distributing more than 60,000 articles of clothing, shoes, and accessories. That’s over 30,000 pounds of clothing that might have ended up in landfills!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

II believe what has helped build our reputation is the dignity we offer our clients and the professionalism we maintain in our interactions with partners who serve those in need. We never know what a person or family is going through, and if we can support them in a caring, non-judgmental way, that’s exactly how we’d want to be treated ourselves. Our social service partners rely on us as a trusted resource for the families they serve, knowing they can count on us for a timely response and compassionate care for their clients.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

The Nick’s Hope mission began in the basement of my home, where we washed, sorted, and hung up clothes to bring to our free clothing pop-up events. We also ran our online clothing shop from there, with racks and racks of inventory filling the space. For two years, we managed everything from that basement, until my husband, with love and humor, suggested it was time to move out. He encouraged us to find a retail space where we could set up a portion of it as a thrift store, selling items to help offset rent and other expenses. At the time, we had no reserve funds and no monetary donors to speak of—this was truly a leap of faith. I believe God put this mission on our hearts and led us every step of the way. As the saying goes, “Build it and they will come.”

We found a small storefront in a strip mall in our town, where we sold higher-end and designer women’s items, while the mission work operated out of the back. The community loved it—it was unlike anything else in the area. We weren’t your typical thrift store. We named it “The Very Sherry Boutique at Nick’s Hope” in honor of one of our founders, who tragically passed away from COVID just a week before we got the keys to our new space. It was an incredibly tough time—taking this leap of faith while grieving our dear friend—but the outpouring of love from the community, our volunteers, and our families gave us the strength to carry on.

As the demand for our free clothing services grew, we knew we needed more space. We were incredibly fortunate to find a larger location just a few doors down in the same strip mall. Our new space has been perfect for fulfilling our mission while also providing a beautiful boutique-style women’s thrift store, which has quickly become a must-visit destination for shoppers near and far.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nickshope.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicks_hope_inc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicksHopeInc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NicksHope