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What a Bargain
At The Clothes Line, Pittsburghers can buy designer apparel for a song – and support groundbreaking research in the process.
By Anna Dubrovsky, a freelance writer/editor
At The Clothes Line resale shop in Bloomfield, purple tags distinguish designer duds from humbler inventory. They dangle from women’s fashions by St. John, Dana Buchman, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and other runway legends. Similarly illustrious names peek out from shoes arranged along the walls: Ferragamo, Stuart Weitzman, Kate Spade, Escada.
It’s a gold mine for bargain-hunting couture lovers, and it’s much more than that. The Clothes Line, which sells children’s clothing and small household items as well as women’s apparel and accessories, is a project of the Women’s Auxiliary of Magee-Womens Hospital. All proceeds benefit the hospital and its patients.
Since its founding in 1934, the Women’s Auxiliary has raised money for dozens of hospital initiatives. It contributed to the construction of the breast care center, the renovation of the neonatal intensive care unit, and the expansion of Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI). It paid for the murals that line the path to the cafeteria. Last year, Auxiliary members voted for a change of course. Rather than funding another bricks and mortar project, they resolved to bring a promising scientist to Pittsburgh. They pledged $2.5 million toward the Magee Auxiliary Research Scholar (MARS) endowment.
The search for an outstanding researcher will soon be underway. Candidates must demonstrate a commitment to research in reproductive biology and should be on the threshold of their careers, said MWRI Scientific Director Yoel Sadovsky, who will head the selection committee.
“When researchers are established, they already have grants and other funding sources, so they can be very successful,” he said. “We’re not trying to find the most successful applicant who is very seasoned. We’re trying to identify someone who’s just starting a career, who is very promising. That’s the most vulnerable period in terms of funding support. It’s a very difficult, high-pressure time.”
Established researchers receive the vast majority of grants from the National Institutes of Health. In 2007, the NIH awarded more than 7,000 grants to previously funded investigators. Fewer than 3,000 went to first-time investigators. The average age of first-time recipients of major NIH grants was 42.6.
“If it’s very difficult to get a grant, you have to spend more of your time rewriting those grant proposals or writing new ones, and that takes time away from the core research,” Sadovsky said. One too many rejections and a researcher may abandon academia altogether, taking refuge in a corporate environment with less opportunity for innovative research.
Magee Auxiliary Research Scholars will receive a salary and funds for research supplies for up to three years. After their period of research at MWRI, they will be in a better position to compete for grants from the government and other foundations, Sadovsky said. “We would like to ease their transition into a successful career.”
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The Clothes Line is a boon to women transitioning into the professional workforce. “Many of our customers are young professionals who are just getting started,” said Betsy McAleer, an Auxiliary member who co-manages the shop. The Clothes Line is never short on work attire, thanks to donors whose careers are flying. Not long ago, one woman donated more than 70 gently worn St. John knits separates. The same donor parted with an Escada suit that still had tags on it. Auxiliary members put the $2,000 suit on eBay.
Laura Deger, a senior vice president at Federated Investors Inc., has been donating her suits and other clothing to the shop for about a decade. She knows three other female executives at Federated who do the same. “The fact that proceeds go to Magee absolutely convinced me that this was the ideal place to donate my clothes,” Deger said. “We are lucky in Pittsburgh to have such a great hospital that’s specific to women’s health.”
The Women’s Auxiliary is the oldest of three Magee auxiliaries and the only one to receive the Elisabeth B. McCullough Award, created in 1996 to honor individuals and groups for their fundraising efforts. Its members raise about $100,000 a year. About half of that comes from The Clothes Line, which opened in Shadyside in the 1930s and relocated to Bloomfield in 2005. “Last year we broke a record. We had a $2,000 day,” said McAleer. “When you’re selling a lot of things for a dollar, you’re selling a lot of clothes.”
Operational costs are negligible because Auxiliary members take turns volunteering at the shop. The Auxiliary has about 45 members, and four are assigned to The Clothes Line every day. Many collect clothes from relatives, friends, and neighbors at their homes.
In addition to operating the resale shop, the Auxiliary sponsors the hospital’s Baby Picture Program. Every morning, a professional photographer takes pictures of the newborns. Before digital cameras became commonplace, Auxiliary members would pick up photos from a developer and deliver them to women in the maternity wards. “That’s why I joined the Auxiliary,” said Sue Fuhrer, who now serves as the group’s president. “I’d had my two daughters at Magee, and it just seemed like so much fun to be back there.” Today, prints and personalized keepsakes are sent directly to families’ homes. “You can put your baby’s picture on practically anything,” Fuhrer said, “but most people choose the 8-by-10s and 5-by-7s for grandma and grandpa.”
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True story: Two women, both Auxiliary members, were out to lunch. One looked down and complimented the other’s Ferragamo sandals. The wearer boasted that she had bought them at The Clothes Line. Only then did the sandals’ admirer realize that she herself had donated them.
Another true story: An Auxiliary member was on her way to a party when she realized that her evening dress had once belonged to the party’s host, a Clothes Line donor. “We have to turn around and go home!” she told her husband.
Sneak previews of Clothes Line merchandise are a perk of Auxiliary membership. The variety of donated items makes leaving empty-handed almost impossible. A pair of slacks from Target may share the floor with a mink from downtown furrier Carl W. Herrmann. Antique knickknacks are displayed alongside new ones donated by the gift shop at Magee or Rosebud’s in Aspinwall. The jewelry store next door makes occasional donations. One time, someone donated a 1-carat diamond ring. “You name it, we get it,” said McAleer.
What’s showcased on the floor is the tip of the iceberg. The shop’s basement is bursting with overflow and off-season items: boxes of shoes and belts, racks of clothing, stuffed reindeer, porcelain Easter bunnies, and much more.
Every sale brings the Auxiliary one step closer toward meeting its $2.5 million MARS pledge. “We just have to keep selling clothes and selling baby pictures,” said Fuhrer. “Lots of them.”
The Clothes Line is located at 4804 Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 412-621-2498.
Check out the new Clothes Line website today!
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