Santa Rosa, CA, June 22nd 2012—On June 29th, 2012, Threads for Teens will be debuting its brand-new location on the Windsor Town Green. The space, located at 620 McClelland Drive, was generously donated for use by Bill and Lori DenBeste of DenBeste Motorsports. Threads for Teens is a non-profit organization that provides brand-new clothing to girls who are in foster care, live in group homes, or are subjected to situations of poverty. Threads for Teens was previously located off of Conde Lane in Windsor. Over the course of the past several months, volunteers have been tediously working to prepare the new location for girls to come shop. Many local donors have come forward to help support the renovation, including the home and outdoor design shop Cokas Diko.
Threads for Teens was founded in January 2010 by then fourteen-year-old Allyson Ahlstrom with the goal of helping less fortunate teenage girls feel confident and hopeful by providing clothing, support, and education. Since the opening of the boutique, over one hundred seventy-five girls have been provided with new clothing from well-known brands, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Miss Me, American Eagle Outfitters, and Ugg Australia, with over $100,000 worth of clothing donations and $40,000 in cash donations.
Allyson Ahlstrom, now seventeen years old, recently won the National Build-a-Bear Huggable Heroes award. Huggable Heroes is a program founded in 2004 to honor and reward young people for giving back to their communities, their schools and our world. In celebration of the company’s 15th birthday, Build-A-Bear Workshop® will honor 15 Huggable Heroes this year and donate $150,000 to their education and charitable causes. The national youth program, which recognizes young people for giving back to their communities and around the world, awards each Huggable Hero $10,000 (a $7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500 from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Foundation to be donated to the 501(c)(3) charity or Canadian cause of the Huggable Hero’s choice). More information is available at buildabear.com/huggableheroes.
The grand opening will take place on Friday, June 29th 2012, from 6:00pm-9:00pm. At this time supporters can come to the drop-in event to see the wonderful transformation that the boutique has undergone and learn about the programs and initiatives that Threads for Teens has sponsored in the past and will undertake in the future. The event will be catered with appetizers, generously donated by Mary’s Pizza Shack. For more information, please go to www.threadsforteens.org, or email her at allysonahlstrom@gmail.com.
