What’s In A Safety Pin? Symbolically, A Lot!

safety pin illustration

A safety pin as symbol? At Here We Go Again, creating a fun, happy place for women to congregate has always been at the top of our goals. We’d like to add “Safe” to list of qualities we support in our stores. I wish it wasn’t necessary to even say it, because it should go without saying. All women, all people, have the right to feel safe in our country.

Making A Public Statement

To those of you who know us already, I hope that you already feel that we’re a safe place. To those who don’t, we’ll now be displaying a symbol to let them know as well. This month, given some of the harassment and hate incidents that I’ve been hearing about in Portland – yes, OUR Portland – I wanted to demonstrate to our community that we value acceptance, inclusion and diversity.

The Safety Pin Symbol

You’ve probably heard about the safety pin‘s usage in England after the Brexit vote. Hate crimes against immigrants spiked 41% after the vote to leave the European Union. People wanted a small way to demonstrate that they were a person who could help someone in danger. In 2016, the US has also seen an increase of hate speech, harassment and attacks. We mourn and decry that this could happen in our beloved country, and wish ourselves, to display the symbol.

Diversity sign reflecting safety pin valuesIn the coming weeks, we’ll be a distribution point for yard signs and stickers that support these values. If you’d like one, stop in! All proceeds will go to the  Lutheran Community Services NW Emergency Housing Fund, which provides financial assistance to incoming refugees.

Although we hope it’s never necessary, we want to be a place where anyone who feels threatened can find safety, and we want our community to know it. We stand with those who may feel threatened.

Watch for new vinyl signs of our safety pin to appear on our doors. We welcome all.

 

Author: Chris Gauger

Chris is a self-confessed resale fashionista. A fashion recycler from an early age, she learned the consignment business from her mother, Jan Gauger, at omt divine resale in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chris moved to Portland, Oregon in 1990 and immediately felt at home, among her people. She started Here We Go Again Deluxe Resale Boutique in 1992 and has never looked back. The second location of her store opened in 1997. Chris loves pretty much everything about clothes and fashion, but she has a serious boot and shoe addiction that is fed by the two stores. It's doubtful she will ever be recovered. In addition to clothes, Chris loves mentoring young women and teaching them about what it takes to run and manage a small business. She has employed some pretty remarkable women over the years and is grateful for all they've done to help grow Here We Go Again. She is a Hoosier by birth, but was raised in Nebraska. She has two sisters who continue to run the consignment store there, and one brother who has sense enough to stay out of the way. Her husband of twenty-seven years, is a land use planner and the fix-anything-guru that Chris relies upon more often than she'd like.

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