(Courtesy of Yad Leah) Last Tuesday, “Gito,” the designer women’s clothing, shoes and accessory store in Englewood, hosted a clothing drive and fundraiser for Yad Leah. Gito Alvarez, the owner of the store, felt that since Oct. 7 there had been such sadness among many of his customers. “The Jewish community has always been so good to me. I realized that any little thing I could do to help would be important. I wanted to give back,” Alvarez said.

He spoke to Lisa Shechter of Englewood, one of his customers, who suggested hosting an event with Yad Leah. To Shechter, the synergy was obvious. She said, “Gito dresses the ladies of New Jersey and Yad Leah dresses the people of Israel.”

Gito dedicated April 2 to the “Spring Clean & Shop for a Cause” day, during which Yad Leah ran a clothing drive outside his store on East Palisade Avenue. They collected about 200 bags of clothing. He also donated 10% of the sales that day to the organization. The highlight of the day was an evening reception in his store to meet and greet Yad Leah’s director, Jessica Katz.

Katz said, “Gito is not only empathetic and compassionate about the situation in Israel, but he is also dedicated to doing something practical about it. That is very special.”

This was Yad Leah’s second “retail event.” In February, Lauren Turk’s high-end consignment store, The Hangout NJ, also in Englewood, celebrated its fifth anniversary with a party and a Volunteer Pack for Israel event at the Yad Leah warehouse in Passaic.

“We encourage more stores to reach out and host similar events. Since clothing is our common currency, we’d love to collaborate and support each other,” said Katz. Customers can buy Gito’s clothing online at gitostores.com and on Instagram @gitostores.

Stores and storeowners interested in finding out more information about hosting a Yad Leah retail event should contact info@yadleah.org.