Community Partner Spotlight: Share Our Space
Share Our Spare
Alex Goodfellow, MSW, BA
Executive Director, Share Our Spare
About this partner
Mission
Share Our Spare ensures every Chicago area child, ages 0-5, has the essential items they need to support their health and development and equip them for a strong start. SOS activates community impact through empowerment, innovative solutions, and a network of partners so that children can thrive and families can shift from crisis management to caregiving with dignity.
Executive Director
Alex has over 15 years of nonprofit experience, including five years as Share Our Spare’s Executive Director. During Alex’s tenure, SOS has grown in every measurable metric, including the number of partners, children served, warehouse space, staff, volunteer hours, fundraising, and items distributed. She holds a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from the George Warren Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Saint Louis University.
Services Offered
Share Our Spare accepts donations of new and gently used early childhood items from community members who no longer need them and passes them along through our direct service agency partners to families with young children experiencing need. Our 80 permanent partners have access to a monthly diaper distribution and multiple opportunities per month to come into our Sharehouse and “shop” at no cost for the in-kind essential items we receive. We also have over 130 organizations on our waitlist who have access to “shop” at no cost in our Sharehouse once a month and are waiting to gain access to support with diapers.
Current Projects
Our core programs include diaper distribution and in-kind shopping in our Sharehouse. In addition to those, we also currently have a project with the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Family Connects Chicago Program. We provide families with diapers, new strollers, and pack-n-plays through that program. In addition, we are also the local program partner for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program in Chicago.
Organizational Impact to the Community
Over the past five years, the cost of diapers nationally has increased by more than 32%. In 2024, SOS served 10,000 more children than in the previous year. Additionally, we recirculated 59.3 tons of quality early childhood items and distributed over 6 million diapers to babies/children in our city experiencing diaper needs. Ninety-six percent of families provided with items from SOS reported being less stressed about baby essentials.
Funding Sources
We receive funding from corporations, foundations, program income and individuals.
About this Spotlight
