PHOENIX — Uplifting Arizona, and providing a space that does more than just sell clothes. A new thrift store just opened in north Phoenix with the goal of helping women impacted by drug addiction and human trafficking. The store, IdentiFREED, is located near 32nd Street and Thunderbird Road.
Valley nonprofit, IdentiFREED, hits the pavement helping local women affected by human trafficking in the past.
For Carrie Bradley, and her husband Rodney Pieres, it's personal.
"I was on the streets a long time. I cried out to God. I cried for a solution and he scooped me up,” said Bradley.
The answer, she says, was a thrift store. All things for women recovering from drug addiction or who survived trafficking are free. For the public, things cost $5 or less. Every penny goes to outreach.
"It was a rough lifestyle. You get so beat down you don't think you can make it out. I dropped out of high school, so was uneducated. I was unemployable,” added Bradley.
Now, employed with an associate's, bachelor's, and master's degree, the accountant is working to dress women overcoming their battles.
Women can also visit the thrift store to use computers to search for jobs and work on their resumes.
Bradley got the idea for IdentiFREED back in October. Since then, she says, the passion project has come together better than expected.
Cheryl O'Neal, who's also experienced her own struggles, tells us she can't imagine the world without Identi-FREED.
"It's priceless. It's beyond. It is at the very top of the list,” said O’Neal.
The organization's outreach doesn't stop with women.
Bradley's husband leads the team using a bus to give clothes, food, and hygiene products to people experiencing homelessness.
"All of the work it takes to make this outreach bus happen is exponential. So, everything we do to go out and all of the hard work makes it worth it. When I am out there, man, I am in my element,” said Rodney Pieres.