Today, I solved a long-running mystery at the Mansion – where did many of those shoes, sweatshirts, and sweaters go that I’ve been bringing to the Mansion over the past couple of months?

Was there a thief in the building, or were the residents losing them and forgetting them?

It seems one of the residents who said she was helping me pass them out hoarded them instead in her room. A small group of the residents kept telling me their clothes were lost or stolen.

This had never happened before in my Mansion work, and I’ve brought in many clothes.

Theft in the Mansion is rare for many reasons, one being there’s no place to hide things, and most of the residents I know are quite honorable and law-abiding.

When I come into the Mansion, I can’t always find the residents I’m bringing things to. Sometimes they’re out shopping, or at the doctor’s. Sometimes they’re napping.

One or two of the residents always comes up to me and offers to take the clothes where they belong.

When I can, I give the clothes to the aides, they always make the residents get them. But they are often busy.

About 15 to 20 items have just vanished over the winter. I bought one very cold woman three different sweatshirts, she kept telling me she never got them and the aides and I were bewildered.

This was driving me a little crazy, because she is thin and quite old and very cold.

Today I solved the mystery. We discovered that all of the missing clothes were in one of the resident’s room. In her prior life, she had been an animal hoarder. Here at the Mansion, she had become a clothes hoarder.

Some of the staff have noticed all the clothes in her room, but they assumed they were hers.

She never wore the clothes, sold them, gave them away, or brought them to their rightful owners, as promised.

One of the other residents, angry that I was being taken advantage of and that her friends weren’t getting the warm clothes they needed, told me what was happening.

Some of the aides and residents tell me once in a while that I’m too soft and some people take advantage of me. I am aware of that.  I’m sure that’s true and I am careful not to do that.

But this was something new.

I went up to the hoarder and asked if I could talk to her. We sat down on a sofa and I said I was disappointed to learn that the clothes I handed to her were never delivered.

I said I always trusted her and would hate to think that was a mistake.

She got flustered and uncomfortable and said she would make sure the clothes got where they were supposed to go. Great, I said, I’ll be looking forward to that. And we both agreed that I wouldn’t give her any more clothes to distribute.

I didn’t want to push it any farther or make a big deal out of it. The resident involved is friendly and kind, and hoarding is a form of mental illness, not criminal behavior.

She didn’t mean to steal or cause any harm, she just collects things. A friend of hers told me her room was stuffed with clothes and shoes and sweaters that she never wore.

My plan is to make sure the clothes get where they are supposed to go and in the future, make sure I hand them to an aide. I let the Mansion staff know about it, in case any more clothes vanish.