Back-to-School Shopping at Clothes For Kids Starts This Week
Clothes For Kids, a non-profit organization providing free school clothing for low-income families, opens its doors for back-to-school on Wednesday, August 23rd. “Thanks to generous donations from the community we have a fantastic school inventory, and we are thrilled to be opening for our 34th year of shopping,” says Heidi Nornes, Program Coordinator for Clothes For Kids.
Over the summer, the volunteers have been sorting, cleaning and preparing the store for back-to-school shopping. During the first two weeks of operation, more than 100 volunteers will contribute nearly 1,500 hours of support to ensure that every family receives quality services and clothing.
Students qualify for Clothes For Kids through the free or reduced lunch program. To simplify the process for the families, students should go to the school they attend and obtain a clothing requisition form from their school office. The form outlines the hours of operation and dates that Clothes For Kids is open to shoppers.
When families arrive at Clothes For Kids, they will be welcomed and given a number; we ask families to wait so that each family can have the time and space necessary to pick out clothing for their students. Each student will receive a shopping list and basket when they come in to shop, and can look through the racks of new and gently-used clothing and choose quality school clothes that reflect their personal style. During their one shopping trip per school year, students receive a warm coat, a light-weight jacket, pants and shirts, shoes, socks, underwear and more!
The only thing that is missing from our store is the cash register.
“We find that the school wardrobes provided by Clothes For Kids help students to build confidence so that they can attend school focused on learning — meeting our vision to Empower Students For Success, One Wardrobe at a Time,” says Jeff Price, CFK Board President. “In addition to the benefits to the students, helping local families avoid the expense of buying school clothes gives them the opportunity to focus their resources on housing, food and other necessities.”
Clothes For Kids is grateful to have our current high-quality inventory, but as the program continues to grow we recognize that in order to meet the increasing demand for our services we need additional volunteers, in-kind donations and cash contributions that help us fill the holes in our inventory and meet the needs of local students in Head Start through 12th grade.