Kent schools clothing bank: Reaching out to growing number of families in need

At the Kent Area PTA Council’s clothing bank, it is sometimes the little things that can choke you up.

For clothing bank co-chair Deb Fairclough, one of those moments happened recently, soon after the clothing bank ran out of mittens.

“A little girl grabbed a mismatched pair of socks and put them on her hands and said ‘Mommy, these will keep my hands warm,’” Fairclough said Thursday.

“The need is just so great,” echoed co-chair Kris Kaeding.

This year, as the economy remains down, the number of families using the clothing bank, located at the Kent Phoenix Academy off of Kent-Kangley Road, has increased to more than 200 in the two nights each month that it is open.

“We’ve had as many as 166 (per night),” Kaeding said.

In October, the clothing bank served 247 kids from 76 families, all of whom were referred to the facility though the school district, mostly by family advocates such as Vicky Wilson.

“The need this year s greater than it’s ever been before,” Wilson said. “Even the middle-class families are having issues.”

Wilson, whose own hours have been reduced this year due to budget cuts, said she usually gets a heads up from a school about a family in need and said the clothing bank is always a first choice for assistance.

“The clothing bank is the one thing I always offer,” she said. “I know that they will be successful when they come here.”

Both Wilson and Kaeding said coming to the clothing bank allows the families to use money normally spent on clothing for other things, such as bills or food.

“What it does is take some pressure off,” Kaeding said.

The clothing bank serves all ages of children in the district, as well as their siblings. Located in an old boys’ locker room at the school, the facility features racks and racks of gently used clothing in all sizes and types, including shoes and coats.

Each family can take up to five short-sleeve and five long-sleeve shirts as well as five sweaters, seven pairs of pants and seven sets of socks and underwear (which are purchased new) per child. They also may take a coat, hat, scarf and a pair of gloves.

The clothing bank set up shop in the locker room in June, a vast improvement over its former space, a classroom.

“This is by far the biggest space we’ve ever had,” Kaeding said, adding that the new location provides three times the amount of rack space as the previous one.

Much of the work to turn the locker room into the clothing bank, including building racks, was done by volunteers. Fairclough and Kaeding also sort and shelve the majority of clothing that comes in.

Most of the clothing is donated through clothing drives at schools and local business, although cash donations are also accepted and used primarily on buying new socks and underwear.

Kaeding said the clothing bank also has a trio of corporate donors, including the Kent Sunshine Rotary Club, Kohl’s in Covington and Flow International Corporation of Kent.

Fairclough said the clothing bank always is looking for additional donations, however – especially winter coats. The socks and underwear room was also getting low after a run of requests in the past few weeks.

As winter approaches and heating bills get thrown into the mix, Fairclough and Kaeding don’t expect to see a slowdown in the need and Wilson expects to send more families in as the year goes on.

“It’s a great resource and I can’t imagine not having it,” she said.

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The Kent Area PTA CLothing Bank is located at 11000 S.E. 264th Ave., off of 111th at Kent-Kangley Road, at the Kent Phoenix Academy (formerly Sequoia Junior High). For more information, e-mail clothingbank@kacpta.org or visit www.kacpta.org.

Donations of gently used clothing are always accepted at the bin located at the school or by appointment. Families must be referred to the clothing bank through their local school.

The clothing bank is open from 6 to 8 p.m. every other Tuesday, including the following dates: Nov. 17, Dec. 1, Dec. 15, Jan. 5, Jan. 19, Feb. 9 and Feb. 23.