Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 67, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 20, 2009 Page: 13 of 20
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 20,2009
LIVING
THE POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE
PAGE IB
Kids Free Clothing Exchange helps area families with back to school clothing
BY LYNN BROWN
Staff Reporter
polknews @ gmail.com
T7 ids Free Gothing
1^ Exchange may be small
size but extraordinarily
large in heart.
The concept — as the name
implies — is a kids clothing store
where gently used clothes can
be exchanged as & child grows.
Anyone raising kids knows how
fast children grow and how quickly
they outgrow clothes. Keeping
up with those clothing needs can
make a dent in any budget.
With school starting next week,
the little store has been very busy.
Almost 400 kids were served
Friday through Kids Free Clothing
Exchange. Saturday was another
busy day serving almost 300 kids
with shirts, pants, skirts, socks and
new shoes.
Friday morning, Mary Hilton
of Livingston was parked outside
waiting for the store to open. She
was there to shop for her 12-year-
old.
‘This store is good for the
community,” she said. “With the
economy the way it is and living
on a budget, this store helps fill in
some gaps.”
On this visit Hilton brought her
friend Candice Lucas. She was
making her first visit to Kids Free
Clothing to shop for a 5-year-old.
“Anything that helps is great,”
Lucas said as they waited for the
door to open. “I’ve heard about the
store and thought 1 would come to
shop for my daughter.”
Many customers leam about
Kids Free Clothing through friends
and word of mouth. The store has
seen an increase in business over
the years and a dramatic increase
in the past three months according
to Lynn Badgerow, president of
the board of directors of Kids Free
Clothing.
The store is beginning its sixth
year of business as a nonprofit
organization next month. The idea
of a store to provide kids clothing
began when John and Lynn
Badgerow began taking kids to
church with them. At its peak, their
private mission was transporting
30 kids each Sunday.
They noticed the need to provide
clothes for kids especially warmer
clothing during the colder months.
Badgerow discussed the need
for clothes with her friend Althea
Elliott and the two ladies, along
with their extended families, began
collecting clothes in their garage.
In less than a year, the families
each had a garage full of clothes to
offer to kids in need. After opening
the doors of Kids Free Clothing
in 2004 at a site that once served
as a bank branch building, they
received permission to enclose the
old drive-through lanes for much
needed storage.
“We started with baby steps,’’said
Badgerow. “We receive support
from both local banks that keeps
us going by offering the building
and the majority of utilities.”
Kids Free Clothing receives
no federal or state funding, only
local and community donations
from people who share and realize
the need for this type of resource
in the area. Everyone working at
the organized and clean store are
volunteers and local residents.
Badgerow is referred to by her
co-workers as the “Head Angel.”
She and John have helped the
community realize the need for
Kids Free Clothing and followed
their goal to bring the much needed
store into existence.
Many kids are repeat shoppers
coming back to shop whenever
clothes are outgrown and some
bring clothes in to exchange.
Volunteers work Monday
through Wednesday from 9 a.m.
to 1 p.m.. to receive and sort the
clothing. The clothes are separated
into what might need laundering
or mending and then sized before
they make it to shopping racks in
the store. Heavily stained and worn
clothes are discarded.
Individual volunteers along
with volunteers from Onalaska
Church of Christ, Lakeway Baptist
Church in Carlisle and First United
Methodist Church in Onalaska
donate their time at the store. Ladies
come to volunteer at various times
of the month from each church
according to Badgerow.
Churches also hold children’s
clothing drives to help keep up with
demand at the store. The Methodist
church ladies and other volunteers
open the store for families each
weekend.
At Kids Free Clothing there are
no financial, religious or other
restrictions for families to shop at
the store. A simple form is added
to the books of children registered
and items are logged each time a
child receives clothing or shoes.
“Kids Free Gothing has grown
faster than we ever thought,” said
Badgerow. “We knew it was a good
idea and the need for something like
this was there, we just didn’t realize
how many families needed help.”
“We had over 250 pairs of new
shoes Friday and they were pretty
much gone. A local web, site sent
out a message we needed more
shoes and a donation came in for
us to go buy another 200 pair of
shoes to be ready for Saturday. We
call our donors Kids Free Clothing
Angels,” Badgerow added.
April Shaw of Onalaska was
among the shoppers Saturday. She
was shopping for her 6-year-old
daughter getting ready for back to
school. “I’ve been shopping here
for two years,” she said. “I heard
about the store through my church
and we are regular shoppers. The
clothes are always goal quality
and everyone here knows me and
Kids fna Clothing Exchange
Horn Ml n W fM. fHI, 6 Jiff.”’ 646-5000
ENTERPRISE PHOTO BY LYNN BROWN
Linda Kendall, left, Althea Elliott, Lupe Barbosa, Lynn Badgerow, Berdie Cooper and Tracey
^Malone volunteered their time at one of the busiest weekends at Kids Free clothing Exchange
in Onalaska last weekend. Kids Free Clothing has seen an increase of shoppers in the last three
months and back to school weekends are extraordinarily busy. Shoppers took home almost 500
pairs of shoes and clothing items over the weekend.
my daughter, we are like family.
The ladies were surprised what
sizes she is into now.”
‘These are good people here.
We have shopped for pants, shirts,
shoes and coats in the winter
whenever we need to add to what
we have,” April added.
News travels fast in a small
community and a good idea to
help families spreads like wildfire.
Kids Free Clothing is located
in Onalaska but serves a much
wider community base. Families
from Leggett, Corrigan, Carlisle,
Goodrich, Trinity, Indian Springs,
Evergreen, Dodge, New Waverly,
Tarkington, Colmesneil and Rye
are among the communities with
families shopping at Kids Free
Clothing.
“When gas was so high, mothers
and kids would carpool to come see
us,” said Althea Elliott, a volunteer
and original board member of Kids
Free Clothing. “We have peak
seasons where needs are higher,
like school starting, but we are
also busy when cold weather gets
here and around holidays too,” she
added.
See CLOTHING, Page 2B
9K“
ito
(,;trdi.u (.lie that
puts the statistics
in your favor.
ENTERPRISE PHOTO BY LYNN BROWN
Over 250 pairs of new shoes were available Friday to help families get children ready for school
next week. The shoe tables were replenished by Saturday by an anonymous donor. Kids Free
Clothing provided almost 500 pairs of shoes over the weekend along with clothing items such as
blue jeans, shirts, blouses, skirts, socks and other clothing. Back to school is one of the busiest
times of the year for the little store.
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Reddell, Valerie. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 127, No. 67, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 20, 2009, newspaper, August 20, 2009; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth820858/m1/13/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.