LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – For more than 16-years, the Foster Care Closet has provided clothes for kids across the entire state of Nebraska and as it gets colder, they’re asking for the community’s help.
According to the National Foster Youth Institute, more than 250,000 children are placed into the foster care system each year and a lot of them have nothing but the clothes on their backs. That problem is what the Foster Care Closet is trying to change.
The Foster Care Closet has served more than 800 kids in the state of Nebraska this year and in the month of October they helped nearly 300 children in foster care.
What makes this closet so unique is that they don’t just serve Lincoln but the entire state of Nebraska.
“We’re just serving way more kids than we’ve served before because we’re the only place across the state that’s serving with brand new clothes. We are making sure in those first hours of care that we’re meeting those kids needs immediately,” said founder of the Foster Care Closet, Leigh Esau.
On any given day, more than 3,000 children are in foster care in the state of Nebraska, according to KVC Nebraska. Kids entering the foster care system range from infants to 18-years-old.
Once a child has been removed from a home, the Foster Care Closet offers a unique opportunity to shop for clothes that are brand new. Kids are able to come into the store and not just pick out one or two, but five new outfits.
With the colder temperatures on the way, kids need coats, gloves and shoes which can only happen with your help.
“We feel like when people walk through our doors they are really in a position to know that this is a shopping experience the same as if they were going to a public store,” Esau said, “Helping out families helping our kids be able to walk with their heads up and fit in with their peers.”
The Foster Care Closet has served more than double the number of kids they ever have in the past which in turn is causing them to run low on the number of clothes they can provide to foster kids.
Your help can come in a lot of different ways, from dropping off new clothes or as a monetary donations.
Esau said because of their wholesale prices on clothes, the $60,000 in donations they’ve received this year has turned into $180,000 worth of clothes.
You can find more information on donating on the Foster Care Closet website.
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