JOHNSTON, R.I. (WJAR) — A non-profit organization is celebrating its 10th year in service to children in Rhode Island.
‘Clothes to Kids RI’ provides new and quality used clothing to low-income or in-crisis, school-age children in Providence County—free of charge.
“They can come in twice a calendar year and receive a full week’s worth of clothing free of charge,” said Eva-Marie Mancuso, the co-founder of Clothes to Kids RI and lifetime board member. “Clothes to Kids is all about dignity, and self esteem, it’s so the kids can shop and come in and choose what they want.”
Having moved storefront locations from Providence to 11 Commerce Way in Johnston, their headquarters are a place hundreds shop each month.
Board members and volunteers spent weeks creating the space into a beautiful ‘store’ so when families walk in, they feel like they’re in one.
Racks of clothing are sorted by style and size.
Helpful information about each area is listed in both Spanish and English.
All of the clothes are gently used or new.
When a family comes into ‘shop,’ they are greeted by a personal shopper to help them pick out a wardrobe.
There’s even a return policy- if kids aren’t able to come in with their parents to try things on, they can be returned with tags up to two weeks later.
“Our motto is ‘If we’d put it on our own children or grandchildren we’ll put it on the floor,’” said Mancuso. “We have amazing volunteers that inspect everything that’s brought in; it gets inspected, tagged, and put on the floor.”
There are only two part-time, paid employees.
Karen Cabral runs the day-to-day operations. Peter Barton, the president, is also very hands-on.
The non-profit relies on donations and its roughly 35 volunteers help make their efforts successful.
“Volunteers run this operation; we would not be able to do what we do without the volunteers,” said Mancuso. “We have a very very tight budget so we can only spend a certain amount for the clothing and so it’s really important to have good people out there scouring the racks.”
One of their biggest ‘shoppers’ is volunteer Betty Brousseau of Warwick.
The 66-year-old retired from teaching several years ago, and read an advertisement in the paper that ‘Clothes to Kids RI’ needed help.
Initially, she started helping out in the store, then, buying became her thing.
“I do kind of an inventory when I’m here the week before so I know what we need, then, I’ll hit up the Salvation Army to get deals for whatever we need. I usually do at least three Walmart’s a week, and Burlington at least three stores a week, Target, sometimes Kohls,” said Brousseau. “I’m not a big shopper for myself at all, but I spend a lot of time shopping.”
Having worked with children for her entire life, Brousseau knows the importance of looking and feeling good.
It’s one of several reasons she takes her volunteering-and shopping-very seriously.
“Oh, I love it. I love it. This was a natural thing to kind of step into,” she said. “My sisters get tired of me texting like, ‘I just found shoes for $3’ and it is exciting because it’s a challenge. To stay in our budget and get everything is a challenge I enjoy.”
“When she gets sneakers on sale she’ll walk in, pull them out of the cart, it’s a riot everyone starts clapping she’s like, ‘I got these for five dollars a pair.”‘ added Mancuso. “She’s a volunteer who does it every week goes out and finds the bargains so we can keep the racks filled.”
Recently, Mancuso said they’ve had to cut back due to funding cuts.
Typically, they clothe 200 kids a month, and host two major fundraisers each year.
To date, they’ve provided over 15,000 wardrobes to kids in Providence County.
Currently, the store is in need of all sizes of sweatpants, sneakers, and underwear. Monetary donations are appreciated greatly.
“With a lot of the cut backs it’s been hard we’ve had to cut back on the amount we’re spending to fill in the racks which translates to how many kids we can serve,” said Mancuso. “We are so lucky to have everyone here, I always say its about time, talent, and treasure.”
A volunteer echoes how much the organization means to them too.
“It’s like everybody is just very appreciative of what I do so it’s also kind of a nice feeling to know, even though I’ve been retired for seven years, I’m still active and doing something good,” said Brousseau.“It’s a fun place to be.”
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