Donations keep the doors open

Drives for socks and undies for back to school are a great way for the local clothes closet to collect exactly what it needs for a specific event, but they don’t help keep the doors open.
Our Caring Closet seeks the community’s help. It needs regular income and pledge partners — even a pledge of $5 a month can make a difference.
The clothes closet’s goal is to help anybody who has a need. It provides clothing and household goods, and sometimes can connect people with used furniture, although it does not accept large items at its facility at 205 N. First St.
“All of the people who are going to the [Kuzma Care] Cottage to get food, because they can’t buy enough groceries to feed their families — certainly if they can’t buy groceries how can they buy clothing, and shoes and get their kids back to school, or afford to buy a new frying pan or coffee pot when it breaks? They just can’t,” says Our Caring Closet board member Judy Johnson.
“And we provide them with a lot of luxury things that they couldn’t possibly get for themselves or their kids,” she adds. By luxury she means things the rest of us take for granted — matching dishes, something pretty to put on the wall or designer gym shoes.
The organization’s volunteers are committed to filling the need, whatever that need may be — helping a family immediately after a fire, even before the Red Cross or Salvation Army arrives, providing clothes or school supplies for foster kids or clothes and household goods for senior citizens who either can’t drive to Joliet or Kankakee to shop, or can’t afford to do that on their fixed incomes.
When the organization opened its first warehouse on Davy Lane, it had more than 80 pledge partners. But when it moved to South First Street, its overhead increased in proportion with the number of square feet it had available in which to operate. And as its benefactors get older and are less able to support its mission, its regular monthly income slides.
“A lot of our pledge partners have become older and moved into assisted living and don’t have the cash to be pledge partners anymore,” explains Johnson. “Some of them have moved away.”
The group is struggling. It’s getting by, but no better. That’s depressing for the volunteers, and makes it harder for them to keep going. Local organizations come through if they find out OCC is a little short, and a couple of churches that have pledge partners write a check every few months for whatever is pledged.
“We’re doing OK, but it’s getting harder and harder, and we’re getting closer and closer to the edge. Every month ... we make the rent last week before it’s due,” Johnson said. “We just need a little more support from the community.”
The community has been wonderfully supportive, she adds. If the clothes closet asks for children’s clothes it gets more children’s clothes than it can use. The material support is so good, in fact that only what’s new and like new is offered to the public, the rest is recycled. Recycling generates a little income, although that’s usually less than $100 a month.
The volunteers do fundraisers too, but it’s regular monthly income that the organization needs. It needs to rebuild its corps of pledge partners.
“We’re plugging along, we’re doing the best we can, but it’s not as good as it should be,” Johnson said. “We could do a lot better if we had just a little more cash and we could count on being able to pay the rent easily.”
Amy Coster, a regular contributor, echoed the group’s plea for pledge partners on Facebook:
“Our Caring Closet has helped over 700 families. Everything is free! But because the clothes closet runs strictly on donations, its running out of money. Please consider stopping by and not only making material donations, but also making monetary donations,” she wrote.
“If everyone could donate $5 or $10, maybe once a month, it could mean the difference between families having their needs met or being forced to close their doors to these families.
“It’s a beautiful love they have to help all in need, turning no one away. Please help keep Our Caring Closet open,” Coster concludes.
Our Caring Closet is open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The facility is also open by appointment, which can be made by calling 815-476-0900.
Donations can be sent to Our Caring Closet at 205 N. First St., Wilmington, IL 60481. Checks should be made payable to Our Caring Closet NFP. Those who wish to make a recurring gift of $5, $10 or more per month can set up an automatic withdrawal through their financial institution. There’s also a Paypal button on OCC’s Facebook page that can help you make a single donation or set up a monthly gift.
Gifts may be tax deductible, donors should consult their tax advisor.