Piles of colorful clothing fill a large closet at USM’s Child and Family Center, ready and waiting to be picked through and chosen from.
Jennifer Burnham, a USM student and mom, buys clothes each year for her children. Because her children outgrow their new clothes so quickly, Burnham, program coordinator for the Woman’s Resource Center (WRC), developed a free clothing swap.
Burnham wants to provide student families with free, quality clothes for their children. She started the project last year with a clothing swap party.
“As an idea it was successful, but turnout was not so good,” she said. “Many people were busy or at class when we had it.”
Students are encouraged to donate their children’s outgrown clothes at either the WRC or the Child and Family Center. For now, the clothes are stored in the large closet, but Burnham plans to buy baskets to organize them according to garment type, size and gender. Parents will be able to pick up these clothes during the Child and Family Center’s hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., she said.
Although the program is just getting started, Burnham’s goal is to reach the community of USM parents to establish an ongoing clothing exchange.
“It’s great when you have a friend with kids that are older than your kids,” she said. “Then you can get all the hand-me-downs.”
Jennifer Hodsdon, Intercultural Program Coordinator and student mom thinks that hand-me-downs are great but not always in great condition.
“Kids are rough on their clothes,” Hodsdon said. “By the time kids are five, they tend to stain them or ruin them before they outgrow them.”
Burnham said all of the donated clothes would be laundered and inspected before being brought to the closet.
The WRC is also working in collaboration with the Child and Family Center to provide help during the upcoming holiday seasons for USM families who are in need. They are reaching out to help students with families and will have a survey to find out what is needed most. Their goal is to provide gifts of clothes, toys and/or hygiene products for children, as well as food baskets for the families on the respective holidays they celebrate.
Jennifer Hodsdon said the program “will have to make a big effort to reach parents. A lot of the resources for women at USM are not well known.”
Contact Jennifer Burnham at 780-4996 at the WRC about any of these projects. All information shared with the WRC will remain confidential.