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Wanted in Struthers: Donations of gently used kids’ clothes
By JEANNE STARMACK
STRUTHERS
Before school starts every year, they come into her store — parents, and sometimes just the kids.
“We get swamped with people looking for school clothes,” said Melanie Rauschenbach, owner of Kids Stuff at 6 State St.
Though Rauschenbach’s store sells used children’s clothes, the people she’s talking about are looking for donations.
And while she’s happy to help, she often can’t.
“We sell out sizes, and we don’t have anything to give them,” she said.
She’s had an idea for years to have a back-to-school clothing drive.
“The need is so great,” she explained. “When you see people coming in, and the kids have absolutely nothing — there is need right here.”
So when Struthers’ 1st Ward started its Block Watch group about six months ago, Rauschenbach, who is treasurer, proposed the group plan a clothing drive
“For Block Watch, that’s the first idea I had,” she said.
The 1st Ward is lucky enough not to have much of a crime problem, she said, and the Block Watch doesn’t do the typical neighborhood crime-watch activities.
The group is concentrating instead on community and beautification projects. It’s also the group behind the mural that’s being painted across the street from Kids Stuff.
Donations for the clothing drive have not been plentiful so far, Rauschenbach said. She’s appealing to the community to drop off gently used clothes, shoes, coats, hats, gloves and purses at her store.
She’s requesting that the items not be dated, that they have working zippers and they aren’t missing buttons.
“Stuff that looks like school clothes, sizes 5 through teenage sizes,” she said.
“Tell whoever’s working it’s for the Block Watch clothing drive,” she said, adding that she’s confident that once word gets out, the drive will get donations.
“People are generous,” she said.
Rauschenbach said she would like to give the clothes away either the last week in August or the first week in September.
The Sulmona Valley Club on Bridge Street has agreed to let the Block Watch use its hall for the giveaway, she said.
Clothing can be dropped off daily at the store from noon to 6 p.m.