An organization aimed at making sure Starke County children have the tools they need to succeed at school is getting a much-needed facility upgrade. The Kid’s Closet Ministry provides school supplies, clothing, and other resources.
Over the next month, the organization will be moving to a 2,900-square foot building on State Road 10 on the west side of North Judson, according to Director Linda Lewandowski. “Well, we had been talking about a possible building project, but Mark and Debbie Bailey have stepped up and said hey, they had this building that they would offer to us at a very reasonable rate with the possibility of a future purchase,” Lewandowski says. “So 2,900 square feet, we couldn’t pass up on that.”
Lewandowski says Kid’s Closet is running out of space in its current location in the North Judson United Methodist Church. “Currently, we are in the church basement, which is probably about, maybe, not not even a thousand square feet, and it’s cramped,” she says. “It’s hard to get volunteers in there because there’s just no room to work. We need more volunteers, and yet we don’t have the space to house more volunteers.”
But she says there’s a lot of work to do, before the new facility is ready. “First of all, we have to do some modifying to the inside of the building,” she explains. “There’s lots of shelving that has to be built, for the Kid’s Closet Ministry, and we’re hoping to add in a laundry room, as well, so that we can do laundry on-site. That’s not something that we currently have. So it should be the biggest blessing that Kid’s Closet has ever had.”
Along with Kid’s Closet, the new space will also house the North Judson United Methodist Church’s food pantry, according to Lewandowski.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to help set up the new facility or help Kid’s Closet on a regular basis is asked to call 574-896-5927 ext. 4. Lewandowski says the organization is amazed by what the people in the local community do for the kids of Starke County.
