Clothing Closet helps families weather tough times
While the economy is starting to come back, many families in the Northwest suburbs have yet to catch up. That is evident by the number of people who visit The Clothing Closet at Life Community Church in Mount Prospect.
The idea to assist hurting families through a Clothing Closet was born out of a small group — called a Life Group — at the church.
“Four years ago we came to the conclusion that most Christians are educated well beyond their level of obedience” says Pastor Kirk, the lead pastor. “They didn’t need another fill-in-the-blank Bible study to enable them to follow Jesus better. They needed to take what they had already learned and live it — to walk as Jesus walked.”
So the church did away with a traditional adult Sunday school program and started Life Groups. Each Life Group is responsible to equip themselves for ministry, care for each other, connect with the community in some way and find a way to serve the church or the community.
“Essentially, it is a biblical model of discipleship. You are not just filling your head with knowledge, but putting it into practice,” Kirk said.
“We recognized that learning to be a disciple is ‘caught’ as well as taught. Life Groups provide the structure for Christians to model and mentor one another, working together to develop and accomplish great ministries.”
The Clothing Closet is just one of many ministries that have emerged from the Life Groups in an effort to connect and serve the community. Clothing is donated, not only from Life Community Church church members, but from other churches in the Northwest suburbs as well. It is checked for quality, sorted according to gender, size and season, and then displayed on tables.
From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on two successive Saturdays each quarter, people come from all over the Northwest suburbs for free clothes.
“Sometimes we have to limit the amount of clothes a family can take, depending on what has been donated, but, at the very least, they can take two large shopping bags full of clothes.”
And people do come.
“The first Saturday we tried this, we only had six families show up. At first we were disappointed. But then we realized that it might take some time before people knew we were here,” Kirk said.
The following Saturday, 70 people showed up. Now, in its second year, the church is averaging nearly 100 families per Saturday.
“We ask people to sign up at the door so that we can send out a post card with the dates of the next Clothing Closet event, and while the majority of people come from the Northwest suburbs, we are seeing families from as far away as Joliet, North Chicago and McHenry,” Kirk said. “We are amazed at the lives that are touched by this.”
One woman came to the Clothing Closet because she had a job interview the next week, but had been out of work so long, she no longer had appropriate business attire. She cried as she found three outfits in her size.
A single mom had been saving for months so that she could buy a new pair of jeans, but her kids always came first. She found two pair of jeans at the clothing closet.
“The response to this has blown us away,” Kirk said. “As people in the community hear about the Clothes Closet they want to help.”
Clothes have even been donated by people of other faiths and religions. One family called the church and said, “We are Jewish, but we have heard about the Clothing Closet at the church. Our dad just died and we would love to donate his clothes.”
Another family asked, “We have five children under the age of 8. Can we bring in the clothes they’ve outgrown and get clothes in their size now?”
At each event, clothes are put out for the upcoming season. The next event will be from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, April 28 and May 5, featuring spring and summer clothes. For details, call (847) 296-3242.
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