MARYSVILLE — Cheyenne Gepner struggled to stay upright as she hefted a plastic bag full of clothes that was almost bigger than she was, but the little girl insisted she didn’t need any help carrying the clothes up the steps into the Kloz 4 Kids offices.
Gepner was one of half a dozen young women who belong to the Everett Eagles Junior Drill Team who stopped by Kloz 4 Kids on the evening of March 9 to drop off an estimated 800 pounds in donated clothing to the non-profit organization behind the Marysville United Methodist Church.
“We’ve got clothes here for preschool through high school,” said Michelle Mullins, youth chair for the Everett Eagles Junior Drill Team. “We hit all the age groups. It’s all been washed and sorted. Nothing needs mending, and a lot of these clothes are brand new.”
Mullins explained, in spite of the group’s name, that a majority of the girls in the Everett Eagles Junior Drill Team either live or attend schools in Marysville, so they’re motivated to help out their hometown. The inspiration to collect for Kloz 4 Kids came from reading an article about the charity in the Aug. 25, 2010, issue of The Marysville Globe.
Donna Wallace and Lynn Brittingham accepted the plastic bags full of clothes that night, with Wallace explaining that Kloz 4 Kids serves any children in need in the Marysville School District, including those in foster care, while Brittingham thanked the girls for saving them the time and expense of washing the clothes themselves.
“Socks and underwear have to be new,” Brittingham said. “Otherwise, when in doubt, we just wash whatever we receive.”
“Our kids grow out of their clothes all the time,” said Mullins, when asked how they’d managed to collect so many clothes since the winter holidays. “My son is always getting new backpacks because he has to accessorize them with the rest of his wardrobe.”
To qualify to receive free clothes from Kloz 4 Kids, children simply need to live in the Marysville area and attend any grade from preschool through high school. For more information, call 360-659-8521 or log onto www.marysvilleumc.org/kloz4kids.shtml.