MARYSVILLE — Seven years after it started, the Marysville Kloz 4 Kidz remains as open as ever to families in need.
Board member and volunteer Meg Rounds confirmed that Kloz 4 Kidz doesn’t check families’ addresses or IDs before issuing them clothing, even though it’s served at least 500 kids a year for the past four years running.
Fellow board member Jan Van Horne reported that Kloz 4 Kids outfitted 582 children in 2012, and has already done the same for 527 kids by July of this year, so she expects it will have served 700 school children by the end of 2015.
“Our numbers of clients have gone up ever since the economic downturn seven years ago,” Van Horne said.
Rounds estimated that Kloz 4 Kidz’s monthly budget averages $1,500. Of that, Van Horne calculated that 50 percent is covered by grants, 34 percent is funded by individual donors and gifts, and 16 percent comes from fundraisers and volunteers’ work.
Although it has more than 50 volunteers, Kloz 4 Kidz is already struggling to staff its store, behind the Marysville United Methodist Church, three days a week. In August and the first part of September, this schedule becomes even more demanding, as the store stays open for four days a week.
“We’re always looking for more volunteers,” Rounds said. “The church’s congregation washes all the clothes before they go on our shelves, but you don’t need to be a member of the church to volunteer. Donna isn’t.”
Donna Mohs laughed. “I’m not, but I heard about Kloz 4 Kidz from reading about it in The Marysville Globe. We have so many jobs that need to be done, so there’s no lack of things for volunteers to do. Just having folks who can restock our shelves and vacuum our floors, before we come in for our store shifts, is a big help.”
While Kloz 4 Kidz accepts all clothes, it doesn’t put all those clothes on its shelves. The store’s youngest eligible customers are in preschool, not newborns, so any clothes that are too small, or not in suitable condition for the store’s clients, get sent to other charitable organizations that might be able to use them.
Kloz 4 Kidz could always use more pajamas and pants, for ages 6-18, and welcomes donations of new and gently used items, but a big part of its shopping budget goes toward buying new underwear, since they won’t put used undergarments on their shelves. For that reason, Kloz 4 Kidz gladly accepts cash donations.
“It takes a village to run Kloz 4 Kidz,” Mohs said.
Kloz 4 Kidz, at 5600 64th St. NE, is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4:30-7 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For details, visit kloz4kidz.org.
