MARYSVILLE — Kloz 4 Kidz is celebrating its fifth anniversary of providing new and gently used clothing to children in need in North Snohomish County on Sunday, Aug. 18, and its volunteers plan to make a full-fledged birthday party out of the affair.
“We’re going to have cake and coffee and balloons,” Kloz 4 Kidz Director Lynn Brittingham said of the event, which will take place at their portable offices at 5600 64th St. NE, behind the Marysville United Methodist Church. “People can bring us birthday presents of new socks and underwear.”
Socks and underwear must always be donated new, while shoes can be donated used. According to Brittingham, shoes are one of the least donated, most in-demand items at Kloz 4 Kidz, whose volunteers diligently clean used shoes and all other used items of donated clothing before placing them on their shelves and racks.
“We wash and mend everything,” Brittingham said. “We will not put out clothes that are missing a zipper or a button. If we wouldn’t hand it out to our own kids, we won’t give it to the families who come to us.”
The Kloz 4 Kidz volunteers’ responsiveness to their client families’ needs is why their informational pamphlets and website are available in both English and Spanish, and why they take care that at least one volunteer is available to escort each child through their selection of clothing items, even when families have multiple children.
“Nobody here is paid,” Brittingham said. “We pay for a phone line and that’s pretty much it. We depend on donations and grants to exist.”
In addition to receiving support from the Marysville United Methodist, Bethlehem Lutheran and Mountain View Presbyterian churches, Brittingham also praised Clock Tower Storage for providing storage space for out-of-season clothing, the local chapters of Kiwanis and Soroptimists with providing monies, and the Marysville Noon Rotary with funding Kloz 4 Kidz’s purchases of new shoes.
“This is a very collaborative effort,” Brittingham said, sharing credit with her fellow Kloz 4 Kidz Board members. “As of Aug. 6, we’d served 2,651 area children. On Aug. 7, we served eight more. It really does take a village.”
For more information on Kloz 4 Kidz’s fifth anniversary, or the group in general, call 360-658-1021 or log onto http://kloz4kidz.org.
