When was the last time you had trouble finding a clean pair of socks or underwear to wear? Has it happened ever? And if it did, did you just think, “I need to run a quick laundry”?
Or maybe you needed a nice skirt to wear for a luncheon. Did you have a dozen or so to choose from?
For thousands of people in this country, having clean, decent clothes to wear is a luxury. Just think how difficult it would be if you had to wear the same clothes for days on end. Even sleep in them.
Could you go to work? How would you feel interacting with close friends? Would you feel comfortable going into a restaurant if every pair of pants you owned was torn or riddled with holes?
We often think that lack of housing and food are the only things homeless people suffer from. But having clean, acceptable clothes is also a necessity. It affects a person’s dignity and self-confidence.
In Australia, two best friends, Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi, came up with the idea of Orange Sky Laundry, a nonprofit that launched a fleet of mobile laundry vans to help homeless people take care of the essentials for free.
In this country, an organization called Laundry Love allows people to do their laundry for free in 300 participating laundromats nationwide.
But what do the homeless people in our area do if there isn’t a service like this available? What do they do if they’re down to their last pair of good pants? Or what if they finally landed a job interview, but have nothing presentable to wear?
Well, Renton has its heroes, too.
The Renton Kiwanis Clothes Bank has been around since 1966. It started up in the Highlands and eventually moved downtown, next door to Renton Area Youth & Family Services (RAYS), where it has served the homeless for 35 years.
Jon Pozega, Clothes Bank president, says that although people should have a referral to come to the clothes bank, they do take walk-ins. But referrals are pretty easy to get. Salvation Army, Communities In Schools of Renton, DSHS, Catholic Community Services and most churches are all on the referral list.
The clothes bank operates from 1 – 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. This is also when they can take donations of slightly used, clean clothes.
“We always need new socks, underwear and jeans,” says Pozega. “Especially for the kids to wear to school. And we’re always in short supply of large sizes.”
The Renton Kiwanis Clothes Bank served around 2,600 unduplicated people in 2015. According to Pozega, there are 13,000 people living at the poverty level or below in Renton. That makes it pretty clear that we need what the clothes bank has to offer.
However, our clothes bank is in dire need of something itself – a new place to live.
You see the clothes bank rents space from RAYS, and now that space is needed for their own expansion of services.
“We need to vacate our present location by the end of this year,” Pozega says.
Holy cow! That’s not much time.
How much space do they need? Pozega says 2,500 square feet would be ideal, but they could make 2,000 work. This would be used for the retail space, storage, workspace and a place to accept donations.
But remember the population they serve. Wherever they move, the location needs to be near a bus line.
So, let’s get the word out! Let’s find a new home for our Renton Kiwanis Clothes Bank so they can keep serving the downtrodden in our community.
“There are a million heartfelt stories about the people we serve,” Pozega says. “But one that stands out to me was when we were able to fully outfit an entire family that had lost everything in a house fire. We were able to help the kids go to school and the parents get to work immediately. It was really satisfying.”
If you would like more information about how you could help the clothes bank find a new home, contact the Renton Community Foundation at 425-282-5199.
