When the Point Catholic Leadership Team was brainstorming one-time service project ideas in 2023, Mikayla Kollross, the Point Catholic service coordinator, brought up the idea of volunteering at Kids Closet, a free youth clothing program run by Evergreen Community Initiative, in Stevens Point, WI.
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Now, Point Catholic has a partnership with Kids Closet to provide volunteers to keep up with the demand of serving over 300 families a month.

“Anyone is able to come and get clothes," said Kollross. "The only questions that are asked are the first name of the customer and how many people they are shopping for."

Every second Friday of the month, Point Catholic members go to the Kids Closet pop-up shop in Holy Spirit Parish’s basement to sort donated clothes by quality, size, and season to make sure families have access to clean and comfortable clothing.

“Our community is so generous," said Jan Kruzicki, a Kids Closet volunteer. "Look at all of this. We can’t keep up.”

Workers and volunteers make sure to be mindful when they are putting out clothing for
customers to take. The workers make sure to not put out outdated or heavily worn clothing in order to not diminish customers.

Sorted clothing hanging up for customers to take.“All of the donated clothes are used in one way or another," said Dee Ruetten, a co-chair of Kids Closet. "We put out all of the wearable and clean clothing. If an article of clothing has a stain or holes, then the article is set aside for Orphan Grain Train. Orphan Grain Train will repair the damaged clothing and use a shipping container to send kids in other countries clothes."

Dee Ruetten putting clothes on the Orphan Grain Train pile.As a result of Kids Closet being open when sorting the clothes, workers and volunteers are able to encounter firsthand who they are impacting.

A homeless pregnant woman I met months ago recently placed her newborn up for adoption, said Kruzicki. “She comes here often, and she was actually volunteering with us which was nice. You know she gets her clothes from here and everything like that.”

Not only are the customers impacted, but so are the workers and volunteers.

“I think it is great," said Felix Neta, a Point Catholic member. "Otherwise, I would just be sitting at home doing nothing."

“I definitely get a good feeling in the sense that I'm really helping out the community,” said
Kollross. “I get the feeling not just in the sense of doing it with Point Catholic, but even doing it on my own. Point Catholic members like to serve the community because they know the community would do the same back in a time of need.”

Feilx Neta, Mikayla Kollross, and Jan Kruzicki sorting donated baby clothes.Families can come to Kids Closet on Mondays 9-11 a.m., Thursdays 2-4 p.m., and the second Friday of every month 5-7 p.m.

“They are humans and we have to treat them like human beings just as well,” said Kruzicki.

Email [email protected] or [email protected] to volunteer.