Clothing Needy Children Even as the Pandemic Continues

By Gayle Haeger

In August, we wrote about how we operated “God’s Closet” in the face of COVID-19. When October arrived, we began thinking about our November “God’s Closet.” It was clear that nothing had changed as far as the pandemic was concerned. Should we offer another event like we did in August? If there was a need for children’s clothes in August, as we saw then, surely the need was greater as winter approached.

The Spokane team began making plans for November 15. The Monday before, Ruth Lenz, a teacher at Palisades Christian Academy, brought her class to bring all the clothes up from the basement of the Spokane Central Church’s Fellowship Hall — an enormous task. Tables were marked “Girls 3T,” “Boys 7-9,” “Girls 0-3 Months,” etc. Bins were placed under the tables, and piles of sacks of unsorted clothes were stacked in a corner. Some prebagged clothes were left over from August, but many more were needed.

An additional bonus came in the form of our local TV and radio stations, KXLY, donating the coats they had left over from their “Coats for Kids” drive which ended at the end of October. Five huge bags of coats added to our donations.

Keeping the volunteer numbers small was important. Volunteers came Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday morning, and Saturday night to prepare more bags for “Shop Day” on Sunday from 10-12. Facebook notices were sent out. Rain was predicted. But we all wondered, would anyone come?

A long line of people greeted us on Sunday morning. We asked them only their names, the sizes of the children needing clothes, if they needed coats, and if they would like us to pray for them. Many responded that they would like us to pray for their families — several expectant mothers wanted us to pray for their unborn babes, one a set of twins. One grandmother needed clothes for eight of her grandchildren, which she is caring for as a result of disfunction in her family. She was so grateful for the help.

We felt God’s blessing as we helped fill a need in our community. And guess what—not a drop of rain fell on us as we served our neighbors!

The Palisades Christian Academy students came the next day and returned everything to spotless condition. We count our blessings even in the midst of COVID-19!