Clothing donations needed
“The Colton Clothes Closet opened in 1996 as a project for the life skills class to teach vocational skills,” said Debbie Tiusanen, Colton Middle School life skills teacher.
While students set up and ran the original Clothes Closet as a place for families to find good, gently used clothing at no charge, it has expanded to fill an area of 1,440 square feet on the upper floor of the middle school. Student volunteers still work keeping the clothes neat, folded, sorted and arranged while community volunteers help with clients and unpack bags of donations.
“Each collection of donations offers surprises. Look, these boys’ jeans are in good shape and isn’t this belt just cool? Some girl is going to really like it,” said coordinator Louise Silverthorn, as she opened a large green garbage sack.
Students from all three schools take advantage of the closet; teachers have been known to pick up something for students in need; and families drop in to find clothes for both adults and children.
“We (Colton Middle School) enjoy our partnership with the Clothes Closet for a variety of reasons. It offers a place for members of our community, parents and students to find a much needed resource where they can find newer clothes and shoes that fit. And this year, they provided a little store during the holidays for students to shop for free. For many of the students, this was the first time in their lives they were able to give gifts to their family,” said CMS principal Dr. Beth Lund.
The Clothes Closet is open Wednesdays from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Stop by the school office for directions to the closet’s storefront. It is a great place to find professional and casual attire, uniforms and shoes for the student-athlete, trendy school clothes and eclectic accessories free of charge.
“We would like to thank Colton for all their donations to the closet. We wouldn’t exist without them. Right now we are low on donations. We especially need clothes for young people — little ones through high school,” Silverthorn said.
Donations can be dropped off at Colton Middle School at 21580 S Schieffer Road during school hours.
Feeding our neighbors
More and more people are visiting Colton Grange’s Helping Hands Food Pantry at the Colton Community Center, which is across the street from Colton High School.
Most people coming through the doors are working families with children.
“It is hard to make ends meet. I had my hours cut back at work and lost benefits but still have to put gas in my car to get to work. It doesn’t quite work out the way it used to — same amount of gas for a third less hours. Without food from here, we would be choosing between eating and heating,” said one man as he signed in to shop.
“We know that our free and reduced lunch program has increased considerably,” said Colton School District superintendent Linda Johnson. “We are glad the grange can take advantage of the district’s community center building and wish we could come up with more room for them.”
Most weeks, approximately 135 families use the food assistance program. Weeks at the end of the month might have as many as 175 families; the grange scrambles to provide food for the increasing numbers of patrons.
The grange asks for a $5 donation from each shopper for four bags of groceries plus bread. It is with this money and the proceeds from the grange’s yearly rummage sale that grange members purchase the food each week.
“We get food from the Oregon Food Bank, where we have to pay by the pound, but we only get so much at the reduced rate — then we have to fill in at the higher prices. It would be nice not to have to limit families to just one of something,” said Donna Fix, co-coordinator of the program.
“We can always use monetary donations. The grange’s food program is a 501c3 (tax exempt, nonprofit organization) and tax receipts are available. All money goes for the purchase of food,” Fix said.