NORTH PORT, Fla. — After taking on damage from Hurricane Ian, North Port's Children's Community Clothing Closet has resumed operation.
It's now in another space at the Family Service Center, off Pan American Boulevard. Families can now find the clothing closet on the second floor of the building.
"Here we have uniforms of all different sizes," Janet Carrillo, city of North Port social services manager, said.
The shelves are still mostly empty but gradually filling up as new donations trickle in.
The resource has been running since 1992 in partnership with the Kiwanis Club of North Port. The closet used to be housed in a city-owned building on Sam Shapos Way.
However, when Hurricane Ian arrived, it damaged that building as well as a new trailer next to it that was meant to be the new permanent home for the clothing closet.
"The items were significant that were lost obviously and a lot of the clothes got damaged and wet and then we tried to salvage as much as we possibly could," Carrillo explained.
With clean-up efforts still ongoing, the closet was unable to operate and meet the needs of the community.
"We had to relocate the closet here, and this is the feasible location that we found that was pretty expedited and just to get it open back up to the public," she said.
Mothers can now come in and shop for baby clothes, school uniforms, play clothes and shoes for kids.
"We do have some diapers and wipes that we have for our babies and infants and then we do have a little bit of clothing for our infants," Carrillo said.
The two rooms of the clothing closet are divided with one room filled with items for families with infants. The second room provides teens up to 18 with items such as toiletries and backpacks.
"Just providing necessary clothing for kids that are in need of these items, that are not able to either go purchase them or have lost items and they need to have quick access," Carrillo said.
The city plans a shoe drive next month and hopes to get a significant amount of new and gently used shoes for kids.
"Excited about that so we can get enough shoes in here," Carrillo said.
The Community Children's Clothing Closet needs more items – especially for babies.
People can drop gently used or new items at the North Port family services center during business hours:
Children's Community Clothing Closet of North Port
6919 Outreach Way, 2nd Floor, Suite 3
North Port FL 34286
941-429-3700 (NPSS)
941-468-1335 (Clothing Closet/Kiwanis Club)