Foundation Update: First Teen Clothes Closet 2021
The First Lutheran Foundation Fund supports organizations in the larger community and also those that are part of First Lutheran Church’s own mission outreach. Included in the latter category is the First Teen Clothes Closet, which was established in 2012 as both a mission to serve youth in need in our community and as a volunteer opportunity for the youth in our congregation.
“There is little doubt the need remains as high or higher as it was prior to the pandemic.”
Located in Trinity Lutheran Church in La Crosse, where the Closet can provide a “one-stop shop” alongside Trinity’s Children’s Clothes Closet, food pantry and Monday night meal ministry, the First Teen Clothes Closet provides clothing, shoes, accessories and toiletries for pre-teens and teens in the greater La Crosse community at no cost. It is staffed and led entirely by volunteers who collect, sort and teen-approve gently-used clothing donations, shop for needed new items (such as undergarments) and toiletries, and host open-shopping nights and private appointments. The Closet is funded almost entirely through grants from a variety of community organizations and the First Lutheran Foundation Fund is blessed to be one of those grant providers.
Our foundation provided funds in 2020 to continue the Closet’s annual effort to provide teens with new athletic shoes, suitable for gym classes, before the beginning of each school year, in cooperation with a similar effort by the Children’s Closet. Though this last year prevented the traditional block party and shoe distribution event, the Teen Closet still provided more than 60 pairs of new shoes to teens through outreach to the Boys and Girls Clubs in La Crosse and individual appointments at the Closet. The year before, this project distributed nearly 150 pairs of new shoes to teens in need.
While the Closet did close for three months at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been accepting private appointments since June 2020 and is looking forward to the time when it is again safe to restore the Monday night open shopping hours to all teens in need. In 2019, the Closet served more than 250 unique individuals, many of whom visited the Closet seasonally. While the numbers in 2020 dropped to only 62 different guests due to the closure and changes in how shopping opportunities are hosted, there is little doubt the need remains as high or higher as it was prior to the pandemic.
The generous gifts of our past and present members have allowed for grants to be made to mission efforts like the First Teen Clothes Closet, reaching out to serve as the hands and feet of Christ in our community. If you would like to give a gift to First’s Foundation, you can do so easily by sending a check to First Lutheran Church and designating it for the Foundation. Thank you and God bless!