Clothes To Kids: Clothe a Child, Change a Life
It all started in 2002 with a donated purple coat for a local child in need and two childhood friends, Jode Frisbie Eye and Marie Bouchard McClung of Clearwater. When they learned that there were many more kids who needed clothing donations, they asked, ‘What can we do about it?’
What they did was create Clothes To Kids, which has since then helped provide 223,000 wardrobes and counting to children in the community. But they can’t do it without you.
Jennifer Jacobs, executive director of Clothes To Kids, Inc., tells us that the goal is to ensure that each child who qualifies for free and reduced lunch can “shop” for one week’s worth of clothing, just like they would at a real store. So as you clean the closets this summer break and shop for back-to-school, keep Clothes To Kids in mind.
As they say, “Clothe a kid, change a life.”
It’s pretty incredible to think this nonprofit started with one coat and a simple question: What can we do about it?
Jennifer Jacobs: The story is that they collected so many clothes that their husbands were like, ‘Hey, get this out of our garage,’ so they opened a tiny store in Dunedin in 2002. Two or three years later, they were moved to our Clearwater store, our flagship store. Then, in 2009, we opened our St. Pete store, and we opened our Tampa store in 2018.
When kids come to shop with you, how does it work (to give families an idea of what the needs are)?
Jennifer Jacobs: All kids who come and shop with us receive up to 22 pieces of clothing. So that includes a pair of shoes, five new pairs of socks, five new pairs of underwear, four bottoms, five tops, a dress, a jacket in season and fun accessories as we have those available.
In a given week, we could distribute upwards of 1,500 pieces of clothing, so we are always in need of [clothing sizes] Pre-K 4 to 4 XL, which obviously need to be school-appropriate, and things that children would want to wear. So nothing offensive, no stains or rips, but pretty much everything after that is fair game.
Occasionally, you are donated items that are not appropriate for the store floor. What happens then?
Jennifer Jacobs: We only want the best of the best out on our store floor. But we work with a recycling company that purchases the clothes from us for pennies on the pound. We take the funds that we receive from that and buy new socks and underwear. We budget approximately $1,000 a month, so $12,000 annually through that program.
Speaking of underwear, you have a big campaign running right now!
Jennifer Jacobs: We just kicked off our Drop (off) Your Drawers campaign. It’s an underwear campaign where we ask places of worship, individuals and corporations to run a drive to collect new and unopened packages of underwear, because here's a number for you —we will provide 82,000 pairs of underwear to children in our community this year. So we look to our community to help us underwrite it. Get it? Underwrite, underwear for the kids in our community.
There is a bit of economic uncertainty right now. Are you seeing that reflection in the number of people needing to come in for assistance?
Jennifer Jacobs: We are anticipating very large numbers for this back-to-school season. This is our Super Bowl. We anticipate that this year, in 2025, we'll serve the most that we ever have in our history.
This summer is a great time to clean out those closets! Families can drop off donations at your three store locations, but they can also host a clothing drive. We hosted one at our school with your donation van, “Phyllis.” Let’s talk about filling that van!
Jennifer Jacobs: We love for Phyllis to have lots of dates on her calendar, and she loves to be filled. So fill Phyllis! We would love to have corporations, places of worship, civic groups or anybody else who would like to host Phyllis. Let us know, and we would be super glad to have her there. (To learn more about hosting a drive or hosting Phyllis the van, email Sarah Shine at sarahs@clothestokids.org or visit clothestokids.org.)
You don’t just need donations, but the donation of time as well. Can families volunteer together to help sort donations?
Jennifer Jacobs: That's correct. Kids can volunteer. So, ages 8 to 14 with an adult, and for 14 and up, we have a youth program.
Drop (off) Your Drawers Campaign
Support the mission to provide this basic need for kids in our community.
- Donate new underwear
- Run a donation drive
- Shop the Amazon wishlist
- Be an underwear sponsor
🛍️Clothes To Kids isn’t a thrift store. While they do carry a wide selection of donated clothing items for kids in Pre-K through 12th grade, it is set up like a real department store with tags, a dressing room, and a fresh, welcoming smell.
Clothes To Kids Store Locations:
You may drop off clothing donations at these locations from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
Clearwater:
1059 North Hercules Ave.
Clearwater, FL 33765
St. Petersburg:
2168 34th St. S.
St. Petersburg, FL 33711
Tampa:
5011-H W. Hillsborough Ave.
Tampa, FL 33634
Clothes To Kids, Inc. is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit.
READ MORE:
- Clothes to Kids Helps Children in Need Build Confidence
- How to Volunteer with the Kids in Tampa Bay: 10+ ways to give back
- Kids to Know: Annabelle Gutowski’s Mission for Foster Kids
Originally published in the July 2025 issue of Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine.