MEET COLORFUL CLOSETS
Lindsey Wing and Keely Brown created Colorful Closets, their non-profit organization, to provide clothing and mini wardrobes for area children in need. Colorful Closets seeks to collect, organize and distribute tenderly used and new clothing for children and adolescents throughout the Amarillo and Canyon areas.
The ladies work closely with the counselors and social workers of AISD and CISD in order to receive clothing requests. When one child in need is found, they are able to take care of their siblings also. Sadly, 68% of our Amarillo public schools are in poverty. In addition to providing clothing needs for the school districts they also provide emergency clothing for Opportunity School, The Bridge, Sunshine Cottage, CASA and CPS.
Colorful Closets accepts donations for men, women and children’s clothing (infants to 12th grade) in excellent used condition. Lindsey and Keely enjoy styling each wardrobe by grouping the clothes and putting little outfits together for the children. Monetary donations also help them provide on demand extras such as specific sizes they may not have, brand new undergarments, proper storage containers, toiletries, laundry services and hangers.
314 S. Jefferson • E-Mail: info@colorfulclosetsama.org • Website: www.colorfulclosetsama.org
MEET STORYBRIDGE
The #1 predictor of reading success is the number of books a child has in their home, but research shows 2 out of 3 children in poverty have zero age-appropriate books of their own. Here at home, 68% of our AISD children are economically disadvantaged,
so the reality of growing up without a literate childhood affects thousands of our children in Amarillo. Chandra Perkins is an AISD employee with a specialty in literacy. She created Storybridge in an effort to level the playing field for these children.
Storybridge is a continuous bookdrive for children ages 0-12. During the school year, Chandra and her volunteers take a massive selection of books to one school a month and allow any child and their family that would like to participate to choose their own books to take home. ey are able to serve at least 200 children each month. During the summer, Storybridge volunteers bring books right to the neighborhoods in need to read to the children and allow them to take books home.
Storybridge is always in need of your gently used books that can be dropped off at several locations around town. These drop-off sites can be found on their website at www.storybridgeama.org. Any monetary donations they receive are used to purchase books wherever their inventory is lowest, books in Spanish, and backpacks for the kids they serve.
