Introducing The Walton County Foster Care Clothing Closet.

 (photo for illustration and goal to set up similar)

After speaking with Home In 5, a region 5 foster care support group, and seeing many needs in the area, we are undertaking a new venture to lead toward our eventual full service foster care and adoption village. Officially launching in January 2026, we will be stocking the following BRAND NEW items initially for new foster placements, emergency situations, and temporary placements into care:
Diapers  - Basic underwear  -  Basic Tshirts/Bras/Undershirts  -  Socks  -  Jackets  - Sweatpants/Sweatshirts  - Mattresses or inflatable mattresses  -  Toiletry items  -  hygiene items  -  and a few comfort items as donations come in.

We will selectively offer pre-owned clothing in good condition as space allows.
As of this writing, we have a few pledged items coming in, applications have been made with clothing manufacturers and a distributor for clothing donations, and several conversations with other related foster care agencies in the area and in a forum. 

Our BIG needs as of today:

• A small storage/disbursement location in Walton County (Loganville preferred) where social workers and house-parents can bring the children to pick out appropriate sized items. We would need almost 24hr access due to many overnight emergency placements. 
• Brand New packages of underwear, t-shirts, bras/etc, socks, etc for boys and girls age 8-17
• Brand New Sweat pants and shirts (preferably matched sets) for ages 8-17
• Brand New Socks in all youth sizes plus some adult sizes since many youth are 6ft or taller these days.
• Brand New Twin or Full size mattresses, sheets, mattress protectors, pillow cases.
• Feminine Hygiene supplies, Bar Soap, Toothbrushes/ paste, hair combs & brushes, small toiletry pouches, fingernail clippers
• medium to large backpacks

Secondary needs:

• A 7x12 or similar enclosed cargo trailer to transport the mattresses and possibly use as a mobile foster closet.
• Blue Jean pants and appropriate skirts or dresses for youth
• Cold weather clothing for youth
• School Supplies - if they were not allowed to return home for clothes, they likely do not have any school supplies either. 
• Stuffed animals, blankets, hoodies for teens, fidget spinners, card games
• CASH donations so that we can accompany the caregiver and children to Walmart for basic shoes when needed or other un-met needs.
• Large, Clear Storage Bins as pictured to store and categorize the items safely.

We ask for all local churches and charities to partner with us for this launch. To be ready for the expected unexpected sizes of children and sibling groups, we need to stock 3-5 sealed packages of each size undergarment pack, 3-5 pkgs of socks in each shoe size, plus 3 sizes of every pair of sweats in either neutral colors or traditional gender preferred colors (ie someone donates 3 pink or pastel sets, we would likely want to also have 3 sets of a traditional boy color in case it matters to the child, but if someone donates 3 grey or other gender neutral color then that level of stock should suffice. It would be great to give every child their favorite color but that is not feasible at this starting stage) The approximate total for stocking 3 each of the sizes and categories is:

Underwear Bottoms: $400
Underclothing Tops: $600-$700
Socks: $350
Sweats: $1000-$1200
Hygiene Items: $250
20 Backpacks: $300
School Supplies: $200+/-
Comfort Items: $200+/-
Setup/ Logistics/ Admin/ Organization etc: $800 mostly for bins, shelves and a separate phone for the clothing closet

Our Budget for this is coming in around $4500

If anyone is feeling generous or has a no longer needed 7x12 enclosed trailer, that would also be of great help! It would be a huge blessing to find a Mattress provider who would donate NEW mattresses. We will try to find free mattresses from pet/mold/smoke free homes off Marketplace. We'd welcome help from others to search for those give-aways once we have a location to store them. For temporary placements, we'll just loan them out as we did this week with one 3month placement. 
 

This is the launch of a new program. We hope that ALL of the above items will be granted to us for this purpose by one or more of the manufacturers. We are also partnering with several other Clothing Closets outside of Walton County to supply them with any over flow especially if they take the used clothing which we can source more easily but have little space to store. 

There are thousands of foster children in GA and only about half of them have a place to be cared for safely! We need more foster families. If you are interested in fostering, please let us know and we can connect you with an organization who is licensed by GA to assist you! Thank you.