Pay it Forward

Couple meeting needs of foster children

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Patty Raby

When children need to be placed in foster homes, often little warning is given to foster parents. Thus, children might arrive at a placement house with just the clothing they are wearing and a few items in a plastic bag. That is where Kaylee’s Closet comes in.

Kaylee’s Closet provides foster children in Western North Carolina with clothing and essential items they need to make their transition to foster care as seamless and peaceful as possible.

PATTY AND Steve Raby started Kaylee’s Closet as a way to provide basic necessities to foster children.

All children are uniquely created by God and deserve to feel safe, secure, and loved. When an emergency foster placement is made, children are often traumatized, some physically as well as emotionally, and the environment familiar to them has been stripped away.

Kaylee’s Closet provides foster children and their caregivers with the essentials all children need for health, safety, and comfort – clothing, toiletries, cribs, diapers, bottles, furniture, car seats, backpacks, and even toys. When an emergency care placement is made, generous donations allow Kaylee’s Closet to provide foster parents with the necessary supplies to care for their foster child’s individual needs. 

The way Kaylee’s Closet got started is that many years ago, God gave my husband, Steve, and me, hearts to foster children who needed a safe, loving, temporary home. Kaylee was our first foster child. We picked up this precious little girl wearing only a nightgown late one day in 2009. We had nothing to offer her but a bed and our love; we had no clothes or toiletries or personal items to help her feel at home in a fearful, uncertain time. This experience ignited our desire to provide other foster families in our community with emergency placement clothes and necessities for children in need. To that end, Kaylee’s Closet was established.

Partnering with our fellow citizens, we are working to share God’s love in a tangible way with the neediest and most vulnerable in our community. We are thankful for donations and assistance.

TAX DEDUCTIBLE donations of clothing, toiletries, school supplies and money are greatly appreciated. Visit www.kayleesclosetfranklin.org.

We need tax deductible donations of mostly new and gently used (although there has been a surplus lately of used items) clothing and outerwear for ages preemie to teens, as well as new underwear and socks for those ages. Additionally, those ages also need new and gently used shoes. Baby items are also in need. Children in foster care also need backpacks and school supplies, hygiene products, books, and much more. Also needed are financial donations to purchase items that are not readily available.

Volunteers can help clean, sort, and organize items in the ministry’s space, which is on Highlands Road. For more information about Kaylee’s Closet, call 828-371-0992 or visit: www.kayleesclosetfranklin.com.