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November 2021
Kathy Hoskins Wins Volunteer Award

We are pleased to share that our beloved volunteer Kathy Hoskins was presented the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award on October 9, 2021. This award honors unsung volunteer heroes who make unique contributions to the community. The recipient receives a $2,000 award to designate to a nonprofit of their choice, in this case Clothes To Kids.

Kathy has served as a volunteer since September 2014 and was nominated for this prestigious award for her work putting together a team of volunteer “deal finders” that is now responsible for all purchases of clothing, shoes, underwear and socks from retailers and thrift stores from Longmont to Parker and everywhere in between.
Over the past three years, their efforts have resulted in a much greater variety of inventory and considerably reduced per-item costs, and they have virtually eliminated the need for staff to spend time on inventory purchases. “Under Kathy’s leadership, the deal finders have developed into a well-oiled machine,” says program director Lisa Maloney. "No stone is left unturned, and CTKD has been able to stretch donors’ dollars very far!”

Kathy’s impact has not stopped there. “When COVID-19 forced CTKD to close temporarily in 2020, Kathy was the last volunteer to leave and the first to come back, both times with a carload of new shoes that she had found on sale,” said executive director Valerie Lunka and communications director Katie Jadwin in Kathy’s award nomination letter.
“She has been essential in filling orders for our new contactless Curbside Service program," the letter continues, "and she has taken on additional shifts in order to help us open more shopping appointments. It is so rare to find a volunteer with Kathy’s drive, work ethic and heart, and her tireless work inspires others to make their community a better place.”

Congratulations, Kathy!
Simple Ways to Support Clothes To Kids Before the Holidays!

Please take a moment right now to make your year-end gift go further by scheduling your CO Gives Day Donation. The FirstBank CO Gives Day $1.6 Million Incentive Fund will increase the value of every dollar given on December 7. The more you donate, the more we will receive from this special “bonus” fund!

Doing some holiday shopping on Amazon.com? Enter the site through AmazonSmile, and 0.5% of your purchase will go to support Clothes To Kids. While you're there, consider sending our shoppers some love through our Amazon Wish List. The items on this list are a great way to support our mission. Even better, your purchases ship directly to our shop!

Raise funds for Clothes To Kids when you buy your groceries at King Soopers! Simply link your SooperCard to Clothes To Kids, and we will receive a portion of your purchases. Click here to reach the Community Rewards search screen (create an online King Soopers account first, if needed) and enter our account number GV047 or name Clothes To Kids of Denver. Click the blue "Enroll" button. You're ready to shop!
Do you sell on eBay? Use eBay's Charity Search to select Clothes To Kids of Denver, then look for the “Donate a portion to charity” option when you create a listing. Sell and ship items as usual and, within a few weeks, we will automatically receive your donation via PayPal.
Thanksgiving Weekend Store Hours

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!
Please note that our store will be closed 
Thursday, November 25 through Monday, November 29
in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Thank you!
**Donation Hours**

We are accepting clothing donations on Thursdays (new day!), Fridays and Saturdays between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. To donate, gather your clean and ready-to-wear items. Check our updated Clothing & Shoe Donation page for ideas.
Please sort items by category (girls, boys, young women, young men, shoes and extras) to save time at drop-off. Empty your donations into one of our rolling bins that will be located outside of our door, and take your bags with you to reuse.
Spread The Word!

We have a collection of brand new materials to help supporters spread the word about our services. Electronic and print-friendly flyers, signs and images are available for download on our website.

Thank you for sharing our mission in your community!
Sharing the Love

This is one of several donations of new Nike brand shoes that our wonderful friend Kim Carver has donated. Kim's donations are always new, always stylish and always gone quickly!

Meet Leah who is a store manager at Maurices. She organized a "Jeans & Joggers" drive at her store and brought us a full bin of new and gently used items that our shoppers were thrilled about.

Our amazing supporter and long-time donor Sandy Arnold came in for a visit and brought a whole cart load of donations. Many items were brand new. Thank you Sandy!

A huge thank you to Charlene Andrew for her fifth annual donation of crocheted hats. We counted 160 this year...her largest donation ever! Charlene spends an entire year making these to donate for our fall and winter shoppers, who are always so excited to have something so beautiful and thoughtfully handmade.

Thank you to our friend Jordan Witt-Araya, program manager for the Denver Public Schools ESSA Foster Care Program, for this incredible donation of new backpacks, socks and underwear. Our shoppers have been thrilled!

Marie Payne has been volunteering with us since the very beginning (2008!) and most often serves as a deal finder and in our donation center. Knowing the pants racks in our boys department are nearly empty, Marie brought in her most recent purchases pre-sorted, tagged and labeled. Wow!

Many thanks to Andrea Scott for delivering a truckload of wonderful items collected at Prophetic Praise and Glory Ministries’ annual worship conference. We have worked with this group for the past seven years and really appreciate their energy and generosity.

A few years ago, Mary needed help with clothing for her kids. Recently, she surprised us with a whole carload of donations (many new!) to share with our shoppers. While we never expect anything in return for our services, these "full circle" donations are extra special to us!

Our new partners at Ridwell brought us four huge rolling bins of coats they collected from their subscribers. Ridwell makes reducing waste easy by picking up many hard-to-recycle household items like batteries, light bulbs and plastic film from their members. They have a rotating category that turns your household clutter into opportunities to help others. Check them out!

Our communications director Katie Jadwin was able to fly in from Minnesota for Kathy Hoskins’ Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award ceremony thanks to a generous travel sponsorship from United Airlines. Thank you to their fabulous crew for enabling Katie to be there in person to celebrate!
ABOUT CLOTHES TO KIDS OF DENVER

Clothes To Kids of Denver provides new and quality used clothing in a boutique setting to students from low-income or in-crisis families in the Denver Metro area.
Since 2008 CTKD has provided nearly 80,000 school wardrobes to students in need, completely free of charge. Please join us in celebrating our accomplishments and help ensure our continued success in the future. Visit us online at www.clothestokidsdenver.org or call 720-379-4630.

Take a look inside our boutique, and see how Clothes To Kids changes the lives of deserving students:
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