Kaden's Kloset shopping days helping fostering families in St. Joseph and across the nation
Jan. 20—Fostering a child comes with a lot of responsibilities. One unexpected one is the preparation it takes to bring in children of different ages on a short notice.
Many foster families can feel overwhelmed when purchasing various materials for children of all ages.
Here in St. Joseph, Kaden's Kloset, is helping foster families find those resources that they need at no cost. They offer clothing, furniture, diapers, toys and much more. Their goal is to give the child something they can call their own.
Liz Vannaman, co-director of Kaden's Kloset, says "A lot of times foster families when they foster children, when they go into care, they have nothing. So when children go into care, they come here and their parents come here."
Volunteers like Rita Carlson encourages shoppers to "take it. We're always encouraging them, if there's anything you think you might need. And if it doesn't work, bring it back."
Carlson says "And even if I can help that family with their biological child with something so that they can use those funds to help the foster child, that's kind of our goal. That's how I look at it, is to just help them in any way that frees up finances in their home for them to better support and help that foster child."
She goes on to talk about the struggle of the first night as a foster child. Most come with little to no belongings and only the clothes on their backs. Janice Raymond, volunteer says "sometimes what they do have is in the trash bag. So one of the things that we do provide is a bag, their very own bag or suitcase. And we put their stuff in there. And I had families say, well, they want to return it and I said, No, that is theirs. That is something they can call their own."
About once every 2 months Kaden's Kloset hosts shopping days at Community Christian Church. Foster families can use this time to either shop for resources or donate items. During these shopping days, typically they help about 70-80 children.
Kaden's Kloset was started by Kristle Davis, a long term foster child. When she grew up she invested her heart into fostering teenage and older kids. However one day she received a call about 9 month old Kaden. Unable to refuse, she decided to foster Kaden but she ran into one issue. Their house was not ready to welcome a baby. Luckily for her, she was fortunate enough to be able to provide what Kaden needed yet she knew others weren;t as lucky. So she founded Kaden's Kloset to help others in that hard situation.
If you are interested in donating clothing money or your time visit their facebook page or make a trip to their next shopping day.
