After spending a day with APC patient families, APC volunteer and donor Gerri Ferguson was startled to see a number of children who were not adequately dressed for December 2008 temperatures in Arlington, VA. Gerri quickly identified a solution: by going into the community and soliciting gently-used children’s outerwear, APC volunteers could sort and bundle donations into a week’s supply of clothing and offer gender-and age-appropriate bundles to APC families. By Fall 2009, the APC Emergency Clothing Closet was open for distribution.

APC staff moved first to secure donated space adjacent to the APC clinical floor from landlord Virginia Hospital Center.

Next, Arlingtonian Jay Wright, a member of Boy Scout Troop 106 adopted the ECC for his Eagle Scout project. Jay and his team of volunteer scouts developed a plan, prepared the space and solicited donated materials from Clark Construction Company, Target Stores, and Home Depot. The Boy Scouts assembled shelving and hanging racks, sorting tables and a storage system for accepting, sorting and bundling donated clothing.

The congregation of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church was the first group to respond to a call for donations by collecting nearly 200 coats which were quickly distributed to families. Rock Spring Preschool quickly followed with collected packages of new children’s underwear and socks. Numerous individual donations followed.

Christine Wilson, volunteer coordinator for Mothers of North Arlington (MONA) adopted ECC for her group to manage on an on-going basis. MONA volunteers spend one Saturday per month sorting and bundling donations for APC staff to offer to patient families.

The APC Emergency Clothing Closet is a simple solution to meeting the needs of dozens of Arlington families. We are grateful to all volunteers and donors who contributed to this marvelous collective effort.