Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 11, 1993 TAG: 9312110208
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She looked down at the yellow and blue hearts swirling around in a shocking pink sea and knew that a match had been made.
"Yea!" screamed Annie, and a smile crept onto Willis' face as well.
Across the room, her brother danced on a large table and looked at the neatly labeled shelves in front of him, stacked high with bib overalls, corduroys and blue jeans.
"I want me some pants!" he yelled.
Before the morning was over Wednesday, he got some.
Annie and her brother brought to more than 50 the number of Roanoke children clothed by the Parent-Teacher Association's wardrobe exchange this year.
With more than half the school year left, it's already provided sweaters, pants and shoes to almost as many students as it clothed during the entire 1992-93 school year.
And the children keep coming.
"The need is greater now in the community," said Willis, who runs the wardrobe exchange with fellow volunteer Clarrissa Shouvely.
She blames the lingering effects of a slow economy. In Roanoke, about half the schoolchildren qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, one of the federal guidelines for measuring poverty.
But if there are more children than ever showing up to "shop" in the school administration basement each second and fourth Wednesday, that also means that Willis and Shouvely are doing their jobs.
Roanoke's Central Council PTA has been running the wardrobe exchange - fitting needy children with nearly new or well-maintained second-hand clothing - for more than 20 years. But business had been slower than it would have liked in past years. Not because there weren't children who needed clothing, said Willis, but because they somehow couldn't reach them.
Willis said PTA volunteers renovated the basement secondhand shop this year to make it more appealing. They scrubbed the walls; labeled the shelves to make it look more like a boutique; and painted big, bright circles of red, blue and yellow on the green floor.
On top of a clothes rack, they sat a huge, red teddy bear. They hung pink, green and blue balloons at his side. On a table nearby, they placed a basket of lollipops and candy canes for their "customers."
At the same time, said Willis, she's trying to polish the wardrobe's image by working harder to promote the service to schools.
Her goal this year is to make people more aware of what they are doing - to bring in more clothing, and to bring in more children who need it.
"We desperately need boys' clothing," said Willis. "Any size."
The exchange relies on donations and a $1,000 budget from the PTA, which is used to buy new underwear, socks and miscellaneous items.
It also relies - heavily - on volunteers. Parents from each school take turns staffing the clothes closet twice a month, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Teachers, guidance counselors or school administrators also have access to the room.
Making the room accessible during off-hours may help, said Willis. Often, children in the higher grades are too embarrassed or uncomfortable to come to the clothes closet and may send teachers or guidance counselors to choose outfits for them.
Clothing is available from infant sizes to adult large, said Willis. It is up to the schools to decide who needs clothing and to bring the children over to "shop."
The volunteers try to fit each child with five outfits - sweaters, shirts, pants, socks and underwear. There also winter coats, boots, hats and gloves and other items.
PTA members help younger children select clothes.
"They always know what they want," said Melissa Clay, a Crystal Spring parent who was helping Annie's brother look for pants Wednesday.
The 7-year-old boy rejected a pair of gray bib overalls after she held them up, but his eyes quickly settled on something else.
"I got a sweatshirt!" he cheered.
by CNB