With all the talk about affordability, sometimes we forget that while we navigate higher gas and grocery prices, there are many who chronically struggle to maintain the basic necessities of life.
Northport, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County has a poverty rate of about 16.8 percent, according to USAFacts, or around 37,000 people. Sometimes this doesn't show up in lack of food or housing, but in lack of resources, like school supplies and clothing. One school counselor recognized this pressing need and used some clever thinking and innovation to solve it — and solve it in such a way where the recipients not only received charity, but dignity and joy as well.
It takes a village, is the subject of this week's Feel-Good Friday.
Flatwoods Elementary School counselor Merideth Lett noticed a pattern among the 350 students in the school.
“We have a very high poverty rate here, and very often children would come to school with ill-fitting clothing or shoes that were way too large or way too small because they’re sharing them with siblings or parents,” said Lett. “Our school is very small, and so we had clothes and things I had collected for donations just scattered in boxes here, there and everywhere we could find space. So, when kids needed something, I would have to go dig and find their size and just give them what I had or even run to Walmart and buy what they needed if I couldn’t find it.”
Lett had a vision to not just give children what she could find, but to create a boutique-style experience where both the parent and the child could pick clothing that fit their needs, but also captured their fancy and expressed a child's particular style.
Thus, Flatwoods Fancy was formed.
Lett partnered with school social worker Jordan Nicholson, and together they expanded the idea and began reaching out to community partners to see whether they could make the boutique, Flatwoods Fancy and Flatwoods Fellas, a reality. Two people who wished to remain anonymous led the way with donations, and High Socks for Hope, a Tuscaloosa-based charity founded by retired professional baseball player David Robertson, donated shoes, clothing, and toiletries, and Capstone Church was a major contributor to the project. Lett said they learned that several parents had never been able to go to a store and buy new clothing for their children or choose items they wanted for them. Instead, many students wore whatever clothes had been donated to them. The discovery became a motivating factor for Lett and Nicholson. "We all like to have clothes we enjoy whether it is a jersey of our favorite athlete or a sparkly dress. It makes us feel good to have something that we are proud of to wear," she said.
Every December our church does an extravaganza similar to this called Giving Hope. People from our congregation and the community purchase big (and small) ticket items for boys and girls. A holiday mall is created, and the families are paired with a personal host and given the chance to shop for gifts for their children.
While the gifts are wrapped by volunteers and packed in their car, someone from our ministry teams has a chance to pray with each family. This is not only life-changing, but it elevates the child's love and honor for their parents, because as far as the children know, the gifts come from them, and not a charity.
I can imagine that is how the parents and children feel when they get to shop through Flatwoods Fancy.
According to the Biloxi Sun Herald, the look is more upscale retail store rather than a Salvation Army. And it's not just children's clothing. Adults get to shop for themselves too. Because of the generosity of the community and partners, the experience is free to anyone connected to the school who needs it, with no qualifiers.
The best thing is that the boutique is completely free to students and their families and there is no financial qualifier. The clothing closet is open to any child attending the school or their family members. "Primarily, we stock sizes for our students, but we do want parents to be able to come by and pick up things for themselves. We have everything from newborn clothes all the way to adults," Lett said. "This boutique is not just for students who are in need. A great example is that a couple of weeks ago, we had a little girl spill milk on herself at breakfast. Rather than her parents having to leave work to come and bring her clothing, she was able to come out here and pick out a new shirt to wear," she said.
Lett also related a story about a mother who didn't have interview clothes, and Flatwoods Fancy came through for her. She said:
We wanted families to have access, not just things for the kids, but the parents as well, because I don’t want that to be a barrier to parents partnering with us.
It is also refreshing to see the school staff members locking arms with parents, rather than working at odds with them. Respect for family: one of the beauties of living in the South.
The boutique is also used as a teaching opportunity to discover the difference between needs and wants. Lett said they have a system in which students can earn points to come out and use to pick up those items that are not needs but are things the child might have seen and wanted. The boutique has been open to students for about a month, and the school is still seeking donations to keep it well stocked and growing.
This is a shining example of what happens when an educational institution and the community come together for the good of the children.
Letts welcomes contributions from outside the community too. If you would like to donate, contact Merideth Lett at [email protected], or call the Flatwoods Elementary School at (205) 342-2648.