The Journey of Your Clothing Donation

We often talk about the magic that your clothing donation creates in the life of a child in need, but how exactly do your donated items make their way to the hands of a student?

Over the last 12 years, our team has mastered the processing of thousands upon thousands of community donations so that closets are always stocked and children have what they need.

Here’s how it goes:

Step 1: Inspection

Your donations are collected at our Distribution Centers in Boston and Dracut, the hub of our entire operation.

Each item is thoroughly inspected to ensure the item meets specific criteria for acceptable clothing.

Are there any holes? Stains? Broken zippers? Missing buttons?

Is it in style or out of date? Is it appropriate for our age demographic – infant through seniors in high school?

Catie’s Closet is adamant about making a student feel as though he or she is the only child who’s ever worn the clothing and as if the student went to the store and picked it out on his or her own.

Step 2: Inventory

Once your item of clothing is deemed acceptable to be given to a student, it’s then added on a rack or shelf, which are all carefully organized by type, gender, size, season, and even sleeve length.

We keep a log of all items in each category so we know exactly what we have “in stock”.

Step 3: Delivery

Your donation lives on our racks and shelves for just a short time before it makes its way to a closet or child.

There are two ways in which your donation could make its way to a child:

In a closet

You may have seen our vans driving around. Your donated item may be in there on its way to help a student in need!

Catie's Closet Delivery Van

Closets are filled with the help of a volunteer “Closet Champion”.

Closet champions regularly check in on closets to ensure they are fully stocked, clean and organized.

If a closet needs to be restocked in any way, the Closet Champions place an order with our Distribution Center Staff and the team works quickly to fulfill the order and deliver it to the school.

School faculty who work directly with individual students in dire need may also place orders with our Distribution Center or Closet Champion. Examples include if a child loses all possessions in a fire or if a child migrates from another country and does not have basic necessities.

Our special order system

We are so thankful for our partnerships with several social service agencies throughout our communities who help kids in emergency situations.

These partnerships allow us to serve children and families outside of our closets.

Individuals who work with these children place special orders with our Distribution Centers to request clothing (and toiletries) for a child.

They provide details on the child’s gender, age and clothing and/or shoe size, as well as the child’s interests and style preferences.

Our team then quickly completes a specialized process curating a week’s worth of clothing that can be mixed and matched each week, since the clothing the child receives is all they have.

Using the details provided by our social service partners, our team chooses clothing that meets the child’s unique interests. For example, if a child’s favorite color is pink, our team searches for pink items in that student’s special package or if a child really loves trucks, we will hunt for clothing with trucks on it.

Check out this video of a special order being filled. Your donation could be included in one of these personalized packages.

No matter how students receive their clothing, whether from our closets or from our special order system, they are given the opportunity to express their uniqueness and individuality while having their basic needs met.

Hear Denise Trombly, our Director of Operations, speak about the impact