“Clothing Our Kids” providing clothing to kids in need

Local organization "Clothing Our Kids" out of Sussex County in Delaware has been chosen as one of our media partners here at 47 ABC.

The organization was started by Mary Rio and her husband 5 years ago.

Mary's husband has been working in education for 40 years. He has witnessed first hand how some kids were coming dressed to school, some with only one outfit to wear all week long.

So, they decided to take action, giving to schools in Sussex County, that then give them to kids in need.

For the first two years, Mary says she worked out of her house. Now Mary has a volunteer center and 150 volunteers that help her. She tells 47 ABC they started by giving out used clothing, but now its all new.

They give items such as underwear, socks, shoes and seasonal coats.

Mary says a lot of clothing is donated by a large manufacturer, but now they're asking local business in Sussex County for help. And she's hoping our promotion will help as well.

Mary tells 47 ABC, "We need all the money we can get and all the support from the community. We want to get the smaller programs that are out there for the special kids or even some pre-k programs that are out there that are county wide that don't know about us."

Mary says this school year alone hey have given out close to 13,000 pieces of clothing to 2,200 children and are hoping to reach over 3000 this year.