In early 2022 there was a community effort to gather clothes for Ukrainians moving into the area in partnership with Ukrainian Diaspora Support Canada. St James Anglican Church hosted a temporary clothing freestore where Ukrainians could get the clothing they needed as they settled in with their host families. In gathering donations our amazing local community responded and provided tons of donations! Many clothes were given to Ukrainians however there were still lots of clothes left over.

Hosting the freestore for Ukrainians and interacting with the community’s response made some of the volunteers aware of the need for clothing among residents in our own local community. This group of volunteers from different churches in the area recognized this need and the idea was born to open up a permanent Clothing Bank for residents of Carleton Place and the surrounding area. Similar to a food bank, the clothing bank will be a space where those in need of clothing have an opportunity to get the clothing they need for free.

We have had some amazing people help us in the journey so far! Carleton Place Baptist Church kindly offered us space in their building on Bridge Street to host the Clothing Bank. Valley Paint and Coatings generously donated the paint and equipment needed to paint the rooms and hallway of the clothing bank! Anderson Professional Printing Services generously volunteered their time and skills to help us paint our entry and stairwell which were too high for us to reach. Home Depot in Carleton Place lent us their skilled crew to paint and gave us much-needed items like light bulbs and new door knobs!

Ambrotek Printing has generously donated their design skills and printing capabilities to help us with our signage and advertising!! The Carleton Place and District Civitan Club generously donated two thousand dollars and people from all over have given to the Go Fund Me to provide us with the funds to get everything we need for organizing and starting the clothing bank. Men from the Hackberry Men’s Shed came to help us install everything!   And an amazing group of volunteers from the community helped us sort through clothes and donations.

We officially opened our doors in April 2023 and are so thankful to each and every one of you who has partnered with us so far and made it possible to provide clothes to those in need in our community!!

Since then both All Nations Church and Carleton Place Baptist Church have run new underwear drives for us and Driveway Dave ran a fundraiser for us to collect money for new underwear and socks! We are so thankful for the support of the Carleton Place community, local businesses, charities, and Churches! Looking forward to whats to come!