Bloom Closet provides free essentials to area foster children
Foster families from several surrounding counties traveled to the Polk County Department of Family and Children Services last month to take part in a fun and safe shopping experience.
The Bloom Closet Express visited the agency on March 26 with its pop-up boutique set up in the parking lot where families were able to come and shop for each foster child they had in their care.
Each child was greeted by Bloom Closet volunteers and given a shopping bag that was theirs to keep. They were then invited to enter the truck to shop for school supplies, books, socks, blankets, toiletry items, blankets and toys. There were also diapers and other items for infants.
At the end of their shopping experience, DFCS staff provided each child with a treat and a stuffed animal that they were allowed to choose.
The Bloom Closet Express is a custom-designed truck that transforms into a popup boutique with all of the free resources of The Bloom Closet, a resource provided by Bloom Our Youth, Inc., while is a leading provider of foster care services in metro Atlanta.
Bloom’s programs include foster parenting, training, and support for families, and The Bloom Closet, which supplies free clothing and essentials to 4,500 foster children annually.
When children enter foster care most are empty-handed with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The Bloom Closet is a cost-free boutique that provides clothing and other essentials to foster children across the state, allowing the children to have something they can call their own.
The boutique is located in Fayetteville but families and foster children travel from all over to shop at the completely donor-funded organization four times a year, or once a season.
The Bloom Closet Express travels to foster children in underserved communities across Georgia, outside of The Bloom Closet’s immediate reach.
Anyone that would like to make a tax-free donation that helps thousands of foster children throughout Georgia can do so by visiting bloomouryouth.org. Foster parents and other caregivers can contact Bloom Closet Program Manager Lauren Wyatt at 770461-7020 to schedule an appointment to visit the Bloom Closet and shop.
There were over 14,000 children in foster care in Georgia in 2021. Please call 1-877-210KIDS or email Dawn.Sanford@dhs.ga.gov if you are interested in providing a loving home to a child.