Kaylee’s Closet isn’t at risk of being emptied out any time soon, which is good news for families coping with financial difficulties in the era of COVID-19.
Patty and Steve Raby founded Kaylee’s Closet in honor of their foster daughter Kaylee, who came to live with them 13 years ago. When the couple took in the three-year-old Kaylee, she had no clothes, toys or personal supplies except for the nightgown she was dressed in. Unfortunately, this is a problem that foster children encounter far too often.
“Usually, when a foster child meets their foster parents, they have nothing,” Steve said. “They’re missing a lot of the things that they’re going to need to adjust and fit in at a new school.”
Foster parents generally try to have supplies ready for a new child in their home, but it’s easier said than done. Foster parents often take in more than one child and on short notice based on when the need arises.
There’s no telling exactly what supplies to have on hand to make things normal for a foster child as soon as they walk in the door.
“If you have a license to be a foster parent, you could get anyone from a newborn to a teenager,” Patty said. “Are you supposed to have everything for every age group waiting in your home? No, no one can do that.”
That’s where Kaylee’s Closet comes in. For the past two years, the organization has been assembling supplies so that any foster parent in need can reach out to them and get what they need for a new child free of charge.
Any family who comes to Kaylee’s Closet gets a package of five outfits, new socks and underwear, a pair of shoes, a blanket, a toy and a hygiene kit, and a winter coat in the colder months. In 2019, 88 families received assistance from Kaylee’s Closet, and 2020 is shaping up to be an even bigger year.
“With the pandemic going on, we’ve been offering help to a lot of families who don’t even have foster children,” Patty said. “We’ve got grandparents calling in and saying ‘I’m raising my grandchild and I’m on Social Security and I need help’ or parents saying ‘I’m collecting unemployment and I can’t pay for this’.”
Luckily, the closet has no shortage of supplies to provide. Generous support from individual and business donors has helped keep a steady supply of clothes, toys, backpacks, strollers and more packing the storerooms at their base at Heritage Garage Doors in Cullasaja.
As long as that generosity persists, they expect that foster children in Macon County won’t have to go without back to school clothes for a very long time.
“Macon County has really impressed us with how much they’re willing to give,” Steve said. “What we need more than anything right now is space to put it all.”
For more information on Kaylee’s Closet or to make a donation, call Patty Raby at 828-371-0992.