Non-profit gives clothing to foster children around Missouri

In Missouri, more than 10,000 children are placed into foster care every year. A new organization in Mid-Missouri is working to make the transition easier on parents who take these children into their homes.

Angel Wings Clothing Closet in downtown Mexico is a non-profit store that provides free clothing and supplies to foster children.

Foster parents in Missouri get about $250 a year to buy clothes for a child. Most of the time, they do not get reimbursed for several months. And many children come to them with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Angel Wings Clothing Closet looks to help solve that problem.

“We had one kid that came into care with one sock-not a pair-but one sock, a pair of shorts and a shirt, and it was in the middle of winter,” Angel Wings founder Jody Dishman said.

Dishman has been a foster parent for more than seven years and has seen children come into her home with close to nothing. Two years ago, she started collecting clothing in her home for foster children around Audrain County. But it quickly took up more space than she had.

Dishman moved the donated items to Union Baptist Church. She began getting calls from DFS offices across Mid-Missouri, running out of room once again.

That is when she moved into an open storefront in downtown Mexico across the street from the Audrain County Courthouse. On top of clothing, the store provides free hygiene products, shoes, diapers, beds blankets and more.

“When kids come into care, typically they’ll need a whole wardrobe,” Dishman said. “So we’ll have sizes on the shelves or on the racks. And a lot of times they’ll need the whole section. Until we get donations to replace that, we’re just out those sizes.”

Everything in the store is donated. And all of the work is done by volunteers. Angel Wings is available to any foster child in the state, some coming from nearly 150 miles away.

“These shoes came from a six-year-old girl that came into care,” Dishman said. “She was supposed to go to her kindergarten graduation that night, and these were her only pair of shoes. And they were two sizes too small, and her toes were coming out the top of them. So we made a trade, and she got wedges and a little frilly dress for her graduation.”

Since the store opened about three months ago, Angel Wings has provided clothing and necessities to about 200 children.

If you would like to make a donation, you can send them to Angel Wings Clothing Closet at P.O. Box 893, Mexico, MO 65265. Or you can call the store at (573)721-5547. You can also contact your local Department of Family Services office.