Moms offering free clothing to open Fort Worth storefront

FORT WORTH, Texas - The doors of the Fort Worth Community Collaborative's new community closet will open on Saturday.

The store is designed to meet the needs of families struggling to get affordable clothing.

Kelly Warner and her co-founder Haley Ballenger said the idea for the community closet started with a simple gesture.

"My son grew out of this, somebody else needs it so we just kind of passed it along. Then we decided to open it up to a Facebook group. The first event was in my house," said Warner.

Their compassion to help other moms and prevent waste is now a small storefront at Westside Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth.

"The amount of textile waste we have in this country is astonishing. So to be able to take something that’s gently used or new, in this case, be able to give it right back to the community that needs it, that checks all of our boxes," said Warner.

Warner's husband, Bryan, is in charge of logistics as the available items are not just kids, but adults and teens.

"We have men’s and women’s clothes, it goes up to 5X. But these are brand new with tags, never been worn," said Warner.

All of the clothing is free of charge.

"Everything’s free. This is stuff that literally people were going to throw away," Warner said.

The grand opening will be from 3 to 6 p.m. at 8700 Chapin Road in Fort Worth.