A Vital Ministry for Community School Kids Needs Your Help

Responding to a Great Need in the Community

The Good Shepherd Clothes Closet started with a single person who had an overwhelming desire to bring her passion for serving to life. Barbara Herbsleb had been a member of Good Shepherd since 1956 and remained an integral part of the church throughout her life. For many years, she taught Sunday school and volunteered with The Road Home, making families feel at home despite the fact that they didn’t have one. In 2005, Barb and her husband Bob started working at the Food Pantry. Each week they would shop for groceries at Second Harvest Food Bank, load them into their car, and return them to Good Shepherd to be unpacked and shelved. In 2009, Barb was asked to be on a task force whose mission was to help support neighbors around the church, as during that time, the neighborhood had been experiencing some violence. The committee met several times, and it was decided that the church needed a Children’s Clothes Closet to provide clothes to children in need.

A Ministry Takes Shape

Shortly after the meeting, Barb got to work, asking her best friend Doris if she was willing to help. Doris agreed, and together they began meeting with other neighboring Clothes Closets to learn about how they could best operate their own. A few weeks later, they began going to local garage sales looking for children’s clothing, as they didn’t have the proper funding to buy brand new clothes at the time. In June of 2010, three of the volunteers met with Pastor Sheryl and Pastor Brent to discuss how they were going begin advertising and seeking help from the congregation. Shortly after the meeting, they began asking for new or gently used clothing-making the decision to buy new shoes, socks, and underwear after receiving a $2,500 grant from the Good Shepherd Foundation.

Launching and Growing

On September 16^th, 2010, The Clothes Closet opened, serving 64 children in one room of Peterson Hall. That year, they served 722 children in total and learned a lot about how they could improve for the following years. In 2011, they moved into two more rooms and served 2,735 children. Since 2013, Barb and Doris, along with the other volunteers, have served over 22,668 children and have continued to grow the ministry. Barb said, “It makes me feel fed, I’m serving the Lord by helping those in need.” She wrote that her goal for the Clothes Closet was to be able to serve all the children who have needs in the neighborhood and have more room to grow.

Continuing a Legacy of Serving

Even though Barb has since passed away in 2019, her best friend Doris remains a fundamental part of this mission, along with six other volunteers who Doris says are “extremely dependable and fun to work with.” Doris remembers all the fond memories she and Barb shared and talks about how particular Barb was about the quality and modesty of the clothing pieces she selected. Doris hopes to continue Barb’s mission by providing clothes to as many children as possible and says her favorite part of volunteering is “being able to serve the community and see families be able to shop and choose things for their children.”

Recently, the Clothes Closet has experienced some challenges. Facing a shortage of volunteers, it has been impossible to stay open in the evenings, and with the lack of donations, the Clothes Closet has not had enough clothes to meet demand. In the weeks ahead, the Clothes Closet is looking to revamp the space for the upcoming school year, and the goal for the fall and winter is to be able to expand the Clothes Closet hours into the evening.

The Clothes Closet Needs Your Help

If you like helping others and have just two hours each month on Thursday morning, our Children’s Clothes Closet could use your help.   We are looking for volunteers to help assist customers select shoes, socks, undies and clothing for their children.  If this is something you would like to learn more about or to sign up, please contact Rick Thomas at 608-640-4916 or rthomas@gslcwi.com.

For more information on how you can help further this ministry and continue Barb’s legacy, visit the Clothes Closet web page!

Thank you to all the people that have continued to support this ministry over the years.