FARMINGTON, April 14, 2022 – The Franklin County Children’s Task Force has announced that as of next Friday April 22nd their clothing exchange will close. The Clothing Exchange began in the late 1980’s; a time where families, who were experiencing struggle could find clean clothing in good condition free of charge. You bring a bag, take a bag. The Exchange was funded through the County Commissioners funding source and later the United Way. The lack of continued funding this year has required the leadership of the agency to make some difficult decisions. Operate at a loss for a 3rd straight year or close the doors. The Executive Director Renee Whitley brought the dilemma to her staff and board of directors to come up with a way to keep it open, after weeks of discussion and brainstorming the decision was made to close it.

“It became a regular occurrence to come in on a Monday, or any morning to 20 garbage bags of clothing on our porch, it was so overwhelming we had to rent space to store items, we had to cart it back and forth between storage sheds and the office, have someone sort, fold and put away clothing and then monitor what went on during the visits the public made. Daily folding, stocking, travel and clean up became unmanageable. In addition to all that, we started having some people drop garage sale left overs that we couldn’t get rid of and it was costing us money to dispose of the items” said Whitley “When the latest round of funding for the Children’s Task Force and Exchange was denied we knew we had to do something. The bottom line is we can’t continue to provide needed services and items without the money needed to do it. Fiscal responsibility requires a balanced budget.”

The Children’s Task Force will begin its Free Summer Clothing Giveaways to deplete its accumulated donations and will discontinue taking donations effective immediately. The first giveaway is scheduled for May 13th from 9:00-1:00.