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Westchester, Explained 26: What Clothing Insecurity Really Means and Why It Matters · This Week in Westchester: The Podcast

0:06
SPEAKER_01: Hi Westchester.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm Westchester County Government Communications Director Katherine Chaffee.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: And as an extension of This Week in Westchester, the podcast, we welcome you to Westchester Explained.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: In recognition of National Clothing Insecurity Awareness Day this September, today we shine the light on an often overlooked challenge affecting children right here in Westchester County, clothing insecurity.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: As we examine how something as simple as a warm coat, a new pair of sneakers, or properly fitting clothes can change a child's life and why this matters to Westchester residents.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we sit down with Deborah Blatt, Executive Director and Founder of the Port Chester nonprofit, The Sharing Shelf, to discuss what are the available resources for children in Westchester to get the clothing they need to attend school with confidence, dignity, and comfort.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Join us as we explore what clothing insecurity really means, why it deserves the same attention as food and housing insecurity, and how volunteers, donors, and community partners are helping make a difference across the county.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Because this is Westchester Explained.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: So let's begin.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: So we're excited to have one of our nonprofit heroes in Westchester County in the podcast studio today.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: So Deborah Blatt, you are the executive director of the sharing shelf.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being with us today.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for inviting me.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to be here.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: So let's start from the very, very beginning.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: For those people who don't know, what is the sharing shelf?
1:40
SPEAKER_00: The sharing shelf is Westchester County's clothing bank for children.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: We're founded to come back clothing insecurity so children can learn and reach their full potential.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Now that's a really loaded term, right?
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Well, well, because what is clothing?
1:53
SPEAKER_01: We hear about food insecurity.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: What is clothing insecurity?
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: So clothing insecurity is underdiscussed and is something that we really need to be talking about much more.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: It is when children, even adults, but we focus on children and teens, lack access to sufficient size, season clean clothing.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: So when a child is clothing insecure, that would mean, for example, they don't have a pair of sneakers to wear to gym, or they may have a pair of sneakers with holes in it.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: They may be wearing a wool sweater in the summertime.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: They may not have a pair of shorts.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: They may not have enough clean jeans.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: We've had children, for example, who own one outfit.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: Or one story we heard was a young man who was wearing a suit to school every day because that was his only outfit to wear.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: And that's here in Westchester.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: And that is right here in Westchester.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: You have a county with extraordinary wealth.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Ten of the wealthiest suburbs in our entire nation are right here in Westchester.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you have communities, and it's often overlooked that Yonkers is the third largest city in the state of New York.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And 70 to 80% of children in Yonkers who attend public school are living in poverty or a low-income home.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: When a family is struggling economically, when they're struggling to put food on the table, when they're struggling to afford housing, and you have more than 50% of Westchester households that are rent-burdened, those are the very same families whose children are facing clothing insecurity.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: They just don't have the funds to keep their children in a size appropriate winter coat or to purchase a winter coat.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: They don't have money for shoes.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: They don't have money for the clothes that the kids need, new underwear, new socks, all the basics.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So why do you think people talk more about food insecurity and not bring up clothing insecurity?
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Why is this a topic people aren't talking about?
3:47
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a misperception.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's a like that's the question we need to ask because our schools provide free and reduced price lunch.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: We have a, you know, we want our children to get an education.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: But if you have children missing school, and they will miss school because they don't feel good about themselves or they don't have the right thing to wear, they may not have sneakers for gym.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: So they'd rather skip school that day because they'll get yelled at.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: So we're not talking about it, even though we see it.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Because if you have something to wear, there's a perception that you have clothing.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Right.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: It's like you're being vain.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: You're being vain.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: And and and there's also a misperception, I think, in the when we give away that we're constantly donating versus giving things away we don't want anymore.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: So, and something is better than nothing.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: So if you take the kind of that mindset, there is a blind spot to clothing insecurity.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: So that's interesting.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: Let's dive into that a little bit.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: So there is a difference between donating clothes you don't want anymore and somebody receiving new clothes.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're saying?
4:49
SPEAKER_00: No, I it's also gently used clothing has an incredible place in our efforts to combat clothing insecurity.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Hand-me-downs are great.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: They are.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: The difference is it's the quality of the clothing that you give a child to wear.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: The mindset that something is better than nothing is not going to help a child go to school because they need things that help bring them dignity, that recognize their inherent, respect them inherently for who they are, give them confidence and help them feel good.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: If they feel good about themselves, if they look good, it's part of their identity.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Their confidence will come out.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: But if you say something is better than nothing, so take a child from one town, I'm from New Rochelle, and you give a child in another community a New Rochelle t-shirt, and they have to go to school hypothetically now in Scarsdale.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: They're not going to wear the shirt and they're not going to feel good.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: And my way of thinking about clothing insecurity in the way that people can truly understand it is to stop and think.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us can think about a moment in our lives when we wore something, we might have spilled coffee on it.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: We might have, if you're a child, put on a pair of shoes that were tight.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: You had to dress up for a special occasion.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, your mother, when you were little, made you put on a dress shirt, or if you're a little girl in a dress you didn't like, something like that.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: And you, how did you feel?
6:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: And if you can get into that feeling, just that one moment that each one of us has a memory on, you know you're talking about that is the feeling that children who face clothing insecurity feel day in and day out.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: Now take that emotional impact and spread it over time.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Combine it with this stress, economic stress, housing stress, and that you are now impacting children even more so.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: But the problem with clothing insecurity is we're not, we we will talk around it without actually recognizing how critical and central it is.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think about um young children going through puberty, you got a lot of feelings, and then you've got this clothing issue, which is like just, you know, another, another burden.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: You're wearing maybe old clothes, clothes that don't fit properly.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: And that and that's what you're talking about.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: That adds to the stress.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: It adds to the stress.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: It's imagine you're in the in the orchestra or you're at school and you're in the choir.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to put down, put on a white button down.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: You don't own a white button down.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh, think about children who have to.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: I I've been at many events where a teen is getting up and making a presentation.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: Do they have the right clothing?
7:35
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a jump to judgment uh about children.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: For example, let's take the gym class example.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: If a child doesn't have a pair of sneakers, when is the last time that you can think of like a gym teacher wasn't like, well, didn't think to reprimand the child versus to understand, hey, that child does not own sneakers.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Right.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: The pressure perhaps on a parent or child who wants to play soccer, but they can't access the supplies they need.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Now just take it to the everyday basics.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: How did you start this organization?
8:08
SPEAKER_00: It it grew out of my experience.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: My children went through a magnet program in Neuroshell, and I saw the struggles the school-based social worker was going through.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: She was reaching out to parents in the school who could donate, asking us for different items.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: And I was bringing those in, and other parents were bringing them in.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: And her office was just littered with these bags.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: And I thought it didn't really make sense to put the pressure upon her to both deal with the socioemotional integration of those children into the school and this other thing.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't it make more sense to have a place that somebody else did it?
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Right.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: So, how does your organization work?
8:47
SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: So what we do is we collect donations from the community, um, new and gently used.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: We complement them with strategic purchases of new items.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: So we raise money in order to be able to make sure we have every size and season covered: new socks, new underwear, sneakers, coats.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so people bring those donations to us where we purchase those items using financial donations.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: We tap like thousands of volunteer hours over the course of a year, and we come together and we sort the donations first by quality, then by size, season, and gender.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Nonprofits, schools, social service agencies, government agencies place requests with us on behalf of the children they serve.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: And we have two different avenues then to meet the need.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: We either have our volunteers create wardrobe packs, which is a week's worth of clothing matched into outfits according to the child's sizing needs, or we have teens who come into our team boutique, which is a free store for teens located at the sharing shelf.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: And it's open to all of our community partners to schedule appointments, and those teens get to come in and shop for their own wardrobe.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: So nice.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really the team boutique, it's it's incredibly special.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And the added layer to that is we've added a style for success program.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of um nonprofits are teaching teens about appearance for job interviews, internships, and we can offer them an opportunity where we can talk to them about appearance and they get the opportunity to choose the clothes.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just, hey, this is how you should look.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: It's also this is a great look to make a good first impression for going into an internship and come select a few outfits.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: So now you have the tools you need to basically put that training into action.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: And so important because you are when you're applying for jobs and you're, you know, in the workplace, you are hate to admit this, but you are judged on how you're presenting yourself.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a very important.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Um for you know, the families, children that you've helped over the years, what are some of the stories?
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Have they ever talked to you about how what it's meant to them?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Can you share those with us?
10:57
SPEAKER_00: So we don't, other than the teens who come into Teen Boutique, we are we have that like a buffer, like where the nonprofits are the are the liaison.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: They're taking our clothing out into the community.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: What we can tell you more about are the anecdotes.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: So what we hear, for example, somebody puts a pair of pink cowboy boots into one of the bags, and then whoever distributed that bag to the child will tell us a story about how that child would rip open the bag and put on those boots right away.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Or they'll like grab a coat and they'll take it and put it on.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: We'll get little comments on our request forms.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Child likes unicorns.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: And then let me tell you, our volunteers will scour our shelves to find a shirt with unicorns on it.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: One story that resonates with me, one of our volunteers told us about a note on one of the application forms that said, This child is so obviously cold.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And she said, All I could think about when I was putting together clothing was how do I make this child warm?
12:01
SPEAKER_00: And that's those are the stories.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: That's where I think people need to, when they think about what we're doing, is to think about the comment there.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: The teacher who observed the child who was cold and how providing them clothing not only it helped our volunteer feel really good about some impact she was having, but by extension, that teacher who placed the request now felt like she was empowered to make a difference.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: And by extension, the clothing that now goes to that child, the stress it takes off the parrot and the joy and comfort it brings to the child.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: That's a really it's a heavy story to carry and for a child to be told.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, what do you find is the biggest challenge for your organization?
12:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: So one of the biggest challenges we had, you know, in I would say going back about two years ago, was a dramatic rise in demand.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: So in January of 2025, we fielded the most requests we had ever seen in a single month.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: We saw a 45% increase of January of 25 compared to January of 24.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: And at that moment, you have to ask yourself, what does it mean to address clothing insecurity?
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean that you um provide clothing at some time in the future, or you meet the need at the time that the request comes in and within a reasonable period of time?
13:28
SPEAKER_00: Because of course there's going to be turnaround time.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: And from that moment, we have made a very conscious decision that we have to have every size available with an advanced look ahead.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: So that we're that's why we increasingly complement the gently used clothing with purchases of new, because it means that we can respond in it in case of unanticipated demand, like what we saw.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: And that I would say is perhaps one of the biggest challenges.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Space is always a challenge because when you need to have sizes from newborn through two or three XL, you need to be able to have it staged in a way that you can find it.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: Volunteers are critical, all of them.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: But to me, I I would go back to the fact that we want to make sure that we can be there for each of the children in the size that they need in the season in which they need that clothing.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: We're, you know, we're approaching back to school.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Is your need greater at back to school?
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Is it greater around the holidays?
14:29
SPEAKER_01: Is it greater when it gets cold out and everyone, you know, kids need coats?
14:33
SPEAKER_01: Is it what when do you see the greatest need?
14:35
SPEAKER_00: That's a really good question.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: And we just took a look at that.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: So we have three peak seasons and we're in one right now, August, September.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, our next biggest, but actually, I would say our largest season is what you described would be the October, November.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, the peak season leading into winter.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage anybody who thinks about, I want to organize a winter clothing drive or a coat drive.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: December's not the right time.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: It's a great time for people to think about it from generosity point of view, but you want to anticipate the need and give a child a coat before the cold weather starts.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: So that first cold day, they're not cold, but they already have the coat in their hand.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: Right.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, our peak season would be that October, November, followed by the August, um, September, the back to school.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: And then the other peak season we see is May, June.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: So as we head into summer, where in particular we're getting requests from a lot of schools as they are preparing children who are headed out the door for the summer.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: And now you have a big day coming up.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: So September 15th is National Clothing Insecurity Day.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, can you explain that a bit more?
15:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: So this will be the second year.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: It was uh the brainchild of Note in the Pocket, a program in North Carolina.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: The sharing shelf jumped on board.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: We were part of it last year.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: This year we're working very closely with Note in the Pocket to make it.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Last year it was like a day, right?
15:56
SPEAKER_00: A day on the calendar, a lot of nonprofits were listed.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: This year, what we want to do is highlight it and really make people aware of clothing insecurity.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: And what we are doing is we are linking up more closely with nonprofits.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm having conversations with nonprofits across the country, clothing banks and distribution programs who are doing this hard work across the United States.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: We're gathering data to see, just as we've seen increasing demand over the last five years, seeing what they're seeing and bringing that information together so that we can show that this is a growing problem.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: I had a really interesting conversation on Friday with a small program up in Brattleboro, Vermont.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: What we see in Westchester is we've got a large community that can come together.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: And so it makes it a little bit easier for us, not that it's easy, but it makes a little easier for us to address the need.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: Up there, it's much harder.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: So there, that is part of the conversation of National Clothing Insecurity Day is what are the challenges?
16:55
SPEAKER_00: What is the demand that is going on?
16:57
SPEAKER_00: And we are seeing across the board increasing demand across the country in the last five years, but also challenges that are facing programs like this small one up in Vermont.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: So let's get into, I mean, the one thing that's beautiful about our county is that we have very generous people here and people who want to help and want to make a difference.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: Um for anybody listening who wants to donate clothing, donate money, purchase things, what do they do?
17:27
SPEAKER_01: How do they do this?
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: So to donate money is pretty straightforward.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: We have a link on our website.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: We I And what's the website?
17:35
SPEAKER_00: The website is at sharingshelf.org.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's click on the donate button, uh, use your donor advice fund, um, add us to your will.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: I think you know, our director of development said there's like national make a will day or week.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, financial donations are crucial because we buy sneakers, we buy underwear, we buy socks.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: We need to have a space.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: You can't provide me clothing and security without a building.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And where are you located?
18:01
SPEAKER_00: We are located in Porchester.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: We serve all of Westchester County.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: Terrific.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, we are based in Port Chester because that's where a building is.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Where's where is our imprint?
18:10
SPEAKER_00: All over the county.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, the other way to get involved is obviously to donate clothing.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, from the new items, do you have a store with excess inventory?
18:20
SPEAKER_00: Super, we would love that.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Are you working as a manager, for example, in a store and need to clearance out items that are at the end of the season?
18:29
SPEAKER_00: Super, give us a call.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Those are the kind of relationships we'd love to build.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Overflow inventory, please donate it our way.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Items that you might want to clearance out.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: You need something on it, ask us.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: It may be something we're interested in.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you have gently used items, please bring them in.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Think about us.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: We would love you to think about us first.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: We take all sizes.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: We do want you to think about it seasonally appropriately.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: So I want to I want to touch on that because there are, um, you know, I I can tell you from my example, I have three kids, they're outgrowing clothes constantly.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: So there's always a donation bag in our home because of things that don't fit anymore.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: So someone like me has a bag of clothes.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: I want to donate them.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: What do I do?
19:12
SPEAKER_01: Do I just drive to you?
19:13
SPEAKER_01: How does that work?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, another good question.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: So there's two easy ways to donate to us.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: One is to drop off of the sharing shelf.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: We prefer if you go onto our website and just schedule a day to come in.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that allows us to sort of spread out.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: And then you're don't show up and it's a day we're not taking clothing.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, in August, uh during back to school season, the backpack to school season, which we're in right now, we're focused on backpacks.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: There's about a two-week window that we're not taking donations.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: So we don't want you to show up and we're not there or to show up and it happens to be a period of hiatus, which is just a short window.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we also have a pickup program where we go once a week to different neighborhoods.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: So we have a rotation of four community pickups.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: And what are those?
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's on the website.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: And then you just look for your town.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: If you have um a question about whether or not you are outside one of those communities, just shoot us an email and somebody from our team will get back to you and let you know where's the best place to figure it out.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: We also um have a couple stores that take uh donations on our behalf.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Better if I say just send us, shoot us an email rather than put it out generally speaking, especially since right now it's on for you know, those two weeks of August, we're sort of say, please pause.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: And we will be back to you very soon.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay, terrific.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: And if there's somebody listening that is experiencing clothing insecurity and they need help and they don't know what to do, what should they do?
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Can they contact you directly?
20:43
SPEAKER_00: We have a list of programs who we work with on our website.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: If your child is in school, we encourage you to go to your school-based social worker.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: They are welcome to use our program.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: If you are receiving any type of services anywhere, check with if you're at a food pantry, if you are receiving social services, mental health services.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: So we rely on referrals from a nonprofit partner or government agency, though we can try and link you up with programs who can help if you do not have that direct connection.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: The best bet typically for in those situations is if you have a school-aged child is to go through the school-based social worker.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, terrific.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Terrific.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, thank you for everything that you do for our community.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I can't thank you enough.
21:33
SPEAKER_01: This is incredible work and for such an incredible cause and so important.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, for people listening today, if you if they could remember one thing from this conversation, what do you want them to remember?
21:45
SPEAKER_00: I want them to focus on the fact that clothing insecurity goes hand in hand with food insecurity and housing instability.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: And just because we don't see it per se, like we don't assume something is better than nothing, but to recognize that right there, when if you have a child who's food insecure, if you have a family that's struggling financially with housing instability, that same child, that same family is also facing clothing insecurity, that it is the ignore, under less understood leg of the stool that supports families who need assistance.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to highlight what you said because I think it's so important.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Something is not better than nothing.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's very important to remember that.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: Really important to remember that.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, thank you so much.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Again, share your website, phone number, anything you want to share, please share it with the listeners.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: Also, again, our website is sharingshelf.org.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Our phone number is 914-305-5950.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you send an email to info at sharingshelf.org, one of our staff would be more than have to get back to you and answer your questions.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much again.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And um, let's get some comments.