In a crowded storage unit off US-19, two women are sorting through bags of donated clothing.

They’re hanging shirts and folding pants. They’re prepping these clothes for the Pasco kids who need them.

“We take care of children who live in the woods, we take care of foster children,” said Debi Shackowsky, naming just a few of the thousands of kids she helps.

Debi has stuffed backpacks and donated supplies out of her own good will for the past 18 years. In the last year, she decided to make it official and start Marjorie’s Hope.

“Marjorie is my sister who passed away 18 years ago,” Debi said. “She was killed by a drunk driver and rather than memorialize her death, we celebrated her life and her memory by helping the same type of children that she used to help when she was alive.”

The organization gives out thousands of backpacks a year when school starts and operates a clothing closet in between. The closet isn’t limited to clothes. Debi keeps it stocked with shampoo, feminine products and other toiletries.
 
Marjorie’s Hope has grown and is starting to outgrow its storage space. Debi hopes to be able to move her charity into a brick-and-mortar store.

“We need to expand,” she said. “Our hope, wish and dream is that we can find the kindness of someone in our community that could donate a storefront location, warehouse set up, we’re not picky.”

Debi wants to be located on a bus route so her clients could easily reach her.  Not only will it make them more accessible for the people they help, but it’ll allow the kids to shop for themselves.

“Having a child come shop for free, in private, so there’s no public humiliation about their situation, is our dream,” she said.

One of her board members, Kim Anglin, knows how important it is for a child to feel like their peers. Anglin has fostered 15 children in the past two and a half years.

“I realized the need, especially and initially for foster care kids coming in, to have the appropriate clothes so they don’t stand out in school,” Kim said.

Marjorie’s Hope is always looking for donations, especially new, unwrapped socks and underwear. The organization also needs volunteers to help sort, hang and stock the clothing closet.