By Deborah Blatt
In Westchester County, more families are struggling to provide clothing for their children than ever before. Given the extent and relentlessness of the need, it’s time for a fuller civic response.
At The Sharing Shelf, the nonprofit Clothing Bank, the number of children in need of clothing in Westchester grew by 25%, an increase of 1,882 children, from 2024 to 2025. In 2025 alone, The Sharing Shelf fulfilled requests from 145 nonprofits, schools, and government agencies – on behalf of 9,134 children and teens. Over the last three years, demand has grown 88%; over the last 10 years, it’s grown more than four times.
The problem is a national one – left to be addressed locally. An estimated two out of every five children in the United States are clothing insecure, according to Nonprofit Quarterly. Furthermore, clothing insecurity doesn’t stand alone. Children who face clothing insecurity are the same ones facing food insecurity and whose families struggle with housing instability. The same families are doing a delicate economic dance, trying to balance the cost of rent, food, clothing, and other everyday expenses with limited means and capacity.
To be sure, progress has been made in addressing clothing insecurity in the 17 years since I founded The Sharing Shelf. The term “clothing insecurity” – a lack of sufficient, clean, seasonal, and size-appropriate apparel – is itself more widely recognized. There are hashtags such as #clothing insecurity and #endclothinginsecurity. A growing number of nonprofits use these words to describe their mission, and some funders now recognize that clothing insecurity is a concern.
Clothing insecurity is often overlooked, on the theory that as long as one has some kind of clothes, the problem does not exist, but clothing insecurity has a detrimental impact on children. It erodes their self-confidence, contributes to bullying and negatively impacts their school attendance. A child or teen does not just need something to wear. To feel good about themselves and to ensure they attend school – and stay in school – they need to have sufficient clean clothes in the right size, that are appropriate to the season, and that reflect their personality.
This pattern of growth in clothing insecurity is unlikely to change. The same agencies have greater and greater needs and struggle to meet the demand. The underlying cause – poverty – will only increase with rising inflation, stagnant wages, reductions in SNAP benefits, and cuts to Medicaid.
What is needed is wider recognition of this issue and creative thinking, including a more broadly orchestrated civic system of collecting and distributing new and lightly used clothing.
First, it’s important to recognize that used clothing is a critical component of addressing clothing insecurity. Second, we have an abundant resource. Communities like Westchester – and many places across the nation – not only have excess clothing, they also have people who are looking for ways to pass it forward mindfully and keep it out of landfills. But there is a crucial distinction that is not well-understood: thrift shops, even nonprofit ones, collect clothing for resale rather than for redistribution to those in need. They, therefore, do not address clothing insecurity.
Clean quality “hand me downs” are one piece of the puzzle. The Sharing Shelf leans into this approach. We use an eco-friendly model, accepting donations of new and gently used clothing to address clothing insecurity. We tap volunteers who screen the donations for quality and then additional criteria – like size, season, and gender – to prepare them for the children we serve.
To receive clothing donations, however, a nonprofit Clothing Bank like The Sharing Shelf must reach out to schools and community organizations one-by-one to encourage participation in collecting clothing. We must introduce our work and convince each of them to help.
Imagine if, instead of that one-by-one outreach, there was an informal public-private partnership among civic institutions in communities county-wide to create a network of collection sites so that dropping off appropriate clothing for a nonprofit Clothing Bank was simpler. This does not require a new organization – just a commitment to partnership from civic institutions like government offices, schools, supportive businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
If that network were in place, the mechanics of collecting and distributing clothing would be dramatically easier. Some towns have introduced fabric recycling and pick up clothing for recycling. Imagine for a moment if these local governments would recognize the reusable value for nonprofit Clothing Banks and place a donation bin at City Hall and the local fire station.
With schools in particular, Clothing Banks often compete with for-profit organizations that will pay a PTA or a school to host a clothing drive or keep a clothing collection bin in their parking lot. While the PTA or school may need the resulting funds, these initiatives – like the thrift shops discussed previously – do not address clothing insecurity. The clothing is instead sold.
The public-private network that is needed would address clothing insecurity and would not be hard to create. It would just require commitment from local governments and other civic institutions to overcome this challenge.
Designing and implementing the network requires, most of all, a rethinking of how our communities engage in collecting and distributing apparel to address clothing insecurity. Such a network would not only transform clothing insecurity in Westchester but provide a model for replication elsewhere. It would turn a local challenge into an opportunity for national leadership.
The author is Founder and Executive Director of The Sharing Shelf, based in Port Chester, NY.
