Sub-Total: $0.00
Every Tuesday and Thursday, a small group of women gathers. They sort through donated clothes—everything from tiny baby onesies to men’s work boots—and they talk, pray, and laugh together while they work. It might look like simple organizing, but it’s actually the heart and backbone of a ministry.
At Heritage Baptist Church in Farmville, Virginia, the Hope Closet is more than a place to get free clothes. It’s a place where needs are met, community is formed and engaged, and hope is quietly offered—one garment, one conversation, one family at a time.
It all started in 2018 with a simple vision that became a passion. Ann Simpson, a member at Heritage, heard from Berniece Hawkins—founder of Madeline’s House, a shelter for survivors of domestic abuse—that many women were quite literally arriving at the shelter with only the clothes on their backs. Mothers needed work clothes. Children needed school clothes. Everyone needed shoes, coats, pajamas, and, well … everything.
Ann couldn’t ignore the need, even though Heritage is a small congregation made up mostly of senior adults. Knowing her home church couldn’t meet the need alone, she reached out to her daughter’s church in Chesapeake for donations of quality used clothing, particularly styles that would meet the needs of the younger clientele at Madeline’s House. While waiting, Ann got permission from church leaders to turn an unused church office into a boutique-style space. A church member built clothing racks, shelves were re-purposed, and plastic storage bins were purchased. A yard sale of items donated by church members helped cover the start-up costs. By fall of that year, the Hope Closet had quietly opened—and served 12 families by Christmas. And before long, God began to multiply what had been offered, much like the loaves and fishes of Luke 9!
By 2019, word had spread, and the little office-turned-boutique could no longer contain the donation. Ann began looking for others who might need clothing and began connecting with social service agencies, nursing homes, a local program that invites low income parents to “shop” for Christmas gifts for their children, and she even asked some men in the church to load up their trucks with clothes and take them directly into subsidized housing communities to set up “pop up” clothing giveaways on site. Wherever there was need, she brought hope. And when the pandemic hit in 2020, the Hope Closet didn’t slow down—it expanded. People were home, cleaning out closets, and donations overflowed. The church cultivated a “Giving Garden,” funded by a BGAV Hunger Grant, and hosted eight weekly vegetable and clothing giveaways, sharing fresh food and clothing with their community.
Utilizing church volunteers to do the big job of carrying and organizing all of those donations, Heritage hosted its first large-scale giveaway in the parking lot in the fall of 2020. That year, 378 families “shopped” for clothes. In 2021, what became twice-annual giveaways had moved indoors to the church fellowship hall and kept growing. By 2023, the number served had grown to 740 and in 2024, it was nearly 1,300.
But here’s what really matters: behind those numbers are stories. A single mom at a shelter finds clothes for her kids. A grandparent unexpectedly raising grandkids comes in for help. College students show up to serve and to shop. Senior adults sort, pray, and encourage each other. Caseworkers pick up clothing their clients need to be successful. Valuable partnerships have begun with local schools and a senior adult day program stocking closets of their own, partially with donations from the Hope Closet; baby clothes are shared back and forth between the Closet and the Pregnancy Support Center as either group has needs. And somewhere in the middle of all that movement, Jesus is present.
As donations have grown (especially after the local Goodwill closed in 2024) so has the Hope Closet. Two shipping containers, one funded by a grant from the Rotary Club and one donated by a benefactor, have been turned into climate-controlled storage for seasonal clothes. The original boutique is now a shoe room. Local Rotary and Lions Club members, college volunteers from Longwood and Hampden-Sydney, and a local Spanish-speaking hospital chaplain have begun working alongside Heritage Baptist Church members at each giveaway to make sure every neighbor feels welcome.
And Ann? She’s still there, showing up each week, working alongside the growing team and expanding the mission with plans to send fliers to schools in four other surround counties this fall. “I had this vision when I was in my early 70s,” she says. “No one is too old to make a difference. I think we forget that. [As James 4:2 says], ‘We don’t have because we don’t ask God.’”
It’s a reminder for all of us. Ministry doesn’t always look like preaching or programs. Sometimes it looks like hangers and tables labeled by size and season. Sometimes it smells like warm clothes fresh from storage. Sometimes it starts with one person asking God, “What do You want me to do?”
If you’re wondering how to get involved, maybe the answer is right in front of you. Start with the needs around you. Ask God to give you eyes to see and a heart willing to serve. You never know how far something small can go when God is in it.
If you’d like to learn more about the details of starting a ministry like this, follow this link to the Clothing Closet “Getting Started” Resource.
