Elijah’s Closet seeks community support to continue serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast

BILOXI, Miss. (WXXV)- Elijah’s Closet is asking for help. It’s a local nonprofit whose mission is to help children and families involved in, or at risk of entering, foster care.

They provide essential items like beds, clothing, shoes, and car seats to support families.

Recently, they turned to Facebook, asking the community for help to keep their doors open. The response was quick, but the need is still urgent.

The nonprofit says without additional funding, operations may shutdown, leaving many families without a critical resource.

We spoke with organizers about the community response and why staying open is so important. Development Director Lauren Brown said, “Recently, of course, everything has gotten a little bit more expensive. When we looked at the numbers, we realized we needed a little bit of help. So, we reached out to our community and made a post saying we needed 16,000 people to donate just five dollars to cover a full year of expenses. So far, the response has been amazing, we’ve already raised more than 6,000 dollars as of this morning. Just this year alone, we’ve served more than 340 families, families who may not have had the chance to move forward or better their situation without help with tangible items like beds, car seats, clothing, and shoes. Overall, since we started, we’ve helped more than 6,000 children. It’s really important that we keep this nonprofit going so we can continue supporting our community.”

Elijah’s Closet also recently opened a thrift store, with all proceeds going directly back into the nonprofit’s operations.

They’re now asking for donations, volunteers, and help spreading the word, hoping community support will keep their mission going.

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