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Making Change

Caring for our community

Boxes of Basics

How a box of clothes can change a kid’s life

Sarah Tyndall on Boxes of Basics

When Sarah Tyndall first started collecting children’s clothes for a local family in need, she had no idea it would end up helping thousands of local kids. But just a few years later, her nonprofit, Boxes of Basics, has delivered clothes to over 3,000 children in need. And that number continues to grow.
 
Boxes of Basics is an organization with a simple but powerful mission: Make sure kids in need have clothes to wear. The group is based in Manassas, Virginia, and through donations of new and gently used clothes, they create and deliver full seasonal wardrobes to every child referred to them.
 
“I wanted these kids to feel like they’re getting a gift,” Sarah said. “They’re not just haphazard old clothes, we put a lot of love and care in each box.”
 
The teachers, social workers, and other referring partners who see kids open their boxes say it’s like Christmas morning.
 
Every box is personalized. Volunteers “shop” for their child, creating outfits that they wrap by hand. Every box has six school outfits, four play outfits, a “Sunday best”, a pair of pajamas, and new socks, shoes and underwear. In the winter, children also get a coat, hat, scarf, and gloves.
 
When everything is packed in the box, a volunteer adds the finishing touches: a dental kit, an age-appropriate book, and a handwritten note of encouragement.
 
The boxes provide more than just clothes. They help kids maintain their dignity and confidence.
 
Before Sarah started Boxes of Basics, she had no idea how many children in her community didn’t have properly fitting clothes to wear.
 
“There’s people right in our community who are struggling and suffering and this is such an easy way that we can help with the burdens of life for them,” she said.
 
Clothing insecurity – when a person lacks properly fitting clothing in good condition that’s appropriate for the season – is a type of material hardship that affects millions of people struggling with poverty in the United States.
 
Kids are especially vulnerable. Badly-timed growth spurts can leave a kid with nothing to wear and when a family is struggling to make rent, there’s often not enough left over to buy new clothes.
 
Kids are left to squeeze into too-tight clothes and shoes or spend the day drowning in adult-sized clothes borrowed from a family member. Some kids just stay home. It can take a huge toll on children’s confidence, mental health, and quality of life.

Left: Volunteers wrap each outfit. Right: Children’s coats waiting to be packed into a box. (Photos: MainStreet Bank)

The walls of the Boxes of Basics headquarters are covered with testimonials from the community partners that work with the kids who receive boxes. They tell the stories of kids with blisters from ill-fitting shoes, who missed school because they didn’t have anything to wear, or who even got bullied by classmates for looking different.
 
“He was in kindergarten and could not walk properly,” reads one testimonial about a young boy who received a Box of Basics. “He was tripping, and could not run safely on the playground because of the condition of his old shoes,” the referring partner wrote.
 
“As soon as I got his box, I opened it and took out the shoes… When his teacher put them on his feet, she told me his face absolutely lit up and he smiled a huge smile and said, “They fit!!” Then he said, “I am going to run SO FAST in these shoes!” He was thrilled and had the biggest smile on his face.”
 
Stories like these are what drives Sarah.
 
She officially started Boxes of Basics in 2018. A few years earlier she heard about a local mom who had fled a domestic violence situation with four kids and nothing but the clothes on their backs. Sarah’s friend was collecting new and gently used clothes for the kids, and Sarah stepped in to lend a hand.
 
After helping that first family, she realized that she might be able to help others in her community facing similar hardships. She started bringing in clothes and volunteers, and soon her basement was overflowing.

Above: Debra Cope, Chief Communications Officer, EVP, delivers the MainStreet Bank “Community Impact” award to Sarah Tyndall. (Photo: MainStreet Bank)

Since 2018, they’ve moved twice, most recently into a 2,600-square foot warehouse that used to belong to an olive oil company. The Italian-themed decor of the former tasting room now greets the 300 volunteers who regularly come through Boxes of Basics’ doors.
 
Boxes of Basics is an organization on the rise. They started with 59 boxes in 2018, and delivered over 1,400 boxes in 2023.
 
Sarah says that she’s been truly overwhelmed by how receptive the community has been. People want to help, she says.
 
“Boxes of Basics is, I always say, an organization for the community fueled by the community,” Sarah said. “When we put out a need, people show up for us. And that’s been just awesome to watch.”
 
MainStreet Bank Board Member Terry Saeger selected the organization to receive a $1,000 Making Change donation in 2023. Boxes of Basics was also one of two organizations chosen to receive an inaugural MainStreet Bank Community Impact award of $5,000 to recognize and boost its work in the community.

Left: boxes waiting to be filled. Right: clothes are organized by size and gender. (Photos: MainStreet Bank)

To learn more about Boxes of Basics visit boxesofbasics.org

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