Shopping trip provides more than back to school clothes

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Parents and kids alike sometimes grumble during those back-to-school shopping trips. But other local kids never get the chance to go shopping with mom or dad, or to shop at all. That’s where the community stepped in to help.

There’s nothing unusual about a clothing boutique bustling with back to school shoppers this time of year.

“There was no reason to cut any corners and for it not to feel upscale,” organizer Macy Walker said.

But with a business model like this, you’d quickly go broke.

Nothing’s for sale inside the makeshift store.
And it was all Macy Walker’s idea.

“It just seemed like the perfect fit,” Walker said.

With nearly three-hundred new items donated by the Mill, and hundreds more gently-used clothes from the community, everyone found something that was just right!

It’s called the Hanger Project. But if you only see a clothing give-away, you might not be looking hard enough.

“It’s the opportunity to connect with these girls and get to know them and make them feel special and build their self-confidence and really let them see themselves the way that we see them,” Walker said.

The 13 girls helped by the project live at the Palmer Home for children.

“We don’t want them to feel that just because of their situation that they are any less important than anyone else,” Walker said.

So they’re given the ‘star treatment.’

“It’s just your self image, it’s just the way you feel about yourself and when you feel good about yourself, you project a good self image,” Rotary Night Club Vice President, Heather Madison said.

After modeling for the house moms and choosing 25 items each, the girls posed for a group photo commemorating a shopping trip that organizers hope will leave a positive impression, out-lasting any style or any shirt.

The Mill and Rotary Night Club plan on doing the same thing next year and helping even more girls.

In the meantime, a house mom at Palmer tells us they are always in need of school supplies.

You can drop those off during regular business hours at Palmer.