The Sharing Shelf Inc

The Sharing Shelf is Westchester's Clothing Bank for Children founded to combat clothing insecurity and meet basic material needs among low-income children and families in our community.

The Sharing Shelf started with a vision for a place that would bring together different segments of the community to address clothing insecurity in Westchester County. We do this by engaging people who want to make clothing donations, working with volunteers, and building relationships with local schools and social service organizations.

Clothing insecurity, the lack of sufficient, clean, seasonal, and size-appropriate apparel, is a much more serious problem then many people realize. When an individual or family can’t pay the rent or afford to put food on the table, basics like underwear, socks, and shoes become luxuries. Meanwhile, Americans with means are often looking to donate their used clothing and hoping it will help those in need. Unfortunately, many of the major channels for clothing donations turn used items into a commodity – creating a barrier for those who need the clothing most. In addition, many thrift stores that sell donated clothing become overstocked and eventually treat unsold donations as trash. This fails to get donated items to the people who need them most and also creates large amounts of unnecessary waste. Well intentioned donations end up in landfills not solving issues related to clothing insecurity and instead becoming an environmental burden. Clothing banks such as The Sharing Shelf change this model. By focusing both on the resources and needs of our local community we are able to address two problems at once. Our program handles clothing donations and gets them directly into the hands of people for immediate use.

The Sharing Shelf warehouse operates as a hub where we engage volunteers, prepare “wardrobe packages”, and process and organize donated goods so they feel fresh and new for those who receive them. It is both a physical space and program structure that allows otherwise unconnected segments of Westchester to come together to make a difference in local lives: donors hoping the high-quality clothing that their children have outgrown can be reused, instead of resold or sent to a landfill; volunteers – including individuals, families, teens, special-needs adults and businesses – looking for meaningful, direct impact in their local community; social workers and community programs seeking assistance to support their clients in financial distress; and thousands of local children who receive clothing and basic material necessities through The Sharing Shelf each year.

In addition to clothes, we focus on meeting basic material needs of infants, children, and teens. Our Wardrobe Packs include new socks and underwear/diapers, a toiletry kit, and menstruating individuals receive a period kit.

Our systems allow us to respond quickly to requests from all of the organizations that we partner with.