In October, a free store for kids will be opening in the Peace Community Center on East Lorain Street. Co-founders Katie Ashwill and Jessica Minor-Baetens envision it as a central, reliable, and accessible location for parents, caregivers, and community members to share clothing for children. 

Donations for the store are currently being accepted at the Oberlin Public Library. The organization accepts clean, gently used clothing, books, and puzzles. The collection boxes will be out throughout the next week during the library’s open hours. 

“Everybody in Oberlin and surrounding communities can come and give and take — there’s no standard that you have to meet to get in,” Ashwill said.

Through ongoing discussions with Oberlin College’s Sustainability Manager Heather Adelman and various textile recycling organizations, the co-founders are working toward achieving zero waste and preventing clothing from ending up in landfills. 

Minor-Baetens and Ashwill also credit OberlinKids and Cindi Byron-Dixon and Joella Byron-Dixon of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Committee of Oberlin for their financial support. Byron-Dixon, pastor of Peace Community Church, also played a key role in securing the use of the Community Center as the site of the store, ensuring free access to the facility.

Jenn Keathley, director of OberlinKids, hopes to promote textile art projects through a collaboration with the Allen Memorial Art Museum, which has recently become a partner of OberlinKids.

“We’re looking for creative ways to repurpose and reuse the items,” Keathley said. 

The free store will be open Tuesday afternoons 2–6 p.m. and Saturday mornings 9 a.m.–12 p.m. As an all-volunteer run organization, the store welcomes all interested community members and students who wish to help out. The location is accessible and has an operational lift to the basement.

The co-founders have more related projects in the works, including curating welcome baskets for babies, recycling Halloween costumes, and expanding access to maternity clothes and professional attire for mothers going back into the workforce.

“We want to be a community partner,” Minor-Baetens said. “This is what we’re starting out with, but we’re really open to feedback, to hear from people what they really need and how we can be a resource for them.”