Care Closet ministry and outreach program was started by a small group from the Pridgeon-Rish Sunday school class in 1997 to help the people who were out of work when the paper mill was closed down. Our mission is to provide good, clean, used clothing at very reasonable prices or at no cost at all to the needy people of our community. After expenses, all profits are to be donated back to our church or community, for many worthwhile, community or mission projects and the individual needs of the people of our community. Supported now by the whole church and individuals from other churches, the Care Closet has succeeded far beyond any of our expectations when we started it. Today it has grown into the largest and most productive mission outreach programs our church has ever done.
We have accomplished all the objectives of our mission statement. Currently, all clothing is sold for 50 cents or less. In addition, over 50,000 items of clothing have been given at no cost at all to the needy people of our community. Since we started we have given over $150,000 or 95% of our profit back to our church or community. It never ceases to amaze me what an outstanding success our Care Closet ministry and outreach program has become, with the guidance and direction of our Lord these many years. It has grown far beyond any of our expectations when we started it 14 years ago. Just think of all we have accomplished so far. First, there is our beautiful new $125,000 facility. This new facility has been fully funded and is currently debt-free. Second, since we opened our new facility in July 2003 we have had a tremendous increase in sales. We are averaging over $400 a weekend in sales and are currently selling or giving away over 1,300 pieces of clothing each weekend. It takes a lot of donations of clothing to keep up with our sales. We can’t thank the people of our community enough for the unbelievable support we receive from them in donating clothing each and every week. The main reason the Care Closet has been such an outstanding success is because of a small group of people from our church and community who have given so unselfishly of their time and effort in supporting the Care Closet. They are the driving force that makes the Care Closet mission and outreach program such an outstanding success. This amazing ministry to the community is always looking for clothing donations and for volunteers.
The Care Closet is located at 310 East 4th street in Port St. Joe and is open Fridays 9AM – 4PM and Saturdays 9AM – 12PM .
