Mom on a mission

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff
She’s a mom on a mission to help other moms.
“I’m just a mom hoping to find a couple of pairs of pants for her son,” said Jody Hughes. “I’m sure others feel the same. I buy clothes and he outgrows them in a month.”
On Saturday, Nov. 7, clothing in sizes ranging from newborn to preteen will be free at Abingdon Elementary School. All Hughes, the organizer, asks is that each person brings a non-perishable food item to be donated to Ecumenical Faith in Action. Any left over clothing will also be donated. Door prizes, refreshments and entertainment are also planned.
Hughes has never done anything like this before. In fact, she just moved to the area a few months ago. Still she wanted to get involved in the community.
So she sent fliers home with children at some Washington County schools. In turn, parents dropped off unwanted clothes. And slowly the old library at Abingdon Elementary School began to fill up. Since then Hughes has been scrambling to get the clothes sorted by size.
Meanwhile, she’s put more than $100 of her own money printing fliers and such. It’s been worth it, she said.
“I know it’s hard times right now,” she said. “Pretty much everything in my house I’ve bought used. It just makes sense to me. I watched my mom in how she did things; it’s just in my blood.”
Hughes grew up in Princeton, Minn., going to thrift stores and food banks. She said she remembers going to clothing stores and paying $5 for a paper bag stuffed to the brim with back-to-school clothes.
“I grew up depending on the food pantry,” she said. “Seeing my mom get a bag of groceries and how much it helped. I’m blessed that my husband has a stable job. I guess this is my way of paying it forward.”
Abingdon Elementary Principal Andy Cox said, “What we’ve noticed is a lot more folks losing jobs. Mostly kids don’t say anything and parents are quiet and more reserved about it around here… So we like to be proactive and present opportunities instead of them coming up to us.”
Alicia Arney runs the Wee-Cycle-It, a kids consignment store, said, “It’s a real service to mother’s trying to sell items, mother’s trying to buy items and the leftovers go to Faith in Action. It’s wonderful.”
Hughes says her dream is to one day open a nonprofit clothing store using the voucher program. She even has a name for it – All Hung Up.
The Children’s Clothing Swap will be held on Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Abingdon Elementary School at 19431 Woodland Hills Road in Abingdon. Admittance and shopping is free. For more information contact Jody Hughes at (276) 206-8588.