'Clothes to Kids' provides free clothing to students of Bay Area families on a tight budget

DOVER, Fla. - Back to school preps are already underway, and families on a tight budget can get free help at a place called "Clothes to Kids."

Francis Acosta is a social worker at Dover Elementary School. Every week she stops by Clothes to Kids to pick up clothing for her students. 

"I love it. They're a great resource," said Acosta. "We don't have a lot of resources out there, so I'm very happy that they're here to help us." 

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Clothes to Kids, is an organization that provides free clothing to students on free and reduced lunch programs. 

"Consisting of shoes, new socks, new underwear, five tops, four bottoms, a dress, a jacket in season, and fun accessories as well," said Jennifer Jacobs, the executive director of Clothes to Kids. "Clothes to Kids began in 2002. And so this year, we celebrated our 22nd birthday and have provided more than 210,000 wardrobes to children in Greater Tampa Bay." 

Jacobs said they're constantly filling their shopping racks, but often run low on underwear. That's why they kicked off their "Drop off Your Drawers" campaign. 

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"Our ‘Drope off Your Drawers’ campaign is where we look for individuals, places of worship, civic groups, heck, even your [FOX 13] viewers, they can purchase a brand-new package of underwear for us," Jacobs added. 

The main focus is on teens. 

"We're looking at sizes 5-8 for young women and for young men. We're looking at size small through extra large," Jacobs explained. 

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"We don't want clothing to be a reason why kids don't go to school," said Acosta. "So, we supply uniforms, shoes, clothing, for everybody in the family." 

These bags of clothes help keep children in school and on the right track. Clothes to Kids has given away about 4 million articles of clothing so far, and they're hoping to collect 82,000 pairs of undergarments for the children. 

If you want to contribute to Clothes for Kids, visit www.clothestokids.org.

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