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Organizations offer free clothes for military members

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amber R. Kelly-Herard
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  Although the Red Cross is a place people normally turn to during a crisis, next week the Scott Red Cross will become a place to go to for clothes.

In conjunction with Operation Homefront, both organizations will host a boutique Monday through Friday at the Red Cross providing free clothing to all Scott personnel with a military ID card.

Operation Homefront coordinated with various companies to obtain 5,900 new clothing items worth more than $390,000.

"The boutique is our way of passing the thanks from the donors to the military members because we appreciate their service and sacrifices," said Jon Jerome, Operation Homefront-Missouri and Southwest Illinois chapter president.

Each person who visits the boutique will be able to fill one bag with clothing.
"If someone is able to walk out of here with $400-$500 worth of clothing, then that's money they don't need to spend on clothing, and they can spend it on activities with their families," said Mr. Jerome.

Mr. Jerome also encourages Guard and Reserve members to participate so they can have clothes for their civilian jobs.

This is the third boutique Operation Homefront has hosted, the previous ones were held at Fort Leonard Wood and Jefferson Barracks, both in Missouri.

Operation Homefront is a nonprofit organization, founded in 2002, that focuses on providing emergency assistance to families of servicemembers and wounded warriors.

Some of their services include financial assistance, auto repair, emergency food, emergency home repairs, critical baby items, home and appliance repair, furniture and household items, local moving assistance, community events and wounded warrior transitional family housing.

"Our primary mission is to help the families of those who are deployed," said Mr. Jerome.

The Red Cross offers several programs including blood drives, and the organization helps families during emergencies. The Red Cross also offers many classes such as CPR, automatic external defibrillator operation, water safety and even baby-sitting classes.

For more information, contact the Red Cross at 256-1855.