S.F. Clothing Charity Shutters
The San Francisco Clothing Bank has shut its doors for good.
After 16 years, the nonprofit group that donated apparel to low-income families is no longer in business.
“’We Collect Clothes—Not Money’—that has been our motto, and that has turned out to be our undoing,” said Randy Harris, co-founder and executive director.
Harris said in the past the organization was extraordinarily successful in securing grant money, but in recent years, the group relied heavily on charitable supporters in Northern California’s apparel industry for its operating income.
The San Francisco Clothing Bank made the decision to close its doors after ascertaining its limited financial reserves would not carry the operation through the summer. Harris said the organization’s supporters had undergone a challenging year with their own businesses and could not sustain the minimal level of funding required to maintain the charity’s operations.
“After 16 years of good work, it’s hard not to feel a great deal of sadness and loss,” Harris said. “But we have much to be proud of.”
In total, the San Francisco Clothing Bank gave more than $17 million (wholesale) worth of new clothes to an estimated 750,000 needy people, Harris said.
“Over that period of time, we raised millions in operating funds, held numerous charity fund-raisers, provided work for countless volunteers, received tens of millions of dollars worth of new clothes from more than 250 donor companies, and supplied clothing to a list of recipient charitable agencies that counts in the hundreds.”
Additionally, the organization received countless awards from civic, corporate, labor and government groups.
The San Francisco Clothing Bank distributed merchandise to its recipient agencies until May. The organization closed its doors last month. —Claudia Figueroa
