Bev Mattox, coordinator of the Especially For You organization, dropped off the donations to the agency. “It’s not about me; it’s all about the ministry of giving … I’m just one of many here to help those in need.”

Bags filled with men’s suits and shirts, dressy garments for ladies and shoes were given to First State’s thrift shop, fitly coined the Career Closet, which provides affordable and professional attire for individuals. The clothes were collected as part of the annual donation drive organized by Especially For You, a volunteer charitable ministry established by Sound United Methodist Church and Roxana United Methodist Church.

As the coordinator, Mattox facilitates connections among the churches, the organizations like First State and shelters like the Crisis House, as well as individuals in need and those who give items/money to the ministry.

Especially For You collects the donations - including food, furniture, clothes and transportation - and then distributes them among selected organizations and shelters based on lists of needed items they provide. In the past seven years, Especially For You has donated more than 21,000 items to individuals, organizations and shelters.

One of the organization’s top donors of clothing and contributor of the Career Closet’s most recent contributions is Déjà Vu, a consignment boutique located in Ocean View. For the last four months, First State’s Career Closet has benefited from donations by this boutique.

In addition to clothing items, the agency also received toiletry donations from the Bingo Group at Treasure Beach RV Park, which donated 40 of its 100 toiletry bags to the agency’s Family Resource Department. Project Coordinator Barbara Lingamood collected items from toothpaste to deodorant to shaving cream during the summer - items that would be given to different organizations serving individuals in need throughout Sussex and Worcester counties.

The toiletry project is just one of three charitable drives the Bingo Group organizes. Carolyn Collie, program manager of First State’s Family Resource Department, said that the toiletries will benefit incarcerated mothers in the Mothers and Children: A Second Chance program.

Bernice Edwards, executive director of First State Community Action Agency, said, “We’re so appreciative to these organizations for their generous contributions. It couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s the simple acts of kindness like these that often make the greatest difference in someone’s life.”