38 amarillo living magazine Amarillo residents Keely Brown and Lindsey Wing are on a mission to be the ‘thread of change’ eople of all ages have a sense of style and want to feel included, especially at school. So in 2016, Keely Brown and Lindsey Wing founded Colorful Closets. Motivated by words from Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” They saw a need among many school children to have appropriate school clothes. Having children of their own, they knew that feeling good about how one looks is essential for confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging. This Christian non-profit helps meet that need for children of all ages in Amarillo, Canyon, River Road, Highland Park, and Bushland school systems. The first school system they approached was Amarillo ISD, in which approximately 67% of the students receive freeor reduced-cost lunch. Essentially, this means the families of 67% of the families there are struggling tomeet their needs, especially clothing. In most of these cases both parents work, but do not earnenough to adequately support their families. Keely and Lindsey spoke with the Director of Community Partnerships at AISD to see if their organization could team with the district to provide up-to-date wardrobes for students who needed suitable school clothing. This partnership formed andColorful Closets began meeting the students’ needs through requests from school counselors. The request information includes pertinent data: gender, age, grade, size, and any specific information such as favorite color, hates ruffles, wears only black, etc. Written by MARTHA MOBLEY | Photos provided by COLORFUL CLOSETS CLOTHED BY Compassion
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