School Dressing Days returning to provide supplies school children

Organizers will again hold School Dressing Days in July to provide clothing and school supplies for children. The charity organization aims to provide clothing and school supplies to children in Head Start, elementary, middle, and high schools. The event will occur Friday, July 21, and Saturday, July 22, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at The Church of Latter Day Saints, 1710 Bragg Road in Spotsylvania County. Participants must register online before the event. In-registration will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at The Church of Latter Day Saints, 1710 Bragg Road, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fredericksburg United Methodist Church, 308 Hanover Street, in Fredericksburg. The event serves children in Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George counties, and Fredericksburg.

School Dressing Days, an annual fifty-two-year-old grassroots event, was started in 1971 by Stafford County resident, Gladys Ferguson. She visited area schools looking for children whose families couldn't afford new clothes. Then she took her list to the Interfaith Community Council, and thus School Dressing Days was born.

“I would see little children go to school, and they didn't have proper clothes,” Ferguson said in 2009. “To me, it was very important to give them proper clothes so they felt like other children.” Some members of the interfaith council, like seventy-nine-year-old Carol Rawls, shops, collects and sorts clothing year-round. Armed with duct tape and Sharpies, the School Dressing Days committee, sorts and labels each size. This July, School Dressing Days will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1710 Bragg Road, Fredericksburg, VA) where the entire church will be transformed into a mini-department store. “This affair has morphed a bit since its conception,” said Paige Edwards, Fredericksburg Interfaith Community Council president. “What I love about School Dressing Days is how many children benefit from the combined efforts of community churches. To see so many people of differing beliefs come together in complete harmony to provide for those who have fallen on hard times is an incredibly heartwarming experience.” Approximately thirty churches on the council pitch in to buy new clothes and donate items and money. Because of their efforts, up to 1200 underprivileged children each year receive one new outfit, underwear and socks, a backpack, school supplies, personal hygienic materials, plus a gently used coat or hoodie. It’s hard to believe but new underwear is a luxury for some families who live within the borders of the City of Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George Counties, the geographical areas which encompass the Interfaith Community Council. Ferguson would be amazed today to see how her brainchild has grown and how many thousands of lives have been touched because of her willingness to do something about it. If you would like to join the Interfaith Community Council or contribute to school dressing days, contact the Fredericksburg ICC via our website.