Meet Mamie Harper of Carrie’s Closet in Metro Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mamie Harper.

Mamie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Carrie’s Closet is an idea based out of a need. I am a social worker by profession, trade, and quite frankly-calling. As a dependency case manager in Tallahassee, Florida, I took great care of all children who were placed on my caseload. Some children were removed from their homes because of abuse from a parent and other children were victims of neglect and mistreatment. Out of all of my cases, I noticed one glaring commonality—they had little to no clothes.

Not only did they come into the foster care system without clothing, but the needed hygiene products, shoes, and other items that made children safe and secure. These children had to wait for their foster care parents to purchase clothing. Oftentimes, foster parents are expected to pay items of need and be reimbursed later. However, these parents would get reimbursed late and money wasn’t readily available to immediately clothe children in their care. Because of this, I found myself asking for donations or simply buying clothing for “my kids” myself. I hold a personal belief that once a child was removed from their home and placed on my caseload, they were my child until they were successfully adopted and/or placed in a strong foster care home. And while this may seem noble, it wasn’t practical. I was a social worker, using my small income to clothe children.

Upon graduating from grad school, I found myself in Atlanta as a school social worker-working part-time as a mental health therapist. In both roles, I still saw children without clothing. One child who I serviced came to school with dirty clothes. After learning about the mistreatment of the child, I filed a report. When DFCS interviewed the child, they were preparing to remove the child from the parent and place them into temporary care. The child had one question and that simply was, “Can I go get my stuff?”. The case manager informed the child that going back home wasn’t an option because the clothes/shoes/personal items belonged to the parent. So the child was traumatized, and to add insult to injury, the child was traumatized without the safety and security that clothing offers.

I was immediately brought back to my time as a case manager in Tallahassee and allowed the child to have my scarf. Then it hit me, “Can I coordinate a service that immediately services children with clothing by donations of others? Can I do it in a fashion so that a child doesn’t have to wait on a case manager or foster parent? Can I ensure that the basic human right of clothing is granted to children being removed from unsafe conditions?”. Oddly enough, it took me 5 years after that experience to act on this simple idea and concept because the answer is ‘yes!’.

How did I get the name for this organization? Well, Carrie is my mother. She was (and still is) notorious for giving away her children’s clothing to others in need. She is a teacher and has clothed and fed children since I can remember. She demonstrated social justice and advocacy on behalf of children to me and my siblings at an early age. Carrie’s Closet is named in her honor of service to children and to support the right of clothing for all children-especially those who need it most.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
To be honest, operating Carrie’s Closet isn’t hard to operate but rather labor and detail intense. I have learned along the way that people want to give to Carrie’s Closet instead of corporate organizations or large non-profits where they don’t know how their donations are being managed and used. People give freely without expectation. I have worked hard to gain trust within the community and because of that, I receive gracious donations for all of the counties that we service.

However, no entity progresses without its challenges. The political landscape currently doesn’t deem child welfare as something that needs to be highlighted within conversation and policy. With that being said, the urgency in action that I operate with isn’t reciprocated within the greater decision making a community. I have been met with statements such as ‘What about the stipend foster parents get?”, as if foster care parents get rich from this line of work. This language is dangerous and minimizes my work to being viewed as just another clothing bank.

We are growing by leaps and bounds. Direct service is one of the easiest ways to create change and impact. But growth automatically raises the question of capacity. Currently, my living room is a clothing bank needing to be sorted and stored for our next day of service, lol! We need a van to assist with the large demand and growing need of different counties. All of the “challenges” can be viewed as a burden. But to me, this is a sign that we are reaching more children during a difficult time.

Please tell us about Carrie’s Closet.
Carrie’s Closet is a mobile clothing bank that seeks to clothe foster care children with quality clothing and hygiene products. We function in three simple and unique ways:

1. Stop and Drops- This is when we receive donations from the community. This could be at an event or by us meeting you to get your donations. No matter the manner, this is how we build our inventory of clothing.
2. Sort and Store- Once we receive a donation, it is sorted by gender, season, and garment and any item unsafe or unclean will be discarded.
3. Pop-Up Shops- Carrie’s Closet goes out into the community and hosts Pop-Up shops for foster care parents and children to shop for clothing free of charge.

What makes us special? What sets us apart from other stand-alone clothing banks? It is simple, we use the community to clothe its children. Carrie’s Closet transports the Pop-Up Shops in a mobile car and operates by meeting the child(ren) where they are. Whether its the hospital, youth detention center, a foster care home or a DFCS meeting, Carrie’s Closet is there ready to outfit a foster care child in need.

Currently, we service our six counties. We clothe Cobb, Clayton, Fulton, Dekalb, Douglas, Henry with hopes of moving to my hometown of Columbus, GA (Muscogee County). Literally, Carrie’s Closet is one call away!

Our proudest moment, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was being selected as a 2019 Fellow for the Center of Civic Innovation and then as a Women’s Fellow with Sara Spanx! Both honors validate our work and promote the conversation of clothing rights for children.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, knowing what I know now, I would have started sooner. Sometimes, you just have to do it! There is no ‘right way’ to act on your vision. You just have to trust that your passion will give you the insight and energy to conduct whatever task is before you. I have no regrets and no apologies. My growing faith simply instructs me to act in agreement with my calling of serving children and families.

Contact Info:

• Phone: (770) 405-9149
• Email: Carrie.closets@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carries_closetofga/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarriesClosetofGeorgia/

Image Credit:
Shekesha Jefferson

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