Give Foster Kids Back-to-School Fashion

Students return to school in Portland this week, many in outfits with tags recently removed, their uncreased Nikes squeaking on freshly mopped hallway floors. Back-to-school shopping is big business. According to an estimate from the National Retail Federation, families with school-age children will spend an average of $875 on clothing, shoes, school supplies and electronics this year.

For children in foster care, especially ones who are in a new home placement and starting at a new school, showing up to class feeling good in a new outfit is especially valuable—but their foster family likely doesn’t have hundreds of dollars to spare.

Enter Project Lemonade. It’s a store in Lloyd Center where foster youth ages 5-24 can shop for free. Almost all the clothing is brand new—the organization gets donations from Nike, Adidas, Columbia and others—and on trend. Foster children can shop three times a year and it’s open year round.

“Being in Lloyd Center is important because it’s a normalizing space,” says Allison Specter, Project Lemonade’s development director.

The nonprofit launched in 2012 and not only provides its flagship storefront but also a variety of services for foster youth, including internships and programs for teens aging out of care.

Children in rural parts of the state who can’t make it up to Portland can do a “virtual shop” in which they give input, such as their favorite brands and colors, and a volunteer picks out the items. Specter likes giving teenage volunteers that job because they are in tune with the current trends and styles. (This fall: Nike anything, oversized jeans, baby tees, and hoodies.)

Activities for child volunteers—usually around ages 8 and up, though they need to be accompanied by a parent—include assembling no-sew blankets and packaging socks to put out in the store, Specter says.

Julia Daigneault volunteers at the Project Lemonade store two or three times a month, restocking the floor, checking in families, and doing virtual shops.

“There’s already such a stigma from being a foster youth, and that can cause low self-esteem issues,” Daigneault says. “Project Lemonade can take one of those stigmas away. They can have the same cool Jordans as the other kids.”

Daigneault, who lives in Lake Oswego, also coordinates donation drives through her synagogue. Being of service in the community is a core tenet of her Jewish faith (in Hebrew, it’s called “tikkun olam,” or “repair the world”).

She has already started to bring her 4-year-old daughter to volunteer and give her age-appropriate tasks, such as taking clothes off of hangers or picking out stuffed animals to send to young clients. One time while volunteering, her daughter was especially motivated to pick out Paw Patrol swag for a child about her age.

“There are kids out there that are less privileged than her, and I want her to understand that,” Daigneault says. “She’s getting it.”

Project Lemonade, 1008 Lloyd Center, 503-395-3976, projectlemonadepdx.org. 10 am-5 pm Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-1 pm Saturday.

What else you can do:

HOP ON A FAMILY TRANSIT BIKE

You know those parents who cart their tots to and from preschool in electric cargo bikes, or in those trailers with rain guards, smug in the knowledge that they are being active, reducing their carbon emissions, and modeling eco-friendly behavior for the next generation all at the same time? You could be that biker! (Smugness optional.) The folks at any number of Portland bike shops will help get you started, whether it’s with a simple bike seat attachment or a sleek Danish e-cargo bike that costs deep into the four figures. Splendid Cycles, 407 SE Ivon St., 503-954-2620, splendidcycles.com. Clever Cycles, 900 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-334-1560, clevercycles.com.

SCRUB OFF GRAFFITI TOGETHER

There’s a special kind of parent rage reserved for the time when taggers hit your kids’ school or playground. A scribbled swear word on the very slide where my toddlers honed their gross motor skills? Oh, hell no. Channel that fury into something productive by requesting a free graffiti removal kit from the city. The kit comes in a small bucket with graffiti cleaning spray, a towel, a plastic scraper to remove stickers, and safety gloves and glasses. The kids can help. portland.gov/bps/graffiti/graffiti-removal-kits

HOST A DIAPER DRIVE

Diapers are a financial hardship for about half of American families, with an average annual cost of $1,200 per child—not covered by WIC or SNAP. Portland experienced a diaper shortage last fall when nonprofit organizations couldn’t keep pace with the number of families walking in for emergency supplies. PDX Diaper Bank distributes both cloth and disposable diapers to the community. It accepts donations—of both the cash and Pampers varieties—and the organization is happy to help people host diaper drives. pdxdiaperbank.org

BAKE A CAKE

Blowing out candles on a birthday cake each year is a ritual not always guaranteed for children in foster care or in homeless shelters. The organization For Goodness Cakes pairs volunteer bakers with social service organizations in town to provide fresh cakes baked with love to children and young adults, perhaps with the child’s name in frosting or their favorite cartoon character on top. No need to be a fondant master to participate, though: There are plenty of opportunities for beginner bakers to make cupcakes or a basic sheet cake. forgoodnesscakes.org/portlandmetro

See the rest of Willamette Week’s Good Citizen Guide Here!