DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jennifer Miller is delivering clothes from her refurbished camper to needy people in the Dan River Region.
Dubbed Kitty’s Closet due to Miller’s love of cats and fostering them, the yellow vehicle is a vintage, late-1960s camper donated to her by her friends, Linda and Leon Zimmermann, last summer.
“Me and Chris Miller (Jennifer’s husband), we got in there and completely gutted the camper and completely refurbished it so it looks like the inside of someone’s closet,” Miller said.
Though Kitty’s Closet began providing clothes last summer, Miller’s goal now is to travel twice a month to neighborhoods in the area to donate items to residents who need them.
She will alert the public via social media before each excursion.
“When we have a secured location and time, that will be posted on our Facebook page so people can find out where we’re going to be,” Miller said.
The organization’s Facebook page is named “Kitty’s Closet.”
Linda Zimmermann, founder and director for Danville Cares, a community social welfare group, said she and her husband had the camper for about six or seven years before donating it to Miller almost a year ago.
They originally had planned to revamp the vehicle, but never got around to it.
“Every day went by and we didn’t fix it,” Zimmermann said. “Finally, we saw the opportunity and thought, ‘let’s have something good come out of it.’”
Miller relies on clothing donations from the community, accepting items for everyone from infants to adults.
“We like to have new, very gently used items,” she said. “The only things we require to be brand new are socks and underwear.”
Miller, who has worked in behavioral health, came up with the idea for Kitty’s Closet after noticing the main barrier many poor people face: lack of transportation.
She posted the concept on Facebook and received the response from Danville Cares that would help put her idea in action.
“Within a couple of days, someone had donated a camper,” she said.
Though not yet officially a nonprofit, Kitty’s Closet is getting attention from outside the area.
“We have had people from Lynchburg and Roanoke drive down to Danville to make donations,” she said.
There are two drop-off sites for those who wish to leave clothing donations during daytime business hours Monday through Friday: Riverside Insurance Agency and Belles Images Salon.
Kitty’s Closet also appears at events, including the Danville Public Schools’ STEAM+C night that took place at Averett University’s North Campus.
Kitty’s Closet gets by with a little help from Miller’s friends and family members, but will need more volunteers as donations start to pick up, she said.
Also, Miller would like to expand her services outside of Danville and Pittsylvania County.
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