Kid’s Closet Ministry was founded in 2013 by Linda Lewandowski after she recognized there was a dire need in her town of North Judson and throughout all of Starke County.
“God called and put it on my heart that the kids in this county needed some help,” she says.
A lifelong resident of North Judson, Lewandowski works for the Starke County Initiative for Lifelong Learning (SCILL), a vocational school, and at the Starke County Economic Development Foundation. Her passion for children inspired her to actively reach out to help provide for children in need in her own county.
“The idea of this ministry was that no one was going to come to us, they weren’t going to come in our walls to be served,” she says. “We were going to have our feet on the ground and we were going to be out there. We will be in their homes and that’s how we still do it.”
Kid’s Closet Ministry serves children of all ages in Starke County and children in neighboring counties who attend school in Starke County. They provide clothing, boots, shoes, new socks and underwear, beds or bedding, blankets, age-appropriate hygiene kits and much more to children who are in need.