Getting children ready for back to school can challenge a parent or grandparent’s dollar stretching sills in the best of times. Today with gas and food prices as they are the challenge can be even greater.

Fortunately many families know about and participate in Caring Hands Ministries Clothes Day. During this event, any parent or grandparent can get gently used hand-me-down and sometimes even new clothes for their children for back- to-school.  This year, Clothes Day is set for Monday, July 28, 3-7 p.m. at Whole Word Worship Center, 5007 Hwy 52, E., Dahlonega.

At the beginning of July, help lines around Northeast Georgia were already getting calls from worried parents asking “How am I going to afford to get my kids ready for school this year? Gas is out of sight. Food prices are soaring and Junior and Suzie have outgrown just about everything. What am I going to do?”

Clothes Day is one answer. The principle behind Clothes Day is simple. Children grow. So every child is likely to need new clothes to start back to school, and every child is a potential source of hand-me-down clothes that they have outgrown but not worn out.

Last year more than 250 people got back-to-school clothes and school supplies at Clothes Day. Caring Hands volunteers are expecting that because of the economy this year, even more families will need clothing.  Clothes sizes will range from preschoolers -- and maybe baby items -- to teen/adult sizes, depending on what is donated.

This year celebrates the 10th annual Clothes Day. The original inspiration for Clothes Day occurred when a 14-year-old saw a first grade boy on the school bus wearing women’s pink flip flops. The other kids teased him, but she asked why and learned that he and his brother had come to stay with their grandma in an emergency with just the clothes on their backs and no shoes.

Grandma did the best she could, but she just didn’t have money for shoes, so she gave him the only pair of hers she thought he could keep on his feet. The 14-year-old and her friends used their lunch money to buy him and his brother shoes and socks. She asked if Caring Hands could help, too.

Caring Hands President, Charles Fleming, recalls, “The ministry didn’t have much money, but we talked to people where we went to church, and they were very generous. The next year, we were even more involved in helping homeless children and their families. We learned that there were more than 1,000 children in Northeast Georgia who didn’t have a place to call home. We also learned that school programs to help children get what they need for school didn’t get their funding until November, even though school started in August. We couldn’t buy clothing for all those children but we could work with another ministry that collected hand-me-downs to make clothes available. We’ve been doing it ever since.”

Four years ago, Caring Hands volunteer program director Lafaye Murphy began collecting school supplies to help out more.

Caring Hands Ministries serves people in Dawson, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin and White Counties, and surrounding areas. Clothes Day locations have rotated between counties, and this year, Whole Word Worship Center was the first place to offer space and volunteers.

Pastor Eugene Turner of Whole Word said, “We are happy to invite people to come to the church for this. Jesus said that when we help people with clothes, we are helping Him, and when we turn our backs on them, we are turning our backs on Him. Turning Him away is something none of us would ever want to do. We have known the work of Caring Hands Ministries for four years now and had a number of opportunities for people at our church to work together with them.”

Anyone who wants back-to-school items for their children is welcome to come to Clothes Day. Please bring a box or bag to make it easier to take home clothes. Volunteers are also welcome on Monday and on Saturday, July 26, to help prepare and set up.

All clothes come from donations from people in local communities, so if your kids have clothes they have outgrown that are still in good shape, please donate them to help other children.

Backpacks, school supplies and money to buy school supplies are also needed. People can bring clothes when they come or they can bring donated clothes, school supplies, or money to buy school supplies to Whole Word Worship Center, Community Bank & Trust at Ingles in Cleveland, Community Bank & Trust at White County Industrial Park, or Caring Hands Ministries, 6451 #3 Cleveland Hwy., Clermont.

To reach Whole Word Worship Center from Hwy 400 N, stay straight onto Long Branch Rd. at the traffic light and then go right. The church is 1/3 mile on left in a cream colored building.

From Cleveland, take 115 West; stay straight onto Hwy 52. (115 changes numbers to 52 -- just keep going straight without turning); pass a BP station. The church is about 2 miles on right.  It’s a cream colored building with red cross all the way up the side facing the driver.

From Gainesville, take Hwy. 60 N to 400; turn right onto Long Branch Rd. At the traffic light, go right, and the church is 1/3 mile on the left.

For more information, please call (706) 219-1980, (706) 348- 8796 or (678) 993-9952.