Kira’s Kloset giving school supplies, clothes to kids

Kira’s Kloset, a clothing and book bank started in 2010, will be holding its annual backpack and school supply giveaway on Saturday at its new location at the former Mead Middle School.

Doors will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the clothing bank at 12509 N. Market St.

Kira’s Kloset was founded in the memory of Kira Wraspir, who died from a nonmalignant brain tumor in 2010 at the age of 12.

“She liked to help people and she liked clothes,” said her mother, Debbie Wraspir, who has kept the doors open with the help of volunteers and donations.

Along with backpacks and school supplies, the event will have a wide selection of clothing, shoes, new underwear and books available to families.

Last year, the backpack event helped 510 children, Wraspir said.

In all, the clothing bank has helped 6,000 children in its four-plus years of existence.

To get the backpacks and school supplies, the children receiving them must show up.

Kira’s Kloset originally opened at St. Luke Lutheran Church on North Division Street but had to move to the Mead location in February because of building code issues, Wraspir said.

Through the year, the clothing bank is open on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Donations come in part from Kira’s Kloset barrels located across the community.

“We are picky. I only keep the good stuff, no holes, no rips, no stains,” Wraspir said.

The stock is sorted by size or age from infant to 18 to help families find what they need quickly. There are holiday costumes available, too.

Some of the items come from the unclaimed lost and found clothing collected in the Mead School District, which offered to open the former home economics room as the home base for the clothing bank.

Other donations come through a club volleyball tournament held each February. Kira played through the Apex Volleyball Academy, so the volleyball community has been supportive of the clothing bank, Wraspir said.

Shiloh Hills Elementary School raised $1,900 for Kira’s Kloset in March.

Brentwood Elementary School held a book drive last spring and donated 3,000 books.

Wraspir, a third-grade teacher at Midway Elementary School, said she still feels the loss of her daughter. “I always say we are doing as well as can be expected,” she said.

“Kira’s Kloset is as good for me as the people we are helping. It’s really helped fill that hole in my life,” she said.

“I would like to think she is smiling.”