Underground Clothing store celebrates grand reopening at Sunrise Mall

By Sara Beth Williams–
Volunteers, along with community and regional leaders gathered at Sunrise Mall on Thursday to celebrate the grand reopening of a clothing closet for students and families.

The celebration, hosted by the Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART) was held at the store’s location inside Sunrise Mall and was attended by city council members, Sacramento County representatives, Citrus Heights HART board members, McKinney-Vento program staff, and members from other community organizations including the Sayonara Center.

The Underground Clothing Connection closed briefly last year when its store manager stepped down. After a short hiatus, the store acquired new manager, Michelle Camba, who helped gather a group of core volunteers in order to reopen the store, according to Citrus Heights HART board chair and President Irene Hronicek

During the event, attendees were able take tours of the store. Councilmember Tim Schaefer and Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costas presented the store with a certificate of recognition from the city. Karpinski-Costa said the city is “excited” for the reopening because the store serves an “important population” in the city and the store also allows for student volunteers to connect to the community.

Sacramento Supervisor Sue Frost, who was a former Citrus Heights City Council member, said the store is an “amazing resource for students” in the district.

The Underground Clothing Connection operates by appointment and referrals only and offers families in the San Juan district who are homeless, in between housing, or who have lost personal property due to fire or other disaster, the opportunity to obtain clean and quality, “on trend,” new and gently used clothes for free.

Several families have already utilized the store since the beginning of the school year, Camba said. Kaylon McBride, who formerly managed the store, estimated that almost 50,000 garments have been distributed in the last two school years to hundreds of families. McBride says many families often return twice a year to shop for seasonally appropriate clothes both in the fall and in the spring.

Representatives with the San Juan Unified School District McKinney-Vento liaison program estimate that the San Juan district currently has between 600 and 800 students who identify as homeless. Ardath Ferris who worked with the McKinney-Vento program when the Underground Clothing Connection was first proposed, said many students aren’t actually on the streets, but are living “doubled up”, have experienced a house fire or other tragedy, or have been evicted and are “in transition.”

“Our customers often experience poverty, hardships, trauma,” McBride said, adding that buying clothing falls to the wayside and that the store provides students the ability to “reduce one more social barrier” while attending school.

“It really made a positive impact in the parents’ life in and students’ life,” McBride said, referencing feedback received from the store within the first two years.

The idea for a clothing closet was a collaboration between McBride, Citrus Heights HART and the San Juan district McKinny-Vento liaison. The initial vision was to create a mobile clothing closet, but after two years of collecting clothing, the amount of donations became too great for McBride to bear alone. At one point she rented a trailer to house all the donations that poured in from the community.

Hronicek said the store is part of HART’s effort to “prevent homelessness in the first place.” Both McBride and Hronicek thanked the Sunrise Mall for providing the location for the store. Hronicek also thanked the city for providing HART with a grant for the store and for the reopening celebration.