Kaden’s Kloset offers free clothes for community

Angie Jensen often gets a lot of disbelieving questions when she talks with people about Kaden’s Kloset.
Yes, she said, the clothes are really free.
No, there are no income limits to take some of the gently used clothes, baby items and toys.
Jensen, who moved to Manson from Ames when her husband took a job in the area, first thought of opening a free thrift store earlier this year, when she was shopping for a t-shirt for one of her own sons at a thrift store in Fort Dodge. She needed an inexpensive shirt for her son to write on at school and the cheapest of the shirts was still $4.
“I just felt like there wasn’t much for the price,” Jensen said.
She began asking around town how she might start up her own thrift store, except one where no one had to pay. She spoke with Aaron Carlson, pastor of Manson Mennonite Church. Church members offered Jensen a small room in the basement to house the clothing and put her in touch with Kaden’s Kloset, a nonprofit organization in Holland, Iowa, which was already offering free clothes and other children’s items to foster parents and the parents of adopted children. Jensen was able to open the Manson location with the Kaden’s Kloset name, under the broader nonprofit umbrella of Beauty Amidst the Ashes, a faith-based adoption advocacy agency in eastern Iowa. Jensen said she wanted to broaden the reach of her group and opted not to limit who could access the Manson Kaden’s Kloset.
Read more in the July 6 edition.