The first through the doors at the Dorset Park Community Hub semi-annual clothing bank on Kennedy Road in Scarborough are young moms shuttled over from Rosalie Hall, which provides shelter and other essential services to teenaged single mothers. They quickly pick through the children’s clothing, in particular the winter gear, because clothing is much harder to come by than the donations of canned food also on offer.

Organized by Youth Outreach Worker Program (YOW) employee Michael Kissi three years ago, the bank collects clothes for people of all ages and is open to anyone who needs it across the GTA.

Tshy Brown regularly visits YOW’s clothing banks. The mother of three might pick out a top or two for herself, but she’s really here to find what she can for friends in need and her family in Jamaica.

“They’re going through a rough time,” she says. “Every Christmas we send barrels back home. They need stuff.”

Brown, whose kids range in age from toddler to teen, speaks warmly of the support she’s received from YOW, whether it’s groceries or after-school programs for her children. She refers to Kissi as her “friend.” That sense of community is exactly how YOW’s collective, which has agencies across the city, makes an impact.

The provincially-funded program, initiated after 2005’s “Summer of the Gun,” established outposts in high-priority areas across Toronto. Dorset Park is one of its hubs in Scarborough that provide youths and their families with guidance and assistance, whether its to find housing, write a resumé or figure out a plan to improve their overall situation.

“We assess the community and figure out what the need is,” says Kissi.

The clothing bank was born out of Kissi’s conversations with young people in the area who described how their families had to share clothing. The program accelerated after Kissi’s experience coaching basketball at Bendale Business and Technical Institute in 2014.

“A lot of the kids didn’t have basketball shoes or had holes in their shoes,” Kissi remembers. “I started giving away my basketball shoes. I had 10 pairs. I didn’t need all those shoes. I found when they had the shoes, mentally they were different. They were more confident when they walked on the floor, and that translated to the classroom.”

Kissi eventually made the clothing bank a regular service in his hub’s programming. At the session I attended, he had the help of fellow YOW employees as well as volunteers like Jeziel Sherwood, who also donated clothing to the bank.

Sherwood lived at Rosalie Hall when she had her first child at 16. That was 22 years ago, when she was “a troubled kid.” She’s impressed by some of the new programs that YOW added to the community, like programs teaching young mothers how to cook and how to identify and get out of abusive relationships.

“They didn’t have that back then,” says Sherwood. “It was already too late for me.”

Sherwood became familiar with YOW when her 16-year-old son, JaQuan, enrolled in one of Kissi’s initiatives three years ago. School staff at David and Mary Thomson C.I. identified JaQuan among a few students who were on the border of “risky behaviour.”

“He doesn’t have a father figure in his life,” says Sherwood. “His father is a person who is always in and out of jail.”

Kissi created a program where he counselled kids on identity, values, being accountable and interacting with the police.

“He gets all the young men, keeps them from trouble and keeps them on track with their homework and grades,” says Sherwood. “If they’re slacking, they don’t get a treat at the end of the season, where he takes them out to a basketball game or a dinner and a movie.”

It was during one of those outings at a Raptors game where Kissi first met Sherwood.

“She came up to me. I had no idea who this lady was. She was short and fierce. And she says, ‘I need you to take care of my son. I don’t want him to get in trouble. I want him to be a straight-A student. I want him to do all the right things.’”

As she gathered and folded the clothes on display, Sherwood reports that Kissi has done all that and more.

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