The Board of Deacons of First Presbyterian Church in Frankfort, Kentucky, has a long-standing tradition of holding an annual Clothe A Child project. Every year in early fall, the deacons make arrangements to meet 12–14 children from one of our area schools at our local JCPenney store before it opens for business. The store manager works with the deacons to get the children there during a sale week, and the sale prices on clothing are lowered by a discount that the store provides.

The project rotates from school to school each year. Each school principal helps the project by selecting children he or she thinks could really use the clothing. The school provides bus transportation for the children to the store where the deacons are waiting for them. Each child is assigned to a deacon, and the two work together to get the most new clothing they can purchase for the amount of money, usually $100–$120, allocated to each child. The deacons try to steer the children away from things that are too expensive or too trendy and help them get things like underwear, coats, jackets, shirts, jeans, shoes, and socks that they need most.

Each June, the deacons have a Deacons’ Picnic after a worship service and the congregation gives donations at this meal to support the Clothe A Child project. They also sell poinsettias at Christmas and lilies at Easter and use the small profits they make on those two sales to support this project. When our session was asked to decide where to allocate the portion of the Pentecost Offering that our church was to keep and use to help children, it decided unanimously to give it to the Board of Deacons to use for the Clothe a Child Project.

Rev. Jana Hall
First Presbyterian Church
Frankfort, KY
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