Dream center to offer free clothes, school supplies to community

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – If you haven’t finished back-to-school shopping, this weekend would be the time to do it.

While many South Carolina stores will be filled with shoppers, we can’t forget about the local organizations holding back-to-school drives for families who may need a little support.

Clothes, backpacks, pens, pencils, paper, shoes and even haircuts can all add up.

We spoke with one group working to lessen the financial stress as kids head back to the classroom.

The Augusta Dream Center is a non-profit organization that works to help underserved communities in the CSRA.

“A lot of people were finding themselves without childcare, without food resources, availability to get to where the resources were. So, it was very important to us to have this location in south Augusta to be present with the people who seem to need it the most,” said Meagan Slusser, missions pastor at Stevens Creek Church.

They provide food, clothes, health care resources, an adult computer literacy course and a hot meal every Sunday to those who need it.

Fundraising Coordinator Hallie Dickens said: “We’re seeing upwards to 250-350 families weekly. This is not people just families, so when it comes to people over the last 12 months. We’ve impacted over 30,000 people with just feeding alone.”

The Dream Center is now gearing up to help even more people on Saturday through what they call Serve Day.

They’ll be providing free haircuts, clothes, shoes, dental screenings and backpacks filled with supplies.

Slusser said: “So, if there are multiple colors or styles, they get to pick from them and really make it personal, and that just changes a kid’s world for starting out school and gives them the confidence they probably need to let them know they can do it this year, you can get through it.”

Slusser says events like this happen because of the community.

“Many companies have chipped in, and many churches have chipped in, and we love to see that grow. We never want it to be one name that’s championed, but the whole community coming together to serve our people,” she said.

To learn more about the Augusta Dream Center, visit https://www.augustadreamcenter.org/.

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