Dress Them for Success

The response was as heartening as the story was heartbreaking.

More than 100 readers called or e-mailed to ask how they could help after reading a story last Sunday in The Times about children who lack adequate clothing for school.

We’re not talking about the latest fashions here, the coolest sneakers, the baggiest pants. We’re talking about children who come to school in their pajamas or in shoes with holes in the toes, who shiver on cold days and just get wet when it rains. We’re talking about brothers who alternated days in class because they had between them only one good pair of pants.

More than 70% of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 711,000 students come from families living in poverty, a staggering figure for a city so often associated with great wealth. No one knows how many children lack proper clothing, but school officials estimate that at least half the students at the poorest schools wear little more than rags or unwashed clothing.

What’s sadder still is that for such children, inadequate clothing is probably the least of their problems, behind not having enough to eat or a safe, warm place to sleep.

Small wonder LAUSD scores on standardized tests are so low. A child who is hungry or tired is not likely to perform well in school. Nor is a child who’s embarrassed--or, for that matter, cold--in ragged, ill-fitting clothing.

Anyone who’s indulged in a little retail therapy, who knows what a new outfit can do to lift spirits, can appreciate the work being done here in the Valley by the Clothes Corner, run by the Volunteer League of the San Fernando Valley, and in Hollywood by Operation School Bell, run by the nonprofit Assistance League of Southern California.

Both of these volunteer organizations provide students with brand new clothes, from underwear on out. The child’s school makes an appointment. Then, here in the Valley, the child goes to the Clothes Corner’s house in Van Nuys to try on shoes and clothes. Each child leaves with new outfits, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, a book--and a much-needed boost to his or her self-esteem.

Other nonprofit groups in the Valley, like the Pacoima-based MEND--Meeting Each Need with Dignity--distribute used clothing to poor families, adults included.

Contributing time, money or used clothing to such organizations are ways Valley residents can help out, and we’ve included phone numbers and addresses below.

But to change things in the long term, we need to look at political solutions, from launching an educational campaign on the federal government’s earned income tax credit to attracting good-paying jobs, from building affordable housing to making health care accessible.

Politicians need to take note of their constituents’ outrage that so many children in this wealthy city live in such poverty that they don’t even have decent clothes to wear to school. And if politicians don’t take notice, an outraged public needs to make sure they do.

To Take Action: These organizations provide clothing to poor children or families: The Volunteer League of the San Fernando Valley’s Clothes Corner, 14603 Hamlin St., Van Nuys, 91411, (818) 785-4134; the Assistance League of Southern California’s Operation School Bell, 1360 N. St. Andrews Place, Hollywood, 90028, (323) 469-6017; MEND, 13460 Van Nuys Blvd., Pacoima, 91331, (818) 897-2443.