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Clothing Drive for Families in Need at OV Mall

Low-income families in Belmont County are stocking up on school clothes this week.

The School Clothes for Kids program launched at the Ohio Valley Mall on Wednesday, sponsored by the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services, serves families whose earnings total 150 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

“The families are bringing their children to the mall to shop,” DJFS Director Vince Gianangeli said, adding that program shopping hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. “There’s 26 different stores that they can shop at this year — even some of the stores outside the mall. As long as they accept the mall gift card, they can get clothing and shoes, hats, gloves, scarves, those sort of items.”

Gianangeli added that each qualifying family receives a $400 gift card to pay for their purchases.

“They go shopping, they come back, we verify all their purchases,” he said. “We let them know what they can and cannot buy. The mall merchants know that when they see this, they’re not to give out gift receipts so that nothing can be returned. We also cut the price tags off of all the clothing, so if there is anything that somehow got through one of the merchants, it will not get through us and our 20-plus employees we have verifying all the purchases.”

He said the local program was made possible through $566,000 of federal funding provided through the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Gianangeli noted the initiative will help 1,416 local children this year in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Gianangeli noted the program got off to a good start this year. He said participants were assigned a shopping day in an effort to reduce time spent waiting in lines. About half of the families shopped Wednesday, and the other half will shop today.

Belmont County Commissioner Matt Coffland said the program is important to many local families, and he credited the DJFS staff for providing the opportunity.

“It’s a lot of extra work. They work late into the evenings and take away from their family life to put that program on,” he said. “I just want to say thank you.”

Coffland also noted that the county has received letters of thanks in the past from vendors for the increased business.

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