Joe McCarthy of Free Costumes for Kids had this to say “The good people at Jakks Pacific came through in a big way.  Being that Delray Parks and Recreation’s program was one of our first costume requests,  and also the largest, it has been our number one goal to supply those costumes.  This donation will go a long way to meeting that goal.”

The costumes arrived today,  just it time for the Delray Beach Parks and Recreations Halloween Party this Friday.

All 3 sites for the Delray Parks and Recreation’s After School Program will be coming together at Pompey Park, 1101 N. W. 1st Ave., Delray Beach, Fl. 33444, on Friday October 30, 2009 at 4 P. M to have thier Halloween Costume Party. There will be over 300 children there from the 3 sites, Pine Grove Elementary School, Pompey Park, and Delray Beach Community Center all wearing costumes donated through Free Costumes for Kids.

The Garage Sale Depot Donates Halloween Costumes
to Two Area Organizations in Need

Partners with FreeCostumesforkids.org to provide special ‘treat’ to children from
the Florida Migrant Education Program and Operation Hope

West Palm Beach, Fla. (October 27, 2009) – The Garage Sale Depot, featuring thrift, consignment and new merchandise targeting value-conscious shoppers, is pleased to announce their partnership with FreeCostumesforKids.org, in support of their mission to provide Halloween costumes to Palm Beach County school-age children in need.

The new store, located at 2231 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd in West Palm Beach, donated nearly 100 costumes to Operation Hope, which services hundreds of underserved families in Palm Beach County who suffer from homelessness, hunger and domestic abuse; and the Palm Beach County School District’s Migrant Education Program, which provides education to more than 2,000 school-age children in the migrant communities, primarily in the western part of the county.

“The kids we work with just don’t have much in the way of material things,” said Kenneth Bowers, Founder of Operation Hope. “We are so grateful to have this opportunity to put a smile on their faces – even just for a little while.”

Ben Patipa, Founder and CEO of The Garage Sale Depot, says his store is honored to work with such worthy organizations. “Being involved in our community is a priority for us,” says Patipa. “If there is a way we can help, then we will. We’re just happy to be involved.”

On Saturday, October 31, children from Operation Hope will be participating in a special Halloween trick or treat event at Howell Park in West Palm Beach, beginning at 5 pm.

About The Garage Sale Depot

The Garage Sale Depot, located at 2231 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. in West Palm Beach, offers shoppers an appealing alternative to standard thrift and consignment stores. The store will carry a wide variety of items such as men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories, electronics, furniture, sporting goods, appliances, home décor and much more. Also featured is a unique “Treasure Chest” area, with upscale merchandise such as artwork, collectables, antiques, designer clothing and other high-end items.

Affiliated with the Cancer Federation, The Garage Sale Depot offers free pick up on thrift and consignment items from any location in Palm Beach County with a tax deductible receipt for donations to help fight cancer and “cash for your clutter” on consignment items. In addition, The Garage Sale Depot supports the mission of the American Heart Association. A complimentary café, children’s play area and computerized tagging and tracking make The Garage Sale Depot a one-of-a-kind shopping experience for the entire family.

The Garage Sale Depot offers free pick up thrift and consignment items from any location in Palm Beach County and a tax deductible receipt for donations to help fight cancer as well as “Cash for your clutter” on consignment items. In addition, The Garage Sale Depot supports the mission of the American Heart Association.

Store hours are Wednesday through Friday, 9 am – 7 pm; Saturday 7 am – 7 pm; and Sunday 9 am – 6 pm.

For more information, call 561.667.0345 or visit www.thegaragesaledepot.com.

About FreeCostumesforKids.org

Free Costumes for Kids, a non-profit organization, in association with national sponsor Gigaweb.com, has as its goal to provide new and used Halloween costumes to ALL needy kids in Palm Beach County. www.Gigaweb.com will be donating a portion of their Halloween costume proceeds in order to buy new costumes for Free Costumes for Kids.

Free Costumes for Kids is starting it’s work in Palm Beach County and hopes to expand to South Florida, the state of Florida and nationally in years to come. For more information, visit www.freecostumesforkids.org or call 561.789.2421

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]]> http://freecostumesforkids.org/2009/10/the-garage-sale-depot-donates-halloween-costumes-to-two-area-organizations-in-need/feed/ 0 http://freecostumesforkids.org/2009/10/holloways-pub-new-dropoff-location-in-boca-raton-fl/ http://freecostumesforkids.org/2009/10/holloways-pub-new-dropoff-location-in-boca-raton-fl/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:27:45 +0000 Costumes for Kids http://freecostumesforkids.org/?p=95

Mike and Bertha Holloway are Changing Lives One Costume At A Time with their Very Generous donation of brand new costumes for kids in need. Thank you SO Much Mike and Bertha for Your HUGE Donation.

If you’re looking for a dropoff box in Boca Raton go toHolloway’s Pub and drop off your gently used or new costumes. Just make sure you place the costume donation in a bag with the type of costume, size, gender, and whether  it is adult or child size.  We need a bunch of adult size costumes this year. Kids come in all sizes.  We even have some requests for 3X adult sizes.

Bring in what you have and help change a life of a child in need.

Go to: Holloway’s Pub

77 Royal Palm Plaza
(corner of Federal Hwy & SE Mizner Blvd.)
Boca Raton, Florida 33432
(561) 361-8445

NPC:  Who does it serve?
Chris McCarthy: Right now it is serving underprivileged kids in Palm Beach County, Florida, but we are hoping to expand in years to come.
NPC:  How long have you been in operation?

Chris McCarthy: This is our first year.
NPC:  How many people did you serve your first year? And, this year?

Chris McCarthy: We are hoping to serve 1,000 kids this year.
NPC:  What is your most difficult challenge as a nonprofit?

Chris McCarthy: Our most difficult challenge this year has been getting drop off sites.
NPC:  What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a nonprofit?

Chris McCarthy: Ask.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  People truly want to help, so if they can, they will.
NPC:  How can people get involved?

Chris McCarthy: Send and email to ChrisMcCarthy@freecostumesforkids.org or call   561 789-2421
NPC:  Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

Chris McCarthy: We are changing lives, one costume at a time!  Whatever you have to share, can make a difference too!

*Chris McCarthy is the Vice President of Free Costumes for Kids. For more information, please visit the website at www.freecostumesforkids.org.

Athea Paul of WPEC CBS 12 help get the word out that more costumes are needed.

To read the full store visit

New Organization Giving Away Free Costumes, Needs Help

As a guidance counselor in the Palm Beach County school district, Chris McCarthy recalls how disappointed some of her students were when they did not have a costume or mask for the Halloween character parade.

Chris McCarthy is a retired guidance counselor who has started a non profit organization called Free Costumes for Kids to donate Halloween costumes and masks to needy kids this year. Photo Credit Sarah Dussault, Sun Sentinel

“Their parents, for whatever reason, couldn’t afford it or didn’t have the creativity to come up with one,” said McCarthy, who retired five years ago after 25 years at Addison Mizner, Plumosa and Crosspointe elementary schools. “We tried our best to let them not be left out [by making costumes] but it’s just not the same.”

Thanks to Free Costumes For Kids, more than 300 kids in Palm Beach County who would have to go without a costume, will be transformed into critters and monsters and ghosts and goblins on the year’s scariest night.

The organization McCarthy helped found earlier this year has been collecting an array of frightening and funny costumes and masks that will be available for picking a week before Halloween, McCarthy said.

The donations will be given to students who must be recommended by their teachers or those in the Delray Beach Parks and Recreation after-school program, organizers said.

Tonya Smith, supervisor of the city’s after-school program, said she was grateful for the donations and her kids were fired up.

“We’re having a holiday party on Friday and we’re bringing all the sites together at Pompey Park and we will have different events for them,” Smith said.

The idea was born after McCarthy’s sons, who own Gigaweb.com, a Halloween costume store, wanted to put their returned merchandise to good use.

“My kids grew up hearing about things that happened during the day ? and then they started thinking, ‘Wow, mom used to talk about the kids and the Halloween character parades and they didn’t have a costume,’ ” she said. “We [thought we] could start a charity and collect used costumes and maybe really make an impact. So we’ve been working on it since.”

Several schools are collecting costumes for the drive and students at Hidden Oaks Elementary, west of Lake Worth, held their character parade last week and have since donated their costumes, McCarthy said.

Yet the community response has been less than ideal.

While a handful of businesses in town are participating, several stores have turned the group down, said McCarthy, who is disappointed with the response but is determined to keep fighting for the kids.

The owner of Delux Nightclub & Lounge in Delray Beach helped out Saturday.

“He [threw] an adult Halloween costume bash where he is allowing everybody in and donating free drinks to everybody who walks in the door with a costume, used or new or makes a donation,” said Erin Greaves, a Delray Beach mother of three who volunteers with the project.

Other sponsors include Waste Management, G-Star School of the Arts for Motion Pictures and Television and Plumosa Elementary.

Chris McCarthy pastes kids artwork on donation bins for a non profit organization, Free Costumes for Kids, she started that donates Halloween costumes and masks to needy kids. She will setup the donation boxes at about 12 locations, which includes schools, a church, Halloween stores and a night club. She has teamed up with Delray Parks and Recreation and Broward’s For Kids Sake to get the costumes to needy children    Credit Sarah Dussault, Sun Sentinel / October 15, 2009

Organizers plan to serve Palm Beach County youths this year but hope the program will expand across South Florida next year and eventually statewide or even nationwide.

Costumes can also be mailed to Free Costumes For Kids, 6851 SW 21st Court, Bay 6, Davie, FL 33317.

“We’re also going to continue to collect after Halloween so that we will be very well prepared for next year,” McCarthy said.

For information, go to FreeCostumesForKids.org or contact McCarthy at 561-789-2421. C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6611.

The students of Sunsrise Park Elementary show off the costumes they collected for the Free Costumes for Kids costume drive.

Chris McCarthy of Free Costumes for Kids said “We were floored by the amount of costumes the generous parents and students of Sunrise Park have donated.  We will be able to make many kids very happy with just this donation.”

A transcript of the story can be found here…

http://www.wptv.com/content/news/southpbc/bocaraton/story/Free-costumes-for-kids-in-need/jPAYif6f40yiw88vON1DWg.cspx

Casey McCarthy of Free Costumes for Kids had this to say “I am so excited about the response we are receiving from the community.  We’ve lined up many drop locations and now with this generous contribution from Waste Management,  we actually have great collection boxes to receive the costume donations.”

The elementary art students at Plumosa School of the Arts in Deray Beach, FL have created hand made signs to put on the drop off boxes, making these new Waste Management – Free Costumes for Kids costume drop boxes truely special.