Foster Care Closet employee Jennifer Olson loads up duffel bag of kids clothes before departing to Norfolk on Friday.
HAYDEN ROONEY, Journal Star
Foster Care Closet employees Tim Balzer (from left), Jennifer Olson, Brooke Horton and founder Leigh Esau pose in front of their bus before departing for Norfolk on Friday.
HAYDEN ROONEY, Journal Star
Blue duffel bags and plastic totes full of kids clothing along with diapers are stored in the Mobile Foster Care Closet bus to be taken to Norfolk on Friday.
HAYDEN ROONEY, Journal Star
Foster Care Closet employee Brooke Horton carries two duffel bags of kids clothes onto their bus before departing for Norfolk on Friday.
HAYDEN ROONEY, Journal Star
Foster Care Closet employee Brooke Horton lifts boxes of diapers onto the bus before departing for Norfolk on Friday.
HAYDEN ROONEY, Journal Star
Foster Care Closet employees Tim Balzer and Brooke Horton load duffel bags of kids clothes onto their bus before departing for Norfolk on Friday.
First it was a school bus, then it was a donation.
Now it is an aviation-themed mobile closet delivering clothing across the state for foster children.
The recently renovated bus is the latest addition to the Lincoln-based Foster Care Closet as the new mobile service allows foster children in rural Nebraska to receive clothing.
The Foster Care Closet was founded in March 2006 by Leigh Esau and her husband, Patrick. Esau spent seven years in the foster care system and the majority of her adulthood raising foster children with Patrick.
With a personal relationship to the system, Esau knew there were needs being missed. She said a child in foster care typically has little to no clothing and for the items they do have, they are often the wrong size or season.
“We really felt like we wanted to change the narrative on what it looks like for our foster kiddos in those first hours of care,†Esau said. “We’re passionate about restoring dignity to kids who are in the foster care system or as they enter into foster care.â€
For more than 17 years, they have been working hard to change that narrative along with the label that foster children are happy with anything they get.
“Any parent knows that that’s not true. They do prefer styles, they do want to fit in with their peers,†Esau said. “It’s just as important for our foster youth to be able to go to school fitting in with their peers as it is for any kiddo to go to school and fit in with their peers. They’re not second-class citizens.â€
So the Foster Care Closet has partnered with wholesale vendors to purchase on-trend clothing in large quantities at a lower cost. They keep clothing on hand for newborns to age 19.
After helping hundreds of children in and around Lincoln, Esau is expanding to serve the rest of the state.
“We want to be a service that goes and meets our families where they’re at, versus having them come to where we’re at,†Esau said.
For almost a decade, Esau and her team attempted to do so by filling cars with clothes and driving around the state. However, it wasn’t until the Foster Care Closet was gifted an old school bus that their hope of serving Nebraska was finally within reach.
Renovations to the bus began more than three years ago, but were put on the back burner during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duncan Aviation price item analyst Jason Duhs led the renovations. He said between 70 to 80 Duncan Aviation employees have participated in the project, putting in approximately 1,000 hours of work.
“Duncan as a company is unique because people specialize in different things so it was kind of neat to see how the different people within different departments all got involved in the process,†Duhs said.
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The remodeling included removing the windows and seats, replacing flooring, painting the exterior of the bus, new lighting and tires. The majority of the materials used were donated, with some exceptions like hardware items.
“In our industry, we’re known for our higher quality products,†Duhs said. “I think there were times where it wasn’t necessarily going to be at the Duncan quality, but it was kind of neat to see at the end. We all felt that we didn’t just throw this together. It was put together with the best materials and best quality that we would do even if it was an airplane.â€
It wouldn’t be a Duncan Aviation remodel without some airplane symmetry. The team added pegboards to line the walls that were hydrodipped in a mini airplane camouflage designed by the marketing department. And the driver’s seat was reupholstered with sheepskin to resemble a pilot’s seat in the cockpit of a plane.
“We kind of thought that’d be kind of a neat little nod or recognition to aviation by having a unique driver’s seat,†Duhs said.
According to Duhs, Duncan Aviation joined the process because they found it to be a good cause and a unique opportunity to use their skills outside of the airplane industry.
“We even had a couple of employees who were either in a foster care program at one time or had been foster parents themselves, where they welcomed foster kids into their family,†Duhs said.
The bus is expected to be completely finished in October, but has already been put to use. The Mobile Foster Care Closet took its first ride in late April to Scottsbluff, where they helped 52 youth feel more comfortable with their updated wardrobe.
Children who visit the bus are given five complete outfits including tops and bottoms, seven pairs of socks and underwear, a pair of shoes and a seasonal jacket. Esau puts the shopping into the kids’ hands to encourage decision making.
“In the foster care world, oftentimes one of the first things our youth lose is their voice. All decisions are made for them,†Esau said. “We wanted to be about making sure they have a voice and we do that by having them pick out the clothing they like and providing an environment that gives them the opportunity to shop.â€
This month, the team expects to serve close to 200 fostered youth in Grand Island and Norfolk.
“(The bus) really breaks down any barriers of where we can go to serve,†Esau said. “As long as we have the capacity to serve new clothing items, we have no limits where we can take the bus. We want to reach into all pockets of Nebraska.â€
However, taking the bus across the state is not a cheap endeavor. For Scottsbluff, the Mobile Foster Care Closet donated about $7,000 worth of clothing alone. Currently, the funds come from general donations to the Foster Care Closet.
“We would love to have businesses who would be interested in sponsoring a trip to one of our locations,†Esau said.
The group will return to Scottsbluff in October, where the community has a spaghetti feed in the works to raise money to invest back into their foster children.
“When we invest in our marginalized population, it makes the community stronger,†Esau said. “When our foster youth are being given a message that they matter, that they’re seen in their community, it gives them something to be held to a standard for.â€
Foster Care Closet employees Tim Balzer (from left), Jennifer Olson, Brooke Horton and founder Leigh Esau pose in front of their bus before departing for Norfolk on Friday.
Blue duffel bags and plastic totes full of kids clothing along with diapers are stored in the Mobile Foster Care Closet bus to be taken to Norfolk on Friday.