The Blessings Closet director Rhonda Gales, left, holds out a hotdog bun for Miss Berkeley County’s Teen Kylynn Wagner to fill in the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department’s Barron Hall on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For the third year-in-a-row, The Blessings Closet’s Book Bag Giveaway was held in Barron Hall at the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday afternoon.

According to The Blessings Closet director Rhonda Gales, this annual event was the first one her 501©3 nonprofit organization ever held. The origin for the event, however, went further back in time, to Dec. 2020.

“I kind of stumbled into this,” Gales, who is a retired IRS IT supervisor, said. “It wasn’t anything that I had planned.

“My family lost our mom during COVID and we had already lost our dad years before that, so we decided we needed to figure out what we were going to do for our first Christmas together without them. They were always really big on holidays — they had always decorated the tree and had a lot of food and candy,” Gales said. “We decided to find a family to bless and give them Christmas dinner in Mom and Dad’s name. One of my brothers came back and said, ‘Well, we’re all doing well. Why don’t we take a family and bless them for a week instead, ’cause the kids are going to be out of school for a week?’ So we did that and then I had a couple of friends that joined in with us.”

That experience opened her eyes to the overwhelming need felt by many families with school children in the Eastern Panhandle.

Community members wait for the doors to Barron Hall to open on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

“I had no idea of the need and the way that people were living in the community,” Gales said. “I guess I had just gotten into the routine of going to work and stopping at my parent’s house in Shepherdstown and going back home to Martinsburg. I was doing what I needed to do for me, but that particular endeavor really opened up my eyes to West Virginia and what was happening here — I couldn’t believe it.”

According to Gales, The Blessings Closet focuses on meeting the needs of families with school-aged children, because of her family’s history in the field of education. The organization regularly provides book bags, clothing, school supplies and books for children in school.

“I come from a long line of educators,” Gales said, noting one of her brothers is a teacher, who had noticed that many of his students over the years had been bullied about their clothing. “He had students who would wear the same thing every day and other kids would make fun of them, because they didn’t understand poverty. If you can’t feed yourself and your family, you’re not thinking of clothes. So I put out a call-to-action for gently-used clothing and it hasn’t stopped coming.”

The Blessings Closet, which opened a brick-and-mortar location last year at 324 West Stephen Street in Martinsburg, accepts new or gently used clothing, along with book bags, books and school supplies.

In addition, the organization accepts financial donations, which are particularly useful for its food outreach. The Blessings Closet is wiling to deliver food to anyone experiencing food insecurity, whether it be a family with school children or a shut-in.

Community members pick out book bags and clothing for the 2024-2025 school year in Barron Hall on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

“We’re trying to give the community what they need,” Gales said. “I’ve found that most people aren’t lazy. They aren’t bums. A lot of people are working two jobs, and they still can’t make ends meet, because they aren’t paid what they should be in the state of West Virginia.”

A fundraiser for The Blessings Closet will be held at The Corner Connection in Charles Town, on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. It will feature live music by Nashville recording artist Dawn Rix and the jazz and R&B band Four and Two, a dinner buffet and cash bar, a silent auction, a raffle and a photo opportunity with Rix. To purchase tickets to the event, contact Gales at 304-676-7750.

To learn more about The Blessings Closet, visit https://www.theblessingscloset.com/.