Update: Diakon Kathryn's Kloset one of many organizations responding to Baltimore situation

Baltimore, Md. (Thursday May 7, 2015)

In the wake of recent civil unrest in the City of Baltimore, Diakon Kathryn's Kloset was among numerous organizations assisting in responding to residents' needs.

The Diakon program worked with vendor-partners and others to help provide supplies to families and individuals whose local stores were vandalized or otherwise damaged.

Diakon Kathryn's Kloset solicits corporate donations of cleaning and personal care products and makes them available to non-profit organizations to distribute, withcost cost to the end-recipient, to people in need in various underserved communities. In addition, the program has historically been involved in social service and related projects to aid residents of the city.

Wade Brown, executive director of Diakon Kathryn's Kloset, which is located just outside the city in Baltimore County, notes the following ways in which vendor-partners and the program were involved:

  • Home Depot provided brooms, shovels, trash bags and distributed them throughout West Baltimore’s Sand Town community’s network of churches.
  • The International Orthodox Christian Charities provided 600 personal care kits and a check for $1,000 to purchase toilet paper and toothpaste.
  • Somebody Cares Baltimore (Somebody Cares America) provided volunteers and transportation for donated items to various locations for distribution by the churches in the area.
  • Under Armour employees received, sorted and redistributed a tractor-trailer load of mixed goods to churches in West Baltimore’s Sand Town community.
  • Medi-Rents donated adult and children’s diapers and bed pads.
  • Penske donated a vehicle for items to be pick up and distributed.
  • City Council President Jack Young personally came to Diakon Kathryn's Kloset with volunteers to pick up laundry and household cleaning items to distribute to older adults and families in the Pennsylvania Avenue community.
  • The city mayor’s office sent city vehicles to pick up donated items from Diakon Kathryn's Kloset that were distributed across the affected area.
  • Baltimore City Police Community Relations Office, Col. Russell, coordinated security and transportation to the donation sites in the Sand Town community.
  • Many of the churches in the affected area opened their doors to act as distribution points for those in need.

"We sincerely appreciate all that these organizations did and their partnerships with Diakon Kathryn's Kloset, which enabled us to be a resource to people in the affected parts of the city," says Brown.

For further information, please contact:
William Swanger, M.A., APR
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries
(717) 795-0308
E-mail: swangerb@diakon.org