Local ‘baby closet’ continues to aid Vermillion families

Which is why Pastor Tony Armbrust, of the Faith Fellowship of the Open Bible, and his wife, decided to give families of Vermillion a helping hand with a unique idea.

“When me and my wife began pastoring we had this desire to not just meet people’s spiritual needs but also their physical needs,” Armbrust said. “My wife had the idea of a baby shower and I thought why don’t we just collect baby clothes and baby items and just give them away to members of the community so we started it and donations began to come in.”

This ‘baby closet,’ as it is called, is open to anyone who needs it.

“We open it once a month, also if people call they can set up an appointment,” Armbrust said. “They can come and get what they need. Right now we have a lot of clothes. We’re just trying to get the word out because people come and go. We don’t charge anything. We just want to bless people.”

The baby closet items are mostly for infants but they are working on expanding into larger sizes.

“We’ve had people ask if we can get bigger sizes in but our main thing is 0-24 months,” said Laurie Fritsch, a member of the congregation and volunteer for the baby closet.

“We have kind of expanded the size of the clothes,” Armbrust said. “We really are limited in space. It’s not a big room and has a lot of clothes in it. We’re trying to find a way we can accommodate more clothing but we’re trying to get the word out, open it more days and have it more available.”

But it’s not just clothes that are available.

“People can have a pack of diapers each month for each kid,” Armbrust said. “We help them with that because it gets expensive. It’s the church that pays for those.”

Funds for the diapers also come from individual donations and sponsors including Sanford/Employees, First Bank and Trust, Knutson Family Dental, Members of Lions Club, and South Dakota Dept. of Labor.

“They donate money for diapers and I think that’s the main thing they help to cover,” Fritsch said. “That’s the biggest expense we have to keep it going is diapers and wipes.”

According to Armbrust, their mission to serve is, so far, a success as the baby closet goes into it’s fifth year running.

“We’ve just been able to assist a lot of families,” Armbrust said. “We meet a lot of people and get to know a lot of people.”

Fritsch volunteered at the last baby shower two weeks ago, sorting clothes and helping families find items for their children.

“This morning we’ve had about a dozen people come in here,” Fritsch said. “Some new people that haven’t been here before so that’s kind of fun.”

According to Fritsch, the reward for her is deeply spiritual.

“Every time I help it really gets to me,” she said. “When I come in and help, it reminds me what God wants us all to be about is helping each other.”

According to Fritsch, though the baby closet is not meant to be a religious outreach program, the spiritual experiences she has through volunteering are just the icing on the cake.

“And I get a chance to hold the babies,” she said. “I have fun helping with the kids.”

Those who visit the baby closet notice the positive atmosphere as well.

“It's a very welcoming place to anyone in the community regardless of whether you are a church member there or not,” said Marije Wright, a Vermillion resident and mother of three with one on the way. “The baby closet has been a tremendous help for our family since we have moved to Vermillion. They have given us clothes and diapers on a monthly basis.”

“Without the baby closet it would have been a lot more difficult to clothe our growing kids,” she said.

Wright said she also uses her connection with the baby closet to give back when she can.

“When they grow out of clothes that are still in good condition, it's a great place to be able to donate them and help other families in need,” she said.

“People can donate financially of course,” Armbrust said. “We have an account and that would go directly to diapers and wet wipes. But also just if people have clothes in decent condition they can donate them. We also accept larger children’s items like swings and cribs. Anything we get, we can usually find a home for them.”

According to Armbrust, most of the clothes and items are donated by local families but some come from second hand stores.

Those running the baby closet are all volunteer.

“Me and my wife do a lot of it but on volunteer day we had a bunch of volunteers from the high school came and helped us organize and put the clothes away,” Armbrust said. “We had a fraternity come in once. If people want to help organize, they can do that. Anybody that would like to come and help we’d love to have them.”

“It takes more than just our church to make it happen,” Fritsch said. “It does serve a lot of people.”

Those volunteering have seen positive results time and time again.

“I remember one lady who got kids from her sister,” Armbrust recalled. “Something had happened to her sister and she had five kids and she had no clothes and nothing to put on their backs. She called us up and we were able to meet at the church and get them some clothes so they had some things to wear. We’ve had that same scenario happen quite a few times. These kids from a rough situation come with nothing so we can get them started or people who can’t bring their clothes with them when they moved, there’s been a lot of cases.”

“We have people come in that are pregnant out of wedlock but they still need support,” Fritsch said. “They need people to love them, they need people to know that they’re there for them. I enjoy it but it’s kind of heart-wrenching, not in a bad way, but it gives me a passion that I should have anyway.”

The church also throws an annual community-wide baby shower in late Sept. or early Oct. for mothers who are either pregnant or have a baby under 12 months.

Armbrust works hard to make sure the baby closet is as easily accessible as possible both to those who need clothes and those who wish to donate or volunteer.

“The phone number is 605-624-4116 and we just ask them to leave a message,” he said. “The baby closet is open the second Saturday of each month from 10 am to noon. If people don’t make that they can call me and I’ll set up an appointment with them and see what we can do.”

The church is located at the bypass of Highways 50 and 19.