North Texas nonprofit delivers customized clothing packages to foster homes

COPPELL, Texas — The Anderson home is spacious, and for all the right reasons. 

Austin Anderson saw the amount of closet space, and knew instantly it would be a great next home. That’s because the home plays perfectly into plans for their nonprofit: Puddin’ Pop.

“Like so many during the pandemic, we were searching for ways to help. The foster system has been on my heart for some time, but I was unsure where we could be of most use,” reads a statement from their website.

Their nonprofit they started in February 2021 delivers families in foster care customized clothing packages. Their home has become a never-ending but fulfilling cycle of dropping off, laundering and packing up new or gently used donated clothes. 

“Everybody we know has too much. We’ve all got bins of stuff our kids wore once or never wore at all,” Anderson said.

They have six closets full of donated clothes carefully labeled by size. They also have a full room full of clothes, backpacks, and books, which ultimately make it into a package to be delivered to a foster home.

The closets are labeled and organized from newborn to eighteen years old. The requests come daily from foster families and sometimes case managers.

“There’s so many ways to help. You might not be in a position to be able to adopt, or foster, or do respite care. There’s so many ways we can all do something,” Anderson said.

The Andersons have filled more than 850 requests to help children since they started. They have an entire wall filled with post-it notes with names of the ‘friends’ they help, The Andersons get help from other service organizations to perform crucial duties. But nothing is possible without the steady stream of donated new and gently used clothes they receive from donors.

“Honestly, I think we haven’t done enough,” she said.