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STEVENSVILLE - A free store, by the community, for the community.

But come Nov. 1, the Clothes Closet in Stevensville will be without a home.

“I keep telling everyone we're not closing down, we're moving,” Clothes Closet director Lila Kraft said. “Something is going to come through. Too many people depend on this place. We serve too many people to shut down.”

Located off Main Street in Stevensville, the store has been providing clothing and household goods free of charge to the community for the past 16 years.

“Everything that we put out to give away has been donated,” former director Sara Schardt said. “One hundred percent of the product is operated 100 percent by a volunteer work force.”

Hundreds of pairs of shoes line the grass outside while clothes spill from laundry baskets and hangers in the little house with a white picket fence.

Trash bags overflowing with clothes take over the upstairs of the building soon to be torn down for an office space.

For years, the organization has housed its free linens, dishes, clothes, appliances, books, toys and various other items rent-free, paying only for their utilities through donations, Kraft said.

Now the Clothes Closet is looking for a new space to continue providing items free of charge to the throngs of people who take advantage of the service each month.

“We probably service about 500 people a week,” Kraft said. “We help a lot of people in the community. ... From Darby all the way to Missoula.”

Though the store is only officially open two days a week, Kraft leaves items outside and will open the store anytime she's there for those who may not be able to make it on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Kraft took over for Schardt as director in August. But before she stepped down, Schardt said she noticed a change in the Clothes Closet clientele due to the strain on the economy.

“Our clientele changed to a more across-the-board customer base,” Schardt said. “We were having all kinds of people coming in for help. With the economic changes, it's never been needed as much.”

For more information, details of possible locations or volunteer interest, contact Kraft at 961-6811 or 258-1644.

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