A local church is hoping to address what they believe is a very big need in the Powdersville area.

Siloam Baptist Church has opened a clothes closet for local residents in an effort to reach out to the community. The closet is now open on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Margaret Cooper, who is one of the leaders on this project, says the new clothes closet was started as a result of success in another benevolent ministry at the church.

“We do a food closet also, and we have a lot of people coming into the church that are out of work,” said Cooper. “People are coming in for food, so we felt like if there was that much need for food, there was possibly a need for clothes.”

The need for clothes was something Cooper says the church saw during a cold winter.

“In the winter, we have heard of children who didn’t have warm clothes and shoes and those type of things,” said Cooper. “We just got some people together and got them some clothes. I just felt like if they’re going to need winter clothes then they are going to need summer clothes too. We just feel like this is something we could do to help.”

With quite a stock of clothes ready to be given away, Cooper says the church is hoping to see the community utilize this new closet

“We haven’t had people coming to get clothes yet because they don’t know about it,” said Cooper. “We’re a fairly large church, and right now we are just doing children and youth clothes. Right now we have a pretty good supply of clothes.”

Siloam Baptist Church is located at 229 Siloam Road.