DeWanna's Community Closet

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Lake Charles, LA
DeWanna's Community Closet

We provide school uniforms, shoes, belts, jackets, backpacks & school supplies to educators who identify students in need of these essential resources.

A surprising number of students in Southwest Louisiana lack essential resources necessary to succeed. DeWanna’s Community Closet knows that teachers have the unique ability to identify these students and are now providing them the opportunity to meet these needs. Calcasieu Parish educators can come to DeWanna’s Community Closet and acquire school uniforms, belts, jackets, underwear, socks, shoes,

backpacks and school supplies. If you would like to make a donation to help us better serve these students in need, please contact DeWanna Tarver at [email protected]

06/18/2026

📚✏️ Mark your calendars! ✏️📚

DeWanna’s Community Closet and KPLC are teaming up once again for our Annual School Supply Drive on August 7th!

Help us support local students by donating new school supplies, non perishable food items and monetary donations for the upcoming school year. Every donation helps a child start school prepared and ready to learn.

Stay tuned for more details, and please share!

05/08/2026

We finished our school year yesterday and when the 2026/2027 school year starts it will be a newer younger crew having all the fun. We had an opportunity yesterday to thank some of those behind the scene people that are on the roads every week making sure the deliveries get to the 67 schools that we serve. Thank you again to all of those who have supported us down through the last 10 years. Your support will be needed to assure this program continues meeting the need of our students. To be a part of what we do donations may be made at

www.dewannascloset.com

Or mailed to

DeWanna’s Closet
4428 Ihles Road
Lake Charles, LA. 70605

05/05/2026

Everyone who sees our post may not understand how we work. We are not open to the public. In order for us to help a student a request needs to come from someone in the school system. We felt that was the best way to guarantee our items were getting to the students who truly needed them. We don’t get to see the faces of those we help. On occasion someone in the school will send us a snapshot. This was one of those times. They sent us a picture of the shoes the little boy came to school in and the shoes that he left in. You can almost see the confidence growing in this child as he wears his new shoes. The first picture he was standing awkwardly with his feet together and in the second picture, it looks like he is ready to takeoff and conquer the world. Thank you to those that have supported us down through the years to assure we have funds available to purchase shoes when a child needs them. If you would like to help us continue meeting these needs donations can be made at

www.dewannascloset.com

Or mailed to
DeWanna’s Closet
4428 Ihles Road
Lake Charles, LA. 70605

05/01/2026

When we started DeWanna’s Closet, Phillip gave me the the money to stock it and get it ready to open. He told me then that if this idea was going to work I would have to get community buy in to sustain it. I remember thinking when we first opened how many kids we had committed to buy underwear for and underwear was really expensive. In the last 10 years we have never ran out of money when we needed to buy underwear or anything else. It has been pretty close at times but God always provided. I knew I would have to solicit donations from business and industry and was prepared to do that. What I wasn’t prepared for was the generosity of the people I meet day to day. The people who see me in the store or at a restaurant and put money in my hand. This project has truly been a labor of love by so many and I am honored to have been a part of it.

If you would like to help us sustain this program for the next 10 years donations can be made at

www.dewannascloset.com
Or
DeWanna’s Closet
4428 Ihles Road
Lake Charles, LA 70605

Or just hand me cash when you see me. I’ll make sure it gets to the right place.

04/30/2026

We have received tens of thousands of request since we opened in 2016. Although every request is important a few just stick out. The memory connected to these shoes are one of them. I can’t remember which school it was but it was in November 2019. It was one of those days in Louisiana that are frigid. We don’t get a lot of them, but you know what I mean. When the wind, cold and the dampness just take your breath away. A kindergartner had come to school that morning with sandals on. They didn’t match and they were both for the left foot. The school asked if we could send her some shoes. We normally only deliver once a week, but on rare occasions have made exceptions. This was one of those times. We had that little girl sparkly new shoes and socks in no time at all. That day this community made a difference in the life of a child.

If you would like to help us continue this legacy you can join us by making donations at

www.dewannascloset.com

04/28/2026

We’re gonna be reminiscing the next couple of weeks and we may take you along on the journey. When we first opened, I had spent every penny Phillip gave me. The day of our grand opening Greg Webb with First National Bank showed up with a donation check and we didn’t even have a checking account to put it in. We didn’t need one, we didn’t have any money. That was a smart move on Greg’s part because he’s been our banker ever since. We were very frugal with every dollar we were given, and although we had faith in God, when the checking account got low we got a little concerned. By far the strangest thing we did to raise money was run the concession stand at a wrestling match. As far as I know, none of us had ever been to a wrestling match. Our husbands were troopers and logged supplies up the steps at the civic center for us. And I must say Judi was very enthusiastic. She may secretly still sneak off to wrestling matches.

04/26/2026

When DeWanna’s Closet opened in October of 2016 we weren’t sure if the concept would work. Our goal was to provide our public school students with basic items they needed to be prepared to learn when they walked in to a classroom. Now almost 10 years later we know the concept worked. The Closet has grown in ways we could have never imagined. Our second program, Food for Thought, was born out of stories from educators who told us of students who often had little or no food on the weekends and came to school on Monday’s with headaches and stomach issues.

Both of these programs have been huge undertakings financially but educators and our community have supported us and made sure we have always had the finances needed to meet the needs of our students.

The time has come for the original crew who birthed this program to step aside and hand it off. In the last ten years the team has become like family so this has not been an easy decision but the time is right. Three of us have fought cancer battles, we have had spouses and children who have fought those same battles. We have buried spouses, siblings and parents. And honestly, we are just getting old. (I’m not sure of our average age but I’m second youngest and I’m 67.)

The Closet will be moving to the warehouse on West Sale Road that we currently run the Food for Thought out of. The team that has been running that program for the last 5 years will take over the day to day operations of both programs now. Operationally there won’t be any noticeable changes. School staff will still email their request to the same email address and those items will show up at their schools in a few days.

I (DeWanna) will no longer be involved in the day to day operations but will stay on in an advisory roll for a couple of years. Our current team will be available to answer questions for the new (and younger) team but we are all retiring from a program we all love.

It has been an unbelievable ride and we are honored to have been able to be a part of a program that enabled our educators to teach and not worry about clothing and feeding students.

Thank you to those who have supported us over the last 10 years.

The Crew at DeWanna’s Closet

Towanna Bowles, Julie Campbell, Charcey Cormier, Shari Davis, Tami Felts, Liz McDonald, Sharon Miller, DeWanna Tarver & Judi Welch

03/28/2026

We need your help to make a big impact in a simple way! 💙

Right now, our program is providing weekend food bags for over 1,300 public school students in our community—and the need continues to grow.

Here’s an easy (and affordable!) way you can help:
🍜 Head to Albertson’s
🍜 Clip the coupon in the app or online
🍜 Purchase Marathon Ramen noodles for just $0.07 per pack
🍜 Donate them to Food For Thought

Donations may be dropped off at our warehouse at 1631 West Sale Road or at Lake Charles Toyota.

Every pack you donate helps ensure a child has something to eat over the weekend. Those small purchases add up quickly and make a huge difference!

Please share this post and spread the word—together, we can help keep our kids fed and supported. 💛

Address

Lake Charles, LA
70601

Website

http://www.dewannascloset.com/

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