2024 Fall Clothing & Baby Gear Swap Recap

Our Fall Swap was our largest yet! We had more donations, volunteers, and shoppers than ever before. More than Mom partners with Lydia’s Closet twice a year to provide a free event for our members and our community.

Lydia’s Closet is a free resource for foster parents to shop for clothes for the children they are fostering. Lorie runs the closet and works to stock her closet with only the best items. The closet is located in the St. Andrew’s church in Longmeadow. If you're interested in donating there's a small grey bin behind the church marked with Lydia’s Closet. Please note that she does not accept toys. 

The More than Mom (MTM) name is starting to become known and people are choosing to provide more and more donations every swap to us. The event began years ago as a toy and clothing swap, however with the popularity of our last Spring Swap the MTM board decided to focus primarily on clothing, and what a smart move that was!

We're receiving not just donations, but messages from past swap shoppers thanking and praising the work that the group does to put on this event. We’ve heard stories from those who come, which I attempted to summarize in the poem below. 

After the swap, the remainder of the clothing, shoes, and accessories are sorted and donated to local community closets. 

Thank you to all the volunteers who spent hours sorting, moving, arranging, and packaging up the clothes. With the amount of items donated, there would be no possible way this event would have been able to run without your help! 

Who comes to the swap? a swap poem

New moms, moms starting over with a new baby, and moms looking for a good deal.

Parents looking to size up their ever-growing child 

and parents who have a ton of clothes to get out of their house.

Those living in a home and those who live in a shelter

Those who have supervised visitation and those who are with their kids 100% of the time.

Aunties and uncles, grandparents, and others taking over parent duties.

Those who have relocated or experienced devastation and those who never have.

New and seasoned foster parents. 

Those who visit the closets regularly and those who didn’t know they existed.

Moms of one and moms of six (or more). 

Those on SNAP and those who don’t know what SNAP is. 

Nannas, gammies, and grandmothers of all kinds

And even a grandpa or two. 

For information on attending our next swap follow More than Mom Inc. on Facebook or sign up for our newsletter. If you would like to help with the upcoming Toy Swap or the Spring Swap please email Jes, jessica@mtmom.org.