The Iowa Clothing Center is located west and north of Kalona in the Ray Bender Building. As you go through the building you will see bags and bags of items that need to be separated and bales and bales of clothing ready to ship.

The unit got started after the ‘93 flood when clothing items were sent to Alexandria, Missouri for the flood victims. Levi Miller who is the manager was working there when they asked him if he could use clothes, etc. He brought them home and made contact with Christian Aid Ministry about sending items to their clothing center in Shipshewana, Indiana. The headquarters are in Berlin, Ohio.

The Center needs good workers to come in and sort, a place to store items and financial aid. Workers come from the Amish, Sharon Bethel, Bethany, Salem and Haven Churches. Other churches may assist from time to time. Twenty-five people at a time works about the best, however at one time there were 45 on duty.

Levi stressed the fact that only clean items can be used as they have no facilities to clean or patch clothes. The help will sort items such as men’s coats or sweaters or pants into boxes for packing. The help will pack items for a family of children to elderly and the bag will weight 26 pounds. They then put five bags into a baler to be baled. The baler was made by Lester Coblentz.

The bales are sent in a 40’ container to Chester, Pennsylvania and then sent on a ship to Holland. Items will go to Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine and Bosnia. Levi and Clara took a trip over and saw first-hand where the bales come in and items are given to the very poor people. Cost is about $10,000 a container and they ship six of these a year. A container averages 22 tons of clothing, shoes, etc. I asked Levi where the funding comes from and he said, “Churches and individuals.”

Levi puts in about 20 hours a week and donates his time. There is a drop-off box outside the building for people to donate clothing. They work two days a month and two work nights a month to get items ready to to.

Some items come in that can’t be sent, then they have a garage sale at the B-4 Building. The money is used to help send clothing to these countries.

Outside the building was a semi trailer full of bales to go plus many more in the building. On top of these were bags and bags full of shoes to be shipped. The merchandise that comes in, you wonder why it comes - new shoes, new clothing; but styles do change.

As I left I asked Levi what he likes on the job. He said, “Getting things ready for people to use that are extremely poor.” He likes to work with the people who come in and accomplish the job. Items come in from many communities in this state as well as out of state.

I guess the verse, “Bear ye one another’s burdens”, would fit here for people thousands of miles away.