Local charity donates clothes to teens in need

Christmas has come and gone, but there's still a great way to give back this holiday season.

Riley Glasson, 17, sorts out shirts and other items of clothing from boxes of donations stacked in her parent's garage.

The San Ramon Valley High School senior runs a non-profit organization called 1 Closet. It's a charity that collects gently used clothing for low-income teenagers who live in foster homes or homeless shelters.

"We have clothes for every day mostly and we also ave business professional because a part of giving to these kids who are in need is like giving them confidence especially to go out and get a job or do college interview or whatever," Glasson said.

"It was really sad for me to hear they only get hand me down clothes or only that little amount of money to spend and you know that's just really not enough these days," Laura Graham said.

Oakland resident Graham started 1 Closet with her mom four years ago when she learned many foster children only get $200 a year for clothes and passed the torch to Glasson when she went to college.

"There's so many clothes that I don't wear and that my friends don't wear that we could just do a small donation and help them one time and it ended up people really wanted to help so I ended up just starting an organization to help," Graham said.

The two met while collecting prom dresses at a charity event. They both love clothes and the idea of teens helping other teens.

Since Graham took the reigns, she teamed up with Hyatt House in Pleasanton, which is now the main drop-off location.

So far, 1 Closet has collected more than 40,000 garments and helped more than 10,000 teenagers, but there's still plenty of demand.

They need boy's clothing and girls shirts and pants in larger sizes.

For information on how you can help, click here.