With new boutique, Pasco County nonprofit helps kids in need of clothes

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — From school supplies to prom attire, the nonprofit Marjorie’s Hope has long been a resource for Pasco County students in need. 

It recently marked the grand opening of a new boutique.

Danisha Harris was among the shoppers there on the first day.

“Whatever can last within two-to-three years because I have to pass it down,” Harris said of her clothing choices.

She has six kids, ages 1 to 12, all in need of new clothes.

“I was actually trying to figure out how to get stuff for my kids at that moment. I was going to try to make ends meet, and then Ms. Sarah inboxed me and let me know about it, and I was, basically, hopeful,” Harris said.

Pasco Schools Head Start connected her with Marjorie’s Hope.

“It’s amazing,” said Majorie’s Hope founder Debi Shackowsky. “It’s a place where every kid should want to come and shop free of charge.”

Shackowsky said families are referred by partner organizations.

Kids can pick out five pairs of pants, shorts, shirts, socks, underwear and a pair of shoes.

“Ninety-five percent of everything today is new,” Shackowsky said.

She named Marjorie’s Hope in memory of her sister.

“She started out giving backpacks to kids, and then she was always helping kids in trailer parks that most people wouldn’t do anything with, including clothing them,” she said.

Marjorie was killed by a drunk driver in 1996, but her mission lives on through Debi’s work.

Last year, the nonprofit was dealt a major blow when its storage facilities were damaged during Hurricane Helene.

“We went three feet underwater, like everybody else out there. Never had a history of flooding,” Shackowsky said. “We lost count, or stopped counting, at $179,000 that we lost in inventory.”

She said the new boutique wouldn’t have been possible without Leadership Pasco.

“I call them ‘mountain movers,'” she said.

The group chose Majorie’s Hope from among multiple projects proposed by local nonprofits.

They raised $42,000 and turned an old classroom at Wendell Krinn Technical High School into the chic boutique it is now.

“Debi raises a lot of money and gives back so much to the kids, and I think that’s the main focus of all this, is that they’re making an impact everyday on the kids in Pasco County,” said Garrett Early, Leadership Pasco Class of 2025 president.

At the ribbon cutting, Shackowsky told the crowd she wasn’t involved in decorating the space, and one detail in particular stood out to her.

“That was the last photo of my sister and I and my other sister. She was killed six weeks later,” she said. “To pick that picture out of all the pictures, it just, it hit my soul.”