Almost two decades ago, Carey Buyse first gained the idea to create a donation center for people in need.
Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana in 2005, and many people fled to North Texas. Buyse’s church, Hunters Glen Baptist, became a place of shelter for evacuees. City officials in Plano found apartments for them to stay in, but evacuees left everything behind, so the church helped furnish their places.
Buyse had always wanted to create a permanent donation center, she said, but there was never a space at the church for one. Hunters Glen later bought a property about a half-mile away in northwest Plano and turned it into a community center known as The Hill. Buyse used part of the space to form a donation center.
The center, The Closet at The Hill, has become a lifeline to immigrants making North Texas their new home. The Closet helps all people in need, but many who come have arrived in their new home country with very few or no basic amenities.
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About 28% of Plano residents were born outside the U.S., and a little more than half of the city’s foreign-born population are not U.S. citizens, according to 2022 U.S. Census data.
The countries they come from include Honduras, Guatemala, Russia, Ukraine and Puerto Rico, Buyse said.
“When they come in, they have nothing,” Buyse said. “I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve heard that. They sleep on the floor with a blanket. They may not have a pillow.”
Photos: Inside The Closet at The Hill, a donation center in Plano
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Humble beginnings
Buyse formed the center with her friend Carolyn Parris about nine years ago, she said. The two began working out of a small L-shaped room where they kept about six to eight clothing racks. Over time, it expanded.
All the clothing is now housed in a sizable room upstairs with an American flag on the back wall. At the entrance, a sign reads, “Please take what you need and leave some for others.”
Pairs of shoes sit along a wall with their sizes labeled underneath. Clothing racks fill up the space and are divided by gender and garment. Small bins hold undergarments, purses and baby clothes.
Some racks change by season as Halloween and cold weather come and go.
“We tried to keep it just like you’re going to a department store,” said Sandi Hodnett, who oversees the clothing section.
Every item at The Closet — which is open every Thursday morning and the second Saturday morning each month — is donated and free, Buyse said. That includes furniture, household goods and toys.
“A lot of it comes from our congregation, but a lot of it comes from their friends,” Buyse said. “It’s truly word of mouth. Other than our church bulletin, there’s no advertising.”
On the first floor, couches, lamps, chairs and dressers sit on a gym floor. Mattresses are in a small building outside.
In a separate room, volunteers organized household items on shelves for people to grab, including towels, bedsheets, dishes and glassware. Toward the back of the first floor, dozens of toys and books are laid out on shelves.
The staff has expanded as well, Buyse said. Around 20 people, most of whom are retired, volunteer their time each week.
“I have ladies in their 80s, and they will sit and help people sign in and put on a name tag, so they’re greeted when they come in,” Buyse said.
‘Rewarding for us’
Each volunteer carries stories of the people they’ve helped. Hodnett recalled helping one single mother clothe her family and furnish her home.
The mom picked up a wedding dress, and her son donned his first suit.
“We were tickled about that,” Hodnett said. “He came out of the dressing room looking like he’d been given a million dollars.”
Buyse remembers one Russian woman who arrived at The Closet in December and broke down in tears. She was taken aback by the sight of all that was available to her.
“It’s so rewarding for us,” Hodnett said.
Some volunteers help when The Closet is closed, too. Parris spent months organizing large donations of toys, taking them home, washing them and learning how they operate — all so a child can have a gift on Christmas.
“A little girl would have a set of play dishes, or a little boy would have a set of cars and a track,” Buyse said.
Buyse’s husband, Filip, and Parris’ husband, Burland, also volunteer at The Closet, most often spending their time in the furniture section: handling pickups of donations, aiding people in picking items and occasionally doing deliveries.
“It just has grown and grown,” Burland Parris said. “We have so many people coming in needing furniture.”
As The Closet was coming to a close on its final operating day in December (it will be closed the final two Thursdays of the month and will reopen in January), Filip Buyse moved along hurriedly, unloading new donations, helping other volunteers and speaking to people to help find what they were looking for.
Many people who came to pick up goods spoke Spanish, underscoring the need for bilingual volunteers, like Filip Buyse. As the closet has expanded, donations are also critical to keep up with the demand. As many as 45 to 50 families sign in on the first floor to shop during operating hours, Hodnett said.
Anastasia Usataya and her 3-year-old son Daniel were among the dozens who came to pick up items Dec. 14. Usataya said she left her job as a doctor in Russia a little over a year ago when the war against Ukraine began, seeking refuge in the U.S.
When they arrived, they carried just $20 with them, she said. Usataya said she heard about The Closet from the River of Life Church, which conducts services in Hunters Glen’s church building.
“Filip and his wife, [they] make everything for us,” Usataya said. “We are grateful for them because we begin new life with this place.”
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Zaeem Shaikh, Staff, Reporter. Zaeem Shaikh is a reporter covering breaking news for The Dallas Morning News. He grew up in Fresno, California, and graduated from Fresno State University in 2022. Before joining The News, he has reported for The Sacramento Bee, CalMatters and the Oregonian.
[email protected] zaeemshake
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