Foster family opens clothing boutique for kids in need

GLENNVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - A foster family is on a mission to help children in need across the Coastal Empire starting with a clothing boutique.

Linda Durrence knows the ins and outs of the foster care system by fostering kids of her own so she’s using her boutique to plant hope for kids in need.

The Durrence family has been through a lot together. Their journey together blossomed out of grief.

“Our oldest daughter...I didn’t give birth to her, but she had been in my life since she was about 5 years old....she died when she was 27,” said the mother, Linda Durrence.

The Durrence family still had two daughters and they all moved back home to Glennville.

When they moved back they met foster kids at church at risk of being separated.

“What God knew that we didn’t is that we needed them as much as they needed us,” the mother said.

Still grieving the loss of their daughter, the family decided to temporarily take them in.

“When they came to me they had a trash bag that was not even full of clothes and the clothes really didn’t fit them,” she said.

Linda said they were all in a broken place. The girls tragically lost their mother and moved from foster home to foster home.

She said they needed a family and now Linda’s couldn’t let them go..

“She explained to me we finally have peace and we know y’all love us.”

She said her and her husband planted a love the girls had never felt before.

“And I couldn’t imagine life without any of them. It’s like they’ve been here all along.”

They treated the girls like their own with clothing, hygiene products and an education.

“We noticed that they went from very broken and transitioned into...we watched them blossom.”

And now she wants other kids in need to blossom too by giving clothes and hygiene products to kids in need at Blossom Boutique.

“It hit me that not everybody could do that and what did those foster parents do?”

So for those who can’t, Blossom Boutique will be there.

Until each kid, one by one, gets the help they need.

“We just keep our eyes focused on Jesus and just do and be His hands and feet.”

Blossom Boutique is not only for foster kids. Infants through 12th grade who come by will get 7 full sets of clothing each quarter as the seasons change.

The store is family-run so they need monetary donations, as well as, new or gently used clothing for boys and girls, hygiene products, coats, shoes and school supplies.

You can find them at 902 N. Veterans Blvd in Glennville from 9am to 4pm during the week.

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