Salvation Army holds Dress for Success event in Rochester

(ABC 6 News) – August is the month of back to school shopping, and with inflated prices on store shelves many families can’t afford the things kids need to get ready for school. So, the Salvation Army in Rochester set out to help local families get their kids new clothes for the school year with an event called ‘Dress for Success.’

Thursday, 50 kids came with their families to the north side Walmart in Rochester to go on a back to school shopping spree where each kid was given a gift card and paired up with a volunteer to shop the kids clothing and shoes sections.

"We came up with the idea of instead of doing back to school supplies, let’s do something like back to school clothing. And we wanted to reach out with the public schools and say who’s in most need, and they gave us a list of names. And we called them and said would you like to come to our event at Walmart. And we partnered with Walmart to provide a one hundred dollar gift card to each kid. So they could purchase clothing and shoes," said Salvation Army Program Director Steve Friederich.

This was the first time the Salvation Army did an event like this, and organizers say they were very happy with the turnout.

The Salvation Army plans to do a coat drive for kids in the fall to get them ready for the cold winter months ahead.