Brick Township Plans Free Clothing Store for Residents in Civic Plaza

Brick Township will vote on leasing space at Civic Plaza to a nonprofit. The group wants to run a free clothing shop for kids and families who need help. Unit 11 sits at 270 Chambers Bridge Road.

Choose Love Celebrate Life — A Foundation for Youth and Families, Inc. — would operate the shop as Community Threads. The agreement grants them one year starting Sept. 1, and they can renew up to four more times if things work out.

Officials plan to charge minimal rent, following New Jersey laws about municipal property deals that serve the public good. The shop will hand out new and used clothing plus accessories without charging anyone. Donations will keep everything running.

More than one hundred people should get help from the shop, based on what the ordinance says. The mayor and council picked the business administrator to watch over the lease and check that the nonprofit keeps doing its job for the community.

Community Threads opens Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday hours run 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. On Saturday, doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. Sundays are dark.

The nonprofit must turn in a yearly report. That document needs to show what they did, how many people got help, and proof they still have tax-exempt status. Officials will look over this paperwork before deciding whether to let them stay another year.

The ordinance has a severability clause built in. This means if one part gets struck down later, the rest stays good. After adoption, the measure kicks in once the second reading happens and it gets published according to law.