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OUR
HISTORY

​In 2013, foster mom, Michele Austin decided to open up a foster closet in her own home, she wanted other families to have access to items that foster kids were in need of. She knew first hand that often times, kids enter the foster care system with nothing but the clothes on their back. She researched to see if there were any services available in her area, but there were none. Michele found an organization called the Foster Closet of Michigan, hence the Oakland County Branch was created. Michele eventually became president of the Foster Closet of Michigan which included many branches around the state. As the closets began to grow, each closet decided to transition into their own 501(c)(3) entity, and in May of 2018 the Oakland County Foster Closet opened.

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The closet in Oakland County continued to grow by leaps and bounds. Donations came in, people all around were excited to help and happy to see needs being met. The Foster Closet eventually moved into an office building with different rooms. People loved donating to the closet, as they liked knowing that their items were going back to those in the local community for free! Volunteers loved knowing that their time and help made a direct positive impact on the foster families right in their own neighborhoods and cities!

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In 2022, OCFC expanded within the office building adding two more rooms giving much needed room for inventory but OCFC has outgrown the space and needed a new space. We moved into our new space of 4,000 sq. ft. in March of 2023. Again, we have continued to grow and have more needs, now than ever. As a board, we have decided to move into our forever home and we are now working with an architect to help us with planning our forever home. We are still wanting to remain in Farmington/ Farmington Hills. We are looking for land to build on.

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