By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Just before the store opened last weekend, employees at Children’s World clothing store in LaPlace loaded about 55 cartons of old, unusable school uniforms that will eventually be sent overseas with the help of a missionary group from Gulfport, Miss.

The uniforms will join a shipment of hardcover Bibles that will be sent to missions in Haiti and Africa by an organization known as BEAMS, or Bible Education and Missionary Service. The organization collects and ships complete Bibles, along with other donations, to overseas missions free of charge.

Children’s World owner Jim Lilly said the uniforms, worth approximately $30,000 in total at retail, were overstock that became obsolete once schools in the area changed uniform specifications like color schemes or other clothing types.

“I couldn’t sell them because no one wanted or needed them,” Lilly said. “They were just sitting on my shelves taking up space because no school is going to use them. We place our orders early in the year so that parents have a chance to get in before the last minute, but when a school decides to change things, we can’t do anything with them.”

Lilly explained his store was having a sidewalk sale in an effort to get rid of some of the merchandise when an idea was presented to him by local deliveryman David Dantin, who often comes to the store with new shipments.

Dantin, a Bogalusa native, belongs to Ben’s Ford Missionary Baptist Church. The church often partners with BEAMS to raise money or collect donations for their missionary efforts.

“It is a solution that can help both sides,” Dantin said. “It frees up shelf and stock space for Children’s World, but the clothes go to a good cause. Something this size will literally be a godsend for BEAMS.”

Vicky Smith, a representative for BEAMS, said the organization did not find out about the donations until Friday evening. Although unexpected, the clothing was very much welcomed when it was delivered last Saturday afternoon.

“Several times a year, a container will leave here full of Bibles for missions in Haiti, South America and Africa,” said Smith. “Whatever space is left over in those containers is often filled with donations of clothing. This is one of the largest donations we have received in quite sometime.”