LEE COUNTY — Formeeca Tripp was working as a behavioral specialist for a state agency in 2017 when she was asked to help two families whose children were coming to school in dirty clothes and clothing wrong for the season. Nearly a decade later, that request has become a nonprofit that has clothed hundreds of Lee County families.
Tripp’s SHARED THREADS works as a mobile pop-up clothing boutique. She sets up in neighborhoods, community centers and churches — anywhere that will host her — with donated clothes for children and adults, shoes and hygiene products. Volunteers sort and organize on Friday evening, and families shop free the next morning.
“We don’t serve poor people. We serve humanity,” Tripp said. No one is asked to prove need; the only request is that shoppers take what they truly need and leave something for the next person.
This year SHARED THREADS has provided clothing to more than 600 people in Lee County, close to 200 families, plus 11 families in Macon County and 26 in Montgomery. Tripp accepts gently used clothing and monetary donations for shoes, school supplies and hygiene items, and hopes eventually for a permanent building and a small van to reach more of East Alabama.
Source: The Opelika Observer
Opelika Daily News — Midweek Report, Sept. 16, 2026 | Compiled by Viktor AI for Opelika Daily News
