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Reminiscing 8-30
Spreading His Love: Surplus of clothes leads to productive ministry
HisLoveWEB
David and Lauree Resto run His Love Help Center on South College Street in Smithville. They provide free clothes and more to those in need.

His Love owners Lauree and David Resto didn't start out with the notion to open a clothing ministry, they just wanted to get rid of some old clothes.
"In a way it started years ago with my niece at the flea market when we decided to get rid of all our old clothes there," Lauree Resto said. "The more we gave away, the more we got. If we gave a two-handle bag away here comes someone with a trash-bag...mind we want to get rid of the clothes."
"Well when it got to the point where this church pulled up with a truck like a 20-foot trailer with all those hanging clothes we were like OK God, why do you want us to keep having these clothes…we don’t want clothes. So we decided we felt God wanted us to have some kind of clothing ministry," Lauree Resto explained.
Due to family issues, the niece closed up the flea-market booth. The Restos continued their mission each Christmas.
"When my granddaughter was about three years old we started to go into Nashville on Christmas day. We took the homeless jeans and socks, thermal underclothes and Bibles and I can’t go without feeding them so we made all this turkey and real mash potatoes because I don’t like the fake and if I’m not going to want to eat it I don’t want to feed it to someone else," Restro explained. "So my niece and her three children went and people said I can’t believe you take kids out there on Christmas day to do that and make them miss out, well they didn’t miss out," she stated.
"We would open presents Christmas Eve and have breakfast Christmas Day at their separate homes then we would go to Nashville. So during the year they were like 'When are we going to Nashville?' so the first year it was like feeding the 5,000."
Resto said the more they gave away, more clothes and food seemed to appear as if by divine intervention.
"We took boxes of jeans and stuff and we had this bigger guy come up and I knew I had jeans but didn’t know where so my daughter had bags in her car so I said just get them all out and I was supposed to serve food but I never got there. I ended up handing out the socks and Bibles and someone had given me these super-thermal socks and I didn’t have that many pairs and some of them would ask if they could have two pairs. I had other socks but I hated giving out two at a time of those because I knew I had a limited supply, but I started giving out two at a time and I knew I had given out more than 20 pairs of socks – I’m just saying," she added.
"Then someone else had come up and my daughter-in-law opened the door and there’s a bag in there so I said again 'Gabby get everything out' and the few things we had left over we took over to the mission. So then on the way home I said I don’t know what’s wrong with Gabby. So when we got home we still had enough food to feed the 10 of us or whatever it was that went and it was crazy with all the people we fed. They used the white bowls with clear tops from the Chinese restaurant to put the food in because they were perfect. We had food when we got back I don’t know how. May daughter-in-law starts talking and said every time she opened the car door there was more stuff in there…some people might not believe it but it’s true. That was the first year we went," Resto stated.
The Restos worked hard every year taking food to the homeless, but also knew there was need at home in DeKalb County and wanted to do more.
"All along we wanted to have something in our own community. We wanted to do this every day instead of once a year," Resto explained. "Our family started this up in another location that didn’t work out. Then they found their current location and as a sign was out and the owner said he would do it for less than initially quoted. The night before I had been praying about it I had a dream of brown lattice and as soon as he opened the door there’s the brown lattice. I stopped in my tracks and related my story he said, ‘oh yeah it does have it.’"
Getting a rent break, she called a friend and lamented her qualms about how the logistics were going to work.
"I’m praying I can put together the right money and the deposit and stuff and she asked how much and then she told me we can do that. She said she and her husband donated to different ministries and they ended up paying the rent for the entire year," she said. "Dale and Chaila Salisbury were the couple who helped us. The landlord’s father used to run this business back in the day and he brings me stuff down and say  I really want to see you guys succeed in this."
"Some people say I’m crazy, which I am, but all our shoes and clothes are free we give out 15 clothing pieces per person per week and two pair of shoes and two coats. If there’s a fire in the community they can come and get whatever they need to get back going," Resto said. "We have a lot of elderly that come for clothing. With their fixed incomes there is not a lot of money for food and medication let alone clothing. Sometimes I get crutches, walkers etc., I give them to those in need as often insurance doesn’t pay for that kind of stuff anymore."
His Love doesn't just serve DeKalb County; they get a lot of people from McMinnville as well.
"One man who came in is from Chicago and moved to McMinnville about seven years ago and this summer he came in and said his kids sent his grandkids to visit but didn’t send clothes with them. So he told them he still had them after the initial two weeks and it became permanent due to unknown circumstances. So now he’s trying to find school clothes for all the children. The school said buy what supplies you can and we will give you the rest. So here he’s got seven kids and the oldest is in fifth grade and they go down from there: two in first and a baby that is two years old."
"What’s it going to cost is usually the first thing someone asks," said David Resto "The answer is it costs nothing."
"It kills me when kids go without because of money. You have that enough with events where all kids can’t benefit like ice cream day or book ordering time. It’s not right for kids to do without because of money," empathized Resto. "Especially when some kids are sitting there eating and some are sitting there watching because of money I don’t think it should ever happen in the classroom."
"We have never turned people away some people depend on it," they agreed.