After a year of planning, the Philadelphia Church in Ballard has opened a non-profit program aimed at empowering and educating single mothers.

Part of the program, Single Mothers Acquiring Resources and Training (SMART), provides a free mother and child clothing bank.

“We wanted to decide what kind of ministry we wanted to do and how we wanted to help,” Vicky Berg, SMART volunteer said. “(It was) either a food bank, clothing bank or GED program.”

It wasn’t until a couple of teachers and administrators from Edmonds Community College came to speak at the church that Berg, along with fellow volunteers Joan Roddy and Jeanne Congdon, heard about the SMART program.

“They were telling us that if we wanted to get this kind of (program) we should probably have some kind of ministry where moms can have their own businesses, support themselves and their kids,” Berg said.

Roddy said the program was an obvious choice to help empower single moms while also providing support and education.

While the church is located at 7704 24th Ave. N.W, the women, along with six to eight other volunteers, host the program on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 9740 8th Ave. N.W, located off Holman Road Northwest and 7th Avenue Northwest.

“We’re flexible and we’ve opened another time slot because we had a lot of women respond from our Craigslist ad,” Congdon said. “We’re starting off with free clothing for them and their kids and we also eventually have plans to broaden the (program),” Berg said.

Congdon said they had talked about giving GEDs and providing mentoring programs, but as of now, she said they don’t know how much they can do. It will depends on the needs of the mother’s and the availability of volunteers.

“We’ve helped about 40 moms and they’ve been coming from all over, Congdon said. "Our goal is to give."

Congdon said people are coming from as far away as Redmond, Burien and Seatac.

Roddy said donations are being collected from church members as well as other Ballard residents.

“We’ve set it at a three clothing item per month, per mom and per child limit,” Berg said. “But we do want to make sure they go home with a book, extra things like a purse or shoes and it’s been slow, so we’ve been giving five clothing items. It’s flexible.”

Roddy said that as mothers come in they also fill out a form with their name, address and emails so the ministry can notify them of upcoming events and ask what their needs are.

“Most come in because they need clothing, car seats, potties and all kinds of baby stuff,” Congdon said.

"Another program we’re working on is New Heart, which reaches out to people with addictions,” Congdon said. “We’ve found that some of these moms have that background. We want to be there for them.”

New and gently used donations can be dropped off on the first and third Sundays of the month at noon at the garage next to the church offices, located at 7704 24th Ave. N.W.

To volunteer, contact 782-0588 or email smart@pcseattle.org.