It was about two years ago when Cindy Stribula came to understand the desperate need for clothing her community.

"I was at St. John's in Jim Thorpe, at a clothing giveaway, and the line stretched across the block," Stribula said.She saw a basic need, beside food and shelter, that was not being properly addressed by the community at large. Stribula's husband, an instructor at Carbon Career & Technical Institute, had a student at the time who was planning on a job interview.Unfortunately, the student only had a pair of sweatpants to wear - not exactly a professional outfit.Stories like this spurred Stribula into action."I talked to someone at Jim Thorpe high school, and put in a donation bin for clothing," she said.Following that, she came up with the names Operation School Wear and Operation Career Wear for the respective programs, and then applied for nonprofit status. The program exploded in scope from there on out."It went from a few laundry baskets to taking over my whole house, and my life," she said. "Right now, I have two bedrooms downstairs that are full of clothes, my car is packed, and I have two totes outside."Donation bins for the group have been set up at Panther Valley schools, CCTI, the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce, and more.Stribula has established connections with CareerLink, SHINE, and local homeless shelters to help provide for those in need. She has reached out to local prisons in order to help the recently released, but as of yet she has not received any callbacks.Clothing is not the only part of the charity, however. The groups take furniture, appliances and many other donations that can help the needy.Right now, the organizations are a seven-day-a-week job, and Stribula only has two volunteers to help with sorting and washing laundry.She is currently on her second washing machine, which is starting to give out on her. Herein lies the problem with such a unique charity group - the money to keep things running."There doesn't seem to be any funding for this. There's programs to help with food, like food stamps. For housing, there's HUD. But, there's nothing for clothing," Stribula said.Operation School Wear and Operation Career Wear are seeking out financial donations through a GoFundMe account (Help Operation Schoolwear). They have received some contributions from businesses like Family Dollar and Walmart, as well. Currently, Stribula is looking for enough funding to purchase a warehouse or other structure to house the massive back stock. Eventually, she plans on obtaining revenue through a thrift-store setup, where the proceeds would fund the charity portion of the operation.The work is exhausting, the hours are daunting, and the revenue is nonexistent, but according to Stribula, it is well worth it."I get paid in hugs," she said.Operation School Wear and Operation Career Wear will be holding a clothing giveaway between 5:30 and 8 p.m. Aug. 17 at Jim Thorpe Memorial Park. Stribula recommends coming early, as school uniforms - which are very much in need - disappear quickly.