Bubbe's Closet Logo

A nonprofit resource for clothing and small household items

Mission and Vision

At Bubbe’s Closet, our mission is to provide a resource for clothing and small household items for Anne Arundel County families in transition or experiencing hardship. Our goal is to partner with local organizations that work directly with community members to help fill emergency requests, requests for urgently needed items, and to cosponsor targeted campaigns to help serve the needs of the community.

About Bubbe’s Closet

Bubbe’s Closet was founded to honor the spirit of service and giving of a very special Grandma (Bubbe). When I think of Grandma’s house I think of it as a place of shelter, kindness and love. Grandma always has what you need from an extra pair of socks to a hug when you really need one. Grandma is there to offer a helping hand in times of need and that’s what we at Bubbe’s closet would like to do for our community.

Bubbe’s closet will be a feeder for other local organizations. We will be working with community members to collect gently used clothing and small household items such as kitchen utensils, bedding, and linens. We aim to be able to serve those in transition, starting over or just experiencing a rough patch.

A Note From the Founder

The “Bubbe” who inspired Bubbe’s Closet is my mom, Irma Vanderpool. My mom had a passion for giving back to her community. She dedicated 32 years of service providing entertainment and activities to veterans in her role as Activities Director at the Chelsea Soldiers Home in Chelsea, MA. She also was very involved in her local community volunteering with organizations including the Friends of the Charlestown Library and donating to charitable organizations such as the ASPC, VFW and many others. In 2017, when she learned she was going to be a grandmother, a dream she had been holding onto for many years, she left her lifelong home in Massachusetts to be closer to her family in Annapolis, MD. She embraced her new community, continuing her spirit of giving and volunteerism through joining the New Annapolitans group, where she helped organize the events and through involvement with her local community’s Jewish group.

Her grandchildren, Emalyn and Dylan brought her such joy. I see so much of her in my daughter Emalyn. They are both artistic, have a love of animals, fashion, and shopping. Dylan’s antics and funny personality always had her laughing. My mom, in her retirement, learned to fully enjoy and embrace life and shared that with my children. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2020, her health took a turn for the worse and she left us in August.  I am grateful for the time she spent getting to know her grandchildren. Although they are both so young, they still speak of her often and remember her with so much love. As for me, I wanted to find a way to honor not only her memory but her lifelong commitment to service. Bubbe’s Closet, a nod to my mother’s enthusiasm for shopping and her own overflowing closet, allows me to carry on that commitment to service and community and to carry on her legacy.

Bubbe’s Closet Mission

At Bubbe’s Closet, our mission is to provide a resource for clothing and small household items for Anne Arundel County families in transition or experiencing hardship. Our goal is to partner with local organizations that work directly with community members to help fill emergency requests, requests for urgently needed items, and to cosponsor targeted campaigns to help serve the needs of the community.

Bubbe
bubbe on a couch with grandkids

Get Involved

At Bubbe’s Closet, our mission is to provide a resource for clothing and small household items for Anne Arundel County families in transition or experiencing hardship. Our goal is to partner with local organizations that work directly with community members to help fill emergency requests, requests for urgently needed items, and to cosponsor targeted campaigns to help serve the needs of the community.

News and Events

2024 Spring/Summer Clothing Distribution Event

We are excited for our upcoming Spring/Summer Clothing Distribution event scheduled for April 20, 2024 at the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Lirary from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. Please see our flyer for more details. We hope to see you there!    

Northeast High School Winter Clothing Drive

What an amazing way to close out 2023. We here at Bubbe’s Closet would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Alyssa Shifflett, the Northeast High School Key Club, National Honor Societies Equity Committee, and all of the students and staff at Northeast High School...

2023 Winter Coat Distribution

Bubbe's Closet is excited to be partnering with Discoveries: the Library at the Mall to bring warmth to our community. Thanks to the generous donations we recieved, and special thanks to our coat collectors Kerry Foley at eXp Realty LLC® and Steve Thomas at Keller...

2023 Fall / Winter Distribution Event

We are so grateful to have partnered with  Eastport United Methodist Church for our Fall/Winter distribution event. It was a huge success! Thank you again Pastor Chris and all of the volunteers for letting us join you and for all of the help and support You guys are...

Spring/Summer Distribution

A huge thank you to Pastor Chris and the volunteers at the Eastport United Methodist Church in Annapolis, MD, for letting us join their May 20, 2023 distriution event. We were able to share 65 bags of childrens clothing and 18 boxes of women's and teen clothing and...

April 2023 Newsletter

Check out our April newsletter and please join us if you can on Saturday, April 29, 2023 from 9 am to 12 pn for the Good Neighbors Earth Day event at Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company (EHVFC). Full details are in the newsletter!

January 2023 Coat Drive

A huge thank you to Kerry Foley and Steve Thomas from Keller Williams Annapolis for organizing a successful coat drive. Thanks to their efforts, as well as a generous donation from another community member, Nancy Tait, we were able to donate 65 coats, as well as hats,...

Sponsors

Our Sponsors are integral to the success of Bubbe’s Closet. Sponsorship allows us to cover operating costs, to engage in community outreach and to grow and expand our efforts to serve local families.