It was a basement full of stuff. Clothes. Toys. Household essentials. All sorts of things.

The Family Crisis Center’s main focus is as a domestic and sexual violence center. It provides 24/7 crisis intervention, emergency shelter, and safety planning. There is also a child advocacy center.

But what a lot of people don’t realize is that it also provides essential supplies for those that need it.

Kylee Graves took over as the Executive Director in 2022. At the time, families fleeing from domestic violence and sexual abuse could get some of those essential supplies from the basement.

But Graves saw something bigger.

“When I took over in 2022, there was a ton of stuff in the basement,” Graves said. “We redid everything about two and a half years ago to make it a more welcoming place for people.

“We went through all the clothes, organized everything. When I came on we would take some of our clients down there that needed stuff, but there was really no organization to it.”

Graves realized the amount of stuff could help more than those in the shelter.

And thus, Sara’s Blessings came into existence.

“We quickly realized there were a lot of people with needs,” Graves said. “We wanted to help them as well. We didn’t want them to feel like they were just picking things from a pile of used clothes.

“So we went through all the clothes, sorted them and began to organize things.”

Today Sara’s Blessings, named after a survivor of domestic violence, is like a store - but the prices are cheap. Free in fact.

“Everything we give out is free,” Graves said.

There are sections for men’s clothes, women’s clothes, children’s clothes, toddler clothes and baby clothes.

Shoes, blankets, diapers and baby supplies. Kids toys and activities. Books for all ages, accessories, and personal hygiene.

There are coats, household supplies and bedding.

The selection is quite large.

“Everything is donated to us,” Graves said. “There are times we have had to say we can’t accept any more donations because we don’t have the room. Our community has blessed us. We do not lack the support of people giving us stuff.”

There is a need for a referral to get items, but it can come from various sources.

“When we started out you had to have a referral from one of the non profit organizations in Great Bend,” Graves said. “We quickly realized there were more people than those who needed our supplies.”

The education scene became a focus.

“Schools are often a good place for people to realize who might need supplies. For instance if a middle school teacher would just call and say I am sending someone over, we will take them. It is just a matter of getting them on the sheet and approving of them.

“We have tried to send our form out to all the schools.”

Families can access Sara’s Blessings once a month. They can come get two large bags per person in the family of the household.

A tracking sheet is kept to mark when they last came and when they can come back.

“It was quite a process to organize everything,” Graves said. “But it was worth it. We have grown a lot lately.”

In fact, a couple of weekends ago as school was ready to start, they had a free garage sale to let anyone that wanted to come and shop. About 45 people turned out.

“We opened things up right before school started,” Graves said. “We tried to get the word out and let families know.”

In the past year more than 100 families were served at Sara’s Blessings.

The desire to get more school age kids some clothes is a high priority for the place.

“We really want to open things up a couple of times a year for the school kids to come get some clothes. We are considering doing something again right before Christmas.”

While the Family Crisis Center still focuses on the domestic and sexual violence with 24/7 crisis intervention, there is more to the place than just that.

Sara’s Blessings is there to help with supplies for those that need it as well.