Program helps underprivileged kids ‘Suit Up’ for life
SAN ANTONIO - Learning how to tie a tie is no easy feat when you're a young boy.
"It took me about a week 'cause I always forget,” Jaden White said.
Through a program called Suit Up!, White, 15, learned how to master this important task.
“[I learned] how to tie a tie, how to iron. I used to not know how to iron. I would just throw my stuff in the dryer,” White said.
Walter Perry is the brains behind Suit Up!. He started the business and professional clothing exchange program three years ago.
"The Suit Up! program is just a way. It means to step up. It means to suit up and get ready, so we're going to get them ready for the world,” Perry said. “We talk to them about important things in life, like violence and also staying in school."
Until now Perry hasn't had an actual place to run Suit Up!, but on Friday evening, he celebrated the soft opening of his new classroom on Commerce Street near North New Braunfels Avenue. The building has a changing room, so boys will be able to pick out a suit and try it on to see if it’s a good fit.
“When you put on a suit, it gives you a whole new identity, almost like a superhero,” Perry said.
Suit Up! is also adding a girl’s program and a program called Suit Up! Youngin’, which is for kids in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It will teach kids some basic tasks, like tying shoes, brushing teeth and combing and brushing hair.
Suit Up! is in need of new and gently used suits. For more information, visit the organization’s Facebook page.
