Nevaeh’s Arms has been around for 12 years. It’s a nonprofit in Corry that helps homeless people. 

One of the things they had been doing was running a clothing closet. 

Anyone could take the clothes, without question. 

That is, until now. Its owner said they have no choice but to shut it down. 

“We’re not getting any help from the community. They want to take, but not help,” Penny Briggs said.

She said they faced problems from the start. 

They started the closet at a church, but there was a disagreement with the church about how it should be run.

So she moved it to a shed in her and her husband's backyard.

For them to give the clothes away, she said her husband had to become ordained, and the shed had to be classified as a church. 

“There’s an ordinance that you’re not allowed to give things away more than a certain amount of time during the year,” she said. “And we were doing it year-round, every week.”

They were busy at first, but fewer people have been showing up.

“It costs us a lot to run propane in the shed for the winter for no one to show up or maybe someone to show up,” she said. 

It’s been physically harder for her to keep it running, too. She has cancer. It’s getting worse. 

They weren’t able to get much financial help, either. She said they had trouble getting grants. 

“We applied for grants, and we were told we were too small, too new, there [are] bigger nonprofits out there that needed it more,” she said. 

They’ve stopped accepting donations. The clothes that are left are being given to a nearby church and a thrift store in Clymer. 

But they will not stop helping the homeless because the closet is closed. 

They will be involved in other community activities. She’s planning a Halloween party for underprivileged kids.