Durham police are welcoming your fanciest clothing donations to help local teenagers celebrate their milestones.
Officers are planning another year of ‘Suits for Youths,’ which offers free formal wear for students in Grades 8 and 12.
Organizers will be accepting used suits, shirts, ties, pants, shoes and other accessories. “We would love to accept those so that our youth could take advantage of them, [and] wear them for their graduations, proms and perhaps job interviews,” said Constable Rui Ferreira in an interview with Durham Radio News. “It’s extremely rewarding,” said Ferreira. “I get to meet a lot of great people. We have volunteers from [Ontario Tech] and Durham College that will come to assist as well. We have internal volunteers. We have children who come to assist in setting up and preparing.” This year’s ‘Suits for Youth’ event will be happening at the Oshawa Centre on April 25, 2023, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. Organizers will be set up in the parking garage underneath the food court. “We will have identifiers at the food court with our auxiliary members, where we can provide people with direction to our location,” said Ferreira. In the leadup, you can drop off donations at the Oshawa Centre guest services desk, or at any Durham police station. “We will certainly take donations until days after the event,” added Ferreira. “We can store them and maintain them for next year’s event.” For more information, you can email organizers at
[email protected].