Clothing with a cause Women start clothing shop for foster children

That's the philosophy that drives two Wenatchee Valley cheap earrings who have been gathering good used clothing and just opened a shop where foster kids and their foster parents can pick out wardrobes for free.

Karen Arnold and Diane Owen met in January and the two hatched a plan to start a clothing closet for foster children. They call it The Kids Connection. Their shop, called The Oasis, opened this week in a building shared by Junkyard Gypsy's, a trendy secondhand store at 217 Mission Ave. in Cashmere.

Arnold, 54, of East Wen-atchee, is a veteran foster parent and foster parent recruiter. She works for Lutheran Children's Services under contract with the state to recruit new foster parents, situate foster kids and keep foster families healthy. Her office is in the state Department of Social and Health Services building in Wenatchee.

"Foster parents are wonderful people who cheap jewelry their lives to help children who really need help," she said. "It's really kind of a thankless job, but it is very satisfying. They really make a difference."

It's something she and her husband, Patrick, truly believe. They've been foster parents for 32 years. During that time, they've taken in at least 85 foster children, five of whom they've legally adopted in addition to their own two children, now adults.

"I stopped counting at 85, there may have been more," Arnold said. "I have a huge passion for foster children." She has three living at home now and said she would have more if she hadn't recently undergone kidney replacement surgery.

Owen, 39, of Wenatchee, tried being a foster parent to two boys, but she and husband Gary found it too disruptive for their own two sons.

"I didn't realize that these kids need so much parenting, love, reassurance and cheap key rings, and our boys could not adjust to all the time and effort needed for our foster kids," said Owen, a currently unemployed environmental engineer. Her husband works as an engineer.