EAGAN, Minn. — Editor's note: This story first aired on KARE 11 in October 2015.
You have to pick your way gingerly through Rick Stock's basement.
"I figured it would be a phase," he said, referring to his 16-year-old daughter's passion and mission, Kaitlyn's Kloset.
It was no phase. What started as a couple of bins of donated items now takes up half his basement, floor to ceiling.
"I knew what money was, and the value of a dollar," said Kaitlyn, a junior at Rosemount High School. When she was 13 years old, she was passing by a garage sale and noticed a stroller on sale for $15. She was struck, she says, by an urgent feeling to buy it. She talked the seller down to $10 and got the stroller. She then donated it to someone else.
"I knew I could do something to help those people that are in need."
Kaitlyn began collecting other supplies families with infants and children would need, donating them to service organizations. Eventually, a friend convinced her to start her own organization, Kaitlyn's Kloset.
The Stock family got behind the idea and created a Facebook page that quickly grew to 1,500 families. That's where people can connect with the Stocks to donate, get help and sometimes even trade items among themselves.
Kaitlyn tracks items to make sure people aren't reselling them or abusing the system. Often, she says, families who receive supplies will donate them to another family when they are no longer needed.
"As much as they're getting out of it, they always want to reciprocate those feelings that they get," explained Kaitlyn.
The Stocks view this community as a larger family, that provide life lessons for Kaitlyn and her younger sister, Ashley.
"They've been able to make some great friends, some great mentors," said Kaitlyn's mother, Kristen. "They have the support of 1,500 really awesome families."
The Stocks have gone to bat for some of those families. Rick and Kristen say their daughters have learned through Kaitlyn's Kloset what Kristen calls the "raw" and "real" of life. Once, Kaitlyn was present when one member of the group faced the harshest consequence of all - having her child taken away.
"Kaitlyn held the baby while mom said goodbye, and was taken off to jail," Kristen said. "It totally shows 100 percent that when you make bad choices, there are consequences for those choices."
Kaitlyn admits she sees a lot more than the average teen. She remains drawn to helping others, and is eyeing a career in social services. She is hoping to attend college close to home so she can keep Kaitlyn's Kloset going.
Through Kaitlyn's Kloset, and other volunteer work, Kaitlyn fully understands what you give in life, often comes back.
"I have an entire family of 1,500 people that will support me, that will come to my rescue if I need help or my family needs help."
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