Family opens a free clothing store for foster kids after realizing they own virtually nothing
Blossom in Glennville, Georgia.
When most people think about foster children they lament the fact that they have no parents. When, in most cases, the problem is much worse, they have nothing. No friends. No family. No belongings.
When the police remove a child from an abusive home, the child’s things aren’t the biggest priority. In other cases, a caseworker shows up at a child’s home for removal and they only have a few minutes to grab a few things—whatever fits in a plastic bag.
Linda Durrence, 51, from Glennville, Georgia wants the foster children in her community to have something for themselves.
In December 2016, she and her husband lost their 27-year-old daughter in a car accident. After their tragic loss, the Durrences and their two remaining daughters began attending a church in Glennville. The daughters soon became friends with three girls that were being fostered by another family at the church.
However, in 2018, the sisters were set to be moved to separate foster homes.
\u201cGeorgia mom opens clothing shop for foster kids after noticing their lack of possessions: 'Broke my heart'\u201dhttps://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/family-opens-boutique-kids-in-need\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/COiqzChTeG— Dfhappy (@Dfhappy) 1645036012
The oldest of the three sisters turned 18 and left the foster care system, so the Durrences took in the two younger daughters to watch over them until they could be reunited with their grandparents in Florida. After getting settled in their new home, the sisters begged the Durrences to stay with them because they were tired of moving around. In 2019, the Durrrences adopted the two girls.
As the sisters settled into the Durrences home, Linda couldn’t get over the image of them coming to her doorstep carrying nothing but trash bags.
"The first thing that broke my heart was that they came with a trash bag that wasn’t even halfway full with clothes that didn’t fit them," Durrence told Fox 5 Atlanta. "They had one hairbrush. They did each have a toothbrush, but they only had like a trial size thing of toothpaste. They had no shampoo, no conditioner, no nothing."
"It just kept staying on my mind," she said, noting that her family was “financially blessed” to give them what they need. However, she wondered about other families and their foster children.
"What about the families that can’t go out and buy them what they need?" Durrence said. "Just the bare minimum, the necessities."
Durrence had been thinking about opening a store for children in need for quite some time and eventually bought up a storefront at a small shopping mall. The store runs on donations and allows fostered, adopted or less fortunate children to shop for free.
Shoppers can make an appointment and if the store has clothes their size, they can get up to seven free sets of clothes and shoes every quarter. They can come by the store more often if they have a major change in size.
Durrence says she named the store after her two adopted daughters.
"We watched them blossom and that’s where the name came from," Durrence said. "And what our hope is, is with Blossom, that it goes far beyond just kids coming to get clothes." She hopes to add an education center to the store to help foster kids keep up with their educational goals and services for parents to help them raise their families.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."