About Clara’s Closet
Established in 1999.
In 1999, a group of parishioners from Central Park United Methodist Church, Refreshing Springs Church and Hope Kensington United Methodist Church joined together with Journey’s End Resettlement Services to sponsor a newly-arriving refugee family from Sudan to the Buffalo area. The family was welcomed into the Central Park fellowship of worship and a new chapter in the church’s mission life was born.
Clara Small (1929 - 2017) was a pioneer in leading the Central Park's congregation to establish the ministry that now bears her name, and we are grateful for her years of dedicated service on behalf of Buffalo’s refugee community.
Clara’s legacy lives on.
Clara's Closet Ministry has serviced thousands of refugees and needy persons in the years since it was first established. Predicated on our Savior’s words in Matthew 25, the ministry seeks to minister to “the least of these” by clothing the naked and welcoming the stranger. In this way, we believe we are fulfilling Christ’s mandate to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Matthew 22:39