The boutique, located on the Wendell Krinn Technical School campus in New Port Richey, offers a shopping experience meant to boost confidence
August 2025
By Michele Miller
What’s What New Port Richey
Fresh starts should be just that, but it doesn’t always feel that way for the kid trying to put their best foot forward, wearing second-hand clothes and slinging a backpack that’s a leftover from the last school year.
Some people get it. Know well that how you look and what you’re wearing can be a confidence builder or a deflator. They want to do something. They pool their resources. Get behind an idea and an organization that has long been making a difference in the Pasco community.
And so comes the opening of Marjorie’s Hope Outfitters, a campus boutique housed in a former classroom space on the Wendell Krinn Technical School campus.
There, shopping for free is meant to be a dignified pleasure that might evoke a feeling of delightful transformation upon opening a steel classroom door to find a tastefully appointed shopping appearance packed with new clothes, shoes, and accessories, and thoughtful touches right down to the wooden hangers, the kids’ play area, and the inspiring neon messages hanging on the wall.
“The kids all loved it. They loved it. They were excited about the outfits,” said Danisha Harris, whose family was the boutique’s first shoppers at the store’s opening on July 24, after being referred by “Miss Sarah” Langi from the Head Start Program. “It gives them a little confidence because they picked out their own outfits.”
Photo | Michele Miller
The storefront concept was first envisioned by Debi Shackowsky, founder of a charitable organization called Marjorie’s Hope. The concept became real with backing from Leadership Pasco’s Class of 2025, whose members selected the project out of multiple proposals, Pasco County Schools, and dedicated volunteers.
Giving kids a boost has long been the drive behind Marjorie’s Hope, a local non-profit led by Shackowski that’s fueled by the essence of her sister, Marjorie Paradis-Brownridge, a kind soul with a special passion for kids’ causes who was tragically killed by a drunk driver on August 5, 1996.
The organization sponsors the annual Tools 4 Schools Backpack Giveaway, which in recent years has distributed 5,000 backpacks stuffed with supplies annually, and the Cinderella & Prince Charming Project of Pasco County, which furnishes homecoming and prom attire for high school students. A now-defunct Pasco Schools Employees Boutique that was located in six portable classrooms at the West Pasco Education Academy in Hudson, flooded during Hurricane Milton, dealing a $179,000 loss of inventory to the organization, but also gave rise to a new concept
“It was three feet under water, and then everything just wicked up and ruined most of it,” said Shackowsky, who donated what could be salvaged to people in the neighboring community who had also suffered an enormous loss from the storm. “When it came time to regroup, we decided to focus on making a greater impact for students.”
Marjorie’s Hope Outfitters, a place where kids and families could pick out a week’s worth of outfits, socks, and underwear, and a pair of shoes with a referral from a teacher, school administrator, social worker, Guardian ad Litem, school resource officer, or clergy member, sprang from the ruins.
Photo | Michele Miller
“Thank you to the team for sharing this vision she started so many years ago,” Shackowsky said while sharing a few words at the official opening on July 24. “I know she would be incredibly proud of the class behind me.”
“All kids like to shop, she said, noting that Marjorie’s Hope kids are used to wearing hand-me-downs or getting second-hand clothes from thrift shops, the Salvation Army, and Goodwill.
“This was a give-back project, said Leadership Pasco member Tiffany Anderson, who is also the Manager of Community Engagement & Special Projects at St. Leo University.
The class appropriated some of the $42,000 they raised at their class fundraiser and collectively put in a lot of elbow grease.
Anderson worked on the boutique design, stationing and styling the mannequins, clothes racks, accessory shelves, and allotting space for a children’s play area.
“We wanted to do something that focused on the children and that was Marjorie’s Hope,” Anderson said, adding that the leadership class wanted to go above and beyond to create a “boutique experience that doesn’t feel like charity.”
This is just the latest outreach project that has Marjorie’s Hope partnering with Wendell Krinn Technical (formerly Ridgewood High), said Assistant Principal Debbie Painter, noting that in prior years rolling racks of prom gowns and tuexedos were lined up in the school gymnasium and that the school is still the packing and pick-up site for the Backpack Giveaway and that the school also house two other non-profits, MAPS Museum and Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
“I am moved to tears,” said Pasco County Schools Public Information Officer Jessica Meek, a longtime volunteer and former AP at Hudson High, who met Debbie while working as an elementary teacher at a Title 1 School. “I’ve been a teacher and a high school administrator. I know the importance of students feeling confident and good about themselves. That feeling of having a new backpack to start the school year. It’s so critical.”
“We started in Debi’s living room with about 50 backpacks, and she would be stitching up some of the backpacks,” she said of the early years. “Then we were in the hundreds. Then 1,000. We finally capped her at 5,000 because she just doesn’t know how to say ‘no’.”
None of this happens without the help of volunteers like Debbie Castellini, who regularly scopes out deals at local stores.
“When the K-Mart on 19 was going out of business, we went there and got 300 backpacks for $2-$3 each,” she said, adding that she plans to help staff the store when she can on Tuesdays and Saturdays
“I’m so excited. It took a couple of weeks to get it organized, but it looks beautiful.”
Photo | Michele Miller
For more info on Marjorie’s Hope, visit marjorieshope.com
Location and Hours of Operation
The program aligns with the Pasco County School calendar and will be closed on days
surrounding school holidays.
Marjorie’s Hope Outfitters is located in Room 126 (by the bus loop) at Wendell Krinn Technical High School, 7650 Orchid Lake Road, New Port Richey
Hours are Tuesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. and the 1st & 3rd Saturdays of each month from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Collaboration and Donations
We collaborate closely with schools in Pasco County to meet the needs of students and
families. We gladly accept new and gently used clothing donations throughout the Pasco School District
Calendar Year. All donations can be dropped off at Marjorie’s Hope Outfitters during
normal hours of operation listed above.
NOTE: We place a strong emphasis on donating clothing specifically for teenage boys, as they
are the hardest group to support consistently.