Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Gillen.
Hi Julie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Compassion Closet was founded in 2013 by my husband and I after finalizing the adoption of our two youngest children, and attending an adoption conference. At this conference, we attended a session about ways to support adoption and foster care, and one idea given was hosting a clothing closet for foster families. Having a basement full of clothing from our four children, we decided to begin Compassion Closet. At this same time, two others across the community had similar ideas. We all joined together to serve local foster and adoptive families. For the first two years, families visited their basement to receive items that they needed to care for the children in their homes.
In 2015, Compassion Closet had grown and it was apparent that to continue to serve, it needed to expand outside of our family’s home. Another local non-profit donated space for Compassion Closet for a year. This allowed more volunteers to serve, easier drop off for donations, and more opportunities to serve families and children in foster care. After a year, this shared space was no longer available, and a new home for Compassion Closet was found in Farragut. We moved to this location in November 2016, and still serve there today. In 2018, Compassion Closet opened our second location in Oak Ridge.
Compassion Closet became an incorporated 501c3 organization in February 2019. Growth continued with the opening of our North Knox location in October 2020, Seymour in August 2021, and Campbell County in October 2021. Compassion Closet fulfilled over 2500 requests from foster and kinship families in 2025, purchased 146 beds for children in need, and provided school supplies and birthday gifts throughout the year.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
God has blessed our efforts greatly over the years! We are so thankful for the many donors, businesses, churches and organizations who have partnered with us to make sure Compassion Closet can continue to serve those in foster care in East Tennessee.
As any organization does, we have experienced obstacles along the way. Having never run a non-profit before, just learning the logistics of all that is required took time.
We experienced rapid growth from 2018 – 2021, moving from 1 location to 5. Expanding has allowed us to serve more families, but takes more funding, staff, and time to keep everything running smoothly.
During 2020, as everyone did, we had to make adjustments due to COVID. We offered pick up services for a time. Working through mandates and how best to handle things to keep the families that we served safe while also navigating the political climate was tough.
Funding for non-profits can be quite the challenge, and raising funds is a time consuming task. We are thankful for those who partner with us in this!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Compassion Closet exists to show the love of Christ to those involved in foster care by providing clothing and baby gear to foster families in East Tennessee, as they care of children in their homes. We also support kinship families (grandparents caring for grandchildren, etc,) and youth aging out of foster care.
We are thankful for the opportunities to serve those who are doing the hard work for caring for children in foster care!
In 2025, we fulfilled over 2500 requests for clothing and baby gear, purchased 146 beds for children who did not have one, and provided school supplies to over 150 children who are currently in foster care.
Children in foster care may have never had the opportunity to have new clothing or a complete set of school supplies for a new school year. Compassion Closet is able to come alongside of them to help provide these items when needed.
There are children in East Tennessee who do not have a bed to sleep on. Compassion Closet is able to purchase beds for these children. Many times this may allow a child to stay with their biological family, stay with siblings if they are coming into foster care, or stay with relatives rather than entering foster care. We are honored to be able to help in these situations, and are so thankful for the continued support of donors who enable us to continue to serve in this way.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I grew up in Macon, GA. I’m the oldest of 3 girls. I’ve been married to my husband for just over 27 years, and we have 4 children, all of whom are adopted.
I have a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC. I worked as a systems developer for Planet Technologies for two years early in my career, traveling in the US and Europe to support implementations of Microsoft systems.
Being the executive director of Compassion Closet is currently part-time. I am also the Systems Administrator for Regular Baptist Press, located in Elgin, IL. Our produce curriculum for churches for Sunday School, Midweek clubs, and VBS, as well as books and Bible studies for use in discipleship.
Pricing:
- $175 donation – provides a bed for a child
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.compassioncloset.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/compassionclosettn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionclosettn
