Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — July 16, 2025 — Dillard’s in Jonesboro is making sure foster children in Craighead County have the best outfits as the start of a new school year approaches.

The store is partnering with the Arkansas Department of Human Services for “Style a Student” for the second time, collecting clothes for foster children heading back to the classroom.

Donations will be accepted between July 20 and Aug. 3, and they can be done either in-store by purchasing items or by bringing items purchased from other stores. Those wanting to donate can also call the store and make a donation if unable to do so in person.

Store manager Will Via said last year’s goal was to sponsor 100 foster students in Northeast Arkansas, but due to the overwhelmingly positive response, they decided to increase this year’s goal to 150.

“We ran out of kids last year, that’s why we increased it by 50 this year, and I think we can keep doing that every year,” he said.

The goal of the event is to try to give students in the foster community a little boost in style for their first day back to school. Via said the process works similarly to an Angel Tree at Christmas.

“We have cards down in our kids’ department that’ll say it’s a boy or girl, they’ll say how old they are. Some of them have their sizes, preferences, colors, that type of stuff,” he said.

Area sales manager Sandy Connor started the event following the death of her husband, saying she knew she had to do something for her community.

“I thought, ‘How can I give back? How can I, through my work, give back?’ And Will challenged me to come up with something for the kids department, because it’s kind of hard to do other things over there besides fashion shows and things like that. So, we came up with that Angel Tree-type thing for foster kids,” she said.

New to this year’s effort is a “Kids Day Fashion Show,” to be held at the store at 2 p.m. on July 26. The deadline to sign up is July 24.

Children willing to participate will be in the show. Via said no foster children will be involved, and it will be for other kids. Participants’ parents will receive a 20 percent discount as well.

Another addition to the initiative this year is that Dillard’s will be donating 10 percent of proceeds to Fisher Street Community in Action, which partners with the DHS office in Craighead County to help children at Christmas with coats, toys, and other items. The idea, according to Via, was suggested by CEO Bill Dillard.

“[He] was on a store visit right before we had this event last year, and he asked what we were doing. He wanted it to be more than just selling goods, so he suggested if we repeated it this year, that we go through the proper channels and find a nonprofit to donate to.”

DHS selected Fisher Street Community in Action, as Via said they already had a partnership, so they thought it was a good fit.

The importance of having the right outfit is important for many students, especially foster students. Connor said they want to make sure they help out those who may not be as fortunate as others.

“Just think about when you were younger: Did you always want a new pair of shoes for school? Did you always want a new outfit? Of course. My parents were able to supply that for me, but so many of these kids may not be with a parent. They may be with just foster parents, which are awesome, but are they able to afford that for them,” Connor said.

Via and Connor hope events like these will encourage people to be a part of their community and help out when they are needed the most.

“Some of our associates can’t afford to sponsor a whole child, so individuals can think about coming together. We have teams of two or three that are coming together and picking up one kid, and that’s awesome,” Via said.

“If you could do nothing else, like if a person doesn’t have a budget, but they hear this or they see this, spread the word, help us get it out there, because it’s a very worthy cause,” Connor said. “These kids can be future leaders of this community. We want to give them the same fighting chance everybody else has.”

For more information about the event, call 870-932-6300.