About Us
2023 Board of Directors
Our Mission:
Granny's Closet improves quality of life for both senior citizens and adults with disabilities by partnering with our community and Anoka and Sherburne County agencies.
Our Vision:
We envision a world in which people age with dignity and feel empowered to maintain their quality of life.
Our History:
Believe it or not, Granny's started with a misunderstanding! In 1998, Linda Harris decided to anonymously help a senior in need of clothing. She contacted a senior center and asked for the names of a couple potential candidates. What she received was a list of FORTY-FOUR names and according to Linda, "I didn't know what to do. Everyone on the list had been contacted and asked what they wanted for Christmas!"
Linda, with a heart of gold, grabbed some recipe cards and wrote down each name and request. Being a real estate agent, she brought her recipe cards to the Conference of Women in Real Estate and asked for help from her fellow realtors. Within minutes, every card was gone. Between family, friends and her fellow agents, gifts were purchased for a total of FIFTY-NINE seniors. Some of these seniors, having outlived their friends and relatives, hadn't received a present like this in years.
Linda quickly realized the need didn’t stop after the holiday season. Since the early 2000's, Anoka County has kindly allowed us to maintain a warehouse space on their Rum River Campus. Granny’s name changed from “Christmas Closet” to “Closet” and we now stock donations of clothing, personal care and household items year-round. In 2017, we expanded our services into Sherburne County. In 2020 we started our Good Nights From Granny's program and in 2023 we started the Collective Caring monthly drive program.
Granny's is now in it's 26th year and we have continued to operate solely on generous donations from local businesses, organizations, and the public, along with the hard work of our volunteers. We continue to grow and we're excited to see what the future brings!