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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Locker 505 built a mobile clothing bank in a renovated school bus and expects it to serve about 3,000 more students statewide each year.
Locker 505 started planning the mobile unit years ago and now says it is ready to reach school districts outside the metro.
“It’s amazing. It’s just amazing,” said Locker 505 Executive Director Kim Kerschen.
Kerschen said she first imagined a mobile clothing bank years ago. Locker 505 got a grant for the bus and later found a retired contractor to renovate it after connecting through a radio advertisement.
“Absolutely, we thought it was crazy,” Kerschen said. “You just don’t look up somebody to, you know, refurbish a bus the way you want it, you know. And so we were really lucky that we found Michael.”
KOB 4 met Michael Spiller in November 2025, just before he started the renovation. Spiller removed the seats, added shelves and finished the work in just over four months.
“It’s such a neat opportunity that I’m taking on. I’ve never done anything quite like this,” said Spiller.
“There were tears,” Kerschen said.
Locker 505 says the bus will let students shop for clothes much like they do at its Albuquerque location. Kerschen said the bus will carry outfits, hoodies, shoes, snacks, socks, stuffed animals and dressing rooms.
“The kids will just get to shop. We’ll have the outfits put together, just like we do here, allow them to select, go down and shop,” Kerschen said. “We’ll have hoodies, those types of things. And, of course, everyone’s favorite, the shoes.”
“We get phone calls from Farmington, from Cruces, from Vegas, different places, and we’re like, ‘No, we don’t really have that capability to come to you.’ Now we do,” Kerschen said.
Kerschen said Locker 505 hopes to serve around 3,000 more students statewide per year on top of the 5,000 it already serves in Albuquerque.
“I’ve seen the impact it makes on the kids here, I know what kind of impact it will make on on the kids that we see around the state, and maybe even more so in some areas that don’t have the resources of anything like this,” Kerschen said.
Locker 505 says its next step is updating the outside of the bus by painting or wrapping it. The group says it would welcome donor help and is selling magnets in different sizes to help fund the bus.
