"We've got this one place where we all can come," Ogle said.
He's talking about the Jeffco Schools Costume Shop. The school district first established it in 1973. Last year the program fell victim to the budget crisis and was cut.
"Of the things that are on the budget cuts, this is something that's really important to us, really valuable to us and what can we do in order to get the word out there," Ogle said.
The Costume Shop is 4,000 square feet of costumes and accessories. Most of the items are donations picked up through the decades. Ogle says it gives theater programs across the district access to more than 19,000 options, for free.
"Instead of having to buy new costumes every single time, go to costume shops and buy these expensive things every time," Ogle said. "We can literally donate our excess costumes, resources there and we can donate there and borrow them and return them."
The Jefferson Foundation is an organization which coordinated efforts to save the costume shop. It costs about $11,000 per year to hire a part-time staffer to maintain and clean the costumes. The group raised enough - for now.
"We literally have funded the first semester. We are now fundraising for the second semester," Katie Tiernan, executive director of the Jefferson Foundation, said. "Second semester is high school musical season and so we're looking for donations every single day to keep this shop open for the duration of the school year."
Students like Wren Schuyler say the Costume Shop is invaluable.
"It's a necessity. Costumes make your character," Schuyler said.
The costumes are also available to the general public to borrow for free. Considering the financial issues right now, the Jefferson Foundation is asking for donations.
"It's actually available to all members of the Jeffco community to come in and borrow a costume," Tiernan said.
The Costume Shop is located at 809 Quail Street in Lakewood, on the northwest side of the school district office building. It is open on Mondays and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. during the school year.
"It is convenient for the public cause not everybody can find what they're looking for at a Halloween store and this is more authentic stuff," Schuyler said.
Ogle hopes the shop can go on, to help keep theater programs alive in Jefferson County.
"We don't know when this train will kind of end," Ogle said. "We're really trying to get people to understand the value of it."
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