The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office is collecting donations for the three children recently rescued from a filth-ridden Pontiac home where they had reportedly been abandoned by their mother several years ago.

New or gently-used clothing is needed for the children:

• A 15-year-old boy, who wears men’s size medium clothes and size 9 shoes

• A 13-year-old girl, who wears size 14 girl’s clothes and size 7 shoes

• A 12-year-old girl, who wears size 12 girl’s clothes and size 6.5 shoes

Items can be dropped off at the sheriff’s headquarters on the Oakland County campus, located at 1200 N Telegraph, 38 E, or at the Pontiac substation at 110 E. Pike St.

Monetary donations can be made through the GoFundMe account https://tinyurl.com/2s3trkka. Donations reached nearly $4,500 by early Monday evening.

A steady stream of people showed up at the sheriff’s office with winter coats, shoes, clothing, sneakers, Mondo Llama crafts and Crayola crayons, among other items. Sheriff’s officials asked people not to drop off any food.

Donors included a Bloomfield Hills mother and daughter, Carlee Welbourne and Whitney Welbourne.

Whitney said she was glad to go through her closet and drawers to pass along clothing — she’s handed down clothes to young family friends for years. Her mom said she was moved to act the moment she saw the story on the news.

“It broke my heart. These kids are my kids’ ages,” Carlee Welbourne said. “I felt like if there’s anything I can do, I was going to help. I can’t imagine not being with my kids and for the kids to not have a mom, at all … I don’t even know what that would be like. So anything we can do, yeah, we’re doing it.”

So many items were dropped off Monday afternoon deputies made three trips to clear the sheriff’s office vestibule by moving piles of donations to another building for storage until they can be delivered to the children.

According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the children’s 34-year-old mother left her kids to live in “absolute squalor” in a condominium on Lydia Lane in the Stonegate Pointe subdivision.

They were reportedly abandoned four or five years ago and were surviving on weekly drop-offs of prepared food.

The case was turned over to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday. No charges have been announced yet.

Deputies were called by the landlord of the residence last Friday for a welfare check, the sheriff’s office said.

The landlord reportedly told authorities he hadn’t heard from the mother since December, rent was last paid in October and he was concerned about the occupants, the sheriff’s office said.

The mother was arrested that day.

Photos released by the sheriff’s office show large amounts of trash and debris throughout the home — including garbage piled up to four feet in some rooms; also seen is mold and human waste, an overflowed toilet and feces in the bathtub.

An evidence technician wore a HAZMAT suit to process the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office also said the 15-year-old boy told deputies he and his sisters had been living alone in the home since 2020 or 2021 and they survived on food their mother or a stranger left on the porch each week.

The children hadn’t attended school since their abandonment.

The Oakland Press also reached out to the prosecutor’s office asking if charges are being considered for the children’s father but hasn’t heard back yet. According to the sheriff’s office, the children’s mother said the father wasn’t involved in their lives. The sheriff’s office said the kids were taken to an area hospital for evaluation and that Children’s Protective Services has placed them with a relative.

Stonegate Pointe was probably best known in Pontiac as a newer subdivision with spacious single-family homes and cozy looking townhomes.

Many were built in 2005 or 2006, but in 2023 a developer resumed building there.

It’s the kind of neighborhood where American flags are displayed as well as lawn ornaments and color fabric wreaths adorn front doors. A 1,670-square-foot two-bedroom, two bath townhouse unit with an attached garage and intercom system is listed for just over $123,000; garage attached garage, central air and intercom retails for nearly $123,000.

Similar units rent for close to $2,000 a month. The single-family homes in the subdivision have three or four bedrooms and retail for between $250,000 and $300,000.

— Reporter Peg McNichol contributed to this story.