May 24, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
If you’re planning to clean out your closets over the summer to get rid of some older clothes your kids have outgrown, the DeKalb Middle School Saint Bernard Clothing Market will be glad to take them off your hands.
Donations will be accepted for the second annual market at DeKalb Middle School on Friday, June 8th from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and Monday, July 23rd from 8:00 a.m. until noon.
Suzette Barnes and Angela Johnson, sponsors of the DMS Student Council said the clothing market was started last summer as a way of serving students who were in need of clothes and shoes.
“Last summer we had a vision of providing clothes and shoes to our students. We have several students in our building who wear the same outfit multiple days a week or their shoes are falling apart. We talked about what we wanted to do but didn’t know how it would go. We asked for donations and the community supplied us with those donations which we were very grateful for. We had our student council students come in and help sort and hang the clothes and group them by sizes which was community service hours for those students and then we went from there,” said Barnes.
After the clothes were collected, the school set aside days where all students in the 6th through 8th grade at the school could shop for clothes and shoes free of charge.
Johnson said the market served a great need.
“Last year we had a grandparent who came in to shop for a pair of shoes for her grandson. She said he desperately needed a pair of shoes. We had a teacher here who looked through all the shoes we had for boys and we had none to fit him. She (grandparent) said I think he will have to take a pair of girls shoes because he is in desperate need of shoes. At that point the teacher said no we will make sure that we get him a pair of shoes and we did,” said Johnson.
Again this summer the market will accept anything from youth large to adult extra large sizes of clothes along with shoes and backpacks. “We don’t turn anything down. We will go through it, size it, and lay it out for the students to pick from,” said Johnson.
“If you want to help but don’t have clothes to donate we will be glad to take a monetary donation then we can go buy clothes or shoes for kids,” added Barnes.
“We have also asked our student council members to prepare hygiene bags this year including shampoo, soap, hair brushes, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and those types of things. We will have those for males and females. If you would like to donate those type items, that would be very beneficial,” Barnes continued.
Johnson said students will have a three day shopping spree when school starts in late July and early August.
“ July 31 will be 6th grade registration night and those 6th grade students will be able to come in with their parents and shop that night for free. On August 1 which is registration day for 7th & 8th grade students at our school, they will be able to come in and shop that day. We will also keep the market open on the first full day in case there are students who didn’t get to come out and shop. We’ll let them shop that day,” said Johnson.
“ I want the community to know there is a need and the recipients are very thankful. We are also very thankful for the overwhelming support and response we got from the community. We want you to know that this is a great benefit,” added Johnson.