New School Clothes from SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Boost Students’ Self Esteem | Community

Twice a year, in the fall and spring, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) provides school wardrobes and school supplies to children living in towns along a 100+ mile corridor from Catalina north to Miami and San Carlos. Kids’ Closet serves children from pre-school through eighth grade, while Teen Closet assists students in nineth through twelfth grade. By offering new clothing and shoes, both programs help to raise students’ self-esteem while reducing the strain on their families already limited budgets. And every student delights in being able to choose what they wear.

Teen Closet shopping days are held on multiple evenings in July and January at the Target and Ross Dress for Less stores in Oro Valley. In April, our Partner schools identified students entering nineth grade who would benefit from the program based on family needs. To continue in Teen Closet, each student must attend school regularly, attain a passing GPA and perform six hours of community service each semester to shop for clothing, personal hygiene items and school supplies. Students who graduate from high school in the spring are given one last shopping trip in July when they can purchase items for their dorm rooms or apartments in addition to clothing. This past July, 108 students from six high schools in the SBCO service area were met by an adult volunteer who helped the teen to stay within his/her $275 budget. A total of 84 men and women volunteered to accompany a teen. Teen Closet gives teenagers the opportunity to attend school with pride, knowing that they have earned this benefit through their hard work and with mindfulness of the needs of others in their community. The next Teen Closet event will be held in January 2026. If you would like to help a student shop, please email [email protected] so your name can be added to the volunteer list.

Kids’ Closet is located in “the big red building” in Mammoth. Students are brought on school buses on Mondays and Thursdays or, on Saturdays, by their parents, to the facility. Inside, there is a waiting area where each child can select two grade-appropriate books to take home. In the shopping and fitting area, volunteers serve as personal shoppers, helping each child find clothing that fits. But the children make their own selections from the t-shirts, shorts or jeans, jackets or sweatshirts and shoes in stock. Students also receive underwear, socks and personal toiletry items, like toothbrushes and toothpaste. Dressing rooms and bins of clothing organized by size help to recreate the experience of shopping in a store. Between the fall season, which this year runs from Monday, September 8 until Monday, November 24, and the spring season, from late January or early February through April, Kids’ Closet provides approximately 3,200 wardrobes each year. Backpacks filled with grade-appropriate school supplies are delivered directly to schools for distribution. If you would like to become a Kids’ Closet volunteer, send an email to Margaret Thompson at [email protected].